Let's play! | Bora jogar! By F.Pamplona

I’ve set photographic goals of one form or another for myself each January for several years now, though more often than not I’ve just kept these to myself and haven’t really broadcast them. This time though I thought that if I shared them, not only would it give me a reference point to look back on, but the fact that I’d shared them with the whole world, would encourage me to try harder to actually try and hit as many of them as possible. Having thought about this for a few weeks now, I’ve completed my list and decided to bare my soul to the world. Here goes, in no particular order:

• Attain further accreditations – On the back of my Qualification with Merit of the Guild of Professional Photographers, I aim to submit a body of work to the Royal Photographic Society for their Licentiateship accreditation, as well as achieve the Guild’s Craftsman status. The RPS only hold a few Licentiateship assessment dates each year, and from the looks of their calendar, the earliest available date that I’m going to be able to fit into my calendar is June or July, which buys me a little time to think about what I’m going to submit. For the Guild’s Craftsman status, submissions can be made any time. The Guild’s website states that “The aim is to show complete proficiency in your craft, along with versatility, control of light, and variety of composition etc. The submitted assignments should show a good variety of style and skill sets in different environments.”. Along with written briefs, letters of recommendation from past customers, PI & PL certificates, the qualification requires a number of images from at least 3 different assignments over the last 18 months which obviously have to stand out from the crowd. Co-ordinating all of this will be no small task, but one that I feel will be well worth the effort. To be honest, I’ve never really placed a great deal of merit in accreditations in the past, but having spent some time thinking about my “brand” over the last few months, I have changed my opinion and I now feel that in the grand scheme of things, that they can actually be rather beneficial.
• Put on an exhibition – This isn’t a new one, and I’ve been put off in the past by the cost. From what I can gleam, these days gallery shows tend not to make too much money, but are actually more about raising awareness. I do have a show of some of my Maltese photographs pencilled in with a new gallery in Gozo, but so far the logistics have been too protracted for my poor little brain to handle. The thought of making and shipping framed prints to Malta, co-ordinating hanging and then freeing up enough time to spend over there to do it justice is a little frightening, but I do have something up my sleeve a little closer to home that I want to commit to in the next few months.
• Get a magazine cover – This would be a very nice goal to hit, but it’s going to take quite a chunk of effort on my part to market myself more and establish more rewarding relationships, which brings me to my next point…
• More networking – I’m not a networker. In fact I really struggle with it. But I know that I really need to push myself more, get out of my comfort zone and work harder at building more relationships offline and online and put more effort into building on the relationships that I already have. The long and the short of it is that I need to knock on more doors and make more telephone calls. It’ll be tough. I have no illusions about that, and I know with every new lead there comes a very high chance that it’ll be accompanied by a knock-back. But as the old adage goes, “If you don’t ask, you won’t get”
• Plan more – I need to devote more time to managing my business and marketing it, which is inevitably going to leave less time for shooting. This is I will find frustrating as that’s what I love doing and I feel that even though my photography has improved significantly over the last 12 months, one of the beauties of photography is that you never stop learning. It’s my hunger to learn that keeps me going and wanting to try new techniques and explore new places. So in order to maximise the opportunities in the limited time available, I am going to have to put more effort into planning when and where I’m going to work and to create a shooting schedule for several months in advance, or even further if I can. As well as working on my landscape and travel catalogue, I also want to schedule in more portraiture. I love working with professional models and struggle with people less used to being in front of the camera. That’s down to my inexperience of directing people and knowing which poses work and which don’t. I really get a buzz out of shooting people and would really like to do more not only with models, but also with those less comfortable in front of the lens.
• Publish a book – I’ve used several of the online self-publishing book services for assorted personal projects and family momentos in the past, but never really taken the time and effort to do it properly. I’ve found book layout is an art in it’s own right, can swallow huge swathes of time and have a great deal of respect for publishers that do it well. It’s not easy, but I’d really like to get a body of work in print. It’d be beneficial for me as an artist, and would also be a useful marketing tool.
• Work on my travel writing – From the perspective of marketing my work, I’m fully aware that pictures work better when accompanied with text. Not just for SEO purposes, but also magazines and publishers are much more likely to accept comprehensive articles these days rather than images alone. Sure, if the images are strong enough to stand on their own, then they’re likely to be accepted, but there’s an even greater chance if I can accompany them with a travel or photography article or similar. I’ve looked around for online writing courses that fit my needs, but to be honest I’ve never found anything that suits. So I’ll keep trying, working on it myself using the various sounding boards I have at my disposal and putting more out onto this blog.
• Charity Work – I’m very disappoined that we had to cancel the Manchester Help-Portrait event last month, so I am determined to make up for this year by commencing the planning and organisation in plenty of time (it’s already in my calendar), and I also plan to do some other fundraising using my photographic skills but more on that another time.
• Finally, I need to get my sorry ass to the gym, eat better, drink less, spend more time with my family, and attend more football games. The long and the short of it is that in 2012 I shan’t be sleeping…..

