I have spent the day smoking again

Sorry people its another smoke series. I cant help it I really enjoy smoking.

I have learnt the smoke images take a lot of trial and error. Previously as mentioned in my previous post about my smoke images I had made my own barn doors however I decided to try out a new method with a home made snoot which directed the light straight onto the smoke trail.

How to make the snoot


If you haven't got one the easiest cheapest way is a piece of black A4 card wrap it around the end of your flash seal it with tape job done you have a snoot the same width and depth as your flash you can trim a little off the end and then when you trigger your camera the light will hit the exact area you want to freeze and keep the light off your background and reduce any chance of lens flare.

The way I got the rainbow effect was to create a new layer in PS set it as overlay and then added a gradient to it.

Thanks for reading

James

A Day Playing With Smoke

This is another past time I enjoy there is something mystical about the way smoke moves. Today for some reason the smoke was not playing ball but I managed to pull a few shots off. For some reason the smoke and my set up just wouldn't play ball.

Do I need studio kit for this?


Honest answer in an ideal world yes but if like me you are on a budget all you need is a plain black background a desk lamp, tripod, off camera flash, barn doors would be ideal but if like me you haven't got them then some plain black card taped to both sides of your flash this helps direct the light onto the smoke and away from your background and a josh stick. And that is it really. You put the lamp one side to put some light onto the smoke and the flash the other side to illuminate the smoke when you push the shutter. Focus in on the top of the josh stick and then shoot away. You can jazz it up a little with coloured gels to add colour to the smoke but you can do this in photoshop via the hue/saturation if like me you haven't the budget for all the top gear.

Here is a few shots from today

Thanks For Reading
James

ISO Explained As I see It

What is ISO?

In Simple terms ISO is the sensitivity of light to the sensor/film. By now you would have seen settings like ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 etc. 

So What do these numbers mean? 

Basically a higher ISO number means that the film/sensor is more sensitive to light. So at ISO 200 it is two times more sensitive than ISO 100 and at ISO 400 it is two times more sensitive than ISO 200 and so on and so forth. This setting is great for the digital age as you can change your ISO whenever you need to without changing your memory card as back in the film days you would have to change your film when you wanted to change ISO. 

When Do I Use ISO?

ISO is used when you are in a situation where the lighting is very poor and you are unable/don't want to use flash I.E sporting events, indoor weddings, parties, evening shots. And we use it to increase the shutter speed to enable us to hand hold the camera/freeze motion as at ISO 100 you will find the shutter speed will decrease a hell of a lot during low light situation so in order to get the picture you desire in a low light situation you may need to play with the ISO settings.

What's The Downside To Higher ISO?

There is only one answer to this is my eyes and that is NOISE (grain in your pictures) used correctly a little noise can add to the image but used incorrectly it can make an image look awful. You need to remember this ISO tends to show itself more in the shadow rather than the highlights so noise will become more apparent in dark scenes.

What ISO Settings Do You Advise?

Personally I feel this is down to your individual taste and the situation you are in. For me during normal conditions I use between 100-200 ISO and for indoor low light situations I use 400-800 ISO. I have not done any night time shots without flash so have not stepped over 800 ISO as yet

I hope this has helped shed some light on ISO

Thanks for reading

James

My Day Shooting Water Drops

Got the shot of was after the infamous shield shot. However not the angle I wanted but I got it so I am happy now I need to work more to make it more frequent

These a a few of the images I took today. If you like the effects of water droplets I really urge you to try it out  it is so much fun

Thanks For Reading
James

After A Week Without Shooting

For one reason or another this week my camera has not left its bag so I have been out brought some new colourful paper to shoot another series of water drops fingers crossed I will get the shot I am waiting for the infamous shield shot. I hope to return later on this evening with that shot but if I don't I know for a fact I will still have enjoyed giving it ago.

Inside The Tool Shed

Time For A Bit Of Water Art

This is a subject I have really began to enjoy shooting and I am sure you will see many many drop shots from me as I am still yet to get the shield effect drop.

