Photography Holidays in Menorca dates

We've just sorted the dates and prices for the Menorca photography holidays next year and put them on the Photoactive website.
We now get so many people wanting to come back for a second - and sometimes a third time, that we now do two different itineraries - Menorca One and Menorca Two. 

MENORCA ONE

1st - 8th May 2009

MENORCA TWO

18th - 25th Sept 2009 

The cost for both holidays is £1030

It includes:

• 7 nights at four star S'Algar Hotel inclusive of breakfast and dinner.
  
• Airport transfers in Menorca.
  
• Transport to locations in Menorca.
  
• Entrance fees where necessary 
  
• Welcome and farewell drinks.
  
• NO single room supplement.

I really love doing these holidays and it would be great to see you.

Find out more..

The picture shows Jan, one of the Menorca photographers, getting a little help from one of the locals.

Manual Exposure and buckets of water

I had a student with me the other day who was really keen to get to grips with the 'M' (Manual) exposure mode on his Nikon D60. She felt - with some justification - that having the ability to set the camera's exposure herself would enable her to get better photographs. Well, I explained that this would not necessarily follow as there are many other elements that go into creating a good picture. But I did tell her that an understanding of, and familiarity with, the manual settings on any camera would certainly mean that she would have more control and, eventually, she would be able to interpret a scene in her own way. This can often lead to better pictures.

The problem was that as she had kept the camera on a program mode for most of her photography in the past, she had little understanding of shutter speeds and aperture settings and the way they must work in harmony.

I tried very hard to explain in the simplest possible way that, for instance, an exposure of 1/125sec at f11 lets into the camera exactly the same amount of light as an exposure of 1/25osec at f8. This was part of the age-old problem that f numbers do not work logically for normal people. The fact that big apertures mean small numbers and small apertures mean big numbers is enough to confuse anyone.

And then I remembered a really old chestnut of an explanation...

With much theatrical acting, I placed an imaginary and very full bucket of water on the table in front of us. This, I said represented the correct amount of light to expose our picture correctly. The water was not sloshing out (over-exposed) nor was the bucket half full (under-exposed), it was full to the brim. Just right.

There were two ways of filling that bucket with a hose pipe (more acting) - I might use a big wide hose pipe (wide aperture) and fill the bucket very quickly (fast shutter speed). Or I could use a very small diameter hose pipe (small aperture) and trickle the water in very slowly (slow shutter speed).

Either way, I got the same amount of water in the bucket (or the same amount of light in the camera).

It worked like a charm - the penny dropped and from that moment my student understood a concept that had been totally confusing her. I do like simple.

I've posted a fair bit about using manual exposure in the past, so you could try these pages if you want to learn more...

http://philipdunn.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-use-manual-mode-part-2.html

http://philipdunn.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-use-manual-mode-part-1.html

People, horses and underground photography

Just to give you an idea of the sort of high standards my students have reached, I have posted here some photographs by Maria Falconer and Mark Esling. The pictures were taken during our latest photography holiday in Menorca. Both photographers have been to Menorca before, in fact, this was Maria’s third time. Each time she produces a fantastic set of photographs, and this year was no exception.

It is worth mentioning that although some of the photographers on these holidays have reach a very high standard, beginners are definitely not excluded. This may surprise some of you, and you may think that this will hold back the more advanced in the group, but the system works extremely well. You see, these holidays are very much about sharing, and having an enjoyable experience. No one is left out, and everyone is encouraged to produce pictures way above the level they think they can achieve. The results can be seen in my recent posts – in particular the pictures by Jeanette Suddard. Jeanette was a complete novice at the beginning of the week when she arrived in Menorca, but the pictures she produced by the end of the week demonstrate very clearly what can be done with tuition and encouragement in a relaxed atmosphere.

Maria Falconer has been coming to me for coaching for four years and she is now a highly competent photographer who is taking on many commissions. As the two portraits here show, Maria is a very gifted people photographer. However, her close-up of the horse’s teeth is an indication of her enquiring mind and her persistence once she gets a picture idea in her head. In fact I am trying to adjust Maria’s way of getting so utterly wrapped up in one aspect of a visual situation that she might easily miss out on other outstanding picture opportunities. I have no doubt she will work this out of her system very soon. Her pictures have a sensitivity and vitality that I find very refreshing and hugely rewarding.

Maria would love to hear from you on the forum she moderates – this was actually started by a group of photographers who came to Menorca, but anyone with an interest in good photography is welcome.

This was Mark Esling’s second trip to Menorca. He is the sort of chap who works away quietly and happily in almost any situation until he gets the picture he wants. He is very determined to achieve good pictures because he gets so much pleasure from photography.

His picture of the horse being hosed down with water after a race is an absolute corker. He shot straight into the light and this backlight has highlighted the spray. But, for me, the most important aspect f the shot is the timing. That horse is relishing the treatment and it shows.

His picture in the underground labyrinth of the old fort of La Mola is another cracker. The exposure is spot on and the composition just about perfect. La Mola is a regular location for our photography in Menorca, but the place is so vast that each time we go we see new places and things to photograph.