So that’s me. All out in the open for 2012. Clearly I don’t like to set the bar too high…. With a little application it’s all within my reach and now that it’s up here in black and white, I’m committed!

What are your targets and resolutions for this coming year?
Feel free to share in the comments below.

Learn the rules and then learn why and how to break them.

1. Rule of Thirds
   Imagine splitting your frame into 3 equal horizontal strips, and then 3 equal vertical stripes. This will give you the basic layout for the  ”rule of thirds” which basically states that in order to make your frame more appealing to the eye, you should place the focal point, or primary element of your photograph on any of the 4 inner connecting joins.
   

   Salford Quays at sunset

   For one reason or another (too complicated to go into here), this generally makes your image more aesthetically pleasing. However, this is not always true but you need to learn why it works, and when to break the rule. For the image below of the bridge in Salford Quays at sunset, I have purposefully placed the bridge in the lower third of the frame which also gives me more room to show the magical colours in the sky.

2. Balance- this is simply the arrangement of shapes, colours, or areas of light and dark that complement one another and make sure that the photograph does not have an uneven feel to it. For this image below of “Dawn in the Peak District”, I have used the rising sun in the top left to balance the munching sheep in the bottom right. Without the sun in the frame, the image appears lopsided, and bottom heavy.
   

   Dawn in the Peak District

3. Simplicity- Make sure that your frame is free from clutter, and always make sure to check the edges for intruding elements. If you could lose that telephone pole by taking two steps forward, then do it. Telephone poles, random tree branches, power lines are all examples of elements that if included in an image, often provide distraction inevitably detracting from the final quality of the image. These are also all things that can often easily be removed by moving your feet a few paces forwards or backwards. In this image of Sarah below I have gone in close to remove some distracting grafitti on the wall just to the camera left. This image also incorporates elements of point 4 below using the lines of the brickwork to lead the viewer’s eye up to the subject.
   

   Sarah

   

   Kayleigh by Neil Alexander (Click for larger)An example of a very clean and simple frame, also incorporating an element of balance using the moon to provide equilibrium with the model

4. Using lines – Lines can often be used to draw the viewer’s eye into and around the image. These don’t just have to be clear lines like roads or paths, but they can be more abstract such as the line of a subject’s gaze, or the pattern created in a cloudy sky. The more of a path you can create for the eye to follow in an image, the longer you will keep the viewer engaged, and the stronger the image will be. In the image below I have used the windy line of the road to lead the viewer’s eye from bottom right round and up to the tree.
   

   View up The Struggle in the Lake District on an Autumn morning (Click to view larger)

Windsor Castle by Neil Alexander (Click to view larger)Here I have used the path of the staircase bottom left to lead the viewer's eye into the frame

Neil Alexander - Qualified Member of the Guild of Professional Photographers

I don’t sing my own praises too often, so on this rare occasion indulge me……

A couple of months back I joined up with the Guild of Professional Photographers over at www.photoguild.co.uk for several reasons; to join in their community, to aim for their accreditations, and for access to some of the marvellous discounts that they’ve arranged with associated photographic partners. However what with one thing and another, it’s taken me a little time to get in my first submission for their Qualification award. So it was to my surprise on Wednesday that I received a phone call from Steve to inform me that I not only had I passed, but that I had passed with Merit – an honour that they have only granted to one other photographer this year.  Boy was I smiling…..

