Category: Photography

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Wildlife and Early Mornings

An early start and I was at the location for just before dawn where I met Chris. Chris being the wildlife photographer while I am more a people and landscape photographer.

We set ourselves up near the lake and waited for the early morning sun to appear.

As far as the weather it started fine but a gentle drizzle soon started.

There was continuous over cast cloud overhead, and good light never appeared, so it was a no go for landscape photography.

As we setup a Heron appeared and settled on its nest on the island in the middle of the lake. More birds gradually appeared but with the heavy cloud cover the sun did little to improve the light levels.

With the cameras set to high ISO (ASA) we practiced our photography but with little hope.

A few Cormorants flew in as did some Canadian Geese, to join the Ducks and Cootes already on the lake.

We spend an hour photographing the wildlife before the rain started to get a little too heavy even for our weather sealed professional lens and bodies so we packed a way and headed for the nearest Starbucks to warm ourselves up with hot coffee.

A shame we did not get any good shots but wildlife photography is difficult and one should always practice when one can. You will never get that award winning shot if you stay home in your nice warm bed. At least thats what I keep telling myself.

If you want to see some better shots check out Chris photos from last week. His shots from this morning are here.

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Corporate Portraits

Its a long day, today.

The day started with some corporate photography.

Not always the easiest subject. It was an award presentation. As usual the room was less then idea, the presentation took place with a glass wall behind, so I had to ask them to move slightly to make the best of it.

I have yet to back up the photos, complete the editing and photoshop the final selects which are due to the customer on Monday.

Not only that, I have a wildlife and landscape shoot tomorrow at Dawn. Oh hard is the life of a photographer.

Looking forward to getting home and at least getting a little sleep. I love landscape photography but my downfall is always the early starts.

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A final day in North Yorkshire

Well today Friday was our last day.

On the Wednesday, we took a trip up to a region of North Yorkshire popular with a number of famous Landscape Photographers, near Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale.  I have to admit whilst not travelling too far I managed to get a number of pictures I am pleased with.  We also visited the oldest sweet shop in England.

Thursday was a trip to Scarborough, I got some good shots of Scarborough Castle.

Today, Friday, was our final day, so we decided on one more castle to visit.  The morning was spent walking around Helmsley Castle. With the low winter sun, illuminating the castle it was well worthwhile carrying around the medium format kit, tripod and Digital SLR.

Carrying all of this around really makes me think about getting a high quality large sensor compact camera.  Then when I want to haul around medium or large format equipment, i’ll just use the compact for reference shots with potential.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to a cafe latte and a slice of quiche, wow the slice of quiche was huge.  If you ever in Helmsley try the Castlegate Cafe.

Of course did we get any good pictures in this week?  Well I certainly found some great locations, well worth going back to, but you will have to wait for my picture of the month.

I would say that the light improved as the week went on and as the light improved so did the pictures.

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Photo Tip: Sharpness 1

Sharpness

Something all photographers worry about.

Most photographer’s solution to this perceived problem is to spend lots of money.

  • Always upgrade the camera, every year new models come out, I’ll get better results that way.
  • NO!
  • Better glass, my lens is not the latest, it is consumer glass not ‘Pro’ glass.
  • NO! (well at least not yet, this is a far better investment then in a digital body that will be worthless in 5 years).

Lets get back to the basics.

Camera Technique

First Hand Holding.
Support the camera with your left hand, cradle it and take the weight. Hold the grip with you right hand.

Firing the Shutter.
Don’t just jab at it, press gently, both the depress and the release should be gentle. Camera movement can be introduced at this point.
If necessary use your motor drive. Shoot a batch of three pictures using it. Your first shot might be blurred but the second is likely to be sharp. Release after the third shot.

What is your shutter speed? It should be at least the reciprocal of the focal length.

If your focal length is 50mm shoot at 1/60 of a second at least. If shooting with a 200mm lens use 1/250 etc.

If your hand holding technique is particularly bad double up, for a 50mm lens use 1/125.

Understand VR.
Use it at slow shutter speeds but once your speed climbs above 1/500 – 1/1000 of a second turn it off, above 1/1000 it can actually make your pictures worse.

Subject movement.

Don’t forget subject movement, use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze any movement in the scene.

Tripod’s.

Well i’ll mention those next month, but check out www.cbphotoblog.com and www.bythom.com

Lastly something that I am particularly bad at.  When you use a large aperture then focus is critical. I hate to think how many killer shots I have just missed because my model is out of focus, when using the f/1.4 – f/2.8 range.

