If you're familiar with my photography, then you'll have noticed that it's pretty much exclusively East Anglia. That is, gentle (flat) landscapes, vast seascapes, windmills , swaying roadbeds and meandering rivers. Those are the landscapes I know and love and the areas that I have been running my workshops for the last four years.
So, when I was recently asked if I could stand in at short notice and lead a Lee Filters landscape workshop for Tatra Photography in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia, I could feel a large mountain shaped problem casting a shadow over my excitement at being offered such a great opportunity. I knew I could run a photography workshop but I've never been to Slovakia (a country distinctly lacking in coastline) and well, my area of expertise isn't photographing mountains so would my skills transfer to a different, unknown environment?
I was never going to turn this opportunity down but I thought it best to point out what I saw as a lack of relevant experience. It turned out I was worrying over nothing. First of all, The locations had already been thoroughly researched and planned by the team in Slovakia and tried and tested on previous workshops, my job would be to help the participants with their photography so they could make the most of these locations. Nevertheless, Tatra Photography flew me out early so I could get to know the area before the first workshop started. I also had a guide. Not just any guide, but a local Slovakian guide, who speaks perfect English, knows the area like the back of his hand, does all the driving, makes sure I know what time sunrise is, supplies everyone with tea to make those brutally early sunrises a little easier and exists on apparently no sleep and is also a keen photographer himself... My saviour in other words.
Secondly, the locations we would be shooting were stunning. Obviously, arriving in Poland 24 hours before the first workshop was to start, I didn't yet know that and I have to admit, I was still a little nervous. Fear of the unknown more than anything, but after a 2.5 hour drive into Slovakia and a quick stop to freshen up we launched into a crash course on the locations for the workshop. Shooting until around 9.30pm and being up again at 3.00am for sunrise we managed to cram about six or seven locations into a few hours!
Having seen the locations and had a chance to get a few shots at most of them, I was now confident (and more than a little relieved) that I could do a good job running the workshop. It seems that photographing mountainous landscapes isn't so different to photographing flat ones, it's the emotional response to the place and how you capture it which is the most important thing wherever you are.
With the fear of the unknown fading, a real sense of excitement took it's place. The landscape was inspiring. Calm mountain lakes, crashing waterfalls, layer after layer of craggy peaks, misty valleys and hilltop castles. I was particularly enjoying the chance to shoot from higher positions (if not the walk up to them), living somewhere that is flat we don't have many of those. I had been feeling that my photography was becoming a little stale and I've been increasingly frustrated with my work but the change of scenery seems to have blown away the cobwebs. Quite literally at times because even in summer the change of weather and conditions around the hills and mountains can be rapid. We had everything from blue skies and sweltering heat to torrential rain and thunder storms then back to calm, misty mornings. It was a little difficult knowing what to wear but it did at least make for dramatic conditions for photography!
My job running the workshops was also made a lot easier by the people - they were a great bunch on both workshops. Their enthusiasm (except perhaps for the daily 3.25am starts) made the experience so much fun and hopefully I've made some friends along the way.
So, am I to be casting East Anglia aside in favour of travelling the world? Well, no, not entirely anyway! I love travelling and this, which surprisingly was one of my first trips dedicated to photography, has whetted my appetite for more but I also love this part of the world and it's great to be back feeling tired but photographically refreshed.
At a recent camera club talk, somebody pointed out that while still being a strong focal point, the main subject is often very small in my images. Strangely this wasn't a conscious decision on my part or even something I had noticed before, but, with another presentation coming up on the very subject of composition, it did get me thinking.
Composing my photos is something I do instinctively, that isn't to say I find it easy, it often takes a considerable amount of tripod shuffling and general faffing about to find something I'm happy with but it's something that I don't think too hard about.
Composition is the one thing I get asked about most often on my workshops. It's the aspect of landscape photography that people seem to struggle with most and is also one of the harder things to teach, probably because it's an area of photography where the photographer has the most input. So how is it done? Are there hard and fast rules to follow, black magic perhaps? or is it just an 'eye' that you either have or you don't?
As I pondered the subject while preparing my talk, it occurred to me was that each time we compose an image we are simply making decisions. Lots of them. Do I want to be closer? further away? higher? lower? left a bit? right a bit? where's the light? Do I want it behind me or in front of me? or to one side? which side? Those are just the basics, but you get the idea, and unless you are one of those annoyingly talented photographers who have the 'eye' and effortlessly create masterpieces without breaking a sweat, all these decisions require a bit of conscious thought.
When we see something we want to photograph, it's all too easy to dive straight in and snap away. Trust me, when the view is spectacular or the conditions are something special, I can be as guilty as anyone of this but it usually results in average photos at best.
On my workshops, I try and encourage people to consider what it was that attracted them to the scene and how they might best capture it. Identifying the elements that are most important and how to arrange them in the frame while excluding anything that isn't adding anything. Making decisions in other words. Sounds good in principal but it is rarely that easy, the natural world usually refuses to arrange itself exactly how we want it and we have to compromise and choose what is more important... more decisions.
Of course it's how we choose to arrange things in our images that is the important part. Experience teaches us what works in certain situations and what doesn't, but it is also the opportunity to be creative, experiment, be bold, put our own stamp on the image and let our personality shine through.
I'm not sure what my tendency to make things small in the frame reveals, it's best not to think about some things.
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When it comes to bags, photographers are spoilt for choice. Camera bags come in so many different shapes and sizes that it should be easy for anyone to find the ideal bag.
As a landscape photographer my perfect bag would be a good sized, hard-wearing backpack. Not so large as to become a burden, but big enough to hold a reasonable amount of camera gear with enough space left over for all the other items I might need – extra layers, refreshments and occasionally a few things for an overnight stay.
Backpacks fitting that description are somewhat thin on the ground and those I have found, while being good enough quality, don’t quite fit my needs, being either too big for a daypack or having plenty of room for camera gear but hardly any space for other items or vice versa. Enter the Lowepro Whistler.
Overview
Described by Lowepro as ‘an all-season extreme performance outdoor backpack, born on the side of a mountain’ and finished in a rugged grey with orange trim, the Whistler is an attractive looking bag. Admittedly, ‘extreme’ and ‘mountainous’ aren’t the first words that spring to mind when describing my native East Anglia, where I do most of my photography, but otherwise it certainly ticks all the boxes.
The smaller of the two bags in the range, the 350AW is still reasonably large 29.5 x 30 x 53cm but the first thing you notice is how well made this bag is. Everything from the 420 dernier ripstop nylon fabric, to the reinforced Hypalon base, chunky zips and buckles feels built to survive the rigours of outdoor life. A thin internal frame coupled with a reinforced, removable camera compartment give the bag a reassuringly solid feel but all this extra strength comes at a price, namely weight, with the empty bag weighing a hefty 3kg. Further adding to the rugged feel is the host of compression straps and heavy duty attachment points for securing everything from skis to tripods or just a pouch for a water bottle.
For storage there are four compartments (all of which we’ll look at in more detail later). Opening at the back is the removable camera compartment, supplied with plenty of jazzy orange padded dividers. Around the other side is a large expandable front pocket with an internal mesh pocket. The front pocket has a waterproof barrier separating it from the camera compartment and a drainage hole at the bottom in case you need to use it for wet waterproofs. On top is a pocket for ‘personal items’ featuring a zip-up mesh pocket in the lid with a key hook. The final pocket is a narrow side pocket.
The details
Usually the details would be one of the last things to discuss but so impressive is the attention to detail that I’m just going to dive in and look at some of the clever touches here.
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The opening for the camera compartment is hinged halfway down so that in bad weather you can access your gear without having to expose it fully to the elements.
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The front pocket is expandable using an extra zip, a feature often seen on suitcases and a great addition here.
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Positioning the velcro dividers in camera bags has always been made more difficult by the velcro ‘grabbing’ while you position it. The dividers with this bag have velcro flaps that fold back flat so you can slot the divider exactly where you want it then open the velcro to fix it.
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Some of the included dividers open to reveal a pocket inside for storing smaller items, a clever little space saving feature.
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On all my previous Lowepro bags the chest strap has been secured to the shoulder straps by a less than impressive clip system, which frequently comes undone. The new system solves this problem and provides a bit of give at the same time.
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The ends of all the straps are folded and stitched to form a flap which stops them working their way loose. I may be the only person to really appreciate this feature as I once lost half of the waist band on one of my other Lowepro bags as it slipped through the buckle.
Packing
On to the important stuff – how much can you fit in the bag? With so much storage space there are countless ways to organise the various pockets, but after half an hour spent playing around with velcro dividers, these are the solutions that I came up with.
The front pocket will easily hold extra layers
Beginning at the front, the expandable waterproof pocket is a simple no-frills space which gives you the flexibility to use it as you wish. For an idea of the size, with it fully expanded it will comfortably hold a full change of clothes: trousers, fleece, waterproof smock, spare socks, woolly hat and gloves. The pocket is deep enough to fit a water bottle so could equally hold fewer items of clothing plus food and drink.
A surprising omission though, especially as it is something Lowepro often features on packs like this, is a dedicated space for a water reservoir. At the top of the front pocket is an attachment loop which would serve well for attaching a water reservoir or a waterproof bag to put one in (something I’d have liked to have seen included as it is on the ProTrekker series) but there is no opening to run the hose so the zip would have to be left open slightly.
The top pocket is a decent size
Rather than being a small space for your phone and keys (which I prefer to keep in my pocket anyway), the compartment at the top of the bag is big enough to actually be useful. I have been using it to keep a Lee Filters three-pouch wallet, two filter holders, a head torch, a rocket blower and a Think Tank Cable Management 10 for holding all the bits and bobs I need. Although not very well padded, it’s deep enough to hold a compact camera – my (not especially compact) Fujifilm X-Pro1 and 18-135mm lens will fit easily, providing me with quick access while I’m walking. Alternatively, it could easily hold a small packed lunch or a fleece. In short, plenty of options.
The removable camera compartment
Round the back is the camera compartment, held in place by 4 toggles, the whole compartment is removable and has a fold-back lid so it can be used for storing camera gear while the backpack is used as, well, a backpack.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon 24-105mm f/4 L attached, Canon 16-35mm f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 L macro, Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujifilm 14mm f/2.8, Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4, Lee filters
The compartment and dividers are well padded and large enough, according to Lowepro, to hold a pro-sized DSLR, up to three lenses, a flash and GoPro. I generally carry one DSLR, three lenses, a set of filters and sometimes also an infrared converted compact system camera and two prime lenses (see images for details). This all fits comfortably but by storing the camera body on its end it’s actually possible to fit two DSLRS, four lenses and filters. I don’t often need to carry that amount of gear but it’s nice to have the option and it gives an indication of just how much can be squeezed into the space.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon 24-105mm f/4 L attached, Canon 16-35mm f/4 L, canon 100mm f/2.8 L macro, Canon EOS 7D with Canon 100-400mm L attached, Lee filters
To round things off, on the inside of the lid there are three memory card pouches and a zipped pocket which would probably fit a camera manual or cleaning cloth.
The only small issue I have with the camera compartment is the width; my lenses all have a Lee filter adaptor attached which makes them slightly wider than normal and very snug in the bag, which is why I have had to arrange the dividers in two large columns and one narrow one, rather than the three columns you’ll see in the official photos.
Shallow side pocket
The side pocket is one of the few things I was disappointed with as I can’t really work out what it was designed for – it’s just too shallow. The only thing I can think of is a map pocket as it (just about) fits an Ordnance Survey map. There are a couple of pockets inside, about the right size to hold a 100mm Lee filter holder in each, which is useful, but the main pocket doesn’t expand enough so putting much else in there is awkward. I use it to hold the supplied waterproof cover, a waterproof camera cover, cleaning cloths and spare lens caps… thin things in other words, and it still bulges! There’s plenty of storage space elsewhere so it’s not the end of the world but it just seems a waste when the space could easily have been used for a water reservoir pocket or something equally useful.
With the multitude of anchor points and compression straps (incidentally, if orange isn’t your colour those straps are removable) it’s possible to attach pretty much anything you’re likely to need to the bag without hampering access to the camera compartment. So far I’ve only needed to use the compression straps on the side to hold my tripod and the slip lock anchor points on the waist belt to attach my filter wallet (so I have both hands free to get the filters in and out) both of which worked well enough.
In action
Despite the relatively heaviness of this bag (and, when fully loaded with cameras, clothes and whatever else I could fit in, it isn’t light) it is surprisingly comfortable to carry. The harness has multiple adjustments to get the pack sitting comfortably on your back. Shoulder straps are wide and although the padding is thin it is effective, while extra wide padded waist straps (with a handy zipped pocket) do a good job of transferring weight to the hips. The back panel is well padded with spaces between the four pads to allow air circulation. If you can find a suitable place for a water reservoir, the straps have elasticated loops for holding the hose in place.
Although not advertised as such by Lowepro, with the waist strap on (but loosened slightly) it’s possible to slip off the shoulder straps and swing the bag around in front of you to access your gear without having to put it down. As I’m often working in muddy or wet places, the sort of places where you might not want or be able to put the bag down, this has proved very useful.
A waterproof cover is provided with the backpack, not tucked away in a pocket as is the norm with Lowepro but in a separate pouch. I’m sure it would be wise to use it during prolonged rain when water could find its way in but the material the bag is made of is waterproof itself and in use has stood up well to heavy showers proving capable of keeping the rain out without the cover.
Verdict
I have to admit that although I liked the look of this bag I suspected that it might be too cumbersome. However it turned out to be quite the opposite – comfortable to carry and easy to access. In fact I failed to find anything other than a couple of minor things that I would change about the Whistler, it couldn’t have been much better had Lowepro been working from my own personal brief.
The Whistler 350AW and the larger 450AW are up against some stiff competition from F-stop, with their versatile range of backpacks and interchangeable internal camera units, but if you are an outdoor photographer looking for a rugged backpack with the option to carry more than just camera gear, the Lowepro Whistler BP 350 AW should be high on your list.
This review was originally published in November 2015 on the Wex Photographic Blog
Buy the Lowepro Whistler
A frosty morning by the River Stour at Flatford, Suffolk © Justin Minns/National Trust
When the weather forecasters talk of snow on the hills, it's not something that really affects those of us living in East Anglia. We don't have hills here. Well, we do but when the rest of the countryside is barely above sea level it doesn't take an awful lot to earn the description. It's a shame because it means that we don't usually get the snow that us landscape photographers crave or even much of a winter at all. Its got to the point where a touch of frost is something to get excited about here.
Ironically the images I get asked for most often are winter scenes. I have a wish list of places to photograph looking suitable white and chilly for magazines, greetings cards, calendars, commissions and other projects. So, with the weather forecast predicting a slight chance of the odd flake of snow hitting the region, it seemed a fitting time to write this blog, which has been whirling around in my head for a while.
At the moment photography is still my second job so I have limited time at my disposal, especially in the winter when days are short thus when a rare spell of wintry weather graces us with it's presence I find myself looking at the daunting length of my list and wondering where on earth to start. This was the case towards the end of last year when a couple of beautifully crisp, frosty mornings presented me with a great opportunity to start working on 'the list'.
After poring over weather forecasts, I decided to go to Flatford, an area I am currently photographing for the National Trust. With the trees along the banks of the River Stour twinkling with a sugary coating of frost and a layer of mist hanging over the crisp meadows, conditions were perfect and I couldn't believe my luck. I should have been enjoying being out in such beautiful countryside but instead, knowing that I wouldn't get many opportunities like this I found myself feeling the weight of the pressure to make the most of the conditions and as a result, rushing to get as many shots as possible. There's nothing wrong with working quickly but unless you want a memory card full of average shots rushing isn't the way to go. To spend so much time waiting for perfect weather conditions only to go to pieces when they arrive is incredibly frustrating especially as I should know better.
So why, when the temperature drops, do I start feeling the heat?
The problem is that I like to work slowly, to explore the possibilities on offer at a location, taking several shots of each scene and fine tuning the composition until I'm happy with the image, before moving on. With an imaginary clock ticking it's hard to focus on (mentally rather than optically) and immerse yourself in the task at hand. Strangely when it comes to writing, I'm completely the opposite. I need an impending deadline to prod me into action... why do you think this blog gets updated so infrequently? I need the pressure to get the thing finished to spur me into actually starting but that unfortunately, doesn't work for me when it comes to photography.
I'm not complaining, being paid to take photos of the East Anglian countryside is a dream job and I love (almost) every minute of it. It just comes at a price. Gone are the days of bumbling along taking photos of of whatever takes my fancy, now I have to be more disciplined and go wherever the job takes me and go there with a plan and a shot list to make the most of my time. I guess this is what it is to be a professional photographer.
I usually try and end my ramblings with some sort of conclusion but I have to admit I'm not sure what it is here, I'm just venting. I either need to learn to work more efficiently, find more time for photography or move to Canada. Of course it's possible that I build this pressure up in my head and I'm just being hard on myself. Photographers are always striving for perfection and I rarely return from a shoot without thinking of ways I could have done better but given a few days to let the dust settle I usually find I've got a few 'keepers' and things aren't as bad as they first seemed.
Now, where did I put my snow shoes?
> Flatford visitor information
Don't worry, I promise not to mention Brexit or Trump, instead I thought I would pick an image from each month of 2016, a mix of favourites, new images and shots which reflect what I've been up to. It has been a busy year for me and at times it has sped by in something of a blur, so a look back through my images from the year was a chance to see how it actually went as much as anything.
January - River Stour, Suffolk
The year started in similar fashion to how it ended, with a layer of freezing fog bringing a thick coating of sparkling frost to the Stour Valley. January's image was taken just before sunrise along a pastel toned River Stour between Flatford and Dedham on a frustratingly short trip before I had to tear myself away to get to work.
February - Framlingham Castle, Suffolk
Another frosty morning for February's image, this time at Framlingham castle. Winters in East Anglia have been pathetically mild in recent years with barely a snowfall worth mentioning so I try and grab every opportunity to get out in the cold and add to my collection of wintry images. I prefer to photograph Framlingham castle in the afternoon when the low winter light hits it from the side but unfortunately the frost has long melted by then so I'll just have to carry on waiting (im)patiently for snow.
March - Burnham-Overy-Staithe, Norfolk
I love the changeable weather that often comes in early spring - the sort of days when the dark clouds part between showers, to reveal sparks of sunshine. This was taken at the end of one of those days on the north Norfolk coast and I spent a wonderful couple of hours at Burnham-Overy-Staithe, wading around in the creek shooting the boats scattered in the mud at low tide. On a technical note, shooting towards the sun like this causes the camera all sorts of problems, even using filters and this was one of the rare occasions that I had to blend two shots together in Adobe Lightroom to be able to reproduce the scene as I saw it, hopefully without it looking unnatural.
As spring gets into full swing I seem to spend my time photographing flowers in the landscape, wild or otherwise. Having never photographed a field of tulips before, April's image, which appeared on the cover of Landscape Photographer of the Year collection 10, was one of the highlights of my year through luck rather than judgement. I found out through a friend on Facebook that this field of tulips was in bloom and as these sights often don't last very long before the flowers start to fade, I decided to go and have a look at sunrise the next morning. Just as well I did because the conditions were perfect, I got my shots and the following day the flowers, which are grown for their bulbs, were cut.
May - Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire
I find the combination of fresh green beech leaves and bluebells hard to resist and even though it's positively bristling with tripods at this time of year, Ashridge Estate is one of my favourite places to photograph them. I chose this particular image for May because I like the dappled early morning light that had only just started to penetrate the forest leaving the background in darkness.
June - Royston, Hertfordshire
Poppy fields are another classic subject (or cliché depending on your point of view) that I find myself searching for at this time each year. I took several shots from this angle, some with more emphasis on the poppies, some, like this one, on the sky. This isn't exactly a classic summer sky though and initially I wasn't happy with it so I returned the next evening and was rewarded with the warm, golden light I had been hoping for. Looking back I actually prefer the contrast of the dark sky over the bright fields and went with the image showing the most sky... it's funny how over time as your emotional attachment to the image fades your perception changes.
Most landscape photographers bemoan the lack of good light in the summer but I like to take advantage of the long days and a a result, when it came to choosing July's image, I was spoilt for choice. In the end I went with this image of Happisburgh's iconic lighthouse for the dramatic curves through the soft, swaying barley. I love being at the coast so was surprised that this is one of only two coastal images included, neither of which show the sea.
One of my favourite images of the year was this swan gliding along a peaceful River Stour. The Stour is a fine example of the slow moving rivers that meander through the region and Sudbury water meadows is a beautiful part of it. My usual wide angle lens wasn't having the desired effect here so I used a telephoto lens to compress the distance in the scene, emphasising the effect of the river receding into the mist.
This was the hardest image to choose because I couldn't decide whether to include what was essentially a holiday photo. Venice, as I'm sure many of you are already aware, is a photographers dream and although this wasn't a photography trip, I spent an hour or two every morning before breakfast (and the crowds) wandering the city with my camera. Taking photos purely for my own pleasure was so relaxing and I loved every minute of it so it made the cut.