It entitles me to use the initials QGPP after my name, and adds a not insubstantial amount of kudos to my brand. For the inquisitive amongst you, this   PDF is the Portfolio that I submitted – please feel free to download and distribute. I am also now able to use the QGPP Logo on my website.

There is also a link here to download a copy of the press release below which will be going out to all the local media outlets.

QGPP Press release - Word Format    &  QGPP Press release - PDF

Finally for today, if you missed Tuesday’s post, which was part 4 of my ingeniously titled Snappy Tips for Better Photos series, then head over here for an introduction to shooting landscapes.

Have a great weekend.

Neil

Tree in the Derwent Valley, High Peaks. Shot as usual on a tripod with a cable release

1. The first and most important tip for any semi-competent landscape photographer is to stabilise your camera. More often than not, I shoot landscapes at shutter speeds that are far below the recommended minimum for hand-holding a camera¹, so the best way to try and get a sharp image is to use a good solid tripod. This means that (unless I’m shooting on an exposed mountain top in a howling gale) my camera will be anchored down, and with the use of a cable release I won’t even have to touch my camera to make a frame. The reason for this lack of contact, is that every time I come into physical contact with my camera whilst making a photograph, no matter how hard I try, I will effect motion. Even the action of pushing the shutter button can cause the photograph to blur ever so slightly.
2. 

   Ashley sunset, Cheshire - This image wouldn't be the same without the setting sun between the trees

   Next on the list, and probably actually more important than a stable camera is the light, and specifically the time of day. 99% of all the best landscape photographs were shot at either sunrise or sunset. This is because the light at this time is soft and golden, giving these times of day the affectionate term of “golden hour”. Harsh summer midday light is an absolute no no for any landscape photographer. To verify this for yourself, just head outdoors just after dawn on a clear day and look around, then compare this to the same scene around midday – the sun will have risen much higher in the sky, and will therefore be much warmer and produce much harder shadows due to its elevation and brightness. Short winter days are a bit of an exception as the sun is in the sky for a much shorter time, and therefore doesn’t climb to quite the same elevation. So it is possible to make acceptable landscape photographs pretty much all day in deepest winter, but even still those made in the middle of the day are unlikely to be award winners.

3. 

   View up The Struggle towards the Kirkstone Pass Inn, Lake District - I spent a great deal of time researching this area before travelling up to the Lakes.

   Research locations & Leg work – This is probably one of the least / most fun parts of landscape photography depending on your point of view. Personally I love pouring over maps, using apps to work out sunrise and sunset times, their expected azimuths and so on. However I expect if you’re not quite as nerdy, then this would be a rather dull and uninspiring task. It’s not quite so necessary to do this obviously if you’re familiar with the area you plan to shoot, but if you have to travel some distance as I often end up doing up to the Peak District or the Lakes or abroad, then a little planning is essential to avoid completely wasting one’s time.

4. This next tip is one I learnt from amazing landscape photographer, Adam Barker from Utah when we were out in IndoChina last year and it’s saved my bacon on more than one occasion. When I’m setting up a shot of some great vista, or even something as simple as a tree, in order to guarantee I’m going to get the shot in focus, I’ll temporarily put my camera into live view (which means a real time image of my scene shows up on the camera’s LCD), put my cursor where I want to zoom, and then zoom in on the LCD screen as far as I can go. I’ll then put my camera into manual focus and tweak it until I can visually see on the screen that I’ve got it perfect. I then go back to mirror lock-up or whatever mode suits, leaving the camera in manual focus and shoot away. Guaranteed 100% sharp images every time. The other option if your camera doesn’t have live view is to zoom in on the images as far as you can after you’ve taken it and verify that you have a crisp sharp photograph.
5. Finally for today, I want to talk about filters. On this point alone I could prattle on for hours, but to save your sanity I shan’t. There are two types of filter (IMHO) that are essential to landscape photography, and these are the circular polariser and the graduated neutral density filter. A polarised filter works exactly the same as a pair of polarised sunglasses. Used correctly, it can reduce reflections from water and windows, enhance the blue in the sky or bring out the green in the foliage amongst other uses. Very handy. Good ones aren’t cheap…. Graduated neutral density filters or Grad NDs come in an assortment of different shapes and sizes. Generally these are used when you have too great a contrast range between your sky and your foreground or background. They can tone down the sky to varying degrees, even enhancing the cloud structure adding a little more drama to your image. They often allow you to avoid blowing out your highlights and shadows in what would appear to be a very high contrast scene. I personally only use Lee filters and currently have 4 or 5 ranging from 0.3 stops to 0.9, hard and soft (meaning that the join between the normally and the filtered part is either a sharp hard line or a softer graduated transition. Another tip I learnt from Adam, is that it’s actually far less faff to physically hold these in two hands by the corners with a cable release in your hand than you’d expect and negates the need for fancy filter holders (which just adds yet more cost).
   

