Preparation
Derek Smith • 31 October 2019
50mm "Portrait Lens"
Photo By: Derek Smith
Preparation – Are you a dedicated photographer? Or does your camera reside unused at the back of a cupboard only dusting it down for family events, or holidays? The reason that I ask is that preparation is important in either situation, check if the battery is charged, take a spare battery, and a new SD card with you on any outing with your camera.
If you have an interchangeable lens camera, think about the lenses to take with you on any outing. On a recent Rhine cruise, I took my Sony A6300, the Sony 18-135mm zoom lens, and a Sony 35mm prime lens – very lightweight for the holiday, and it covered every situation. Occasionally I go even more lightweight (on a short walk for example) and just take the Sony A6300 camera, and the 16-50mm kit lens, which will fit in a large pocket of a coat.
Always think about the Who, What, When, Where, of photography.
Who - If I’m taking a portrait, the 18-135mm zoom lens will be with me, but I’ll also take the Sony 35mm, together with the Sony 50mm prime lens because of the f/1.8 widest aperture for low light situations, and I’ll take the light stand / diffuser / flash with me, I recently had the opportunity to have a photo shoot on a farm, in a barn, I predominately used the Sony 50mm lens, with the off-camera flash to give good results.
What - For wildlife I’ll take the Sony 70-300mm lens, plus the Sony 18-135mm. For landscape, or architecture I have the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 which is an excellent lens.
When – Time of the day, or season, the best times to shoot are around dawn, or sunset. The “blue hour” is that time just after the sun sets which is fantastic for cityscapes, just as the street / building lights are switching on. A cloudy autumn day can be good, less of the harsh shadows. A bright summers day can cause issues, as the light can be very harsh, causing shadows under the eyes in portraiture, use a diffuser over the subject, or shoot in the shade, turn the subjects back to the light, and use a reflector or flash to light the face.
Where – Primarily is the location, a busy street, top of a mountain, wildlife park, in a building, at a wedding / party, think about what gear to take for each situation.
Finally – When putting your gear away, I store my camera with the 18-135mm zoom lens, because I can use that lens for most situations, set the camera mode to Aperture, set to a mid-range f/5.6 - f/8, and ISO to Auto, that way you can pick the camera up, and start shooting within seconds.
The Louth Photographic Society will be resuming our meetings on the Wednesday 11th September, with a review / projects evening. Photography is a great hobby, and the Society always welcomes new members.
Article, and photos: Derek Smith
If you have an interchangeable lens camera, think about the lenses to take with you on any outing. On a recent Rhine cruise, I took my Sony A6300, the Sony 18-135mm zoom lens, and a Sony 35mm prime lens – very lightweight for the holiday, and it covered every situation. Occasionally I go even more lightweight (on a short walk for example) and just take the Sony A6300 camera, and the 16-50mm kit lens, which will fit in a large pocket of a coat.
Always think about the Who, What, When, Where, of photography.
Who - If I’m taking a portrait, the 18-135mm zoom lens will be with me, but I’ll also take the Sony 35mm, together with the Sony 50mm prime lens because of the f/1.8 widest aperture for low light situations, and I’ll take the light stand / diffuser / flash with me, I recently had the opportunity to have a photo shoot on a farm, in a barn, I predominately used the Sony 50mm lens, with the off-camera flash to give good results.
What - For wildlife I’ll take the Sony 70-300mm lens, plus the Sony 18-135mm. For landscape, or architecture I have the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 which is an excellent lens.
When – Time of the day, or season, the best times to shoot are around dawn, or sunset. The “blue hour” is that time just after the sun sets which is fantastic for cityscapes, just as the street / building lights are switching on. A cloudy autumn day can be good, less of the harsh shadows. A bright summers day can cause issues, as the light can be very harsh, causing shadows under the eyes in portraiture, use a diffuser over the subject, or shoot in the shade, turn the subjects back to the light, and use a reflector or flash to light the face.
Where – Primarily is the location, a busy street, top of a mountain, wildlife park, in a building, at a wedding / party, think about what gear to take for each situation.
Finally – When putting your gear away, I store my camera with the 18-135mm zoom lens, because I can use that lens for most situations, set the camera mode to Aperture, set to a mid-range f/5.6 - f/8, and ISO to Auto, that way you can pick the camera up, and start shooting within seconds.
The Louth Photographic Society will be resuming our meetings on the Wednesday 11th September, with a review / projects evening. Photography is a great hobby, and the Society always welcomes new members.
Article, and photos: Derek Smith
Louth Photographic Society
The LPA Battles competition was held last night at Axholme Camera Club, in Haxey Church Hall. I attended as the Louth Photographic Society representative, bringing the Battles prints with me. It was a closely fought contest with some excellent prints from Axholme, Barton, and ourselves. The judge for the evening was Steve Dormer, from Doncaster, and he was very relaxed in his judging of the prints, providing excellent critique on each print. At break time, Steve had held back a total of 13 prints for further assessment and award of higher points, Axholme, and Louth had 5 each prints held back, with Barton 3 prints. The attached photo shows all the held back prints on the print stand. At the end of the evening Axholme took 1 st place with, 266 points, Louth came 2 nd with 258 points, and Barton 3 rd with 251 points. As the prints were taken off the stand, one print remained, it was a Louth print titled “Sleeping” by David Whitehouse, this print was awarded 20 points, and the judge Steve was very taken with the image, well done David.
