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Date Published: 01/06/2024

Murcia photo of the month June 2024

Here’s the top image of the month taken by the Los Alcázares Digital Camera Club (LADCC)

It was another busy month for the LADCC members, who used the fantastic ‘Festival del Aire’ in San Javier during May to practise taking images of fast-moving planes. There were also several fiestas, plus, of course, good weather, which gave members some great photo opportunities.

The monthly competition entitled ‘Rocks and Stones’ also had the members out hunting for suitable interpretations. Sixteen photos were judged by the members, which again proved difficult due to the high quality of the photos taken. The winner was Bob Gasston, whose winning photo was taken in Murcia’s Rambla del Cigarrón, portraying a clever ‘inside out, cave scene’. One of the three runners-up images was taken by member Gary Hull. However, it was only after the members quizzed him about the photo that the full story came out – not only were the photos taken with a long exposure but Gary also suffered from a long exposure to the elements!

He recalls, “Deborah, one of our very knowledgeable members, had given a presentation at the club’s meeting the previous month which included some superb images created using a Neutral Density (ND) filter and long exposure. For our club’s monthly competition, I wanted to experiment with this technique.

“ND filters limit the amount of light hitting the image sensor, so you need to keep the shutter open for longer (a longer exposure) to capture a correctly illuminated image. This can lead to elements of the image being blurred if they move, or the whole image being blurred if you move!

“For my image, I used an ND filter and 1-second exposure to try to create milkiness in the sea movement. I didn’t want to set the camera down on rocks that were getting sprayed by the sea, so I crouched low and pressed my back into the rockface to steady myself. One second is a long time to stay perfectly still, and any movement would have caused the whole image to be blurry.

“I also wanted all the rocky sections in my image to be in focus, those in the foreground as well as those in the distance. For this I adjusted the aperture (hole in the lens that the light goes through) to be very small – when the aperture is large, for example F2.8, you get a shallow depth of field, so only a section of the image is in focus and the rest is blurry, but with a small aperture, like the F22 I used for my image, most if not all of the image is sharply in focus.

“Finally, I selected an ISO (sensor’s sensitivity to light) to ISO200 to get the best possible image quality (less grainy/noisy), set the exposure bias to -1.7 to correct the light level, and set my lens to 24mm to get the widest image possible.

“The image was taken at Cala Del Barco, a beautiful secluded cove located in the municipality of Cartagena, in Murcia, accessed via a 1km steep and winding road down the side of a cliff.

“The tide was coming in, so to get the photographic composition I wanted, I had to time it so that the water was swirling around the rocks nearest to me, but not covering them. Within a few minutes of taking the image, waves started coming over the rocks closest to me, showering me and my camera with spray.”

We think you’ll agree that Gary’s photo was more than worth the effort!

LADCC meet every month at Las Claras Centre in Los Alcázares and also organise an outing to help with forthcoming monthly competitions. This month’s title for the competition is another challenging one, ‘Natural History’ and will test the member’s interpretations of what exactly qualifies as ‘Natural History’.

We couldn’t finish without showing readers Gary’s fall from grace and proof that a photographer’s life is not just a click of a button!

The club welcomes new members, either visitors or residents, as with modern day technology we can all keep in contact for training sessions, sharing knowledge or more regularly via ‘group chats’.

If you would like more information about the club, which meets usually on the first and third Tuesdays of every month, please do not hesitate to drop them an email to informationladcc@gmail.com or visit their website www.Los-alcazares-camera.club.com.

Images: Gary Hull

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The Los Alcázares Digital Camera Club (LADCC) was founded in 2006 and was originally called the LA Digital Cafe, where members met over a coffee to discuss photography. This quickly developed into a more formal programme of monthly photo competitions and outings to places of photographic interest.

Over the years, the club has adapted to the changes in camera technology and techniques, and continued throughout Covid by using ‘Zoom’ for online meetings and learning sessions.

Fast forward to 2024, and the club is now a small, enthusiastic, friendly group where members encourage and support each other at the start of, and throughout, their photographic journey. The group includes a wide range of people with varying skills, all of whom are happy to share techniques, tips and ideas to improve one’s hobby.

They have monthly competitions and outings that provide an opportunity to explore different aspects of photography and develop camera craft and artistic skills. Their indoor sessions may include in-house training, reviews of monthly competitions or planning outings to cover topics discussed.

They meet once a month at the ‘Centro Cultural las Claras’ in Los Narejos, which has super facilities and ample parking. Any outings are usually towards the end of the month to link in with our regular competitions.

New members are most welcome and if you would like more information, please make contact as follows: