Small items on a white background
Posted on | January 8, 2012 | No Comments
During the time I have been doing and teaching photography I have been asked on several occasions about taking photos of small items against a white background. This could be for things like jewellery or small items that you might be selling on eBay, or in my case it’s for images of my LEGO Minifigure collection for one of my other websites.
So here is the shot I ended up with:
As you can see, it’s a pretty basic photo and I’ll own up to the fact that it’s actually really easy to get this effect which is why I’m writing about it on my Photography Basics site.
Gear List
Here is what I used for this shot:
- Sony Alpha A700
- Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Lens
- Manfrotto 190XPro B Tripod
- Manfrotto 322RC2 Head
- Sony HVL-F42AM Flash
- 3 Sheets of white A4 paper
- Gaffatape
- 1 Robot Minifigure
Ok, some of my gear isn’t what every beginner might have, but you don’t really need a tripod, you can hand hold the camera or rest it on a table or a bean bag. You don’t need an expensive flash gun, the on board flash will work almost as well with the method I used.
Lighting
The lighting setup for this is very simple, the technique is to use bounced light and reflected light and this is where the sheets of A4 paper come in. You only actually need 2 sheets of A4 paper, but the weight of the paper I used was quite thin so I just used two sheets to form a curve of paper to act as a background for the shot.
The other sheet of paper is used to attach to the flash. This high tech piece of equipment is very easy to make, just fold one A4 piece of paper along the dark lines and then softly fold (so as not to score the edge) along the lighter line along the centre, like this:
Then just attach it to your flash. If you are using just the camera’s pop up flash you might have to get a bit more creative with the gaffer tape, but the end effect should look similar to the photo above.
What this will do is create a softer pool of light around the subject from the flash which will help reduce any shadows and create an even lighting effect. Couple this with the reflected light from the curved paper and you will get the even white background with minimal shadows on the subject.
Camera Settings
When I am doing this type of photography where I want ultimate control over the image and lighting, I use the fully manual setting (M) to allow me to control both the aperture and shutter speed independently. I also use the manual settings on the flash so I can control the level of lighting.
Now, as we are using the manual settings, we aren’t going to get things right with the first shot. My approach is to set some ball park settings on the camera and the flash and then adjust one at a time to achieve the results I want. So lets take one setting at a time, first aperture. I know I need to get all of the LEGO minifigure in focus and as I am taking fairly close up photography I know that the depth of field is a lot less the closer you get to the subject. So, to get a decent depth of field, I started with f11. For a shutter speed, I set the camera up with 200th of a second. The flash I then set on half power. This is all guess work for me, but the settings I used gave me the flexibility to move them either way.
The first shot was a disaster, everything was way too bright and you could hardly see the minifigure in the shot. So what options do I have to darken the image. Well, my first thought was that as the image was way too bright, reducing the flash level was my first route so I turned the flash down to 1/8th power. Now we are getting somewhere, but things were still a bit bright, so now I decided to tweak the aperture. Remember that the aperture controls how much light reaches the sensor while the shutter is open. If the image is too bright, reduce the aperture size by making the F number larger. I ended up using F16 to get the final shot.
Summary
So, if you break this down into the techniques actually used, you using the basic principles of working in a studio just on a much smaller scale. You are controlling all the lighting yourself. You are using manual settings on the camera and adjusting the settings based on the fundamentals of photography, aperture and shutter speed (in this case, I didn’t adjust the ISO settings at all). Using the results of your test shots you can adjust one setting at a time and get closer to the result you want.
So now you have a mini studio, why not practise using it. The weather is pretty rubbish at the moment (or it is where I live) so you have no excuse not to. It can all be done on your coffee table in front of the TV. What could be better?
Running Photography Courses
Posted on | December 29, 2011 | No Comments
I get a lot of emails asking when the next photography course will be happening and I usually reply with something along the lines of ‘not just yet as I’m really busy with my day job’ which is actually true, but I’ve been thinking about what sort of courses I could run in 2012 and I thought I’d throw out some options to my readers to get some ideas and thoughts on what might be possible.
I thought about how best to structure them and came up with the following:
Total Beginner
This is a 1 day (10am to 4pm), run on a weekend, practical course for groups who haven’t used any features on their camera other than automatic and just want to learn the basics. The course will be outdoors, involves group theory sessions along with as much one to one assistance as I can get in. Bring your own lunch and refreshments (we’ll be in easy reach of shops or a pub). A PDF of all topics covered will be provided via email after the course so there’s no need to take notes.
Group size: up to 10 people
Suitable for any type of camera.
Price will be around the £45 mark for the day.
I Know A Bit
This is the next stage from the total beginner course for people that understand some of the fundamentals, or have been on the total beginner course. It’s also a 1 day course (10am to 4pm) run on a weekend. We’ll cover more advanced subjects but a basic level of knowledge will be assumed, again it will be largely practical. It will also require slightly more advanced equipment, for instance cameras that allow you to use manual settings for aperture and shutter speed. Again, bring your own lunch and refreshments. A PDF of all topics covered will be provided via email after the course so there’s no need to take notes.
Group size: up to 10 people
Suitable for advanced compact cameras, bridge cameras and DSLRs.
Price will be around the £90 mark for the day.
One to One
This is for people who want to learn specific areas in photography and have the camera gear to do so. So you might want to concentrate on one area like sports or macro or just have a refresher course by yourself. I can tailor the session to you and it can be for as long or short as you want. I will contact you beforehand to get an idea of what you want to learn and come up with a plan for what will be covered. These would have to be run at weekends.
Group size: 1
Suitable for any type of camera
Price will be around the £20 per hour. How many hours you want is up to you.
So they are the courses that I’m thinking of running, and I emphasise THINKING of running, they are not available to book yet. Obviously with them being outdoors, they are dependant on the weather, so they might need to be rescheduled if the weather is really bad on the day.
So, let me know if those sort of course will be of interest to you. If I get enough interest, I will get some dates organised.
Don’t forget to pack your bag
Posted on | August 14, 2011 | No Comments
One of the items that many people forget when starting out in the world of Digital SLRs is a decent bag to safely carry your new expensive gear round in.
Lowepro have been one of the market leaders for camera bags for years, they have a huge range of camera bags and pouches suitable for basic digital compacts through to high end DSLRs with a collection of lenses.
This has enough space to carry a decent amount of kit, plus enough room for some food or a lightweight jacket. One big advantage is that you can store the camera with a decent sized lens attached. This means you don’t have to fumble around connecting your lens if you need your camera in a hurry.
The other plus point for me is that my macbook will also fit into it which means if I go away for a day or two I don’t have to lug about two bags as I like to review my photos on a larger screen while I’m away.
It’s not the funkiest looking of bags, like Crumpler
Taking photos at a zoo
Posted on | May 21, 2011 | 3 Comments
Visiting a zoo is a fantastic place to see animals that you wouldn’t normally see in the country you live in. I am fortunate to live near Chester Zoo in the North West of England and try and visit the zoo a few times a year. I do have favourite animals like the chimps, orang utans and elephants but it’s great to see any type of animal you wouldn’t normally see when out and about in the UK countryside.
One of the tricky things for photographers is to take a photo where the animal looks like it’s in it’s natural environment and with all the railings, fences, feeders and other zoo visitors that can get in the shot, it takes a bit of thought and some luck to get a shot where you wouldn’t know the animal is in a zoo.
Take this shot for example:
At first glance it looks like a good photo, even if I do say so myself, but when you get past the main subject of the two elephants you see all the man made structures in the background which make it obvious that this wasn’t taken in a natural environment.
So how do you go about getting a more natural shot?
1. Picking your view point is the first step. Look at the enclosure and find a background that looks the most natural. Take a test shot to see how best to frame the shot.
2. Now this is where it takes a bit of patience. You need to watch the animal and see where it’s likely to go and if it’s likely to wander to the location you’ve picked out with a natural background. If after a few minutes there is no chance that the animal is going to move to the chosen area, then you need to pick another location. Watch where the animal is going and see what options you might have. For example, the Jaguar at Chester Zoo has a route that it uses to get round it’s enclosure and there are several places where you can take a photo that doesn’t have the fencing in the background.
3. Use a wide aperture to blur out the background. This will also help blur out man made objects and fences so the person looking at your shot won’t notice them as much. This shot of one of the giraffes keeps the giraffe as the main focal point with nothing to distract the eye in the background.
4. Crop in tight on the animals to again reduce the chance of seeing anything man made in the background. Fill the frame with your subject, even to the point of cropping part of the animal out of the shot. Use the composition techniques to follow guides like the rule of thirds to produce a pleasing shot.
5. Be lucky. Ok, so this isn’t something you can be sure of but make sure you are ready to take a shot if the opportunity comes around. Have your camera set up and close to our eye so if a funny or unusual situation occurs then you’ll have a better chance to get the shot. I hardly ever turn my camera off when I’m at a zoo, you can rely on the camera’s built in power saving to turn itself off but come back to life as soon as you need it. Always make sure you know what your camera is set too. If you’ve just been inside in one of the indoor areas then your camera is likely to be set up wrong for using back outdoors. Who knows, you might just get a shot that you could easily have missed.
At the end of the day, going to the zoo should be an enjoyable day out and I try and make sure I don’t spend the whole time with my face behind the camera. Just being able to see some of these animals, quite often endangered species, is reward enough and getting a decent photo is a bonus.
That’s the way I look at it anyway.
Choosing a Digital SLR
Posted on | February 28, 2011 | 4 Comments
Nearly four years ago I wrote a post on choosing a digital camera. Now technology has moved on, technology has got smaller, better (in most cases) and cheaper which means that digital cameras are now cheaper and the chance of getting a digital SLR are now easier.
Now I don’t confess to being a real photography gear geek and know all there is to know about each and every model of camera out there. To be honest, I don’t want to know. I read the odd article in magazines and on the internet, but I prefer to get recommendations from people who have actually used the equipment and give it good reviews.
I do have a few guidelines though when recommending a camera. So here they are. I hope they prove to be useful.
1. Stick with the following brands: Canon, Nikon or Sony. These are the big three brands, well, Sony is catching up and in my opinion is ahead of any of the other brands other than Canon and Nikon, and yes, I use Sony, so I can recommend them based on experience.
So why only choose those three. Well, they are the most popular brands and if you look at any pro photographer whether it’s a wedding photographer or a National Geographic photographer, nine out of ten of them will be using either Nikon and Canon and the other one will probably use Sony. Well, ok, forty nine out of fifty will use Canon or Nikon and the other one will use Sony. So that’s got to prove something hasn’t it?
The other reason is that as more people are using those brands, there will be more second hand equipment available which is always well worth looking at when choosing a digital SLR. Photographers will generally look after their equipment, so the second hand market is always something to consider.
2. Don’t spend all your hard earned cash on the best camera body. The camera lens is very important and can have a big effect on the quality of the image. In some camera plus lens bundles, the lens can be of lower quality with a high quality body. This isn’t always the case but it’s worth doing your homework on both the lens and the body. Don’t just assume the lens is going to be a good one.
3. Do your homework. OK, you’ve seen a few options within your budget, you’ve checked that the lens and body package is a good one, but now you need to check what other people think so it’s time to hit the internet. There are lots of places to find out what other people think about a product. Forums can be good but you have to take a lot of what people say with a pinch of salt. People like to talk about bad experiences a lot more than good experiences so you might see two people say something bad but there could be a hundred people who think the equipment is great.
Reviews are something that you should pay attention to. If a product has had 20 reviews and they are all good reviews, there is a good chance the product is actually pretty good but if they are all bad reviews, then I’d probably steer clear of that product. One handy site I’ve seen is TestFreaks.co.uk as it gathers camera reviews from several web sites into one place. I often use amazon as a source for reviews even though I might not actually buy from them, but it has served me well so far.
So, do your homework and narrow down your choices.
4. Test your options out. OK, so now you narrowed your choice down to maybe three or four options, but so far you’ve not actually held them in your hand. An important factor is confort and ease of use. If you can’t figure out easily where the menu options are, or the dials aren’t easy to turn then you aren’t going to enjoy using the camera. So, unless you know other photographers with those cameras, it’s time to go along to your high street store and try the cameras out. It’s here you have to be strong and not get persuaded by the salesman to buy there and then. If you find the perfect camera though, don’t be afraid to haggle. High street shops are desperate for business so it never hurts to ask. Most shops will price match too so don’t forget to ask.
