Preparation
Derek Smith • 31 October 2019
50mm "Portrait Lens"
Photo By: Derek Smith
Preparation – Are you a dedicated photographer? Or does your camera reside unused at the back of a cupboard only dusting it down for family events, or holidays? The reason that I ask is that preparation is important in either situation, check if the battery is charged, take a spare battery, and a new SD card with you on any outing with your camera.
If you have an interchangeable lens camera, think about the lenses to take with you on any outing. On a recent Rhine cruise, I took my Sony A6300, the Sony 18-135mm zoom lens, and a Sony 35mm prime lens – very lightweight for the holiday, and it covered every situation. Occasionally I go even more lightweight (on a short walk for example) and just take the Sony A6300 camera, and the 16-50mm kit lens, which will fit in a large pocket of a coat.
Always think about the Who, What, When, Where, of photography.
Who - If I’m taking a portrait, the 18-135mm zoom lens will be with me, but I’ll also take the Sony 35mm, together with the Sony 50mm prime lens because of the f/1.8 widest aperture for low light situations, and I’ll take the light stand / diffuser / flash with me, I recently had the opportunity to have a photo shoot on a farm, in a barn, I predominately used the Sony 50mm lens, with the off-camera flash to give good results.
What - For wildlife I’ll take the Sony 70-300mm lens, plus the Sony 18-135mm. For landscape, or architecture I have the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 which is an excellent lens.
When – Time of the day, or season, the best times to shoot are around dawn, or sunset. The “blue hour” is that time just after the sun sets which is fantastic for cityscapes, just as the street / building lights are switching on. A cloudy autumn day can be good, less of the harsh shadows. A bright summers day can cause issues, as the light can be very harsh, causing shadows under the eyes in portraiture, use a diffuser over the subject, or shoot in the shade, turn the subjects back to the light, and use a reflector or flash to light the face.
Where – Primarily is the location, a busy street, top of a mountain, wildlife park, in a building, at a wedding / party, think about what gear to take for each situation.
Finally – When putting your gear away, I store my camera with the 18-135mm zoom lens, because I can use that lens for most situations, set the camera mode to Aperture, set to a mid-range f/5.6 - f/8, and ISO to Auto, that way you can pick the camera up, and start shooting within seconds.
The Louth Photographic Society will be resuming our meetings on the Wednesday 11th September, with a review / projects evening. Photography is a great hobby, and the Society always welcomes new members.
Article, and photos: Derek Smith
If you have an interchangeable lens camera, think about the lenses to take with you on any outing. On a recent Rhine cruise, I took my Sony A6300, the Sony 18-135mm zoom lens, and a Sony 35mm prime lens – very lightweight for the holiday, and it covered every situation. Occasionally I go even more lightweight (on a short walk for example) and just take the Sony A6300 camera, and the 16-50mm kit lens, which will fit in a large pocket of a coat.
Always think about the Who, What, When, Where, of photography.
Who - If I’m taking a portrait, the 18-135mm zoom lens will be with me, but I’ll also take the Sony 35mm, together with the Sony 50mm prime lens because of the f/1.8 widest aperture for low light situations, and I’ll take the light stand / diffuser / flash with me, I recently had the opportunity to have a photo shoot on a farm, in a barn, I predominately used the Sony 50mm lens, with the off-camera flash to give good results.
What - For wildlife I’ll take the Sony 70-300mm lens, plus the Sony 18-135mm. For landscape, or architecture I have the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 which is an excellent lens.
When – Time of the day, or season, the best times to shoot are around dawn, or sunset. The “blue hour” is that time just after the sun sets which is fantastic for cityscapes, just as the street / building lights are switching on. A cloudy autumn day can be good, less of the harsh shadows. A bright summers day can cause issues, as the light can be very harsh, causing shadows under the eyes in portraiture, use a diffuser over the subject, or shoot in the shade, turn the subjects back to the light, and use a reflector or flash to light the face.
Where – Primarily is the location, a busy street, top of a mountain, wildlife park, in a building, at a wedding / party, think about what gear to take for each situation.
Finally – When putting your gear away, I store my camera with the 18-135mm zoom lens, because I can use that lens for most situations, set the camera mode to Aperture, set to a mid-range f/5.6 - f/8, and ISO to Auto, that way you can pick the camera up, and start shooting within seconds.
The Louth Photographic Society will be resuming our meetings on the Wednesday 11th September, with a review / projects evening. Photography is a great hobby, and the Society always welcomes new members.
Article, and photos: Derek Smith
Louth Photographic Society
Last night, Steve West gave a fascinating illustrated presentation on the long history of cinema, and stage plays in Louth. In the late 1890s some films were shown at various locations, in 1910 a “tent” cinema was showing films on Westgate Fields. During 1913 a site was purchased of 2 retail units, on Eastgate, the retail units were demolished, and the Palace cinema / theatre was constructed on the site ready for opening in 1914. During the interwar years many plays were staged at the Palace, and Steve has collected many of the original programs from this era. The current Playhouse was constructed in Canon Street in 1921 in the “art deco” style, some poor quality housing was demolished to make way for this new cinema. The Playhouse, and the Palace both continued in operation until 1960 when the Palace was sold, and the building was converted into a Fine Fare supermarket. During the 1970s when Bingo became popular, part of the Playhouse was used as a Bingo hall, with the reception area restyled to suit the new usage. The Playhouse was converted into a multi-screen cinema when purchased by the Parkway Cinema group in the mid 1990s. Louth is extremely fortunate to have retained a viable cinema in the town, many thanks to Steve West for a very polished presentation.
