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.
3rd Annual Photo Walk – July 24th 2010
Posted on | May 31, 2010 | 1 Comment
Ok, budding photographers, it’s that time of year when Scott Kelby organises the annual photo walk, and once again I am organising a photo walk as I enjoyed it last year even though the weather wasn’t great.
I am still working out the route, but it will be close to, or in, Northwich this year instead of near Oldham like last year. I am thinking that this time we’ll keep closer to civilisation and make it a bit more of a social event as well as taking pictures. The canals around Northwich are my likely choice but I’ll be announcing the route very soon and will be giving you a link where you can register your participation.
I’m looking forward to it already!
Top 10 Photography Accessories
Posted on | May 16, 2010 | 1 Comment
So, you have just bought a shiny new camera and are ready to go out and take lots of photos, but what else should you budget for when you buy a camera?
Well, here are ten items that I think are well worth taking into account when you buy your camera. You never know, you may get one or two of these thrown into the deal if you ask nicely.
1. At least one spare memory card is an essential. If you are lucky enough to get one with the camera, it’s not likely to be a very big one. Memory cards are now pretty cheap, and a decent Sandisk Extreme III 4GB Compact Flash Card can be had from around £18. So why not get two!
2. If you have a DSLR with detachable lenses then from time to time you are going to get some dust in your camera. Dust is evil and will create lovely spots on your images so you will need to clean the lens or sensor. An easy way is to get a Giottos Rocket Air Blower which will blast any dust out of the camera. Plus they look pretty funky too and are under £10.
3. So you are now collecting a few extra bits so you’ll need somewhere to keep them all. So a bag will be a handy thing to get. Now, the bag you get will largely depend on the type of camera you get. You aren’t going to get a big back pack for a small compact camera. There are hundreds of cases and bags available though, just bear in mind that it’s always better to get a bag than can hold more than you own right now. It won’t be long before you buy more equipment, and you don’t want to have to buy a new bag each time too.
4. A lens cloth is an important accessory. You really shouldn’t be using your fingers or shirt sleeves to clean your lens. Any small particle of dust on your sleeve or finger could scratch the lens, even a very fine scratch can effect the image as light will react differently as it passes through that area of the lens. So get a decent lens cloth and keep it in a clean pocket of your bag. Only use it for cleaning your lens and definitely don’t use it to clean anything else on your camera.
5. A very useful accessory for bridge or DSLR cameras is a UV filter for the front of your lens. This is actually more of a protection accessory than a functional accessory as this filter will protect the glass on the lens. Filters are a lot cheaper to replace than lenses. I would advise not to go cheap here. The filter will be another layer of glass and can effect your image, so paying for good quality filters is well worth it.
6. This next one isn’t one you are going to keep in your camera bag, but it’s a very useful accessory to have. A card reader for your computer will make transferring your images from your camera to your computer a lot simpler. Getting a multi card reader, one that accepts more than one type of memory card, will make it a lot more usable and means you will still be able to use it if you ever change your camera and it uses a different type of memory card.
7. A tripod is a very useful accessory to have, but they can be very expensive. If you are using a compact camera or a DSLR with a small lens, then a great accessory to have is a GorillaPod tripod. These have flexible legs which can be wrapped round fences, trees, chairs, anything really and hold your camera still for longer exposures or photos that you want to be in too.
8. Now you have taken lots of pictures, you should share them. Sharing your pictures online is a great way to get feedback on them and also show your friends and relatives how good you are. I use Flickr.com and pay for extra space and uploads. It’s a great site too, very easy to use.
9. Depending on the sort of pictures you are taking, having good reference material can help you a much better shot. For instance, if you are into wildlife then you need to learn about the wildlife you are taking pictures of. If landscapes are your thing, then learning about the location will help you find a better viewpoint or a better time of the year to go.
10. Pretty soon you are going to fill up your computer’s hard drive with all your shots so an external hard drive is a useful addition to have. If you are going to get serious then you’ll want to set up a proper backup routine which is where multiple hard drives are very useful.
Photography Course Update
Posted on | April 25, 2010 | No Comments
Well first off, I wanted to apologise for the lack of updates regarding the Photography Basics courses I run. After moving to Northwich it’s taken me longer to find my feet than I thought (they are probably still in a box I haven’t unpacked yet) and I’m still getting to know the area.
This means I haven’t had much luck in finding a base to run the courses from. I am, however, looking into setting up a longer term course which would run over several weeks as an evening course. I have found a possible location but things are moving slowly so can’t really tell you anything more. I do hope it will work out though.
