SaltSpring Photography Club

March Newsletter

March was the last Zoom meeting for a while. The next 6 meetings (April - September) will be in person in the Library Programme Room 7pm - 9.

 The exception is the June meeting which will be held on June 7^th at Gallery 8, 5pm - 7. This will be for the Club members who are showing their work at the Club's annual Eclectic Visions show at Gallery 8. 

So far 12 people have confirmed their participation. If 28 people enter the show, then the cost for the room rental is covered. The entry fee is $70. Submission forms should be in by April (let Judy know if you're going to take part: jhmcphee@shaw.ca) and give your information (name, name of photo, price, email address etc.) to Wendy by May 15th:  wrosier@gmail.com

The May library meeting will have a slideshow of the photos being shown at Eclectic Visions and there will be a talk to go over the logistics and sitting duties - how to record and deal with sales etc.

When Judy dropped off the DVD of the club photos to the Salt Spring Inn Jeremy kindly offered a $50 gift certificate for the winner of the People's Choice Award.

Salt Spring Photoclub is hosting the April BC/Yukon speaker series. The guest speaker is Craig Blacklock and his topic is 'Light Waves'. We will be showing photos before the speaker starts at 7pm (log on early!) and during the intermission. Pierre has already collected photos from 13 people but if you want to take part then send 6 of your 'best' photos to Pierre (pierre.mineau2@gmail.com) and he may be able to fit them into the slideshow. But hurry!

Avril Kirby is showing photos of dogs at the Country Grocer Cafe for March.

Maggie Vancik is showing in May and Hannah Spray is showing in july.

September and November are still open. Let Judy (jhmcphee@shaw.ca) or me (annagarika@hotmail.com) know if you are interested.

Howard Fry is showing some of his portraits in the Library Programme Room for March.

Judy has been delivering the new DVD to Salt Spring Inn, TJ Beans and the Hospital.

John de Bruyn was the photographer for the SS Film Festival. He said he enjoyed the experience.

The speaker this month was Marc Koegel talking about long exposure photography. The longer the exposure the more any moving objects disappear leaving only the stationary subjects. Thus, you can take a photo of a busy tourist site bustling with people and be left with a seemingly empty plaza as if you were the only one there. The people simply disappear. The effect in landscape photography that may have moving clouds or water will result in a streaky, soft-focus sky and blurry, misty looking water. Very moody. Marc photographs mainly in B&W and the effects were sometimes very striking. He edits in Lightroom and uses the Nik Silver Efex software (the gold standard for B&W enthusiasts) as well as neutral density filters that can be attached to the camera.  

Some pointers for long exposure shots:

1. Check weather. Bright, sunny days are not great (definitely use a neutral density filter). Low light conditions are best.
2. Use a tripod.
3. Check your composition (your intention for the outcome) before setting up tripod.
4. Take a reference image (use any camera mode) and let the camera determine the exposure.
5. Set focus. Setting focus 1/3 way into the scene will keep the foreground and background sharp.
6. Set exposure. For landscape f/8 or f/11 is a safe bet for most shots.
7. Add filter.
8. For those who shot with a DSLR, cover viewfinder with black tape or a plastic cap to stop any light getting in. No need to do this if you have a mirrorless camera.
9. Calculate the right shutter speed. A histogram will confirm if your exposure, f-stop and ISO setting are appropriate. Conversion tables are available on the Internet and an app on Smartphones will do it in moments.
10. Take your shot.

See Screenshots of Marc's tips and pointers here.

Go to marckoegel.com to see more of Marc's photographs and watch his webinars.

Pierre and Avril showed us this month's B&W slideshow. Some very inspiring, very beautiful, very moody shots taken in Hawaii, Patagonia, Iceland, the Rockies, Salt Spring, 100 Mile House, Japan, Fogo Island, Oregon, London, Italy, Saturna, California, Nitinat Lake and the Caribou. Such a well-travelled group of photographers!

Next month's challenge is - guess what! - long exposure photography. Don't worry if you don't have the software or filters just do what you can with what you've got and I'm sure it will be interesting. At April's library meeting John Cochran will give a presentation.

The site for the BC/Yukon speaker series is:- 

https://nsps.ca/bc-yukon-inter-club-speaker-series-2022-23/