Adobe's new Photoshop pricing structure unfair to customers

Quote from Scott Kelby's Open Letter to Adobe Systems, about their proposed new pricing structures...

"when the next version of Photoshop and the Creative Suite is released, if you do not already own Photoshop version CS5 or CS5.5 (or the 5 or 5.5 Creative Suite):

(a) You will not be eligible to upgrade to Photoshop CS6 (or the CS6 Creative Suite). Instead the only way to get Photoshop CS6 at that point will be to repurchase the entire product again at its full price (presumably $699 US). If you’re a CS4 Creative Suite User, you’ll have to buy the entire suite all over again to move to CS6.

(b) For Photoshop CS4, or CS3 users, their only real option is to pay to upgrade now to CS5.5 (though you are offering a 20% upgrade discount upgrade until the end of the year), and then to pay again to upgrade when Photoshop CS6 is released, or sign up for your new monthly subscription plan."

If you're contemplating buying the next release of Photoshop, you need to read the complete letter at:

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903

End of Year Christmas Dinner (1st December 2011)

Christmas Break Up Dinner

This year we will be holding the Christmas breakup at Alex's Pizza (Click for Location) in Koroit.

The night will start at 6:30 PM. Alex's Pizza is famous for their pizza and pasta but have many other delicious dishes on offer.

Please let Stan McCullagh (stanm@wcbf.com.au) know by the 26th November if you are planning to attend.

Image of the Year Night

IMAGE OF THE YEAR (IOTY)

IOTY this year will be held on the 26th November at The Church Hall (Drummond St) opposite Fonterra in Dennington. The night will start at 6:00 PM with a dinner at Rafferty's Tavern followed by a presentation at the church hall starting from 7:30 PM. If you wish to attend the dinner please let Stan McCullagh know via email stanm@wcbf.com.au

This year we have the pleasure of Peter Bellmont judging the photos. Peter has a passion for AV and will be presenting some of his work before awarding the prizes for the night. Personally I am looking forward to his presentation.

September Competition Results

Novice Print

1 Gillian Beechey	Follow My Candlelight
2 Gillian Beechey	Hatich Beer with View
3

Small Print(set Subject)

1 John Culver	Egyptian Goose
2 John Culver	Wattle
3 John Culver	Lily

Small Print Open

1 John Culver	Red Headed Weaver
2 John Culver	Orange Crab
3 John Culver	Honey Eater

Colour Print (Set Subject)

1 John Culver	Gold Pouring
2 John Culver	Fungi
3 Les Lockland	Crystal Ball

Colour Print (Open)

1 Les Lockland	Ignition
2 Roger Neal	Hell's Gate Lighthouse
3 Craig Homberg	Bright Lights

Monochrome (Set Subject)

1 Benjamin Spencer	Tightrope Bird
2 Benjamin Spencer	Hook
3

Monochrome Open

1 Roger Neal	Bunalong Beach
2 Benjamin Spencer	Congregation of Swans
3 Benjamin Spencer	Canoeing

Experimental

1 No Entries
2
3

EDPI

1 Roger Neal	Alone on a Rock
2 John Culver	Horseshoe Bend
3 John Culver	Ostrich at Sossusvlei

Close up photos without a macro lens?

Don't own a dedicated macro lens? Here's one simple way of achieving a macro look using a non-macro lens.

The flowers in these examples are less than an inch wide in real life. The shot was taken hand-held with front of lens approximately 10" from the two top flowers.
Camera settings used were: lens at 20mm, centre focus point selected with exposure mode on 'Centre Weighted' - f/3.5 at 1/200sec, ISO 400. File size set to RAW.

First image shows result after converting RAW file to .tif in PS Adobe Camera Raw. Already image is showing classic 'macro' attributes of subject in focus, background out of focus and foreground slightly out of focus.

Second image is cropped from first image for better composition and to make flowers larger in the frame. This result looks more like a macro shot.

I used my Sigma 10-20mm lens at 20mm for this exercise, but a standard 18-55mm kit lens could be used just as effectively.

