Purple!

I generally avoid colour tinting photographs.  It can often look like the photographer has recently discovered that 'you can do this' in Photoshop, rather than adding to the image.  The one exception to the rule is tinting snow blue, when the photo is black and white.  Normally you tint a black and white image with a slight sepia tone to make it look warmer, but with snow, you want the viewer to feel the cold.  A blue tint on snow looks like this...

I've only got one tinted portrait, which I thought I'd share with you.  The following shot is my other half's sister, looking very chic last summer.

Any tinted shots my readers would like to share?

Colour or Black & White?

It's always an interesting conundrum when editing.  Some images are a very obviously one or the other.  If there is vibrant colour that makes the image then I'll leave it that way.  If the image is all about composition and form, and has good contrast, I'll often turn it black&white.  I think the following shot looks good in both.

In the colour version it is the vibrancy of the green that grabs your attention, draws you to the subject, and then you notice the purple buds on the stem of the flower.  In the b&w the form of the flower, and the contrast of the subject against the soft background gives a very different atmosphere to the same photograph.  Which do you prefer?

Fixed lenses and creativity.

I learnt photography from my Dad.  'Back in the day' that was fixed lenses, usually a 50mm.  The advantage of a fixed lens is they normally let more light in, meaning you can shoot in less light, and blur backgrounds away.  The disadvantage is that you often can't fit everything you want in the photo, or you can't get close enough to your subject.  The result of that is that you either have to move your feet and find somewhere else to shoot from, or be creative with your framing.

I've seen some pros tell aspiring photographers that they should get a fixed lens as it would 'make them more creative' - that's not true, you can't force creativity. It's either there or it's not.  I would much rather pros advised aspiring photographers to watch light, the way it falls, how it effects images and to just work with the kit they have.  I fear the ability to use light is not as common as it once was, but that is another blog for another day.

In the meantime I thought I'd share a couple of photos which, as my 94 year old Grandma says, "aren't straight"...

First shots...

It's always an exciting moment to unpack a new lens.  I then usually spend half a day thoroughly testing it. The test for my telephoto involved a walk to the park, and after 40 minutes I managed to find the deer.
My favourite photo from the afternoon is one of a doe jumping across a stream, with her fawn watching on.  The fawn then got up the courage to follow its mother.

My second favourite shot was of two stags.  I'd been creeping along by a stream, hidden by the trees, but finally got spotted...

I'm not a wildlife photographer in any way - as my miserable attempts at photographing birds in flight showed - much practice needed there I think!  However, I do love nature, and it's a joy to be able to remember the moments.

Photography and freedom

(January 22, 2010 - Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images Europe)

Over the weekend there was a demonstration in Trafalgar Square at the the use of stop and search powers under the terrorism act.  I briefly blogged about the problem a few weeks ago, when looking at the power of the still image. Hopefully public pressure will result in a more sensible use of the powers the police have at their disposal, which were never intended to stop people taking photos.

Since my last blog the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Section 44 of the 2000 Terrorism Act (the relevant bit of legislation) is illegal, as it is indiscriminate.  The government is appealing.  Obviously.

Congratulations have to go to Oli Scarff, from Getty, for the photo above.  In a square mile more densely packed with cameras and photographers than probably anywhere in history, it was his shot that made it to the front pages!

Cold Weather

Cold weather usually equals fun photographs.  Sometimes the cold can prove less fun though.  Last year I returned to my house after having Christmas with my parents to find it flooded, and four inches deep in water downstairs.  After wading through the mess to extract my stuff, and pack it into a car to move home to my other half's sofa, I just couldn't leave without getting my camera out.  In the midst of the arrival of my landlady, whilst my house was ankle deep in water, I was busy taking photographs.

The water that had literally flowed out of the windows of the upstairs had run down over the garden plants.  In the cold temperatures it had frozen.  This hydrangea was literally suspended in ice...

Squared²

Having a compact camera has brought me a lot of joy. It would be too melodramatic to say I've 'rediscovered photography', but it is a great pleasure to be able to take photos of those little things that catch my eye.

