One of our most recent members, Dave Bathard, gave a presentation on Mono Conversions”at our latest club night. The fact that this was well attended, suggests that, as a group, we are eager to learn and use new skills, and we were very grateful to Dave for sharing his considerable expertise in the field.

With a photographic background deeply rooted in dark rooms and film cameras of the past, Dave has a wealth of knowledge about getting the very best out of the developing tray and the papers available both then and now.

As a result, the multitude of mounted examples that we were able to examine illustrated how knowledge of specific processing techniques in years gone by were crucial when aspiring to pin sharp monos without grain as a result of limited exposure values.

Dave is a great believer in the fact that in order to be successful in the modern era, with all our digital efforts and modern papers, one has to understand where all the technology has come from. Equally he insisted that photographers must not only know their subject well, and avoid being a ‘Jack of all trades’, but must also ensure that their choice of paper for printing must match the desired effect.

He was a great example of a photographer who “knows when they have arrived and waits for the best moment” to capture the image and then make the very best use of it.

Using Photoshop, Dave demonstrated his work flow in transforming his raw images to stunning mono prints using the full range of colour basics afforded by Adobe RGB and applying his knowledge of adjustment layers and gradient maps to get the desired effect.

There were some challenging concepts and the need for those using other processing methods to think hard and go away and apply the gems we were party to. It will be interesting to see how our mono photography progresses in the coming months.

Next week we look forward to Lee Spencer judging our Triptych entries, and as Christmas approaches, we will be circulating details for members to enter our final two competitions of 2024, The Witcombe Trophy and Picture of the Year.