   Phnom Bakheng in the background, Siem Reap. Made using an ND Grad filter

Photography is all about experimenting and trying new techniques and ideas. It’s the best way to learn.

So it’s now time to work on your portraiture skills. Whether it’s making a cute photographs of your kids opening their Christmas presents,  or photographing a super model for Vogue, the basic practices are still the same. But we’re not aiming to create a National Geographic or a Harpers Bazaar cover here. Just a good solid portrait.

1. First up is framing, specifically filling your frame and throwing out unwanted elements. What I mean by this is that a photograph of someone is no good if they are a dot in the corner. They need to take up a significant proportion of the frame. You could use your camera’s zoom, but you might find zooming with your feet better. It’s harder to interact and instruct someone if they’re on the other side of the room. There’s also compression and camera shake and a host of other things, but let’s just keep it simple. You also want to make sure that the background you are shooting them against is free from distracting clutter, especially bright colours and lights. For example if you’ve got the choice between posing your subject in front of a bookcase or a white wall, then go with the white wall every time, that is unless you are making a portrait of an Oxford University professor for the Sunday Times magazine, in which case context is everything. But I’m making the assumption here that you’re not.
   In the first example below, I shot Amy against a fire escape with the sun setting behind her. She was also lit from the front and sides to lift her from the background, but even still the fire escape is too prominent and I feel it is distracting. For the next image, of Karolina shot on the South Bank in London, I deliberately used a shallow depth of field to make sure that the background was completely out of focus and didn’t distract the viewer’s eye in anyway.
   

   Amy by Neil Alexander - An example of a distracting background

   

   South Bank Portrait Shoot - Karolina Szwemin by Neil Alexander - blurring the background to bring out the subject

2. Secondly, you need to take control of your subject. By this I mean instruct them. The majority of people are not used to being in front of the camera and will unlikely adopt poses that suit or are appropriate for your image, especially if it’s kids we’re talking here. You need to direct them to do as you want. Learn a little about posing and what works and what doesn’t. There are some great tips over here.  Obviously the rules are a little different for posing formal portraits to kids in the park.
   For this photograph of Kayleigh, I’d seen that the moon had appeared in the sky just as we were packing up, but felt that this was worth trying to get something out of. I cajoled her a little into one more set up, sorted my lights and asked her to look off into the distance to get an almost vacant expression.
   

   Kayleigh by Neil Alexander (Click for larger)

3. Third on this list is lighting, but this by no means reflects its level of importance in respect to previous two. Lighting and composition are the two primary keys to any good photograph. Johannes Vermeer, widely renowned Dutch master painter from the 17th century is often referenced by photographers and their lighting techniques. Vermeer primarily used plain simple old diffused window light to light his subjects, and it is because of this and the manner in which he did it, that the window lit portrait is often one of the most popular portrait styles today. There are some great examples here. You don’t need any fancy lighting equipment, softboxes or modifiers. Just a window, and if the light is too harsh, then maybe a white sheet over the window to diffuse it a little.
   