I have put together a short video of the photographers in Menorca and next week I will post it on YouTube and embed it in the blog. It should give you a real taste of the things we photograph and how much fun we have.

Canon Ixus 960IS

My little Canon Ixus 700 has expired. I suppose it was my own fault, I put it in its soft case and attached it to my belt before donning old waterproof clothes and tackling a heavy outdoor job in torrential rain. After a couple of hours it was just as wet inside the waterproofs as it was out. My little camera drowned quietly in bed. The lens steamed up and refuses to come out to play, and it now raises only a pathetic bleat when I switch it on. I’ve tried taking out the battery and drying the camera out it in the airing cupboard, but to no avail.

Once I certified it as dead I immediately set about finding a replacement. It had to be just about the same size and weight as the old Ixus 700, but higher on pixels. Eventually I chose another Ixus – the 960IS.

It has been on my belt now for just over a couple of weeks and I am, so far delighted with the camera.

2
I really got chance to try it out the other day when I visited a Bloody Island in Mahon Harbour, on Menorca. I was there to explore new locations for my photography holidays in Menorca.

The camera behaved beautifully and did everything I could have wished. Even interior shots in very difficult light conditions proved no problem with judicious adjustment of the exposure compensation control in the ‘M’ Manual mode. This ‘M’ is not a true manual mode as it does not enable you to change the aperture or shutter speeds – it’s a sort of half-way house. But if you can work within the limitations, it is perfectly adequate for many situations.

One of the secrets of getting outstanding quality with these small cameras is to keep the ISO as low as possible. When the ISO is raised to the maximum 1600 on this Ixus 960IS, the results are, to be kind – noisy. However, there are some situations when in order to get a picture with any sort of atmosphere (avoiding flash), that noise just might be a price worth paying.

So far I’m pleased with the Ixus 960IS and its 12 Mega pixels are providing me with some excellent quality images.

3

The camera was bought from Amazon for £222. Postage free.

Top photograph

The IS (Image stabilisation) has worked well – this shot was hand-held at 1/4sec. ISO200 and it is very sharp. I ave desaturated the colour in Photoshop because I think bw adds to the interest of the picture

Photograph 2

The Canon Ixus 960IS

Photograph 3

The Ixus 960IS has coped very well with the wide range of light strengths in this situation. I simply set the Exposure Compensation value to minus 1.5 to achieve even results and not ‘burn out’ the stronger light through the doorway

Photograph 4

Exactly what a compact camera is good for – giving you the ability to capture those fleeting moments without the hassle of carrying a heavy camera. This shot was snapped from a boat as it left Bloody Island, Menorca

4

The Independent Newspaper

I thought I’d share this picture with you – it’s really a very old one, perhaps 20 year old!. I took it while working on an assignment for The Independent newspaper. As far as I can remember, they sent me to cover a press photocall to unveil a very special new type of one-man mini hot-air balloon. The idea was to cross the Atlantic in it, or perhaps fly over the Alps – but I don’t think that ever happened. I seem to remember that Richard Branson was involved somewhere along the line.

There was a gale of wind and rain blowing outside, so the balloon was inflated inside a huge hangar on a remote airfield in Shropshire. All the other national daily newspapers where there to photograph the event. I saw these occasions as a challenge – they brought out the seriously competitive spirit in me. I simply ALWAYS had to try to beat the pack and get the best picture.

It was very nearly dark inside that hangar and powerful floodlights had been set up. There was a general groan of despair from all the other photographers at what appeared to be the lack of opportunities for exiting pictures.

The great advantage of working for a newspaper like the Independent – at least in the days soon after it was launched – was that we photographers were totally free to photograph an assignment in any way we chose. We were never restricted by having to take the most literal pictures. In fact we were encouraged to look beyond the obvious.

The obvious photograph on this assignment, for instance, was a shot of the pilot suspended in his harness beneath the inflated balloon. But that looked totally boring when it was done inside a darkened hangar.

I have said it before – and I will stress it again – that with an understanding of light, a photographer can create interesting images out of very little.

It was obvious to me as soon as the flood lights were lit and the balloon was beginning to inflate that there would have to be an interesting picture if I could shoot against one of these lights from almost inside the balloon as it inflated. Remember that mantra – BACKLIGHT FOR OUTLINE SHAPES!!

However, that picture would need a sense of scale and a human element if it was to be interesting enough to get published.

I quietly asked one of the technicians to stand outside the balloon between me and the floodlight and open his arms to smooth out any wrinkles in the balloon as it inflated. I worked very quickly in order not to give the other photographers any chance to copy what I was doing. The timing was spot on. No sooner had I taken this picture than the balloon lifted off the floor of the hangar as it inflated – making any similar pictures impossible.

I think the picture was used across half a page - a worthwhile job.

The picture was taken with a Nikon F3, Nikkor F2.8 24mm lens. Fuji Neopan 400 film.

Wildlife photography - spoonbills

I was out on the River Dee near my home the other day with wildlife ranger and photographer Keith Kirk. Some of my students will know Keith because I sometimes arrange for them to spend the day shooting wildlife with him.