The one day courses are still something I would like to run though so I’ll keep looking for a room to hire and try and get something set up soon.
Until then, I have a few more articles planned so hopefully that will give you some help and inspiration to get your camera out and take more pictures.
Challenge Part 1 Update
Posted on | January 31, 2010 | No Comments
Well, after setting myself a challenge, I thought I’d better do a bit of an update.
I have now got all the equipment I reckon I need to get to grips with the strobist style of photography, which is basically using flashguns off camera rather than proper studio lights.
So an equipment checklist gives me the following:
Sony alpha a700 DSLR with a selection of lenses
Vivitar 285HV Flashgun
Sony HLV-F42 Flashgun (this is to replace my problematic Sigma EF-500 DG Flashgun)
5 in 1 reflector, giving me a white, black, silver and gold reflector plus a large diffuser.
Cactus v4 radio triggers
Shoot through umbrella to diffuse light
Umbrella and flash stand and clamp
Lots of rechargeable AA batteries
So, that’s plenty to get me going. So how successful have I been? Well, I’m going to own up here and say things haven’t gone quite to plan yet. I have been very busy with other things, mainly my full time job, so I’ve had little time to experiment. The experimentation I have done has been purely to test the equipment and see the differences in the images. The first thing I did was to set the Vivitar flash on the stand without an umbrella and using the same settings on my camera for each shot by shooting in manual mode, I varied the power of the flashgun keeping everything else constant. This showed me how much of a difference the change in flash power would make to the same scene.
Note: It’s always a good idea when you experiment to do so using the same scene and composition. That way you can easily see how the changes you are making effect the photo.
The next thing I tried was to see the difference the umbrella made and how the diffused light differed from the direct light of the flashgun.
To be honest, that was as far as I got. So not very inspiring yet.
The next task is to explore how altering the aperture and shutter speed will effect the picture. Obviously reducing and increasing the amount of light that can get through will alter the picture, but it’s how it all works with what ambient light you have which is the key.
So, I’ll be doing some more experimentation when time allows. I’m also about to move house which isn’t going to help with finding the time to do this, but the up side is that the new pad will have more room for these experiments, so that’s something to look forward to.
Photography Courses for 2010
Posted on | December 20, 2009 | 2 Comments
Well 2009 is nearly over and out of all the courses I have run this year, I think only two were without any rain. Good old England eh?
I am planning more courses for 2010 but they are not going to start until spring as I will be moving house early next year and will need to find a new location to run the courses. Along with the standard basics course, as I have lots of requests for them, I will be setting up an intermediate course to cover things in a bit more detail and maybe look at certain areas of photography a bit more specifically. I am also looking once again into running an Adobe Photoshop course. This was always my original plan as Photoshop goes hand in hand with digital photography. This does largely depend on what facilities I can find and what they will charge me, but hopefully I can get something arranged.
Along with my courses, I plan to organise a few more photography walks throughout the year. I enjoy the photo walks a lot as it actually gives me a chance to take some pictures which I haven’t had a lot of time to do lately. There are lots of locations that are easy to get to around the North West, so I’ll be sorting more of them out.
I will be doing some product reviews too. The difficulty in doing a product review is that you need the product to use and test. This can be expensive, but as I have collected a few new bits of equipment over the last few months and will no doubt be collecting some more, I’ll try and review the bits that I think will be of use to other photographers. If companies would like to donate anything for me to test and review, then I’d be more than happy to do so.
I am hoping 2010 is a bigger photography year for me than it was this year, I had high hopes at the beginning of the year, but life just got in the way. With a new location and some new motivation I reckon 2010 will be a lot more photographic.
Still have places left on my photography courses.
Posted on | November 12, 2009 | 1 Comment
I thought I’d post a quick reminder that there are still places left on my photography basics course on the 29th November and 6th December.
I have also had several email enquiries come through, but have been unable to reply due to problems with the email address that has been entered, so if you have emailed me in the last few days asking about places left on the course, then yes, there are places left so please book online and I will confirm your booking via email.
New Photography Basics Course Dates
Posted on | November 2, 2009 | No Comments
I have just added two more dates for my 1 day photography basics course for this year.
The dates are Sunday 29th November 2009 and Sunday 6th December 2009. The day costs £35 per person and will include a light buffet lunch.
All the details can be found here.
There are 15 places on each course, but I have had a fair few inquiries before I was able to confirm the dates so I am hoping the places get booked up. If anyone has any questions about the course, then just let me know.
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