Back to Basics
Derek Smith • 19 March 2022
Wine Glasses
Photo By: Derek Smith
Victorian Sewing Kit
Photo By: Derek Smith
Ninja
Photo By: Derek Smith
South Kyme
Photo By: Derek Smith
Within our Society we have photographers of all abilities, and whether you are a beginner, or an experienced photographer it’s sometimes good to review our photography skills.
Compositional Techniques – A photo should always tell a story, a narrative that conveys the subject, or point of interest of the image immediately to the viewer, so remember that lines pointing toward the subject can guide the eye. Having the subject brighter than the surrounding area is also a good technique, a shaft of light on a building can often be utilised when a break in the clouds allows. Very bright grey featureless skies can be the bane of landscape photography, try tilting the camera down to reduce the amount of sky in the final image, or try photographing the scene at a different time of day. The positioning of a subject within the photo frame is also important, if the subject can move, give it room to move into the frame, if the subject has eyes have the direction of gaze looking into the frame, or look at a point of interest within the frame, in portraiture perhaps the subject could look directly at the photographer. Decide from the outset what to include in the photo, or even more importantly what to leave out.
Focus Points – With modern digital cameras a photographer should be able to control the size, and positioning of the focus point. Leaving the focus on automatic, and wide runs the risk of the camera focus locking onto something other than your subject, or a point of interest, usually it’s the nearest thing to the camera, a blade of grass, or a tree!! Learn how to control the size, and position of the focus point on your camera thus ensuring the subject of the image is sharp.
Get Out of Auto – We use the auto exposure mode regularly on our mobile phones, and sometimes on our cameras, and there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with taking photos on Auto mode however, a photographer can be far more creative, and produce a more impactful image by selecting Aperture Priority on the camera.
Aperture Priority Explained – The aperture of a lens, the size of the iris, the hole that lets the light into the camera via the lens, is controlled by the aperture blades. Using Aperture Priority mode allows the photographer to control, and vary the aperture, to adjust for the scene, and the ambient light. The size of aperture is denoted by what’s known as an “f” number, with the lowest “f” number opening the widest, and therefore letting the most light into the camera. In Aperture Priority mode as the aperture is varied, the camera automatically adjusts the shutter speed to give the correct exposure. Learning the effects of the different apertures can be slightly daunting for someone new to photography, so as we now know that in Aperture Priority mode adjusting the aperture also adjusts the shutter speed I would like you to think of the aperture settings, in bands, related to the shutter speed.
Fast: f/1.0 – f/3.5, sometimes referred to as “wide open”, allows the most light into the camera, and therefore gives the highest shutter speeds. Useful for indoor low light situations, and portraits.
Medium: f/4 – f/7.1, allows less light into the camera, useful for photography of birds, small mammals, and portraits.
Slow: f/8 – f/16, often referred to as “stopped down”, this is an ideal setting for landscape, architecture, and portraits.
It is also useful to remember that most lenses produce the sharpest images between f/4 – f/8.
Practical Application – Learn how to locate, and be able to adjust the aperture, on your camera. Setting the Mode Dial to “A” or “Av” puts the camera into Aperture Priority mode, and usually a control wheel on the camera adjusts the aperture range. One other control to consider is ISO, which controls the sensitivity of the sensor. Locate, and be able to adjust the ISO on your particular model of camera, you may have to press a button on the back of the camera, to enable adjustment of the ISO.
Exercise – Having located the Aperture, and ISO controls on the camera, try this practical exercise; set the aperture to the “Fastest” aperture for your camera / lens combination, it may be f/2, or f/3.5. Set the ISO to 200, half press the shutter button and note the shutter speed, either in the viewfinder, or on the rear screen. Now, double the ISO to 400, and the shutter speed will double as well, repeat the experiment, at ISO settings of 800, 1600, and 3200, and observe the shutter speed double each time. You now have total control of your camera!!
It is useful to understand that a shutter speed of 1/60, and above, should enable a blur free handheld image of a static subject, (although image stabilisation, a tripod, or a convenient fence may help to steady the camera when using a slower shutter speed), and that a faster shutter speed of 1/250 will freeze action in a moving subject.
Sample Images
Wine glasses: This monochrome image taken at a “Fast” aperture of f/2, ISO 200, and shutter speed of 1/200 demonstrates a creative aspect of a “Fast” aperture, the foremost wine glass is sharp, but the wine glasses behind are blurred, and this type of image is not possible in Automatic Mode.