The reason for our river trip was something very special – indeed it is a First for Scotland. Here in Kirkcudbright it has been known for some months that a pair of spoonbills have been feeding on the mud banks of the river. Well, it is now confirmed that the birds have successfully raised three chicks nearby. All five birds are now seen regularly feeding in the shallows.

This is an extremely rare and important event for wildlife in Britain. Although there is one instance of spoonbills having bred successfully in England, it is the first time in over 300 years that they have bred as far north as SW Scotland. Twitchers are now flocking to Kirkcudbright to see the spoonbills and, happily, the birds seem quite oblivious to their new fame.

Keith was shooting with his Nikon D300 and a 500mm Sigma lens. Due to the shallow water over the mud banks we were unable to get the boat very close, and Keith’s biggest difficulty was in keeping the camera still with the slow shutter speeds needed in the very low light. Although he pushed the ISO right up to 1600, and opened the aperture as wide as possible, he was still using a shutter speed of just 125sec. The motion of the boat and the movement of the birds did not help.

But just look at the picture Keith achieved – you can even see the rain spot bouncing off the wet mud.

If you would like to spend a day with Keith photographing wildlife in Galloway, Scotland, just contact me and I'll see if it can be arranged.

Top photograph by Keith Kirk
…and here’s one of the adult spoonbills striding past a resident heron. Under the conditions, that’s a great shot, Keith.

Lower photograph shows Keith at work photographing the spoonbills from the boat

Find out more about these rare birds on the RSPB site

A career in photography - 4

It’s some time now since I posted an instalment of this story about how I got started as a professional photographer (click here to read part 3). In that post, I explained that I realised how much I needed contacts in the business if I was to gain a foothold on the first rung of the ladder. I was a 14 year old kid with ambition - but I knew no one in the business. So I set about changing all that…

The letter that dropped on the doormat was from Mr Percy Broome, FRPS (Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society). I was so keen to open it I nearly ripped the envelope in two.

After my talk with Dad some months before about the need to get to know someone involved with photography, I enrolled for night school classes. Not only would I learn more about photography that way, but night school just might bring me into contact with someone who could help me break into local newspapers. The scale of this commitment can be judged by the fact that the night school classes were held in the same school I went to during the day and that meant retracing my steps to school two evenings a week for six months.

At night school, or evening classes as they are sometimes called these days, I learned about the characteristics of different films and developers; Percy Broome, the tutor, demonstrated darkroom techniques and how to make high quality black and white prints from my negatives, he instilled in me an understanding of shutter speeds and lens apertures - and he didn’t laugh when I told him about my ambitions to become a professional photographer. A former police sergeant, gruff and plain-speaking, Percy had an artist’s eye and he encouraged me to photograph local events. He assured me that if I was good enough I would reach the top. His no-nonsense tuition was so successful that, several months before I left school, I had my first publication in a newspaper, The Manchester Evening News – a picture of a little boy and his pet at a dog show - and I received my very first publication fee – three pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence. Believe me, that was a good price in the early sixties.

Percy also knew the chief photographer on the local weekly newspaper. There was no such thing as ‘work experience’ in those days, but Percy persuaded this chap to let me spend a Saturday with one of the newspaper’s staff photographers while as he went about photographing weddings, bring-and-buy sales and coffee mornings. I got on well with the photographers I went out with, and those Saturday outings with them became a major part of my life. Somehow I managed to get through each week at school - just longing for Saturdays to come round.

I learned everything I could from every situation, I took countless photographs, learned how to handle a 5 inch x 4 inch glass plate press camera. Above all else, I learned how to persuade reluctant subjects to have their photographs taken, and how to deal with people at every level... vital requirements for any professional press photographer.

Percy’s letter read:

Dear Philip,
Present yourself at the Advertiser office at 9 o’clock sharp on Saturday 21st April. Mr. George Greenhough, the chief photographer, is expecting you.
You may be allowed to accompany a photographer on assignments and you might travel by bus – so have some money in your pocket for bus fares. Take your camera with you.

Don’t be late! Keep you mouth firmly closed and your ears and eyes wide open!
Look! Listen and Learn!
Yours,
Percy Broome, FRPS

I knew I was on my way to Fleet Street.

Above is a picture of a cutting of my first publication. The negative is long lost. The cutting is now very discoloured and fragile, but it is from The Manchester Evening News in 1962!

Photography down river - part 2

TIP
Here in SW Scotland the tides can be very high, fast and strong. Be safe – check the tide times so that you don’t get stranded on sand banks on a rising tide. Try to time your photography for the falling tide when the water level is falling.
Buy a local tide table, or check on tides at the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides

TIP
Use your fingers

Even the best autofocus system can be a little confused when photographing water, you may find that it ‘hunts’ for something to focus on. Be prepared to resort to the tried and tested method – manual focus. Use your fingers on that focusing ring. If you are photographing a landscape scene and using a wide angle lens, you may find it difficult to manual focus accurately – so use the distance scale on your lens – if you have one. If you set this scale to just less than ‘infinity’ and use a small aperture, perhaps f11 or less, the wide angle lens’s extra depth of field should ensure you get most of the scene in focus.