   Girl with a pearl earring by Vermeer

4. Next up, is your point of focus. This has to be the eyesof your subject. They are what the viewer is instinctively drawn to when viewing a portrait. You can help lead the viewer’s eye here, but ultimately this will always be the primary point of focus. The upshot of this is that they need to be sharp, or at least the eye  nearest the camera. Do this by placing your autofocus point over the eye before shooting. The image below of Charlie is a great example of several of the points above – I’ve filled the frame so there is no distracting background, it’s shot using completely natural light with a sheet over the window to soften it a little, and the main point of focus is the eye nearest the camera (I really ought to have used a slighly longer depth of field to get both eyes in focus – but you live and learn eh?)
   

   Charlie by Neil Alexander (Click for larger)

5. Fun. The most important point is to have fun and enjoy your shooting. This will reflect in your pictures. A wise man once said “The camera looks both ways” and this is very true. It’s hard not to react to a smile with a smile. Smile at your subject, make a joke, and they’ll smile back. Frown, complain, be in a bad mood and guaranteed your subject will reflect this, and ultimately your portrait. And really if you’re not having fun and enjoying making photographs, what’s the point anyway?

So that’s it for today, and I hope that you’re finding these useful. I look forward to receiving any comments or questions as usual. Also feel free to send me some images to peruse if you feel that you’ve learnt anything.

Finally, I thought I’d share this little video from the guys over at B&H in New York on caring for your camera. Now you may think, why on earth have I started putting links to a camera store over in the US on my site when the majority of my audience is based in the UK. The answer is simple. They’re fantastic. It’s often a real struggle to get gear over here in the UK, especially stuff that isn’t your typical tripod or lens. Black Rapid straps, Lowepro S&F vests, Westcott modifiers – all very tricky to come by in the UK. I’ve ordered from B&H 3 times now all proving to be extremely satisfactory experiences. My last order was placed on a Sunday evening, the gear arrived Wednesday afternoon and even with shipping and import duty I saved 15% on like for like items from Calumet. It’s a no brainer. So anyway, here’s the video. It’s quite informative.

Photography is the “language of light”, and these three are the tools you use to vary the amount of light hitting your camera’s sensor. They are very simple to understand. A good analogy here is running a tap to fill a bucket of water.

If you open the tap for a small fraction of a second, say 1/60 second, a small amount of water will end up in the bucket. Whereas if you were to leave the tap open for several seconds, you would get significantly more water in the bucket. This is similar to the shutter speed on your camera; firing your shutter at 1/500 second will let much less light into your camera than say firing it at 1/4 second. Shutter speed changes the way we see time in a photograph; a long shutter speed blurs time, whereas a short shutter speed freezes action.

Using the same analogy, opening the tap wide open will similarily fill the bucket much quicker than if you slow it to a drip. The aperture control on your camera works the same way, in that it also controls the amount of light reaching your sensor but in a different manner. The primary use of aperture is to control “depth of field” – this is essentially how much of your photograph is kept in focus. For example if you were making a close up image of a flower, generally you would want the background out of focus so as not to detract from the flower itself. So if you have a wide aperture (which is referenced by a low number – eg f1.4, f2.8) this will allow a faster flow from your tap (more light into the camera), and a shallow depth of field. If you allow the tap simply to drip, then you would be using a narrow aperture (f16, f22) producing a much greater depth of field. Following so far?

No we’ll throw ISO in to the equation, which for the older generation is the same as film speeds or ASAs. Using our wonderful tap & bucket scenario, ISO is similar to using different size buckets. A lower ISO number requires more light to get a good exposure, and therefore equates to a larger bucket, whereas higher ISO numbers are the opposite. Similar to film, the higher the number, the more grain (or in the case of digital, noise) you will get in your photograph. However grain in film days was often sought after for artistic effect. Noise in digital is generally bad for technological reasons that I won’t bore you with here. Save to say that you generally want to be shooting at as low an ISO as possible.

Shallow depth of field using a wide aperture blurring the background

Deep depth of field (larger number) using a narrower aperture keeps background in focus

Images published under Creative Commons by absoblogginlutely

So how the hell does this all affect me, and what do I do with this knowledge I hear you cry? Well it’s simple. You want to fill your bucket without it overflowing. If you want to shoot an ice crystal, and you want a shallow depth of field, your tap will be fast flowing. Therefore to make the correct exposure you only open the tap for a short period (shutter speed) and / or you use a smaller bucket (ISO). Keeping up?