Victorian Sewing Kit: This image taken in a National Trust property which do not allow flash photography. Using a “Medium” aperture this time of f/4.5, ISO 6400, and shutter speed of 1/8, (utilising the camera stabilisation), I found the colours very pleasing.
Ninja: This image of a speeding motorcycle was taken at Cadwell circuit, the “Medium” aperture of f/5, ISO 64, and a shutter speed of 1/250. The camera settings coupled with a technique known as “panning”, which is locking the focus onto the motorcyclist and following the bike through its progress as it passes the photographer. The blurred background, together with the blurred wheels create a dynamic image of speed on the circuit.
South Kyme: Finally a landscape image, the deep blue spring sky, the chapel on the left balanced by the tree on the right. The “Slow” aperture of f/8, ISO 160, with a shutter speed of 1/850, I possibly could have stopped the aperture down to f/10, but generally pleased with the result, and the deep colours.
I hope that this post has inspired you, demystifies some photographic techniques, and helps you to enjoy photography.
Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All I did go to Chambers wood last week, not too much around but the Marsh Fritillaries are back again in the meadow. We had a good turnout for the meal on Friday, hope you all enjoyed it, thank you to my partner Jane for organising all the food orders. Everything went to plan until the chef dropped the roulade, hopefully your replacement was just as good. This week we have our first round of the LPA Battles against Grimsby and Scunthorpe. The judge for the evening is Diane Seddon. There should be a good turnout for this one with the other two clubs attending. The print competition with the categories of "Trees" and "Open" is to be held on the 24th of June, please email Dave Turner your titles and then bring your prints in on the night. Regards Graham
It’s been a fairly mundane May photography wise for me. I’ve visited Gibraltar Point, Messingham Sand Quarry, and Far Ings nature reserves, and taken some reasonable photos, but nothing really competition quality. The West Lindsey Open Churches Festival has been on for a couple of weekends, and I climbed the bell tower at St Peter, Scotter, had lunch at Kirton in Lindsey, and dropped in on a couple of churches in Caistor. My model photography has taken a back seat, I’ve not had a model shoot all of this month, I’ve had enquiries from a couple of models that I’ve worked with before, but not been able to arrange anything. Instead, I’ve been concentrating on wildlife, landscapes, and insect photography. My OM Systems cameras have been with me every day, the OM-5 is my daily carry, and the OM-1 is my heavy hitter, especially with the OM 100-400mm lens, or the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens. I’m continuing to take images for the “Water” project, that’s one image of water for each month, providing twelve images to show on “Project Night” in January 2027. The May photo is an indoor creative image taken on a wet day. The trees, and horses were taken at Gibraltar Point, the Heron, and swans were at Messingham Sand Quarry.
Good Morning, All, Last week at the club we held our monthly competition, a PDI competition, with the categories of "Landscapes with Water" and "Open", there was a very good entry with a high standard of photography. Congratulations go to Tony Gaskins for 1 st place in the Landscapes with Water and Paul Twomey for 1 st place in the Open. The results are on our website with the winning images. This week there is no meeting on Wednesday as it's our annual meal on the Friday. For those attending it's at the Royal Oak (Splash) Little Cawthorpe, to meet up around 7pm for meal at around 7.30pm. For those doing the water project, it's getting towards the end of the month if you haven't already taken your photograph. Regards Graham
We held a PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition last night with the categories of "Landscapes with Water" and "Open". Our judge for the evening was the highly experienced Jorj Malinowski, and his skills were very much needed in judging the 33 quality images in the "Landscapes with Water", this almost monochrome blue atmospheric image of an approaching storm on the Isle of Harris was taken by Tony Gaskins, and deservedly was judged to be 1st in the competition. After the much needed break, Jorj judged the 26 images in the "Open" category, Jorj held 7 images back for further consideration, and to award for higher points, following a process of elimination Jorj was left with 3 images, he awarded 20 points to each of the 3 remaining images, that left the cliff hanger moment when he had to decide the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. When you have 3 exceptional images of different subjects how do you chose? After what seemed like minutes it was the Blue Wildebeast Migration by Paul Twomey that took first place. It was an amazing evening with some impressive images, thanks to our judge Jorj, and well done to all the photographers who entered the competition, and Dave Mann for the refreshments.