Compact cameras don't have anything like the quality of an SLR, but they've always been able to take good close-up ("macro") shots.  The photos from my Canon G11 do require a bit more editing than shots from my top pro. kit, but I quite enjoy the extra work, it means I think about each image more. In the process I've found that I quite like cropping images to a square.  The following are two squared² photos.

Portraits 5

This is a photo of my bro about to go off to a wedding as an usher.  Yes, he really should have shaved...
He is, however, modeling the family hair well.

Filling up the camera bag again...

I'm currently in the strange position of having only one lens in my camera bag. My 50mm is being returned in the hope that I'll get a better focusing second copy, and all my Canon kit has gone off to be sold.  Feeling obviously insecure, the natural solution is to lens hunt.

One advantage of starting over with camera equipment is that you really know what you want in the bag.  I've gone for a fixed wide angle lens and one fixed 50mm lens.  The fixed 50mm on my back up camera is equivalent to an 80mm and with those two lenses I'll happily photograph any wedding.  The one area I've always been lacking is a long lens for wildlife photos.  Years ago I had a 70-200, but that's not really long enough.  So yesterday, after much hunting, I ordered the third lens for my camera bag, a Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6.

(thanks to DPReview for the image)

It will be lovely to have a long focal length lens back again.  I've always enjoyed watching wildlife, and now I'll hopefully be able to get some images too!  To round off this blog I've included one of the first decent photos I ever took.  These two swans were total posers, and it was when I showed this shot to my parents that they perhaps got an inkling of what I might end up doing to earn a living.

Rule breaking...

(photo courtesy of Guardian.co.uk)

The 2009 Veolia Wildlife Photographer Of The Year award was given for the above photograph back at the end of 2009.  This week however the photographer who took the image was stripped of his award, and the £10,000 prize that went with it.  The reason?  His photo is said to have broken the rules.  The wolf jumping over the fence is, it now appears, a tame one, who was encouraged to jump to trigger the remote camera and flash.  Using tame animals or 'models' is against the rules of the category and so the Spanish photographer lost the title.

When I first saw the photo last year I was struck by the 'so perfect' capture of the moment, in what appeared to be studio like conditions.  The claim was that infrared beams were set up, along with the camera and flash, meat was left out and one day it all just happened. I wasn't impressed.  To me a wireless flash set up is not wildlife photography.  Wildlife photography is about carrying an insanely heavy lens on your back and having the exceptional patience and technical ability to hit the shutter at the perfect moment to capture wildlife at its most glorious or intimate.

What do you think makes a good wildlife image,  have you got a favourite?

The power of the still image.

Photographers are facing tougher working conditions.  For example there are several spots in London - unmarked on maps - where police have the power to remove cameras from members of the public, merely because they are using them near somewhere deemed at risk from a terror attack.  (It is interesting to note that neither the 9/11 attackers, or the 7/7 London tube bombers photographed their targets prior to the attacks.)  The integrity of work is also under threat.  The phrase 'photoshopped' has now come to mean something artificial or fake in common parlance.

A few weeks ago a French rugby player was convicted of eye-gouging an opponent, a nasty practice that still goes on.  He appealed on the basis that the video evidence did not conclusively show the incident and questioned the authenticity of one photograph that did, as it was taken by a photographer working for the other team.

(photo courtesy of BBC Sport)

A panel of experts reviewed the photograph to see if it had been edited or manipulated and concluded that it had not.  The player's ban was upheld and the photographer's reputation intact.  As a photographer I found it re-assuring that that, sometimes, it is still true to say 'the camera doesn't lie'.

Nikon D700

(image courtesy of Digital Photography Review)

Having decided to switch to Nikon I set about planning it.  Since I've had a Canon 5D I've grown to love the image quality and low noise of full-frame digital cameras, so the D700 was the model that caught my attention.  With world beating lowlight performance, in a more compact and cheaper body than the Nikon D3 it was an obvious choice.  I found an excellent deal online and now have an as new D700 in my camera bag!  Here's a shot to show off its low light performance.

This is a centre crop of a shot at 6400 ISO.  Very impressive!  I'll keep you updated how my change over goes over the next few weeks.  In the meantime the D700 is coming to work for the first time today.

How pop-up flash can create great light!

