Back to Basics
Derek Smith • 19 March 2022
Wine Glasses
Photo By: Derek Smith
Victorian Sewing Kit
Photo By: Derek Smith
Ninja
Photo By: Derek Smith
South Kyme
Photo By: Derek Smith
Within our Society we have photographers of all abilities, and whether you are a beginner, or an experienced photographer it’s sometimes good to review our photography skills.
Compositional Techniques – A photo should always tell a story, a narrative that conveys the subject, or point of interest of the image immediately to the viewer, so remember that lines pointing toward the subject can guide the eye. Having the subject brighter than the surrounding area is also a good technique, a shaft of light on a building can often be utilised when a break in the clouds allows. Very bright grey featureless skies can be the bane of landscape photography, try tilting the camera down to reduce the amount of sky in the final image, or try photographing the scene at a different time of day. The positioning of a subject within the photo frame is also important, if the subject can move, give it room to move into the frame, if the subject has eyes have the direction of gaze looking into the frame, or look at a point of interest within the frame, in portraiture perhaps the subject could look directly at the photographer. Decide from the outset what to include in the photo, or even more importantly what to leave out.
Focus Points – With modern digital cameras a photographer should be able to control the size, and positioning of the focus point. Leaving the focus on automatic, and wide runs the risk of the camera focus locking onto something other than your subject, or a point of interest, usually it’s the nearest thing to the camera, a blade of grass, or a tree!! Learn how to control the size, and position of the focus point on your camera thus ensuring the subject of the image is sharp.
Get Out of Auto – We use the auto exposure mode regularly on our mobile phones, and sometimes on our cameras, and there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with taking photos on Auto mode however, a photographer can be far more creative, and produce a more impactful image by selecting Aperture Priority on the camera.
Aperture Priority Explained – The aperture of a lens, the size of the iris, the hole that lets the light into the camera via the lens, is controlled by the aperture blades. Using Aperture Priority mode allows the photographer to control, and vary the aperture, to adjust for the scene, and the ambient light. The size of aperture is denoted by what’s known as an “f” number, with the lowest “f” number opening the widest, and therefore letting the most light into the camera. In Aperture Priority mode as the aperture is varied, the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to give the correct exposure. Learning the effects of the different apertures can be slightly daunting for someone new to photography, so as we now know that in Aperture Priority mode adjusting the aperture also adjusts the shutter speed I would like you to think of the aperture settings, in bands, related to the shutter speed.
Fast: f/1.0 – f/3.5, sometimes referred to as “wide open”, allows the most light into the camera, and therefore gives the highest shutter speeds. Useful for indoor low light situations, and portraits.
Medium: f/4 – f/7.1, allows less light into the camera, useful for photography of birds, small mammals, and portraits.
Slow: f/8 – f/16, often referred to as “stopped down”, this is an ideal setting for landscape, architecture, and portraits.
It is also useful to remember that most lenses produce the sharpest images between f/4 – f/8.
Practical Application – Learn how to locate, and be able to adjust the aperture, on your camera. Setting the Mode Dial to “A” or “Av” puts the camera into Aperture Priority mode, and usually a control wheel on the camera adjusts the aperture range. One other control to consider is ISO, which controls the sensitivity of the sensor. Locate, and be able to adjust the ISO on your particular model of camera, you may have to press a button on the back of the camera, to enable adjustment of the ISO.
Exercise – Having located the Aperture, and ISO controls on the camera, try this practical exercise; set the aperture to the “Fastest” aperture for your camera / lens combination, it may be f/2, or f/3.5. Set the ISO to 200, half press the shutter button and note the shutter speed, either in the viewfinder, or on the rear screen. Now, double the ISO to 400, and the shutter speed will double as well, repeat the experiment, at ISO settings of 800, 1600, and 3200, and observe the shutter speed double each time. You now have total control of your camera!!
It is useful to understand that a shutter speed of 1/60, and above, should enable a blur free handheld image of a static subject, (although image stabilisation, a tripod, or a convenient fence may help to steady the camera when using a slower shutter speed), and that a faster shutter speed of 1/250 will freeze action in a moving subject.
Sample Images
Wine glasses: This monochrome image taken at a “Fast” aperture of f/2, ISO 200, and shutter speed of 1/200 demonstrates a creative aspect of a “Fast” aperture, the foremost wine glass is sharp, but the wine glasses behind are blurred, and this type of image is not possible in Automatic Mode.
Victorian Sewing Kit: This image taken in a National Trust property which do not allow flash photography. Using a “Medium” aperture this time of f/4.5, ISO 6400, and shutter speed of 1/8, (utilising the camera stabilisation), I found the colours very pleasing.
Ninja: This image of a speeding motorcycle was taken at Cadwell circuit, the “Medium” aperture of f/5, ISO 64, and a shutter speed of 1/250. The camera settings coupled with a technique known as “panning”, which is locking the focus onto the motorcyclist and following the bike through its progress as it passes the photographer. The blurred background, together with the blurred wheels create a dynamic image of speed on the circuit.
South Kyme: Finally a landscape image, the deep blue spring sky, the chapel on the left balanced by the tree on the right. The “Slow” aperture of f/8, ISO 160, with a shutter speed of 1/850, I possibly could have stopped the aperture down to f/10, but generally pleased with the result, and the deep colours.
I hope that this post has inspired you, demystifies some photographic techniques, and helps you to enjoy photography.
Louth Photographic Society
I was scrolling through the archives yesterday, and found these "Still Life" images. Still Life is an interesting photographic genre that requires good lighting, and compositional skills, but the results can be amazing. Here are four images of the genre, "Breakfast" showing cereal falling into a bowl, "Four Candles" (no not the ones from the Two Ronnies sketch), the moody "Decaying Tulip", and the simple but effective monochrome "Opener". Perhaps these images might give you some inspiration.