August Competition Results

Novice Print

1 Jennifer Leddin	Nap Time
2 Benjamin Spencer	Holding up the Roof
3 Benjamin Spencer	Green Slime

Small Print(set Subject)

1	No Entries
2
3

Small Print Open

1 John Culver	Drying Out
2 John Culver	Qualup Bell
3 John Vandekolk	Port Fairy Show
3 (Equal Third) Benjamin Spencer	Mist over Water

Colour Print (Set Subject)

1 Diane Mugavin	Mum
2 Benjamin Spencer	Spider's Web
3

Colour Print (Open)

1 John Culver	Super Pit
2 John Culver	Pil*apper Rock
3 Diane Mugavin	Beautiful

Monochrome (Set Subject)

1	No Entries
2
3

Monochrome Open

1 Benjamin Spencer	Chess Pieces
2
3

Experimental

1 Benjamin Spencer	Fletcher Jones
2
3

EDPI

1 Roger Neal	Bunalong Beach
2 John Culver	Albany Sunrise
3 John Culver	Super Pit
(Hon Mention) Benjamin Spencer	Bubble Gum Suit

July Competition Results

Novice Print

1 Benjamin Spencer	Snail Shell
2 Diane Wickson	Tranquility
3 Benjamin Spencer	Smelly

Small Print(set Subject)

1 Diane Wickson	Winsurfer
2 Benjamin Spencer	Hiking
3 Benjamin Spencer	Red Shirt Rider

Small Print Open

1 Benjamin Spencer	Spike on a Stick
2 Benjamin Spencer	Happiness
3 John Vandekolk	Portrait

Colour Print (Set Subject)

1 Les Lockland	Bowled Out
2 Graham Dixon	Early Morning Exercise Rings
3 Graham Dixon	Early Morning Exercise Blur

Colour Print (Open)

1 Benjamin Spencer	Scenic View
2 Graham Dixon	Echoes from the Past
3 Thomas Spencer	Home Sweet Home

Monochrome (Set Subject)

1 Benjamin Spencer	Bike Riding
2
3

Monochrome Open

1 Thomas Spencer	Angel of the Skies
2 Benjamin Spencer	P..sy Tails
3 Benjamin Spencer	Coast Guard Boat

Experimental

1 John Vandekolk	Cyclist
2 Benjamin Spencer	Kite wont Fly
3

EDPI

1 John Culver	Sossusvlei Duststorm
2 Graham Dixon	Guinness Tent
3 Benjamin Spencer	Vanishing Point

Ballarat International Foto Biennale

A month long celebration of photography. 20/08/11 - 18/09/11. This is a fabulous event featuring multiple photography exhibitions and workshops. It is simply amazing and well worth going. The Core festival program alone features over 20 exhibitions , with the fringe festival involving a further 65 venues around ballarat and the surrounding area.

Click on the title for more details.

Awesome street photography and photo journalism

If you ever wanted to be inspired by great examples of street photography, photo journalism and documentary photos - take a look at these examples. They're knock-outs.

Click on the heading to view images.

Canon Reduces Aussie Prices

Here's some good news for members looking to get a good price on a DSLR11 Aug 2011

Canon has taken some of the heat out of the issue of comparative pricing of digital imaging products overseas by announcing price cuts on 95 of its products, effective from August 1.

The price cuts range from around 5% to 30% on DSLR, compact and video cameras, and bring Australia more into line with US pricing.

“In the context of generally negative news around the local retail environment, Canon Australia is taking pro-active steps as the market leader to attract consumer attention and contribute to the value that is available locally,” said Canon Consumer Imaging director, Jason McLean.

For more information click on heading to this post.

Bird Photographer in Hamilton

At the last camera club meeting I mentioned some works I saw of a photographer in Hamilton. I had his name incorrect, wrong store if you know what I mean. His web site is
http://robdrummondphotography.com.au
Worth a look. The title will link to this site.

Wetlands Photography Competition

Wetlands photography competition, closes Friday. Click on the post title for details.

Photography Tips, Essential Skills, Quickly Transform Your Photos

This video explains four different light sources and how to use them effectively, as well as using only natural light and a reflector to shoot great portraits. It's about 10 minutes long but well worth spending the time on it.

Click on the heading to view video.

Landscape photography weekend course at TAFE

TAFE is offering a weekend landscape photography course in October. Click on the post title for more details

Using HDR as a means to an end – when you don’t want the HDR look.

There are literally thousands of images residing in hundreds of galleries on hundreds of web sites that are (almost) without exception beautiful pieces of photographic art, and I applaud the authors for their creativity.

However, some photo communities do not accept HDR images into their group, preferring to feature only images that are a clear, detailed and attractive result that still looks “real” after post camera processing, without the “overcooked” look of many HDR images.

Also, sometimes I do not want my final image to be an obvious HDR image.

After 45+ years reproducing images in all sorts of print media a few basic lessons have stuck with me:

1. Get the tonal values right first.
2. Adjust colour balance to be as accurate as possible.
3. Improve contrast so that it not only looks good but also takes into account the printing process to be used in reproducing the image. For me, processing digital images has to follow these steps in that sequence.


By experimenting, I have found I can use the HDR technique as a TOOL for recovering tonal values, colour balance and contrast, in an image – so that it reflects what I saw at the time of making the image.
I then finish off my processing in Photoshop to ensure the scene looks ‘real’ without strange colour casts, excessive halos or the HDR ‘overcooked’ look.

