One Camera, One lens.

I thought it was about time I tackled the matter of photographic equipment, some photographers insist that to get the shots required a multitude of lenses, flashes, filters and other gadgets are essential buys, and while this may be true for some shots in the whole I am going to show you that you can achieve many styles of photograph with minimal equipment.

The equipment I usually use on my shoots is a low end DSLR,  Nikon D60, the standard 18-55 kit lens which came with the camera, a sturdy tripod, a set of ND filters, a remote and one flash unit also a good photo editing program.

Very basic and also very light to carry for when I can't find someone to act as my assistant for the day, with this equipment I can get the majority of the shots I want and I will explain how I achieved some of my favorite photographs taken over the last few years.

The shot above was taken today using the automatic settings and enhanced in a photo editing program, this is something of a controversy between photographers, some see the use of an editing program as "cheating" where as others such as myself see it as doing exactly what was achieved in the dark room in the days of processing 35mm (and other format) film.

There are the exceptions of course, there are manipulation processes which couldn't be achieved in the dark room that you can do using one of these programs, such as creating more depth of field to the photograph by using a out of focus tool, brightening and deepening the picture, sharpness and contrast enhancements.

You can also clone and layer photographs in these programs creating copies of objects or HDR style pictures.

Utilizing the cameras preset settings you can often achieve great results, the shot above is unedited and  was taken using the Macro setting (depicted by a flower on your dial) this effectively enables you to take clear close up shots of objects, plants or insects showing texture and detail not usually found in standard photographs.

It is possible to get even closer shots using a lens with a larger focal length and/or macro extension tubes
( I have ordered some macro tubes which I am waiting on delivery) but if you do not have these the standard lens gets in quite close and can give some very nice results, and you can always crop in closer like I did with the shot below.

Even low light and long exposure shots which can often be difficult to achieve can be done using this equipment and some patience and practice, the next shot was taken using the Shutter priority mode, ISO.100, 30 second exposure, using tripod and the remote.

Long exposures in daylight is something I haven't quite achieved properly yet, but I have managed to get a few shots I quite like myself using the shutter priority mode again and 3 ND filters (neutral density filters) ND2, ND4 and ND8 at the same time, I set the ISO to 100 and the white balance to daylight, using a tripod and remote I took the shot at 10 second exposure ( I also forgot to clean my filters).

There is no end to the types of photographs you can take with minimal equipment from Landscapes to portraits, it's all about utilizing your cameras controls and mastering editing software, the above shot took a bit of time to edit as it was over exposed.

Below is a selection of my favorites taken with my usual equipment.

Night Photography

As you have probably gathered from my posts I like to share what I learn when it comes to photography.
Just like playing the Guitar I am constantly learning new techniques and styles with which to play around and create my own take on them.

Night photography is something I have been trying to master for quite some time and I have found it very rewarding, not only do you get to experience places that would look and feel different in the daylight, done correctly the images produced can be awe inspiring and representations of light in the darkness.

It can take a lot of practice to get a shot like the one I took above and a lot of research learning which settings to use, I always research the settings other photographers use before setting out to shoot a particular photograph but these settings are never set in stone and can be tweaked to suit the location/time that you are shooting.

for the above shot I used "shutter priority" the large S on the control wheel of the Nikon D60 (similar on most dslr cameras) I used a 30 second shutter speed, iso 100 and set the white balance to daylight, I also used a remote and a tripod to avoid camera shake.

The best time for night shooting is usually just after sun set onwards, in my opinion the darker the sky the better although this isn't always the case, allow for variations in weather or cloud formations to get more dramatic backgrounds.

Always check your lens and sensor is clean too I had to do a lot of cloning with the above shot because of this mistake.

A tripod is essential for night shooting although any flat surface will work as in the next shot which was taken by balancing the camera on a low wall.

This was taken using a higher ISO setting, auto white balance, 5 second exposure at F14 giving a nice capture of the cars rear and front lights as they pass by, please forgive the text on this picture, as this is my most stolen image used without permission by others I have to protect it somehow.

