Photographic Experience
Derek Smith • 28 May 2021
This is the last of a quartet of blogs on photography skills, and gear. In this blog I want to focus on photographic experience, this is something that simply cannot be bought, but is acquired over time.
Photographic cameras, and lenses are tools to be used, whether the camera is a mobile phone, compact camera, mirrorless, DSLR, budget or top of the range camera it is important to be confident using the camera. Ask yourself these questions, can I change ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed, or select a focus point quickly? When is the use of continuous AF best employed? What aperture best suits my camera for a particular subject / scene?
Having a camera that feels comfortable to use, and where you know all the camera controls will produce far better images than having the latest and greatest gear. I’ve been watching a YouTube video by Chris Orange, a photographer, who is enthusing about the Fuji X-E1 that he bought second hand for £149 and taking some fantastic photos with it, my Olympus PEN E-PL7 body cost only £120 second hand, and I’ve taken some great photos with that camera. Take time to research your camera, watch set-up videos on YouTube, then set the camera the way that you want it. Know what works for you, I know that many photographers use “back button” focus, a method that I wouldn’t find useful, as I have always used a mirrorless camera with multiple focus points, and I am comfortable with a half press of the shutter button to focus on my subject.
Focus points, on my Sony cameras I used to leave auto-focus set to continuous AF, the focusing just worked. On Olympus my cameras are always set to single AF, unless I’m tracking a moving subject when I switch to C-AF with a cluster of 9 focus points, it’s learning your camera, with strengths and weaknesses that make a difference in your images. Many photographers will use fully manual mode for every photograph taken, whereas I invariably use Aperture priority mode, as I know the aperture that gives the best results in most given scenarios and remember the best aperture for a scene may be dependant on sensor size, a landscape scene on a full frame camera might be taken at f/16, but on a Panasonic, or Olympus micro four thirds sensor f/7.1, or a f/8 aperture might be more appropriate.
Get to know your lenses, for prime lenses many photographers will use a trio of lenses in full frame terms a focal length of 35mm, 50mm, and an 85mm. Sometimes though a wide aperture constant aperture zoom lens may offer best value and results, the Sony 18 – 105mm f/4, the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 are good examples of these type of lenses.
The next area of expertise is in the composition of your images, and the use of light. When you see a scene worthy of photographing, take time to assess the scene, and the direction of light, especially with landscape, or architectural photography, and if you know of a good location perhaps return when the light is more favourable. Take multiple shots at different angles, is there an element that either needs to be in the frame, or should be excluded? A good tip that I’ve picked up from Nigel Danson (a YouTube landscape photographer) is to visualise the scene with the screen of a mobile phone, before setting up the camera on a tripod.
Try to simplify the image, picking out the essential elements only, this will make for a more impactful image. Try and ensure that your subject is positioned correctly within the frame, on the thirds, or centrally, get as much right in camera as you can, as this will save hours of editing later.
Fill the frame with the subject, this is especially important with smaller sensor cameras, are you photographing a tree that happens to have a bird in it, or are you photographing the bird? The same will apply to insect photography try and get as close as you can, or use a longer lens. Yes, you can crop into an image to highlight the subject, but not to the point where the image is the size of a postage stamp!!
Having said all that, never be afraid of the “grab shot”, sometimes an opportunity will arise, and a few seconds is all you will have to take the shot, this photograph of Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland was taken on a 10 minute coach stop, out of the lay-by, the early morning November light was just right. The elements in this image are a good in-focus foreground, the leading lines of the roadside barriers, guiding the eye through the scene down the valley, the sky, the lighting, and the colours of the hillsides. Taken with a Sony A6300 camera, and a Sigma DN Contemporary 16mm f/1.4 lens. Aperture priority at f/10 to give the depth of field within the scene, 1/250 shutter speed, and ISO 1600.
Lastly, and most importantly, take the photos that please you, obviously some critique of your images will help you to mature, and grow as a photographer, but the pleasure in creating images that appeal to you is immeasurable, just enjoy your hobby, and if someone else likes your photo that is a bonus.
Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All Last week Dave Bennett came to the club again, it has been a while since we have seen his photography but well worth the wait. Dave's photographs were excellent and his story telling along with AV's made it a very good night. This week, Wednesday 15th October, we are holding a print competition, with the categories of "Mono" and "Open", our judge for the evening will be Diane Seddon AFIAP CPAGB BPE3* she is well qualified to judge our prints. The following week we are going to try a retro night again, with Transparencies taken prior to the year 2000, please let me know if you want to take part and have a time slot allotted, time will depend on the numbers wanting to take part. Regards Graham
Last night Dave Bennett came to the club to show us AV's and narrate other sets of photographs on a theme. Dave started with photos along the Humber and then carried on the evening with AV's on nature, flowers and transport as well as talks and photographs showing us Grimsby docks including detailed photographs of fish smoking and engineering. Dave's photography is of a very high standard with strong colours, lot's of use of depth of field and they tell a story. A great night, thank you Dave.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a local PDI competition with a category of "5 Minutes From Your Home", we had some very good entries in each category with myself, and Dave Turner judging on the night. All the results are on our website, but well done to Derek for his mobile phone picture of a remembrance seat in Horncastle and Harry for his hellebores in the "Open" category. This week, Wednesday 8th October, Dave Bennett is coming to the club to show us what he has been taking lately, Dave does quite a bit of AV so as usual it will be a very good night. A reminder, send your print titles for the next print competition to Dave Turner by midnight Wednesday and bring your prints in this Wednesday night as well please. If you have any more N&EMPF Exhibition PDI entries send them to me by midnight tomorrow (Monday) please. Regards Graham
Our PDI "Local" competition was held last night, with the categories of "5 Minutes From Your Home", and "Open". Dave Turner, one of our members began the evening with judging the "Open" category, always a difficult category in my opinion because of the variety of subjects entered into the competition. Dave had previewed the images on his home computer, and had notes on each of the images, he provided excellent feedback on each image. After the break, Graham Harrison began judging the "5 Minutes From Your Home" category, this was a very unusual subject category which stretched the creative ingenuity of members, and it was particularly interesting to see what members had submitted. Graham judged the entries very fairly, and provided very good critique of the images. The standard of images submitted was high, which makes judging a competition such as this difficult, and as always is subjective, but a big thank you to both judges, it was an interesting evening. The first placed images, from each category are shown on this post, "At the Going Down of the Sun" by Derek Smith, "5 minutes from your home", and "Hellebores" by Harry Kerman in the "Open" category. The website Competition Page has been updated with the top three placed images, and the scoresheets.
