Alan Lewis

Now it comes down to POWER, VERSATILITY and COST.

The power of a gun is given as a Guide number and the bigger the number the greater the power (light output). Most guns have a clue to their guide number in the model name e.g. 580EX (guide number is 58).

Versatility points are tilt and turn facility, zoom, power output control, remote triggering etc.

I advise you to get the most powerful and versatile flashgun you are willing to pay for. They're not cheap but should last for years.

My personal choice would be the 580EX II an expensive purchase at around £380 but a good investment too. I have it's precursor the 550Ex about ten years old but still a great gun.

You don't have to stay bound to Canon flash guns because there are some very good independent makes out there which are also excellent but I don't know enough about them to advise you. The Metz 58 AF-2 for Canon and the Nissin D1866 MkII for Canon might be worth considering (cheaper than the Canon equivalent).

Hope this helps

Alan Lewis

Alan Lewis

Thanks for the links and comments. I'll take a look shortly. I have other questions about flash guns and tripods which I will ask in the "Camera and Gear" folder.

Alan Lewis

You could actually ask that other users help you develop your photography by making constructive critiques on your images - some are very good at this and know what they're talking about, others aren't - you don't have to accept the advice, but sometimes it works.

OK. Which sites? You could try :-

Flickr. (this has hundreds of different kinds of groups)

ePHOTOzine www.ephotozine.com

Photocritique www.photocritique.net (quite gentle with rigid rules)

There are probably lots and lots of others but have a look at these to see what you think.

Arf

When you could examine it one could appreciate why, I would have stuck with Slam Dunk.

Congratulations again Dave

Alan Lewis

Our judge for the evening (one of the finest in my humble opinion  ) actually used the word "atmosphere" twice during his critique and Slam Junk certainly ooses atmosphere and mood. Personally, I don't think judges generally give enough consideration to the atmosphere, mood and any other metaphysical attributes of images. Too often they get bogged down in sharpness, focus, cropping and the dreaded mounting. Mood, metaphor and the metaphysical aspects, which show you more than you can see in the image, often get completely ignored or are mentioned as an afterthought. I would take the reverse stand and consider the 3M's (mood, metaphor and the metaphysical) first and then ask if the photographic techniques of focus, composition, sharpness etc are sufficiently well performed. I believe we need to "see the whole picture" first and then analyse the details, not vice versa.

I was of course delighted to have been awarded Print of the Year considering the illustrious company I was in (my fellow NPS members of high standing  ) but I have to say that it's taken me some time to win this particular award; 26 years in fact  so it was high time I actually managed to produce a half decent print that a judge would also like. It seems that by the laws of probability even a blind squirrel bumps into a nut sometimes.

The winner of the PI of the year was a new member entering the competition for the first time. This reminded me that I also won The Dennis Wood trophy on my first attempt in 1986. The judge was Eric Danielson, another fine example of the human species. I just hope that history stops repeating itself at this point Dave Merchant because if not then 2038 could be your big year!

What I was trying to put forward, very poorly, in my grade C, CSE English way was the idea of a group of members "mentoring each other" creating just a little peer pressure "lets do this for our team" attitude, to submit prints / PI`s and should the group have difficulties, they could then, approach one of the senior photographers for advice.

I as much as anyone within the club have benefited from the unceasing advice and help from all within the club. Thanks to all.

Except of course when its time for Tea and no biscuits.    

Diolch..

Just a few quick thoughts on the above:

Taking the Print and DPI of the year and the low entry when compared with both the monthly competitions and the membership numbers. Members would appear to be assuming, not always correctly, that there is little chance of success if they have not had a high scoring entry during the year and therefore no amount of encouragement will change their minds. There would clearly be no additional cost involved if they have already submitted their image in one of the previous comps.

Therefore to boost the number of entries and fill the evening for both the members and the judge should we allow two entries into each category, with only the highest placed scoring?

On the help for members issue, I can only agree with Arfon, that there is an abundance of help and advice in the club should newer members request any help and guidance wether through the beginners class or on an individual basis, or even through this forum.

I also agree that the need to walk before being able to run is the way forward breaking a large task into small chunks. (How do you eat an Elephant?  -  In small pieces) The way In a previous pastime I instructed in a sport which expected participants to learn a little well before progressing to the next level. On one occasion I was thanked by a member for getting him through a particular level, I explained that he had done it by his own efforts - I could only show him the way. The effort to progress must come from the individual member

On building confidence a friend of mine belongs to a club in the Midlands where their monthly competitions are judged on two levels, Intermediate and Advanced with members progressing from one to the other.

  On a more more positive note a couple of relatively new members are now doing well in the Club comps, and our newest member is submitting work for selection to the external battles.

I know that some of us sometimes make disparaging comments about judges tastes when they differ from our own (all referees have their parentage questioned at times LOL) but really these people have usually been around in photography for a long time and many "have been there, done it and got the T-shirt" so they are worth listening to. They will, by their critques, give invaluable advice on composition, cropping, things to avoid, strong points in technique etc. A case of "look, listen and learn".

For a newbie in digital photography there's an awful lot to master and maybe some want to run before walking? If you're unsure about printing and mounting, then leave it for a while and just concentrate on getting good projected images. These cost nothing and then when you get more confident in producing correctly exposed and well composed images - the basics, only then move on to printing and mounting. Personally I hardly made a print during my first five years at NPS (I don't make that many now) I concentrated on slides back in the 1980's. There was no processing to worry about and no printing and mounting, just taking pictures and developing good camera technique and compositional skills.

Of course these days you will need some basic image manipulation skills using Photoshop or Elements - cropping, resizing, level adjustment, cloning and sharpening will sort out most problems and these skills can be learned very quickly.

No matter how much help and guidance is given, you have to actually do it and practice, practice practice. Of course you'll get failures (we all do) but you'll also get better.

We shall be running basic Photoshop/Elements classes over the summer with Colin in charge and a few of us old hands helping out. Take some images and bring them along so that we can work on them together.