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Marlow Lock & Weir

Barry — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:22:30 +0000

Stunning Examples Of Corridor Photography

Barry — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:01:00 +0000

: By Julie70

: By khalid almasoud

: By Ali Reza (delashoob)

: By khalid almasoud

: By BertBeckers

: By BrianForbes37

: By 96dpi

: By c@rljones

: By sinkdd

: By 96dpi

: By tanakawho

: By James C Farmer

: By dragon2309

“]: By remuz [Jack The Ripper

: By ajgelado

: By Ric e Ette

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: By Mike Schmid

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: By Andy Hares

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: By Shoes on Wires

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Preview image by Jay PH

Outdoor Portrait Photography Explained

Barry — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:00:56 +0000

Before you even set out

Make sure you have the following ready prior to the shoot, it may sound obvious that you need the following but it is the obvious things that are often overlooked!!

Large memory card
Spare batteries for the camera AND flash
Grey card
Tripod
Flash diffuser
Suitable clothes -- as silly as it sounds, if your uncomfortable then this will effect your work!
Set your Camera to shoot in RAW
Pack a 70mm+ lens

A check list is a good idea that you simply keep in your camera bag, every time you go on a shoot of a certain type, run through the check list to make sure you have everything (imagine turning up to do a shoot and having to explain to a client why you have forgotten your flash!!).

Preparation is key!

Discuss the location of the shoot with your client prior to the day of the shoot. Ask them if there is anywhere in particular that they enjoy visiting (a couple of places is best to give you a choice). Visit the location prior to the day and carry out a ‘recky’ to gauge the best spots, factors to consider are;

The position of the sun throughout the day
Made made objects, such as power lines, signs etc
Quiet spots
Natural light reflectors such as white buildings etc
Repeating lines to ‘frame’ the photo.
Objects that you can use during the shoot such as benches, fallen tress etc

Explain to your client what they can expect from the day and ask them if there is anything in particular that they are looking for or have seen elsewhere that they would like to try and replicate. If it is cold outdoors then make sure they wear appropriate clothes………

Warm clothes are obvious but they also should be of dark colours and avoid patterns such as checks, polka dots etc. If you are shooting photos of multiple people then they should wear similar clothes, I am not saying that they should turn up all wearing the exact same thing (however funny that may be!), but if one is wearing jeans then they all should….you get the idea.

Treat everyone in the photo as your client (even if they are children). Respect will go along way in getting recommendations and if you upset a child then you’ll probably upset their parent/s and make the rest of the shoot a nightmare. If you have fun with everyone then this will put people at ease and this will come out in the final photos. Don’t try and tell people how to pose, instead actually show them, this will make it easier for them to understand, which, in turn will save you and the subject time and also make them feel more comfortable about getting in to position.

Techniques and Settings

2 things to always bear in mind are the ‘Sunny 16 Rule’ and the ‘Rule Of Thirds’;

Sunny 16 Rule

The Sunny 16 rule is a method of estimating correct daylight exposures when you don’t have a light meter a light meter. The rule can also aid in achieving correct exposure of difficult subjects. Based on incident light, rather than reflected light as with most camera light meters, very bright or very dark subjects are compensated for.

Aperture	Lighting Conditions	Shadow Detail
f/22	Snow/Sand……………………..	Dark with sharp edges
f/16	Sunny…………………………..	Distinct
f/11	Slight Overcast……………….	Soft around edges
f/8	Overcast………………………..	Barely visible
f/5.6	Heavy Overcast………………	No shadows
f/4	Open Shade/Sunset…………..	No shadows
Backlighting	Add One Stop…………………..	n/a

From Wikipedia

Rule Of Thirds

An image is broken up into thirds both hoizontally and vertically. Where the lines cross (known as the ‘power points’ by some photographers) is where you should aim to place the focal point of the shot to get a more intersting shot. This rule can obviously be broken sometimes, such as when the subject is in the centre of the photo but in these instances a feature on the subject can be lines up with a power point to improve composition. Try and move the focal point around within the grid to avoid repetitive photographs.