October - Ickworth House, Suffolk
Throughout the year I have been working on commissions for the National Trust around the region so I thought it only right that I should include a photo from one of those shoots. This is Ickworth House from an autumnal commission, I've spent quite a lot of time here through the seasons but is such a big place that I'm still finding new views each time I go. The sheep are an important part of the estate so I was pleased that this one wandered into the frame as I was waiting for the first light to hit the rotunda in the distance.
November - Thetford Forest, Norfolk
By November autumn is at it's peak and I'm spending most of my time in the woods. This year I spent a bit of time exploring Thetford Forest but despite discovering some great views and stunning colours, sometimes t's the simple things and one of my favourite autumnal shots was this backlit close up of a leaf caught in the dew drenched grass.
With fewer pleasure boats around, winter is probably the best time to photograph many places on the Norfolk Broads, Turf Fen in particular. This is a simple composition but when nature produces a display like this, a simple composition is sometimes all that's needed. So after a dull damp start to the month, December just like 2016 ended on something of a frosty high.
So those were my highlights of 2016, I'm sure if I were to do this again next week I'd pick a different selection but they're a pretty good representation of my year. Thanks for following my infrequent blog posts, I'm going to do my best to find the time to write more in 2017... see you then.
Where does the time go? I've been so busy with photography commissions, writing articles and getting my range of greetings cards off the ground that it's been months (six to be precise) since I last wrote anything for my blog. So, after such a long absence, what has prompted me to put pen to paper (or whatever the digital equivalent of that particular idiom is)?
Well, it's nothing but vanity I'm afraid. The results of the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition have been announced and this year I'm delighted that two of my images have been commended, one of which has also been selected for the cover of the book (Landscape Photographer of the Year - Collection 10).
The image of the beach huts at Southwold was commended in the 'Classic View' category and was taken while running a workshop last December. I don't normally spend too much time shooting on these occasions but this was one of those times when the light was too good to miss.
There was an element of luck with the tulip image, which has been commended in the 'Your View' category. Having discovered on a Saturday that the tulips were in flower, I made a last minute decision to drive up to north west Norfolk on the Sunday morning which is when I took this photo. Just as well that I did as on Monday the flowers were all cut.
Congratulations to all the winners, especially Mathew Cattell, who was the overall winner with a stunning, original image of a well photographed subject.
My images will appear alongside all the other successful images in this year's book and in the exhibition to be held at Waterloo Station, London from 21st November 2016 until the 5th February 2017.
Over the years my collection of filters has become indispensable (not to mention valuable) so it's important that they are well protected while I'm in the field, both from the elements and my own clumsiness. I've never quite found the perfect storage solution so I was looking forward to getting my hands on the Lee 'Field pouch' to see if it fit the bill.
A quick look
The Field Pouch is a simple design, made from a durable canvas type fabric which comes in two colours - sand or black. I can't be trusted to keep anything clean for long (note the mud splatters in the photos) so I opted for the latter, it was only going to end up black eventually anyway.
Flip back the top of the pouch and ten, well padded, filter slots are revealed. The lid, which extends about halfway down the front and sides of the pouch to keep the elements out, is held in place by a tab of velcro. It has been designed to fold back out of the way to allow unrestricted access to the filters inside and there is even another velcro tab on the velvety lining of the lid to hold it there. Open the zip on either side of the pouch itself and the whole thing concertinas open to allow even easier access to the contents. The larger 100x150mm filters are easy to get in and out even with the zips closed, the smaller 100x100mm size less so, opening the zips a bit however makes the smaller filters equally easy to reach.
Around the back of the pouch is a large belt loop as well as clips to attach either of the two included straps - a short one for hanging the Field Pouch from a tripod and a long one for hanging it over your shoulder.
Overall it looks to be pretty well made... so far, so good.
Performance
How does it perform in use? In short, very well.
Until now I'd been using the Lee multi filter pouch, which although it provided protection, was never particularly practical in use. Designed like a book, the filter sleeves were rather flimsy so it was difficult to quickly get the filters out and even harder to get them back in again. It also lacked any way of attaching it to anything, I fixed a lanyard to mine so I could hang it around my neck, improving matters but only slightly.
The field pouch is a vast improvement, with it slung over a shoulder and across my body both hands are left free to get the filters in and out. I wasn't so keen on having it hanging from the tripod using the short strap because it had a habit of tilting forward and with it unzipped look perilously close to spilling the contents on the floor. I should note that nothing actually did fall out and unzipping it halfway instead of all the way improved matters but I felt more comfortable using the shoulder strap.
Protection is good as well. The pockets for the filters are soft and padded so the filters are snug and safe from scratches while the front and back of the field pouch are reinforced protecting the contents from knocks.
Weaknesses
This is where I started to struggle. Personally I wouldn't really change a thing… perhaps the velcro tabs, especially the one inside the lid, could be bigger to make closing it properly a little easier but that's a minor point.
Ok, if you want somewhere to keep your filter holder or adaptor rings you're out of luck, you can fit a filter holder in at the expense of a couple of filters but I don't think that's how it's designed. It's also quite large so you might have to rearrange your camera bag to fit it in but I'm nitpicking now.
Conclusion
This has been a bit of a short and sweet review and the conclusion is going to be no different… truth is, the Field Pouch is well thought out, well made and comes highly recommended.
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After - The final image
Before - The original RAW file
Before I begin processing I like to have an idea, however vague, of how the finished image will look. It doesn’t always go to plan but it helps get me started. Adobe Lightroom is at the heart of my workflow, as well as keeping my image library organised, it’s also where the bulk of my editing takes place. If however I want to make selective adjustments then I prefer the flexibility of Photoshop’s adjustment layers and masks.
I try to emphasize the atmosphere in an image while still keep things looking natural. Although I generally only make the sort of exposure adjustments and minor cloning you see here, I believe it’s the finished image that’s important rather than how it was created so I’m not averse to removing larger distracting elements or blending exposures to achieve the result I want. Obviously I prefer to get the job done in camera, but it’s not always possible. In those cases it pays to keep in mind what you can do on the computer later while you are still behind the camera.
Step 1
Step 1 - Lens corrections
First thing to do once the raw file is open in Lightroom is sort out any distortion and colour issues. My import preset adds a small amount of colour noise reduction and ticks enable profile correction and remove chromatic aberration in the lens correction box to correct any lens distortion. Sometimes some manual correction is also needed but not here. I then move up to the crop and straighten box and use the angle tool to straighten the horizon.
Following this I set the white balance. White balance is an adjustment that I prefer to do by eye and set the temperature to emphasize the mood of the image rather than trying to find the most ‘accurate’ setting. I usually start by trying auto or one of the presets and tweaking it where necessary, in this case I cooled down the cloudy WB slightly.
Step 2
Step 2 - Exposure adjustments
The next step is to adjust the exposure. The raw file, as is often the case, is looking flat and lacking in contrast but this one is also slightly underexposed.
Starting at the top I raise the exposure and contrast to brighten and add a bit of punch to the image. Moving down I use the whites and blacks sliders to take the histogram out to the edges which adds further contrast before jumping back to the highlights slider to take the edge off the brightest areas. Things are already looking better but the posts are a little too dark so I use the shadows slider to bring out some detail, but not so much that they start to look unnatural.
Step 3
Step 3 - Graduated filter
The exposure adjustments have left the area at the top of the sky a little bright for my liking and my eye keeps wandering up to that brighter area. This is easily fixed using a graduated filter with a negative exposure value over the top area. I could probably have got away with using a slightly darker ND grad filter on the sky at the capture stage but I find it harder to lighten a sky where I’ve used a filter that is too dark without it looking unnatural than the other way round so I often err on the side of caution. As long as the filter is strong enough to retain all the detail in the sky I’m happy.
Step 4
Step 4 - Cloning, dodging and burning
I need to jump to Photoshop for the next adjustments, these are all changes that could be made in Lightroom but the tools in Photoshop allow more control. I find the post near the horizon on the left and the white rock that cuts the edge of the frame on the right distracting so I use content aware fill to remove them before using the spot healing brush, also set to content aware, to remove a few sensor dust spots visible in the sky.
While in Photoshop I also use some dodging and burning to further bring out the foamy streaks in the foreground. Adding a new layer, with a 50% grey neutral background set to overlay mode, I can now use the dodge and burn tools without it being permanent.
Step 5
Step 5 - Sharpening
I like to sharpen my images in Photoshop before saving and returning to Lightroom.
There are countless sharpening methods but the one I employ most often uses LAB colour. I convert the image to LAB mode, duplicate the background layer and with that selected apply an unsharp mask to the lightness chanel. As the sharpening has been applied to a duplicate layer, it is then possible to use a layer mask to mask out any areas that you don’t want to sharpen. I particularly like selective sharpening as it helps bring the viewers eye to what is important in the image while the areas of the image that should be soft, stay soft.
Step 6
Step 6 - Crop and finishing touches
Back in Lightroom it’s time to crop the image. I leave it until the end purely because if I crop before doing the edits in Photoshop then the crop becomes permanent whereas cropping in Lightroom is non-destructive giving me the flexibility to change my mind or re-crop for different purposes.
I also leave any saturation adjustments until this stage in case any of the Photoshop adjustments affect the colours. In this case I’ve reduced the saturation on the orange tones in the sky which had become a bit too strong. I’ve also made a couple of small tweaks to the exposure.
The final step is to leave the image alone for a couple of days so I can have a last look with fresh eyes to double check I haven’t overdone things.
Article originally published in Amateur Photographer magazine, February 2015
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However many photos I come back with from a shoot, I don't often add more than one or two of those images to my website, preferring to just show a selection of my very best images. What happens to all the images that don't make the cut? They're all languishing unseen on my hard drive which seems a shame after spending so much time and effort on their creation so I thought I'd use my blog to show a few more of the images from each shoot. As well as letting a few more images see the light of day, I think presenting the photos as a set should also help me to keep improving my photography. Thinking about the different options, looking for alternate angles or interesting details and getting under the skin of a place rather than just looking for the single 'classic view' that will sum it up in one shot.
These images were all taken on a dawn walk along the tidal section of the River Alde at Snape. The River Alde passes Snape Maltings where the Victorian maltings buildings have been converted into a cultural site, home to shops, galleries, restaurants, Snape Maltings Concert Hall and holiday apartments as it meanders it's way passed Aldeburgh on it's way to the sea. It's a beautiful area but typically of East Anglia is the sort of flat landscape that can be hard work for us photographers to capture in a photo. Look closer though and there is plenty here and I'm looking forward to coming back to walk the other side of the river.
The idea for these blogs came after the shoot on this occasion so in future posts I hope to come up with a more varied set of images but for now I'm going to use the old adage; 'A picture is worth a thousand words' and take the opportunity to keep quiet and show some photos.
Reflected dawn colours at low tide
The sweeping curves of the River Alde drifting through the reeds
Snape Maltings is a familiar site on the banks of the River Alde
The sweeping curves of the River Alde drifting through the reeds
The view across the reed beds in warm winter light
Light and shadows on the reed beds
The Alde at low tide
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Following on from my reviews of the Nisi V3 filter system and filters, I've got my hands on a few more Nisi goodies to test...
Nisi 100mm filter holder system V5 (pictured centre)
The new Nisi V5 filter system follows hot on the heels of the V3 system which I reviewed here a few months ago. I'm not sure what happened to the V4 but the new system is very much an update of the last one so, if it's ok with you, rather than repeat myself by reviewing the whole system again I'll just deal with the updates and send those of you who are new to this system to read the original reviews here and here.
Ok, all caught up? Both parts? excellent let's begin. In actual fact the contents of the V5 are virtually identical to the V3; the same 82mm adaptor, same excellent polariser, same set of adaptor rings and you've guessed it, the filter holder is... different. Taking on board comments from photographers who tested the original, holder, Nisi have moved the release pin from the awful position at the top, to a more convenient one at the side. A small change which makes a big difference in use. It's now much easier to take the holder on and off the adaptor ring. The holder also seems to be a more solid construction with the foam insert present on the V3 becoming a single piece of aluminium on the V5.
In use I found the 82mm adaptor screwed on to the adaptor rings far more freely than previously but whether that has been improved or it was just my imagination I'm not sure. I still find the need for two adaptor rings a bit fiddly but I suspect it could be possible to leave the step-up adaptor ring on the lens and use an 82mm lens cap, then it would just be a case of swapping the main 82mm adaptor between lenses which would be a definite improvement. Unfortunately I don't have one to hand to test that theory but I'll keep you posted.
The V5 however is a step in the right direction and although the hardware itself has only minor changes I'm impressed with Nisi's desire to keep improving their product by listening to our comments.
They have been busy in other areas as well. The packaging has been improved with a quality feel to replace the vacuum formed plastic used previously. This new system also comes in a very nice leather effect case, embossed with the Nisi logo on the magnetically secured front flap. The contents are easily accessible from the 3 padded compartments in which they are neatly organised and round the back is a belt loop. It's perhaps a little bulky for my crammed camera bag but it's very well made and compliments the quality of the product inside.
Nisi 100mm filter case (pictured left)
FInished to match the holder case, in a retro tan coloured leather effect with the Nisi logo embossed in the bottom corner, this is certainly a smart looking filter case and beneath the leather look, the holder is a hard plastic case with a felt lining inside the lid and is clearly designed to give your filters plenty of protection.
Open the magnetic catch, flip up the lid and inside there are slots to hold six 100mm wide filters. The case is designed so that with the lid open 100x150mm filters stick out about 15mm, just enough to get hold of so the filters can be easily slid in and out. However that would obviously mean that 100mm square filters would be difficult to reach. To over come that problem the case is supplied with six plastic inserts that slide in before the 100mm filter to raise it to the same heigh as a 150mm filter.
So, having established that this thing looks good and offers a good level of protection, how is it in use?
Well first impressions aren't great because the first thing you notice after filling the case with filters is that they rattle noisily in the plastic slots, not the end of the world but a bit annoying. In use the filters slide easily in and out of the slots which is great but as they are all the same height, the filters in the middle slots are rather fiddly to get hold off. Similarly the filters in the rear couple of slots can be tricky to get in and out without hitting them on the lid or catch unless you push the lid all the way back which could weaken the plastic hinge.
I should point out that when I'm out shooting landscapes and the light is at it's best I'm often frantically changing lenses and switching filters as I move between different compositions to make the most of the conditions so it's handy to be able to have my hands free to be able to use both hands to access my filter wallet. I usually have mine hanging by a strap over my shoulder and across my body. Unfortunately the Nisi case doesn't have any provision for a strap or even a belt loop like the case for the filter holder itself has and being a hard finish case it wouldn't be easy to DIY fit one.
Not a glowing review so far, not in practical terms anyway but it's not all bad. While it may not be well suited to my needs for a landscape filter case, not least because it's too smart for the muddy environments I often find myself in, that doesn't mean it won't suit everybody and indeed it's ideal for my travel kit which doesn't get such heavy use. For travelling I carry a Fuji X-Pro1 and a couple of prime lenses in a small Think Tank Retro bag and both physically and aesthetically the Nisi fits perfectly.
Nisi filter cleaner system
This is clever. It's clearly more clever than me because with the packaging entirely in Chinese it took me a while to figure out quite what to do with it but it turned out to be a brilliant little gadget. Tucked away inside this white plastic case small enough to fit in the palm of your hand is a filter cleaning system and very effective it is too.
Remove the lid and out pops a square cleaning pad made of what looks like the same kind of carbon stuff used on a lens pen. Using the remaining half of the case as a handle, wipe the pad over the filter and it removes everything from fingerprints to sea spray. Stubborn marks take a bit of rubbing but it quickly gets filters clean and smear free. The cleaning pad is on a sprung swivel arm so it stays flat on the filter as you wipe and when you're done folds neatly back into the case. ​Each pad lasts about 150 uses and the kit comes with a spare.
Impressive stuff.
The last year has been a busy one. I've spent more time than ever out with the camera working on commissions, running workshops and coming up with new images. I'm certainly not complaining about that but for every hour I'm taking photos I spend probably two or three times that on the computer, processing, preparing, writing or keywording (shudder). It seems last year I was so busy (or unorganised) that I managed to fall behind with computer time and build up a huge backlog of images to be processed.
My to-do folder had become something of a burden, a bit like a credit card that I couldn't afford to pay off. Making the minimum payment by processing the very best images from each shoot was keeping things ticking over but all of the untouched photos built up like the interest on a credit card and things started to snowball.
Just to clarify, the 'to-do folder' I'm referring to is an actual folder in Adobe Lightroom... A 'smart' folder to be precise. Smart folders can be set up to automatically collect all the photos which fit certain criteria, in this case everything that I give a certain colour label (blue in case you were wondering). So everything that I want to process at some point gets given a blue label and automatically added to my to-do folder that way however far behind I get, images don't get overlooked. As the size of the folder grew I decided on a limit... I wouldn't let it go over 500 images. When earlier in the year it passed that amount I vowed to keep it under 1000. When at the end of a busy Autumn it hit 1200 I decided enough was enough! It was time to clear the backlog to pay off the credit card if you will (ok, the analogy is wearing a bit thin now).
With plenty of free time over Christmas and grounded by wet weather I did just that and it wasn't the chore I expected it to be. Far from it, immersing myself in Lightroom and Photoshop sharpened my skills and gave me an opportunity to experiment a little. What's more, not only have I cleared the decks ahead of next year (although I still need to keyword everything), I now have a load of new work to unleash.
I won't lie, I sped the process up somewhat by throwing away quite a few images, photos that I have no idea why I'd earmarked themfor processing in the first place, but I also rediscovered plenty of images that I'd initially overlooked.
There are times, far more often than I'd like to admit, when I come back disappointed with the images from a shoot. Perhaps the light wasn't as good as I had hoped, the tide was wrong for the shots I had in mind or something else hadn't gone as planned but for whatever reason the resulting images don't meet expectations. Over time, as the images languish in my to-do folder, memories of the shoot fade along with the reason for my unhappiness. I can assess the images objectively, without expectations and in this case it turns out they weren't as bad as I first thought, one or two were even quite good.
I know that unprocessed photos will soon build up again but I think I actually prefer it that way now. I prefer to leave my work for a while before assessing it. Let's change the analogy for a moment, if we think of my to-do folder as a cellar where my work is left to mature like a fine wine, rather than a growing weight around my neck like an unpaid debt, it becomes an essential part of the process rather than a burden! Sadly that isn't always practical and I'm too much of a control freak to get somebody to help me with the processing (although they're welcome to do the keywording) but one thing is for sure, I'll be going back through the 25,000 images I took last year to make sure I haven't missed any more keepers.
You can see more of my latest work in my galleries here.
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Oxburgh Hall at sunrise
I peer through the viewfinder one more time and make a slight adjustment to the composition. My camera is set up on a tripod and I'm double checking everything while I wait for the sun to bathe the red brick walls of Oxburgh Hall with the first rays of light. This is what it's all about, being out on a perfect autumn morning. There's a chill in the air, mist rising from the river and a barn owl hunting over the fields as the first pastel shades of dawn spread across the sky.
It's been a while since I've written about what I've been up to and as we're moving into winter, it's probably a good time to look back on autumn.
Much like last year I've spent the last few weeks capturing autumnal scenes at three of the National Trust properties here in the East of England, this year Oxburgh Hall, Blickling Estate and Hatfield Forest. Oxburgh Hall is a stunning 15th century moated manor house in Norfolk, surrounded by 70 acres of formal gardens and woodland. There are plenty of tantalising views of the hall glimpsed from between the trees or reflected in the moat. Also in Norfolk but on a rather different scale, Blickling Estate covers over 4700 acres of farmland, parkland, woodland and of course the impressive red brick mansion house and gardens. The iconic view of Blickling Hall reflected in a calm lake surrounded by trees in all shades of earthy autumn tones is hard to resist but there are so many great views across the estate you could easily lose days exploring. Further south in Essex, Hatfield Forest is a medieval royal hunting forest complete with deer and grazing cattle, teaming with wildlife and wonderful ancient trees… a magical place. While two of these places are new to me so a bit more preparation would be needed, all three had me excited about the onset of autumn.
Taking a photo of autumn colour at Blickling Estate
I always look forward to this time of year, the crisp clear mornings, mist shrouded sunrises and of course all the fantastic colours as leaves gradually turn shades of gold, russet or even red before drifting down to earth. Unfortunately autumn also brings wind and rain and this year an abundance of both swiftly stripped leaves from trees bringing autumn to a rather abrupt end from a photography point of view, fortunately not before I'd got the shots I needed. But here lies the problem... Everybody knows what to expect at autumn, the difficulty for photographers is knowing when it's going to happen so we can be there to capture it. The weather determines when the leaves change colour and how good the colours are. The weather determines when the leaves fall and the weather even has a bearing on how good the photos will be (or at least how difficult it will be to get good photos). With a lot of ground to cover, a limited window of opportunity to do it in and so much resting on something as unpredictable as the British weather it can start to get a bit stressful.