When there is no actual light source available such as street lamps, I find using a high powered LED torch to illuminate the subject can give some very interesting results, the next shot was taken at around 10pm at Sandal Castle near Wakefield, it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but serves to show what can be improved on.

The shot would have turned out much better if I had used shutter priority and a longer exposure.

Another source of light which could be used is fire.

Flash can also be used to highlight the foreground of a photograph taken at night and will often give the image an almost eerie feel to it.

the above shot was taken using a tripod and a 1.4 second exposure at F5.6 using a high ISO setting of 1600 I set the white balance to cloudy.

The essential things to remember when taking night photographs are:

Always wear something bright, a florescent jacket or something white so you can be seen.

Tripod or flat solid surface is required to avoid camera shake as is a remote or use the cameras timer.

check your lens and sensor are cleaned.

take a friend or a group of friends with you, there is safety in numbers.

experiment with the settings

in locations with no natural or unnatural light use a a high powered torch.

Landscape Photography

Recently I applied to a post on GumTree from a restaurant in Glasgow looking for artists to display and sell work in their premises.

A few days later I was happy to receive a reply saying they wish to use some of my landscape photographs as they felt they stood out and so I thought after my little rant earlier I would write something a little lighter on photographing landscapes in general.

Location is always important, this isn't to say you have to travel to Wales or Scotland just to take good landscape shots, as most people know a beautiful vista can be found in most any place, some of my favorite photographs I have taken were taken not with my Nikon but with a standard fuji 5700 bridge camera and its big brother the sf8000.

The one shot I took with the 5700 was using standard sunset settings and as you can see from the image (below) the setting is a stunning lake with the sun going down, this was taken around 4pm in September (if my memory serves correct).

My point here is the camera you use is not important that isn't to say using a DSLR camera wont give you better results than a compact as we all know the more expensive a camera the more chance of capturing a great shot, but as I say it isn't essential to spend hundreds of pounds on a camera the next picture was taken on an olympus C35 3.5mp camera.

 If you are lucky enough to drive or have access to transport finding locations can be much easier by driving around if it's pleasing to your eye then the chances of it being pleasing to someone else is just the same.

Technical ability with landscapes is not so much an issue, I think the skill is more in knowing a good vista when you see one and in the editing afterwards.

If you feel more comfortable or don't have much time by all means use the automatic settings it isn't "cheating" as some photographers tend to think it is there for a reason, to be used. As with the other settings on your camera.

Of course sometimes Manual mode is required as with the next shot, I am still learning myself when it comes to long exposure shots outdoors but discovered using neutral density filters helps to darken your lens making it possible to take longer exposures.

This makes it possible to slow time down and capture speed as in the next shot with traffic at a 2 sec exposure.
 

I won't say I am anywhere near an expert at landscapes or photography itself but these guidelines are what I have personally learnt from others.

Caged

Today I awoke to find it was a glorious sunny day, a rare thing I agree in the UK, it's on days such as this that I feel the most caged, by this I mean "stuck". Without trying to sound like a whining old fart health problems restrict me getting about, this causes issues with my work as a photographer, the job of someone with this title is simply to take photographs, continuing to update their profile with new images and new techniques learnt.

With health problems this can be difficult as I mentioned in my previous thread about photography and disabilities there are ways to overcome this but often it requires the help of another person who can drive or money for public transport, when neither is available the option of getting out and capturing a beautiful landscape to sell is limited to none.

Within Wakefield there is an array of things to photograph, modern and historical architecture, people, nature and open landscapes, but after shooting these so often it becomes monotonous, you become tired of the same old scenery and crave for pastures new.

I spent around seventeen years travelling around the UK and my only regret was not having a camera to capture it all as I do now, unfortunately now I don't have the ability to travel the way I used to and so this brings us to the title of this blog, Caged.

