Adventures In Photography

As originally suggested by Digital Photographer Magazine and expanded upon by me.

1. Don’t blow snow off your lens – condensation from your breath can freeze on the lens.

2. Add colour to grey skies with a graduated colour filter. You can do it in Photoshop but even better with the real thing.

3. “If it’s bright – add light.” If shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority modes add up to 2 stops exposure compensation to make sure that white
snow stays white and doesn’t become grey.

4. Batteries don’t like the cold. They run down quickly so take spares and carry them in an inside pocket for warmth.

5. People don’t like the cold either. Don’t concentrate so much on the photography that you don’t look after yourself. Wrap up warm and don’t stay out in the cold too long. Take a flask of hot tea!

Ok that’s the five but another (just for good measure) is to not just concentrate on the landscapes. There are some fab close-ups to be had too - I missed some amazing frost patterns on my car bonnet the other day because I didn’t have my camera with me. Grr.

We’re hoping for good weather this Sunday as the Wildcards are making their usual annual visit to the Turweston Airfield “Wings and Wheels” day. This is a great day out for those that like classic vehicles of all kinds. We go every year to meet up with the members of the various classic bike clubs and get images for the British Motorcycles calendar we shoot for.

This year is a bit different however as for the first time we will be having a trade stand. This will act as our base during the day while we shoot for the 2014 calendar – yes we really do have to work that far ahead! I think I need to be Doctor Who sometimes just to keep track of things, although with a name like Matt Smith I’ve probably got a head start.

Our other reason to have a stand is to promote Wildcard Workshops and especially the Beginning DSLR Photography course that we run. Hopefully this will prove of interest to the thousands of visitors that go each year, many of whom will no doubt be taking photos of the various vehicles on display.

So let’s hope the rain holds off and if you are going do drop by our stand and say hello.

Whilst we all covet that shiny new latest camera release virtually all of our equipment here at Wildcard Towers is actually secondhand and it is certainly worth considering a used item if you are in the market for a lens or camera body. My main camera is a Canon 5D – the original Mk1 version. It is probably about six years old now and I bought it secondhand about five years ago. It is an example of a good quality camera that does all the basics very well. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the latest models but in fairness it doesn’t need them and I have had numerous images published all over the place to testify to the quality of images that this camera will produce.

The 5D Mk1 has been superseded once already and the Mk3 model is just around the corner. Mine has been round the clock a number of times in terms of shutter count so it is getting a little long in the tooth now but it performs faultlessly every time. I would like to upgrade just because it is getting old and I guess eventually it will fail in some way but I just cannot justify the expense of the new equivalent at the moment. I will undoubtedly upgrade soon though and I would have no hesitation in buying secondhand again.

Of course you do have to be careful when buying secondhand and whilst there may well be bargains to be had on Ebay you never really can tell what you are buying and there is no comeback if there is a problem. Most of my equipment has therefore come from a dealer that specialises in secondhand equipment (as well as new items of course): Skears Photographic in Northampton. When they receive a secondhand item it is checked and serviced and you know what you are buying. They are also always there to go back to in the unlikely event of a problem and in my experience the customer service is second to none. Check out their current secondhand stock at http://www.skearsphoto.com/

You really don’t need the latest cameras to take decent photos. In fact on our courses I say that the camera itself is probably the least important part of the image making process; the most important being your concept for what the shot should be, the next being the knowledge of how to achieve that, and thirdly the quality of the lens as this is what the light is going to pass through. Back in the day I had images on a huge billboard advert and on the side of trucks that were all taken with an entry level six megapixel camera. In fact, most of the latest bells and whistles on cameras are actually just there to help you make images when you don’t have the knowledge of how to do it using the traditional camera controls, which are actually much easier to understand than many people realise and can be used far easier, quicker and more creatively than some of these functions. This is the reasoning behind our Beginning DSLR Photography Course.

So don’t discount an older model and save yourself some cash by buying secondhand. Do bear in mind however that it is a case of ‘buyer beware’ if you are looking on Ebay (for example) so do make sure you go to a reputable dealer such as Skears where you be sure of good advice and service.

The glowing report of our one-day course aimed at newcomers to SLR photography was very complimentary on all accounts and reflects the information-packed and intensive tuition that we provide whilst maintaining a fun and friendly atmosphere. The comfortable and photogenic surroundings together with the excellent hospitality and food provided by our venue add up to a great value day.
For more info on our courses please visit our dedicated training website:  http://www.wildcardworkshops.co.uk where you can also read the review in full.

