Club History - 1990s
In 1992 a talk was given to the society on the use of hand held exposure meters (that is separate from the camera). This indicates that photographs was still very much a manual process often involving taking several pictures at different exposures to get one good result.
However in 1994 the Society’s newsletter featured an article from David Graham Associates of Horsham offering an “electronic imaging bureau service”. The Society visited for a demonstration offering computer manipulation of conventional film photographs. Images were scanned to produce up to 120,000,000 bits of information and then could be altered in shape, size, background or colour. It must have appeared truly amazing.
Digital photography was the new phenomenon of the decade - in the early 1990s only 2 or 3 members were producing digital images, but the quality of early cameras was poor and could not compete with prints produced from conventional film cameras. At the time, the thinking in the society was that digital was not the “be all and end all” and it was probably just a temporary craze!
However through the 1990s the new technique of digital photography evolved with the popularity of home computers. Images could not only be printed but could be altered using computer software. Some members regarded this as almost cheating but by the end of the 90s digital images were fully integrated in competitions with prints produced from film and were almost indistinguishable.
By the end of the 1990s approximately 50% of members had gone digital.
However in 1994 the Society’s newsletter featured an article from David Graham Associates of Horsham offering an “electronic imaging bureau service”. The Society visited for a demonstration offering computer manipulation of conventional film photographs. Images were scanned to produce up to 120,000,000 bits of information and then could be altered in shape, size, background or colour. It must have appeared truly amazing.
Digital photography was the new phenomenon of the decade - in the early 1990s only 2 or 3 members were producing digital images, but the quality of early cameras was poor and could not compete with prints produced from conventional film cameras. At the time, the thinking in the society was that digital was not the “be all and end all” and it was probably just a temporary craze!
However through the 1990s the new technique of digital photography evolved with the popularity of home computers. Images could not only be printed but could be altered using computer software. Some members regarded this as almost cheating but by the end of the 90s digital images were fully integrated in competitions with prints produced from film and were almost indistinguishable.
By the end of the 1990s approximately 50% of members had gone digital.