Using pop-up flash should only ever be a last resort.  It creates nasty light that ruins photos and wastes a decent camera and lens.  I've been showing friends how to bounce their on camera flash using a business card for years, but finally someone has made a product that does it a lot better.  Bouncing your flash off a ceiling or wall softens it, and will turn that nasty pop-up flash into a useful tool that can create better pictures.

Check out   www.lightscoop.com  for some more info!

(photo courtesy of lightscoop.com)

Portraits 4

A photo taken at my favourite focal length - 85mm.  Shot on my old Canon 40D.

Nerves and wedding photography.

One of the most common questions I get asked as a wedding photographer is whether I get nervous.  A wedding is full of one-off moments: the first kiss, cutting of the cake, first dance, the groom seeing his wife to be for the first time.  People often want to know if the pressure to capture all of these gets to me.  I honestly have to say no.  I absolutely love being a wedding photographer, and don't ever feel pressured.  I just enjoy it.  The only time I get nervous is when I have 500 images on my memory cards not backed up yet - I'll only sleep easy when they're on my laptop and external hard-drive.

There aren't many photos of me at work, but I've included the two I have.  The first was taken by my second shooter at my last wedding, the second by my Dad at the wedding of a close family friend as I helped the bride and groom get in the wedding car, before going to the beach for the couple shoot.  I seem to be enjoying myself!

Compassion or indifference to Haiti?

It appears that hundreds of thousands are, or may become victims of the Haiti earthquake.  It's very hard to turn numbers into people, but hopefully if we dare to expose ourselves to a tragedy that could as easily be each one of us - if birth had placed us elsewhere - we will at least find compassion rather than indifference.

(Source: The following are my own edits of photographs from the Telegraph Online.)

You can give here...

https://www.redcross.org.uk/emergencysite/campaign.aspx?id=88917

Portraits 3

I normally try and use natural light for most of my work, but this shot is flash lit.  It's moody, dark and brooding - good thing my brother isn't actually like that!

Why I've come to the conclusion that Nikon are better than Canon.

First off, let me state that this is a very specific blog. I am not claiming that Nikon are better than Canon full stop, merely that for certain applications Nikon have the edge over Canon. I'll do my best to avoid too much techno-speak in the next few paragraphs, and aim for my mum to be able to understand the difference...

I photograph weddings in low light and mostly without flash, because of this I need the best low light performance I can get.  Coupled with this I need good focus in low light.  The low light performance of Nikon is better than Canon.

Nikon and Canon approach the problem of noise - the nasty grains you get on digital camera images taken in low light - very differently. There are two types of noise: small, fine grains (luminance) and colour smudges (chromatic). A picture illustrates it best...

(thanks to cambridgeincolour.com for the images made into the diagram)

Canon squash all the pixels to make the noise less visible, and do a very good job.  Nikon instead focus mostly on chromatic noise.  The result is that Nikon images are clear of chromatic noise even at very high ISO settings  - shooting in very low light. At the same settings Canon images will have more visible chromatic noise than Nikon ones. (There is some variance between cameras it should be noted.) Secondly, Canon prefer having more megapixels in their cameras - the opposing Canon and Nikon 'wedding' cameras have 24MP and 12MP respectively. More megapixels = more noise.  So in short Nikon come out quite visibly on top for low light shooting.

Secondly Nikon have a more advanced auto-focus system in their cameras than Canon - the top end sports photography models aside. A Canon 5D MkII has 9 autofocus points, a Nikon D700 has 51, more complex ones. That means that Nikon will focus faster and more accurately. The difference depends on the lens, and won't be noticable until you dim the lights, but it's then that you really need good autofocus.

For the above two reasons I have decided to switch from Canon to Nikon. Generally considered a very expensive thing to do, it's not at all bad for me as a large proportion of my kit is second hand and holds its value.  So I'll be switching.  I'll aim to get a Nikon D700, will let you know how it goes.

(photos courtesy of Digital Photographer Review)

Portraits 2

Here's possibly my favourite portrait.  Taken at the Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in 2007, this is an Arctic Convoy's veteran.  My Grandfather sailed the Arctic Convoy route to Russia, and was mentioned in dispatches for his actions on one voyage.  A poignant image - I would love to find out this man's story...

Re: Putting money where your mouth is...

