Photography Holidays in Menorca dates

We’ve just sorted the dates and prices for the Menorca photography holidays next year and put them on the Photoactive website.

Manual Exposure and buckets of water

People, horses and underground photography

Just to give you an idea of the sort of high standards my students have reached, I have posted here some photographs by Maria Falconer and Mark Esling. The pictures were taken during our latest photography holiday in Menorca. Both photographers have been to Menorca before, in fact, this was Maria’s third time. Each time she produces a fantastic set of photographs, and this year was no exception.

It is worth mentioning that although some of the photographers on these holidays have reach a very high standard, beginners are definitely not excluded. This may surprise some of you, and you may think that this will hold back the more advanced in the group, but the system works extremely well. You see, these holidays are very much about sharing, and having an enjoyable experience. No one is left out, and everyone is encouraged to produce pictures way above the level they think they can achieve. The results can be seen in my recent posts – in particular the pictures by Jeanette Suddard. Jeanette was a complete novice at the beginning of the week when she arrived in Menorca, but the pictures she produced by the end of the week demonstrate very clearly what can be done with tuition and encouragement in a relaxed atmosphere.

Maria Falconer has been coming to me for coaching for four years and she is now a highly competent photographer who is taking on many commissions. As the two portraits here show, Maria is a very gifted people photographer. However, her close-up of the horse’s teeth is an indication of her enquiring mind and her persistence once she gets a picture idea in her head. In fact I am trying to adjust Maria’s way of getting so utterly wrapped up in one aspect of a visual situation that she might easily miss out on other outstanding picture opportunities. I have no doubt she will work this out of her system very soon. Her pictures have a sensitivity and vitality that I find very refreshing and hugely rewarding.

Maria would love to hear from you on the forum she moderates – this was actually started by a group of photographers who came to Menorca, but anyone with an interest in good photography is welcome.

This was Mark Esling’s second trip to Menorca. He is the sort of chap who works away quietly and happily in almost any situation until he gets the picture he wants. He is very determined to achieve good pictures because he gets so much pleasure from photography.

His picture of the horse being hosed down with water after a race is an absolute corker. He shot straight into the light and this backlight has highlighted the spray. But, for me, the most important aspect f the shot is the timing. That horse is relishing the treatment and it shows.

His picture in the underground labyrinth of the old fort of La Mola is another cracker. The exposure is spot on and the composition just about perfect. La Mola is a regular location for our photography in Menorca, but the place is so vast that each time we go we see new places and things to photograph.

I have put together a short video of the photographers in Menorca and next week I will post it on YouTube and embed it in the blog. It should give you a real taste of the things we photograph and how much fun we have.

Canon Ixus 960IS

My little Canon Ixus 700 has expired. I suppose it was my own fault, I put it in its soft case and attached it to my belt before donning old waterproof clothes and tackling a heavy outdoor job in torrential rain. After a couple of hours it was just as wet inside the waterproofs as it was out. My little camera drowned quietly in bed. The lens steamed up and refuses to come out to play, and it now raises only a pathetic bleat when I switch it on. I’ve tried taking out the battery and drying the camera out it in the airing cupboard, but to no avail.

Once I certified it as dead I immediately set about finding a replacement. It had to be just about the same size and weight as the old Ixus 700, but higher on pixels. Eventually I chose another Ixus – the 960IS.

It has been on my belt now for just over a couple of weeks and I am, so far delighted with the camera.

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I really got chance to try it out the other day when I visited a Bloody Island in Mahon Harbour, on Menorca. I was there to explore new locations for my photography holidays in Menorca.

The camera behaved beautifully and did everything I could have wished. Even interior shots in very difficult light conditions proved no problem with judicious adjustment of the exposure compensation control in the ‘M’ Manual mode. This ‘M’ is not a true manual mode as it does not enable you to change the aperture or shutter speeds – it’s a sort of half-way house. But if you can work within the limitations, it is perfectly adequate for many situations.

