Solar Eclipse

Today in the UK we saw, or didn't see depending on cloud coverage, an eclipse of the Sun with up to 90% of the Sun being blotted out by the Moon. I was lucky(ish) and was able to view the spectacle through the thin cloud covering from my desk at work. Somewhat inconsiderately someone called me a little before it peaked however I was able to stick them on speakerphone whilst I pulled my compact camera from the desk drawer to grab a coule of shots.

In a way the cloud both helped and added to the effect as it meant you were able to view the eclipse without eye protection and photograph it without the need on additional filters, a thing I dont keep in said desk drawer.

It's certainly not the best image from the day but it is still a pleasant reminder of this wonderful universe in which we all live.

The UK is not due to see another eclipse till 2026, which again will only be partial. The next total eclipse in expected in 2090. 

The history of the world as we know it... well Swinton and District PS at least.

Last week some emails did the rounds of the club regarding the tremendous work being undertaken by a member of our club in creating a book following on from the 'Salford Then and Now' exhibition currently underway at Ordsall Hall.
This got me thinking. Our society celebrates its 70th anniversary this year but little of its history is recorded in any easily accessible way. Thus the thought came about to begin work on bringing together all the available information on the club and organising it in a manner suitable to post on Wikipedia.

So it begins.

First task is to troll through these records and build up a framework on which to hang the unwritten memories of members. This will not be an overnight task and only time will tell how much information is still available.

Anyway must stop blogging and get back to reading records.

Camera Exposure Guide

During his talk last Monday Dennis covered camera exposure and in particular the exposure triangle. For those of you who were unable to attend his talk or simply want to a quick refresher I found this in a Twitter feed today.

Camera Exposure Guide. Everything you need to know.

Ideas for a rainy day

You wake up in the morning and look out to see that it's grey, miserable and pouring down with rain. So much for your plans to go out and take that landscape shot you've been after.

Why not just stay indoors and have some fun trying to produce a characature portrait of yourself.

In this video the owner of a Stockport studio,  Ian M Butterfield, shows you how.

Episode 4 of the Lightroom Show by Scott Kelby and friends

Found this on Twitter earlier today and though you may find it useful. It's a 12 minute or so video giving some usefull Lightroom hints and tips.

http://lightroomkillertips.com/lightroom-show-episode-4-scott-rc/

Lightroom Iron Chef

On Monday evening we had a demonstration by one of our members of some of the features in Adobe Lightroom.

I though there that this video from when photographer Stu Maschwitz visited the Bay Area Lightroom User Group may interest you. During this 1 1/2 hour video Stu takes 29 audience submitted images and post processes them whilst giving a running commentary of what he is doing and why.

Whilst some of the comments of the video aren't complementary about the results it still gives a good idea about Lightroom's functionality

Lightroom Iron Chef

L&CPU Portfolios

Next Monday gives the club members an opportunity to view the final round of images from the 2014 L&CPU individual competition. This gives members an opportunity to see the work produced my other fellow photographers within the union.

Who knows, maybe after our entries this year we may see some of our fellow members work do the rounds  next time.

Colour perception

Colour perception hit the headlines recently with that dress (enough said about that!) and the previous post gave an example of a test which fooled the mind into believing that two squares were of very different tones or colours. 

On a similar  theme how good is your eye / brain combination at differentiating between similar colours and placing them in order? X-Rite, the manufacturer of colour calibration kit, have an online test based upon the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test. Why not try it out for yourself?

www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

Jpg vs RAW

Yesterday evening the club enjoyed a talk by our own club member Dennis Flynn on the pros and cons of jpg and RAW.

During his talk he was able to give a practical demonstration on the differences in the way Adobe Lightroom processes images between its 2010 and 2012 setting with some apparent clipping taking place in the latter. I am sure this has given some people food for thought and has certainly got me planning to run some tests on images of my own.

Coincidentally I had been chatting with a friend that same day regarding colour perception. Dennis displayed an image on the same lines. The one I was talking about was:-

The question is "which square is darker?".

a) A

b) B

c) they are both the same,

The correct answer is c). Feel free to check this out. I have done so several ways and they are indeed the same colour.