I have been chatting a lot to people on flickr and looking at drop images and have picked up some great tips along the way and the improvement I have seen has been very noticeable.

Here are two images of my first ever attempt and shooting water drops: -

As you can see these are not the best images but that is the whole point at the time I was happy with the fact that I had actually captured the drops I didn't really pay attention to the picture itself. When I did which took a while and to be honest after I kept trying out new methods I noticed picture one was very grainy and the focus was not that great and image 2 even though the form is great the focus was poor.

I have moved on since these original images (well I hope I have) 

Here Is My Most Recent Attempt At Water Drops Taken Only Yesterday

As hopefully you can see the images are far more interesting they have some colour to them that have given them some life the focus is far better and they generally look far better than my first attempt.

Have you ever wanted to try drops but thought I don't have the kit?

Well then take that thought out of your head. Yes it would be great to have a fully kitted out studio with fantastic instruments in which to create the drops and fancy lights. But back here in the real world all you need is a sandwich bag full of water suspended above pierce a small hole with a needle, a paint rolling tray full of water and I used a table matt with pink birthday paper wrapped around it as the background stood it up behind the tray, and then used a flash gun attached with a cable as I don't have a wireless one pointed the flash directly at the background and this then cast the purple look I have in the images above. Also a macro lens would be the best option but you can also do this with your kit lens just turn off the auto focus and then place a pen where the droplets fall and manually focus onto the tip of the pen move the pen away and fire away

I hope this helps you a little I know it did me

Thanks For Reading

James

Find Direction And Motivation

A few things I have picked up along the way


Are you sitting in front of your computer now thinking how will I improve my photography?

I know I was but I am not about to start telling you as I don't think I am qualified to do so. The only advice I can give you is get out there with the camera and shoot as often as you can (I know you are probably sat there thinking this is all photographers say but its the only way) this makes you aware of the world around you and makes you start taking notice of every little detail, a shooting bud, a tiny insect, a moody sky, a perfect candid moment etc etc. Once you have learnt to view the world through a photographers eyes (and you will know when that happens when you start noticing things on your travels you wouldn't have paid attention to before) then you will be ready to sit down and start to learn the science behind the settings (and let me warn you this is a science and not something I have fully mastered yet).

Will I learn fast? (sounds silly but I know the frustration of "I just don't get it")

Well this is down to the time you put into it. For me shooting nearly everyday has made me aware of the settings and where to apply them for each situation. And in the space of 11 months my photography has improved tremendously and that's thanks to Practical Photography and Flickr

Should I join a course?


For me this is something I strongly think is a must. Not just to learn about settings but to give you focus as I am sure like me you were taking photos not of things that are not interesting but not in an interesting sort of way. Any one can take a picture but its how it is viewed that makes that picture and to hold that attention you must create a master piece and this will all be down to its framing, composition, depth of field, point of view and so on. I am not saying go out and spend hundreds of pounds on sitting courses but find something like I did with Practical Photography join your local camera club, go to college or simply just open an account with flickr. Just by joining in with one of these courses, clubs or internet groups gives you plenty of things to focus on and gives you a direction and motivation to shoot more often. Flickr for me has been a godsend as there is plenty of groups to join and fun things to join in with and in time you will find out what sort of photography it is you enjoy most. For me at the moment still life and macro has kind of become my thing which shocked me when it happened but I just love the way things look close up and I love experimenting with water drops, smoke, fire anything really that can create some great finishes.

Do I Need All The Expensive Kit?


In an ideal world we would all love the expensive kit but that is simply not possible unless you are one of the fortunate. But I will touch on this in another post as there are many ways of getting "similar" looking shots to the pros with things lying around your home (no I don't compare my shots with pros with the best kit but I do try and get the look just on a budget because sooner or later you will want kit you simply can't afford and with these items it will get you closer to the shot you want)

What if my shots are not up to standards?