Obviously there's no point worrying about things that are out of our control, the weather forecast is too often wrong so you just have to get out there and do your best with whatever weather you find yourself in. If it's wet or overcast weather then go into the woods where the sky doesn't matter, use the flat lighting to your advantage and concentrate on getting some detail shots. If the conditions are good then make the most of it as it may be the only chance you get... when I found myself at Blickling Estate with good weather I apparently walked over 11 miles (according to my pedometer app and my aching legs the next morning) to get all the shots on my list while the light was good.
In fact when conditions are perfect the pressure to make the most of it can be even greater than when the weather is bad but I think that's a subject for another blog, I need to start preparing for winter shoots and worrying about whether we'll get any snow this year... here we go again.
Walking the dog on a misty morning at Hatfield Forest
Through rain and shine, frequent bouts of frantic knob twirling and regularly being unceremoniously lobbed into the car, my trusty Manfrotto geared head has always performed flawlessly... well, until now that is.
Like most Manfrotto tripod heads, the 410 Junior Geared Head (to give it it's full title) has a sprung brass pin that triggers the arm to close and llock the quick release plate (and camera) in place. This pin sits inside a hole in the top plate and over time as moisture seeps in these have a habit of corroding and as there isn't much clearance between the pin and the hole this causes it to get stuck... which is what happened to mine. Seems the rain and shine part might have been the problem.
My initial thought was to soak it in WD40, which had no effect, my second was to tap it with something heavy to try and free it which was equally as ineffective and I began to think a whole new top plate was going to be in order. A quick email to the people at Manfrotto spares to check whether that was indeed the case (and at £44 + VAT I was rather hoping it wasn't) revealed that not only was it going to cost me less than £4 but was also given advice on how to go about fixing it... so I thought I'd share.
Tools
3mm hex key, 14mm spanner or socket, drill and small drill bit (2-3mm)
Parts
R354,11 Pin & spring (available from www.manfrottospares.com/en/410-parts.html where there is also a diagram of parts)
Removing the stuck pin
Start by removing the locking lever by undoing the hex bolt underneath the top plate using the 3mm hex key. Take care not to lose the little spring from inside the arm which is likely to ping out and bounce off in a random direction taking you 35 minutes to find (learnt that the hard way).
Then with the arm removed use the drill and slowly drill a hole in the top of the brass pin (which is actually hollow). Once through the top of the pin it should pull out as you remove the drill bit but if it's still stuck fit a screw into the hole and use a pair of pliers to yank it out.
Reassembly
Thoroughly clean the hole of any corrosion (which is easier said than done) and then drop in the new spring and brass pin. It will just wobble around uselessly for now until the arm is re-fitted which is where it gets a bit fiddly.
Firstly put the lower brass nut in the recess on the top plate then assemble the arm following the image below, taking care that the end of the spring is located in the recess (arrowed).
Position the tripod head in front of you so the arm will be pointing out to the right. Locate the arm on arm on the top plate and then fit the brass nut on top making sure the top of the spring fits in the hole in the brass nut (arrowed in the image below). The arm needs to be positioned so it is pointing as far down as possible (about the 5 o'clock position) and the hole in the nut should be at roughly 9 o'clock (as the image below). With everything in position do up the hex bolt underneath but don't fully tighten it.
And that's it!
Finally, I must thank the people at Manfrotto spares for getting the parts out to me so quickly and then taking the time to talk me through the process over the phone, I would never have managed to get the thing working again without you, great service.
Final, final thing, I am obviously not a technician and so you follow my advice at your own risk, if you need advice on this or any other problem relating to Manfrotto gear then get in touch with the people at www.manfrottospares.com, they're very helpful.
After missing out last year, I'm delighted to say that one of my images has been commended in this year's Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.
The image came about when I was taking photos along the cliff top path at Dunwich Heath last year. I noticed that as the early morning sun began melting the frost, the russet colours of the bracken appeared to almost be glowing as if it was the warmth of the colour that was melting the frost.
Delighted or not, I'm not going to congratulate myself too much as after several years of entering I still haven't the faintest idea what the judges consider to be a good landscape, so every time I have been successful must owe a great deal to chance. Ultimately it just comes down to opinions and tastes so rather than try and understand the choices I'm just going to enjoy them.
Congratulations to all the winners, especially Andy Farrer, the overall winner. I can't wait to see all the images as they should be viewed - in print.
My image will appear alongside all the other successful images in this year's book (Landscape Photographer of the Year - Collection 9) and in the exhibition to be held at Waterloo Station, London from 23rd November 2015 until the 7th February 2016.
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If, like me, you spend too much time on Facebook, Flickr or any of the numerous other social media websites then you'll probably be familiar with the concept of a 365 project which involves taking a photo a day over the course of a year.
During August I took part in a '31' challenge run by my local camera club, the rules of which were simple, take one photo every day in August… sounds simple right?
When I first heard about the challenge I was excited about all the creative possibilities and I looked forward to the start of August full of ideas and enthusiasm. It seemed to me that the project would be infintely more interesting if the 31 photos followed a theme or were connected in same way. All sorts of ideas were swirling around my (otherwise empty) head… taking every photo with my phone in a travelogue style, taking every photo from the same place at different times of day to show the changes the conditions made, using only one focal length, the list went on and I even started to consider doing more than one set.
Of course my grand plans didn't make it through the first week. This was going to be harder than it looked. Finding the time to indulge in such a creative project isn't always going to possible every single day of the month. Apart from annoyingly time consuming distractions like work to contend with, just remaining enthusiastic for 31 consecutive days come rain or shine is a challenge itself. So, the project soon became a matter of simply taking an interesting photo a day, hopefully a good one but often (the times, for example, when I realised halfway through the evening that I hadn't yet taken anything) any photo at all would do.
There were days, those when I had actually planned to do some photography, were I had plenty of images to choose from and the project was easy. Other days, when time was short and weather was grim it was no fun at all and the pressure to find the day's photo built. Everyone copes differently with pressure but I've never been at my most creative when stressed. This wasn't real pressure though, it's just for fun after all. So rather than being a burden it acted more as an incentive, a challenge to step out of my comfort zone and look around with an open mind.
So, as well as my usual landscapes, amongst other things I found inspiration in houses, hoses, sculptures, surfers, pets and puddles. Images I would not normally have taken, or if I had they would never have seen the light of day. I found I could use the project as an excuse to indulge myself with the processing as well which was quite liberating.
So what was the point? Was this destined to be a futile exercise resulting in a collection of random and average photos? Well, yes and no. It certainly isn't a collection I would ever present to an RPS distinction panel but it is a set I'm reasonably proud of. It's a great way to get out of a rut, take the blinkers off and start seeing images in unexpected places. I love landscape photography for many reasons and there is plenty of scope for different approaches to the genre but it's all too easy to go on autopilot and stop seeing what's around you. Hopefully this project has helped steer me away from that danger but I'm glad it wasn't a 365.
Click here to see larger versions of all the images on my Flickr page
During the summer months I try and take advantage of the long evenings and the north westerly position of the setting sun by getting up to the Norfolk coast as often as possible. Despite the increase in tourists at this time of year the north Norfolk coastline is so spacious that it's still remarkably peaceful on many of the beaches and salt marshes. Even Blakeney, one of the more popular spots and my location last night, had an air of calm as the dying sun dipped into the distant North Sea.My aim was to capture the carpet of sea lavender currently covering the salt marsh before it started to go past it's best but looking through the images from the trip I realised I'd inadvertently captured the difference a few moments makes to a photo and felt a quick blog coming on.
I love the feeling of anticipation when you arrive somewhere, conditions looking promising, knowing you have a couple of hours with nothing more pressing to do than wander with a camera. So as I sat on the tailgate putting my boots on I had a look around. To the west was a large strip of dense cloud which was doing a very good job of blocking the evening sunlight but leaving a nice gap waiting at the horizon for the setting sun to shine through. Plenty of time.
After a short wander I found myself back at a favourite spot, set up and worked on a few images and different compositions (one of which is below) while waiting for the sun to appear. I was fairly happy with the results but as the sun, by now hovering close to the horizon, appeared from behind the clouds it quite literally transformed the scene before me.
Eight minutes passed between these two photos (I used a bit of artistic license in the title) but to me the difference is like night and day. Many of you will be familiar with that feeling of excitement at the appearance of those fleeting moments of light and this short blog post serves no greater purpose than to celebrate those times when we're lucky enough to be there to catch it.
The test started particularly well when I unwrapped, what for some reason I'd thought was a 0.9 (3stop) ND filter to discover to my delight it was actually a 3.0 (10 stop) ND filter which gave me more options and the chance to compare it with the Lee Big Stopper. This and the other filters I had at my disposal (0.9 soft and 0.9 reverse ND graduated filters) are all made from optical glass with an anti-reflective, waterproof coating and the filter details etched neatly along the edge while the 10 stop filter also has a foam gasket on the reverse to prevent light leaks during long exposures. Just like the holder, everything about the filters exude quality and I found myself looking forward to using them.
I took the filters out on several occasions to give them a good test in different conditions. I'd visualised stunning sunrises and sweeping clouds but the weather conditions had other ideas and the example images are more a case of making the best of it … the best laid plans and all that.
First up was a trip to Dovercourt beach on a cloudy afternoon to try out the 3.0 ND filter. Having settled on a composition I took a shot without any filters for reference and in this case the exposure captured all the information with no blown highlights or blocked shadows so there's perhaps an argument there for not needing filters at all here but lets be honest, the original image is a little dull.
Fitting the 0.9 soft grad to add a bit of drama to the sky I then checked my starting exposure, slotted in the ND filter and started the exposure in bulb mode. The filters slot snugly into the holder and the edges of the ND filter have been left clear of the rubber gasket to aid in this… all adding to that quality feel I keep going on about.
Straight out of the camera things were looking better already, the image was slightly underexposed so I'd guesstimate that the filter is slightly over 10 stops but a slight variation is not uncommon with extreme ND filters and my Lee Big Stopper is actually 11 stops. There's also a cool colour cast, which is something I'll look at a little closer in the second set of images but it's not something that bothers me especially in this case when the final processed image is mono.
The second set of images are a little unorthodox. With waves crashing over the concrete groyne and washing down the beach, I really needed a 3 or 4 stop ND filter to capture the movement but as I only had a 10 stop filter which would have blurred the water completely I was going to have to improvise a bit. As you can see from the first image without filters, shutter speeds were too fast to capture any movement in the water. Using the same filter combination of 3 stop soft ND grad and 10 stop ND, I adjusted the aperture and ISO until it gave me a shutter speed that I was happy with (1.3 seconds in this case). It was something of a compromise as by using a larger aperture I've had to sacrifice some depth of field but I think the effect is worth it.
I mentioned earlier the colour cast found with the 10 stop filter and the four images below illustrate the nature of that colour cast. the first image is the test shot without filters (top left) then below that the unedited image with Nisi filters which clearly shows a cool colour cast. In the image next to that (bottom right) I've replaced the Nisi 10 stop filter with a Lee Big Stopper which shows a very similar (but slightly more magenta) colour cast. Although it's worth mentioning here, the cool colour cast isn't an issue for several reasons in my opinion. Firstly, as you can see from the image top right, setting the white balance to auto when processing the RAW file easily cures the problem. Secondly most of my long exposures are converted to mono anyway and finally I actually quite like the effect, which is why in the final image I've only reduced rather than removing the colour cast completely.
Moving on, the image quality with the filters was pretty impressive, images were suitably clear and sharp and I could see no reduction in image quality at all.
Next up, I wanted to test the reverse graduated ND filter by shooting into the sun at sunset so I headed to Hunstanton which has a lovely west facing beach (something of a rarity here on the east coast). If you are unfamiliar with reverse graduated filters, basically they have a hard transition like a normal hard edge graduated filter but the lower part of the graduation is darker than the top, ideal for holding back the sun when it is near the horizon without unnaturally darkening the sky above.
The review copy is a 3 stop filter, which as it's a fairly strong filter really needed a brighter sky than I ended up getting at Hunstanton but the results were still natural enough for me and the grad did an admiral job of holding back the brighter parts of the scene without making the rest too dark. Although I have tweaked the white balance in the final image to warm things up slightly, the colour neutrality of the filters seemed excellent, I was certainly unable to detect any colour cast.
The final images were again testing the reverse grad, this time used with the circular polariser. As you can see from the test image with no filters, the sun was much stronger here and pretty much totally blew the sky out. Positioning the reverse grad until it was just over the water has balanced the exposure and rendered the sky very naturally. Again clarity and definition were very good and something else I noticed (or rather didn't notice) is the lack of lens flare in all of the images when I was shooting into the sun. Flare can be a real problem with this type of shot and I'm assuming the lack of it is down to the coating on the filter but as I didn't take comparison images with other filters I can't be 100% sure that a different filter would have had flare.
Conclusion
This is a well thought out, well made system and I was very impressed with the quality, that said, quality comes at a price and Nisi filters are currently more expensive than those of their competitors. As I mentioned in the first part of the review there are a few niggles, mainly that the cleverly designed filter holder can be somewhat fiddly in use and I find myself torn between the nifty CPL design of the Nisi and the simpler no nonsense holder used by other brands. However in my, admittedly unscientific, tests I found the filters to be optically as good if not better than anything else I've used and although I can't testify to how well they'd stand up to frequent use and abuse everything seems to be very well constructed. So, if you are looking to buy a filter system, Nisi should definitely be on your shortlist. Equally if you already have a 100mm system and are in need of some new filters the Nisi glass grads in particular are worth considering… I certainly will be.
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As a landscape photographer one of the most important things in my camera bag is my filter system. I've used Lee filters for several years during which time they've seen a lot of action and apart from the occasional mis-hap (a glass filter dropped onto rocks is never going to end well) they haven't missed a beat. So it might come as a surprise that when I found myself with the opportunity to try out a similar 100mm system from Nisi I jumped at the chance.
The thing that first caught my attention is that the Nisi graduated filters, unlike most others on the market are made from optical glass rather than resin. I've never had any issues with the image quality of resin filters but they are prone to scratching and compared to glass are harder to clean. As I frequently use my filters in coastal environments where the sand and salt water often threaten the former and regularly require the later, this is a big deal... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The Nisi V3 filter holder system (as it is known) looked at first glance to be somewhat expensive, in fact nearly twice as much as most other brands. However when the eagerly awaited box of shiny new toys arrived and I started unpacking the contents, I realised that unlike those other brands the Nisi kit not only includes the holder but also a circular polariser as well as adaptor rings to fit it to various common sized lenses (67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm to be precise) which, it has to be said, actually makes it something of a bargain.
Aside from the filter holder the box contained a small selection of filters (a 0.9 reverse ND grad, 0.9 soft ND grad and a 0.9 ND). Each of the nano coated filters came wrapped in tissue paper in its own pouch. This was the first time I'd had a look at Nisi filters and so far I was impressed.
The filter holder is a familiar design with three removable slots on the front to hold the filters and clips on the back to fit it to the lens adaptor. Being machined from aluminium the holder is slim, light and tough but, if I were picky (which I am), despite being very well made the clips which hook onto the lens adaptor are small, making it a little difficult to tell whether it is properly located or not and more than once it came undone as a result. Another small gripe over the design is that the little knob for releasing the filter holder is positioned at the top (or bottom depending on which way up you locate it) rather than the side which leaves little room to get hold of it if there is a graduated filter in the holder. In fairness these were minor niggles that I am already becoming accustomed to after using the system a few times.
What makes the Nisi system unique is the design of the lens adaptor which works differently to other systems. Firstly it only comes in one size (82mm) so to use it on other sized lenses you need to first screw on an adaptor for the adaptor! As I mentioned earlier these are supplied in various sizes but it does make it a little fiddly to set up, something which could be especially annoying when in a hurry or in winter when having icicles for fingers can make even the simplest of tasks a challenge. That said the excellent design of the adaptor and the way Nisi have incorporated the circular polariser (CPL), more than make up for it's slight shortcomings. While most brands use an adaptor on the front of the filter holder to attach the CPL, causing vignetting at wide angles unless filter slots are removed, the Nisi CPL screws in to the centre of the adaptor rather than the front of the holder which neatly avoids the vignetting issue. On the back of the adaptor are a couple of small dials which when turned, rotate the CPL, it's a great design which really is a joy to use. Not forgetting of course that as the CPL is included with the filter holder it also saves you around £200.
While it's a bit early in the review for conclusions, I would already be considering switching to the Nisi filter holder system were it not for one thing. To save time and messing around when in the field, I like to keep an adaptor ring covered by a special lens cap permanently on each of my lenses, so when I need to change lenses I don't have to mess around changing adaptors as well. As far as I know this isn't yet possible with this system but hopefully Nisi are listening as I'm sure it's something that could be easily solved.
So that's a quick overview of the Nisi 100mm system, in the second part of the review we'll look at the filters themselves and the resulting images.
Edit: In response to Gareth who raises as good point in the comments below, I can confirm that Nisi filters fit perfectly in the Lee holder and vice versa.
Nisi filter review: part 2 - The proof of the pudding
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Bluebells in Blickling Great Woods, Norfolk
Regular readers of my irregular blog may remember me talking last November about a commission of autumnal images that I had just completed for the National Trust here in the east of England. Fast forward to today and there's no prizes for guessing what this post is about.
The brief this time was to capture the various signs of spring at three of the splendid National Trust properties in the region - Anglesey Abbey and Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire and Blickling Estate in Norfolk.
Apple blossom and wild flowers in the orchard at Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire
Little beauty tulips amongst the Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
I was asked recently to do a short talk at Felixstowe Photographic Society on why, when and how to use filters. I use filters all the time so with plenty of images to illustrate the difference they make it was just a matter of choosing the best ones right? Not quite. Although I have plenty of finished images using filters I don't have any images showing what it would look like without a filter and if I did they have been long ago consigned to the bin.
So, being the dedicated type I got up early on a school day and went to the coast specially to take a set of before and after images and was rewarded with a rather good sunrise. So, as I've now done said talk and have the images lying around I thought I'd use them here for a quick 'how to' guide.
The image above is the finished item and a pretty good representation of the colourful sunrise that I had the pleasure of witnessing. Using the advanced optical equipment at my disposal (i.e. my eyes) I could easily watch the sunrise, take in all the colours and see all the details in the bright areas of the sky as well as in the shadowy areas of the foreground. Using the less advanced optical equipment (i.e. my camera) to capture it all in a photo isn't quite as easy.
Put simply the camera just isn't capable of recording the full range of tones in a high contrast scene like this in a single shot. To illustrate, let's see what happens when you set the exposure to capture all the bright colours in the sky without clipping the highlights (below). As you can see, the sky looks great with plenty of detail and no blown highlights but the foreground is left underexposed with shadows dark and lacking any detail.
If however we alter the exposure to capture details in the shadows (below) we have the opposite problem, the foreground is well exposed but the sky is washed out and lacking any detail and in case you are wondering, those bright white areas of the sky can't be recovered in editing software, they are lost forever.
The solution to this problem comes in the form of a neutral density graduated filter (ND grad). If you are unfamiliar with graduated filters they are a rectangular plastic filter, one half of which is clear the other half has a neutral tint and they slot into a holder fitted to the front of the lens. The tint comes in various strengths to cope with different situations, the most common being 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 (which block out 1, 2 and 3 stops of light respectively) and the transition between the two halves can be either soft or hard, the former being a gentle blend between tinted and clear while the latter is a more abrupt transition…. in fact choosing which filters to buy from all the options can be more complicated than using them.
Generally speaking hard ND grads are useful for images where the horizon is visible and thus the areas of bright sky and darker land are clearly separated (for example seascapes) while soft ND grads are better where the horizon is less distinct (mountain scenes for example). A third option is the reverse grad which is similar to a hard grad but the tinted area which will be positioned at the horizon is the darkest part, becoming lighter at the top of the filter, these are perfect for sunrise or sunset when the sun is at the horizon, giving you the strongest tint where you need it without making the rest of the sky unnaturally dark.
Personally I use hard grads the majority of the time and if I had to choose just one graduated filter it would be a 0.6 (2 stop) hard grad which would be enough in most situations to stop the sky from blowing out but a set of 1, 2 and 3 stop hard grads would be a lot more versatile. Of course what you shoot most will dictate the filters that are best for you so don't listen to me. When it comes to brand I'm afraid you get what you pay for, I use Lee filters which while not cheap are excellent quality and the neutral tint is perfectly neutral. There are cheaper options out there but in my experience they aren't always neutral and introduce a colour cast to the image.
Positioning the filter is just a matter of sliding it down in front of the lens while looking through the viewfinder (or using live view) until it covers the sky and the camera meters through the filter as normal. Be careful not to pull the filter down too far and darken the foreground or not far enough leaving a pale band on the horizon. That's pretty much all there is to it.