For other photographers wanting to achieve similar results, here are the steps I go through, using HDR as a tool - the means to an end, rather than the end result itself.

Image 1. I have deliberately chosen this poorly exposed and composed image to demonstrate the process, not to suggest that it is a great image. This is exactly how it came out of the camera, captured as a raw file. We all have bad days from time to time

Image 2. The raw file processed via Lightroom to achieve better tonal range, better colours and contrast, straightening and better cropping.

Images 3, 4 and 5. The Lightroom file, saved as tif files in -1 EV, 0 EV and +1 EV ready for bracketing and tone-mapping in Photomatix v3. (Photomatix v3 gives more flexible control and subtle results than v2 and is a free upgrade for v2 owners.)

Image 6. The ‘default’ Details Enhancer result from Photomatix. Close to what we might normally expect a HDR image to look like.

Image 7. The same ‘default’ result with strength, colour saturation, luminosity, contrast, light smoothing, temperature and tone settings adjusted.

The aim of these adjustments is to achieve a more natural looking result whilst gaining clarity, contrast and definition in both the highlight and shadow areas. Definition that was not present in the original raw file.

Images 8 and 9. Images 6 and 7 respectively, finished off with further minor tone adjustments and sharpening applied in Photoshop.

Both of these colour results would be acceptable final images whether you are, or are not, a devotee of HDR as a photographic technique.

I usually find that this process will give me better looking images more quickly than solely processing an image in Photoshop to achieve similar results.

Please feel free to comment on this alternative use of HDR.

June Monthly competition results

Set Subject - Urban Landscape

Small print - Open
1st John Culver - Varigated Wren
2nd Roslyn Thomson - Big daddy
3rd John Culver - Sturts Desert Pea
3rd John Culver - Fungi



Small Print - Set Subject
1st John Van de Kolk - DIZ House
2nd Bev Bell - Descending Landscape
3rd Benjamin Spencer - Night House



Novice Small Print
1st Jenny Spencer - Kermit's Wallpaper
2nd Benjamin Spencer - Sunset Beach Walk
3rd Benjamin Spencer - Dog's Eye View



Open Colour
1st Graham Dixon - Launceston Low Tide
2nd Benjamin Spencer - Train Tracks
3rd John Culver - Skipton Lake



Colour - Set Subject
1st John Van de Kolk - Christchurch Arts centre
2nd Les Lockland - A working Day in the City
3rd John Culver - Liebig Street
Highly Commended - Graham Dixon - Hoi An Sunset



Monochromatic - Open
1st Benjamin Spencer - Surf Rescue
2nd Benjamin Spencer - Lighthouse
3rd Roslyn Thomson - Sea the Sea



Monocromatic - Set Subject
1st Benjamin Spencer - Eureka Bee



EDPI
1st John Culver - Athabaska Glacier
2nd John Culver - Frill Necked Lizard
3rd Barry Stapleton - Cape Otway



Creative/ Experimental
1st Benjamin Spencer - Three's a Crowd

150 Years of Colour Photography

I came across this article in New Scientist. May be of some interest to history buffs. Click on the heading or copy paste the link below

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/a-century-and-a-half-of-colour-photography

Competition Results May

Novice Print
1 Jennifer Leddin , Joy
2 Diane Wickson , Fountain
3 Benjamin Spencer , Stand Out !

Small Print (Set Subject)
1 Les Lockland , Dull Globe
2 Les Lockland , Humble Gentleman
3 Benjamin Spencer , Breakwater Lights

Small Print Open
1 Benjamin Spencer , When Sparks Fly
2 Bev Bell , Looking for Tadpoles
3 Roslyn Thomson , Cheetah Club

Colour Print (Set Subject)
1 Roslyn Thomson , Fisherman
2 Benjamin Spencer , Image in the Sand
3 Roger Neal , Autumn on the Pond

Colour Open
1 Roslyn Thomson , Rough Coast
2 Craig Homberg , Misty Dawn
3 Benjamin Spencer , Big -Bigger-Biggest

Monochrome (Set Subject)
1 Diane Wickson , Post
2 Benjamin Spencer , Tomatoes
3 Benjamin Spencer , Chess

Monochrome Open
1 Benjamin Spencer , Drought
2 Bev Bell , Water Reeds
3

Experimental
1 John Vandekolk , 2Faced
2 Benjamin Spencer , Beach Trek
3

EDPI
1 Craig Homberg , Moth
2 Craig Homberg , Girl on Guitar
3 Stan McCullagh , River Scene

Thank you to our judges, John Culver and Lorraine Lee

If any of the winners would like your images posted on the blog, please email me a copy of the file to spjev@bigpond.net.au thanks

South Western Interclub 2011 Results

South Western Interclub 2011 Results
(click on image to enlarge)

Graham Dixon 2nd Open Colour and 3rd Set Subject Mono
John Culver 3rd Open Colour
Patti Vallance 1st Open Monochromatic and 2nd Set Subject Mono

Thank you to everyone who entered images
Congratulations to Colac Camera Club for winning the overall points total.

