The Trust has been in existence for approximtely ten years. To date the Trust has financed its assitance, to those in need, via private donations, with only the occassional fund raising event.  

Due to the ongoing drought, as well as other economic pressures of living in rural Australia, members of the Trust have experienced a greater demand for assistance. To meet these demands the Trust now wishes to both lift its profile as well as gather more funds, through a charity art auction.

The Invitational Art Auction will be held 20th September, 2008 (doors to open at 10am with the auction to begin at 2pm), plus an evening preview, scheduled for September 19.  

The last art auction held in Crookwell in March 2007, sold over $34,000 worth of work, with $28,500 being donated to the ‘Back-a-Bushie’ Appeal.  

The invitational will be limited to 40 artists and be held at the Crookwell Memorial Hall. Featured artists that have already committed to the exhibition, include Adam Cullen, Cherry Hood, Margaritia Georgiadis, Max Cullen and Graeme Townsend as well as American artist, John Dawson. 

The exhibition will also include local Upper Lachlan Shire artists, as well as respected regional artists.  

Having previously participated in the “Back-a-Bushie” appeal, Benjamin Townsend Photography has been asked to enter a work into the upcoming auction. 

The above landscape of Mt Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania, was chosen as the piece to be entered into the auction. The image will be printed as a high quality giclee print, and then mounted and framed. 

For further details on the CDCT charity or the art auction, please contact Benjamin Townsend Photography for more information and we will able to pass along suitable contact details. 

Benjamin Townsend
Photographer
http://www.btphotography.com.au

These retouching or post-production services are usually offered and carried out by the photographer, however in some circumstances a graphic or web designer may complete them, or for those on a very tight budget, they may attempt to do it themselves. As you will see in any good photographer’s portfolio, many of these following steps have been carried out to present the images in their best light.

Whilst a good result from the actual photography is imperative, there are certain steps in post-production that should be an absolute minimum for any image to be used for marketing purposes;

• Colour correction – adjust the overall colour bias of the image to make it look natural and / or suitable for it’s intended use. Especially important for portraits to give natural looking skin tones.
• Spotting & dusting – look for odd spots, scratches, or dust marks in the image and retouch them out. Sometimes these marks are unwanted elements in the image itself (such as a piece of rubbish in a landscape), and sometimes it is from dust settling inside the camera due to environmental issues or simply from changing lenses.
• Level horizons – One of my pet annoyances. It is not always possible to get a perfectly horizontal horizon whilst shooting, however there should be no excuse for presenting an image as such (unless it is purposefully intended) as this is a very simple fix. It stops the landscape looking as if it is falling off the page.
• Cropping – The initial photograph can be constrained by location, lens availability, shooting wide for flexibility, or other factors. Cropping can easily remove extraneous items to acheive the best composition.
• Image sharpening – The amount of sharpening required for an image depends upon in intended purpose, and the size at which it will be published. A photographer ideally needs to know what uses the image will see to be able to complete post-production, and if another party is to complete the post-production, the photographer will usually supply the images un-sharpened.

For clients, it is important that you make sure these steps are taken either by your photographer, web or graphic designer, or by yourself to acheive the best results.

For enthusiastic amateur photographers, these simple steps can often make an otherwise good image really shine.

Benjamin Townsend
Photographer
http://www.btphotography.com.au

To start off simply, there is a relationship between shutter speeds, aperture settings, and ISO settings (or film speed as it used to be known).

To begin with, the ISO setting indicates how sensitive to light the digital chip (or film) is that records your image in the back of your camera. The lower the number, the less sensitive the chip is, and so the more light will be required to achieve a proper exposure. For example, an ISO setting of 100 will require more light than a setting of 800.

The second important point to note about ISO is the sequence of settings. The main settings stand at 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 (please note that the sequence may extend higher or lower in either direction depending upon your specific camera model). Notice that each number is the double of the one preceding it or halving of the number following. Additionally, each number represents a doubling of the sensitivity of the chip and therefore a halving of the amount of light required to make an optimum exposure (make sure you understand this point). i.e. ISO 200 is double the sensitivity of ISO 100, and because ISO 200 is twice as sensitive, you only require half the amount of light.

Next, shutter speeds. Shutter speeds are measurements of the amount of time your camera shutter stays open (and therefore admitting light to the chip). Shutter speeds are represented by a series of numbers with the main settings along the lines of  2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, etc.. Each one actually represents a fractional number, so when you see on your camera the number 30, it actually means 1/30 and is measured in seconds, i.e. one thirtieth of a second. Therefore as the above sequence increases it is actually referring to the shutter staying open for less and less time, 60 meaning one sixtieth of a second, 250 meaning one two hundred and fiftieth of a second, etc. When a shutter measurement is talking about full seconds, it is usually represented by 1”, 2”, etc, or is sometimes printed in a different colour on your camera dials.

Please also note that the sequence of numbers is once again a double (in some cases approximate, i.e 8 to 15 and 60 to 125) of the number before or halving of the number following. This means that each increase in the setting (i.e. 30 to 60) will let in half the amount of light, as the shutter will open for half the amount of time than the previous setting.

So, putting it all together; for a given ISO setting, and under particular lighting conditions, we need a certain amount of light to make a correct exposure. Any of the combination of settings below would let exactly the same amount of light through to the chip.

ISO 100
Shutter	1/8	1/15	1/30	1/60	1/125
Aperture	f11	f8	f5.6	f4	f2.8

When we increase the sensitivity of the chip (i.e. we change the ISO setting) and take another photo under the same lighting conditions, look at what happens to the combination of shutter / aperture settings.

ISO 200
Shutter	1/15	1/30	1/60	1/125	1/250
Aperture	f11	f8	f5.6	f4	f2.8

N.B. remember that 1/15 will often be shown as 15 on your camera, 1/30 as 30, etc.

A quick note on choosing which combination of settings to use.

The aperture setting determines how much of your scene will be in focus. A wide aperture settings (f2.8 – f4) will mean the subject you are focusing on will be sharp and everything in front and behind will start getting fuzzy which is good for portraits for example, whereas narrow aperture settings (say f11, f16, higher) will get more foreground and background to the focusing point being sharp, which is good for landscape.

With shutter speed, you do not want the shutter speed set to slow as you will begin to get camera shake, which is when the camera moves whilst the shutter is open and you get a blurry picture. If this is happening you will need to increase your ISO setting, or change the aperture setting as in the above tables to compensate, which will consequently increase the shutter speed.

I hope this helps somewhat to clarify the mystery of aperture / shutter / ISO. Good luck with your image making.

Benjamin Townsend

Photographer

http://www.btphotography.com.au

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Benjamin Townsend
Photographer
http://www.btphotography.com.au