Shooting with low-light at events #photography
I did a few photo-shoots at the weekend and needed to cope with low-light conditions. The first event was part of the Birmingham and Sandwell Jazz Festival and was a performance by Chickenbone John playing an amazing guitar made from a cigar box.
Conveying a mood #photography #art
There are always interesting things to photograph and photography isn’t just about taking snaps. I look at photography as an art in itself and I look for unusual things to photograph. I found this little chapel down a side street in Bilston and took a few shots early in the evening. The art of photography is imagining what mood an image will convey and I thought this chapel looked cold and lonely.
Out at the weekend #photography #art #Wednesbury
I was out at the weekend taking photos. The Sandwell Arts Trail was supposed to be launched and I have a picture in that so I popped down to Wednesbury art gallery. The exhibition wasn’t launched and so I wandered around photographing the gallery with a particular interest in the design of the gallery. I like diffused natural light for my photographs and I think the paintings in the gallery look better in diffused natural light too. The light on the landing comes in through frosted glass skylights and makes it look great. It is perfect light for photography too.
Shooting events in low light #photography
I’ll be photographing the carnival in a couple of weeks and I have other events coming up. We can’t always count on getting good light and even bright sunlight gives us dark shadows. There will be some events indoors as well. Nikon and Canon DSLRs both meter the light using TTL technology. That is through the lens metering (TTL) and this gives good control over the flash. The flash can be used in bright sunlight to light up those dark shadows but if the skies are dark then another option is to use a higher ISO setting.
The creation of images #ramble
Once again, it is Sunday morning and I share my thought with you. Not that much has been going on that I care to share. I’m not very good at sharing, I prefer to be alone a lot of the time. It’s easier to be alone sometimes, isn’t it? Then people can’t cause you stress or worry or whatever. I often find it easier to do my own thing too and if I make a mess of it I know who to blame! I try hard to work with others and accept collective decisions but it isn’t easy. That’s why I like photography and the creation of images, it’s just me and my camera, unless I decide to point it at people…
Too much harsh light #photography
I’m always assessing the light when I’m taking photos outside and I’ve seen some awful, dark photos this weekend. The weather was scorching and so lots of light but harsh light with dark shadows. I had a few photo-shoots. There were a couple of Summer Fayres at schools and then our Father’s Day event in the park on Sunday. You can’t do much about the harsh light except to use a warm filter but the dark shadows are a bigger problem. You have to use fill flash and it is preferable to use a Speedlight rather than a pop-up. I had to use a pop-up on Sunday because I couldn’t carry around too much equipment.
Creating art with your camera #photography
The first users of cameras in the late 19th century were professional people who could afford such devices and artists who were fascinated with the new medium. They experimented a lot and in doing so they became quite skilled photographers. Some of those early images of their models are sought after today because even though they are black and white or sepia, they capture a moment in time that will never be seen again. They also demonstrate the skill of the photographer. This week one of my photographs was accepted for the Sandwell Arts trail. The works of art will tour the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell going from art gallery to museums and to the Art cafe. This was my attempt at creating art with my camera –
Enjoying the longest days #photography
These are the longest days before the summer solstice on the 21st of June. This is a great time for landscape photography and we have a lot more time to go out and experiment and improve our technique. The light varies throughout the day and most photographers like the warm light just after dawn and just before sunset. You do have to be careful with the sun low in the sky because there are long shadows.
Thinking about the light #photography
I take lots of different kinds of photos. Sometimes it is landscapes and other times I’m asked to photograph groups of people. I’m always thinking about the light. A sunny day with lots of light doesn’t always give us the best conditions. A day when we have even white cloud gives us a better-diffused light than when we have bright sunlight. Often in bright sunlight, the shadows are really dark and despite the bright light we need to use fill flash to remove the dark shadows. Photographs send out a message and in this photo the message was simple. I wanted to say how busy Wednesbury market was!
Spring in the Black Country #photography
I live in Wednesbury and it isn’t the most scenic place for landscape photography but there are lots of great places within easy reach. The spring flowers have been evident this week with ‘fool’s parsley’ growing close to pools, the river Tame and the Walsall canal. I was out and about photographing nature in full bloom on Sunday.
A Black Country Event #photography
There are many different types of photography. I’m currently doing a couple of photographic art projects that require high-quality images and I spend a lot of time on those. My print for an art competition is printed on canvas at 300 dpi and measures 20 inches by 16 inches. For that print, I went for high quality. For a Black Country event my priority is getting the shots and although the quality is important, there are many factors I can’t control and so image quality isn’t the top priority. I photographed the Black Country Horse Drive at the weekend and that was quite challenging but it was also enjoyable. Over 300 horses and their owners came to create a memorable event and raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
My thoughts this week #ramble
Each Sunday morning, I allow you into the innermost sanctum of my mind and share my thoughts with you. I’ve decided on something a little different this week. I’ll still share my thoughts but a bit earlier than usual.
