Departing from Anstruther Harbour by Ferry and Rib, the outward trip was rather choppy but once docked at Kirkhaven Landing the sun appeared for our 2.5 hr stay. Amongst the 200 bird species recorded, the Island hosts the biggest puffin colony on the east coast with shags, razorbills, kittiwake gulls, and terns. The latter guaranteed to dive bomb as soon as you come ashore. There is lots to see during the visit, which always seems too short but as you can see from the Gallery below, everyone had fun and captured some stunning images.


You can also check the Isle of May Website .

After another choppy return trip to Anstruther the team had coffee and the stalwarts stayed for fish and chips at the renowned Anstruther Fish bar.


Another great “summer trip” enjoyed by all.


T eam Leaders
Gillian Temple
Ken Goodfellow


Participants
Dennis Brooks
Ian & Elizabeth Monk
John Brady
Veda Murphy

COLOUR Winning Image - "Male Kingfisher with catch" - by David McConkey The Story The Kingfisher was taken from a hide in Dumfries & Galloway in September. The conditions were cloudy. I was in the hide for about 8 hours. The Kingfisher visited this perch about 5 or 6 times.
Settings Camera Canon 1dx mk 2 Manfrotto Tripod with Benro Gimbal head 150 - 600 Sigma zoom 421 mm focal length AWB ISO 3200 Aperture F7.1 shutter speed 1/1250

MONO winning image - "Threesome" - by Gillian Temple This composite of three individual images was taken during lockdown when getting out was not easy (also ideal for wet weekends). The images were taken with a black backdrop, using a single studio light setup. The camera was a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 24 – 105 mm lens at f5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 100. They were converted into mono in photoshop with a key line added, then placed onto one image to make a Tryptich image.

Tuesday 12th September was our opening night of the Season. It gave members the opportunity to welcome new members and check out what's on in this years syllabus. Thanks to our syllabus secretary, it is full of top quality talks to accompany our competition events. Members enjoyed an a talk from our President outlining the creative opportunities of AI/Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta. In his words; "Last night I gave a talk on the effects of AI on the world of creating images through the use of AI/Generative Fill in Photoshop Beta. The images shown included some created solely by the use of generative fill and some by using a genuine photograph which was manipulated using different levels of luminosity of Quick Mask using “TK Gen Fill” a free to download from Tony Kuyper. Attached are some of the images shown along with a sequence showing the effect of different levels of Quick Mask luminosity has on a standard image. I hope you enjoyed the presentation and that it gave you something to think about with regard to the ever evolving use of AI." Ken Goodfellow

JUMP Image taken at Warwick rodeo in 2018 on a hot and dusty day, perfect conditions for these types of shots. Shot in RAW and processed in Photoshop, I decided to set this image up as a portrait as it suited the head on positioning of the subject, I toned down the background to eliminate distractions and allow the eye to focus on the subject, I was particularly pleased the rodeo riders face was nice and sharp and with a good facial expression, decided to leave as a colour as it looked more punchy and popped out the screen. Camera EOS 5DS Lens EF 70-200mm f/2.8 Aperture f/4.0 Shutter 1/800 sec Focal 200mm ISO 100 David Scott DPAGB EFIAP

1st Colour print - by Allan Petrie The image was taken at around 6am on the August bank holiday. I had planned the shot using photopills as I wanted to capture the sun coming up under the bridges. The weather didn't turn out as I had expected however the very subtle colours worked well. The picture itself is a merge of 3 bracketed shots and combined using DXO HDR efex pro2. Further minor edits were done using lightroom/ photoshop. I used a canon r6 with a EF10-22 lens. It was taken at 10mm at f/11 iso100. The maximum exposure on this one was 1second 1st Mono print by Gillian Temple The Driver – this was taken at a local event when this man was walking by and I took a candid shot of him. The lighting was right for a natural shot without any additional light or flash. I wanted the shot natural so no need to pose. The shot was taken at F5.6 to blow out the background at 35mm Canon R5 with a 24-105 mm lens. Turned into Black and White in Photoshop with very little edit. 1st Digital image by David Scott Image take at Warwick rodeo pre-covid, I know I enter quite a lot of this type of image, I just love the whole atmosphere of the place. The background was a bit busy so I eliminate this with the dust overlay, which in reality is in fact fog, so I adjust the colour and contrast in the fog to try and make it more convincing, I selected this image as I feel it is nice and sharp and liked the bright colour of the cowboys shirt, I didn't need to do too much editing to the main subjects, just levels, curves and bit dodging and burning. Canon EOS 5D lens EF 70-200mm f/2.8 David Scott EFIAP, DPAGB

This mono image of Eileen Donan was taken in early July 2021, enroute from our Invermoriston holiday home to Plockton. It was a handheld panoramic of 4 images taken from the shoreline next to the carpark. The images were shot in landscape mode with a total shift of 30deg. I used a Canon R6 with my Canon EF 50mm f 1.4 US lens exposed at f11 and a shutterspeed of 1/80 sec. Fast enough using the R6 with its in body stabilisation to avoid using a tripod. The pano was merged using lightroom Classic to generate a crop ratio of 2.35:1 and processed originally as a colour image. Although I liked the colour shot, it lacked the drama that the castle deserved. So I decided to convert it into a mono image using Silver Efex pro 2 and a favoured high structure preset. That done, it only needed a few minor brush adjustments to create the effect. I left the tourists in the frame – judge bait. Ian Monk 11.11.2021

