My subject this evening, I hope will give some guidance to the new members of the club, and maybe some more established members, on how to improve your photographs for competitions. Let me say from the start that just entering a photo straight out of the camera even if it is resized correctly is unlikely to score highly. All photographs require some after work, which has always been the case even when using film stock.

Photography is not just about your camera these days; the other part is using a computer with good photo editing software.

Shoot in RAW if your camera allows you to. If you choose to use jpg it is important to set a White Balance & ISO appropriate to the light. You can set the ISO to 100/200, ideal for landscapes.. Metering is best set at Matrix or Evaluative. Use Aperture Priority for most subjects, Shutter Priority works well for sports events.

Always check out the Histogram on the screen on the back of the camera. Make sure that the Histogram shows the graph is reaching the right hand end and if not use the Exposure Compensation dial on + to increase the exposure until you have the right result. The chart below shows the spread of light values, as you can see most of the values are in the right hand portion

Finally use a tripod with a sprit level and a remote release for best results whenever possible.

Or you could buy an earlier version-CS-CS2-CS3 Amazon partner’s www.calibex.uk or Express Direct are selling CS3 for around £135.

Recently judges have commented on underexposure in PDI competitions. Make sure your computer monitor has been calibrated. The club have a calibrator that can be hired for this purpose

The Light and its direction : Think about the direction of the light source. Indoors you will be in full command of the lighting; outdoors it will be the sun. The sun cannot be moved! So you will have to find the right angle to give some modelling to your subject. Side lighting or the light at 45 degrees will give you a good result. You can shoot into the light (contre jour) but you will need a good lens hood to prevent the rays from the sun giving you “Flare” and halos in your photos. If you block the sun out with say a large reflector or put the sun behind a tree that will reduce the chance of getting flare. Check the viewfinder to make sure the blocking medium is not in your photo. Do not have the sun over your shoulder when shooting portraits, you will flatten the modelling on the subject and also get them screwing up their eyes from the glare. Best results are always when the light is cloudy but bright. You will get more even lighting in a shaded area

The Background: Check background is suitable, has no distractions, i.e. trees growing out of heads, dustbins, any lettering (Adverts etc), reflections, “busy”. Do you want the background out of focus or sharp from foreground to infinity? Adjust the aperture to suit the subject

We all work in different ways to obtain our photos but some basic "Rules" need to be set to enable you to work in the same consistent way to get good results.

Rule of thirds Main subject on a diagonal Implied lines S line

Secondary subject but not as strong as the main subject Bad Weather

Small against large Odd numbers (3,5.7) Balanced photo

Darken base (Stable feel) Dark Sky (Feeling of mood) Early morning

Aerial Perception-Depth in layers Pictures in the Mist

You will have decided before taking any photos whether to shoot in the RAW, jpeg, or both formats and each will need a slightly different approach when it comes to producing the final image.

Remember with RAW that it is like having a film negative and can be interpreted in many ways without losing the original file.

With the jpeg format you will have to try to preserve as much of the quality of the file as possible as during the taking stage, the file has been compressed and has already lost some of its pixels and each time it is opened it will lose further quality.

Open the selected file. If you are opening a RAW file it will appear in the Camera Raw Converter, you can now open jpg images in the Converter as well. Do as many adjustments you need in the converter, including a small amount of sharpening as RAW files are slightly “soft” due to the camera processor, and then open in Photoshop or Elements. In the layers palette click and drag the Background layer to the icon next to the dustbin icon. (Looks like a page with the corner turned) this is the copy layer icon, in the layers palette you will now see Background copy layer, and all future adjustments will be made using the copy layer. Alternatively go to the Layers heading in the top menu and click on “Duplicate Layer” for the same result. The next step is to decide on any cropping, try various crops before deciding. Next, click on the half black circle in the Layers palette (Adjustment layers icon) and select Levels. Another layer will appear in the Layers palette, adjust if needed or use the Curves layer instead, or both. Try to use only Adjustment layers as they can be readjusted if necessary. Adjustment layers use less memory, an added bonus. Other adjustment layers can be used if needed and the blending modes give some interesting results. If possible never use Layer>New layer from the top menu unless this is not possible, these layers cannot be readjusted and will contain pixels that will make your original file bigger in size, whereas Adjustment layers are just a set of instructions that will be applied at the flattening stage..

When you are happy with the result you can save the file with the layers as a .psd or .tiff file. Never save the file again as a .jpg unless you intend to only use it for a projected image. To print or project you will need to make a copy of the file retaining the original. Flatten the layers of the copied file, which will give you one, the final image. This image will now need to be sharpened for whatever purpose the image is required, print, projection, or Web. The original jpg files will have been sharpened in camera so do not over sharpen. Go to Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen where you will get a better result than Unsharp Mask. Another method can be used, Filter>Other>High Pass.

Black and White Conversion from Colour: Many of the projected images we have seen this season have been more gray and white than black and white! There appear to be many ways that this can be done in Photoshop but some methods are better than others.

A quick method is to select the adjustment layer<Solid colour, from the pop up menu check Web only colours, select Black. Go to the Blending Mode and select Colour. You then have a good Black and White image with a full range of tones that you could give more or less contrast to if required.

Take lots of photographs and learn by your mistakes.

Take note of what a judge says and try to improve what he or her suggested, even if you don’t use the photo again it is another way to learn.

Above all if your photo was given a low mark by the judge don’t go out and slash your wrists, it is only a hobby!

If you need help with your camera or help with Photoshop, Elements, or any other photographic editing software please either telephone me or E mail me.