There are of course other ways of solving the problem, Instead of messing around with filters why not just take the darker version and lighten the shadows with editing software or take two exposure and blend them together? Well you could, in fact there are occasions when blending two exposures is a better solution than using filters. Lifting the shadows is also possible but even with the latest cameras lightening the shadows that much will still introduce unsightly noise to the image. My aim is to get the best quality image possible and would rather spend a few seconds extra to get it right in camera than spend longer sitting at the computer.
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We'll start with some good news, I was delighted to find out earlier this month that this image of Dunwich Heath was commended in the Changing Coastlines category of International Photographer of the Year and was included in the awards book and the exhibition which is currently running at Kew Gardens in London.
Obviously with the heather in full bloom this image isn't recent but it's new to my website. Taken back in August last year as part of a coastal project for the National Trust's Neptune appeal, it was the culmination of several early morning visits. I'd earmarked this view after a walk around the heath as it not only included the iconic coastguard cottages and the sea of heather that washes over Dunwich Heath during the summer with a nice path to lead the eye from one to the other but more importantly the sea is visible in the background to show the coastal location. All I needed to do was to be there as the first rays of sunlight splashed across the pink and purple heather and hope for a nice interesting Suffolk sky. As is always the way when you have a clear vision of what you want and it involves getting up in the wee small hours, the elements refuse to come together. On this occasion though it was worth persevering and on the fifth visit I got the shot in perfect conditions.
You'll find more of my images from the Suffolk coast here
The second image was the result of a rather unexpected change in the weather. Having spent a bit of an unproductive morning on the north Norfolk coast struggling to capture how freezing cold and wintry it felt, with nothing but clear blue sunny skies to work with, I decided to head home. Halfway home the blue skies were swallowed by freezing fog and when I drove into an eerie looking Thetford Forest it would have been rude not to stop. Fog can add a magical quality to a woodland with the added bonus of simplifying what can often be a 'busy' scene so grabbing my camera and tripod, I wandered through the trees looking for interesting compositions until the light started to fade, wishing the whole day had been this good.
Over Christmas (I told you I was behind) I took some time out from other photographic commitments to do a little photography for myself. I have several places on my list that were particularly suited to a winter visit, one of which was Howe Hill on the Norfolk Broads. This windpump on the river Ant was on my winter list not because of the weather but rather the position of the sun. During the winter months the sun sets in the south east positioning it nicely next to the windpump there's also far less river traffic at this time of year.
As I drove up to Norfolk under a nice cloudy sky things were looking promising as my plan was to use the hopefully calm river to reflect the sky. Unfortunately although I arrived to some lovely low winter light, the clouds were all behind me. I thought about wandering in the other direction to see if I could incorporate the clouds and the warm light on the wind pump but opted to stick with the plan and hope the cloud moved. I set up this shot and waited, the sun dropped lower and lower, the light got warmer, the river calmer and my patience eventually paid off. Cloud drifted peacefully into the scene and broke into this marvellous pattern creating some beautiful reflections. It was right about the time with the sun in the optimum position that the one and only boat I saw all afternoon churned it's way down the river but as I finished muttering expletives I realised I actually liked the effect and chose it over the reflection shots.
You'll find more of my images from Norfolk here
So there you have it, my latest new and not so new work. As always I'd love to know what you think, either here or on my Facebook page.
The National Trust Neptune campaign
International Garden Photographer of the Year 2015 is open for entries
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The last twelve months have been a busy time for me, photographically speaking anyway, especially where competitions were involved. I've spent an awful lot of time over the last year selecting and preparing images for competition entries with varying degrees of success. I was disappointed not to have got past the first round of Landscape Photographer of the Year but was delighted to have won, been runner up or shortlisted in several others.
There were a couple of competitions in particular that required a lot of effort: Wex Photographer of the Year is a weekly competition with the added pressure that entries have to have been taken during the last week. Points earned for first or second place each week being accumulated over the course of the year so it was important to enter every week if possible. The monthly competitions at Felixstowe Photographic Society, the camera club that I am a member of, work in a similar fashion (though obviously on a monthly basis) with various categories for mono and colour prints and digital images meaning that up to six images can be entered each time.
So, after a long hard year of battle (yes, I know it's not quite life or death but allow me some artistic license to add a sprinkle of excitement) I was particularly looking forward to relaxing and reflecting on the year's results but that wasn't quite how things worked out.
Wex Photographic marked the end of their Photographer of the Year competition with an exhibition at the Forum in Norwich with all the winning images from the year on show, beautifully printed and framed. The standard of the competition was clear from the quality of the winning prints on display so I was really pleased that despite having missed several weeks I managed to finish third overall and had six prints included in the exhibition.
Rather than an exhibition, Felixstowe Photographic Society held an annual awards dinner. A chance to get together and, amongst other things celebrate the year's achievements. I fared rather better there, winning several trophies for the monthly competitions as well as the coveted Photographer of the Year award.
I mentioned earlier things not quite going according to plan, the problem was that both of these events took place on the same night, at venues 60 miles apart! I managed to catch the first half of one and after some spirited driving, the second half of the other so it all worked out well enough but relaxing it wasn't.
The Wexhibition will be at the forum in Norwich until February 7th
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The first this month is a view that has become pretty well known amongst photographers and the scene of what i would imagine is my best known image. You don't often see this in colour though and I've been meaning to do a version myself for some time and in the end, just like my mono version the opportunity was pretty spur of the moment.
The weather forecast for the morning in question wasn't looking particularly promising and I almost didn't bother going out, but my usual tactic for days like that is to go somewhere local to reduce my grumpiness if I come home without any photos. So on a morning that looked very grey and cloudy I found myself on a windswept Felixstowe seafront witnessing the most unexpected show of dawn colour I've ever seen. The tide was as close to perfect as one could possibly hope for on a last minute trip like this so I was very excited as I got out of the car. The big challenge was the wind or rather what it carried… sea spray. I managed to get my colour shots but there was no time to consider or tweak compositions because within seconds of fitting a graduated filter in front of the lens it was coated with spray and a long exposure was definitely out of the question. Cleaning filters on location is far from practical so even though I have a pretty good selection of them I managed about 10 shots before they were all unusable but by that time the sun had risen into the clouds and the show was over.
The next new addition is from Waldringfield, a tiny village on the River Deben in Suffolk. This was taken on a beautifully calm and misty dawn trip back in June (a time of year when dawn actually means the middle of the night). The sky was almost totally clear so as I was walking along the river I knew it was never going to be a spectacular sunrise, as is often the case int he summer, but it did mean there would be some nice warm sidelight as the sun came up. With that in mind I decided to concentrate the composition on the foreground boats and their mirror like reflections keeping the fairly boring sky to a minimum. The sun didn't disappoint and I spent a good 45 minutes shooting boats and reflections before heading home for a quick sleep before work.
The last image for this post is from Shingle Street which, as it's name suggests, is a row of cottages bordering the large shingle beach on this fairly remote part of the Suffolk coast. This area of coastline has an interesting history but it's now important for the rare and protected habitat. It's a place I haven't photographed for some time possibly because it's somewhere that I have found difficult to capture well but or maybe just because, as a photographer who likes to dash about looking at every angle, it's rather laborious to walk across.
This was another of those last minute visits and without a particular plan in mind I wandered (trudged) across the beach looking for a starting point. The shingle had shifted a lot since my last visit here, probably caused by last winter's tidal surges, and a whole new mini peninsular has been created which is where my trudging took me. With views back to the beach and cottages beyond there was no shortage of interesting compositions but there was a distinct lack of interesting light. After some time spent waiting for something to happen and idly wondering whether the incoming tide would cut me off or not, I decided it was a lost cause and headed back up the beach to have a quick look around before going home.
As you would expect this is when the sun decided to make a brief appearance and as warm light raked across the beach a pink tinge appeared in the distant clouds. I was caught between going back and carrying on to the classic view of the shingle street coastguard cottages and, well you can see what I decided.
You'll find this and more of my images from the Suffolk coast here
So there you have it, my latest new and not so new work. As always let me know what you think, would you like to see more info or more images and less info etc.?
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The problem with being a part-time photographer is the 'weekend weather rule'. The weekend weather rule states that the weather on Monday will always be absolutely perfect for whatever type of photography you couldn't do over the last couple of days due to bad weather*. This Monday was particularly bad with a weekend of drab overcast, raininess followed by a drive to work on a crisp frosty morning with sun breaking through swirly mist covered fields. Determined not to be beaten I checked the forecast for Tuesday morning and when I saw a chance of frost I planned a quick local sunrise trip before work… a trip that would turn out to further frustrate.
Arriving at Dedham, conditions looked perfect and hurrying along the river with grass crunching underfoot, tree looming out of the mist ahead of me and warm colours in the sky signalling the approaching sunrise I was getting excited at the prospect. That is until I discovered I couldn't actually get where I wanted to go because it was flooded.
Photographers are a pretty resourceful bunch, it doesn't matter what your field (flooded or otherwise), things rarely go according to plan and you get used to thinking on your feet. No problem, I just started looking for alternative views and this photo with the flood water stretching across the field towards the sunrise, turned out to be one of them. It was the first of a handful of keepers that I came a way with before dashing back to the car and making the frantic drive to work.
Hang on, where does the frustration come into it? Well, I know this image could have been better. My problem is I can't help thinking there's a better composition somewhere else so as the sunrise colour spread across the sky, reflecting nicely across the foreground water, I was wandering around over by the river looking for that elusive perfect composition rather than getting the best from the one I'd already found and that sort of thing really bugs me.
Am I being too critical? Yes and no. Don't get me wrong, I am not unhappy with this image but the question is could it have been better? and if so, how? My aim has always been to try and create stunning images, a goal I'll never reach if I stop asking those questions of my work and accept an average image as being good enough. Besides, it's the incentive to keep setting that alarm early, any excuse to be out enjoying morning's like this.
*Unless you've taken Monday off
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Wicken Fen
If you're a photographer yourself it probably won't come as much of a surprise to hear that I love autumn. With it's cool misty mornings, low afternoon sunlight and of course the colours it is probably my favourite time of year. Actually, truth be told I get excited by the start of every new season so you may well see a post in a few weeks, probably following the first sign of frost, when I'll be talking about winter being my favourite time of year and then again when the world turns green in spring, but I digress.
Autumn is a beautiful time of year but with shorter days and a full time job to contend with, it can be a frustrating time. A time when weekend weather always seems to be drab and grey while the view from the office window always seems to be bathed in warm autumnal light and the best opportunities come and go with me sat behind a desk.
This year however I had been tasked with the job of capturing the autumn colours at a handful of the National Trust's properties here in East Anglia so I couldn't afford to miss a thing.
The places on my list were Anglesey Abbey, with it's avenues of trees, colourful gardens and riverside walks and Wicken Fen, the National Trust's oldest nature reserve a huge wetland home to thousands of species of wildlife. Both of these were in Cambridgeshire, while in Norfolk there was Felbrigg Hall with it's rolling landscape park including a lake and 520 acres of woodland and Sheringham Park, stunning views across 1000 acres of woodland and parkland with footpaths that take you all the way to the cliff tops of the Norfolk coast.
If you have ever visited any or all of these places (and if you haven't you should) you'll know that there's a lot of ground to cover. Maps needed to be studied, sun angles looked at, footpaths explored and plans formulated. Lots of early starts and long days shooting were followed by late nights processing images
Who am I kidding? I'm not going to lie to you, although a lot of effort did go into the project it never once felt like work, it was a dream job and I loved every minute spent 'getting mud on my boots' (as David Noton would say). Apart from time spent exploring and photographing some beautiful locations, there were other benefits.
I often used to struggle to decide where to visit each weekend but immersing yourself in a project like this, whether for a client or yourself, takes away that problem leaving you to focus on the photography. Once the obvious shots are safely in the bag you can explore the subject further and see where it leads, hopefully taking your photography to new places or at the very least building a more interesting collection of photos and with a new long-term project already started at least deciding what to photograph isn't going to be an issue for some time.
Earlier this month I was running a 1-2-1 workshop at Thurne on the Norfolk Broads, although the skies were far too clear for spectacular dawn colour, we were treated to a nice covering of mist. The conditions proved too good to resist so while my client was exploring different compositions I took the opportunity to grab a shot of this scene. While I'm pleased enough with the results to include it here there care a couple of things that niggle me. The first is that I couldn't find an angle that included a clear reflection of the mill without affecting the boat and moorings. The second being the angle of the windmill's sails, if they were rotated clockwise slightly we could have seen all four of them and the angle would have lead the eye nicely to the boat but we can't have everything!
The next new addition is from Pin Mill, an interesting place on the shores of the River Orwell in Suffolk. I call it a 'place' as it's hard to define. There isn't a mill and it's not a village, there is a pub, boatyard and a cluster of charming cottages. Being close to home it's perfect for catching a summer sunrise without having to get up at 2am. In fact this is from a sunrise visit in July that I have only just got round to processing. Sometimes images are easy to process, I know exactly what I want from them and can't wait to get stuck in. Others, like this one, sit in the queue for as long as long as it takes for me to feel inspired.
You'll find this and more of my images from the Suffolk coast here
The last image for this post is an old favourite location, the lighthouse at Dovercourt, a spot on the Essex coast that I have been visiting since I first became interested in photography. On this occasion I had actually been planning a trip to the north Norfolk coast but as the weather forecast deteriorated so did my enthusiasm and when a friend asked if I fancied popping over to Dovercourt in the morning I grabbed the chance to spend longer in bed and less time driving. As it turned out although the sunrise didn't happen, the sun did break through the clouds just enough to create this interesting sky and emphasise the ripples in the sand. I knew straight away it was going to work well in black and white so switched my camera preview to monochrome and started searching for a suitably dramatic composition. The challenge being to make the most of the foreground without rendering the lighthouse as a spec in the distance which is prone to happen with a wide angle lens.
You'll find this and more of my mono images here
So there you have it, my latest new work. As always let me know what you think, would you like to see more info or more images and less info etc.?
I've always loved photographing the coast. It's hard to beat watching the sunrise on a deserted beach and seeing the scene in front of you transformed by the first rays of golden sunlight. There's more to it than that though, there's something about the coast that has that extra bit of magic that photographers crave. Of course the weather conditions can change quickly, sometimes going from one extreme to the other quicker than you can put your hood up, often rewarding you if you are brave enough, with dramatic light that quickly makes up for the soaking you've just got.
It's the sea though that draws me back time and time again. With it's ever changing moods and constant tidal ebb and flow, the sea provides endless inspiration and with a clear horizon the light at dawn and dusk can seem to linger for hours, which is how this photo came about.
I took this image on my first visit to a stretch of beach that has since become one of my favourite spots, below the cliffs at Hunstanton in Norfolk. I'd spent an enjoyable couple of hours shooting the cliffs, rocks and shipwreck around sunset and the sun had long disappeared below the horizon when I headed back to the car. As I walked up the beach I looked back and noticed this scene behind me, the beach was now almost black and the streams of water snaking across the sand at low tide looked silver in the fading light. I very nearly didn't take the photo, but after momentarily weighing up whether it was worth unpacking my gear for, the camera came back out and I shot a handful of frames, intentionally blurring this one a bit to emphasise the motion... a little abstract but isn't this all about the depths of perception?
This is my entry into the Depths of perception: Ocean waves photoblog competition, find out more at http://www.cruise.co.uk/blog/
Since the last post, which was my first impression of the bag, I've had a chance to use it in the field and have to say I'm over the moon with it's performance. In use it is light and comfortable, to be fair it isn't really big enough to carry enough gear to make it heavy but that's exactly what I wanted. The 'flip side' feature (which enables you to slip off the shoulder straps, rotate the bag around to the front and access your gear with the bag supported by the waistband) works perfectly. I was able to quickly change lenses, grab filters etc without having to put the bag down in wet grass or keep taking it on and off so I always had everything to hand.
Something I forgot to mention in the original review was that the camera compartment is completely removable, it has a drawstring cover and handles so you can store your camera gear and use the bag as a standard daypack. I forgot about it largely because it wasn't something that particularly interested me but what is useful however is the drawstring cover. With the camera compartment in place in the backpack you can tuck the cover away out of sight but in poor conditions, a windy beach for example, you can pull it up over your gear giving it an extra layer of protection from the elements while the bag is open.
Finally I'll get to the point, the main reason for this little update is that as well as trying the bag out properly I've also spent a bit of time playing with the internal dividers to get a better layout and have managed to find a way to comfortably fit everything I need into the main compartment.
As the bag is nice and deep I found that by putting all the cards, batteries and other bits and bobs in a ThinkTank cable management pouch (if I'm wearing a coat, these go into my pocket anyway) there was space to sit it on top of the 100-400mm (or maybe 70-200mm) saving enough room for my filters and leaving the side pocket free for a hydration reservoir/drink bottle, snacks… perfect.
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Over the years I've probably bought more camera bags than my wife has handbags, at least that's what she tells me anyway. Initially it was buying increasingly larger bags to accommodate a growing amount of gear but once you accumulate more gear than you want to carry around then the hunt begins for the 'perfect' camera bag. To cut a long story short it doesn't exist, there's no such thing as the perfect camera bag there are perfect bags for particular places or perfect bags for carrying particular amounts of gear but if there's a bag that does it all I haven't found it.
Now, if I'm writing a blog about bags again then you can guess where this is going and you'd be right, on this occasion I was on the lookout for a light backpack to carry just my essential landscape gear (camera body, 3 lenses and filters) that would be comfortable on long walks and would allow me to access gear without having to put it down. So this week after much research and social media discussion I added bag number four to my current collection... a Lowepro Flipside 15L. I should say a quick thanks to Phil Carpenter on Facebook and Lowepro UK on Twitter amongst others for the helpful information.
As you can see from the photo at the top it's the opposite of the big, bulky Lowepro Pro Trekker 300 that I use when I need everything but the kitchen sink. Everything about it is smaller and lighter, the straps are thinner but still very comfortable and ventilated to help it stay that way in use. The photo below show the removable main compartment which easily holds all the gear on my list with the filters safely tucked away in the zip-up hydration pocket on the side. There is a rather nice tripod pouch on the other side but I suspect my tripod and head would be a bit overbalanced on this backpack and I usually hang it over my shoulder anyway.
The main reason for picking the Flipside is the ability to slip off the shoulder straps, swivel the bag around the front and open it up without putting it on the floor and If you do have to put the bag down, it opens from the back so it's the from that gets wet or dirty rather than the foam padding that you'll be putting back on your back!
So, did it tick all the boxes on my list? Well I haven't had the chance to use it properly yet and I'm sure I'll find plenty that I love and hate about it when I do but from first impressions it fits the bill perfectly.
Perfectly? Ok not quite.
In order to fit my filters in I've used the hydration pocket which means I have no room for a drink. Lowepro UK actually advised me that the 20L might suit my needs better as I would have plenty of room for everything including a drink and more gear if needed, I really didn't want to have an excuse to add more gear and make the bag heavier hence my decision.
The other problem with the bag is something that baffles me. Like most camera bags the dividers are moveable, held in place by velcro. Usually the interior of the bag will be covered in a soft velcro 'loop' material with the dividers having strips of velcro 'hook' material on each end. In the Flipside 15L however, only about 80% of each side is covered with this material, the top section of the bag is covered in a shiny material that the velcro won't stick to which drastically reduces your options for customising the layout of the bag for no apparent reason. Why not just cover the whole interior, add plenty of dividers and let us take care of the layout?
You'll see the lack of velcro behind the camera in the photo below which also shows that with a quick adjustment I found I could fit a DSLR with a telephoto lens plus Fuji X-Pro1, 3 lenses and necessary accessories so there is some flexibility but not as much as I'd like. Overall though it's a quality bag and I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces.
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Fancy a challenge? Somewhere in this beautiful heather covered heath I dropped a small plastic cube about 2cm across, it's only worth about £5 but if you find it, it's yours… any takers? anyone? hello?
Ok, so it's not worth spending hours looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack when this small cube, a hot shoe spirit level to give it it's proper name, only costs a few pounds to replace. On the other hand, I drop these things so often it's becoming very annoying and despite the fact that they are luminous green, I never find them again. It's not just spirit levels either, my remote shutter release often works itself loose and disappears into the undergrowth where it finds a dark corner to hide in until I give up the search and resign myself to another Amazon order.
After this last escape incident I decided enough was enough and set about coming up with a solution to the problem - other than ordering a lorry load of the things that is. Remarkably I came up with one...
You will need - 1 hot shoe spirit level, 1 elastic band
Step 1 - Wrap elastic band fairly tightly around the spirit level
Step 2 - Fit spirit level to hot shoe and roll band down et voila no more lost cubes
An equally simple solution presented itself to the remote shutter release problem. I'd already wrapped the cable up in a small bungee cord to keep it tidy and more importantly prevent it from dangling in the water in an attempt to drown itself (this one came from Think Tank Photo with one of their rather nice Cable Management bags). I just stepped up security by wrapped the cord around the camera strap as well. Here's one I prepared earlier...