Dance - This was a studio shot taken with a Canon 5D Mark 3, ISO 100, F5.6 at 1/160 sec and 50mm focal length. The shot was taken with the idea of capturing the moment while framing the face with the fabric. The shot was taken in Raw in colour and edited in Camera Raw, then cropped and turned into mono in Photoshop. Gillian Temple LRPS DPAGB - 15/12/21

1st Colour Print- Feeling Blue by David Bolton {DPA Club Secretary) This image was taken at the Edinburgh Festival with a Canon 7D DSLR using an 18 to 250mm zoom lens. The initial background was a stone pillar which I overlaid with a texture to strengthen the image of the artiste . The image was smoothed using Topaz Denoise , contrast was increased using Curves in Photoshop and sharpened selectively with Photoshop's High Pass filter .
David Bolton DPAS Club Secretary 1st Mono Print - Cullen Harbour by Allan Petrie The picture at Cullen harbour was taken in April of this year, it was a pretty windy day and the rain was coming in. The shot itself was 1/640 ad f/13 ISO 800. I wanted to try a reasonably fast shutter speed to freeze the wave coming over the wall. There was cropping, straightening and spot removal done in lightroom with a further conversion to B&W in silver Efex. 1st DPI - The Inevitable by David Scott The Inevitable - Again, shot recorded at the rodeo, rider trying and failing to control the Bronco, with help at hand. I thought this image more suited the mono treatment with a high degree of contrast, I like the final result, I thought it shows the high drama in this event. I kept to my system of clearing the background of distractions and adding the dust to help create the drama. CANON EOS5DS LENS 70-200mm f/2.8 David Scott EFIAP DPAGB

ROCKET FUEL - This is a straight photo with minor tone adjustment in Lightroom and sharpened using Topaz Sharpen AI. The photo has not been cropped post production but was taken in the “cropped sensor” camera setting. No further manipulation has been carried out in order that it qualifies as a Natural History photograph. The small white butterfly was feeding on the flowers of rocket in my rear garden. Camera - Canon EOS R5 Lens - Sigma EX 180mm F2.8 APO Macro DG HSM Exposure - I/400sec at F10 ISO 500. Kenneth Goodfellow, LRPS CPAGB President DPA

1st Colour Image - 'Guarding the Door 'by Gillian Temple Guarding the Door - This is a church wall and a studio portrait blending together in photoshop. 1st Mono Image - 'A Man with his Stick' by Gillian Temple This is also a studio shot - using a main studio light with an addition light to lift the shadows. Other Winning images by Gillian Colour 2 Times gone by - This is also a composite image using a landscape, a ruin and a portrait and blending together in photoshop. 4 Eyes on the Finish Line - this was taken at the Scottish Coal Race in Kelty. Using a shallow depth of field kept the runner in focus and blurring out the background. I positioned myself on the road ready to catch the runners just as they came up the hill to the finish line. 5A path through the woods - This is also a studio shot and then placing the girl into a woodland scene and adding the yellow glow of the lamp in photoshop. Mono 2 One for the road - This is a studio shot, and using a simple glass and a chair as props. 3 The Clippies - This is a composite image taken on the same day, positioning the clippies in front of the bus to tell a story. DPI 2 Curious Squirrel - Waiting until the Squirrel was in the right position and then capturing the moment with a fast shutter speed and shallow depth of field. DPI 5 Young Nuthatch - Using a fast shutter speed to capture this young Nuthatch as it came into the woodland clearing to eat some nuts. ! st Digital Image - 'Lekkerwater Sunrise' by Ian Monk 'Lekkerwater Sunrise' was taken from a rocky outcrop near the De Hoop Nature reserve Lodge at Lekkerwater a couple of hours before breakfast. The name Lekkerwater means "Good Water" in Afrikans. The 34 000-hectare onshore reserve extends 10km into the Atlantic with all shipping prohibited to protect the breeding 'grounds' of the Southern Right Whale and the amazing marine life. I used a Canon R6 with RF 24-105 lens set at F11, and exposure bracketed three shots nominally 1/200, sec which were combined later in photoshop. I didn't use lightroom for the HDR as photoshop usually does a better job of alignment. The rest of the editing was done in lightroom, with only some adjustments to temp, contrast, shadows, clarity and saturation and increasing the blacks in areas in shade and some masked sharpening.

I was very honoured to win the 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions of the Colour section of the 4th Monthly competition. The 1st place image is a studio shot of a Bride. Draping red and gold materials behind the bride to compliment her outfit, a square crop and a small amount of skin retouching in photoshop was all that was needed. The shot was taken with a Canon 5d, at 50mm with 100 ISO with F7.1 aperture and 125 shutter speed. The 2nd placed image was taken in the woods in the spring with the bluebells surrounding me in the woods with beautiful soft light under the trees this shot took some time to take waiting on a bird to land on the twig in the bluebells. This was taken with my Canon 5d Mark 4 with a Sigma lens 150-600 at F6.3 shutter speed of 1000 and ISO 3200. The 3rd placed image was from a shoot I did at stables. It was a very bright hot day with strong contrasty light, so the girl and horse were standing in the doorway to the stable with a black backdrop and light with natural light. I was able to remove any distracting background objects and reduce the saturation of the girls outfit as it was too overpowering for the shot and wanted to have it closer to the colour of the horse. This was taken with my Canon 1DX Mark 2, 24 to 105mm lens at 70mm F3.2, shutter speed 500, and ISO 800. Gillian Temple LRPS DPAGB - 17/02/22