STUDENTS with a love or interest in photography can put their skills to the test in a competition run by the Redlands Camera Club.
Entrants could have their work displayed during a weekend exhibition in September.
Schools exhibition directors Robyn and Bill Sturgess said the club had conducted and supported photographic exhibitions and displays for 20 years.
“About nine years ago when we opened our exhibition to school children, the club became committed to encouraging the youth of the Redlands to further their interests and skills in photography,” Mrs Sturgess said.
“Many of the Redlands schools have been participating in the show for a number of years now and each year we see the standard of the entries reaching a very high level.”
Mr Sturgess said students did not need any experience, just a love or interest in photography.
“They will only be competing against other young people of their age group and all awarded images will be on display alongside national and international entries,” he said.
Mrs Sturgess said a basic camera or reasonable mobile phone was all that was required for people to enter.
“With the level of interest that most people show in mobile phone photography, this year we have added a new category containing two new topics,” she said.
The two mobile phone photography themes are ‘What makes me happy’ and ‘What makes me sad’.
The other four topics are: Nature, people, open and creative altered reality.
Mrs Sturgess said conditions of entry, topics and definitions of topics for the youth competition are online at redlandscameraclub.org.au/schools_exhibitions2018.html.
“Each participant will need to be familiar with the size requirements of each image and the less stringent rules for youth that pertain to each category, for example, a ‘nature’ image cannot be modified in Photoshop other than cropping and light fixing,” she said.
The club also has a section for youth to enter monthly photographic competitions.
Asked for some basic tips to help students new to photography, Mr and Mrs Sturgess said:
- Crop the image to enhance the main subject of that image. Your phone or camera must be set on the highest resolution possible to allow cropping.
- Light fixing or bringing out the shadows or toning down the highlights always enhances an image. These steps are possible using free editing programs from the internet. Entries can be either in print form or digital.
- Just before taking the photograph, check there is nothing distracting in the background and that the horizon is horizontal.
Entries for the exhibition can be submitted from May 28 until July 21. There is no cost for youth to enter and awards are presented to the best in each category. All accepted images are displayed to the public.
The photographic exhibition runs from September 29 to 30, with awards presented on Friday, September 28.
The exhibition will be at the Cleveland Uniting Church hall, Passage Street, Cleveland.
For information contact Mr and Mrs Sturgess via schoolexhibitions@redlandscameraclub.org.au or phone 3822 1212 or 0409 628 001.