Good Morning All Last week we had an excellent speaker on the Lincolnshire coast, Steve Dixey. Steve showed us his photographs taken at all times of the day and night, many early morning, Steve also gave tips on safety and helpful information regarding our local coastline. There is a full report on our blog page. This week, Wednesday 20th May, we are holding a PDI competition, I did try and confuse you with the wrong subject, but you were having none of it, so the categories are "Landscapes with Water" and "Open", all entries are in and scoring sheets have been sent out. I considered this photograph I took in the dales, but thought the water was too burnt out. Our next competition to be held on the 24th June, is prints with the categories of "Trees" and "Open", we are out and about prior to this competition so if you can send an email with the titles to Dave Turner as usual, you can bring prints in this week or on the night of the competition itself. Thank you I have all your meal choices for the annual dinner. Regards Graham
Our speaker last night was Steve Dixey who specialises in coastal photography. Steve showed some incredible photos, during his immersive, and engaging talk. Apart from the stunning images, three things stood out for me from his talk; the first is you don’t need the latest camera to take great images, Steve’s older Fuji camera has stood the test of time and produces excellent image quality. There are photographers who chase after the latest camera gear in the hope that it will make them a better photographer, thankfully not in our Society. The second thing that I noticed was the meticulous planning that Steve undertakes before venturing out onto the beach, noting the weather, tide times, sunrise / sunset, and moonrise / moonset. Steve uses maritime maps to determine the best locations along the Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire coast. As with any photography there is an element of luck, but the planning will get you 90% there, one of his coastal photos included a view of a beach lit by the moon, and a passing cloud had lightly obscured the brightness of the moon creating a lovely atmosphere. Thirdly, and perhaps this is the most important is his personal safety. The coast is an extremely dangerous environment, some people wander out onto sandbanks in trainers, and shorts oblivious to the tide circling in behind them especially at Cleethorpes. Steve ensures his safety by selecting correct clothing, wellington boots, or waders, he also has a GPS scanner, and emergency beacon, he is essentially a “lone worker” on an isolated beach in the small hours of the morning, or late at night, so much better to be safe than sorry. Steve produces several publications, and is able to provide guided coastal walks, for more information his email is: hspadventures@protonmail.com, and there’s a website: https://stevedixeyimages.wordpress.com/ Many thanks Steve for an excellent presentation.
Good Morning All Last week we held our AGM and presentation night, it was well attended and the night went very well. Members filled all the posts, and we had all the reports from the various officers, all is well with our club, and we can expect a good year ahead. This week, Wednesday 13th May, Steve Dixey is the speaker coming to our club for the first time, Steve specialises in coastal photography, and it will be an excellent night. Don't forget to send your PDI images for the next competition, with the categories of "Landscapes with Water" and "Open" to Harry by midnight Wednesday. Remember also to send me your menu choices for the annual meal. Regards Graham
Last night we held our AGM, it was a productive meeting, with re-election of officers, and Committe members. Following the AGM, members with the highest points from the monthly competitions were presented with trophies.
Good afternoon, All, Last week we held a charity night in aid of Cancer Research as two of our members had passed away over the last two years from the disease. There is a blog on our website with all that went on but can I say a big thank you to all members for supporting the evening and far exceeding my expectations of how much we would raise. On the evening it stood at £333 then a generous donation from Harvey Pipe took it over £350 mark. Paul Twomey and his wife Cathy kindly donated to Cancer research taking it to just over £400, a great effort for a small club. The money has all been sent and the committee have seen proof that it was received by Cancer research. Thank you to the committee members for all their hard work making the evening a great success. This week, Wednesday 6th May, we will hold our AGM and Trophy presentation night. Don't forget if you are doing the monthly water project, (that's one image each month with the topic of water), it's now another month to take your fifth image. Regards Graham Harrison
At yesterday's meeting the Society held a Charity Night to raise funds for Cancer Research, as we have lost two of our members Paul Gray, and Paul Malley to cancer, members have also had family effected and lost wives to the disease. The evening was a social occasion with a raffle, quiz, auction, print competition, and cake. The raffle had many prizes donated, and raised £113 in ticket sales. Camera bags, signed books and binoculars had been donated for the auction which generated a lot of interest and raised £116. The tea and cake stand generated £48, the quiz raised £28, and the print competion raised £17. In total the Charity Night raised £322, and many thanks go to members for their generous donations to a worthy case. Colorgrafix of Louth donated a trophy cup in memory of Paul Malley, who had worked for Colografix on a part time basis. The cup has been engraved with Paul Malley's name, and is awarded for the "Best PDI of the Year", shown here is Harry Kerman being presented with the cup by Graham Harrison. Harry's "White Cosmos" image was Best PDI of the Year 2026.