Most DSLR’s offer the grid as an overlay on the LCD screen like the one below

Technique

Firstly set your camera to ‘Continuous shooting’ mode. Taking one photo at a time is a waste of time and using continuous shooting may help you to capture slightly more ‘candid’ expressions from your subject! As you are taking multiple shots, a large format memory card is a must.

Next turn OFF Auto White Balance and use manual settings, a table of which settings are best for which lighting conditions is below (from DPhotoJournal);

Temperature………..Typical Sources

1000K…………………Candlelight

2400K…………………Early morning sunrise

3200K…………………Tungsten light bulbs

4000K…………………Fluorescent

5200K…………………Typical daylight; electronic flash

6000K…………………Cloudy Day

7000K…………………Shade

Making your subject stand out from the background is key to a great portrait photo and this can be achieved by using a shallow depth of field (high F-Stop). This will keep the subject in focus and blur the background, creating a ‘Bokeh’ effect. At this point it is worth mentioning that manual focus should be used, your camera does a great job of choosing what to focus on and getting it in focus but, YOU may not want to focus on that point in the photo!

Focusing on the eyes will portray the emotion of the subject and create an atmosphere in the scene that gives the photo ‘a little extra something’. Try and evoke passion and expression in your subject to create different overall moods, with kids this is easy as they laugh at anything, with adults this is a bit more difficult. If you can make an adult laugh on command then your a comedian and probably in the wrong job, however even getting a natural smile form the subject, rather than a posed one will make a difference.

Avoid direct sunlight, this will not only cause your subject to quint but will also wash out the colours from the photo and may cause lens flare. Look for shade and stand with your back to the sun (even on a cloudy day!). You will find that any photos that contain sky will be less likely to be over exposed.

Try and keep the scene simple as you don’t want to lose your subject in amongst numerous other objects and invoke a game of ‘Where’s Wally’!

Cloudy days off a natural sun diffuser and help to enhance colours and shadows. If you look outside on the day of the shoot hoping for sun and it is cloudy, DO NOT cancel or postpone the shoot, get out there and use the clouds to your advantage.

Early morning or late afternoon are great times to conduct the shoot as they offer an ever changing level and tone of light and in turn create shadows which can be used to add depth to the photo’s. Where ever possible avoid midday sun as this is when it is at it’s strongest, not only will this wash the photos out but you might get sunburn!! ;0)

To Flash Or Not To Flash

I have read numerous articles regarding the use of a flash (internal or external). Some say to use the natural light only and that flash should not be needed and other say that a fill in flash should always be used. I would say to use your judgement depending on the conditions. On a lovely sunny afternoon where the light is just right you probably won’t need a flash, however, if like me you live in the UK then these conditions are few and far between then a flash is needed!

Tutorial Videos

Below is a collection of great video tutorials regarding different aspects of Outdoor Portrait Photography;

Outdoor Portraits

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTDHfyQZSiE

Portrait Photography In Sunny Weather Using A Flash

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd7WqJWPcIU

Cross Flash Effects, Outdoor Flash Photography

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hClLpOrFXWY

Analysing A Natural Light Portrait

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7my3whcmPXE

By Alva Chien

By Hans-Photography

By Alva Chien

By d. jones photo

By Jchetan

By James Jordan

By Muriel215

By Brainsonic

By MarkLeo

Image Of The Moment – Spider + 50mm

Barry — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:00:42 +0000

Self Portrait Photography Guide

Barry — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:17:56 +0000

Pre Shoot

Inspiration
Location
Mood

Before even starting out on a shoot look for inspiration. This can be found on the web, in magazines, on album covers etc etc. Remember that you are trying to create an image of yourself not only for you but also or others, it needs to stand out and so take your time at this stage and have ideas ready.

