PHOTOGRAPHING WATER & MOVEMENT

Our intrepid group of 12 students braved the heat and sun on Sunday to photograph the water in the amazing Padley Gorge, part of the National Trust's Longshaw Estate.  An ice cream for everyone on the way back to the classroom was very welcome!

The bright sun and dark shadows were the most challenging of all conditions for photography, especially flowing water, so when we did our constructive critique of their shots it was great to see that everyone had some stunning images, using their new skills and a selection of ND and polarising filters.

Setting up a shot in Padley Gorge

You can see an album of our students' images on our Facebook page or find out more about our workshops at Longshaw.

Image by Alan

TIPS FOR WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

Our wildlife photography courses are more popular than ever - they're a great way to learn the skills of wildlife photography and have a great day out.  Of course the next step is to put those skills into practice, so our resident wildlife photography expert Paul Hobson has kindly let us have his top ten tips for wildlife photography.

Paul Hobson's Top Ten Wildlife Photography Tips

• Learn as much as you can about the animal you are going to photograph. Research on the web, ask local wildlife groups and read books. It helps you to visualise and create exciting images.
• Spend as much time in the field as possible. Watch and learn the habits of the animals you are photographing. It will help greatly later when you photograph them and will allow you to predict any behaviour and know where and when to find them.
• Make sure you have any land-owner's permission if you need it. It is always a good idea to present them with a print when you have finished your project.
• Make sure you are fully familiar with your camera and you know how to change the most used functions quickly. Wildlife moments can occur in the blink of an eye.
• Before you start make sure the camera is set for instant photography, you have the right mode (such as aperture priority), the correct depth of field, the most appropriate ISO etc. Sometimes the action may start straight away and you don't want to miss it by having to fiddle around adjusting the camera.
• Learn how to approach wildlife slowly and quietly. Don't march straight up to it, it is most likely to run off and you will fail to get any shots.
• Check the weather forecast. Don't be put off by bad weather, sometimes the most dramatic images occur in rain or mist.
• Learn how to visualise an image before you go out and plan how to create that image. Look at as many other photographs as you can and try to blend in aspects you like into your work but do not simply copy other photographers' ideas.
• Do not try to do everything in one go. Plan one image per session and work hard to get it. Leave a different image until another session. You will create much stronger images than simply firing at everything that moves and hoping to get some good shots.
• Visit the same site frequently. The best images are often created on repeat visits and after many hours of work. 

Images by Paul Hobson.  Read more about Paul >>>

CANDID AND STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

Street photography has a  long tradition and was made famous by practitioners like – Cartier Bresson (France),  Robert Frank (America), Alfred Stieglitz (America), Brassai (France) and Weegee (America).  Their shots were candid, unposed, frequently shot at night while using quite large and cumbersome equipment.  The advent of digital photography has allowed us the luxury and ease of small cameras, light weight, speed of shooting and an immediacy of viewing never dreamed of in the past.

 

However and despite being a ‘spur of the moment’ mode of shooting, good candid photography does actually require some planning:

 

Some tips on equipment/techniques

 

Any interchangeable lens camera will capture great candid shots, but you'll need a fairly wide-angle lens so that you can get reasonably close to your subject (I know it's tempting to use a longer zoom lens, but you'll often find people walking between you and your subject).

• Try not to ‘look’ like a photographer, leave tripods and camera bags in the car.  Pre-set your aperture to around f5.6 or f8 and depending upon available light, you should get reasonably fast shutter speeds.
• To freeze people when they walk past, depending upon their speed you’ll need to be shooting at least 1/125^th second.  If on the other hand you want some blur in the shot, drop down to 1/30^th or 1/60^th.  Adjust your ISO to give you the desired speed.
• Try not to look at your subject too much, they will get suspicious.  Look at the buildings or the trees above them and when you look back down, sneak a glance their way, wait for the pose that suits your needs and shoot! 

A useful technique . . . .

 

Given that candid and street photography calls for the subjects to be unwitting participants who do not realise they have been photographed, some subtlety and preparation is required in setting up the shots.   It’s important that you don’t spend too much time looking through the viewfinder with the camera pointed at your subject.  I usually pre-focus the camera on something that lies the same distance away from me as my subject and for this, the camera must be set to 1-area focusing or you can use manual focus.   Alternatively, you could try face detection mode but it may not always pick out the right face in a crowd.

 

 

The technique:

• Once a suitable subject has been identified, set the lens to a suitably wide angle, usually around 20–30mm.
• Look around for another person or static point the same distance away from you and half press the shutter release to set focus.  Once the camera has focused, do not release the shutter button.
• Take the camera away from your eye and rest the lens in the crook of your arm.
• When the subject is unwittingly posed to your satisfaction, fire the shutter.
• Some practice and experimentation will be needed to ensure that the subject is framed into your shot – practice on the family!  Try different focal lengths until you find one where you can be sure to frame subjects without having to look in the viewfinder. If your camera has a tilting live view screen, it's even easier, just hang your camera around your neck with the screen tilted so that you can see it clearly and no-one will even know you're taking a shot!

 

How to find Subjects . . . .