April Competion Results

I don't have a record of who members 50 and 51 are sorry. Let me know or post as a comment.

Novice










1st Benjamin Spencer Birds Of A Feather
2nd
3rd Diane Wickson Cruising Along




Small print Set











1st Benjamin Spencer Flower Of Light
2nd John Culver Star Trails
3rd John Culver Hopkins Falls




Small print Open














1st John Culver Pink Fungi
2nd Benjamin Spencer LOL
3rd Lorraine Lee French Sunflower






Large Print Set










1st Graham Dixon Low Tide
2nd John Culver El Questro Gorge
3rd John Culver Triplet Falls




Large print Open










1st Graham Dixon The 6th W'bool Golf Course
2nd Graham Dixon Port Fairy FF 2011
3rd John Vandekolk Flower show 2011




Monochrome Set












1st Thomas Spencer Ghostly Boom
2nd Benjamin Spencer Twelve Apostles
3rd Benjamin Spencer Full Moon




Monochrome Open











1st Benjamin Spencer Hawk
2nd Thomas Spencer Starway to the Sky
3rd Thomas Spencer Jamaican Sheep




Experimental












1st Les Lockland Golden Years
2nd Les Lockland My VW
3rd John Vandekolk No title



projected image Open







1st John Culver
2nd John Culver
3rd Ian Scott

Bunnings BBQ

CANCELLED

A clearer explanation of Hi Pass sharpening

Now that we know a lot more work/experimentation is required for inserting videos into the blog, here's a link (or click on the title) to a very good explanation of Hi Pass sharpening.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/sharpen-high-pass/

(Scroll down to bottom of first page to get to 2nd and 3rd pages)

I've used this method for sharpening most of my prints entered in comps over the past 6 months. No ones commented that any of them look 'over sharp' so it must be an effective method.

Alternative method of sharpening images

Here's a way to not only sharpen images without creating over-sharp halos and other artefacts that can creep into an image due to excessive use of Photoshop's sharpening filters, it also gives your image improved detail, definition and contrast at the same time.

The reason it is so effective is it only sharpens areas of your image that have edges to them. Areas that are not an edge are left untouched. For example, clouds in a scene remain looking 'real' (soft) whilst edges (trees, masts, buildings, etc) are sharpened. You get a more realistic result without the sharpening being too obvious.

This is an experimental video I've made - sound levels need more work, resolution may be a bit small and it needs Intro and Exit footage added - but it's an opportunity to see what happens when we post videos into our blog. Resolution is 1280x720 so I hope it's not too fuzzy when viewed at full screen on your machine.

It's just on 6 mins duration, in .mp4 (mpeg4) format. I hope it plays OK on your machine without crashing it.

Competition Results March

Competition Results Feb 2011

Welcome back for the start of a new year. We have a new section this year, Projected Image. This basically replaces the old Slide section. Given that it is a category for interclub and state-wide competition it was felt that we should support it.

So now there is no excuse - it costs nothing to enter as no printing is involved.



Judging is being done this year by rostered members. This is a great initiative as there is no faster way to learn than to have to judge other people's work. There were entries from 13 different people in the various categories, well done.

Results

Novice

1st Diane Wickson Feathered Friends
2nd Diane Wickson Pelicans
3rd Benjamin Spencer Kangaroos

Small print Open

1st John Culver Albatros
2nd John Culver Galapogas Tortoise
3rd John Culver Quiver Trees

Large Print Set

1st John Culver Morning Mist

2nd ??? Along Track To a Far Away Place

3rd Graham Dixon The Rowita

Large print Open

1st Roger Neal Wild Iris
2nd Mark Williams Guardian
3rd Benjamin Spencer Explosive

Monochrome Set

1st Benjamin Spencer Kite Flying

Monochrome Open

1st Craig Homberg Old Lock
2nd Patti Vallance tools Of Trade
3rd Len Asling Early Morning Swim

Experimental

1st Bev Bell Contrary
2nd Craig Homberg Utopian
3rd Benjamin Spencer The Wonders Of Photoshop

Projected Image

1st Graham Dixon Joshua
2nd John Culver Bearded Dragon
3rd Craig Homberg MFTCC