Summer is drawing to a close this year with an impressive display of heather across the country including here in Suffolk. Although the days are getting shorter, there is still just about time for me to get a sunrise photography session in before work, which is exactly what I did this morning. I'd been to Dunwich Heath a couple of times recently and have managed to capture some gorgeous light on the heather but haven't got the shot I was hoping for so at 4am I set off for the 3rd time.
As I drove across Westleton Heath a few minutes before reaching my destination I was greeted by the sight of the heather shrouded in a thin layer of mist... an interesting development that wasn't in my plan. My first thought was to change the plan and stop here but no, Dunwich heath was the destination and besides I didn't know this area too well so I'd only be hunting around trying to find a view. I kept going secretly hoping that, like the proverbial icing on the cake, there would be mist there as well. Arriving at Dunwich Heath I was rewarded with... you guessed it, no mist. No problem there was some vaguely interesting cloud that was in the wrong place at the moment but hey, there was always the chance it would move. I got out of the car and grabbed my gear but I was wavering, a little voice in my head was reminding me that this wasn't perfect, there would be other, better sunrises but I'd never photographed mist across the heather before.
Those of you who've been in this sort of situation before can probably already see where this is going and yes after taking a couple of half hearted test shots I gave in to the nagging voice in my head and got back in the car and returned to the spot I'd passed earlier.
The mist had thinned a bit so I hastily set about trying to find a composition but it was a race against time and it wasn't happening. I soon realised that it was going to be difficult to make the most of what was developing into an impressive sunrise from this location. To make matters worse the voice was back. "Should've stayed where you were, stuck to the plan". Doubt was creeping in and rather than concentrating on crafting a composition from the elements in front of me I was actually considering whether there was time to go back to the original plan.
Before this starts to sound like I expect to come away with a card full of masterpieces every time I go out, I don't. I'm quite happy to come away with nothing if the weather is terrible, well maybe not exactly happy, I'm usually pretty grumpy about it if I'm honest but that's how it goes. You can't control the weather and there's no point worrying about things you can't control. What does upset me is if the conditions are perfect but I've made the wrong call and find myself in the wrong place at the right time... that upsets me a lot!
So what can we learn from this sorry tale? Never deviate from the plan? No that wouldn't be any fun and some of my best images have been happy accident's or spur of the moment decisions. Don't trust yourself to make a rational decision at 4.30am? All that glitters isn't gold? Don't panic? All of those but I think more importantly, stick to your guns… once you are at your chosen location focus on finding an image and don't be distracted on what could have been because trust me, spending the day at work struggling to stay awake knowing it was all for nothing is no fun!
At least his morning's gloomy cloud does have a silver tinged lining in that I'd been feeling decidedly uninspired on the blogging front lately and this episode has cured that particularly block.
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Fuji X-Pro1, Fuji 14mm f2.8, Hoya IR72 Filter
After a week or so with the Fuji X-Pro1 it's time for an update with a few first impressions. While waiting for the lens adaptor arrived I occupied myself with gathering all the essential new camera accessories… all those useful things that I already own for every camera I have but need to buy again every time I acquire a new one.
I do a lot of low light and long exposure photography for which a shutter release cable is essential. Unusually in the digital era, Fuji haven't produced an electronic version, presumably to fit with the feel of the camera they've used a mechanical one. Fuji don't actually make one of these either but it's a standard fitment so you can use one of the many third party versions on the market, I went for a NIkon AR-3 which seems to be very good quality and looks rather handsome in black and chrome. Next up was a couple of spare batteries to combat the poor battery life problem of the X-Pro1 but I'll spare you the photos, they're just batteries.
Straps seem to provide hours of internet conversation for Fuji X aficionados. The camera does come complete with a perfectly good black leather neck strap but with a camera of this size I prefer a wrist strap which also has the added bonus of not getting in the way when the camera is on a tripod. This one was hand made in Italy from wonderfully soft, aged leather and although the jury is still out on the colour, it is a thing of beauty.
Finally the lens adaptor arrived, there are many cheap generic ones on the internet that all look very similar and a few very expensive ones. As it is basically just a physical adapter to change a Canon FD mount to a Fuji X mount with no electrical contacts, I went for one of the cheap options. Time alone will tell if it was money well spent or false economy but I will be going into using the adapter in more detail in another post so for now suffice to say that it works.
As you have probably noticed from the photo, as well as the adapter I also acquired a used Fuji 14mm f2.8 lens. Again I'm sure I'll talk more about this when I have more room but in keeping with the camera, it is made how lenses used to be made, reassuringly solid metal construction with a smooth focus ring that pulls back to switch from auto to manual focus revealing a depth of field scale. My only slight gripe is that I would have preferred the aperture ring to be more 'notchy' so it clicks into place, as it is it turns far too easily and I found myself checking the aperture constantly (luckily it is visible in the viewfinder) as it is so easy to accidentaly move it.
While I have tested the camera out with a couple of sunrise trips I haven't really put it through its paces or found time to have a good look at the resulting images so I've posted a quick photo at the top but we'll just look at first impressions for now...
Being a small camera it's, well, small. I found it difficult to handle without leaving fingermarks all over the screen but that's probably because I'm used to manhandling a chunky DSLR. There are however some strange design decisions. The tripod mount is positioned so close to the battery/memory card compartment that you have to remove the tripod QR plate to access memory card or battery. On the subject of the battery compartment, there is a catch to open it but it doesn't click shut again, you have to push the catch back into place. I know it sounds like a small thing but on a freezing winter morning I could do without having to remove cold metal tripod plates and fiddle around with things like that!
Niggles aside, it's a peach of a camera to use for landscapes. I like to compose my images using the viewfinder and then use the rear screen to focus , position filters and fine tune. It was a joy to be able to switch between the two without having to press any buttons and overlaying information such as histogram or electronic level is quick and easy on either. Manual focus is simple as well thanks to focus peaking which clearly highlights areas in focus and when you're ready even the shutter has a nice satisfying sound.
It's a very tactile experience which makes you slow down and think about what you are doing but at the same time there is so much lovely technology packed into that little camera that it's all very simple to use... I'm looking forward to seeing whether it can give my Canon 5D mkII a run for it's money.
Leather strap from www.angelo-pelle.com
Lens adaptors available from www.srb-photographic.co.uk
A few weeks ago I scribbled down a blog about compact system cameras, a piece of literary genius that will sadly never see the light of day. The gist of said piece was that as much as I love the whole concept of these small, lightweight but powerful cameras (or at least some of them) they only offer a lighter alternative to, rather than actually bettering my DSLR set-up, thus I wouldn't be buying one until I could justify it as an addition rather than a replacement for my Canon DSLRs.
However before I actually posted the piece online I found myself buying one, which although it ruined that whole blog the plus side is that I am now the proud owner of a used Fuji X-Pro1 in mint condition.
This is something of an introduction, I'm planning to keep you abreast of my progress with it but as I haven't currently got any lenses progress is understandably slow. What I have purchased, having experienced first hand the less than stellar battery life, is two spare batteries.
It's proving quite difficult to decide which of Fuji's (mostly) awesome lenses to buy as I'm not 100% sure what I'll end up using the camera for, it could well be a travel(ling light) camera or maybe it will take over landscape duties as well. While I make that decision I've ordered an adapter which will allow me to use some of the old Canon FD lenses that currently serve as paperweights in my office.
I'll keep you posted.
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The atmosphere in the room was tense, there were some positive murmurings from my fellow spectators but I couldn't quite make out what was being said and besides I was too busy trying to assess the reaction of the panel of judges. I was sat with 20 or so other spectators at an LRPS assessment in a small, dark viewing room deep in the heart of the Royal Photographic Society HQ in Bath. After a brief look from their seats, the panel of judges who were sat in a line with their backs to us at the front of the room, had now got up to take a closer look at my panel of prints. I hadn't expected to be nervous but as the judges went through their routine and returned to their seats to fill out their score cards it was pretty nail biting.
Rewind back to March when I joined the RPS and decided to apply for my LRPS thinking it would just be a matter of choosing ten nice photos and getting them printed… how wrong could I have been.
If you're not familiar with the RPS distinctions, there are basically three, the first of which is the Licentiateship or LRPS for which you submit a panel of ten images that show a good standard of all processes of photography from seeing, taking and making to presenting.
I began the quest for my LRPS by searching through my Lightroom catalogue for my 'best' pictures which seemed like the best place to start but I ended up with far too many and with a 'you never know' mentality found it very difficult deciding which should stay and which should go. Getting it down to just ten or fifteen wasn't going to happen anytime soon so I decided on a different angle and split the images up into themed groups (the LRPS requires diversity of technique but not necessarily subject matter). I think a panel with a theme looks so much stronger so I wasted a lot of time trying to come up with a themed yet diverse panel, the resulting panels didn't fill my with optimism though and I knew I could do better.
On closer inspection I realised that perhaps my 'best' pictures weren't technically speaking my best pictures and set about trying to detach myself from my photos and instead picking a pool of technically good photos from which to choose a balanced panel.
I came up with a couple of panels and sought as many opinions as possible on my selections but to find out what is required technically and visually, I would advise anyone considering an LRPS to attend an advisory day. Even if like me, it's just as a spectator, an advisory day is invaluable... just seeing how closely the judges examine the prints tells you everything you need to know.
There is also an email feedback service offered to members by the RPS and once I had chosen my final panel I took advantage of what proved to be an excellent service, acted on the detailed feedback and my panel was ready. When I say 'ready' I mean I'd chosen my panel but it still had to be printed and mounted... twice as it turns out as nine of the first set of prints needed a few adjustments.
So, is it worth all the effort and indeed the cost? I had my doubts about halfway through the process but I'm glad I persevered as, apart from the fact that I passed, I definitely learnt from the experience. My main reason for applying though was that I thought an RPS distinction should hopefully bring piece of mind for prospective clients of my workshops's that I have at least some idea what I am talking about.
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If you've ever set your alarm for 3am to photograph in the golden hour only to find it's been replaced by a wishy-washy grey hour you'll know it's no fun... come to think of it if you've ever had to get up at 3am for anything you'll know it's no fun. Question is does poor weather necessarily put pay to your chances of getting some good photos?
Last weekend I went to Aldeburgh at sunrise to shoot the fishing boats on the beach and I had some shots in mind requiring specific conditions. Nothing too unusual, just a clear horizon so the first rays of sunlight would bathe my subject with some nice warm side lighting... a bit of fluffy cloud to pick up some colour and add interest in the sky would have been nice as well but I'm not greedy, the sun would have been enough.
The problem is with such a specific idea in my head it meant that when, inevitably, the conditions didn't materialise and the sun and all but the sky directly above was hidden by hazy grey clouds I was stuck for ideas. Rather than going with the flow and working with the conditions to see what I could come up with I was trying to make my shot work with what was there... the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Unsurprisingly I came away with nothing worth keeping but not because the weather was awful (which it was) rather because I didn't have an open mind to any photographic possibilities that may have been there. I'd left my creative mojo at home, along with my flask of coffee, which really did nothing to improve my mood I might add.
The drive home was a reflective one and I vowed to learn a lesson from the experience (apart from never leave your coffee on the kitchen table) if things don't go according to plan, throw away the plan and start again because there's almost always an image to be made you just have to find it.
In case you are wondering, the photo above was a shot I salvaged from another bad weather outing to Hunstanton a couple of years ago.
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I recently had a discussion on Facebook prompted by an image I'd seen that was similar to one of my own, about how many similar images there are of popular landscape locations.
About a week later I saw the other side of the arguement. Inspired by the work of fellow Suffolk photographer Antony Burch, I'd been planning on paying a visit to Sudbury water meadows so the next time the weather forecast predicting a misty start I headed over there.
Being my first visit I spent some time wandering around getting my bearings in the misty semi darkness when I stumbled upon a row of trees by the river that I recognised from one of Antony's images. Attracted to the view but determined to come up with something different I set about composing a shot.
However this wasn't as easy as it seemed, I tried various angles and focal lengths but by the time I'd made adjustments to avoid distractions while still keeping most of the row of trees in the shot I ended up with a similar view to Antony's. It seems some places have limited opportunities and similarities are inevitable but does that mean we should avoid famous beauty spots in a quest for originality or is it ok to travel the countryside slotting our tripods into well worn tripod holes?
Perhaps if you are aiming to license your images then it's going to be necessary to stay as step ahead of the competition and come up with an original viewpoint, stunning lighting conditions or unusual weather.
For most of us the pleasure of experiencing these beautiful places in the best conditions is what it's all about... the camera is our excuse to get out and discover the world around us. The great thing about landscape photography is that the landscape rarely looks the same twice, with light changing hour by hour, weather day by day and season by season so there's always a chance of capturing something unique.
My image isn't exactly unique and the conditions weren't the most spectacular but I certainly enjoyed being there.
See Antony's photography on his website... Antony Burch Photography
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Every now and then something obvious occurs to you, well it does me anyway. Usually something that I've read, understood and forgotten suddenly becomes clear - one of these occasions was while composing the image above. With the light constantly changing and the rising tide forcing me to keep moving backwards I was struggling to compose an image around these posts without including any of the not so harmonious shaped bits of wood and more importantly avoid the concrete breakwater to one side. It was then that I realised I spend more time trying to leave things out of my photos than include them.
As I'm sure you've heard before, painters start with a blank canvas while photographers start with a full one so painters can choose what to add and what to leave out but the constant struggle for landscape photographers is simplifying a beautiful view into a great photo. Keep it simple stupid is the mantra for many but keeping it simple isn't as simple as it sounds, there are so many variables to consider… aside from deciding where to point the camera, the angle of the camera, height of your tripod, focal length, time of day and time of year, you also have to contend with rising tides, changing light and physical obstacles.
Obvious as it may sound to some, deciding what is important in an image and thus can stay, and what doesn't add anything or even detracts from an image and needs to be left out of the composition is essential. Checking around the edges of the frame and adjusting your position to get things right before pressing the shutter button is time well spent.
Occasionally I look at a photo and think to myself how it could have been improved if the photographer had, for example, taken a step or two to the right or left to avoid distracting elements. It occurred to me recently though that perhaps I'm being picky and the photographer would have liked to do that but deliberately didn't to avoid some other undesirable object creeping in to the frame. I am also of course assuming that it was even possible at all, a step or two to the right could have resulted in a wellie full of water or a plunge over a cliff face for all I know.
So what's the answer? Should we accept that although the composition doesn't quite work it's near enough, hope the viewer understands there were mitigating circumstances? Personally I'd say no, if I make an image, have tried everything and the composition still doesn't quite work then I'll keep that picture to myself, better to show fewer good images than lots of average ones.
I'm sure some of you won't like it, but the answer in the case of my image where I really couldn't avoid certain distracting elements (namely an ugly concrete breakwater) was to keep in mind what I can do when processing the image and compose the picture in a way that would facilitate the removal of said objects later... I'm all for getting it right in camera as far as possible but am not averse to using all the tools at my disposal to get the photo I want.
Don't forget though that those images that I think could have been improved, might be considered perfect by others… beauty is of course, as they say, in the eye of the beholder.
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Another post about competitions, well exhibitions to be precise… A few months ago one of my images won a gold medal for best mono in a BPE (British Photographic Exhibition) national exhibition, if you don't know what a BPE exhibition is (and if you aren't a member of a camera club then you probably won't) you can find out a bit more here… http://www.justinminns.co.uk/blog/2013/9/gold
That was my first time of entering and flush with my success I decided to enter a couple more exhibitions, there are around 20 of these exhibitions around the country every year and to cut what is becoming a long story short, the same image has won another medal!
As you can see in the image it gained a nice shiny judges award medal in the Solihull Photographic Society open exhibition and also a PAGB ribbon in the Southport Photographic Society open exhibition… I have to admit that I'm not quite sure what a PAGB ribbon is but I'll let you know once it arrives.
I've mainly been entering mono digital images into these exhibitions and while the pictures were never taken with competitions or exhibitions in mind, I'm over the moon with how well they have been received and with nine of my images having been accepted into the first three exhibitions I'm well on the way to earning a BPE crown award which comes with 25 acceptances… I need to be careful this could become addictive!
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It's that time of year again, last weekend was the annual camera club awards dinner and this year I was pleased to collect two trophies, one for best colour print and the other for digital projected image. Admittedly that's one less than last year but as they're both quite large there wouldn't have been room for a third on the shelf!
It's nice to win but club competitions always leave me in two minds. On one hand I'm fairly competitive so I enjoy entering and seeing what people think of my photography, on the other hand I question whether it's worth the effort. Yes it can be disappointing if a judge doesn't rate your image highly, or frustrating if a photo is misinterpreted but it's not just that, I wonder what does winning or losing actually prove?
Does winning a competition make you the best photographer? Of course not. So what is it a measure of? Not a lot really, just that someone qualified to judge photos happened to like your photo the best on that day... on another day with another judge it could (or almost certainly would) have been someone else's print that won. It doesn't even make you the best photographer on that particular day really because it's just one persons opinion.
Ok there are certain elements in a photograph that judges assess to decide how good a photo is but that's just a reflection of how good a camera club competition photo it is as obviously with something so subjective there is no best, no good or bad just different opinions. So it's best not to get too smug in victory or too deflated if you don't do so well.
So how do you take a competition winning photo? Don't even try is my advice! Taking photos for your own enjoyment is far more rewarding than taking them to try and please somebody else, (especially as you've no idea exactly what that other person might be looking for). if a judge happens to like a photo that you've created and are particularly proud of then isn't that all the more satisfying?
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I don't really go in for New Year resolutions. If I was going start going to the gym, write a blog regularly or create world peace I'd have done it by now... besides, what's wrong with starting something new at any time of the year?
This year however I decided I really need to make an effort to organise my time better. I only regularly get time for photography at the weekends, often just Sunday mornings which makes it quite important to chose the right place to go with the camera.
To try and make the most of those rare occasions when exciting weather conditions coincide with my free time I've been doing my research and coming up with some seasonal shot lists – notes on places I'd like to photograph at particular times of the year.
I've always kept a list of potential locations for photography plotted on a google map but however much I mess around with coloured pins and labels I've failed to come up with a way to easily find the best location to suit the weather, time of year or time of day. In the end I gave up on the idea of being clever with technology, got some paper and wrote a list of places for each season and put them in the appropriate place in my Filofax (nothing wrong with still having one of those, the 80's are cool again apparently).
A few weeks ago I visited Orford and managed to get some photos of the first rays of winter light hitting the castle and although I was pleased with the results I couldn't help thinking a bit of snow or frost on the foreground would look even better. Thus when the forecast a couple of weeks ago suggested a frosty start, Orford was top of the list and back I went. Remarkably, it actually did go according to plan and there was a lovely frost twinkling over the grass around the castle, I made straight for my chosen composition and got the shot I'd planned
Similarly last weekend when the weather forecast was predicting frost and mist on Sunday morning, out came the 'frosty' list and the Norfolk Broads was selected resulting in the shot above.
Of course things don't always go according to plan. It's already a minor miracle that two glorious mornings have coincided with me being out of bed to enjoy them and bearing in mind that the next place on my list for a frosty sunrise is nearly a three hour drive away I can almost guarantee something will go wrong. What is certain is that whatever your weapon of choice, be it a spreadsheet on your PC, notes on an iPad or scribbling in a notebook, a bit of planning and preparation will improve your chances of being in the right place at the right time... the rest, as they say, is up to you.
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In what seems to have become typical British fashion, all the seasons this year have been running late, very late, weeks late. Apparently it's all been due to the wrong weather or leaves on the line or something but whatever the reason, it not only messed up my carefully laid plans for seasonal landscapes but has obviously rubbed off on me which is why on Christmas Eve I find myself writing about a trip I made in autumn.
The trip in question was to Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire, a wonderful area of rolling hills and woodland that after three or four visits I'm just starting to get to know. I actually visited there three weeks later than originally planned and still found the autumn colours weren't close to hitting their fiery peak and a surprising amount of greenery still around.
The mist I was hoping for didn't materialise but this game would be no fun if conditions were perfect every time and despite these slight disappointments the colours as the first rays of sun broke the horizon made it worth the 4 hour round trip.
I'l leave you with a couple more photos but that'll have to be all for now as I still have another 388 photos from this year that I've earmarked to process and I really should try and catch up before 2014 rolls around. I'm always adding new shots to the galleries on my website as I work through the never ending backlog so keep checking back if you want to see new work.
There's nothing better than finding a new location, especially when you get the planning right and the weather conditions come together to add that extra something that makes a special photograph. I enjoy researching new locations and love the anticipation of visiting somewhere for the first time, those early morning alarm calls, getting up in the dark and driving for hours to be there before sunrise... actually, not so much the last part and what's even less fun is the long drive home if the weather didn't play ball and you've barely taken a shot.
Besides, with all this travelling around searching for the next new location it's easy to overlook what's on your doorstep. I'm sure I'm not the only one guilty of taking for granted what's right in front of me but that local knowledge can make so much difference to our photographs. Familiarity can often feel like a bit of an obstacle to creativity but set yourself a challenge to try and find a new angle of something you know well and it needn't be. Visiting somewhere throughout the year, rain or shine is an opportunity to really get a feel for a place and build a collection of images that go a bit deeper.