TIP
Remember those basic rules of light…
Frontlight – Reveals colour – good for the straighforward reflections.
Sidelight – emphasizes texture and form.
Backlight – reveals outline shapes – like silhouettes.
Toplight – go have a beer!

Top photograph

Do not get carried away by the wonderful sounds of the estuary. The haunting call of the curlew does not photograph very well – you need to record only visual information in your camera, and this picture contains lots. The hull of the boat is in pretty low, non-directional light, and this has helped show more colour than texture. The rusty ladder leans at an angle that counteracts the lines of the planking, and the focal point, the sky, is a mass of bold colour. The camera was put on a tripod, a slow shutter speed (1/8sec) and a small aperture (f16) was used to gain maximum depth of field

Photograph 2








It is late afternoon and the last glimmer of sun just catches the superstructure of this scallop dredger as it heads down river and out to sea. I have not tried to counteract the extremely high temperature blue light, but kept the White Balance (WB) setting on the daylight (Sun) setting. This has had the effect of washing the whole scene – except the dashes of yellow sun on the boat – with blue



Photograph 3








Always be alert to those moments that just happen, and don’t get so wrapped up with one type of shot that you ignore everything else around you. When the lifeboat appeared going flat out down river, I stopped photographing the river bank for a few moments, took a couple of pictures of the lifeboat, then carried on with what I was doing




Photographs 4 & 5








Explore each subject carefully and take lots of pictures. Don’t be afraid to return to the same subject if possible to photograph it in different light or tide conditions. In this case, I photographed the boat’s reflection at high water, and returned when the tide was out to take more details.

Photography down river - part 1

Water has always inspired photographers to reach for their cameras. Sunsets dipping into reflective seas, waterfalls, fountains – the possibilities are endless. My favourite watery locations are tidal estuaries and rivers, and I’m lucky enough to live near the beautiful River Dee in Galloway. My students love the area, too. However, all tidal rivers, whether they are industrial or rural, can draw me like a magnet. That soft morning or evening light bouncing off rippled water; undulating muddy river banks; fishing boats setting off to sea or heading home after a long trip… just some of the subjects that have me spending many happy hours exploring the river banks.

The River Dee has a huge tidal range, often 8 metres or more, and at low water an entirely different scene is revealed. I’m not in the least put off by all that mud and exposed sand – it is sure to present me with wonderful picture opportunities. At low water the mud shines silver and vibrant – especially when you shoot into the light. This is the time to look for different shapes and textures in the wet surfaces.

Unless you are aiming for a totally abstract feel to your picture, try to use some readily identifiable object as a focal point or foreground – perhaps a wooden stake, a clump of reeds or a boat. Without this, your picture can be confusing to the viewer, who can easily be disorientated with little visual information to go on. For example, an image full of nothing but mud ripples stretching into the distance can lack a sense of scale and impact… again, I stress that that is fine if you are aiming for abstracts. Personally I find, in many instances, these sort of images are unrewarding.

Sensitive use of light is probably the most important asset when trying to produce evocative images of wide-open rivers. Of course, if you can stir yourself to be in position at dawn, you may be rewarded with the most glorious soft light peeping through the sort of hazy, low-lying mist that creeps silently in with the tide. Do not waste these opportunities. Take pictures as if your life depends on it. Explore each and every subject thoroughly. Do not be afraid to shoot straight into that light. This will not only illuminate the mist, but will bring contrast and texture to the surfaces of the water and mud.

Keep alert for everything that happens on and alongside the river. Everything will be changing all the time, and it is a common mistake to get so focused on one particular type of picture that you miss those fleeting opportunities – when the fishing boat appears through the mist, or a flock of waders take flight.

Top photograph

It is simple enough to capture moments like this provided you stay aware of what is going on around you and anticipate what might happen next. I had watched the lobsterman moor his boat in the middle of the river and row ashore in his dinghy. Obviously he had to walk up that muddy river bank. I took lots of pictures of everything that happened , but this is the one I liked best because it seems to sum up the atmosphere of the riverside town and the man heading home after his day’s work

Photograph 2

Always be on the lookout for reflections in still water. It would have been a great mistake to crop off the bottom of this picture because it contains so much visual information. The soft sidelighting and threatening clouds have certainly helped create atmosphere, but those reflected masts have given the picture its appeal

Photograph 3

I took lots of pictures to record this special morning light as the mist rolled up the river. In this picture, I have included a clump of grass in the foreground and, combined with a wide angle lens, this has induced a tremendous feeling of distance. Mist always photographs really well when it is backlit like this, and that backlight also reveals the texture of the mud. Using Centre-Weighted Exposure mode, I took my exposure reading from just above the grass to the right side. This has underexposed the grass and created bold dark shape

Photograph 4

Remember the mantra – backlight to emphasize outline shapes! In this case the old wooden mooring piles have been completely silhouetted against a sunset. The exposure reading was taken from the sky

NEXT... more tips and more photographs about photographing rivers

Photographing junk - part 2

When I am faced with the enormous array of picture possibilities to be found in this old barn, I find it best to pick off each picture one at a time and move on to the next subject only when I feel Ihave captured what Iset out to achieve. Explore each subject thoroughly and be prepared to move in close to pick out details. These close-ups can make fascinating images, especially when you are photographing old and weathered tools and implements.