I joined the NELPS outing at Chambers Farm Woods on Wednesday. The NELPS visit to Chamber Farm wood and butterfly garden was well attended, with several members from NELPS, Grimsby, Dunholme and Louth, kind thanks to all that came, although it was very hot the butterfly garden, being rather full and slightly unkept did not let us down with butterflies, two less common were seen, a Comma butterfly and a humming bird moth, with loads of very lively common blue butterflies. Most of the insects in the butterfly garden were highly active, and by the time an insect was spotted, it was off!! I managed to just about get an image of the Comma butterfly, and nobody stood a chance with the humming bird moth, it was too fast. The dragonfly was more accommodating remaining fairly still posing for us. The next NELPS outing will be to the Peoples Park in Grimsby on Wednesday 19th, I'm busy on that day, but I will be attending the meeting at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum on Wednesday 26th. Many thanks to NELPS for organising these outings, it was a thoroughly pleasurable morning.
A visit to Whitby for a sunset picture didn't quite go to plan. Unknown to me today is the last day of the Whitby Regatta. Whitby in the summer is usually busy, but today it rivaled Time Square in New York. My planned shoot of the East Pier was a non-starter because for tonight only there's a fun fair along West Pier where I planned to shoot from. I had to re-think and resort to plan b, which was also a non-starter because the East Pier was closed as it was packed with fireworks. Plan c was OK though and I got an image I'm pleased with.
I've been up to RSPB Bempton Cliffs this week, and have taken some excellent photographs, the weather was fine, and the lighting was less harsh than usual. This pair were on the cliff top, obviously well established, and saw off this interloper trying to muscle in on their space, those beaks look very vicious. I hope that everyone else is having a productive summer break.
For club interaction, we are invited to these NELPS photo shoots. So lets start this club interaction, NELPS are now on there summer break, but it does not stop there. The NELPS club president has put together some outdoor photo shoots:- Lincoln 5th Aug meet at the Cathedral 11am Not forgetting the photo exhibition by Lincoln Camera Club in the Usher Gallery! Chambers Farm Wood & Butterfly Farm 12th Aug meet at 10am. Peoples Park Grimsby 19th Aug meet at 10am. Trolley Bus Museum Sandtoft 26th Aug meet at 10am Cadwell Park 10th Aug motorbikes, 24th Aug cars and both are track days so free to get in.
Sutton & Trusthorpe Camera Club have their annual Exhibition at the Meridale Hall, Sutton on Sea, on 29th / 30th August. Drink and a Home-made cake only £3!
I’ve lost my photographic “mojo”, that desire to go out and take impactful photographs. That creative spark has gone, vanished, will it ever return? Writers talk of a “writers block”, when they just sit in front of a blank page, and can’t think of anything else to write, I’m the same, still out with my camera, but just not creating anything meaningful. Some of this I suppose is due to the fact that I’ve almost stopped my genre of model photography, we had the Studio evening, and other than that I’ve only had 2 model shoots this year. So what is my photography genre now? I know that I’m not a bird photographer, I haven’t got the patience to sit in a bird hide for hours with a long lens, waiting for the right bird shot to appear. Landscape, possibly, but I look at the work of some of our members, and YouTube videos, and don’t know whether I can achieve as good a standard in my work? I do enjoy macro photography, but again do my photos reach a good standard? One way forward is to look at our Societies annual project, this year it’s “water” one photo a month depicting water. Then of course there are the planned photo competitions for the rest of the year, those subjects could inspire me to go out and take some images. Anyway, that’s me, enjoy the rest of the summer, and if any of our members could share a photo, with a line or two of text I will be very happy to post on this blog.
Good Morning All Last week we had a very good evening at Kirkby Gravel Pits, it was a warm sunny evening and there was wildlife about to photograph. There were Dragonflies about, but all flying, but we did manage to photograph some Damselflies and grasshoppers etc. We then called at the local pub in Kirkby on Bain for refreshments. There were only 7 of us, if you have other ideas for outings please let me know and I will look into them for next year. Derek has also done a blog on the evening. Louth did make it through to the LPA Battle finals coming fifth overall, the final is on the 18 th October at Nettleham village hall. That was the last event before the summer break, so we now have a break before returning in September. I won't be doing any newsletters unless there is something to report. If you do anything interesting over the break you can always send Derek a blog for our website. There are things you can do over the break, the monthly project of water, preparing for the PDI competition in September, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open". In September our first meeting back will have members speaking on the topic "15 minutes on what you have done over the summer", you may want to prepare something for this. Have a good summer, Graham
Lincoln Camera Club are holding an exhibition at the Usher Gallery, Lincoln. Commencing July 30th to November 1st.
This was our last outing before the summer break, on this occasion several of us met up at Kirkby Gravel Pits nature reserve for an evening of photography. The evening weather was perfect for photography, and we ambled around the reserve stopping to take some macro photography where opportunities arose. We did see a couple of butterflies, and I managed to take this image of a red admiral. As we walked along the paths, several grasshoppers could be glimpsed in the dry grass, they are very difficult to photograph as they are tiny, and agile, but I captured this one while I was laying down in the grass, at eye level, a lot of patience is needed to capture a quality image. In the brambles damselflies could be seen, one took off straight into a spiders web, luckily Graham was able to release it. On the water a heron, and egret could be observed across the water. It was an excellent evening of photography, as well as a social meetup, these outings are ideal for newcomers to photography to learn camera skills.