Good Morning All Sand racing starts again this week at Mablethorpe, this Sunday is practice day, times are on their website. Last week at the club we held a local competition, with the categories of: "Straight out of the camera" and "Open", there was a very good entry in each subject with Tony Gaskins having the task of judging the unedited ones and Robin Begley judging the Open. There is a full report on our website but well done to Harry for first place in the Straight out of the camera and Keith Rossington for first place in the Open. This week, Wednesday 14th, Steve West will be our speaker, talking and showing PDI's on the subject of the Louth cinema. The following week will be a print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open", you need to bring your prints in this week and send an email to Dave Turner with your titles. Regards Graham
At our meeting last night we held a PDI (printed digital image) competition, with the categories of "Local Unedited", and "Open". As this was a members competition one of our members judged the competition, Tony Gaskins was our first judge for the "Local Unedited" category, these were .jpg images taken straight from the camera, without any editing, apart from the resizing for projection. Presenting an image such as this in a competition is quite a difficult task, the photographer has to ensure that the correct exposure is chosen, the composition, and subject matter has to be precise, everything done in camera. Normally for competition entries, a degree of post processing would be involved, simple edits like toning down highlights, or even removing extraneous objects from a scene, emphasising a moody sky, all not allowed. Tony Gaskins did an excellent job with his judging, providing clear and concise critique of the images presented, he "held back" 8 images for further consideration, awarding higher points, and finally choosing the top three placements. After the break it was Robin Begley's turn to judge the "Open" category, as these were post process edited images the standard was higher than the unedited images, but surprisingly not markedly so. Robin is potentially hoping to become a N&EMPF approved judge, and he had a different style, able to suggest edits that could have improved an image, again his critique was clear and concise communicating well with members. Robin chose 8 images for further consideration, awarding higher points, and finally selecting the top three placements. It was a fabulous, and interesting competition with excellent images, many thanks to both our judges, it's not an easy job, probably nearly as bad as being a referee in a football match!! Many thanks to both our judges, well done.
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Roger Hance Memorial Lecture 16th October
Last night Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club gave his first ever presentation to a camera club, which we were privileged to view. His presentation consisted of portraiture, creative, and his genre of choice; wildlife. Lee is an extremely talented photographer, with a highly creative portfolio, his portraits are quite atmospheric, unusual, and capture the essence of the model, and scene. For Lee’s creative work, he buys props from charity shops, often very cheaply, reusing those props in various scenes. For his composite work he will often take one of his photos of a room, and blend it with a subject in Photoshop using “blend” modes. For wildlife he visited Lake Kerkini in Greece to photograph the Pelicans, if the sky is a little on the bland side, Lee will often over expose the image resulting in a striking white background to the subject. On safari in Africa Lee showed us some amazing images of the wildlife, the close-up images of elephants, the wildebeest migration, and this stunning image of a cheetah. Lee was ably assisted by Mike Bennett. More of Lee’s work can be found on his website: https://leedixonphoto.co.uk/ Lee his kindly given permission for his images to be used in this post. Many thanks to Lee, and Mike for an amazing evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", there was a very high-quality entry in both competitions and judge Mike Bennett had quite a job on his hands scoring the entries. Well, done to Dave Turner for first place in the Objects in the Air and Tony Gaskins for first place in the Open. All the results are on our website. This week, Wednesday 30th September, our speaker will be Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club showing us his natural history, Creative and many other photographs he has taken. It will be the first time Lee has shown his photographs at our club. If anyone else wants to enter PDI's in the 2027 N&EMPF Exhibition, the deadline is this Wednesday at midnight. Harry is still taking entries for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight from Camera" (unedited .jpg), and "Open", to be held on Wednesday 7th October. Regards Graham
At the meeting last night Mike Bennett judged our competition with the categories of “Objects in the Air”, and “Open”. The standard of entries was excellent, and it gave Mike a tough task of judging the images, Mike gave some very good critique of the images displayed, the feedback helps members to develop compositional skills. Dave Turner was awarded first place for his image of the “Tiger Club Display Team” in the “Objects in the Air” category. Tony Gaskins was awarded first place for his image of the “Spectacular Rustgill” in the “Open” category.
Good Morning All, Last week at the club we watched the N&EMPF PDI Exhibition for 2026, it was a very good evening viewing very high standard images from all over the East Midlands. Dave Turner and I did manage to get images accepted; there is a full report on our website. This week, Wednesday 23rd September, we will hold our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", please send entries to Harry by midnight tonight. Harry is also accepting images for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight out of the Camera (only resizing permitted)" and "Open". Regards Graham
Members were shown the 2026 N&EMPF PDI Exhibition video last night with all of the accepted PDI images in the first part, and after the break the awarded PDI images. There were some stunning images on view, and Louth was successful in having 3 PDI images accepted, Graham Harrison with his image of a Stonechat, and Dave Turner with his portrait of Paul Rudd, and his monochrome image of Kings Cross railway station "Going Down". Overall it was a good inspirational evening.