I realised recently, while planning how to spend the weekend adding hundreds more miles to my poor car, that there are still several locations only a short drive from home that despite having photographed several times I still feel I couldimprove on the photos I have taken there. So, while feeling particularly lazy last weekend I decided to skip the research, forget the tide tables, ignore the weather forecasts and head to a favourite local spot and just see what happened. The result? It rained and I didn't take a single shot.
I am of course joking, I found myself in front of Woodbridge Tide Mill just before dawn composing the shot I'd failed to capture to my satisfaction on previous visits. It was low tide, something I'd normally avoid there as I don't usually find mud very attractive but surprisingly as the approach of sunrise streaked the sky with pink and orange, the warm colours reflecting off the wet mud transformed it completely. I'd added some different shots of a familiar place to my collection and went home happy and the best part is half an hour later I was home for breakfast.
Some of my best landscapes have been the lucky spur of the moment ones, where I've literally pulled the car over and grabbed a couple of shots. It's true that planning pays dividends and the more effort you put into it the luckier you seem to get but it also makes a refreshing change to just get out there and go with the flow... give it a try.
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At the beginning of this year I started a review of the Lowepro Pro Trekker 300AW backpack so after ten months of use it's time for a little update... a conclusion if you will.
Firstly I have to admit that I don't use a backpack 100% of the time. When I'm going to be on the move a lot or I'm going somewhere wet and muddy (ie not somewhere you can easily put your bag down) I prefer to use a shoulder bag (Think Tank Retro 30 to be precise) which allows me to carry the essentials - Camera, 3 lenses, filters etc and access it all without having to put the bag down. On the occasions when I have further to walk or need to carry more gear then the backpack gets the nod.
With plenty of padding and a few tweaks of the multiple strap adjustments the Pro Trekker makes carrying a heavy load effortless and weight is distributed evenly as long as you don't use any of the tripod straps... I haven't yet found a way to attach a tripod to it without it feeling awkward. I haven't yet run out of space either, finding room for 2 DSLR bodies, 5 lenses, a large set of Lee filters and all the other accessories a landscape photographer carries as well as a flask, snacks, hat, gloves etc. I doubt I could fit much more than that but I'm certain I wouldn't want to carry any more than that!
There are a couple of downsides however - more niggles than major problems but worth mentioning.
The main gripe for me is the fact that the main compartment opens from the outside (ie the side facing away from you when it's on your back) which means to access your gear you have to lay the bag padded side down. Apart from summer evenings, I rarely find myself photographing anywhere that isn't wet/damp/muddy/sandy/snowy etc and the padded side of the bag does a great job of absorbing all of this ready for when you put it back on your back. I'd rather the tougher outside of the bag took the brunt of the conditions especially as it's more water resistant... I noticed on one occasion, having laid the bag down on wet sand that moisture had seeped in to the main compartment at the bottom corners.
Another niggle is the zip to the main compartment. All of the zips and fastenings are very sturdy, with a tab at the end of each zip to hold and a chunky loops for pulling the zipper, but the main zip is far from smooth. It could be that the weather sealing obstructs it but one of the two zippers on the main compartment of my bag takes an unnecessary amount of effort to move it and emits an unhealthy noise when it does budge... the other one works fine but I expected better from a bag at this price. When you consider that you might have to release up to five clips before opening the zip, accessing your gear isn't a quick process!
Personally I'd also have preferred to see better use made of some of the spaces. There are three tripod pockets - one on the back and a smaller one on each side... replacing the one on the back with a zipped pocket leaving one on each side might have been more useful. Likewise the six memory card pockets - it's a pretty tight fit to get a CF card case into one and I carry more than six cards anyway so even if I didn't have a card wallet they'd be no good to me and I would have preferred to see another pocket for batteries or something like that. These are just my own little ramblings though and many others may find them all useful.
These shortcomings aside the Pro Trekker is a quality bag and the things to love about it far outweigh the niggles. It's well built, swallows a lot of camera gear and is comfortable in use but the real selling point for me is the extra space for your non-photographic gear. It's not an all-round general purpose type of bag, as the name suggests it's made for the outdoor photographer but if that's what you are and you're in the market for a backpack this should be on your shortlist.
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Forget cameras, lenses, filters, tripods etc. this week lets look at the other things every landscape photographer really needs...
1. A plan
Capturing stunning landscapes where all the elements have come together to create something special is all about being in the right place at the right time, that might occasionally happen by chance but the more preparation you put in the more often you'll get lucky. Good planning is especially important when visiting a new place for a dawn shoot. If you can go for a look around the day before to get a feel for the place and find your compositions, all the better, then on the day you're ready and waiting to get the shot when the light is right rather than still stumbling about in semi darkness setting up your tripod. If you don't have the time to visit beforehand you can piece together a good idea of the place by looking at other people's photos and using google maps (street view is very handy for finding parking places). You can also glean other useful information from the internet... weather, tides and the position of the sun . I have to admit, I'm yet to find a weather forecast that gets it right more than about 20% of the time, as there's only so many types of weather likely to occur at a particular time of year, I would have thought looking out of the window and guessing would get higher odds of success than 1 in 5! If you do have a recommendation for an online weather forecast please share it with us, it'll be welcome with open arms.
2. Sat nav
Occasionally you get the luxury of photographing somewhere that is just a few steps from a conveniently located car park but more often than not that new location you're planning on visiting will be tucked away in the middle of nowhere. Some places are hard enough to find in daylight so finding your way there for the first time in semi-darkness, bleary eyed from a 3am alarm call sounds a lot like hard work... it's also nice to see from the estimated time of arrival that you're going to be there on time to capture that perfect sunrise.
3. The right clothes
Ok, this an obvious one right? Even in relatively mild East Anglia standing on a North Sea beach waiting for the sun to come up in winter can get more than a trifle nippy and there's nothing guaranteed to kill your desire to take photos quicker than not being able to feel you extremities. The subject of outdoor clothing could fill several blogs on it's own so let's just pick one item for this list... gloves. Apart from your eyes fingers are probably the most useful body part for operating a camera and typically they are the first things to refuse to work properly in the cold. Gloves like these Extremities 'Sticky Thicky' gloves are thin enough for you to operate the camera without having to take them off and have sticky rubber lines on the palms and fingers making it easier to grip things. They're not going to keep you warm and toasty all day but you can easily fit a thicker pair over the top when you're not shooting.
4. Patience
You've got yourself to the 'right place' and you have the right gear but however much planning you've put in there's no guarantee that it'll be the 'right time'. In fact sometimes I'm convinced that, contrary to what the boy scouts would have you believe, being prepared just means something outside your control will go wrong. Sometimes you'll have to wait hours for the right conditions which may only last seconds, often you'll have to return more than once to get a decent shot but if you are patient, when the magic happens you'll be ready to get your picture and it'll all be worth it.
5. Travel towel
One of my favourite (and cheapest) things in my bag, is a massive ultra-thin microfibre towel which folds into a tiny mesh bag, weighs practically nothing and is brilliant at drying stuff. Very handy for drying off the camera (or yourself) on misty or rainy days and a life saver if your gear gets splashed by a wave.
6. Spare socks
No matter what you do, the sea will always manage to splash over the top of your wellies or your trousers will get soaked wading through long grass and drip into your walking boots. Stashing a nice dry pair of socks and some trainers in the car somewhere will mean that after squelching around in wet boots for hours at least you don't have to drive home with soggy feet.
Do you have any must-have gadgets or gizmos that live in your camera bag, join in the discussion here or on Facebook or Twitter.
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First of all I must apologise in advance for spending two blog posts in a row talking about myself but I've got a bit of exciting news to share and besides, it's my blog.
Last weekend saw the winners of the 2013 Landscape Photographer of the Year competition announced, a diverse collection of stunning atmospheric British landscape photography.
Whilst alas, I wasn't one of the lucky winners, I was delighted to hear that for the second year running, one of my images was commended by the judges and will appear as a print at the National Theatre exhibition in London. In addition it will not only appear in the Landscape Photographer of the Year collection 7 book... but it was also selected to be on the cover. As you can imagine I'm unbearably excited and can't wait to see the finished book in print.
The exhibition runs from December 7 until February 8, admission is free and from what I've seen so far if you can get to London it looks like it's going to be well worth a visit. Congratulations to all the winners, see you at the preview evening.
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Earlier today I went along to Ipswich Town Hall to view the 6th annual Beyond Group photographic exhibition, Beyond Group', in case you don't know, are a small creative photographic society based in Suffolk, one of several clubs across the country who organise exhibitions like this as part of the British Photographic Exhibitions (BPE). I have to admit that before joining a camera club nearly two years ago I had no idea that these exhibitions existed, but they're kind of like a competition, photographers around the country send in prints or digital images and the best are selected for inclusion in the exhibition.
Why am I telling you all this? well, a slideshow of the exhibition gets shown at clubs around the region, which is how I became aware of them and the lack of any photos from our club spurred me and one or two others on to give it a go this time.
This year there were around 3500 photos entered, these were ruthlessly whittled down by a panel of judges who score each image out of 15, with just a few hundred achieving the minimum score of 12 required to make it into the exhibition. Three of the photos accepted were mine one of which to my surprise won the gold medal award for best mono digital.
As you can see, it is an actual medal (I thought I'd just get a certificate or something) and rather nice it is too, although disappointingly it didn't come with a ribbon, which rather spoils my plan to wear it round my neck every time I go out with my camera. I believe that if you get a certain amount of photos accepted into BPE exhibitions you earn letters after your name, I'm not sure if my beginner's luck will spur me on to enter more exhibitions or not but I'm feeling pretty proud to have won my first one... maybe I'll just quit while I'm ahead and bask in the glow of my gold medal for a little longer while I figure out how to attach that ribbon to it!
If you missed it, images from the exhibition can be viewed online here, some interesting photography on show so it's well worth a look.
]]>Here's a few of my favourites from the month starting with this black and white from Saxstead Green in Suffok. I'd driven out there really just to check on the condition on the crops (more precisely whether they'd been harvested and baled up yet) but on seeing the sails turning and all those clouds blowing across a beautiful blue sky grabbed the camera and tripod to experiment with some long exposures.
In a similar way, another quick scouting trip around the local farmland on the look out for a picturesque field of hay bales resulted in the next shot, again a bright day with blue skies and big white clouds moving steadily across the landscape... my favourite conditions for black and white photography.
I made several trips up to the Norfolk coast during August exploring the walk along the dunes from Wells to Holkham. It's quite difficult to capture in a photograph the huge wide open spaces along this part of the coast where beaches seem to go on for miles at low tide so when I saw this boat passing by, I chose to keep it small and low in the frame leaving plenty of sky to try and give a sense of space.
Finally for this update is a photo I took on the heathland near Dunwich in Suffolk, the end of summer brings the heaths to life with a carpet of different shades of heather, sprinkled with spiky grasses and studded with the odd silver birch or fir tree... you'll often be rewarded by the sight (or sound) of a few deer as well... I love photographing the heather here, not just for how fantastic the colours are but also because I know that autumn is now just around the corner.
This is just a small selection of what I've been up to, more of my latest work can be seen in the gallery.
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A new arrival in the shape of a tiny ginger kitten has been keeping us busy lately at home. The usual stuff... dodging ambushes, moving her from the computer keyboard, trying to type this while she's hanging off my arm by her needle sharp teeth, that sort of thing. While she may be causing chaos and our other cat is less than impressed at her presence, it's hard to resist pointing the camera at something as cute and creatively naughty as a kitten.
As a result I've spent a lot of my spare time over the last couple of weeks lying on the floor with the camera, trying to keep up with the antics of a 7 week old kitten as she races around the house. It's possibly the sternest test of any camera's autofocus system trying to stay locked on to something that changes direction and charges towards you at lightning speed and just as hard for the fool holding the camera to predict which direction she'll go when she doesn't appear to know herself!
Perversely, it seems the more I get into photography, the less pictures I seem to take, those I do take being mostly landscapes that are planned in advance and involve lots of waiting for the perfect moment... don't get me wrong I enjoy every minute of it and (when all goes to plan) still get a thrill from seeing the results but it seems to have become a bit more 'serious'. This however is the opposite... fast, spontaneous and fun, difficult to get right but so rewarding when you catch the moment and hilarious to see the action which the human eye misses frozen by the camera .
I really should try shooting something different more often!
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Recently I spent a bit of time planning future photography trips and while sticking virtual pins into an electronic map, marking the places I wanted to visit, I realised that my time is no longer my own. Completely unnoticed by me, at some point in my life I stopped just popping out to take photos of whatever part of the landscape happened to take my fancy and without realising it my photography became a hunt for seasonal colour.
Even just in East Anglia, the changes are quite relentless when you think about it... starting in spring when yellow fields of oil seed start to pop up over the landscape, once this wave of yellow is under way carpets of bluebells start to cover the floor of our woodlands and early mornings are spent in dark woods waiting for the first rays of sun to light the scene. As the purple starts to fade and the cereal crops start to get higher, dots of red poppies begin to appear or if you are lucky whole fields are splashed with vivid red. It's not quite the south of France but as summer gets hotter (or wetter as is usually the case) rows of purple lavender and the occasional field of sunflowers can be found nestled amongst the English countryside. If you haven't had enough of colourful landscapes by now our heathlands become a glorious patchwork of pink heather and green ferns while at the same time harvest begins and fields become strewn with hay bales and the race is on to photograph these icons of British summertime before the farmer carts them away... and then autumn begins.
Whatever it may be, the quest to catch that perfect display in the perfect light can be strangely addictive and as a result much of the year my time is now spent chasing around the countryside looking for the latest crop or wildflowers to be in bloom.
You wouldn't think getting 'the shot' would be that hard, it's not like flowers can run away or anything, but the problem is the best locations are rarely on the doorstep and drives of two hours or so are not uncommon, combine that with sunrise times beginning with four and ending in am and you're starting to be get the picture. Even once arrived there's no guarantee that the light and conditions will be favourable, I could be in danger of slipping into the realms of understatement, but being on the road at 2am to go and possibly take a photo of some flowers requires a bit of dedication or possiblyinsanity.
Is all this planning good for the creativity though? Following a timetable rather than going with the flow of the creative juices? Well maybe not always but having an assignment, even a self-imposed one with a natural deadline, can be quite effective in pushing you on to get the shot you want and if you don't get it, well there's always next year.
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On the north west corner of Norfolk, a four hour round trip drive from my home in Suffolk, is a place I visit whenever the opportunity arises and never tire of photographing. Hunstanton is a fairly small, traditional seaside resort, famous for it's red and white cliffs but otherwise quite unassuming... so what is it that keeps me going back?
Perhaps it's the quest for perfection? Strangely, or maybe not, however many times I visit and however many successful photos I take there, I always think that I haven't quite done it justice and that if next time I just moved round to the right a bit or used a lower viewpoint it would improve the composition... maybe that's it, it's the endless search for that perfect photo.
It could on the other hand be the amount of interesting things to photograph. In the short stretch of coast from Old Hunstanton village to Hunstanton town there is a magnificent stretch of strikingly coloured cliffs that almost glow in the evening light, a shipwreck, a generous scattering of unusual rocks that seem to be something of a geological oddity, some old mussel beds, plenty of the sort of interesting wooden groynes that photographers seem to love, a wide open stretch of sand that at low tide seems to go on forever and the biggest skies you'll see anywhere (probably). Clearly, to photograph all this in the best light or at the right tide is going to take more than one visit... yes that's got be the reason.
Living in the east, sunrise has always been the best time for photographing the coast and as I'm often up at the crack of dawn to do just that, I've always believed myself to be a morning person. What if I was wrong... Hunstanton, although on the east coast, actually faces west so the best time to visit is sunset, a rare thing in East Anglia. At this time of year I can drive up there after work, grab a bite to eat and then spend the evening wandering the beach absorbed in my photography until the last of the light fades and I stumble back to the car, wondering not for the first time why I didn't bring a torch. So the answer could simply be that I've actually been a night person all along and Hunstanton is the best place in this part of the world to enjoy that particular indulgence.
(Images taken from my latest trip to the main beach at Hunstanton, to see more visit my 'sea' gallery)
I was delighted to receive an email this week from Take a View informing me that two of my images (above) have been shortlisted for this years Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.
From my experiences with camera club competitions I have mixed feelings about the merits of photography competitions and had thought about discussing the pros and cons in this post... but sod that I'm far too excited about been shortlisted!
If (as I'm sure you do) you follow my blog religiously, devouring every word, then you'll already know that one of my photos was commended in last year's competition and appeared in the book and exhibition. Standard is incredibly high so I'm not holding my breath that I'll match that achievement but it's in the hands of the gods (or judges) now until winners are announced at the end of October... I'll keep you posted.
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I will at some point get round to writing a comparison between the Lee and Hitech ten stop filters but in the mean time I just wanted to write a short post about my recent experiences with Lee and their filters.
There's a spot on the coast at Felixstowe that I'd already visited a few times to take some long exposures of the unusual sea defences but each time either the weather or the tide height hasn't been right. Finally on my fourth visit everything seemed to be falling into place and I clambered up the rocks from the beach for a slightly elevated position to look down on the sea defences sweeping away to my right.
Once I'd found my composition I set the camera up on the tripod, fitted the filter holder and started to position filters. It was a bright day and I was going to need to stack a 3 stop pro glass ND filter with my 10 stop big stopper to get the length of exposure I needed to totally smooth out the sea as well as an ND grad to add a touch of drama to the sky. As I slid the pro glass filter into the middle slot I noticed it felt a bit looser than usual but carried on setting up the shot regardless. Ok I'm sure you can see where this is heading and sure enough as I was about to fire the shutter the filter dropped from the holder and smashed rather noisily to pieces on the rocks below!
After a brief moment spent staring dumbly at the empty space in the filter holder the swearing started, this was followed by a few more moments of trying to remember how much that thing had cost me which inevitably prompted more bad language and then I did an inexplicable thing. I still hadn't got my photo so rather than check the filter holder to see what was wrong I took out another filter... a 3 stop hard edged grad this time, which could at a pinch serve as a full ND filter by pulling it all the way over the front of the lens, fitted it and started shooting.
I got the shot I was after (above) and luckily the grad filter survived the experience intact but I was around £120 worse off a bit miffed! Having checked the filter holder it looked like the screws had worked a bit loose but I got in touch with Lee and they suggested I returned it along with the broken filter for them to check.... which I did.
Happy ending... Monday morning I received an email letting me know my package had arrived with them and they'd sort it out as soon as possible and two days later a parcel arrived for me containing a brand new foundation kit and brand new replacement pro glass filter... while I've never been disappointed with a Lee product or their service, I thought this was exceptional service and deserved a mention so thanks to Graham Merritt at Lee!
A few weeks ago I held my first landscape workshop in the shape of a day's one-to-one tuition and I've finally got round to writing about it. Workshops are something that I'd often thought about, both attending and running them but I'd never got round to doing anything about either. The former because annual leave and spare cash is usually taken up by family holidays and the latter because, well I've never quite thought I had enough knowledge to pass on so it never seems the right time to start. In the end while I continued procrastinating I got an email out of the blue from somebody asking if I could do one as a gift for their friend which kind of made my mind up for me.
I spoke to Tony, the friend in question, several times before the day to get an idea of what sort of stage his photography was at and what he wanted to achieve from the day, I came up with a few ideas for an itinerary and we decided on a sunrise shoot at Herringfleet windpump followed by a visit to the picturesque villages of Flatford and Dedham in the heart of Constable country.
Conditions on the big day were looking a bit disappointing with clear sunny weather... not ideal for sunrise at all but I met Tony in the car park at 4.45am (lesson 1 - get up early!) and as soon as we headed down towards the mill it was clear that the frost and nice blanket of mist spread across the fields was going to save the day. I'd planned to take a hands on approach to the tuition, I thought that shooting alongside Tony and offering advice or answering questions rather than looking over his shoulder all the time would keep things more relaxed and allow us to compare shots as well. So after looking at a few different angles we set up and got stuck in. While shooting we looked at composition and went through a few techniques such as using the histogram, focusing with live view and filtration amongst other things. Tony clearly had a good eye for a picture and I was pleased to be able to help him fine tune things where necessary.
When the rising sun had burnt off all the mist and frost at Herringfleet it was time to head back to base for some breakfast and to discuss some of the things covered in the morning and look at some processing techniques before heading off to finish the day at Dedham and Flatford.
After being a tad stressed beforehand about the weather and the timing of everything, I enjoyed every moment of the day but it's not really what I think that matters which is why I was delighted to see this message from Tony posted on my Facebook page...
"If anyone is considering a workshop then I can highly recommend Justin. A very friendly easy going chap. By the end of the day I had learnt so much. A great day"
My first workshop and a satisfied customer, at least if I get no more bookings I'll end on a high!