Good Morning All Last week members walked along the Swaby valley, we have done the walk before, but it is now very grown up with nettles, grass and brambles. Not put off Chris led us through the valley to Swaby, there were six of us plus three more who caught us up in Swaby. The butterflies we saw as I am finding out this year just don't want to settle but we did manage some photographs before returning and going for a drink in the Massingberd Arms. This week there is an LPA Battle at Axholme on Wednesday starting at 7.30, if anyone would like to attend, please email me for details or look on Axholme's website. We are not having a meeting in Louth this week, probably as well the way the football went last night and with the next match on Wednesday evening. Regards Graham
Last night our members enjoyed a visit to the Swaby valley nature reserve. We crossed over two fields from South Thoresby, then followed the course of the Swaby Beck chalk stream through the valley, the public footpath was bounded by dense vegetation that hindered our progress at times. There was plenty to see around the reserve, myriad butterflies flitted around in a very lively manner, making for difficult photography, I spotted several small grasshoppers, and soldier beetles in the long grass, I tried to photograph a ladybird, but it was gone by the time I focussed on the creature. It was a very enjoyable evening, with good friendly company, and our camera skills were needed for the macro photography, these are a few of my photos from the evening.
Good Morning All Last week's outing was re-scheduled due to a clash with a certain world cup match, the good news was a victory for England, however we intend to still hold the outing on Wednesday 22 nd July. I did go to the Festival of Flight at the Shuttleworth collection, Old Warden last weekend. It was too windy for some of the old Biplanes, but we were treated to a four-and-a-half-hour display featuring many planes that I had never seen fly before. The De Havilland Comet was built to compete in the 1934 race from Britain to Australia, only three were built and it's good to see it flying, the aircraft design was quite advanced for 1934. This week, Wednesday 8th July, we have another camera club outing to the Swaby Valley, meeting at 6pm. Swaby is just off the A16 heading from Louth to Skegness. Regards Graham
Last night’s Louth Photographic Societies outing to Kirkby gravel pits nature reserve was cancelled as some members preferred to watch some sporting gentleman by the name of Harry Kane. (Congratulations to the England team) The reserve is small, and simply laid out, a public footpath leads along a tree lined avenue to the river Bain at the back of the reserve. Historic sand and gravel extraction has left a large lake in the centre of the reserve, several ducks and waterfowl inhabit the lake and there is a bird hide on the shoreline. Returning to the road, there is a path running parallel to the road bounded by a hedge, insects of various types can be found in this area, damselflies, butterflies, and hover-flies are often prolific. Our outing to Kirkby Gravel pits is now scheduled for Wednesday 22nd July. Parking is on the verge by the roadside. Kirkby Gravel pits are fairly close to where I live, and it’s reserve that I often visit, these are some photos from a visit in July last year.
Good morning, All, Last week at the club we had our monthly print competition, Trees and Open. There was a very good entry with a high standard of photography on show. Tony Gaskins was first in the Open and I managed a first in the trees, all the results are on our website and there is also a blog on the evening. This week, Wednesday 1st July, we are having an outing to Kirkby Gravel Pits, if we meet at 6.30 at the reserve, though you can arrive earlier as there are usually dragonflies etc around the entrance. If we walk straight ahead first, then anyone who arrives late can find us. I have struggled to find a map, but you can see the location on the Lincolnshire wildlife Trust website. Kirkby Grave Pits is also a good reserve for birds. Tattershall Road 1 mile south of Kirkby-on-Bain Woodhall Spa Nearest postcode LN10 6YN. Please note - postcodes are for the nearest registered address as we are unable to get postcodes for nature reserves.
A print competition was held last night with the categories of "Trees" as the subject, and "Open". Our judge for the evening was Gail Wrigg from Barton who did an expert job. The first category to be judged was the "Open" with the high standard of prints making the choice of top placement difficult, and Gail held back 9 prints for further evaluation. There were some chuckles from members around one of Richard Hildred's prints of wooden electricity poles titled "In my previous life I used to be one of them" an "in" joke from Richard, which totally baffled Gail. After the break Gail judged the "Trees" category, with 7 prints held back this time for awarding of higher marks, the beautiful colours of some trees, especially the autumnal images contrasting with the stunning monochrome infrared prints from Richard Hildred. It was a great evening, with excellent prints on display, and the website Competition page has been updated with the full results.
Good Morning All Last week we visited the nature reserves at Fir Hill quarry and Muckton wood. I have written a blog report on the evening which is on our website. You can always try something a little different like I did using camera movement. This week, Wednesday 24th June, a print competition will be held, with the categories of "Trees" and "Open" and is to be judged by Gail Wrigg. The following week we have an outing to Kirkby Gravel pits. If you want advice on camera settings etc the outings are the perfect opportunity to ask other members while we all have our cameras. Regards Graham
Each year Louth Photographic Society begins a new project, one photo taken each month on a specific subject, that's 12 photos presented on "Project Night" in January. Last year the subject was "Prime Time" one photo each month taken with the same fixed focal length lens. This year the subject is water, the subject sounds easy enough, and I've completed 5 photos already, but I'm struggling a little with a photo for June. I'm currently on holiday in Corfu, an island surrounded by water which should be easy, but I'm yet to find the "definitive" photo for the project. These are my photos so far this month: Best regards Derek
Good Evening All