Imagine it’s like a triangle, and you basically want to be in the middle for an average exposure (see below).

The exposure triangle.

Image published under Creative Commons by BoogiesWithFish

There are a bunch of other factors that can affect this equation such as sensor size, flash but for the time being I felt it best to keep it as simple as possible.
Hope this explains it all without being overly complicated.
But once you’ve got it, it’s like a light bulb going on and everything seems that little bit simpler. There’s no magic, just a little bit of physics…..
If you’ve got any questions, use the usual methods – comments below / Twitter / Facebook…..

M6, Shevington in rush hour with the town of Orrell in the background (Click for larger) D300 w/ 70-200 F2.8 at 200mm. 30secs at F8

I enjoy shooting long exposures. The longer the better, unless that is you’re stood on a very noisy motorway bridge in a very cold wind.

I’ve posted on shooting long exposures several times over the years (for example “Silky Water Shots” and “Breathtaking examples of long exposure photography“) but as it’s something I really enjoy doing, I thought I’d write another slightly more up to date one.

There are 3 key elements to a long exposure photograph; a steady camera, some way of triggering the shutter without touching the camera and a camera with the functionality to shoot 30 second + exposures.

To keep the camera steady you need either a tripod (unless I’m shooting people I’m on a tripod 95% of the time anyway), something like a gorillapod or at a push even a bean bag on a wall will suffice. If you trigger the shutter with your finger, you will incur some camera shake. It’s inevitable. There’s no way round it. If you are shooting a portrait in a studio with lights and all, then you’ll never notice, but if you are making a 15 second exposure you will blur the image by pressing the shutter. Even if you use the daintiest of fairy type touches.

The only way to get round this is by either using the self-timer or my preferred method of using a cable release and mirror lock-up. The cable release is essentially a shutter button on a cable which avoids you having to touch the camera. I also go the extra step of using mirror lock-up too, which removes one more item that could cause a little vibration and thus blur the image.

Finally, a camera that has the ability to shoot long exposures. Some point and shoots just won’t let you do it. But ideally you want a camera that will let you make exposures that are as long as you like – this is called Bulb mode. Why it’s called Bulb mode I have no idea. For example, my Nikons will go as slow as 30 seconds and then the next step is bulb. This is where you absolutely have to have a cable release – you can’t keep your finger on the shutter button for 60 seconds and not expect a blurred image, unless maybe you are well practiced at impersonating a corpse.

Cable releases go for anything from a few pounds up to several hundred. I think from memory Nikon’s version of the cheapo that I use is around £250. I balked at that figure somewhat and I have to say that (fingers crossed, touch wood) the £30 imitation I got from eBay a couple of years ago hasn’t failed me once – though it’s definitely seen better days and I think it’s probably nearing the end of it’s effective days…

Anyway, the image at the top was taken yesterday evening from a footbridge overlooking the M6 at Shevington near Wigan looking South. Unfortunately I got held up getting there and missed the actual setting of the sun, but arrived shortly after. I opted for a little neutral density by way of my Singh Ray Vari ND in order to darken the scene even further and give me the endless trails of car lights I was looking for. A pretty sky would have made this image much better, but that’s what happens when men decide to start digging up huge trunks of the highway completely out of the blue…..

A slightly more in depth tip today…..
I’ve seen a couple of different solutions lately for sharing Lightroom catalogs across multiple computers, but in my mind they’ve all felt a little clunky (like this and this). I don’t mean the ability for different users to work on the same catalog at the same time, because this can’t be done (as far as I’m aware). When I’m at home I tend to work on my images on my iMac, basically because it’s an ideal working environment – I have controlled lighting, a large screen and a lovely big Wacom tablet on which to work. When I’m travelling, I use my Macbook Air to edit. However I’m not a fan of having to create a new Lightroom catalog every time, with all the configuration that goes with it, and sometimes I also like to work on previous images. I want to be able to import new images into my existing main library, which is set up with all my collections, copyright information, keywords etc. So to do this I use Dropbox and it’s really quite straight forward. All of the current year’s images I keep on an external 2TB USB drive, that’s the RAW files and processed TIFFs. This is easy enough to unplug and carry around. The Lightroom catalogs (the .lrcat files) are saved to a folder in my Dropbox account. Once I’ve done any editing on my iMac and closed Lightroom down, all my changes to the catalog file along with any necessary previews are automatically uploaded to my Dropbox account. This can take anything from a few minutes to an hour or two depending on the scale of the changes that I’ve made. During this time, all the uploaded changes are also being automatically synced back down to my MacBook, so once it’s all finished all I have to do is grab it along with the USB drive and I can edit on my lap. All the paths to the images and plugins (which I also store in a Dropbox folder) are all in the right places so there’s no need for messing about with any configuration. It’s quite literally plug in and go. And of course it all works the other way round. As soon as my Macbook finds any Wifi, all edits are automatically synced back up to the cloud.

