IFAS Calander

Thanks for that Seanie, we just need to ensure that we are open about what we are using the funds for if we are going selling.

lets push on and get images in.

Seanie_Morris wrote:

manic_dave wrote: What exactly are the funds being used for?
I don't ever remember IFAS publishing accounts or seeing minutes from an AGM.

Transparency is not an issue. There are minutes of all previous AGMs available to the committee members, or (like all organisations) available privately upon request. As are IFAS's balance sheets and income+expenditure accounts (committee/IFAS Reps only). Rest assured, IFAS has operated above and beyond what is needed, should it ever need to apply for funding, charitable status, tax clearance certificates, trusteeships, and so on.

For IYA 2009, IFAS received a generous contribution from Discover Science and Engineering Ireland, which was distributed among the member clubs back then to use as they see fit. Since then, there is no funding available, but there is support from e.g. DIAS when SolarFest comes around. Apart from this, all IFAS earns is the membership of participating clubs upon January's renewals.

If more funds were available, then IFAS can pursue more avenues of publicity for every club, from promotional items like flyers, magnets, stickers, and more for outreach events, to even contributing to an IFAS event where there's an astrophotography workshop, guest speakers, and more. The latter two are already in the pipeline by the way, but funding issues limit what can be done.

A quirk of whether to increase membership has always been 'what will the increased funds be used for?', and so beings the going in circles for a time til a proper plan is conceived. To begin with a souvenir calendar, offered worldwide, is a good start to alleviate any pressure on clubs to cough up more on membership fees, especially since the likes of South Dublin AS, which had no membership fee for its own members and therefore no cashflow, its IFAS membership was paid for out of John Flannery's own pocket.

More funds for IFAS means more contributions back to members clubs. It's a win-win situation.

Seanie.

manic_dave wrote: lets push on and get images in.

In my opinion, before we publicise submission requests, we still need to hear people's views on where the funds will go. Reps and Committee Members are currently conversing about this (though trying to get more reps involved right now is tedious). My reason is that if this is an IFAS fundraiser instead of a charity fundraiser, then it might mean a reason for one to submit a photo for one IFAS use over the other reason.

There is time enough. We can have 1 to 2 weeks for submissions, the Calendar can be turned around for proofing within a week, and prints can be done (in most cases) next day. So today being the 1st of October (and the momentum of this thread ramps up and is noticed more), then the likelihood that readers should prepare their gear for taking some wicked astrophotography (if they haven't got a wicked image already) til the submissions window opens!


Seanie.

Great idea! :rock:

Unanimously agreed upon by the IFAS Reps and Committee is that the calendar become a fundraiser for IFAS to help it further promote astronomy and allied subjects in co-ordination with the efforts of its member clubs.

Details can be found here:
www.irishastronomy.org/index.php?option=...07&Itemid=211#102039

Already, people have chipped in with ideas, input and offers of help, and it is great to see!

Seanie.

Just a question that came into my head when out walking the dog :huh:

Re the voting - will it be done online or offline? If online (along the lines of the monthly competition) then surely you also need RGB images. You have stated re RGB and CMYK " however please be aware that some colour alteration will occur during the converting process".....will that not hold true also if you put the CMYK images up on the site for voting on?

I really don't know and in any case it may not be the plan to put them up on the web..... but I was just wondering about that point though because the visible change (CMYK/RGB) between one entry and another may make a huge difference in what those voting are actually looking at.

Kinch.

That's a great question Brendan. In truth, colour variations are very subtle between RGB and CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yallow blacK), but as there are folks who will be very explicit in the colour balance of their final image, I had to make the point to eliminate any blame or responsibility of the printer for any (possible) colour variations.

Think of it like this, for example: Black on your monitor is a combination of the ratios of RGB being 0%/0%/0%. To get a true black on a printer would be a CMYK ratio of 0%/0%/0%/100% - but a rich black, that visually is black, could be a variation like 12%/56%/31%/89%.

Even in an RGB mode, visual colour variations are going to occur because of monitor type (TFT/LCD/CRT), screen resolution (to a lesser extent) and then contrast/brightness settings (on an individual's basis).

I think that the merits of an image when being voted upon are not just on it being a pretty picture, but on how the final image was achieved, special characteristics, and techniques used, and so on. Only the author of the image, with their colour-calibrated monitor will notice any (extreme) colour variations (like yourself) from one monitor to another.

When an image is supplied at 300dpi resolution (default original aspect size for any printer) and in jpeg or pdf format with a CMYK colour balance, you're pretty much guaranteed a tolerance of just a few percents from printer to printer when printed.

Hope this helps,

Seanie.