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 | No 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 | No Comments
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.
Challenge Part 1: Setting myself a challenge
Posted on | October 31, 2009 | 1 Comment
I’ve mentioned a few times about setting yourself little challenges to help you learn photography, so I thought it was about time I set myself one and blog about it along the way so you can see how I learn and hopefully see the results from beginning to end.
So my challenge that I am setting myself is to finally learn off camera ’strobist’ style lighting. It’s something I’ve been wanting to learn for ages but have never really set my mind to it. So it’s about time I did it.
For the type of photography I am interested in most, which is wildlife photography, flash doesn’t play a big part in it, so it’s something I have never really had to learn. Now the evenings are getting darker and colder and there is less wildlife about, it’s a great time to learn something new.
So, first things first.
What is off camera ’strobist’ style lighting?
Well, the term strobist comes from a web site set up by a photographer called David Hobby which was all about using small flashguns to light the image. So basically creating studio lighting effects with single or multiple cheap flashguns that aren’t attached to your camera.
Just check out these web sites for more info:
So if you’ve looked at those sites, you should now know what I mean when I say ’strobist’ style lighting.
So where do I start? What is my plan?
Well first of all I need to get the right equipment, so I need to do a bit of research. The perfect place to start is the Lighting 101 section of the strobist site.
That tells me I need a flashgun (I’m going to start off with only one flash to keep things simple) and a way to trigger that flashgun. That is all you need to get going.
I already have a few cheap Centon flashguns, but they don’t really give the control I am after, and my Sigma flash seems to be playing up and is not proving to be reliable, so it’s time to get a ‘new’ flashgun. Now, I don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds here, so a brand new all singing all dancing flashgun is out of the question. So second hand is an option, so it’s off to ebay.
Unfortunately, thanks to the success of strobist, cheap flashguns with the control you need are very hard ot find or very pricey, but there are a few bargains to be found if you are lucky. I wasn’t lucky and my search for various Nikon SB-xx flashguns wasn’t going well. I then read about the Vivitar 285HV which the strobist site recommends as a perfect flashgun for this sort of lighting. A bit more searching and I found a new one for just over £70. A bit more than I wanted to pay, but at least I know I have the right tools for the job. So that got ordered and will hopefully arrive in the next week.
So, that’s the flashgun sorted. Now, how do you trigger it?
There are lots of ways to trigger a flashgun that isn’t mounted on the camera. You can use the on camera flash and a slave module fitted to the flashgun which detects when the on camera flash fires. You can use a cable that connects the camera to the flash or you can use remote triggers.
After a bit of research and a lot of reading, I went for a set of cheap radio triggers sold by a company in Hong Kong called Gadget Infinity. They produce a radion trigger called the Cactus v4 and you can read lots about them on flickr and other forums. While they aren’t the best and most reliable, they are great for learning and most of all cheap.
So, I have spent £100 or there abouts, which is a bit more than I would have liked to, but when you look at the sort of photos that you can achieve with a simple set up like this, I don’t think it’s too much to pay compared to a lot of photographic accessories you can buy these days.
So my equipment for this challenge consists of:
Sony Alpha a700 DSLR
A Tamron 28-75 f2.8 lens
A Vivitar 285HV flashgun
A Cactus V4 transmitter and receiver set
Rechargeable batteries are very useful too, but fortunately I already had a few sets of them.
So that’s the equipment, now how do they work together. Well once the flash gun arrives and I can set it all up, I will post the next stage in the challenge: Making it work.
Chester Zoo Visit
Posted on | September 14, 2009 | No Comments
The Chester Zoo trip is still on for this coming Saturday, 19th Sept 2009. The plan is to meet there at about 10.30am, see if we have enough people to get the reduced entry fee, and then spend the day, or however long you want, taking pictures. I need to give Chester Zoo and idea of numbers asap, so if you are coming and haven’t told me, then please let me know.
This is very much dependant on the weather though, if it’s chucking it down then it might be best to postpone it. I’ll keep an eye on the weather during the week and keep you updated.
For those that have emailed me saying they are interested, I’ll be sending out some info this week.
Apologies for site downtime
Posted on | September 8, 2009 | No Comments
Unfortunately I tried to be too clever and tried to update the version of wordpress using my iphone. Great if it works, bad if it doesn’t… and it didn’t work. As I’m out in Canada, the opportunities to fix it are limited. So I’m now sitting in a car, with my netbook, within range of some free wifi, fixing it.
It all looks to be ok now, and I hope no one was trying to book a place on the photo course during the downtime.
There are plenty of spaces left, by the way, so please book your place if you wish to attend.
Course dates and a photowalk
Posted on | August 5, 2009 | No Comments
First of all, an apology. I was planning to run at least one course and organise a trip to Chester Zoo in August before I head off to Canada for a holiday, but I’ve just been very busy with my day job (I don’t do photography full time) and the dates I was available didn’t work for the facility I rent for the course.
So I am sorry I couldn’t get one organised.
But, September will give me the chance to run a course. Sunday September 20th will be the next course. There will be 15 places available, a buffet lunch and hopefully dry weather but who knows what the weather will do for the rest of the year? Click here for more info on the course.
I am also going to plan a trip to Chester Zoo on Saturday September 19th. Now for this I need to get atleast 15 people in order to get a discounted entry fee, so please let me know if you are interested so I can work out the numbers. It will only cost the entry fee, which at most will be about £15 but I hope to get it down to about £12 if the group is big enough.
If you have any questions about either of these activities, just let me know, but please be aware that from 22nd August to September 12th I will not be able to respond as I will be out taking photos in the Canadian Wilderness, far away from any internet connection or mobile signal…. BLISS!!
Large photo prints for about a quid each
Posted on | July 19, 2009 | No Comments
On my courses, and on the photo walk, I have mentioned a few online services that are very handy for photographers, one is a place in Didsbury, Manchester that produces fantastic large prints for about a quid (£1) a print plus delivery (or you can collect them).
DS Colour Labs is the place. I used them for all my example prints on the photography basics courses I do. The quality of the print is fantastic whether it’s black and white, spilt toned or full colour and best of all you can do it all online.
So if you are wanting to get some large prints done for your wall or for gifts then give these people a try.
Oldham Photo Walk went well
Posted on | July 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
Well, 12 of us braved the threat of rain and ended up spending the afternoon with blue sky (plus a few clouds) and sunshine on a walk through Park Bridge and Daisy Nook.
There were a few people I’d met before on my photography basics courses and a few new faces. All enthusiastic and nice people which was good. I hope they all got some great shots and will be entering the photo competition.
I did remarkably well and didn’t lose anyone along the way, which is always a bonus, I managed to tweet a little bit throughout the walk but must admit I spent most of the walk talking rather than taking pictures, which is no bad thing.
I had one minor disaster. I managed to set my camera to the lowest image quality for about half an hour without realising, so I have a few low quality jpegs of things, but fortunately no award winning pictures were ruined because of it.
I’ll be putting some thought into running some more photo walks, as it sounds like it will be a popular activity. Chester Zoo will be next, and I’ll get details of that one up on the site very soon.
So, thank you to all those who made it along to the photo walk, please keep in touch and if you have any ideas for another walk then just let me know.
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