MONTHLY CHALLENGES
All our Challenge images can be seen at Amersham Beyond Group on Flickr.
For APS Members only, the images are also available for viewing and commenting on Facebook here.
The current Challenges are;
#38 FILM GRAIN
#39 CHALLENGE YOURSELF
… and the latest Challenge,
#40 SURREALISM
Challenge Yourself projects continued with almost as many images as the new Surreal Challenge which produced creative, bizarre and sometimes disturbing images in abundance.
Many of the images are self explanatory but some notes are worthwhile recording;
New Phone Apps; Bob has been playing with PhotoSplit (iOS 99p) which enables multiple exposures to be overlaid and blended. Note that in the Apple App Store there are several similarly named apps and this one does not appear initially. This is the one by Yoya and I found it linked from PhotoSplit Lite (which is free but has a watermark).
Ray’s summer project resulted in evocative Tintype-style images. He explained that these were achieved by post-processing rather than noxious chemicals but highly impressive nevertheless. Hopefully he will give us a demonstration in the future. They were inspired by the book Nebula from Spanish photographer Jacqueline Roberts.
David’s complex multiple exposures were achieved not by post-processing or an app, but by in-camera multiple exposure modes and some happy accidents.
There are many examples of modern Surrealism online for inspiration and Michael Wilson has step by step tutorials on his images using Affinity Photo. Historical Surrealists that can be found online include; Arthur Tress, Philippe Halsman, Lee Miller, Dora Maar Rene Magritte and Man Ray.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
We don’t shy away from AI which has already provided us with remarkable images and very useful tools. However, I propose to put some boundaries around the use of the technology for our meetings. Members' comments are welcome;
- Any image in which the primary subject or the majority of the whole image area is AI-generated should be declared as such and shown in the BEYOND US section of the meeting. The most recent source of this is Generative Fill in the latest 2023 versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Beta which is extremely powerful (though can be stupid).
- I won’t include such images in the Flickr or FB galleries for the group.
- AI tools that provide assistance such as helping with selections or increasing resolution are fine.
- Tools in which the entire image is generated from text prompts (eg Dall E and Night Café) are interesting and entertaining but must be declared as such and be limited to photographic styles rather than painting or drawing styles. We have to draw the line somewhere! Again, they won't be shown in our online galleries.
Of course, we don’t have the copyright of the AI generated content so any such material should be not be used in competition although changes to small areas may be acceptable. It rather depends upon the flexibility of your principles. Interestingly Adobe are tackling this issue with their Generative Fill tools by only teaching their software using identified images from Adobe Stock. In future this will be limited and chargeable and the providers will be paid.
The next Challenge has been suggested by Chat GPT (thanks to Chris R) and will be;
#41 PHOTO HAIKU
Illustrate a Haiku poem. The poem need not be your own but it should be included in the image.
Haiku is a Japanese traditional poetry form and consists of 3 lines;
Line 1 is 5 syllables
Line 2 is 7 syllables
Line 3 is 5 syllables.
Traditionally it does not rhyme and is about nature. It aims to express much and suggest more in a few words.
You need not follow any of these rules but keep it short.
If you are not naturally poetic there are (of course) poetry generators online for many styles including Haiku.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be on Thursday 7th December and will be in the Drake Hall, Amersham Community Centre.
Cheers, Steve