You’ll notice I haven’t been mentioning any specific camera models in this article and to be honest, I don’t need to. If you set yourself a budget of say £500 and choose a camera from canon, nikon or sony they are, ready for this, all going to be very similar. To a beginner or someone just starting out with a digital SLR you aren’t going to really notice the differences between them and each one will give you all the tools you need to learn photography and achieve some great images.
So, work out your budget. Work out all the bits you will need like memory cards, a bag etc etc then look at what cameras are available with the cash you have available. Do your homework, read what other people think and test them out if you can and you will pick a camera that will serve you well and let you get out an enjoy photography.
Final photography course of 2010: Cancelled
Posted on | November 7, 2010 | No Comments
UPDATE: unfortunately this course has been cancelled due to too few people booking the course. I will be running more courses in the spring when the weather improves.
I am running one more Photography Basics Course this year on the 5th of December. You can find all the details here and book online too.
I hope the weather will be kind to us, and I’m looking forwards to running it.
1 Day Photography Basics Course 17/10/2010
Posted on | October 3, 2010 | No Comments
I’m running another 1 day course on Sunday 17th October. There are 8 places available so get in early.
It will be a great day and you’ll come away able to control your images and think about how to get the results you are aiming for, and all for just £35.
You can find out more and book the course here: http://www.photography-basics.com/products-page/1-day-photography-courses/1-day-photography-basics-course-17102010/
Photo walk report
Posted on | July 25, 2010 | No Comments
The Annual Worldwide Photo Walk has now passed and the Northwich walk took place yesterday. We only had a small group turn up, but the rain held off (just) and we had a good walk from Northwich town centre along the canal to the Anderton Boat lift. The weather wasn’t ideal for photos, an overcast bright sky making landscape shots tricky and there was a bit a bit of a breeze which made close ups of the flowers and insects a little tricky too, but it there were still opportunities and I snapped away with my 11-18mm wide angle lens to try and get some reasonable shots.
Here are are my favourite shots from the walk that I took. I have tweaked them in Adobe Lightroom, which is my software of choice for photo editing, and due to the flat lighting we had, black and white enabled me to push settings around a bit and make some slightly more dynamic looking images. Nothing award winning, but at least I got something out of the day.
Overall it was a good afternoon. I met some good people, enthusiastic about photography. I got out with my camera, which is something I don’t get a lot of time to do at the moment. I had a nice pint of Guinness which is always a bonus.
As I only moved to Northwich in February this year, I am still finding out about what photographic opportunities there are in the area, but I’m hoping to organise some more photo walks through out the year so keep an eye on this web site for more info.
The day of the Photo Walk
Posted on | July 24, 2010 | No Comments
Well, today is the day of the Worldwide Photo Walk in Northwich. Obviously the Northwich event is only a small part of the big picture (excuse the pun) and there will be thousands of photographers around the world out taking pictures today which is great news.
For those coming along to the Northwich walk, the weather is looking promising and I’m looking forward to it. At the moment it’s only events like this that I get to go out with my camera so hopefully I can bring back some decent pictures. The question is though, what lens to bring?
When I do these types of events I like to challenge myself and stick to one lens only. Yes, I might miss some opportunities for a good picture, but it does help you get more creative, look around you more for the shot and makes you concentrate a bit more on taking the shot. All good ways to learn. I’m currently leaning towards the wide angle 11-18mm for some interesting perspectives, but I’ll make the final decision just before I leave the flat.
I’ll be tweeting during the walk too, so follow @photobasics if you want to see what’s going on, look out for the #WWPW tag on twitter to see what other walks are going on too. I’ll try and take a few shots from my iPhone along the way too. I’ll do a full report after the event too.
If you can’t make it to any of the photo walks, why not just take half an hour to wander round your garden with your camera and take a few shots, or take your camera with you when you take the dog for a walk. Either way, get out there and take some photos.
Northwich Photo Walk Details
Posted on | June 19, 2010 | No Comments
There are now more details up about the Photo Walk on 24th July that I am leading. To find out more information and to register for the walk, please visit this site:
http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/northwich-england-united-kingdom/
The benefits of registering are that you will be able to enter the photo competition for images taken during the walk plus I will be able to easily contact you with updates about the walk and any other important information.
I am looking forward to the walk and meeting photographers from the area, or further afield. It should be an enjoyable afternoon.
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