One of Tony's shots from the day, more of Tony's work can be seen at http://www.photo4me.com/brooksphotography
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A few weeks ago I began my review of the Lowepro Pro Trekker 300AW with a look at what it holds (the verdict? A lot!). In part two we'll look at how comfortable it is to carry all that gear.
I'll get straight to the point, this is a fairly heavy backpack that can hold a lot of gear so as you'd expect when fully loaded it's very heavy but when it's on your back that weight seems to vanish. The padding on the backpack, straps and waistband is thick and breathable and those straps are nice and wide which all helps spread the weight. What really seems to make all the difference though is the adjustability of all those straps, not only can you easily adjust the shoulder straps in two places but there are also adjustable chest and waist straps. These are all things to be expected but the clever part is that the whole shoulder harness can be moved up or down allowing you to position the waist strap around your waist whatever your height.
The harness is basically attached to the bag by a huge piece of Velcro and using a piece of plastic supplied ( known as the pack jack) the Velcro can be released and the straps slid up or down as required.
In use I found it took a bit of initial faffing about to get the straps adjusted how I wanted them but once done and the bag is on the weight is so evenly distributed and well supported that I'm yet to walk far enough to have found it uncomfortable.
As with all backpacks (well almost all) you have to take the bag off your back to access the gear inside, what is annoying about the Pro Trekker is that you have to lay it down on the padded side to open it meaning when the ground is wet or muddy ( which at dawn it usually is!) the part of the bag in contact wi your back is going to be filthy. More worrying is that if it is really wet that moisture can seep through into the camera compartment. To combat this I carry a small ground sheet to lay the bag on and use the removable top compartment as a waist bag to hold things like batteries, cards and even a lens to save keep taking the bag off.
So after several weeks of ownership, during which time it has to be said that the weather has meant I haven't got to use the bag as much as I'd like, I'm very happy with both the capacity and comfort of the bag in use... I'll be back for part three when I've had more time to really put the Lowepro Pro Trekker 300AW throughout it's paces.
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I was recently given a couple of Canon 35mm film SLRs along with various lenses, filters and other bits and bobs... a real treasure trove of recent photographic history for me to rummage through for which I'm very grateful.
Amongst all this I found a couple of rolls of film and as all of my 'serious' photography has been done in the digital age I started to get quite excited about having a go with a film camera. For a moment I was caught up in a romantic notion of it all, the discipline of being limited to 36 shots, the excitement of the film being developed and not forgetting the retro cool silver and black looks of the camera itself.
Just for a moment that is, right up until I next used my DSLR, that's when the bubble burst. I realised that, even if with large slice of luck I managed to get a few shots exposed correctly, in focus and with a composition I was happy with, it was going to cost me a fiver just to get the film developed and the images put onto a CD. Hold on a minute, I can already do that for free and using a more sophisticated camera. I can also check whether the image is exposed correctly and I'm happy with the composition before the opportunity to take another shot has passed and I don't need to be disciplined, I can experiment with settings and be creative with compositions because I have more memory cards than I'll ever manage to use!
I'm sure curiosity will get the better of me and I'll use those couple of rolls of film (especially as one of the cameras uses the same lenses as my digital bodies) and maybe I'll even buy a roll of black and white film to try out but for the moment they are sat on the shelf where they have joined my much loved collection of old cameras while I try and figure out what is the point of still using film?
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A few weeks ago a photographer friend asked if I wanted to join him for a days photography in Southend. Now I know what you are thinking, I thought the same... Southend?? So I set about researching locations and to my surprise found Southend to be a treasure trove of locations for long exposure photography with a whole host of piers, wooden jetties, slipways, sea defences and various strange remains of who knows what... I was getting rather excited about this trip.
The day itself turned out to be less than ideal freezing cold with heavy cloud but we carried on and used it as a scouting trip for future reference. In the end I got enough keepers to inspire me to write this blog and we were also rewarded by seeing an unexpected amount of wildlife including common seals, red throated divers, kittiwakes and guillemots at the end of the pier. On the subject of sea birds, I took several exposures of three minutes or more which had pretty sharply rendered gulls in them... I'd never noticed how much time gulls spend sitting around!
So the day in freezing Southend was a success, just goes to show that scratch the surface and you'll find photographic interest in the unlikeliest of places.
At the end of my first full year as a member of Felixstowe Photographic Society (my first full year as a member of any photographic society come to think of it) came last Saturday's annual awards dinner.
Looking back on an interesting year of discussions, exhibitions, models, films, food, talks, tuition and last but not least competitions, there have also been a lot of firsts... First time entering a print competition, first time using studio lighting, first nerve wracking time giving a presentation about long exposure photography to name but a few. Whatever your opinions of camera clubs joining one has taken me out of my comfort zone slightly and I've learnt a lot from the experience.
Entering the monthly competitions has been a learning curve, choosing and preparing prints for entry and then having people comment on your photography gives you a valuable (if slightly scary) insight into how other people see your work and seeing other people's take on a competition theme keeps you thinking. Of course it's best not to take these things too seriously, sometimes you'll agree with what the expert judges think (when you win), other times they clearly have no idea what they're talking about (when you don't win) but it's all just opinion and enjoying and hopefully improving your photography is what matters.
So what have I come away with after a year being involved in a camera club? I honestly believe my photography has improved and I've made some new friends (see the motley crew below)... oh, and at the awards dinner I came away with three nice shiny trophies for my efforts in the competitions!
The second in what is becoming a regular blog feature rounding up my work in print. I experimented with doing them individually but I think it becomes a bit repetitive so am going to stick with this format.
I'm pleased to say It's been a good start to 2013 in the magazine department, clockwise from top left we have...
The first of a new 3 page feature for 2013 in the Suffolk magazine, a popular regional glossy lifestyle mag, in which they invite a local photographer to choose a selection of their images to show the year in Suffolk... I was invited to go first!
Next is a mono image in Amateur Photographer magazine, which was placed in the top 30 for the Black and white category of Amateur Photographer of the year competition 2012.
Top right is a double page 'Why I love my...' feature in What Digital Camera magazine. I supplied a short piece about why I love my Canon G1-X along with a picture. I'm really pleased with how the image has reproduced in print across a double page spread which I think goes to show just how good a compact it is.
Bottom right is a runner up slot in Outdoor Photographer magazine which I'm particularly proud to be in even as runner up.
Next is a 3 page feature in Practical Photographer magazine. I was asked to write about my coastal photography with some tips on how to get the look, illustrated with several shots.
Finally What Digital Camera again, this time I was invited to send in a shot for their 'In the bag' feature so I basically emptied everything out on to a pile of leaves, tidied it up and took a snap!
Next post will be about photography, I promise!
]]>In part one lets have a look at what will fit in the bag (quite a lot it seems!).
Above is a rough overview of the backpack (I'll deal with the straps etc later). As you can see it's got a 'rugged outdoor' look and from first impressions the build quality backs up that appearance and it feels reassuringly sturdy but we'll see how it stands up to the wear and tear and general abuse it's likely to get in a few months time. Zips are all weather sealed and have handy rings to make them less fiddly to pull and all the exterior pockets and tripod sleeves have compression straps so everything is snug and secure. The downside of all these straps mean that access to the main compartment isn't quick but then if quick access is what you need this isn't the bag for you!
There are three tripod sleeves, the central of which has a drop down pouch to slot the feet into but I use a geared head which is fairly heavy and found it felt a bit unbalanced strapped to the back but with the compress straps and attachment loops that are on the inside of the sleeve it's still useful. I keep a travel towel in mine which folds into a tiny pouch but is big enough to dry of gear if you get caught out in the rain. The side tripod sleeves are a bit too tight for my tripod (Manfrotto 055CXPRO3) to slide in and out easily but are perfect for my travel tripod (Manfrotto 394H) and it feels better balanced in use with the tripod on the side than the back. Personally I prefer to carry my tripod anyway so this is all academic.
As is the norm on Lowepro bags there is a rainproof cover in a hidden pocket on the base of the bag which is quick and easy to pull into place and can be tightened by two cinch straps for a snug fit. Also worth mentioning are the two compression straps on the base of the bag which could come in useful for carrying a pop up hide, jacket etc. and the straps can still be used with the rain cover on. I've used it to hold a small groundsheet to lay the bag on when it's muddy as to access the main compartment you have to lay the bag down on the straps which soon get caked in mud.
There is a laptop compartment with neoprene zip up laptop pouch, it claims to hold a 15" laptop but I don't have one so can't confirm that.
The top of the bag has two zip up compartments the bottom of which is a bit of a tardis, easily swallowing two pairs of gloves, a quite bulky neck buff, a wooly hat and head torch or would fit a small packed lunch. Above that is a smaller compartment but still big enough for the sort of bits and bobs you want quick access to and it has a key hook so that memory card pouch isn't going anywhere.
This whole top section unclips and doubles as a waistpack, the strap is padded and cleverly hidden in a velco pocket underneath. I really like this feature as I often put my bag down and wade into the sea and this would be a great place to carry spare batteries, filters or even a lens with you.
On either side of the backpack are large zip up pockets, fairly self explanatory really but worth noting that they're roomier than they look. One of them is obviously designed to carry a drinks container but with the sealed pouch removed there's easily room for my large Lee filter wallet and, even with the extra pockets full, the same is true of the pocket on the other side of the bag.
Finally we're into the main compartment. When I was deciding on which bag to get I was torn between the 300 and 400, I was put off the 400 by it's overall size but was concerned about the amount of space in the camera compartment of the 300. I need not have worried there's loads of space, I don't have a massive collection of lenses but I wouldn't want to carry much more than I can fit in this bag!
The picture above tells you all you need to know really, the compartment and dividers are well padded as you would expect but what you maybe can't tell is how deep it is, deep enough to stand the 7D on it's side and to lay a flash on top of my 70-200mm f4 which saves a lot of room. Since taking this picture I have taken delivery of a 5D mkII and so have made some changes to the bag's layout... removing the G1-X and Sigma 10-20mm has made room for the 5D mkII but moving the Lee filters to a side pocket would give me room for the two lenses I still have on my shopping list!
In reality I don't often carry all of this gear around with me but I wanted a bag that would allow me to if the need arose and the 300 fits the bill.
The lid to the main compartment has three zip up pockets for keeping cables and odds and ends tidy. There are also four memory card pockets, I prefer to keep my cards all together in a special pouch but these do have a rather clever little flap for marking the cards as empty or full.
So that's it for part one, thanks for making it this far! Next time we'll see if I can actually lift it off the ground and look at how comfortable the bag is in use.
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The digital version for iPad is out now and the magazine will be on the shelves 27th December. Now, can anyone explain how the February 2013 issue is already out in 2012?
Practical Photography Magazine
Beach huts through the dunes at Southwold
On the doorstep III... taken a few minutes from home, I've started to photograph this tree at different times of year to build a set of one place through the seasons.
Snaking - A long exposure of the Orwell Bridge near Ipswich, while not the most stunning in the world I find this bridge quite photogenic and there are a lot of angles to explore.
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From the comfort of my 9-5 salary, the life of a professional landscape photographer looks rather enviable. Doing every day what I spend all week looking forward to doing for a couple of hours on a Sunday - getting up at dawn and getting out in the countryside, listening to the birds singing while waiting for the perfect light. Then going off for a hearty breakfast, bit of processing, sell a few prints, book a trip somewhere exotic then back out for sunset.
Ok so it's probably not anything like that and the added pressure must take at least a bit of the fun out of the photography but one thing pros have that us amateurs don't (apart from talent that is) is time. They obviously have days when the weather doesn't play ball but then there's always tomorrow.
Last weekend was yet another grey dismal failed outing with the camera which means having to wait a whole week for the next trip... and as expected it has been a week of driving to work through a landscape liberally sprinkled with glittery frost, watching the sun turn the clouds pink as it's warm light creeps across the countryside. Of course when you only go out with the camera once a week, the law of averages means you're not always going to get the best conditions but it's been so lopsided lately that I'm starting to take it personally... I'm beginning to think that there is a higher power somewhere trying to tell me something!
Maybe I'm getting paranoid and admittedly I did manage to get this consolation shot of today's hoar frost before it vanished but I'm beginning to fear that if I ever did make the leap to becoming a full time landscape photographer we might never see the sun again.
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Earlier today I received a request from Getty Images for several of my photos for their 'Flickr Collection'. As nice as it is to get images selected by Getty, don't worry I'm not going to write a whole blog about it! What I did find interesting was that two of the eight images selected were shots I had taken on holiday with a Canon G1-X, a compact camera. Flicking through the images I have for sale on Getty. already around 15% of them were taken with this camera which I've only owned for a couple of months.
So why is this interesting? Well to me bigger always seemed to equal better in the camera world... the further you look up the camera ranges, the higher the spec (and price) gets, the bigger and heavier the camera gets. But times are changing, camera manufacturers are managing to squeeze 'big' camera technology and quality into smaller and smaller cameras and big doesn't necessarily equal better anymore. Images from my Canon compact are good enough for Image libraries like Getty and if Sony RX-1 can fit a full frame 35mm sensor into a camera that sits in the palm of your hand then surely anything is possible?
Maybe to say big isn't better is getting carried away, there's still not many compacts that can compete with the best of the DSLR world let alone medium format, but small certainly doesn't suck anymore. With a small camera you have more freedom to go un-noticed which can provide you with more opportunities for interesting photos... safe in the knowledge that the end result will be good enough to print.
I love my hefty DSLR but it's nice to have a DSLR 'lite' when you need it.
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My usual pre-dawn alarm went off this Sunday but when I poked my head out of the curtains and was met with grey skies and wind strong enough to blow the patio furniture around the garden, I opted to go back to bed and have another Sunday sans photography.
When later on the cloud started to break up and it started to look promising and I saw an opportunity to get a shot I'd had in mind at Woodbridge Tide Mill. So throwing (not literally) everything in the car I headed off to give it a go. Unfortunately the wind was clearing the clouds quicker than I could make the 12 mile drive and by the time I parked and got to the location time was running out... which is not an ideal situation for long exposure photography!
I managed to quickly set up and rattle off a handful of shots before the sky was clear and the moment had gone. Ok at 60- 120 seconds each I didn't exactly rattle them off but twenty minutes later or so I was back in the car and heading home.
It definitely pays to be in the right place at the right time as the best light is fleeting, but if you're not it's always worth giving it a go and trying to get there!
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I seem to have an ongoing battle with autumn. Every year I eagerly await it's misty mornings, the blaze of colour and the first crisp frosts... mouth watering stuff for any landscape photographer. Unless of course you are on your way to work, witnessing those gorgeous misty sunrises from behind the wheel, watching the rising sun backlight the trees looming out of the mist as you drive to work knowing you haven't enough time to stop. Obviously I don't work everyday so plans are made in earnest for the weekend, alarms set for the crack of dawn looking forward to making the most of the autumn colour, only to wake up and find a grey sky of low level bland cloud has decided to settle in for the weekend with only the odd shower to liven things up.
Every year I seem to find myself in the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time and my quest to capture the perfect autumn image is thwarted. If however you find yourself in the same boat as me don't despair, my back up plan in these situations is to fit the 70-200mm or 50mm lens and go in search of details, where overcast weather becomes a positive, the clouds acting like a big softbox to give you nice even lighting.
However I can't blame it all on the weather, even if I was confronted with a stunning autumnal vista, turning that into a good photo isn't always easy, woods are messy places and trying to find an uncluttered composition to find some order amongst the natural chaos can be a struggle... so if I ever find that perfect autumnal scene I'll let you know how I get on!
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I had a couple of images published in the November photography magazines so thought I'd mention it in the next blog. When I dug the magazines out to take a couple of snaps it turned out I'd had six this month so decided to give it a post of it's own!
Before I briefly run through them I should add that a couple of them are quite small and three of them are the same photo so it's not quite as good as it sounds but I still get excited about seeing my photos in print so indulge me!
First up is What Digital Camera magazine (below) with my review and photos from a day testing the Fuji X-Pro 1. The event was a competition prize, the four other winners and I were loaned a camera and three rather nice prime lenses each for the day in London with experts from the magazine and fuji on hand to offer advice and make sure we brought the cameras back!
Next is Photography Monthly (above) with my image of Southwold Pier in the Readers gallery section which this month is showcasing the winners of the Prince's Countryside Fund Photography Competition.
My Southwold Pier shot (again) was runner up in a seaside themed competition run by Digital Camera magazine and appeared in their November issue... I should be pleased to come anywhere at all in the competition but first prize was a backpack and I need a new one!
Only a small one in this month's Digital Photographer, a shot of a local landscape, but it's the first time I've been in DP and they all count!
Another small one and another first that I'm quite proud of is getting into the November issue of Outdoor Photographer with, you've guessed it... Southwold Pier (yet again). Outdoor Photography is the one title I buy without fail and an excellent magazine if you like, well... outdoor photography of any kind.
Last but not least one of my older photos, a wintry shot of cows at Dedham has made it onto the cover of the Suffolk magazine which brings my brief moment in the spotlight, blowing my own trumpet to an end... Next time I'll try and get back to talking about something other than myself!
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A lot of time in recent weeks was spent preparing for my wedding but now I'm married and back from honeymoon it's left me time to get back to some landscape photography. Autumn is a brilliant time for landscapes, misty mornings, colour in the trees and with sunrise at a much more civilised time, the amount of locations within easy reach increases a well. With that in mind I've started to turn my attentions over the border into Norfolk and the Broads.
First place on my long list was Thurne, a small village on the river Thurne (surprisingly) in the heart of the Norfolk Broads and with not one but two drainage mills on opposite sides of the river it seemed like as good a place as any to start. I did my usual research in advance... checking places to park, location of footpaths and potential viewpoints on google maps then had a look at what had already been done on by other photographers on Flickr (some of who were only too happy to give a few tips on where to go). Closer to the time I checked the weather on various (and all differing) online sites and where and when the sun would rise on the Photographers Ephemeris before finally getting a postcode for the sat nav and I was ready to go.
On the morning of the shoot (well it was still night technically) the sky was disappointingly clear but I thought there might be a chance of mist so I set off as planned. As the sunrise probably wouldn't be too spectacular I decided to go to the east bank of the river aiming to catch some nice warm side lighting on Thurne Mill before shooting the other mill across the river and as I got closer the hoped for mist materialised. However on arriving at the river I found boats moored along both sides of the inlet blocking my view of the mill and couldn't even see the mill just down the river on the opposite bank through the thick mist... disaster!
No problem, plan B was a simple one, cross over to the west bank... a frantic 15 minute drive and sweaty ten minute walk later I was there. I'd missed the little bit of pre dawn colour in the sky but there was always the chance of an interesting shot once the sun came up high enough to backlight the mill with the mist acting as a nice big diffuser. I met another photographer on the walk who showed me the way down to the river bank where there was a landscape workshop taking place which although it spoilt the solitude meant I picked up a couple of free overheard tips and had no shortage of other photographers to chat to while I waited for the light.
So as I was setting up my gear and thinking I'd rescued a potentially wasted 3 hour round trip, I discovered I'd left my filter holder in the car! For a split second I thought about going back to get it but settled for metaphorically kicking myself and holding the filters in front of the lens by hand instead.
After all the minor set backs I did finally get a couple of photos of the mill emerging from a misty river and left content that at least I had some first hand knowledge of this beautiful location for next time and had made a couple of new like minded acquaintances in the process... time well spent.
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A couple of weeks ago I headed off for an amazing week in Morocco armed only with my Canon G1-X... I really didn't want to carry my 7D and lenses around in 40° heat and besides it was my honeymoon so photography wasn't really what I was there for. So, with a whole week's experience under my belt I thought it was a good time to let you know what I think (of the camera, not the wife).
Don't worry this isn't going to be a 'real' review with any in depth technical stuff (well maybe a little), there are plenty of those on the internet already and besides I've already bought the camera so I probably won't be that impartial.
As soon as we arrived in Marrakech I knew travelling light was the right decision, the medina is hot and busy and not the place I want to be lugging 10 kilos of expensive glass and metal around on my shoulder... not when we're there for sightseeing anyway. The G1-X tucked in my retro 5 bag along with guide book, hand wash, water, a couple of spare batteries etc was perfect for the occasion... so far so good.
As the idea was to travel light, let's talk about size... I often find small cameras fiddly as I'm so used to a DSLR but the G1-X is big enough to get a proper hold of without accidently pressing all the buttons (although I did press the exposure lock button a few times with my palm). On the other hand it's light enough to comfortably hold all day, I didn't like the neck strap that came with the camera so bought a chunky wrist strap meant for a canon video camera and spent most of the week with the camera hanging from my wrist or in my hand.
The reason for choosing the G1-X over any of the other compact cameras out there is that I wanted as close as I could get to DSLR quality in as small a package as possible, and while it's not the smallest (you're not going to slip it into a shirt pocket) it was supposedly one of the best for image quality on the market at the time. Looking through the pictures from Morocco it lives up to that reputation, thanks to the almost DSLR sized sensor and a digic 5 processor (as used in the 650D DSLR) images are clear, sharp and detailed so although I mostly took snaps if I happen upon something that would make a good stock shot it should still pass quality control.