Let me tell you we are our own worse critiques you will never know how good/bad your shots are unless you put them in front of like minded people then you will find out shots you think are great others don't get yet images you think are bad for some reason other people love them. Its nice to love your own shots but as Ansel Adams once said "there are two people involved in a photograph the photographer and the viewer" and in every shot you need to try and please the viewer and the only way to find that out is to get viewers hence flickr is a great resource.

In The Space Of 11 Months I Have Gone From The Fungi Above To The Beautiful Blue Flower Below

So don't forget the main tip I can give you is get out there take photos and join some sort of group or course to gain direction and motivation


Thank you again for viewing my blog

Turning Bad Into Good

Photography for me has always been fun but never something I have had time to learn properly. At the end of 2010 my business was really being hit hard by the recession and so was my mental being, due to the stress. I decided I needed to control this stress if not for my own mental well being but also for my family no one wants to see a son, husband, father missing out on the most important years of his life worrying about things that are simply material. So I purchased my first DSLR from my brother in law a Nikon D40 in the hope that not only it would give me some light relief to get away from my stresses of business but also that it would help with my product images for my business.

So The Story Began


It must of been in the January of 2011 I decided its time to really master my camera after viewing some fantastic images that I found on flickr. I suddenly realised in my hands I had a very powerful tool but not a clue how to use it outside of its auto mode and I made a pact with myself that for once I am not going to run away from something I didn't understand I was going to hit it face on and get to the bottom of it. So I went out and purchased my first ever addition of Practical Photography knocked myself up a brew and sat down with my magazine in hope it would shed some light on what it was I was going to do. Then I stumbled across an article advertising a FREE DSLR Bootcamp style course, my prayers were answered I had found myself a course that was not going to cost me a bean other than the magazine subscription. Finally I can learn how to use the camera and most of all I don't need to spend hundreds of pounds to find out if I have a flare for it. I was under no illusion even though it was free I was still very nervous as I had no clue on what I was doing and was in fear that there will be nobody on the course that was as fresh to photography as I was. I took sometime lurking Photo Answers Forum to find out what sort of thing I had signed myself in for by this I mean was I going to be good enough or were my images going to stand out like a sore thumb as my standard was not up to par. After about a month of lurking in the shadows I found somebody had kindly put a link to a flickr group that was set up as a platform for all members that were going to sit the bootcamp course to share ideas, fears and general photography advice. As soon as I found this group I was off it suddenly became apparent that there was a great mix of photographers from beginners like me to people I think should be pro and to top it all off they were a seriously enthusiastic friendly group of people with one major thing in common with me to improve on something they really enjoy. For me it was the best thing I had done for some years I really started enjoying shooting anything and everything and posting my images to flickr to see what other people thought of my shots as sometimes family's advice is a little blinkered. Suddenly images I thought had met the briefs for bootcamp were being fairly critiqued by all types and standards of photographers they were finding faults that somehow until mentioned I was missing, this if anything just drove me to be better not to prove to them that I could do it but to prove it to myself, train my brain if you like to notice the minor things that only a photographer would notice. Months went by the course started to get harder and harder yet thanks to my new flickr friends the fire was kept burning with there constant advice and pick me ups. So I kept battling on and made sure I had uploaded a shot for every module this constant pressure kept my mind occupied for months it also kept my stress levels at a low which is good as sadly in August with only 2 more modules to go I had to close my business as the recession had finally taken its toll and I could fight no more. Sadly this did have an impact on me and with this even though I made sure I still completed the last two modules however due to the situation I had found myself in the quality was not what I wanted to finish off with in fact I think it was worse than when I had first started before the course began, however it suddenly dawned on me that the relaxation I get from taking photos had helped me get through these hard times I had suddenly found myself in. Obviously my situation was upsetting but the photography helped me turn that upset into something positive and that was taking better photos as I had now found time to really think my shots through and this then in turn took my attentions of feeling sorry for myself away.

You Only Get One Life Live It

Thanks For Reading
James

Thank you To All My Flickr Friends For Helping Me Improve And Without Knowing It You Have got Me Through Some Hard Times




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