Why you should always carry a camera

Do you always have a camera with you to capture those unexpected pictures?

If you rely totally on your bulky SLR system then almost certainly you will not want to carry it about with you all the time – I certainly don't.

However, since I discovered the Canon Ixus some years ago, I am never without a little compact camera.

This has been a revelation for me.

Of course these little cameras have many limitations, but they do enable you to grab those unexpected shots whenever they present themselves.

I'm still using a Canon Ixus 700; its dented and worn case is proof of the amount of work and travelling it has done over the last couple of years or so.

But its lens is spotless and the results are always good – if I work within the limitations of a compact camera.

At 7.1 megapixels I can produce a 10 inch wide 300dpi image, and this far exceeds the needs of many newspapers and magazines when I have a picture to sell.

I also use a Canon G9 which is bulkier and heavier – just a bit too bulky to put in a case and attach unobtrusively to my belt.

Yes, I know, if you have been reading this blog for a while you'll know there are things about this camera that I find far less than perfect – but it is versatile and the quality is excellent.

Anyway, carrying my Ixus 700 paid off yet again yesterday when, loaded with shopping bags, I was returning to the boat in the marina.

I noticed an engineer sitting in a bosun's chair and working at the top of a yacht's mast.

Above him the sky was almost jet black and very ominous – he looked so lonely and vulnerable up there beneath that sky that I just had to take a photograph, and I had the means readily to hand – my little Canon Ixus.

All I had to do was put down my bags and reach for the camera at my hip.

Seconds after pressing the button, my subjects came down the mast like a monkey on a string.

I almost always keep the camera set to the 'M' (Manual) mode – this is not really a proper manual mode on the Ixus, but does give a little control.

I try to keep the ISO set to 50 for top quality, and the exposure compensation set to Minus 1/3.

I find that Canon tend to over-expose a tad, and this stops the highlights burning out too much.

Of course, in theory when shooting a subject like this man against a bright sky, I should have set the exposure compensation to the PLUS side. In order not to under-expose.

But in this case that black cloud seems to have helped balance the exposure and retain some detail and colour in the man.

Normally he would have appeared as a silhouette.

So, if you want to capture those fleeting moments that occur when you least expect them, keep a camera on your hip for a quick draw.

Front or backlight?

I'm always reminding my students about the different properties of the direction of light and how important it is to understand what's going on. Frontlight (light behind the camera and front-on to the subject), I tell them, takes always the shadows and can make the subject look flat and two-dimensional. However, I am quick to point out, frontlight does have a trick up its sleeve: there may be colour hiding in the shadows, and by removing them by using front light you will of course see more colour. So a colourful subject often looks even more colourful when lit by frontlight.

 

Well, as always, there are exceptions to the rule, and photographing flowers and leaves is one of them. Depending on the thickness and translucence of the flower or leaf the thinner and more translucent the better - you can often increase the intensity of its colour by placing the light behind the subject and letting it shine through the leaf.

 

The photograph above is a good example. This is a very simple picture which relies on its colour for its visual appeal. The sunlight is almost directly behind the leaf and is shining through it; and so illuminating the green like a projector lamp.

 

In this case, the backlight has shown up the veins of inside the leaf and brought more detail and interest. Frontlight would have shown the colour of the surface of the leaf, but none of the depth of colour and shapes inside it.

 

Give this technique a try next time you are photographing flowers. Sometimes you can get the best of both worlds by having the light source behind the subject and using a reflector under or beside the lens to bounce some light back onto the surface of the flower.

Colour and light

This well-hidden corner in the old town of Cuitedella in Menorca must have been photographed countless times by different groups of my students during the photography holidays I run on the island. I just can't see how a photographer could possibly walk past this place without raising a camera. It positively demands your attention because of those wonderful colours.

 

However, it is never easy to photograph. The first problem is lack of space; you just cannot get back far enough. This tiny little square is very small indeed, and even with a wide angle lens equivalent to 24mm, it is difficult to include as much in the composition as you would like. Use a lens any wider and the distortions completely ruin the atmosphere of the scene. The answer to this, of course, is to decide which particular elements of the scene you find most interesting, and concentrate on those. In other words, careful cropping in the viewfinder.

 

Then there is the difficulty of parked motor scooters and bicycles. On occasions these can add to the interest, but this very much depends on the type and visual appeal of the bikes that are parked there some are more interesting to look at than others.

 

The last problem is the light this photograph was taken around midday with the sun very high so that it shines down into the narrow square, which is surrounded by houses in a narrow back street. The downside of this type of light is the strong shadows and high contrast. But it does have the advantage of bringing texture to the wall, and addng shadow patterns across the cobles.

 

I like this subject best of all on a sunny day when the sun does not shine directly down on it in the morning or afternoon. Then it is very bright, but soft, emphasising the reds in the wall, and the green of the leaves and the wooden bench. You need to adjust you White Balance (WB) in these conditions using Cloudy, Shade or Custom settings.

 

Blue, red and green is a powerful colour combination at the best of times, and when those colours are combined with simple outline shapes the tree, archway and the bench. An interesting image should result.