To feel caged is a feeling I can only explain by the above, take a man who has known the freedom of the road, heading wherever and whenever he feels the need to, a man who has experienced the true kind nature of human life, the spirituality of nature herself and the elements upon his face, then put him in a small dark room, leave him there where he is unable to see the sunlight through his window, a place where walking distance is a repetitive concrete and brick metropolis or sights he has seen over and over again like staring at the same picture for many years on end without taking your eyes from it.

Imagine what it must feel for an eagle to be captured and caged, this is how the man feels, this is how I feel cooped up and lost in an endless groundhog day of images, I feel my creativity suppressed within these walls and the freedom of the road is no longer an option of release.

Wedding Photography

A little while ago I was asked if I would photograph an old friends wedding, now normally I would have refused this request as I have done a lot of research on this area of photography and have to admit I didn't like the idea of a 12 hour job, mainly as my physical health would suffer.

Unusually though the alarm bells which would usually alert me when asked a request such as this didn't go off and so I replied with a yes.

Now it did help that A) my friend is also a photographer and B) the client was a friend and knew not to expect miracles or anything close to a professional wedding photographers portfolio. 

I was kindly offered the loan of my friends Canon eos 7D with a nice zoom lens to use along with my nikon D60 and the standard lens , a 16gb memory card was ordered as payment (along with travel costs paid) and all was ready for the big day.

I had several discussions with the groom before the day and he told me the basics of the kind of shots he was wanting, simple enough or at least so I thought.

Planning is the key ingredient in wedding photography and despite knowing this I left it till the last moment to do more research, there were a few mistakes I made throughout the days shoot some of which with more careful research and planning I could have avoided I hope that this blog serves to refrain any of you from making the same mistakes I did.

With a bit of technical skill and a lot of luck I was able to get the majority of the shots I was asked and only missed one of the ones requested and could have taken a better shot of another, I will go into more detail about what the mistakes were in a moment.

My first mistake as I mentioned before, was lack of planning, the wedding took place in the small historic town of Matlock in  Derbyshire, a place I have visited on many an occasion in my biking days, and with this knowledge of the area I presumed (wrongly) that I would have no trouble finding the venue. 

I looked the venue up on google earth and studied the area around it for locations to shoot the bride and groom, when we did turn up in Matlock it took us 20 minutes to find the correct venue this could have been avoided.

As a result of this we arrived later than expected but still early for the ceremony, this was where I missed the shot of the bride arriving as she was already at the venue in a separate room to the groom, after a quick chat with the groom and the registrar I took up my cameras and began shooting, flitting between each room and capturing images of the guests arriving, the groom looking nervous and the bride and bridesmaids looking radiant. 

through out the day I kept snapping and captured the ceremony without any problems, then came the moment I had to step up and take charge, this has never been an easy task for me I am fairly quietly spoken and gaining peoples attention is not my strong point, and so came the next mistake, the group shots.

If I had visited the venue before hand I would have known there was a nice expanse of grass with cherry blossomed trees below the venue, however because of the lack of planning I took the shots on some steps, this resulted in them looking messy, some people could not be seen, kids were all looking in opposite directions, I wasn't happy with the results of these few shots myself and can only imagine that the bride and groom dismissed them as "snapshots".

Other than a mis-hap with the laptop battery dying on me and not having the lead the rest of the wedding shoot went very well and I am happy to say that the bride and groom were overjoyed with the results and although I had to sit down many times throughout the day and rest I actually really enjoyed it.

So my advice now I have experienced wedding photography for itself is:

1) have a spare camera with a different lens it saves time swapping lenses.

2) preparation

3) research

4) pre-visit the venue

5) make sure you have plenty of memory card space and a fully charged laptop with lead to transfer images to

6) arrive early 

7) be polite and friendly and smile at people, it softens the defenses of those who dislike their photograph been taken.

8) keep shooting

9) discuss what the couple want in terms of poses, shots etc

10) take a lot of candid shots, couples like to reflect on their big day and see people enjoying themselves.