Choose a location that invokes a feeling, whether this be an urban feel, a tranquil one or a funny one it is important that this fits in well with the ideas you have come up with whilst looking for inspiration. Obviously there are plenty of urban areas and these provide different lighting textures and colours which will all enhance the overall feeling of the portrait.

Again, the mood of the shot not only depends on the expression on your face but also the surroundings you are in and the lighting at the time. Dark shots portray a feelings from mysterious through to scary and getting dark shots right is tricky. Personally I really like portraits where some of the subject is a silhouette and a lot can be achieved using shadows and light in the right way. Photos in the ‘golden hour’ usually portray warmth and happiness and using this natural light can be a great technique if you haven’t got artificial lighting to set up the way you want.

Setup

First off, it is best to have the following to hand;

Tripod
Remote Release or self timer
Flash

A tripod, beanbag or at the least, a platform to place your camera on is essential. When placing the camera make sure that the image about to be captured includes all of the elements that you wish to include in the photograph.

Using a remote will enable you to get ready before taking the shot, it will also allow the lens to focus on you once you are in position (remember if you focus before you move into position the camera may not focus on the right area). If you don’t have a remote then you can use the self timer on the camera. One problem with this is focusing, I got round this by setting the F-Stop to 16 or more to get a greater depth of field and achieve focus all the way through the shot.

The use of a flash is personal choice but in darker conditions will be essential (unless you are a human statue and can remain completely still with slower shutter speeds. The on board flash will do tut is direct and so may wash out colour or cause shadow behind you. If you have an external flash then this can be angled to bounce the light off of ceilings or surfaces to eliminate wash out or unsightly shadows (you will need to experiment with this). I will usually tone down the flash to 3/4 to 1/2 power or use a diffuser to soften the light.

Atmosphere

Perspective
Composition
Background
Framing
Depth of field (bokeh)

Rather than the normal straight on portrait which, in most cases, is less than impressive, try changing the perspective. Taking photos from ground level or from above the subject (you) will add a bit of originality to the photograph. Depth of field can be used to great effect, a friend of mine has taken a shot of a couple sitting against a wall. She took the shot from ground level and focused on the couples shoes and the rest of their bodies and faces were slightly out of focus, the effect was really great and gave an otherwise normal photo a ‘wow’ factor.

Background (as mentioned before) is a very important element to a photo and should be considered carefully. Too mush colour or texture and you are in danger of losing you as the focal point, not enough and the photo could turn out boring (unless you are going for a minimalist feel!). Using a slow sync flash is a great technique where you can capture the subject (you) in focus but drag the shutter to blur the background and enhance the colours within the photo.

Framing the photo before the shot is also important. Make sure that all of the elements that draw you to a location are captured in the frame and things that you don’t want to capture (street signs, other people etc) are not! Also think about the depth of field that you want to achieve and how the elements in the shot will be effected by this, lights in the background can be used to create a cool bokeh effect if a shallow depth of field is used, this is a great way to enhance a photo.

The Subject (YOU!)

Emotion
Eye Contact
Clothes
Pose (candid?)

A photo of someone just sat there staring at the camera is not great. Try to portray an emotion, whether this is joy, excitement sadness or mystery you will have to concentrate and have the expression/pose ready in your mind prior to the shoot.

Match your clothes to you emotion, colourful summery clothes would portray joy, dark scruffy clothes could be associated with an urban feel and so on. The colour of your clothes will also invoke certain emotions in the person viewing the photo so take this into account as well.

Do you want to be looking directly at the camera or not, this is entirely up to you as to whether you want to look like your posing of achieve a more candid shot.

Processing

Effects
Likes and dislikes
Cropping
Black and white or colour

There are countless Photoshop plugin’s available to enhance your photos and loads that are specifically designed for portrait photos. Try these out as a lot of them are free and some great ones can be found here.

When you go through your photos think about why you like certain one’s and why you don’t like other, this way you can start to master you self portrait by using only those element that appeal to you and eliminate the ones that don’t.

Cropping is an area that you can also play with to great effect, you can cut out elements of the photo that may not work and also create a great original composition.

