3rd Annual Photo Walk – July 24th 2010
Posted on | May 31, 2010 | 2 Comments
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 | 6 Comments
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 | 4 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.
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.
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