• Walk through parks and look out for people sitting on benches.  Midday is a good time to hunt and the public make great targets as they read papers, sleep and eat food
• In the city, look out for human statues/street performers, they make for  interesting shots and it does no harm to drop some cash into their collection tins by way of a thank you
• Be a little wary of down an outs, they can be quite touchy and unless you’re willing to strike up a conversation and buy them a coffee, you may a) not get a shot,  b) suffer some abuse or  c) discover just how fast you can run while carrying a large camera bag
• Look for interesting backgrounds and just wait for the right subject to pass in front of it
• If you’re spotted, give the subject one of your cards, show them your shot and if they like it - offer to send them a (small) .jpeg of the image
• It’s almost inevitable that at some stage, you will be shouted at – keep your calm, offer to delete the shots and it’s often a good idea to hand over one of your business cards to show your ‘professional intent’.  You will quickly develop the necessarily thick skin.

Remember, there is nothing illegal (or immoral) about Street Photography and Google is afloat with information and articles on the subject.  Have a look, get familiar with the techniques and do some research (see Legislation below). 

It does take some nerve to get in close, but there's a real buzz in capturing what Cartier Bresson called the Decisive Moment.  He also said - “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.”

ABOVE ALL BE PATIENT!!

You can learn how to use the features of your camera mentioned in this article on our beginners' photography courses.

LEGISLATION

Photographers are often worried about the legality of candid/street photography, so let's look at some facts:  

 

·    Taking a picture in a public place is generally legal, but do take steps to ensure that you are in fact ‘in a public place’.  Increasingly – areas are becoming ‘privatised’ (e.g. shopping centres, sports areas etc.) where security staff can ask you to stop taking photographs, although they have no right to seize your camera or memory cards.

·     Even in public places, a degree of common sense must be applied.  For example, if there is some sort of civil disturbance or emergency and the police / emergency services are operating – you may be asked to move on.  In the worst case, you may be arrested if you don’t.

·     You must also bear in mind that even if street photography is legal, individuals’ attitudes to it may range from mildly curious to absolutely furious.  To that end, you might practice your running skills when carrying a large camera bag

·     For my own part, I find that simply asking permission usually does the trick and the worst that can happen is that your potential subject will say NO!!

·     Be careful of taking any shots where there are children – it’s a sad world . . . but parents can be very suspicious of strangers taking photos of their kids.  Especially if you’re male.

·     If you are not using the picture for commercial use or promotion, then you can use / publish it without having the subject’s permission or signature on a model release form.  Note! the term publish includes web usage.

·     However, if the image depicts the person in an unsavoury or embarrassing light, then they may have a case to sue you for libel – especially if tag lines or captions imply anything that may cause them embarrassment or offence.

·     As you’d expect care must be taken when shooting images near military installations or Government buildings – the current Anti Terrorism laws are quite stringent

Clearly, the above pointers apply to the UK.  However, laws (and attitudes) may well be different in other countries.

 

Laws are constantly tweaked or changed, so if you plan to make street photography your business or hobby, keep up to date and check the web for info.  This article makes for an interesting read:

 

The British Journal of Photography:  http://www.bjp-online.com/tag/street-rights

 

Rod Corston

Going Digital Tutor

 

MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

If you've tried your hand at macro photography, you'll know that it's not easy getting the perfect shot.  It's one of the few areas of photography where a DSLR or compact system camera is harder to use than a compact.

Images by Going Digital student Dave Jones

Using artificial lighting for macro shots is particularly difficult because it's so easy to overdo it and end up with an unnatural result.

These shots show how subtle lighting and correct use of the camera can give great results.

If you'd like to give it a try, we have Close-up & Macro Photography courses coming up around the country throughout 2012.

Many thanks to Dave Jones for these shots taken on Sunday's workshop.

BASIC DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY COURSES

We have a great new workshop for anyone who'd like to get started in digital photography and understand the basic features of their camera, how to share your photos and more.  We're really excited about this workshop, which reflects the amazing new features to be found in so many cameras now, from in-camera editing to gps and wi-fi.

Panasonic Lumix compact camera

Called Digital Photography Basics, you'll learn:

which image quality and memory card to choose

which Scene Mode to choose for better photographs

how to get sharp shots and avoid 'camera shake'

how to compose better images for that "wow!" factor

how to use some of the latest features of digital cameras, e.g. in-camera editing, gps and wi-fi

how simple editing can transform your shots

sharing your images

More >>

ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY AWARD

Well done to Ann Dickson, assistant tutor in the East of England Region who made a successful application for her Licentiateship to the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS).

Ann Dickson

She is an accomplished Landscape and Wildlife photographer and has produced many winning images in local camera clubs and competitions. She has worked hard to produce her panel of ten images for the RPS and received the award at the Birmingham NEC on 5th March 2012.  Here's Ann's panel of images:

WHY FORMAT YOUR MEMORY CARD?

There's a significant difference between deleting images and formatting your camera's memory card, as I'll explain:

Deleting Images
If you run out of space on your memory card, and you don't have another one to hand, by all means delete some images to create room for a few more.  However deleting images does leave traces of data on your memory card and in the long-run your card will begin to fill up with this data and could even become corrupted (unreadable).

Formatting a Memory Card
When you have transferred your images safely to your computer (and backed them up if they're precious to you), you should format your card.  This will clean up the card completely and restore it to its original condition.  If you do this regularly, you're much less likely to have problems reading images from your card.

Recovering Images from your Memory Card
Even though your camera and computer are telling you that there are no images on your memory card, it may still be possible to recover your precious shots from a corrupted card.  Some cameras come with the manufacturer's recovery software, but there's plenty to be downloaded from the internet quite cheaply.  Just install the software and follow the on-screen instructions and you will often find that your photographs can be copied safely to your computer.