Take every photo in colour but also experiment with black and white. Picasa has a great tool called ‘Filtered Black and White’, this allows you not only to convert the image to black and white but also to change the shades within the photo using an eye dropper.

By millylillyrose

By Jam Adams

By wanderinghome

By Pablo-Hidalgo

By country_boy_shane

By Anthony Cain ©

By andronicusmax

By mjp!

By © AK Foto

By brunotresinari

By morberg

By lucianvenutian

By Jacob Whittaker

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="By www.LizzieVPhotography. com"][/caption]

Image Of The Moment – Bournemouth

Barry — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:20:10 +0000

Great Examples of The Use Of Depth Of Field

Barry — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:00:57 +0000

By Mark Cummins

By andronicusmax

By roujo

By Omar Eduardo

By boyghost

By lattiboy

By EricByers

By pseudoliterat

By bobcat rock

By Skylinephoto

By Joe Penniston

By ecstaticist

By anvancy

By orangeacid

By legdog

By Vermin Inc

By andronicusmax

By PinoyMonkey

By JamesDPhotography

By jeffk42

Preview image by timsnell

Twelve Essential Photographic Rules

Barry — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:37:42 +0000

1. Sunny 16 Rule

The basic exposure for an average scene taken on a bright, sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed equivalent to one over the ISO setting—that is, f/16 at 1/100 sec at ISO 100. From this you can interpolate, and try f/22 at the beach, f/11 on a cloudy-bright day, etc.

2. Moony 11, 8, and 5.6 Rules There are many different rules that work well when shooting the moon. One favorite for a proper exposure of a full moon is f/11 at one over the ISO setting. For pictures of a half moon, use the same shutter speed at f/8, and for a quarter moon, use the same shutter speed at f/5.6.

3. Camera Shake Rule The slowest shutter speed at which you can safely handhold a camera is one over the focal length of the lens in use. As shutter speeds get slower, camera shake is likely to result in an increasing loss of sharpness. So, if you’re using a 50mm lens, shoot at 1/60 sec or faster. Not enough light? Use a flash, tripod, or brace your camera against a solid object.

4. Anatomical Gray Card Metering off an 18-percent neutral gray card is a good way to get a midtone reading that will give you a good overall exposure of a scene. Forgot your gray card? Hold your open hand up so it’s facing the light, take a reading off your palm, open up one stop, and shoot. (Various skin tones rarely account for even a full-stop difference.)

5. Depth of Field Rules When focusing on a deep subject, focus on a point about a third of the way into the picture to maximize depth of field, because the depth-of-field zone behind that point is about twice as deep as the depth-of-field zone in front of it. This works for all apertures and focal lengths, but the smaller the aperture and the shorter the focal length, and the greater the distance you shoot at, the greater the depth of field.

6. Largest Digital Print Rule To calculate in inches the largest photo-quality print you can make with a digital camera, divide the vertical and horizontal pixel counts (see your manual) by 200. For critical applications, or if you want exhibition-quality prints, divide the pixel counts by 250.

7. Exposure Rules The classic advice is, “Expose for the highlights, and let the shadows take care of themselves.” This works with slide film and digital. But with negative film, especially color negative, you’re better off overexposing by one stop.

8. Quick Flash-fill Rule When using an automatic flash unit that doesn’t provide auto flash-fill ratios, set the flash’s ISO dial to twice the ISO you’re using. Meter the scene, select an f-stop, set the autoflash aperture to the same f-stop, and shoot. The resulting 2:1 flash-fill ratio will produce filled shadows one stop darker than the main subject.

9. Flash Range Rule Want to know how much extra flash range you get by going to a faster ISO? The rule is, “Double the distance, four times the speed.” For example: If your flash is good to 20 feet at ISO 100 (film or digital), it will be good to 40 feet at ISO 400.

10. Megapixel Multiplier Rule To double the resolution in a digital camera, you must increase the number of megapixels by a factor of four—not two. Why? The number of pixels in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions must be doubled to double the pixel density across the image sensor.