Wildcard Photography was very pleased to attend the Hunsbury Hill Centre Wedding Fair today on the invitation of venue owners Northants ACRE. I love this part of the job meeting couples in the planning stage of their wedding and it is always interesting to see the variety of requirements that couples want from their photographer, both in terms of the type of coverage they want and the ways in which they would like their photos presented.

I believe this is where Wildcard have the advantage in that we do not offer rigid packages like many wedding photographers do. Instead we are totally flexible in what we can provide and tailor our work to suit the couples’ requirements. We met some great brides and grooms to be and look forward to the opportunity of capturing all the fun and emotion of their special days.

Thanks again to the team at ACRE for inviting us to the event and for making us so welcome. The hospitality at the Hunsbury Hill Centre is excellent with warm, friendly staff and a fantastic characterful venue – one we would thoroughly recommend. For more information on their wedding packages please visit their website http://www.hunsburyhillcentre.co.uk/ 

Some images from a previous wedding we covered there:

Saturday 12th March saw seven eager participants take part in our Beginning Digital SLR Photography course at Sedgebrook Hall in Northamptonshire. Starting with very limited knowledge we took them through all the basics of photography including composition, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc., together with a few history lessons and loads of practical examples and tips along the way. They then put the theory into practice during a couple of practical sessions in the picturesque grounds with guidance from the Wildcards when necessary.

Students on our Beginning DSLR Photography Course at Sedgebrook Hall, Northamptonshire

It was great for us to watch how they grew in confidence throughout the day and left inspired to try out all the new techniques they had learned. We wish them well and look forward to seeing them again soon on one of our more advanced courses or one-to-one training sessions.

Reviewing the images taken and learning how to improve them

Some of the kind comments received afterwards:

“The course was very well suited to my level – I enjoyed it very much.” – Stevie

“Excellent day – unravelled the mysteries!” – Shirley

“Thanks for a great day!” – Trevor

“Very enjoyable. Friendly atmosphere. Well paced. Excellent!” – Dorothy

For more information on our courses please visit www.wildcardworkshops.co.uk

This shoot with Chrissy was my first foray into continuous lighting as opposed to studio flash. I’ve wanted to try this for some time and had the unexpected chance to the other day whilst working at BGB Studios in Raunds. Continuous lights have the benefit of you being able to see their effect all the time – more what you see is what you get than just with modelling lights (which I always struggle with anyway) – but at the disadvantage of being much less powerful than flash. This is understandable as you wouldn’t want a constant light the same power as a flash being shone at you – shades please!

I have wanted to see if this lower power would be an easy way of achieving shallow depth of field and maybe it is but in the limited time I had and with lights that had no adjustment I couldn’t really test this. What I did find, however, was that I was at f/2 meaning that focusing was absolutely critical and I was also at 400iso which I would normally seek to avoid.

Whilst I am happy with the shot below, I don’t think I properly answered my question and so further experimentation is needed. In the meantime I will continue with normal flash for anything important.

Chrissy was a star by the way!

Continuous studio lights

 This post is so named because I used just about every technique, light and prop at my disposal to create this image of superb model Syren Sexton. Even better, in typical Matty fashion, I did it on the cheap!

To break it down, lets look at the idea first. I wanted to create an image that was quite sparkly and with many coloured lights with a bit of a nightclub feel to it. I sourced the model and found that she had the perfect gold bikini / clubwear outfit. I knew the background would be predominantly black as in the nightclub, so knew I would use my background support with my black cloth fitted to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Regular readers will know that earlier in the year we shooting for the 2011 calendars (we have since already shot for 2012 – the deadline was brought forward!!!) and they will shortly be in your local Calendar Club shop amongst others. The straightforward shots bely the true difficulties of producing the images for these calendars which are more to do with sourcing the bikes and trying to get a clean-ish background. Not to mention the vagaries of the English weather!

2011 British Bikes Calendar

2011 Superbikes Calendar

Sorry it’s been so quiet around here lately. The blog suffered a major hack and I have only just managed to sort it. I’ve got lots of news, techniques and info to share as we have been soooooo busy this summer, so will update things when I get a few minutes. But for now I’m just glad to have everything back up and running.