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Staying Safe Lots is written and posted regarding model safety, and rightly so. Although the percentage of "dangerous" photographers is small, models need to be aware. There is however another aspect of model safety the rarely seems to get mentioned, and that is the question of a models physical safety whilst being photographed. An accident can happen almost anywhere and at any time, a slip in the bath, tripping over something, hitting your elbow, it happens to all of us. However a model can sometimes find themselves in a situation where there is an increased chance of a mishap and/or the consequences are more dire. A resulting injury can run the extremes of a minor cut or bruise to being fatal. It's hard to track down any sort of statistics on this, however my research did turn up the fact that in 2015 in the US at least 50 people where killed whilst engaged in photography or video, on or near a railway track! For the vast majority of shoots a model will b

I Have The Power! Anyone who uses a speedlight knows their voracious appetite for batteries. No sooner do you put in a fresh set and start shooting than the recycle time seems to start climbing! It's one of the main reasons I tend to avoid using this lighting if I can. I like to maintain something of a rhythm during a shoot and having the ability to take a coffee break whilst the flash recharges, tends to break the flow. A lot of the time I'm using studio flash, however there are times when that is just not feasible and so I need something that has the portability, without the problems associated with AA batteries. An external battery pack seems an ideal solution and there are commercial versions available. The cheapest just add extra AA batteries, and better versions tend to start getting expensive. So I decided to look into a DIY solution. The Answer My research lead me to the Sealed Lead Acid battery (SLA). These batteries are used in a selection of items such as

Dungeness  Although I regularly shoot my own personal projects, it's not often that I get the chance to just go out with the camera and shoot whatever I come across. So when I had a free day, and my good friend and photographer Kevin Clow suggested we have a day out photographing, I decided a change would do me good. But where to go? Various destinations were considered before Kevin suggested Dungeness. Now I have seen many photographs of Dungeness, (in fact if you follow English photography, you probably can't not have seen pictures of the place!) but I had never been. So it was settled and off we went. For those wondering, Dungeness is on the South-East coast about mid way between Hastings and Dover. Getting there is quite easy as you just go through Beyond to the Back, and it's about 5 miles further on! It is apparently one of the largest areas of shingle in Europe and is quite impressive in it's... er... nothingness! Standing on the beach facing the s

From Camera to Computer In digital photography before you can do anything with those hard gained photographs you’ve taken, you have to transfer them onto a computer. Whilst this can be done using the camera, it quickly becomes apparent that this is far from ideal. Far easier is to remove the memory card from the camera and should it have a suitable slot, putting straight into the computer. However not all computers have card slots, which is where a card reader comes in. Usually plugging into a USB port, they will accept the common SD and CF cards, and many will also accept a raft of older and less common cards. SD vs CF Cards As mentioned SD, CF, or a combination of both are what are usually found in modern cameras. My cameras use CF cards which is my personal preference anyway. CF have higher practical and theoretical transfer speeds but this is generally negated by other factors. Unless you have a very high spec computer, hard drive, etc you are unlikely to get close to the

A Slippery Slope In my last blog post I talked about how keeping an eye on the details in a photograph can make all the difference between a passable and a great photo. It's something I try to apply to my work both during the shoot and in the post processing. I also find it hard not to pick up on such things when viewing others images. I can totally understand however photographers just starting out having much on their minds and not noticing the little details. Beyond the subject As I said previously, the background is probably one of the areas most overlooked and something I notice quite regularly are "wonky" pictures. Whilst I believe there are no real set rules in photography and that photographing at an angle can work, I also believe that doing so can often be tricky to pull off and needs to appear intentional. Anything else to me just looks sloppy.  I recently saw a selection of wedding pictures that had been posted and was shocked to see a lot of the ou

The Devil is in the Detail Passing on the knowledge and experience you've gained can be very helpful. The obvious beneficiary is the receiver, however there is huge potential for the giver to also learn and better understand things. Working and talking with people at earlier stages of the photographic path have enabled me to trace and chart my own journey. It's brought me a clearer view of where I've been, and hopefully how I wish to move ahead. Many times I have recognised myself in what people are doing and thinking as they progress and it's interesting to see if they will come to the same conclusions and realisations that I did or move in a different direction. One thing that recently became apparent to me is the level of detail with which I tend to look at an image. Upon reflection it's something I've automatically done for quite a while. This picture was taken ages ago on a medium format camera using a waste level finder (which will flip the imag

Presets Good or Bad? It's funny how times change. Back in the days of film, manufacturers spent fortunes on trying to develop films with accurate colour rendition, low grain, and good tonal range. At the same time us photographers would have to deal with the cool blues of Ektachrome or the vibrant greens of Fujichrome, all the time wishing Kodachrome was available at higher than 64 ISO! Today it seems all the rage to bring those "faults" back into the image, and a whole market has arisen to do just that, with a bewildering array of software, apps, plugins and presets. It's fantastic that digital gives us the ability to make such adjustments (even non destructively) to an image, and there is probably some interesting underlying psychological basis as to why we wish to add a seemingly analogue element to the sterile world of digital. However I can't help but feel that there are times when the reasons for their use are somewhat misplaced. I know of ma

Your Photographic Helper Photographers are always looking for accessories to help their photography. However there is one item that most already have, but possibly overlook. I'm talking about the smartphones and tablets that have become part of our everyday life. Most of these have built in cameras some of which are of a high spec, but in this case we are not looking at the photographic capabilities, or the dozens of apps connected with taking and editing those photos, instead I will look at apps that can help you with your general photography. There are a wealth of apps that are specifically produced with a photographer in mind, or which can be used to help with photography. Every persons requirements are going to be different so I'd encourage you to see what apps are available, will suit you best and be most helpful. For example there are numerous apps that help calculating exposures, depth of field, flash compensation etc. After decades doing photography many of

Where is that picture??? One of the most useful pieces of advice that I think can be given to someone starting out in digital photography is, "figure out how you are going to organise your picture files". I well remember sitting waiting whilst a "professional" photographer tried to find a particular picture to show me. After several minutes it became embarrassingly obvious he didn't have a clue where it was on his computer! The ease and lack of cost with which digital images can be taken means collections of pictures can grow at a very fast rate. What starts out as an easy exercise finding a picture amongst a selection of several hundred, starts to become harder when it grows to several thousand, and a major task when it becomes tens of thousands! That is unless some form of system is employed. It is therefore a good idea to spend some time early on figuring out how you are going to best store your pictures. It's a case of a little extra t

Are you shooting yourself in the foot? I have, in the past, been asked what the most important thing is for a photographer. Whilst it no doubt depends on the type of photography you undertake, for me, dealing primarily with people, I'd have to say that reputation is probably close to, if not, top of my list. A good reputation can be built upon many pillars such as honesty, reliability, discretion, high standards, moral and ethical stances, etc. All of this can help install trust and respect amongst clients and those you work with. Conversely it can also be used to send a message to those that wish to take advantage. It all seems very common sense, however I regularly see examples where people just don't seem to care about how they are perceived!   First Impressions Count. It's an oft quoted saying that is backed up by lots of scientific research. More often than not, in today's world, a first impression has moved from being a physical meeting, to a virtual