Tag Archives: Zane Llewellyn

An Eventful Twelve Months for ECCG

Logo

Apart from completing the normal hectic schedule of over fifty shoots, twenty club meetings, several competitions, a beginners’ photography course and a one-month exhibition of fifty framed images to name just a few, the last twelve months has truly been an eventful period for East Cork Camera Group.

Finbarr O'Shea LIPF

Finbarr OShea LIPF

Back in March 2016, Finbarr O’Shea went to the Irish Photographic Federation Distinction (IPF) Sittings in Portlaoise where his panel was successful and gained him a Licentiate of the Irish Photographic Federation (LIPF).

Click here to see Finbarr’s successful panel.

 

Zane Llewellyn LIPF

Zane Llewellyn LIPF

In September 2016, Zane Llewellyn went to the IPF Distinction Sittings in Celbridge, Co. Kildare and he too entered a successful panel and was awarded an LIPF.

Click here to see Zane’s successful panel.

At the IPF Distinction Sittings at Thurles, Co. Tipperary the following November, Gráinne Davies became the first ever member of East Cork Camera Group to be awarded an Associateship of the Irish Photographic Federation (AIPF) which was the cause of great celebration for Gráinne and the club. Also at this sitting, Anthony O’Connor and Denis Barry were both successful and were awarded LIPFs on the day.

Click the links to check out Gráinne’s, Anthony’s and Denis’s successful panels.

Kevin Day 2

Gold Medal Winner – Kevin Day

To round out the year, Kevin Day went to the Southern Association of Camera Clubs (SACC) Qualifying Round of the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/17 in January this year and scooped one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals and three Honourable Mentions. This fantastic result qualified Kevin to go forward to the IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/17 earlier this month where he won one Gold and two Bronze medals as well as one Honourable Mention for his Red Squirrel studies.

You can see Kevin’s impressive winning images here.

All in all, a very successful year and 2017 is already as busy as last year and who knows what more good fortune the year will bring.

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click on the ‘Contact Us’ link above and leave us a messge.

 

How I Took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn

08 Zane Llewellyn - Weather

The shot above got Zane Llewellyn a first place in Grade A in our recent ‘Weather’ competition held at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 07/02/17. This is how he made it:

This was shot from the upper floor in Cahir castle with my old trusty Canon Powershot S5, 1/60s @ f/4 due to the poor light. The group of tourists were stopped as they listened to the tour guide. It was raining pretty heavily as they huddled under their umbrellas. The guide was standing directly below me, so the group was naturally facing my direction.

I liked the colour of the photo, but the large expanse of grass on the right was distracting from the colours of the umbrellas.

In Photoshop, I masked the individual umbrellas and the man, and put a black and white filter over it to remove the colour.

The poor light left the umbrellas looking a bit dull, so I boosted the colours with a colour blend layer.

I liked that one guy wasn’t bothered by the rain, I left him in colour as a focal point. This is helped by his position at the bottom of a leading line, the corner of the castle.

Well done Zane!

See also:
How I took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg
How I took that Shot – Joe Keniry
Competition Gallery
Competition Results and 2017 League Table

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

ECCG ‘Weather’ Competition – 07/02/2017

19 Joe Keniry - Weather

After the Christmas break it was great to get back into competition mode again. With twenty-five entries and thirty-one voters in house at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 7/2/17, there was a buzz about the room as the first internal competition of the year was about to kick off.

The theme was ‘Weather’ and, living in Ireland, there should be no problem getting shots for that competition surely? The strong entry was an affirmative answer to that question, and as the entries were projected, the voting got under way.

An hour later, the number crunching got under way and it was apparent immediately that there would be several close contests within the Grades. This is how the final numbers fell:

scores

Grade A saw current Photographer of the Year, Zane Llewellyn take first place while Kevin Day and Mervyn Daly took second and third.

Joe Keniry took top spot in Grade B with the image above which was also the highest scoring image across all Grades with 677points. He was followed in Grade B by Keith Johnson and new member Remigiusz Boron.

Grade C saw another new member, Sonja Eisenberg, take first place with Andrew Foley and Miriam Keogh in second and third.

Well done to all concerned especially our new members who didn’t delay in making their mark in the club.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the competition. Enjoy!

See also:
How I took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn
How I took that Shot – Joe Keniry
How I took that Shot – Sonja Eisenberg
Competition Gallery
Winners Presentation Photos
Competition Results and 2016 League Table

If you are interested in photography and would like to know more about East Cork Camera Group, click the ‘Contact Us’ link above.

 

How I Took that Shot – Zane Llewellyn

Not only did the image above win Zane Llewellyn first place in Grade B in our recent ‘Colour Burst’ competition, it also got the overall highest score across all Grades with a comfortable margin. This is how he made the shot:

I’d always wanted to try and photograph bursting water balloons and when I saw the competition theme of ‘Colour Burst’ I knew I’d have to give it a try.

Besides the photography equipment, the main items required  are water balloons and patience!

I turned my bathroom into a mini studio, with the balloons mounted over the bath and a black reflector on the wall behind, the camera was setup on a tripod outside of the splash zone and the flash setup on another tripod closer to the balloons.

It isn’t possible to freeze the water drops using the shutter and flash as this has a maximum speed of ~1/200sec or tops 1/800sec in Hi-Sync mode, neither would be fast enough. Instead the photo has to be taken in the dark with the shutter open, while the very high speed of flash will light up and freeze the water drops. As no other light is present, the shutter duration doesn’t affect the photo.

To take the shot, I’d have everything ready to go and then I’d turn off the torch, press the shutter, which was set to keep the shutter open for 5 seconds and then pop the balloon with a pin that I’d taped onto a stick.

To trigger the flash I used the TriggerTrap phone app. This uses the phones sensors to trigger the camera or flash, so when the balloon bursts the noise from the ‘pop’ triggers the flash and the burst is captured. It takes a bit of trial and error to adjust the sensor delay so the flash doesn’t trigger too early or late. Also, trying to hit a balloon with a pin on a stick in complete darkness isn’t as easy as it sounds!

In Photoshop I removed what could be seen of the stick and as the theme was Colour Burst, I created a colour gradient in Photoshop, and used the colour blend mode to colour the water.

This balloon decided to spring a leak instead of a dramatic burst 🙂

Well done Zane. Full marks for patience (and  creativity!)

See also:
How I took that Shot – Gráinne Davies
How I took that Shot – Karina Leeson
Competition Gallery
Competition Results and 2016 League Table