Thank you to
Steve Rogers for his talk in the March Meeting
Below are his notes which he handed out
Boyle Camera Club 12 March 2019
Lightroom, Photoshop and Faststone (www.faststone.org) softwares.
Whites. Blacks. Best to do them before hitting the contrast slider.
Calibration in Lightroom – faithful, standard… makes a big difference
Composition, negative space, thirds… cropping
Photographing people :
If you have a third person around…
Always do test pics before pointing the camera at the subject.
Line up background before pointing the camera.
Easiest studio light is the front door.
Passive, passive… and suddenly…
With children and adults, it’s the tone in your voice that makes it easy for them to be photographed.
Never say “smile!” Children don’t have to smile. Just let them do their thing, you are doing your thing.
Treat and talk with babies children with the same tone in your voice as you speak with an adult you have just met. They can feel your respect. Thank them. They may well alow you to take another.
Ask a child for their favourite toy, and ask if you may have a picture of it with them.
Snapshots tend to capture a moment in time with little regard to lighting or composition. A tree growing out of the subject’s head? Its a snapshot.
Snapshots are great sometimes.
Portraits need attention to detail—light, position, background.
A Portrait is deliberate from both parties.
When taking a portrait, its not me me me , its you.
Everything is transient. There is no time like the present. Take pictures for the generations to come.
Macro photography is for the curious and patient. Try shooting using an ipad / laptop. Fat depth of field. Focus stacking.
Black & Whites? Must have top content, as there is no colour so its just the remaining elements, which are content, composition, texture, light, mood, emotion.
A snapshot – handheld. A classic – a tripod. Best possible tool is a tripod.
Take the picture, don’t pixel peep it too much, content is stronger in the long term than sharpness.
Confidence helps make the camera invisible.
Become aware of windows and the light sources. Notice the light streaming in. Speedread rooms and situations before you open the camerabag.
Start the habit of checking the camera settings & battery as you lift it out of the bag. Straight to aperture value if you are in a hurry.
Grip the camera nice n easy. Every time. No fumbling. Use your fingers to counterbalance. Practice.
You are hunting – switched on, aware, looking, noticing.
Learn to change the lens without looking at it.
Have patience to find angles. Line things up in front and/or behind to give context.
Photographers help other photographers.
Bad weather is good weather.
Lose yourself. Notice things. Photography increases awareness.
Practice. Professional and amateur musicians practice before performance. Footballers practice before the game. It gets easier. If you allow yourself to have practiced, it takes the heat off you when you really have to get a shot.
Practice taking the camera out, getting the picture and putting it away quickly.
Personality reflects photographic style. Empathic, introverted, extroverted. Use your personality.
Photography is an art, it involves self-expression.
Make images that matter to you. What do you like? Photograph that. Go back another day, shoot it again.
Passive photography. Active photography.
Landscape or Nature photography? – Usually its a wide angle lens for landscapes but it’s a macro to capture a specific facet of nature.
Hard drives, blu rays for long term storage, or
Print books! See blurb.com. Be a good editor.
Even technically dodgy pics can have a lot of power in the future.
Pictures accrue in value over the years in ways we cant yet imagine.
One flash is all you need. For on camera flash, try turning the flash head the wrong way around, to bounce off the wall behind you rather than straight up..
Off camera is quite easy to do.
Leave the flash in manual, avoid auto, and just turn the power up and down.
Theme for next month –
Find one of your favourite things around home.
It could be a cup, a tree… photograph it at least 3 times over a few days, each time in a different way. Then…
Select, copy, process and export the picture in the one go each time.
It gets easier.
Best wishes,
Steve Rogers.