Marrakech is a dream for photographers, so many interesting details, bright colours and so much exciting stuff going on all the time, but it also has some difficult shooting conditions with dark interiors and alleys mixed with bright sunlight. I shot mainly in AV and the camera generally coped well, there is a nice big exposure compensation dial (+/- 3 stops) on the top of the camera and rather than change metering settings to cope with different situations, I found it easier to just tweak that to get the exposure I wanted. Those dark interiors weren't a problem either, thanks again to that sensor, high ISO noise handling is superb. Unlike my previous experiences with compact cameras where even at ISO 400 images were unuseable, I could happily shoot at ISO 1600 with little loss in detail and that's comparable to my 7D.
The lens is where some of the G1-Xs quirks start to appear... No complaints optically and DOF is easily controlled, it has a pretty useful range of 28-112mm (35mm equivalent), a nice large front element and a max aperture of f2.8 at 28mm. What is slightly annoying about the lens is that it physically extends as soon as you turn the camera on, even when it's at it's widest. Odd but not the end of the world. On the subject of odd (and potentially annoying) things, the minimum focusing distance is a ridiculously long 20cm at 28mm... about 80cm at 112mm! Surprisingly though it was fairly easy to work round and in practice was less annoying than expected. This is also true of the autofocus, I'd read reviews claiming it was very slow but while it could have been faster, in use I rarely struggled with it.
I like to use the viewfinder rather than the screen on a camera and this is where the G1-X is poor, looking through the viewfinder is reminiscent of a cheap disposable point and shoot, about 70% coverage and off centre... useless in other words. All is not lost though. The screen is large, clear and sharp and being articulated it makes composing shots from unusual viewpoints a doddle. The only time it's not perfect is in bright conditions (kind of like those we had everyday in Morocco!) where it becomes difficult to see what's going on in the darker areas. I messed up several shots through not being able to see exactly what was on the screen and found I was having to shoot a bit wider to ensure I included everything in the frame with the intention of cropping it later.
To test the creative potential of the G1-X I bought an adaptor that allowed me to use the same Lee filters with it that I use with my 7D for landscapes. THis isn't really what I bought the camera for but armed with filters, camera, tripod and taxi fare home I set off to the main square for some dusk long exposures. Marrakech in the evening is busy... very busy, especially as I arrived later than expected having been talked into stopping for a cup of mint tea by a friendly Moroccan chap. Trying to find room to set up a tripod without getting a snake draped over me or being run over by something with 4 legs or 2 wheels was a challenge but once I did the camera worked rather well with the filters but long exposures have their complications on the G1-X as well. Firstly when in AV mode the the shutter speed is limited to 1 second! If it is going to be over 1 second you have to adjust the aperture until it comes down to 1 second or less... why?! I spent a good 15 minutes trying to find how to turn that off in the menus before I gave up and switched to manual. Problem solved. In manual mode shutter speeds up to 60 second are possible which is good but then there's no bulb mode so 60 seconds is the limit. Long exposures also take quite a while to process as well so there's several seconds wait before you can take the next shot but like I said, long exposures are an added bonus rather than the reason I bought the camera.
So after a week using and abusing the G1-X in Morocco what's the verdict? I love it... the camera and the country, I came back with some decent shots, maybe I missed a few that I would have got with a DSLR but then I probably got some candid shots that I might not have managed with a less discrete camera. It has some strange quirks and an awful viewfinder but it's all about the results and the results from this camera are great. If Canon address the issues I think the G2-X or G1-Y has the potential to be amazing but until then this makes a great DSLR 'light'.
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If you've been reading my blog, you might remember that a photo taken at the last minute as I was leaving to go home has turned out to be one of my more popular shots this year (see 'look behind you') oh, and thanks for reading! The popularity of that improvised shot has made me think that perhaps I have started to get into a bit of a rut with my photography, I've been concentrating on improving my landscapes but have slipped into the habit of going to a location with certain shots in mind and not looking much further. Not really the ideal way to come up with something original or creative.
If you haven't come across this technique before it's 'simply' a matter of moving the camera in a smooth motion as you press the shutter which is not always as easy as it sounds but digital photography lets you experiment to your heart's content so shoot away until you get it right. In the example below, the camera was on a tripod making it easier to get a smooth horizontal blur. The photo at the top was shot handheld and I wasn't quite happy with the effect I'd achieved in camera so I blurred it further in Photoshop to make it more abstract... it's heather and silver birches if you were wondering.
I know that intentionally blurring landscapes, either in camera or with a bit of software help, is not exactly new but I love the impressionist feel it gives and I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with it so expect to see a bit more of it on my website or flickr page.
I'll admit it, I have a weakness for camera bags, the more pockets and cool innovations the better, so the arrival of a new camera was all the excuse I needed to add a new bag to my collection. I already own a Think Tank Retrospective 30 shoulder bag, which i the largest of the series, and love it so it didn't take long to decide that the Retrospective 5, which is at the other end of the scale would be ideal for my new lightweight lifestyle.
Go to your favourite search engine and you'll find there are already a million reviews of Think Tank Retrospective bags online and the world really doesn't need me going over all the features again that you can already find far better pictures and descriptions of on the Think Tank website. Instead I'm just going to focus on what actually fits into it.
Ok so let's start with a quick size comparison, as you can see above the retro 5 is considerably smaller than the 30, I can fit the 5 inside the 30 along with a lens and 2 DSLR bodies! Exactly what I was looking for... the retro 30 will expand to fit pretty much any combination of my gear I'm likely to need, or feeling strong enough to carry but the retro 5 is small enough to make me carry only what I'm going to need.
The first task for new bag and camera will be a week in Morocco, a holiday rather than a photography trip... in fact it's part one of our honeymoon so photography is definitely secondary if married life is something I want to enjoy! I'll be leaving my Canon 7D at home so the G1-X will be my only camera and this little bag will be taking care of airport carry on duties and days out and about... will they be up to the task?
Wandering around the hot, busy streets of Marrakech the last thing I want is a big heavy bag and the retro 5 is definitely not that sp we've already ticked that of the list, secondly I'd rather it didn't shout 'I'm a camera bag' and the styling of the retro series is suitably discreet and old looking... so far, so good.
Obviously being a compact camera (albeit a rather large one) there's plenty of room in the main compartment for the G1-X and a small flash while still leaving room for other non photographic essentials like water or suntan lotion. If you have a compact system camera that and a couple of lenses would easily fit along with your holiday bits and bobs.
The two zipped pockets (one on the back outside and one inside) are perfect for small guide books, passport, travel documents and in this case a Lee filter holder. Inside there is a small pocket at each end, on the retro 30 these are the right size for a large speedlight but are too small on the retro 5, hopefully the Canon 270 EX that I haven't bought yet will fit in one of them and as you can see an iPhone/iPod and headphones fits nicely in the other one.
The large pocket at the front is the perfect size for the Lee filter 10 filter wallet. Now while I intend to take these to Morocco, just in case the opportunity for a bit of creative photography arises you understand, I won't be carrying them around everywhere with me but there's a reason for these photos. Before buying the retro 5 I looked everywhere trying to find out whether this would fit but with no luck so just in case anybody else is wondering, here's the verdict... it does, perfectly.
Ok, so that's me packed ready to go, putting my fear of not having every bit of camera gear I own with me 'just in case', I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of travelling light, thinking about the shots I'm taking rather than the gear I'm using... hopefully I haven't forgotten anything.
Once I'd got the bag organised how I want it for my travels, I couldn't resist seeing what else would fit and it seems the retro 5 is a bit of a tardis! My favourite combination is this lightweight set up for landscapes in the pictures below. Add a carbon tripod and it's perfect for a wander with the camera.
Here's what comfortably fits in a bag not much bigger than a large bag of crisps...
- Canon 7D
- Canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS (attached)
- Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6
- Lee filter wallet (containing Big stopper, 0.9 pro glass ND and hard ND grad set)
- Lee filter holder
- Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket
- Spare battery
- Cable shutter release
- Small torch
- Lee cleaning cloth
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For me the summer months have become the time to photograph the landscapes close to home, after all, it's a struggle just getting up early enough to catch the best light around sunrise at all... let alone earlier enough to hve time to drive far as well. I know there's always sunset but living on the east coast I'm more of a sunrise kinda guy. As you can imagine, by now I'm starting to get bored of the local spots and itching for something new... or for winter to arrive.
Luckily thanks to the wonders of the interweb finding new locations is easier than ever, the photo above was taken locally at a place I only found by scouring Google maps for somewhere of interest, in fact I'm pretty sure I spend more time looking at satellite images, tide tables and weather charts online than I do actually taking photos.
The search begins on Google where a quick broad search for something like 'windmill, Suffolk' for example gives you a good starting point, then on to Google maps (above) to have a look at the locations you've just found in a bit more detail, you can even pin locations and add notes and pictures (as you can tell from the screen grab above, I'm the kind of geek that does exactly that!) and don't forget to zoom in to 'street view' and get a better look at the area. When you're done with that you can spend some time browsing on Flickr to see what other people have captured for inspiration or as a starting point to try and find a new interpretation on the subject. If you're really lucky you don't find many pictures at all and you've found somewhere relatively untouched.
Once you've found your location it's time to pay a visit to the suncalc website (above) where you can pop a pin into the map and find out where and when the sun will rise and set at any time of the year or you can even do it from your smartphone on location with the awesome Photographers ephemeris app. So without leaving your desk you can find the perfect view, work out the best time to visit, find out how long it'll take you to get there and get directions. You still need to set your alarm and struggle out of bed to get there but thanks to online resources the guesswork is taken out of it... or is it?
Last weekend I made the 45 minute drive to a new location I'd spotted using Google maps... a wooden jetty sticking out through the reeds into a picturesque stretch of river - perfect. Tides and weather had been checked on the BBC website and so after navigating the narrow country lanes with the help of GPS, finding the place to park I'd spotted courtesy of Google street view and then walking across a large field and through the cluster of trees that the satellite picture had showed me was the only way to the jetty, I finally arrived at... a large fence and a sign saying private property!
Luckily on the way home by taking an interesting looking turning just to see where it went I stumbled upon an alternative place to shoot that afternoon and a couple more worth coming back to at sunrise. So at the end of the day, however much information you can arm with from the comfort of your armchair, you still can't beat getting out there and having a look for yourself.
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Today I received an email from the organisers of the take a view Landscape Photographer of the Year competition informing me that one of my images had made the shortlist for this years competition. I know I haven't actually won anything but this is a high profile competition, the pinnacle of landscape photography competitions (probably) so obviously I was suitable pleased just to have been shortlisted.
Don't worry, I'm not just here to bore you with news of my minor successes, I'm going to bore you with the story behind this photo as well.
I took this photo in Hunstanton, Norfolk a few weeks ago. We had driven for two hours to arrive an hour or so before sunset and were treated to a promising looking scene, enough cloud to provide a good sunset and interesting skies and careful research had ensured the tides were just right.
Now one thing I really need to improve in my landscape photography is my stamina... Ok, it's just one of several things but that's part of the fun of it. Don't get me wrong I'll get up when it's dark, drive for hours, walk for miles to get to the location at the best time but once I'm there I'm a bit of a bull in a china shop. Calmly surveying the scene to find the best composition, carefully considering the subject from every angle before even thinking about taking the camera out of the bag... those are things I really should do more often. Instead I can't wait to get the camera on the tripod and dive straight in to the first composition that takes my fancy. Once I've got a couple of shots, if it's working I'll explore it more before moving on to something else but if it doesn't I'll be itching to move on to the next shot, to find the perfect composition before the best light and always slightly panicky about missing it, especially at a new location.
So on arriving at Hunstanton beach for the first time, I launched in and headed for the rock formations below the cliffs... a couple of hours of wandering the beach later even though the light was still good I was losing steam. By about 11pm it really should have been too dark but the dusk light was lingering quite nicely but conscious of the two hour journey home and work in the morning I was ready to go.
Camera packed away, we were leaving the beach when I turned and noticed the meandering silver stream of water and stopped to get a better look... was it worth unpacking the gear for? Often I don't bother and even said to the friend who was with me "I like the look of that but don't know if I can be bothered to get the camera out" Clearly I decided to go for it in the end and I'm glad I did... maybe not my favourite from the session and I almost didn't have the confidence to enter it but my favourite Hunstanton shots didn't get shortlisted so what do I know!
So the lesson is... shooting digital is pretty much free so don't hold back. Oh and don't forget to look behind you every now and then!
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If you enjoy landscape photography, the Landscape Photographer of the Year books are full of stunning, original and creative photographs to inspire and depress you in equal measure.
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Life through a lens
Only a few weeks into the blog and already I'm having to apologise for the lack of activity, but at least I have a legitimate excuse...
Last week we had our nephew over from France for his first visit to England so I had a week off and spent my time introducing a 12 year old, who is used to the balmy weather of the south west of France, to the joys of a British summer. So in between sitting on an open topped London bus in the rain and getting sunburnt in Norfolk without ever remembering actually seeing the sun there was little time for writing this and even less time for what I'd call 'proper' photography.
Being a tourist this week got me wondering whether anybody actually just enjoys an occasion without recording it in some way anymore? Stood outside Buckingham Palace on a wet Wednesday watching the changing of the guard, I was surrounded by thousands of people from all over the world all of them taking pictures on everything from top end full frame DSLRs to phones, mostly of some red guard shaped blips between the back of peoples heads and the railings if my efforts are anything to go by. If they were anything like me they weren't actually thinking about what they were seeing either, but how they could get in a position to photograph it better and once the holiday is over what will happen to these thousands of photos taken daily at Buckingham Palace or the hundreds of thousands of photos taken daily at the tourist sites around the world?
Flatford Mill, one of last weeks rain free tourist destinations... a must see for visitors to East Anglia
Our French relatives seem to like to watch them as a slide show on the TV which is what will probably happen to the holiday snaps that I took during the week or, if I get round to it, they might even be whittled down to a suitable amount to print in a small souvenir book to send to France. This got me questioning whether I really need to lug around the heavy lump of camera shaped metal (which Canon prefer to call a 7D) and a bag full of very expensive glass when for these occasions something pocket sized would suffice? No is the answer I came up with so I am on the search for a quality small camera as of now... but more on this in future posts (although recommendations are welcome!).
Anyway our young French visitor went home with the news for his family that England isn't as bad as everyone says and the food is actually quite nice. So, despite the lack of photography time, the week was a success and I feel proud to have done my bit for British tourism.
A rare sight last week... blue skies (well near enough) and people on the beach without coats
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In print
I was rather pleased to see that my Brighton beach deck chair shot (above) managed to sneak it's way on to the bottom of this month's What Digital Camera magazine, there's a reason for this... A couple of months ago I won a place on an Olympus/What Digital Camera magazine day in Brighton to try out the Olympus OM-D (very nice camera). The organisers then selected the 'best' picture of the day to win an Olympus XZ-1 camera, which turned out to be said deck chair shot.
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News of my competition win reached the local press this week when, whilst paying for a carton of milk in the Co-op, I got a call from the East Anglian Daily Times to ask me a few questions about it all. A couple of days later I picked up a copy of the paper and was pleasantly surprised to find a rather impressive half page article complete with full colour reproduction of my photo and a mug shot of me looking unsuitably miserable considering I was supposed to have just won a prize (when they requested a photo of me, I really should have given that more thought!).
The media frenzy continued to grow when a similar article appeared in another local paper the next day and then as if to trump them both, the pièce de resistance was an article about the competition in today's Sunday Telegraph.
OK so maybe I'm exaggerating slightly but following my big break in the national papers, I braced myself for a flood of messages from friends and well wishers who had seen the article... what materialised was barely a trickle, which bought me back down to earth rather quickly but I enjoyed it while it lasted!
Voting for the overall winner ends on Monday 16th July (along with my 15 minutes of fame) so if you haven't already, you can cast your vote for your favourite photo on the Great British Life website
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In other news, Friday night I somehow managed to squeeze a quick trip to the coast into what seemed like the only couple of rain free of hours in July. It wasn't the most amazing sunset but I was just pleased to be out with the camera so a couple of new photos should be appearing in my landscape gallery soon. In the meantime here is a quick preview shot...
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Finally this week, Redbubble, a website for buying and selling prints or as they describe it... "Redbubble is quite simply the finest and most diverse creative community and marketplace on the interlink." launched a new look site this week which coincided with a couple of new landscape print sales for me.
If you're not familiar with Redbubble you can check out my collection here and if you are a photographer or artist yourself why not give it a go, it's free to join and easy to set up.
]]>Disappointingly I arrived to find the place busier than expected. Ok, I'll admit that in usual Saturday morning style I faffed about somewhat more than necessary and consequently got there later than planned, but it also seemed like the customers had deliberately arranged themselves at the most awkward tables to sit at... either way I'd missed my chance to get the planned photos.
Anyway, rather than disturb all the customers by pointing a big camera at them or asking them to take their croissants to a more convenient table, I got a coffee and elected to discretely take some 'arty' shots with my iPhone.
So although it didn't quite go to plan it worked out fine, they do a rather good macchiato and the exhibition looks great. My six photos are looking rather splendid (biased? me?), hung in what seems to be a prime spot on the main wall on the ground floor and because my fuzzy phone shots only give an impression of what the exhibition is like you still need to pop in yourself and have a look.
The Colchester Art Café
7 Trinity Street
I love entering photography competitions. I can't really explain why - I guess sometimes it gives me a reason to try something different (smarties in a blender spring to mind) or maybe it's an excuse to do something with my photos rather than leaving them gathering proverbial dust on a hard drive.
More often than not though it's just because I like the look of the prize, however slim the chances of actually winning it. Which brings me neatly to the point of this mini blog entry... I finally got my hands on one of those prizes!
Earlier this week I received a call from one of the organisers of the Prince’s Countryside Fund Photography Competition to let me know that my image of Southwold pier (above) had won first prize in the 'By the sea' category! I've been enjoying more than my fair share of luck in competitions recently (more on that to come in another post) but this is my biggest achievement to date and it's safe to say that I'm more than a little chuffed.
There were six category winners in total with the overall winner to be selected by public vote ending 16th July. You can view all the winners and vote for your favourite here... and if you choose to vote for me I thank you!
Whatever the reason for entering competitions, win or lose, it's not often that I'm not thinking about my next entry, which means you'll probably be subjected to my ramblings on the subject fairly frequently in this blog for which I apologise in advance.
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I'd previously considered the idea of joining a camera club but had visions of it being full of stuffy, blinkered old duffers which would probably do my confidence in my photography more harm than good. So, when I moved to Suffolk and my new neighbour suggested I go along to the local camera club with her my first reaction was to make my excuses,
"Thursdays you say? Darn, would you believe I'm washing my hair?"
Then again she didn't seem to fit my mental image of a dusty old camera club member so I found myself accepting her offer and becoming a guest at Felixstowe Photographic Society... six months later I'm still going every week.
Ok so either I was totally wrong about camera clubs or I got lucky, but the people, although admittedly not exactly Radio 1 demographic, were neither blinkered or stuffy but actually friendly. More importantly I was wrong about what joining a club would do for my photography, it added a whole new dimension... I discovered prints.
Now, I'm an unashamed totally digital photographer. Although I remember the feeling of excitement as a child when the holiday snaps arrived back from Tru-print, all my creative photography has been in the digital age with memory cards, Raw files, Photoshop and online galleries. I love the way I can instantly share my photos online with people all over the world, I don't even own a printer so prints are, or were, pretty much irrelevant to me.
A lot of the photographers at the club are totally the opposite, they have a lot more experience with film and although everyone shoots with digital cameras now, their love of printing didn't die when they moved from film... and sitting there studying members prints one at a time, I can understand why.
Looking at photos online you are overloaded with images, stunning images, awful images, clichéd images, Flickr has about 2000 images uploaded every minute! You flick through thumbnails only stopping at the best and view low quality versions that because of screen differences you're not even sure you are seeing as the photographer intended. Looking at a print you somehow take the time to study it, to see the detail and appreciate the colour and tone in a way that you don't get sat in front of a computer. What's more you look at work outside your usual sphere of interest and broaden your horizons.
So if you've ever wondered about going along to a camera club, why not wash your hair a different night and give it a go.
East Anglian Federation of photographic societies
UK Camera Clubs
Colchester in Essex has more than it's fair share of quaint little tea rooms or inviting cafés tucked away in the narrow streets and wonky buildings around the town. The Art Café on Trinity Street is one of those places but as the name suggests they also have an impressive selection of original artwork adorning the walls for you to enjoy along with your cappuccino.
So why am I taking my first wobbly steps into the world of blogging by writing about coffee shops in Essex? Well, for the next six weeks Colchester Art Café is having an exhibition of landscape photography and six of the prints on show are mine. There's something special in this digital age about seeing your work printed, framed and hung on the wall for all to see. So if you are in the area and fancy a coffee you now know where to go.
The Colchester Art Café
7 Trinity Street