When it all Goes Horribly Wrong ...
Derek Smith • 19 August 2020
When it all goes horribly wrong ...
I was tired.
I'd had a busy weekend in London, returning on Monday. Tuesday I was up early driving back from my young lady to Louth, working as a volunteer in the museum in the morning, taking some excellent photos of some artifacts, with my Olympus PEN, and macro lens.
After a quick lunch indoors, I packed all my photo gear to go on a shoot on a farm in Swineshead, the set was inside a touring caravan. I knew exactly the type of shot that I wanted, an atmospheric shot.
I was tired.
After a quick look around the caravan, which didn't take long, I set up my flash with the beauty dish on a light stand near one of the long seats. Next the camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii, fit the flash trigger for the off-camera flash, and set the controls on the camera. Now for a mirrorless camera the settings, and order of settings are very simple, and I've taught / demonstrated this method many times.
Step one set the ISO to base ISO, the lowest number, NOT extended or low. Step two set the Mode dial to Manual. Step three set aperture usually f/2 - f/4 for flash photography. Step four set the shutter speed until the rear display goes dim, usually around -2 EV, the shutter speed with High Speed Sync will normally be in the region 1/180 - 1/250. Remember that a camera without High Speed Sync will normally limit the shutter speed to 1/60 sec.
I was tired.
I thought that my camera wasn't going into High Speed Sync as I was only getting a shutter speed of 60 on the display, and I couldn't get the display to dim, blaming the camera. I set that camera aside, and brought out my backup Olympus PEN E-PL7, flustered though I forgot to set the base ISO, (when I was taking photos in the museum using LED lighting I had set the ISO to 400).
My photos for the afternoon were not of my usual standard, and it was a disappointing afternoon. Returning home, I tried the camera settings again, and realised that I had been turning the shutter control wheel the wrong way reducing the shutter speed to 60, yes, not 1/60 but 60 seconds!! A salutary lesson then.
I was tired.
I'd had a busy weekend in London, returning on Monday. Tuesday I was up early driving back from my young lady to Louth, working as a volunteer in the museum in the morning, taking some excellent photos of some artifacts, with my Olympus PEN, and macro lens.
After a quick lunch indoors, I packed all my photo gear to go on a shoot on a farm in Swineshead, the set was inside a touring caravan. I knew exactly the type of shot that I wanted, an atmospheric shot.
I was tired.
After a quick look around the caravan, which didn't take long, I set up my flash with the beauty dish on a light stand near one of the long seats. Next the camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 iii, fit the flash trigger for the off-camera flash, and set the controls on the camera. Now for a mirrorless camera the settings, and order of settings are very simple, and I've taught / demonstrated this method many times.
Step one set the ISO to base ISO, the lowest number, NOT extended or low. Step two set the Mode dial to Manual. Step three set aperture usually f/2 - f/4 for flash photography. Step four set the shutter speed until the rear display goes dim, usually around -2 EV, the shutter speed with High Speed Sync will normally be in the region 1/180 - 1/250. Remember that a camera without High Speed Sync will normally limit the shutter speed to 1/60 sec.
I was tired.
I thought that my camera wasn't going into High Speed Sync as I was only getting a shutter speed of 60 on the display, and I couldn't get the display to dim, blaming the camera. I set that camera aside, and brought out my backup Olympus PEN E-PL7, flustered though I forgot to set the base ISO, (when I was taking photos in the museum using LED lighting I had set the ISO to 400).
My photos for the afternoon were not of my usual standard, and it was a disappointing afternoon. Returning home, I tried the camera settings again, and realised that I had been turning the shutter control wheel the wrong way reducing the shutter speed to 60, yes, not 1/60 but 60 seconds!! A salutary lesson then.
I was tired.
Photo details: Olympus PEN E-PL7, Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 prime lens. ISO 400, f/10, 1/160. Godox AD200 flash with beauty dish.
Louth Photographic Society
Last night Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club gave his first ever presentation to a camera club, which we were privileged to view. His presentation consisted of portraiture, creative, and his genre of choice; wildlife. Lee is an extremely talented photographer, with a highly creative portfolio, his portraits are quite atmospheric, unusual, and capture the essence of the model, and scene. For Lee’s creative work, he buys props from charity shops, often very cheaply, reusing those props in various scenes. For his composite work he will often take one of his photos of a room, and blend it with a subject in Photoshop using “blend” modes. For wildlife he visited Lake Kerkini in Greece to photograph the Pelicans, if the sky is a little on the bland side, Lee will often over expose the image resulting in a striking white background to the subject. On safari in Africa Lee showed us some amazing images of the wildlife, the close-up images of elephants, the wildebeest migration, and this stunning image of a cheetah. Lee was ably assisted by Mike Bennett. More of Lee’s work can be found on his website: https://leedixonphoto.co.uk/ Lee his kindly given permission for his images to be used in this post. Many thanks to Lee, and Mike for an amazing evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", there was a very high-quality entry in both competitions and judge Mike Bennett had quite a job on his hands scoring the entries. Well, done to Dave Turner for first place in the Objects in the Air and Tony Gaskins for first place in the Open. All the results are on our website. This week, Wednesday 30th September, our speaker will be Lee Dixon from Cleethorpes Camera Club showing us his natural history, Creative and many other photographs he has taken. It will be the first time Lee has shown his photographs at our club. If anyone else wants to enter PDI's in the 2027 N&EMPF Exhibition, the deadline is this Wednesday at midnight. Harry is still taking entries for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight from Camera" (unedited .jpg), and "Open", to be held on Wednesday 7th October. Regards Graham
At the meeting last night Mike Bennett judged our competition with the categories of “Objects in the Air”, and “Open”. The standard of entries was excellent, and it gave Mike a tough task of judging the images, Mike gave some very good critique of the images displayed, the feedback helps members to develop compositional skills. Dave Turner was awarded first place for his image of the “Tiger Club Display Team” in the “Objects in the Air” category. Tony Gaskins was awarded first place for his image of the “Spectacular Rustgill” in the “Open” category.