For redundancy, I also use Backblaze to mirror harddrive changes up to their server so that I have additional copies of the catalogs, and I also use a couple of HDD caddies and ChronoSync to make mirrors of the images on the external USB drive, one of which stays in it’s dock and the other one is stored off-site. I have been using a Drobo for some time, but I find it painfully slow at times, and less reliable than a simple slaved hard drive.

It’s taken me a fair amount of tinkering and experimenting, and I do have a premium account with Dropbox and 100GB of storage which I guess adds an added expense but for the sake of simplicity it works perfectly for me.

Trees near the M6, Warrington

I’ve had quite a lot of interest lately from people wanting to know how to get the best out of their camera, and with the holiday season rapidly approaching I thought I’d try and save you a little money by encouraging you to explore your existing gear a little more beforehand.
The next few Tuesday posts will hopefully be informative, concise tips on maximising your current gear. The idea being that this will save you putting that shiny new piece of gear you’ve been lusting over on your letter to Santa, and to better improve your skills ready for you to get some great images of your kids demolishing their presents or the wife cremating the turkey….

1. Take control of your camera
   On automatic your camera will always do it’s best to try and interpret a scene and set it’s values for lighting, shutter speed, aperture etc based on a series of algorithims written by a bunch of scientists in a lab somewhere from data compiled from thousands of photographs taken in a whole range of different environments. Often the nerds will get it right and the environmental variables in the scene you are shooting will match something that they’ve already coded for and your camera will get it right, but just as often something in your scene will cause the parameters to deviate sufficiently from the microchipped brain’s pre-configured numbers that the camera will not produce a good image; either the lighting will be wrong, or the camera will have picked the wrong focus point or some other computational error will have ruined that once in a lifetime opportunity to capture your moment or just won’t allow you that artistic freedom to create exactly the image you wanted. Once you’ve reached this threshold with your camera, you’ve discovered it’s automatic limitations and it’s time to start really using it. So turn that dial away from the Automatic setting. On most DSLRs, your options are:
   A (Nikon) or Av (Canon) – Aperture priority – In this mode your camera will determine the shutter speed required to facilitate the aperture that YOU have chosen allowing you to select how much of your scene you want to be in focus. – Read more here
   S (Nikon) or Tv (Canon) – Shutter priority – This is the reverse of Aperture priority – your camera will determine the aperture required to work the shutter speed that YOU have chosen. So based on the lighting conditions, your camera will determine how much of the scene will be in focus based on the shutter speed and ISO that you have selected.
   P (Nikon) – Program (NOT Professional) mode – In this mode, the camera gives you control over ISO, flash and white balance. – Read more here
   Learn about the first two particularly and experiment with them. Play.
2. Slow down
   Slow down. Even if you are shooting at a Motorsports event and the cars are going passed at over a 100mph, you still need to slow down. Take the time to think about what you are trying to achieve and how you’d like the final image to appear when you print it out. Then try and implement that notion through what you’ve learnt about your camera and thinking about your composition. Too many people no longer attach a cost to the old “Spray and Pray” adage. As that 8 frames per second burst mode isn’t going to burn through an entire 36 exposure roll of film in 4 seconds any longer, there is still a cost; and that’s your time. If you shoot for an hour and make 200 pictures rather than 20 well thought out compositions, it’s going to take you 10  times as long sat in front of your computer deciding which ones to keep when you could be doing better things. There’s also the added cost of all that extra data storage. It might not be that expensive, but I can assure you that it soon mounts up!
3. Don’t get caught up in gear
   It’s all too easy to get caught up in the gear race. I know that some of you will be desperate for that new body with all it’s new Whizbangs and Whatchamacallits but do you REALLY need it? Have you completely exhausted all the limitations of your current gear? Just remember that some of the best photographs of the last century were made with quite literally the bare essentials. Ok so if you are getting into wildlife photography, then maybe your 18-200mm kit lens isn’t quite going to cut the mustard, but have you tried zooming with your legs first? Is there no way that you can get a little closer first? If you absolutely do need that 600mm F4 lens at £7000 have you tried renting it for a weekend just to make sure that it does do exactly what you expect? Often I find that I get into an artistic rut, and begin to get into a mindset that some new gear will help me get out of it. But more often that not, it’s just an excuse not to push myself and try something different with what I’ve got. It only really makes sense to upgrade gear when you have completely exhausted it’s limitations and it is actually starting to impede your work – you know what you want but your current gear just will not allow you to do it – then by all means, go shopping………
4. Study other photographers
   Finally for today, how many other photographer’s work have you looked at over the last week? Do you even bother to look at others’ photographs? If not you should. All the master painters over the last few hundred years would happily admit to having been influenced by their forefather’s work. How many times have you heard an interview with famous musician where they talk about their musical influences? You will find that the more you look at, the more your photographs will improve. I’m not saying that you should try to copy other photographer’s work, but use it for inspiration. Expand on it. Incorporate their ideas into your own and come up with something new and different.
   Try subscribing to some RSS feeds of other works for a daily dose of inspiration. A few I can recommend are: 500px , National Geographic Photo of the day and 500 photographers