11. Action-stopping Rules To stop action moving across the frame that’s perpendicular to the lens axis, you need shutter speeds two stops faster than action moving toward or away from you. For action moving at a 45-degree angle to the lens axis, you can use a shutter speed one stop slower. For example: If a person running toward you at moderate speed can be stopped at 1/125 sec, you’ll need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec to stop the subject moving across the frame, and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec to stop him if moving obliquely with respect to the camera.

12. Sunset Rule To get a properly exposed sunset, meter the area directly above the sun (without including the sun). If you want the scene to look like it’s a half-hour later, stop down by one f-stop, or set exposure compensation to minus one.

Article from Popphoto.com

Guide To Creating Stunning Landscape Photographs

Barry — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:22:32 +0000

The following tips will help you to produce the landscape photos that you will be proud of and will be every bit as stunning as the location where the photo was taken……

What kit do I need?

Tripod

Use the best quality tripod that you can afford to avoid flimsiness and, in turn, the chance of the camera moving in the wind etc. Using a tripod in conjunction with a remote release will minimise camera shake even further and also avoid you having to wait for the self timer to go off on every shot. Many camera’s now come equipped with mirror lock up, if you have this function, use it to avoid mirror ’slap’.

Lenses

Buy the best lens you can afford as the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is completely true when it comes to photography equipment!

Filters

Polarizers and Neutral Density filters will help alot with controlling the light and reflections. Please see my post on Filters for more in depth informaton on the different filters available and there effects on the scene.

Obviously if you don’t have the above equipment it doesn’t mean that you can’t go out and take photographs, but the above items will assist greatly and make your life easier!

Taking the photo

Understanding Depth of Field

Normally the general rule of landscape photography is to keep everyhting from the foreground to the background sharp and in focus. Remember, wide angle lenses will have a greater depth of field than longer lenses. Smaller apertures will provide a greater depth of field than wider apertures.

Try to focus about a third of the way into the scene as this will help to maximise the depth of field. You can use the ‘Hyperfocal Distance’ technique as this provides a more accurate measurement based on the lens you have.

Understanding Diffraction

As mentioned the more you close the aperture the greater the depth of field and so F22 would generally give the greatest DOP. One common problem is caused by ’stopping down’ too far is diffraction. Light passes through the aperture of the lens and the edges of the hole disperse the light waves. As you stop down, the percentage of diffracted light becomes a larger part of the total light being recorded and this effects the sharpness of the image and in turn has a negative effect on the overall detail of the photograph.

It is your call on whether you feel the effects of diffraction (that you may notice when stopping down) outway the depth of field effect you are trying to achieve.

Understanding Exposure

Exposure is the amount of light allowed to fall on the r image sensor while taking a photograph. Exposure is measured in lux seconds.

Exposure compensation is a function on many DSLR’s, this allows your to adjust the automatically calculated exposure. Camera exposure compensation is commonly stated in terms of exposure value (EV), 1 EV is equal to one exposure step.

Exposure can be adjusted by changing either the lens f-number or the exposure time, which one is changed usually depends on the camera’s exposure mode. If the mode is aperture priority, exposure compensation changes the exposure time, if the mode is shutter priority, the f-number is changed.

F22 – 6.0 secs

A great exposure tutorial ‘Photography – Exposure - Getting it right’ can be found here.

‘Metering

Please see my previous post regarding metering.

Quick tips

Use the ‘rule of thirds’
Maximize your Depth of Field to make the most of the scene you are photographing.
Use a Tripod to steady the shot, especially for slower shutter speeds in low light.
Look for a Focal Point to ’set the photo off’
Consider the Sky and including this in the shot, especially if the cloud contrast is good.
Capture Movement
Work the Golden Hours, I have a free app on the iPhone to tell me the sunrise and sunset times. I can then time certain sessions in line with this.
Think about Horizons
Try new angles and try to be original.

Some of my landscape shots….