Photography Group September Meeting

Posted on 09/09/202509/09/2025 by John Hawke

The Group met at 10:30 a.m. on 8^th September with the theme ‘Landscape’.

Five people attended. For such a wide subject there were several good treescapes and gates also featured heavily. Best picture was awarded to Pam Liberson for an avenue of trees near Stockbridge with effective shadows and dappled sunlight.

Avenue of Trees near Stockbridge – Pam Liberson (Best Picture)

October’s theme will be ‘Golden Hour’. After some discussion, it was decided to not arrange an outdoor photoshoot but to go our own way – mainly because we could not agree on a venue as well as the variable weather at this time of year. John Hawke made some suggestions regarding near-sunset photographs emphasising soft shadow nuances and mellow portraits. Mike Liberson commented that ‘Golden Hour’ could also be interpreted as old age and nostalgia – cannot wait to see his interpretation of the theme!

Future themes for February, March and April 2026 will be ‘One Colour Four Pictures’, ‘My Valentine’ and ‘Spring’ respectively.

Photography Group August Meeting

Posted on 25/08/202525/08/2025 by John Hawke

The Group met on 18th August at 10:15 – the theme was ‘Weather’. This proved a difficult subject because recent weather had been hot and cloudless. Nevertheless Anjie Sargeant’s ‘Menacing Storm’ was voted overall best picture amongst several notable interpretations of the theme.

Menacing Storm – Anjie Sargeant

September’s theme will be ‘Landscape’. Apart from land photos, this has been expanded to include river, city, and seascapes. John Hawke outlined various techniques to make the photos ‘pop’ emphasising ways to bring the viewers’ eyes to a point of interest within the picture – these included ‘Rule of Thirds’, leading lines and depth of field enhancement.

Photography Group July 2025 Meeting

Posted on 14/07/202514/07/2025 by John Hawke

Five people made it to the meeting. We welcomed back Pam and Mike Liberson – it was the first outing for Pam after her long course of treatments.

The theme was ‘Architecture’ which prompted a wide and well-photographed selection ranging from the 11th Century Winchester Cathedral to 21st Century Titanic Museum, Belfast. The overall best picture was of Winchester Cathedral flying buttresses taken by John Hawke.

The main topic for discussion was about editing through post processing. It was noted that, if the cameraa settings produce a well-exposed picture, there was little difference before and after processing. However if lighting conditions were challenging then one can change a poor picture into one that ‘pops’. Subsequent topics included the need for focus stacking (macrophotography), disadvantages of using HDR, and correcting camera body/lens corrections for RAW images using DXO Photolab.