That’s all for my first little installment, ingeniously titled “Snappy tips for better photos”. Swing by next Tuesday for some more, or add my feed to your RSS reader here

It also became apparent very quickly that whilst the majority of the apps that I used on my iPhone & iPad were available on Android; Evernote, Nozbe, Docs To Go, Dropbox, Spotify, Audible and others, there were some notable exceptions especially on the photography front. One of my most used on the iPhone was Pro HDR Camera, and I was pleasantly surprised to see this on the Android marketplace. I was even happier once I’d installed it. On this handset, this app flies. I don’t have the iPhone anymore so I can’t do side by side testing, but I’d hazard a guess that on the S2, Pro HDR will process an image in around 1/4 of the time that the iPhone 4 did, if not faster. In fact, every app flies on this handset to be honest.
So to my list, as the title of this post demands: (I could really have gone to town on this and done the 20 or so apps that I can’t live without, but I figured simple is best. So it’s 4. But they’re the ones I use all the time.
1) Has to be Pro HDR Camera.

2) Next up is an app that’s new to me so I’m still experimenting. Camera Zoom FX extends the functionality of the default camera app even further by offering manual focus, continuous focus (for video), burst mode, time-lapse, voice activation and more. The FX part of the name refers to a bunch of extras that can be added to the app which I’ve not quite got my head round yet, but by default framing, vignetting and a whole raft of Instagram-esque filters are included too.

3) Third on the list is so simple, and it’s not technically a photography app, but I use it a LOT. It’s called simply “Torch – Flashlight“, and it does exactly what it says, but the beauty is that the little flash on the back of this SII is so powerful that this app turns the phone into a very useful emergency torch – much brighter than the iPhone 4. Only last weekend I was up in the Peak District, about a mile from the road down a boggy gorge to shoot sunset. By the time I was ready to pack up it was pitch black. Where was my torch? In the boot of the darn car. SII to the rescue. It helped me pack all my gear and find my way back up the gorge I was in and back to the car. Saved my ass I can tell you.

4) Finally, and a little disappointingly this is an IOS only app at this stage. Velaclock beautiful in it’s simplicity. It simply tells you sunrise and set times for a given location (and you can save several), moon times, and azimuths along with associated astronomical, nautical and civil times. Doesn’t appear to be available for the ‘droid at all, and after hours of scouring I’m afraid to say that I haven’t found anything that comes even close.