Good Morning All, Last week at the club we watched the N&EMPF PDI Exhibition for 2026, it was a very good evening viewing very high standard images from all over the East Midlands. Dave Turner and I did manage to get images accepted; there is a full report on our website. This week, Wednesday 23rd September, we will hold our monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open", please send entries to Harry by midnight tonight. Harry is also accepting images for the PDI competition, with the categories of "Local Straight out of the Camera (only resizing permitted)" and "Open". Regards Graham
Members were shown the 2026 N&EMPF PDI Exhibition video last night with all of the accepted PDI images in the first part, and after the break the awarded PDI images. There were some stunning images on view, and Louth was successful in having 3 PDI images accepted, Graham Harrison with his image of a Stonechat, and Dave Turner with his portrait of Paul Rudd, and his monochrome image of Kings Cross railway station "Going Down". Overall it was a good inspirational evening.
Good Morning All Last week at the club members had 15 minutes to show what they had done over the summer. It was a very interesting evening with eight members taking part. There were many locations on show and as usual some excellent photography. There is a full report on our blog. This week, Wednesday 16th September, we will be showing the N&EMPF exhibition, this is part one showing all the PDI's that were accepted. This is the highest standard of photography we as individuals take part in as a club. Members sent around 50 entries but only 3 were accepted. If you are inspired to enter the 2027 Exhibition after seeing the show, I send the clubs entries and I can give you more information. Closing date is the end of September. The Maximum size for N&EMPF is 1600 x 1200 3MB sRGB Harry is still taking entries for the monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open". Harry did ask about what can be accepted, and we couldn't really say as long as it's an object in the Air. The best way is to look up the definition of an object first. Harry is also accepting entries for the Local and Open competition in October. Robin is going to judge the Open competition, does anyone fancy judging the "Straight from the camera" category? Regards Graham
The Louth Photographic Society has returned after the summer break. It was an incredible return, with members providing us with some stunning images from over the summer break. A full, and varied smorgasbord of well executed photos, many of us visited Whitby, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and further north images from Staithes, and Sandbanks. Tony showed us his long exposure minimalist calming coastal scenes, from the Lincolnshire coast, and Whitby.. Chris brought us some beautiful photos taken of local churches, many of which many of us have never seen. Now I’ve never really seen the attraction of an expensive Leica camera, but when Mark showed his photos from his visit to the German Leica factory in Wetzlar, I now understand, camera bodies, and lenses milled from solid blocks of aluminium, hand polished, hand finished lens glass, and textured leather applied to the camera body, not a robot in sight, just craftsmen, and women making a superb photographic instrument. Sue brought us “pink” ladies driving tractors to raise money for cancer research. Last but definitely not least Richard showed his monochrome, and infrared images of trees, his compositions, and photographic eye bring these tree studies to life, we appreciate them even if some judges don’t understand. Many thanks to all of those members who contributed.
Good Morning All We spent last week on the Isle of Wight visiting many of the attractions. This week, Wednesday 9th September, we are back at the club with 15-minute PDI shows of what you did during the summer break, I have Derek Smith, Tony Gaskins, Harry Kerman, Chris Birchmore and Richard Hildred on the list, if I have missed you off, please let me know. I should be there but could be late as away playing golf. Harry is taking entries for the September PDI competition, with the categories of "Objects in the Air" and "Open". Harry will miss the October local competition but will sort the entries out for us, The competition categories will be "Local-Not Edited" and "Open". We judge this competition in house so could do with two volunteers to judge. The local competition is a .jpeg photograph taken and straight from the camera, no cropping, or post processing etc, like the old days taken no more than 25 miles from St James church. Regards Graham
On Bank Holiday Monday I visited the Props, and Pistons Event at the East Kirkby Aviation centre. The event was well attended, with a good selection of various vehicles on display. The Avro Lancaster “Just Jane” was on display and did a couple of taxiing runs, so great to hear the Rolls Royce Merlin engines roar into life, also taxiing was the DeHavilland Mosquito aircraft, the “wooden wonder”. The first flypast was from the Hawker Hurricane, and the Supermarine Spitfire, I didn’t manage to capture any acceptable photos of these iconic aircraft, as they were too small and fast for me. Later in the afternoon the second flypast aircraft was the American Martin B26 Marauder, as this was larger, and slower I did manage to take some photos as it flew overhead. The weather was kind, and I had a very enjoyable day out.
Good Morning All I was having my lunchbreak on the Wolds last week and spotted this tree in a field next to me, it does give the impression it's looking at you. I hope you're all enjoying the summer break, time does fly by and it's time to get ready for returning to the club on the 9th of September. We start with mini lecture, 15 minutes on what you have been doing over the summer. If you want to take part, please email me and we will see how many we have. The September PDI competition is coming up as well on the 23 rd of September, Objects in the air and open, Harry will now start taking your entries, three entries in each subject with an (R) after one of them to be removed if there are too many entries. Derek sent the N&EMPF Exhibition entry forms out; I will again act as organiser for our club. The standard is very high so it's one for your best PDI's. We will view some last year's PDI's that made the grade on the 16 th of September. Regards Graham
