Photo Group 1 members, Julie Pigula and Stephen Birchall, have both had recent success with their photographs.
Julie’s photo, ‘Copper On Blue’, won a gold medal in the Royal Photographic Society Digital Imaging Group annual competion and was a finalist in International Garden Photographer of the year, for which there were over 10,000 entries.
Here is Julie’s story behind the photo:
I took this picture at Bodnant Garden, Conwy, North Wales. The garden stays open late on Wednesday evenings during the summer months. As a photographer, this is the perfect time to be out in the garden when the evening light can be beautiful. This image was taken late one evening in July. There was very little wind, perfect for both flower and insect photography. Bees and a few butterflies were feeding off the flowers in the “Round Bed”
I was attracted to this small copper butterfly which had landed on some blue Eryngium flowers. It posed perfectly for a few seconds before flying off. I liked the combination of the blue of the Eryngium against the orange of the butterfly. After the butterfly had flown away, I took an out-of-focus shot of the scene and overexposed it by one stop.The picture was taken with a canon R5 with a Canon 100-400mm zoom at the 400mm end of the lens.
The two images were processed In Adobe camera raw. I adjusted the colour balance of both images. I then exported them into Photoshop and blended the two layers using layer masks. On a separate layer, I painted in some of the darker areas which remained. Finally, I made a selection of the butterfly and enhanced it to bring out the colour of the butterfly.
The photo had further success recently, along with Steve’s image of sunrise over the moss (below). They won 2nd and 3rd prize respectively, in the Southport Photo Society exhibition in the Atkinson Centre.
Of course, they learned everything they know by being members of Photo 1 (well at least that is what we are going to claim)
Well deserved congratulations to both Julie and Steve.
Although we have award winning photographers in our midst, Photo 1 remains a mixed ability/equipment group in which the members enjoy passing on their knowledge and helping each other out. If you are interested in joining us, please visit the Photo 1 group page. Remember, you need to be logged into the membership system to join or contact the leader.
If you would like more information about Southport u3a, please get in touch using our contact form.
