News

Coming Up: 29th Nov - Double Header

Hi All,

Coming up this week, we have two presentations from our very own members: "Shooting Kids" with Karen McCrea, followed by Donal McCann FRPS, "From Flickr to Fellow".

As members already know, Karen McCrea is a wedding/portrait photographer who has a special flair for children's photography.

Donal McCann has set himself up as one of Northern Ireland's greatest architectural photographers in a relatively short space of time.

It is much appreciated that both Karen and Donal are giving up their time and passing on their expertise to other club members, I for one am really looking forward to it.

Thanks,

Barry Lau
Chairman

Mentoring Competition Results

22nd November saw the exciting conclusion to our mentoring competition started on the 1st November.

Beginners entering the competition were split into two teams and each team was assigned a mentor. Barry Lau ARPS and Donal McCann FRPS were the mentors for this competition.

During November the entrants worked closely with their mentors who guided them in bringing out the best in their images.

Images were entered into two categories, mono print and PDI's.

The top scoring mono prints was submitted by Mel Boyle, and the top scoring PDI was from Saravanan Appukuttan.

You can see a fuller gallery here.

​Mel Boyle

​Mel Boyle

Saravanan Appukuttan

Saravanan Appukuttan

Coming Up: 22nd Nov - Beginners Competition evening

Hi All,

This week we have our BPIC Beginners Competition evening.

Members have already submitted their images to Donal McCann FRPS and Barry Lau ARPS and received valuable advice on how to enhance them through processing.

This Thursday they will have the opportunity to submit one colour pdi and one mono print to a fresh panel of judges who will cast their expert eye over them and provide a score for each! Feedback will be provided on the night and members given the opportunity to discuss the process.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone has achieved and finding out who has won!

Thanks,

Barry
Chairman

Coming Up: 15th Nov - Still Life & Macro

Hi All,

This week at the club we have our second studio night "Still Life & Macro!". Only this time our models will be exotic animals from Eco Mantella, a local business in Belfast. This will be a fantastic opportunity to get close and personal with the likes of tarantulas, snakes and birds of prey.

For those who would rather keep their distance, do bring your long zoom lenses! Given the subject matter, anyone with a macro lens would make great use of this evening. We will be setting up various lighting stations so feel free to bring your flashlights and even set up your own.

Thanks

Barry Lau
Chairman

Coming Up: 8th Nov - Photoshop/Lightroom workflow - Raw to Print

Hi All,

This week in the club we have our "Photoshop/Lightroom workflow - Raw to Print" night.

I will demonstrate the full workflow which you will be able to apply to any image such as correcting colour (white balance), adjusting exposure, levels, curves etc. We will then move onto more advanced techniques such as layer masks and touch on compositing. I will cover terms that you often hear such as bracketing, over-exposing and under-exposing.

If anyone is wondering how to do a particular process, whether its adding a new layer mask, how to resize an image, send an email across and we will try to accommodate this on the night.

Thanks,

Barry
Chairman

Coming Up: 1st Nov - Panel Critique Night / Select Mentor for Beginner Competition

Hi All,

This week in the club we have our "Panel Critique Night / Select Mentor for Beginner Competition". This will be a two part session to cater all beginners as well as anyone considering going for an accreditation.

Panel Critique Night - Please bring along 10/15 of your strongest images [on memory stick/CD or prints] and Donal McCann FRPS will go through these with you offering advise and guidance.

Select Mentor for Beginner Competition - The first of many fun BPIC competitions. We will split the group of beginners in two, one half being mentored by myself and the other half by Donal McCann. We will guide you through your images providing key feedback to improving the final image all in time for the beginners competition three weeks later.

This will also be the perfect opportunity for you to ask our advanced members advice on your images. If anyone would like feedback or critique on their work please bring along up to 5 prints or PDI's and we can talk through these and offer constructive ways on how to improve them.

Thanks

Barry
Chairman

Coming Up: 25th Oct - NIPA Round 2 Selection Night

This week is Round 2 selection of the NIPA club competitions where each member can submit 1 x Colour print, 1 x Mono print and 1 x PDI (Either colour or mono).

Remember that in order to submit a PDI you must log into the website using the username and password which was sent to when you registered. If anyone is having problems with this please contact Matt our website administrator using the contact section of the website or alternatively email me.

This Thursday is also showing of Round 1 at Christian Brothers. If anyone would like to attend the evening and wishes to submit images please contact me directly to arrange collections of prints.

Thanks,

Barry Lau
Chairman

Such beautiful people

BPIC's first studio night of the season kicked off with a brief introduction around the different light setups that the club currently uses, tungsten and strobe (flash).

Barry spoke about the problems some may face, such as white balance and camera sync speed and how both lighting setups differ.

Barry then covered the recent success of both members getting starred prints at NIPA and also the displaying of round 1 at Christian brothers next Thursday, this unfortunately clashes with the round 2 selection night.

Coming Up: 18th Oct - Studio Night

Hi Everyone,

This week is our first studio night of the season. It will be the perfect opportunity to get a hands on approach with studio lighting as well as the opportunity to ask any questions about any topics you may be struggling with.

Instead of bringing in a professional model we will be shooting each other! This is a great way to meet and chat to other members and get comfortable taking shots in a studio environment.

Feel free to bring along any props or items of interest to make your photograph that bit different - Hats, scarfs, glasses etc.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks,

Barry
Chairman

Janine Walker

Last night we had the first guest speaker of the season, and what a start it was!

Janine Walker was new to public speaking, but you wouldn't have believed, she kept the audience engaged, inspired and amused as she detailed the evolution of her career and talked about her workflow and methodology.

You can find out more about Janine here and she was kind enough to share a list of her inspirations with us; 

Thanks Janine.