Moving further inside the barn and away from the door, it got much darker. But this just meant using slower shutter speeds. There is absolutely no reason why you need use a wide aperture in these low light conditions – provided you are using a good firm tripod. For most of my shots I set the aperture to around f11 or f16 and used shutter speeds ranging from 1 or 2 seconds. Be patient when waiting to check your image in the LCD, processing usually takes a little longer when you have used a slow shutter speed.

For many of my pictures I used a slow shutter speed and let off a hand-held flash. Sometimes firing the flash several times from different directions and positions while the shutter was open.
Read more about this The flash does not need to be connected to the camera in any way: a very basic technique that can create beautiful light if done well – experiment. It costs nothing.

If you'd like the opportunity to photograph the wonderful contents of this old barn, it is sometimes - not always - possible when you come to me for one-to-one tuition. See my website for more details

Top photograph
I moved some other implements that were hanging on these same hooks. This was done to keep the shapes simple. When shooting at a white wall like this, your exposure metering can easily be confused by all that white and give you a reading that will under expose. Use you Exposure Compensation function to increase the exposure by up to one stop. If, like me, you only ever use the Manual mode, simply over expose by a similar amount

Photograph 2








I liked this old wooden boat resting on the pram wheels. I actually wanted to show the whole boat, but it was in a cramped corner of the barn surrounded by other objects. A very wide angle lens would have distorted the shape too much so I contented myself with having to cut of the stern of the boat


Photograph 3




The Ski-Lark has been in this barn since the 1960s, gathering more and more junk around her – a tin bath, milk churn and a mildewed tarpaulin. It was the combination of greens and blues that attracted me. I simple put the camera on the tripod with an exposure of 1sec at f9.5 and used the available light that was filtering down from the roof






Photograph 4






Don’t forget to explore each subject critically – The Ski-Lark was resting on a very old trailer, and I noticed the flat tyres and rusty springs. This time I needed to put a white reflector beneath the camera (just out of shot at the bottom of the picture) to reflect some light back upwards to show some detail in the shadows

Photograph 5
I did no re-arranging whatsoever with this picture. I did not want to disturb the dust and leaves on the floor – it might have taken years for them to get like that. No flash, no reflector, no tricks. Just a straightforward image with loads of nostalgic interest

Photograph 6

This saw wheel was in a very dark corner of the barn. In order to pick out the outline shape of the curved blade, I simple fired a flash behind the wheel facing towards the camera... remember - backlight accentuates outline shapes. I debated whether or not to remove the bright green nettle. In the end I decided I quite liked the splash of colour

Photographing junk - part 1

Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder – well, I find old junk a constant source of inspiration.

Give me a barn full of old tat and I’m in heaven. Problem is, so many people just throw their old stuff out before I get around to photographing it. Fortunately there’s a retired farmer near my home in Galloway who still has a treasure chest of rusty old implements and tools in his barn. Hopefully he’ll never get rid of it and I’ll be able to keep going back to take pictures. I sometimes take my students there, but it’s best if they are on the same wavelength if they are to get the full benefit from the place.

There are old boats that haven’t seen the water since the 1960s, a road roller of similar vintage, farm implements hung on the walls and scattered around the floors, saws, spanners, you name it. There are colours, shapes, textures and heavy doses of nostalgia everywhere you I look.

When you are confronted with so many photo opportunities like this, it’s always best to take a good look around first and work through the place methodically with some outline plan about what you want to achieve. This way you won’t be stumbling around aimlessly trying to pick off pictures here and there. You’ll have a system.

I started just inside the doorway where I used the available natural light with the camera on my solid Benbo tripod. I photographed an old boat and the road roller. If possible, always walk all the way around the objects that catch your eye – ask yourself what it was about them that attracted you and then try to accentuate that aspect. Is it the colour, for instance, the texture, outline shape? Perhaps the object tells a story – like the wooden boat resting on the pram wheels. Whatever it is you must try to maximise it in order to bring impact to each picture.

There is no need to hurry in these situations. You can enjoy every minute, so take your time and consider each picture angle carefully. The light is unlikely to change dramatically, so again this will not put you under any pressure. Take a good big white reflector with you so that you can direct some light into the shadows, or even bounce your flash off it. There are endless possibilities once you get started.

Photograph 1 (top)
The the first thing I saw when walking through the barn door was this old roller. I explored it from all angles – walking round it several times and took lots of pictures, but it was the front view that really interested me. I moved right in to crop out all the surroundings. I also set my WB (White Balance) to Cloudy. This added more yellow and emphasized the orange paint and reddish rust of the subject

Photograph2
I also photographed the roller’s steering wheel and seat, but this time I used some flash to give harder, crisper lighting.