Having blogged at some length on the advantages of a Nikon D5000 I found myself in Jessops in the snow at the weekend, handing over my credit card.  It's not as spontaneous as it sounds, I intend to switch to Nikon in the next year or so.  The reasons for my change of allegiance will form a blog in the near future.

My other half summed the D5000 up well... "Oooh, it's prettier than your Canon."  Sale made :)

(photos courtesy of slashgear.com)

Portraits 1

Having only started blogging in the last year I thought it would be nice to share some of my favourite portraits.  This was the very first photoshoot I ever did, back in 2007.  Emily was making a Christmas calendar for her boyfriend and asked for a few shots, so I happily volunteered.

snow from space

Here's a stunning satellite image of the UK under snow.  Certainly worth sharing!

A snow day...

Snow days don't have quite the same allure for the self employed as those who get paid for a day in front of the fire, but they do make for some nice photo opportunities!  Here's a shot from the first really cold day last week.

Myth busting: Why today's cheap DSLRs are brilliant.

 (image courtesy of dpreview.com)
I will need to upgrade my aging Canon 40D at some point in 2010.  Its image quality doesn't match that of my other camera, a Canon 5D, and its poor LCD screen and colour rendition are frustrating.

I'm increasingly tending toward buying an 'entry-level' DSLR, instead of spending £700 or more on a back up camera.

What I'm looking for:
- A camera which offers image quality better than my Canon 40D
- A better resolution LCD screen
- Good low light performance that is passable at 1600 ISO

What are my options?

Well, Canon replaced the 40D with the 50D.  This has a better screen and more megapixels.  However the best UK price I can find is £715.  My first choice full-frame 5D only cost me £800, and I could pick up another for that price!   The 50D is overpriced then.

Canon's new flagship 7D is the talk of the town at the moment.  It has an impressive list of features, but at an equally impressive price of £1200.  (For those that care, it is Canon's attempt to rival the Nikon D300s.)  The 7D has one massive flaw in my opinion - it produces almost as much 'noise' at 1600 ISO as the Canon 50D.  As a wedding photographer who consistently needs low light performance I'd rather spend an extra £500 and get the Canon 5D MkII that is full frame and much better in the dark.

Canon's 500D has the same sensor as the 50D, fitted into a smaller body.  The 50D is better weather sealed, shoots faster, and has slightly better focusing, but has very similar internals to a camera that costs £200 less.  In the hands of a good photographer the 500D will produce images just as good as the 50D. The 500D has an outstanding LCD and cleaner files at 1600 ISO than my old camera.  Sorted?  Not quite.  Nikon went and made the D5000...

The D5000 is £80 cheaper than the 500D, and has fewer megapixels, but that equals better low light performance.  Nikon has the edge over Canon in that department anyway.  Nikon's D5000 files are better at 1600 ISO than Canon's 7D files.  Believe it or not,  a £430 ( £380 with a special Nikon discount atm) consumer aimed Nikon would take better pictures for me than £1200 of Canon professional camera!   Sadly all my lenses are Canon.

It will be interesting to see how good cheap DSLRs become in 2010.
I'll let you know what eventually ends up in my camera bag.

Remembrance Sunday 2009

As promised, here are a few shots from the service at the Cenotaph late last year. It has been a total privilege to attend the service for the last three years and record it on camera.

The last surviving veteran of the trenches on the Western Front died this year - R.I.P Harry Patch.  (photo courtesy of Mailonline)

Favourite lens...

When I first bought a DSLR I purchased two lenses. One was a telephoto zoom, the other was a 50mm f1.4. On camera it became an 85mm - the perfect portrait length. It was my shots with this lens that got me a reputation as a photographer and the encouragement from that resulted in me gradually turning professional.

Having since got a professional standard full frame camera body, the 85mm became 50mm and I lost my favourite focal length. My 50mm has finally given up the ghost, and I'm replacing it with an 85mm.

It's 2010, a new year and an opportunity to do things differently, and to look forward to things. I'm looking forward to getting my favourite lens back :)

I've included one of my favourite photos. Taken at the 100 Club - a prestigious Jazz Club in London - I caught these two dancers totally unaware and captured a wonderful moment. Here's to 2010 and many more moments! Happy New Year!