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More scouting for Photo Locations

We were not the only ones enjoying breakfast this morning, so were the birds on the bird feeders, that was until a squirrel arrived to try his luck.

After breakfast we travelled up to Sheriff Hutton. There are what look like some castle ruins there. We explored the area trying to find a good location to shoot from. The best view was near Lodge Farm.

In the afternoon we explored some woods. Equipped with a long and fast telephoto lens we tried to get close to a herd of deer but to no avail. We did manage to get a few bad macro shots of some mushrooms.  Easier then moving wildlife but still difficult in the low light of the wood!

Tomorrow more location scouting! And just maybe I’ll get a good photo while in the area.

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Scouting for Photo Locations

A busy week ahead of us.  We are spending the week travelling around North Yorkshire, trying to find photo opportunities and locations for the future.  Today was both exciting and slightly disappointing.

The excitement, well its always fun spending time in North Yorkshire.

The disappointing part was poor light.  I never expected to get any great shots, just find a few possibilities for later in the year, but it is always a shame to be at a great scenic view you have managed to find, but to have no good light in which to capture it.

I took a few reference shots anyway and fully intend coming back.

We finished up at Castle Howard where we enjoyed one of their great soups for an early tea before heading to our holiday lodge where we were stopping for the week.  The day ended with a relaxing dip in the hot tub.

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a Saturday Photo Shoot

Well instead of work or a commercial shoot, today was a shoot for personal pleasure.

I had a new location to test, and a few ideas, and lighting experiments to try.

Ashleigh was my nominated victim. A local model who was willing to put up with my tests, these involved various shoots indoors and some outdoor shots. She put up with everything wonderfully, including getting soaking wet and having to pose outdoors in a cold January morning.

Tip to other photographers, if your using a light weight light-stand, even if there is no wind, use a sand bag. It does not take much to whip a brolly away!  Also size matters, use the biggest brolly or soft-box you can, it really makes a big difference.

I certainly learned a lot, and am glad I pushed my lighting limits a little further.  Pushing myself meant I got some bad images too, but I also got some great images, thanks Ashleigh, hope to shoot with you again, but this time when its a little warmer.

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Preparation

Tomorrow I have a half day’s shoot, a mix of location and studio.

The Studio is booked and so is the model, I now have less then 24 hours left.  What should I be doing, what should you do to prepare for your shoots.

Well, for a paid shoot, my preparation starts at least a month in hand, for weddings sometimes over a year in advanced.

Tomorrow is just a simple test shoot but still preparation is key.  Obviously at this point the studio is all booked, location checked out and the model booked, what else should you consider.

Well, communication with the studio and model, all should continue.  I generally drop the studio and the model(s) an email a week before and the day before.  Just to ensure everything is clear.  Times, addresses, shot list, themes, clothes list.  Also contact details.  My email and phone number, the studio’s / location’s address, meeting points etc.

Equipment is important, and should start at least week in advance.  Check and clean everything, decide on what lens, what format’s.  For this shoot I will be shooting APS-C cropped DSLR and medium format.  The Digital SLR’s will be a pair of Nikon D200, perfectly adequate for this.  A wide angle zoom, a fast f/1.4 standard lens, a 105mm portrait lens and a standard fast f/2.8 zoom and telephoto zoom.  The medium format will be a Hassleblad, with standard lens and two backs.

The lens I have chosen with the shot list in mind.  I will also be taking two light meters, a heavy tripod, light stand and brolly with infrared trigger.

A week before the equipment was all checked, batteries all charged.  It was at this point I realised one of the batteries for Nikon D200 was starting to not hold its charge, so a trip to the local camera shop was planned, and I purchased a replacement.

The shot list was all written down as was the clothes list, and provided to the model, there is also a few items I will be providing, so tonight as well as packing the camera bags, and lighting bag, a prop bag was also packed.  Things like fans, glasses, hats, etc.

For the IT geeks like me there are computer applications to assist.  I use the simple PhotoAssist.  This is a useful little app for the iPhone and iPad that enables you to create equipment lists, prop lists etc.  I have custom lists for things like Nature, Portrait, Weddings and Travel.  This list the common things I need for things like these.

If there is any advice I can offer it is just this.  Communicate, ensure all parties know exactly what is required of them and when.  Have your equipment ready; cleaned, checked and know how to use it.

If you do not know your equipment, then you cannot focus on the picture.  Remember your equipment and how to use it, should all be second nature to you.  All your attention should be focused on getting the image and keeping your model engaged, and happy to work hard with you to get the image.