Photograph 3
As part of my exploration of this subject, I decided to use some flash off the camera. It’s harder, more direct light would add more shadows and impact to the picture. I shot several different angles. This time the shutter speed was speeded up to 1/3sec in order to cut down the daylight coming in through the door and the hole in the roof of the barn. I didn’t even connect the flash with a synch cable to the camera, I simple pressed the button and fired the flash immediately - while the shutter was open. This takes a bit of practise when using anything less than one second, but saves messing around with cables. Okay, so I’m lazy.

Video with Canon G9

You may be pleased - or maybe not - to know that my posts will again be getting more regular as I am now back home after my 'summer' sailing. I thought I might just give you one more blast of salt air by embedding a very short seafaring video here. It shows my boat Moonshadow rounding the notorious Mull of Galloway in SW Scotland. This headland can be a very nasty place to be in bad weather. On this trip there was little or no wind. Even so, the tide was whipping along and giving me a speed of 11.9 knots - that's a lot in a sailing boat.

The video was shot on my Canon G9 and, even considering the loss of quality of YouTube compression, it has done a pretty good job.

You will notice that some filming techniques are exactly the same as those used for stills photography. Towards the end, notice the slight lowering of the shooting angle in order to get a clearer view of the distant headland between the gear on the back of the boat. This is followed by zooming back to view the wider scene including the foreground - with stills photography, the shutter button would have been pressed to take a picture at each separate stage.



And for those of you who love shooting sunsets - the video finishes with a really spectacular one. We carried on sailing into the night.

Photographing shadows

Narrative and mystery – by including just the shadows of the two people, viewer are encouraged to interpret the picture in their own way. What are the two people saying? What is going on? It looks as though the larger figure is giving the smaller one a dressing down – and that the horse is joining in the conversation. All nonsense, of course, but an expample of the sort of ‘storyline’ that that be introduced when using shadows

Include shadows in your photographs and can show graphically, or express more subtly, anything from lead-in lines, texture, atmosphere, angular or curvaceous shapes, narrative or mystery.

All these things are possible when you use shadows. It is the combinations of shadow and light that produces the illusion of texture and form within the two-dimensional images we produce. Shadows can be subtle and diffused in soft, high quality light, or, if the light source is small and intense, they can have crisp, sharp outlines totally devoid of detail. A typical example of this might be the sun in an empty blue sky, or perhaps the light from an undifused flash.

Shadows can be used as subjects by themselves, or as devices to add interest and leading lines within your composition. Take a look at the picture of the door knocker (below) for example; the shadow forms a major part of the composition. Without it the picture would be very ordinary; a simple record of an object. But the shadow of the brass knocker extends across a large part of the left side of the picture – it has been used not only to accentuate the shape of the knocker and the door nails, but as a compositional device.

Mystery? Well, yes, include only the shadows of people and this can inject a powerful feeling of something or someone unseen; a suggestion of what the person might look like, but without the whole subject revealed plainly. That in itself makes the viewer of your picture look again and try to see more. People are always curious about people so if they cannot see the full features of the subject they are left with their curiosity unsatisfied. This can create a visual puzzle without the answer – and that becomes intriguing.

So what about the practicalities of including shadows in your photographs? How do you arrive at the correct exposure, for instance? Well, I’ve never believed in making difficulties where there are none, and taking pictures of shadows is no exception. As a rough and ready guide, just remember that if you want your shadows to be darker, you should expose for the brighter areas in your picture. It’s as simple as that. But don’t overdo this or your pictures will be underexposed and have a lifeless appearance. The other thing to be aware of is that shadows can register as very high colour temperature – they appear blue – when they are cast by a bright sun in a clear blue sky. So you may want to try the ‘Cloudy’ White Balance (WB) setting to counteract this. But this will depend on the effect you are trying to achieve.

For those of you who are a bit nervous about taking pictures of people, photographing other people’s shadows can come as quite a relief. You will no longer need to point your camera directly at your subject, who is likely to remain quite unaware of what you are doing. Pictures that include the shadows of people – without actually showing the people themselves, encourage the viewer of the photograph to interpret a story or narrative into the image. They must ask themselves what the people are doing, what they might be saying or discussing – and that’s when a sense of mystery can be intoduced into your photographs (see photograph at top).

Low ISO speed

I've just arrived back in my home port of Kirkcudbright aboard my boat Moonshadow. Almost the first thing I did was reach for my little Canon G9 and take a picture. It was late afternoon and the light had that special brilliance. It was shining full belt onto the scallop fishing boats standing high and dry in the mud alongside the harbour wall at low water. The resulting picture would have been better if the water had been totally smooth in order to give perfect reflections. Unfortunately there was just a hint of a breeze and this has ruffled the surface of the water a little, breaking the reflections.

But never mind, I like the deep colours that have been accentuated by the front light and the contrast of the greens, blue and rusty reds.

Like I've said before - boating and photography are the perfect combination.

