Category: Photo Tip

I was reading an interesting article the other day that stated Leica M owners average 1.4 lenses each.

Today the fashion for SLR owners is to try and collect the set, ie own most of the common lenses. It’s something I have found myself doing.

For my DSLR’s I own the lenses from 12mm up to 300mm. Though depending on what I am shooting, I might just use one or two lenses.

Certainly while restrictive, one can have a lot of fun, with a camera and a single focal length. I have often gone out with my Nikon DSLR with just a 35mm prime lens.

Compositionally one can learn a lot, and the restriction can make you a better photographer, because you have to work for the image, rather then just stand still and zoom.

If you own a prime lens I suggest you give it try. Once your eye is used to the focal length and framing you may surprise yourself.

The general rule in Photography is ‘KISS’, keep it simple stupid.  Often though in the studio it can be easier to introduce another flash head then to not.

The shot above looks deceptively simple but in fact uses a total of seven flash heads!

The key to this sort of thing is to build slowly, start with one light and work with that, then introduce another and continue to experiment and build.

This shot has one main light using a large Elinchrom Rotalux soft box, then a fill light on the other side.  A flash over the top of the model with a small soft-box to act as a hair light; and finally for the background, two flash heads on each side fitted with barn doors to light the back ground.  Yes it sounds over kill but when your in a well equipped studio and have plenty of time you might as well experiment and learn.

So at the bottom of yesterdays post was my list of lens, but whats the basics in most peoples bags.

Well its pretty much what I listed.  Going from wide to long its going to be:

• Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
• Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

From that set you can handle 99% of most photographic opportunities, to that list you then add and specfic lens that suite your photographic style and subject matter.

How about a carry everywhere lens, 24-120mm f/4 sounds about right.

Maybe a specialist lens such as a PC lens or Macro lens.  There are a lot to choose from but the top list of four should suit most people for most uses.

Now think about your photography apart from the lens above which lens would you pick for your photography?

It is always worth while revisiting your shots a few weeks after they were taken.

Often a shot you did not like then, you may like now, or you may want to re-process a shot and take it in a very different direction.

Often with my Landscape shots, I might rework them over a year later, or find a shot that I originally did not rate but now love.

With being stuck in bed for most of last week meant I had have not had time yet to add the keyword data to my last shoot.  Now obversely, there are still shots that are definitely misses.  Some how I managed to get every shot of the Grey Squirrel out of focus or badly famed.

But some of the other shots that I originally dismissed to high noise and being shot into the sun I now find quite pleasing such as the two Black Headed Gulls in the shot above.

Always a reason for never deleting anything in this digital world.

Like most photographers me and Chris have a large selection of Camera Bags.  Recently we got together and had a bit of a compare of our latest street gear.  We both have added new bags to our kit recently.  Chris went with the very well regarded Billingham Hadley Pro, which is a great camera bag.  I went a slightly different path.  A Leather Scaramanga Satchel.  Not a dedicated camera bag, but quite capable of holding a iPad or 11″ MacBook Air and a Leica and spare lens, battery and X-Rite Colour Checker.  If packing my Leica M4 instead of my M8 then I can also easily fit in a light meter and spare film.

With street shooting, fitting into the background is key.  Small mirrorless cameras are ideal for this, especially ones such as the Fuji X100, Fuji X-Pro1 and the Leica M range.  These cameras have optical viewfinders that show greater then 100% of the field of view.  This enables you to see what is about to leave and enter the field of view, enabling you to pick the decisive moment.

Also as part of fitting in, not only the the small none threatening camera but also a camera bag that does not look like a camera bag.  Our two bags in the top photograph are very good examples of this type.

The Fuji X series have received a mixed review.  The image quality is certainly high but there is some controversy over the none standard Bayer filter.  The biggest complaint I hear is the focusing, but with the model I tested with the V2 firmware, indoor under poor artificial light it did a great job.

If your interested in the Fuji, check out Chris Bennett’s Photo Blog.

Subject to the weather i’ll hitting the street tomorrow to shoot a roll of film with my trusty Leica M4 and leather satchel bag, hopefully that we get me my picture of the month for January.

With our modern cameras and there multi pattern metering, we expect our photographs to be correctly exposed, even if there a little over exposed, the head room available in RAW files due to the nature of the Bayer filter means we can get a lot of information back.  Underexposure then we just brighten the image.

The problem with under exposure is noise, as we brighten ie amplify the signal, we also amplify the noise, even at base iso’s this can be noticable.

Its always a good idea when shooting winter snow scenes with lots of white in them that can fool a meter into over exposure, to check the histogram and if necessary give an extra stop or two of exposure.

I was asked today about sensor cleaning, after a friend of mine spotted some spots on his landscape shots.

Its generally landscapes that spots become visible.  I’ll have to blog about sensor cleaning in more detail when I have the time but here are a quick few tips.

How to test for sensor dust?  Well set your camera to aperture priority, and set a aperture of about f/8 or greater, the more the better, f/22 or f/32 if your lens can stop down that much.  Then at your base ISO or at least not too high, take a photography of a plain even toned subject.  A bright blue sky is ideal.  Then examine the result in some detail on your computer.  The spots should be fairly obvious.

To do the easiest clean then I recommend a good blower such as a Giotto Rocket.  With the camera switched off and the lens removed, turn the camera upside down and give the sensor a good blow with the blower.  Don’t use canned air, and most certainly do not try blowing with your mouth.

Its certainly been wet here in Lincolnshire.  We have been lucky apart from a few flooded roads we seem to have gotten away lightly compared to some areas.

Its situations like this where having a camera with you can be a good idea.  Unfortunately not all cameras are weather sealed and some are more prone to failure then other.

So if your out photographing this week in this bad weather, take care of your gear.

We have all seen those stunning photographs of flowers, but are yours mediocre.

A quick tip for you, once again, get low, either shoot from the same level or from below.

While walking round we are used to the old view from above, challenge that view, show something different to your viewers, get low.