Tenby Camera Club members have been showcasing their work.

October 6 was the date of judging of the First Open Competition. Judge, Ed Cloutman, unfortunately couldn’t attend in person so back to Zoom members went. There were prints and digital sections for the first time since early 2020.

The print competition had 15 entries with street, landscapes, sport and wildlife genres. There were 10 prints held back. Two were commended images by Andy Watkin and Cheryl Hewitt, and four were highly commended by Dave Bolton, Ali Rees and two by Jan Sullivan.

The bronze award was given to two prints, ‘Chasing the light’ by Gary Mayhew and ‘Sacred’ by Gill Mackay.

The Silver position was taken by Dave Bolton with a firework shot ‘The Statue of Liberty’.

The Gold Award was given to Gill Mackay whose clever street photograph ‘Pigeon Post’ captured a unique moment in time.

There were more digital entries, 21 in fact. Carefully checked over by Ed, who held back 10 entries, the zoom audience once again enjoyed a wide range of interesting material.

Three images were commended, work by Cheryl Hewitt, Jan Sullivan and Gary Mayhew. Four images were highly commended, two each entered by Dave Bolton and John Whitehurst.

The Bronze was won by Jim Stobbart with an adder portrait ‘Predator shedding Skin’ and he also took the Silver with a mouse photo ‘Only room for two’.

The Gold was given to Liz Wallis for her action dog capture ‘Jump’.

October 13 saw the club back in St Florence Hall to welcome a husband and wife team from North Wales, Rob and Sharon Prenton-Jones.

They are both at the top of their game in creative composites and they spent several hours sharing their knowledge and expertise in that field.

They both hold photographic qualifications to a high standard so the audience were enthralled with the talk.

They captivated and charmed with their relaxed manner but still imparted an abundant amount of facts, tips and guidance to start composite photography.

There was plenty of useful demonstrations and help on where to get ideas, computer processing, photographic techniques, equipment required and possible hacks to keep the costs down.

The talk definitely inspired club members to be more creative but also to develop the portrait side of photography and the use of models and studio work.

A very genuine vote of thanks was given to Rob and Sharon for sharing their extensive knowledge so freely and for taking many questions.

This talk was followed up on October 14 with an optional paid workshop with Rob and Sharon to further develop skills but in a much more practical manner.

This was well attended with the morning given over to how to approach a studio/set up photo shoot with models.

Advice on etiquette to the models and fellow photographers, how to acquire the desired expressions , what props are useful and how to guide the scene for what is needed.

Rob and Sharon demonstrated techniques using two live models, John as a knight and Leah as a young lady of court.

Then it was Tenby’s turn, putting into practice what members had seen in the morning, gaining confidence and helping each other.

After lunch, Rob and Sharon then moved on to post processing techniques, showing how small adjustments enhance the final image amazingly.

Working on one of the studio images taken that morning, they showed how to cut out the subject and incorporate it into new surroundings.

In the example, the knight was placed into a misty woodland scene but he looked false until many small adjustments in Photoshop blended him into the setting as if that was how it was taken originally.

A super workshop with two excellent presenters who worked with patience and care. Many thanks to Rob and Sharon Prenton-Jones.