I set the G9 on aperture priority at f7.1. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/200sec at ISO 80 - remember, it's always best to use the slowest ISO possible for best quality. There was plenty of light, so ISO 80 was ideal. I used centre-weighted metering mode. The exposure compensation was set to minus 1/3 and the white balance on AWB. I was zoomed in to give me an equivalent focal length of around 85mm.

Using a monopod

There are usually plenty of ways to get around a problem if you are prepared to be a little adaptable.

Some time ago I was commissioned to photograph a lovely chap called Cedric Robinson, the official Queen’s Guide to the Kent Sands. A grand title for an important job. The Kent Sands are in Morecambe Bay in the NW of England, and some of you may remember that a few years ago over twenty cockle pickers were drowned in the bay when they were caught by the inrushing tide. It is a very dangerous, but hauntingly beautiful place. Quick sands abound and the going is treacherous underfoot – unless you know what you are doing - and Cedric certainly does.

He organises walks across the sands, and these have become hugely popular, attracting hundreds of people at a time. Obviously a magazine feature would have to include a picture of Cedric leading this multitude across the sands at low water. I envisaged a shot of him at the head of a column of followers – looking just like Moses.

Only one problem – the sands are almost completely flat, so getting an elevated position from which I would be able to see this line of people was not going to be easy. I couldn’t possibly carry a set of step ladders across the sands.

I solved the problem by mounting the camera on a monopod and using a long electrically operated shutter release. I was then able shove the whole assemble into the air above the heads of the crowd. This enabled me to get a picture of the whole long line of people with Cedric striding out at the front. Of course I could not see exactly where the picture was framed so I had to use a good dose of guesswork - and I was shooting film, so there was no way I could check the images as I went along and adjust the angles. But I took lots of pictures and was surprised when they were processed to find very few with completely wonkey horizons. Using a 24mm wide angle lens was a big help.

The biggest difficulty was holding the weight of the camera at the end of the pole, and trying to walk backwards at such a fast pace without falling over. I got the feeling that there were a few of those walkers who might have been waiting keenly for the photographer to make a complete prat of himself. They were out of luck. The picture was used across two pages in The Mail on Sunday Magazine and later in Saga Magazine along with many other pictures showing Cedric at work. That's Cedric in the centre of the picture above.

Photography in mixed light

For anyone who doesn't know, and who may have a passing interest, I'm a keen cruising sailor, and posts on the blog may be a little spasmodic during the summer months because of this interest. But that doesn't mean that I will not be taking lots photographs. In fact few activities lend themselves to picture gathering more readily than sailing. Maybe not when the conditions are rough; then I'm just too busy sailing the boat. However, cruising takes me to some very beautiful locations. At the moment I'm based on the West Coast of Scotland and few places on earth can be more spectacular. Mountains and sea are a powerful combination. I hope to be posting some pictures taken on some of my short voyages over the next few weeks… but I promise I won't bore you rigid with boat talk.

Yes, I'm lucky that on my boat I get to see some wonderful places; I often drop the hook in secluded anchorages that are impossible to get to without a boat. But, you know, with that understanding of the light that I keep rattling on about, visual interest and appeal is to be found just about everywhere you look.

The picture above confronted me one evening when I put my head out of the saloon doors and looked across the marina at Troon Yacht Haven. Now marinas are not noted for their beauty. In fact they have been disparagingly described as boat parks. Although Troon is a good safe place to keep a yacht, no one could describe its setting as idyllic. But look at the way the last rays of daylight are slanting onto the houses behind the row of boats, while the boats remain in shadow. I took one glance at this scene and dived back below to get the camera. This sort of light sometimes last for only a few seconds.

It's the combination of light temperatures the 'mixed' light - that gives this picture impact and appeal. The high temperature blue light of the shadows is in total contrast to the low temperature golden light shining on the houses. Those are not the prettiest houses in the world, but in that wonderful light the place looks like heaven.

It is vital not to over-expose with this type of shot. By all means let the shadows go dark that will add to the impact but over-exposure would have washed out and lost the colour in the houses. I took my light reading from the houses NOT the boats, and I deliberately under-exposed by 1/3 stop in order to saturate the colours a little.

photographing Scotland to Australia

Here in Kirkcudbright early this year one of the students who joined us for a photography weekend was Tee Smith. Tee, who was then based in London, was keen to learn more about travel photography because he was about to set off on an epic trip to Australia via the trans-Siberian Express and Vietnam.

Tee was born in Thailand and educated in New Zealand, so his first trip to Scotland was quite an experience for him. Especially as his weekend here coincided with Burns Night. Now, I'm not a Scot, but there were plenty of Scottish photographers on the weekend who explained the mysteries of 'addressing the haggis' and the wonders of clewty dumplings. To his eternal credit, Tee tried and enjoyed all this wholesome Scottish food - as we all did. Well, you simply have to on Burns Night. I think Tee even tried a 'wee dram'.

All was quiet from Tee until yesterday when I got an email from him to say he had finally arrived in Australia after a wonderful trip and after taking hundreds of photographs.