Enjoying the spring landscapes #photography
Through the winter I struggled with poor light and even had a few photographs that were ‘noisy’. Noise is those little spots often white or purple that appear at the higher ISO settings. Now, though, we have great light and can enjoy walking in the country and getting amazing pictures. But all that green can be a little boring so watch out for things that will break up the sea of green such as walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The spring is a great season for landscape photography as the days get longer and the evenings get lighter.
History, art and photography #ramble
It’s Sunday morning and so once again I let you into the matrix that leads to the dark corners of my mind and will share my thoughts with you. What’s on my mind this week? History, art and photography as well as publicity and markets and a whole host of other things. I’ve been designing banners to publicise things. That wasn’t very successful but we learn, move on and improve. I have also been working on a couple of art projects. One involves flowers which leads me nicely into today’s photo which is one of the photos I took for the project. What ya think?
Developing a photography project #photography
I constantly develop as a community photographer. I take photographs at events as part of my role as a public relations officer doing publicity. I also do landscape photography, food photography and portrait photography. I not only try to develop the photography skills but the social skills to deal with people and I’m also trying to develop as an artist. I have two art projects at the moment. One is for a competition and is loosely on the subject of spring flowers and the other project is photographing people. I’m photographing people with a wide open aperture and a long zoom lens. That project needs a lot more thought and work. Yesterday, I was out taking photographs to publicise an event and a local company on social media.
Look at the time! #ramble #photography
It’s Sunday morning and so here I go trying to write another Sunday morning ramble. I was out early yesterday photographing narrowboats on the canal. I was even invited to join their tour but that involved walking up some abandoned locks and I know how steep that hill is! It’s a nice day again today and so I’ll be out taking photos again this afternoon. I usually start writing at about nine a clock, but today I thought, look at the time; it was after ten!
Experiments in photography #photography
Once a month we have an evening of spoken word, poetry and music in Wednesbury library and I’m allowed to photograph the performers. It is a great opportunity for me to experiment and see if I can take photos in fluorescent light without a flash and learn how high I can take the ISO up without getting noise. I’ve also done experiments with video. The monthly event is on the last Tuesday of each month and at the end of March, I experimented with wide apertures, spot focusing and monochrome.
Archive and library #photography
My camera takes photos that are 24 Megapixel and often that translates to a file size of 12 Mb or more. I then resize the folder to a size suitable for the internet which is typically 1 Mb file size per image. The images take up a lot of space on my laptop and video takes up even more. It is essential then to move them onto some kind of removable storage. My archive consists of a 500 Gb external hard drive and I have just bought a 1 Tb flash drive which will become another archive for images, video and music. I can simply move the latest files from the library on my laptop to an archive and free up space.
Wide-open in low-light #photography
I’ve been taking photos at more events indoors recently and doing much less landscape photography because of the weather. Indoor photography poses its own problems with low-light. To get some scenes in focus you need a wide depth of field but struggle with the low-light at narrower apertures. The answer is to just stay wide-open and try to take close-up shots of people. After all, at events, it is the people who are the subject!
Is it still raining? #ramble
Is it raining?
It’s Sunday morning and so once again I let you into the weird labyrinth where I keep my innermost thoughts. What’s on my mind this week? On a Sunday, I like to write this ramble in the morning and then after lunch, I like to do some landscape photography while I can drive about without facing mind destroying congestion. Of course, on Friday’s when the congestion is the worst we get the sunshine and on Sundays it’s always raining.
I was out last night taking photos at Churchill’s club where my brother was celebrating his 60th birthday. I have looked through the photos this morning and they are quite good. I deleted far fewer than usual and so I must be getting better at this event photography.
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New year and so some new plans #ramble
So it’s 2017, I wasn’t expecting to live this long or I would have looked after myself better. Last night my phone said ‘emergency calls only’. I thought maybe the network was overloaded with people wishing each other happy new year. It seems the sim has developed a fault. I have ordered a new one online. My new year isn’t off to a very good start.
New camera for Christmas? #photography
If you had a new camera for Christmas you might want to get the most out of it by learning a little about photography. It takes some time to learn all the settings especially on a DSLR but just understanding the basic settings can help you take better pictures. You can go from just taking snaps to creating images.
Group photos and metering #photography
This year I have moved away from landscape photography to become a community photographer photographing local events. It is a quite different type of photography and requires the use of wider apertures and different techniques. I didn’t expect to be doing so many events now that winter is nearly here but I have done three events in the past three days. All three events involved group photos.
Winter thoughts on Sunday #ramble
It is only 10 days to the Winter Solstice and the official beginning of winter. Anyway, it’s Sunday morning and so as usual, I let you into the darker corners of my mind and share my thoughts with you.
