Digital Group

Meets monthly, September to May - see Calendar for venue.
Starting 7:30pm for the beginners tutorial, then from 8pm for the main meeting.

This group trains and supports the majority of our members using digital techniques to produce their images. There is also an email distribution list for day-to-day issues and queries.

The subject is inevitably technical but we try not to be too 'techy' and spend most of the time discussing digital images produced by the group and the challenges that they have encountered.

Beginners

The first 30 mins, from 7:30 pm, of each meeting is dedicated to a tutorial for beginners. Over the course of every season we cover all the core skills that are required for basic proficiency. In the past, absolute computer novices have produced spectacular and successful images in a couple of seasons.
Accommodation is limited and everyone in the group is expected to be actively engaged in digital imaging with at least an adequate computer and suitable software.  Photoshop Elements is our standard program and is recommended. Digital cameras and scanners are not necessary.

Audio-Visuals

After going out of fashion in recent years, audio-visuals are back!. Digital technology enables us to create sophisticated sound and picture shows of high quality. To ensure that the synchronisation problems and mucky slides of the past are not replaced by software crashes and system errors, we have now extended our scope to cover A-V creation. Past A-V masters are sharing their experience in image blending and audio mixing and slots will be set aside periodically to show the results.

Software
We have standardised on the A-V software PicturesToExe and purchased a club-wide license. The program can be downloaded from WnSoft Inc. and if you are a paid-up club member, email Steve Brabner (see Communications link) for the free registration code. The ubiquitous Windows Media Player (Ver.10 or above) rips music from CD to mp3 files and Audacity is an excellent free audio editor. A LAME plug-in is also needed for mp3 encoding. See Audacity's website for details. An increasing number of people are very keen on ProShow Gold which is more powerful but regarded as easier to use than PicturesToExe.

 

Projected Digital Images

See the Calendar and Competitions links for competitions dates and rules.

Colour Management

At first our prints didn't match our screens. Then we bought a projector, e-mailed images, and posted them on the internet and the problem became worse. Since 2005 we have really focussed on this issue and a combination of profiling and an understanding of the correct way to set up and use our systems has largely solved this problem.

The following two documents explain how to achieve print and screen matching and how to achieve consistent colour between different systems and with the club projector;

To view and save the recipe for Print to Screen Matching click |here| *Updated December 2010*

To view and save the recipe for Achieving Consistent Colour click |here| *Updated December 2010*

The club owns  an X-Rite 'Color MunkiPhoto' which enables profiling of monitors, printers and projectors.
If you wish to borrow it (free of charge to members), contact Mike Hynes - see Webmaster in 'Contact Us' |here|

Finally, here is a test image to help you assess your system;
To download the test image (614KB) right-click |here| then select 'Save Target As..'
Reference prints of this test image are available within the club to compare with your own printer output.

Further Information

As well as helping with individual members' images, we cover a wide variety of subjects in the Digital Group. Examples include Image Noise, Panoramas, Sensor Cleaning, Sharpening and Image Management. Notes of these discussions are available on the APS Forum  under the Digital Group topic |here|.

If you need further information on any digital matters, please contact Steve Brabner, who can also advise on equipment and Photoshop training. See 'Digital Group Leader' in 'Contact Us' |here||