He sent me a link to some of them and it's well worth taking a look. There are some beautiful evocative photographs among the usual - and very important - fun travel pictures that can mean so much.

I have posted a couple of them here for you to enjoy, but do take a look at the others.

The top photograph shows just how important it is to keep that camera handy at all times - here Tee has been snapping away even while riding through Hanoi on a cyclo.

The middle picture is a poingnant shot of a woman placing a lighted candle on the memorial of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw - the scene of some of the worst German atrocities in WW2.

The lower picture shows the man himself - Tee tucking into a meal in Vietnam.

The links to Tee's Facebook pages are:

Part 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37752&l=09634&id=705001595

Part 2:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37775&l=e034b&id=705001595

Part 3:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37780&l=dafc5&id=705001595

Part 4.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37781&l=3cfe4&id=705001595

How to see more photographs - video

Here is a very short video which I have produced as a bit of an experiment. If there is a positive response to this lively way of getting across information, I will maybe do some more. But we'll see how things go for now.

The idea is to show you what and how I am seeing things from behind the camera and how I think pictures through from the time I spot their potential to the time I press the button. So bear in mind that to do this, the movie camera is on the move and not stationery on a tripod - you are seeing what I am seeing. The aim is to help you see more photographs everywhere.

Of course this could have great potential for the way I post on the blog. Let's see.

Just click the arrow in the middle of the frame below to see this 3 minute clip.

Photography student's success

Photograph by Margaret Laurie

It’s always a huge pleasure for me when I hear that I have been able to inspire someone and set them on the right track.

Margaret came to one of my weekend workshops here in Kirkcudbright in SW Scotland earlier this year. The other day she emailed me hardly able to contain here excitement because one of her photographs had been accepted for publication in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. This is what Margaret said:

“You helped a lot to inspire me to take more photos, and give me some confidence to send my photos into the paper.

“This photo was taken a couple of Fridays ago at the beginning of May. We live in Ferryhill, Aberdeen and I'd woken early with the sun streaming in through the window, and out of the window saw this fantastic sunrise. I went across the road and that was the view from our street at 5.30am! I took loads of photos while my husband, and daughters were tucked up snugly in bed. The view looks over the rooftops towards the River Dee as it flows under Victoria Road bridge to the harbour then out to sea. The smoke on the right is from an offshore supply vessel. The cranes are all at the docks and the tiny dots are notorious Aberdeen seagulls! I loved the way the cranes and the aerials were leaning towards each other.

“My camera is a Nikon D80, exposure set on manual at 1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO 200, WB set on ‘Cloudy’. The focal length was 112mm.

“The weekend workshop in Kirkcudbright with yourself gave me the oomph to do something with my photos. As you can see I now use my camera in manual, and that's pretty much 99% of the time, and experiment with the white balance, and still take B & W.”

Very well done, Margaret. You have every right to be very proud of yourself. I can still remember the buzz I got from my first publication – and that’s a very long time ago.

Might I have done things differently? Well, perhaps I might have used a slightly different exposure setting, but Margaret has achieved such a beautiful result that any alterations would only amount to fine tweaking.

By using the ‘Cloudy’ White Balance (WB) setting, Margaret has added to the yellow/orange glow from the early morning sun. Great idea. With so much light available, I might have used a ISO 100 for maximum image quality, stopped the aperture down for extra depth of field (this part depends on what Margaret was wanting to capture; maybe she wanted limited depth of field), and used a slower shutter speed. This would have given an exposure of roughly 1/500sec at f11. 1/500sec should be quite fast enough to eliminate camera shake when using a lens with a focal length of 112mm – which on the Nikon D80 is equivalent to about 180mm.

Keep ‘em coming, Margaret. Very well done!

Timing your photographs - 2

Following on from my previous post about the importance of good timing when taking your photographs, here are a couple of pictures that illustrate another aspect of timing.

Good timing is not only vital in order to capture the precise moment the action is most interesting, but it can also have a profound affect on the composition and atmosphere of the picture.

Compare the two photographs taken of racehorses exercising in the Staffordshire countryside very early one winter’s morning. I was delighted to capture the shot of the horses though the trees and against such strong backlighting. The bare trees, the snow on the ground – everything adds to the atmosphere of that winter morning. The horses are walking quite slowly, not galloping, but still the timing is important. In the photograph above, there are more horses than in the shot below, but less is often more in photography, and by waiting until some of the horses had passed out of shot to my left, the composition became cleaner, and because of that the second photograph, below, has more impact.

Also, the silhouettes of the horses to the right of the first picture (above) are not ‘clean’; they are partly obscured by the trees. This has created a degree of confusion and has become distracting. By waiting until fewer horses can be seen more ‘cleanly’ between the trees in the second shot (below), the visual appeal has been heightened rather than reduced.

After taking the first shot, I did not give way to the temptation to follow the horses in the viewfinder in order to make sure I got them all in as they moved to my left, but, as you can see from the foreground, which has hardly changed, I simply waited until some horses moved out of shot and kept the framing almost identical.