Good Morning All Last week at the club member Tony Gaskins gave us an excellent presentation of his recent trip to Kenya on safari. Tony showed us the animals and birds he had encountered on his trip. It was an evening of excellent wildlife photography as well as a very informative talk, thank you Tony. There is also a report on our website blog. This week, Wednesday 1st October, we are holding a local PDI competition, with the subject categories of "5 Minutes From Your Home" and "Open", Dave Turner has kindly offered to judge the Open with myself the subject, and you have until midnight tonight to enter. Dave Turner is also asking members to send him the titles of their prints for the next print competition, the categories for this are "Mono" and "Open". Regards Graham
Our member, Tony Gaskins presented us with an illustrated talk on his visit to the Kenya game reserves last night. Tony's talk was perfectly timed, and his description of the trip held our attention throughout the evening, the images he captured were indeed stunning. The variety of wildlife he captured with his camera were amazing, all of the photos of birds were incredible, and the fact that they didn't fly off like they do here in the UK. On Lake Naivasha Tony captured a sequence of a fish eagle swooping down to catch a fish, just look at the way those deadly talons are outstretched to capture the fish. The lodge Tony stayed in at Tsavo West was beside a watering hole, look at this capture of a Kirk's Dik Dik, taken from the balcony of the lodge. Images of Hippopotamus, Lions, Impala, Ostrich, Giraffe and Zebra kept us enthralled through the evening. Thank you and well done Tony for an interesting evening.
Good Evening All A little late as just got back late this afternoon from the golfing trip, I didn't take my camera other than phone as I wouldn't have really had time but there was some interesting wildlife about including Swallowtail butterflies which was a first for me. Last week you had the monthly PDI competition, Long Exposures and Open, Derek has done a blog on our website and the competition page has all the results. Some excellent photography on show judging by the top places. This week, Wednesday 24th September, we have member Tony Gaskins entertaining us with one of his talks, Tony is well travelled so as usual it will be an excellent evening of photography. Regards Graham
Last week we held our first PDI competition after the summer break, and what a superb evening it was. There were some excellent images submitted into the competition, and over half of the submitted entries were "held back" for awarding higher points, Tony Houlden was the judge for the evening. This week, Wednesday 24th September, Tony Gaskin will be giving an illustrated talk on his recent visit to the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya, it will be an interesting evening, with some stunning photography. Harry will be taking entries for our next PDI competition, with the categories of "Local 5 minutes From Your House", (in this case the "Local" applies to your house, not the 25 miles from Louth) and "Open". Harry is also taking entries for the LPA Competition, he's looking for 6 entries in this competition, from each member. I've been out, and about as usual, this photo is of an abandoned garage forecourt on the road to Spilsby.
This was our first competition after the summer break. The categories for the competition were "Long Exposure", and "Open" and our judge for the evening was Tony Houlden. We began the evening with the "Long Exposure" category, something of a surprise in this section were the amount of night time images, more typically were the images of flowing water, either of the sea or in rivers, Tony judged these images skillfully, and with his usual sense of humour. Dave Turner was placed first with his excellent "Saltburn by the Sea Morning", Keith Rossington took second place with his beautiful night time image of the river at York "From the Bridge", Harry Kerman showed the "River Dee, Cairngorms, Scotland" the flowing peat laden waters stilled in this carefully composed image. After the break, Tony began the judging of the "Open" category, I always think this is the more difficult category to judge because of the variety of images presented, Tony judged these thoughtfully, providing excellent critique. Dave Turner took first place with his monochrome view of "Scarborough Bay", I was pleased to take second place with "Sunset Jetty" taken on my holiday in Corfu, and third place with my monochrome "Haworth Main Street". It was an excellent evening, with some amazing images, Tony's critique was very helpful, highlighting unwanted distracting items in an image, haloing from excessive sharpening, and cropping errors. Thanks to Tony for judging, and Dave Mann for the refreshments.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held a series of members mini lectures, showing what you had done over the summer break, sorry I missed the evening but judging by Derek's blog you were treated to some very good photography. This week, Wednesday 17th September, we are holding our September PDI (projected Digital Image) competition, with the categories of "Long Exposures" and "Open", all entries are now in, and scoresheets sent out. Tony Houlden will be our judge for this one and I am afraid I won't make it again due to a golfing holiday in Portugal. I will all being well see you all the week after. Don't forget if you want to enter the N&EMPF exhibition you need to sort out some of your best PDI's that you have not already entered and send them to me, sized to 1600px x 1200px. If you require more information, just email me with your queries. Regards Graham
