The current judging workshops which replaced the original planned practical sessions are such a hit that we will continue with these sessions for another couple of months. Each session consists of a lecture followed by a practical judging session where we all participate in the judging.
Members Showcase
Written by Pieterjan Grobler
Thursday, 08 July 2010
Important Announcement July is the annual competition for VPS
Please note the closing date is 21st of July 2010.
The maximun entries allowed is 6, 2 per category in the following subjects.
Wildlife including birds : No Manipulation allowed
Landscapes including cityscapes and seascapes: No Manipulation allowed
Photojournalism including sport: No Manipulation allowed
more information regarding this on the Photovault site and Newsletter.
The following photo's was selected as the top photo's for the month of July 2010
Francois Roux
Pied Kingfisher With Fish
Exp 1/2000s | F8 | ISO 800 | Taken @ 850mm
Francois commented: The “Pied Kingfisher With Fish” was taken in Botswana a couple of weeks ago. We spent all our photography time on one of the custom built aluminium boats on the Chobe river. This gives one the luxury of getting quite close to the animals and birds. This picture were taken late in the afternoon and the rich colour of it helped to get detail in the whites and blacks of the kingfisher which is normally difficult to achieve. This added to the impact of the picture.
Ernest Arnold
Golden Fields
Exp 1/80s | F7.1 | ISO 100 | Taken @ 34mm
Ernest commented: Taken during the Clarens Rally on our way back from taken early morning shots. I noticed from the road that the sunlight had just started to bath the fields in this lovely early morning golden light. I asked Pieter du Plessis to pull over so that we could take some pictures of these fields, so be assured he has some too! I used the std kit zoom lens and stood as close to the ledge as possible to eliminate intruding foilage. The rest was just normal cropping and some minor Photoshop adjustments like some sharpening.
Pieterjan Grobler
Drying Out
Exp 180sec | F16 | ISO100 | Taken @ 40mm
Pieterjan commented: This was taken in Yzerfontein Harbour on a recent trip. This image was captured early morning just after the fishermen left for the day. The horizon in the background is the 16 mile longest uninterrupted sandy beach in southern africa. I used a tripod and Neutral Density filter to achieve the 3 minute exposure. Post Production included cropping, sharpening and black and white conversion.
The Set Subject Category was: Rust
Milton Evangelou
Rusted Fence
Exp 1/50s | F5.6 | ISO100 | Taken @ 55mm
Milton commented: In April I was in King Williams Town in the eastern cape for my cousin's wedding.One afternoon I went to the Holy Trinity Church to see it because my mother was married in this church about 60 years ago.
After photographing the church inside the grounds I took a picture of the church's rusted fence.I selected the fence carefully using the pen tool in photoshop.After inverting my selection I turned the rest of the picture to monochrome by desaturating it.I then also blurred this part of the image using the blur filter sothat the fence stands out better against the background.
Riaan Greeff
Forgotten Rust
Exp 1/320s | F6.3 | ISO100 | Taken @ 222mm
Riaan commented:This is a macro- photo of a rusted hinge from my trailer, layed down into the Amethyst crystal core. The camera set at focal length of 222mm, -2EV light exposure bias for some light compensation, F6.3 opening and 1/320s shutter mounted on a tripod kept the detail sharp and the focal depth of field wide. No post work was done in Photoshop other than resizing and framing using the standard stroke method.
Ernest Arnold
Rusty Loco
Exp 1/400s | F4.1 | ISO50 | Taken @ 5.8mm
Ernest commented: The shot was taken at a steam train graveyard. I positioned myself to try compose the picture to have some lead-in's to take one's eye to the front of the loco as the main focal point. The angle also allowed to get some polarized sky. Std kit zoom lens used to get the wide angle close up to the locomotive. Only medium depth of field for sharpness was needed as the wide angle lens automatically has a greater depth of field than longer lenses.
