The Photocraft Forum

There's a free talk by Don McCullin as part of the Chelsea History Festival on Saturday evening (7.30) - find out more and book at https://www.chelseahistoryfestival.com/event/sir-don-mccullin-on-photographing-history/

Back in the distant mists of time (February 2020), seven of us from the club sent a selection of prints into the two Open Print Competitions (Colour and Monochrome) organised by the South London Federation (SLF). We are all still sadly living in the shadow of what followed shortly afterwards and it had proved very difficult for the relevant SLF judges to combine their viewings and thoughts in order to judge and score the entries. But we finally have received the results and once again, Photocraft has shown its photographic skills are up there with the best! So it is a big Well Done and Congratulations to the following for their achievements: OPEN COLOUR PRINT: WINNER! Dave S - Midnight Encounter The Judge's comments: Might be a bit of a "marmite" image to some but it's creativity and apparent simplicity made this my winner. The eyes have it, the rim light around the shoulders works well and the positioning of the cats head in the moon is just right. The black is really black - which sounds simple but is often just not quite righ t. SPECIAL MENTIONS TO: MARK B - THE BIG BLUE The Judge's comments: A delightful triptych with the dark element in just the right place in the image on the left and the fact that the other parts two are virtually identical (but not quite) just works so well. We see some triptych's which just don't work - this an for me an example of one that really does and it's beautifully presented as a print which makes it even more enjoyable. The different detail throughout the print just adds to it. BRIAN C - BEDDINGTON PARK MIST The Judge's comments: A print which shows how it's all about the light and the time of day when it comes to landscape photography. I particularly enjoyed the light on the water on the bottom right and the mist, together with the trees (trees often look so much more interesting when they are leafless) provides a very atmospheric feeling. Shooting straight into the light can be a challenge but the photographer knew that they needed to get this one right with an almost water-colour effect. Great choice of paper. OPEN MONOCHROME PRINT CERTIFICATE TO DAVID P - A SPACE TO WORK, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM The Judge's comments: Wonderful composition and study of children totally immersed in their studies. The tonality is lovely, and being brave with the whites has paid off, lifting the image above the ordinary. There's total attention to detail on the vertical & horizontal lines in the framing of the shot. Each child plays a part, so superb timing. Our other entrants were: Many B David H Martin F It is great to see that once again, Photocraft Camera Club members get recognised for their creative and photographic skills. For a small club, we do very well so I hope these results go to show that all of us have a chance to get our photographic talents seen, enjoyed and recognised as being amongst the best in the region. Brian

Lockdown has made me revisit some technical features of my camera that I was unaware of, and this included “back button autofocus” which many middle to high end cameras have as a specific feature. Cameras that do not have this feature can often through the menu system enable another button eg AE to be reassigned to become an autofocus button. Before I continue just to remind ourselves that normally using the shutter button on the front of the camera locks autofocus and the shutter, so using the shutter button to autofocus on the subject requires holding the button halfway to lock focus and then to depress fully for the image to be captured. If the subject moves distance this requires refocusing on the subject and locking again. Having locked does allow you to reframe the subject. By changing to a back button focus system this separates the camera from linking focus and the shutter, the shutter button just takes the image capture, the back button is for autofocus. There are many circumstances that can benefit this alternative system of image capture. To set the camera up several changes have to be made: 1 set to continuous autofocus 2 Set to spot focus 3 Disable the shutter button so that it does not autofocus but does retain exposure. 4 enable back button autofocus The process will become clearer if you use the links below to demonstrate back button autofocus which can be used in viewfinder or live view mode. I have only looked at DSLR systems but I assume it will work for mirror less cameras. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZYFy0vQ8ts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3sLs_8ywY8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PN9R0D3pF0 pentax K3 ( my camera) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLJIGUqjth8 canon https://www.lightstalking.com/canon-back-button-focusing Nikon https://www.wikihow.com/Switch-Your-Nikon-Camera-to-Use-Back-Button-Focus#:~:text=%20Using%20the%20Back%20Button%20Focus%20%201,same%20time.%20Otherwise%2C%20your%20camera%20won%27t...%20More%20