One of the secrets of getting outstanding quality with these small cameras is to keep the ISO as low as possible. When the ISO is raised to the maximum 1600 on this Ixus 960IS, the results are, to be kind – noisy. However, there are some situations when in order to get a picture with any sort of atmosphere (avoiding flash), that noise just might be a price worth paying.

So far I’m pleased with the Ixus 960IS and its 12 Mega pixels are providing me with some excellent quality images.

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The camera was bought from Amazon for £222. Postage free.

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The IS (Image stabilisation) has worked well – this shot was hand-held at 1/4sec. ISO200 and it is very sharp. I ave desaturated the colour in Photoshop because I think bw adds to the interest of the picture

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The Canon Ixus 960IS

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The Ixus 960IS has coped very well with the wide range of light strengths in this situation. I simply set the Exposure Compensation value to minus 1.5 to achieve even results and not ‘burn out’ the stronger light through the doorway

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Exactly what a compact camera is good for – giving you the ability to capture those fleeting moments without the hassle of carrying a heavy camera. This shot was snapped from a boat as it left Bloody Island, Menorca

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The Independent Newspaper

There was a gale of wind and rain blowing outside, so the balloon was inflated inside a huge hangar on a remote airfield in Shropshire. All the other national daily newspapers where there to photograph the event. I saw these occasions as a challenge – they brought out the seriously competitive spirit in me. I simply ALWAYS had to try to beat the pack and get the best picture.

It was very nearly dark inside that hangar and powerful floodlights had been set up. There was a general groan of despair from all the other photographers at what appeared to be the lack of opportunities for exiting pictures.

The great advantage of working for a newspaper like the Independent – at least in the days soon after it was launched – was that we photographers were totally free to photograph an assignment in any way we chose. We were never restricted by having to take the most literal pictures. In fact we were encouraged to look beyond the obvious.

The obvious photograph on this assignment, for instance, was a shot of the pilot suspended in his harness beneath the inflated balloon. But that looked totally boring when it was done inside a darkened hangar.

I have said it before – and I will stress it again – that with an understanding of light, a photographer can create interesting images out of very little.

It was obvious to me as soon as the flood lights were lit and the balloon was beginning to inflate that there would have to be an interesting picture if I could shoot against one of these lights from almost inside the balloon as it inflated. Remember that mantra – BACKLIGHT FOR OUTLINE SHAPES!!

However, that picture would need a sense of scale and a human element if it was to be interesting enough to get published.

I quietly asked one of the technicians to stand outside the balloon between me and the floodlight and open his arms to smooth out any wrinkles in the balloon as it inflated. I worked very quickly in order not to give the other photographers any chance to copy what I was doing. The timing was spot on. No sooner had I taken this picture than the balloon lifted off the floor of the hangar as it inflated – making any similar pictures impossible.

Wildlife photography – spoonbills

The reason for our river trip was something very special – indeed it is a First for Scotland. Here in Kirkcudbright it has been known for some months that a pair of spoonbills have been feeding on the mud banks of the river. Well, it is now confirmed that the birds have successfully raised three chicks nearby. All five birds are now seen regularly feeding in the shallows.

This is an extremely rare and important event for wildlife in Britain. Although there is one instance of spoonbills having bred successfully in England, it is the first time in over 300 years that they have bred as far north as SW Scotland. Twitchers are now flocking to Kirkcudbright to see the spoonbills and, happily, the birds seem quite oblivious to their new fame.

Keith was shooting with his Nikon D300 and a 500mm Sigma lens. Due to the shallow water over the mud banks we were unable to get the boat very close, and Keith’s biggest difficulty was in keeping the camera still with the slow shutter speeds needed in the very low light. Although he pushed the ISO right up to 1600, and opened the aperture as wide as possible, he was still using a shutter speed of just 125sec. The motion of the boat and the movement of the birds did not help.

But just look at the picture Keith achieved – you can even see the rain spot bouncing off the wet mud.

Lower photograph shows Keith at work photographing the spoonbills from the boat

A career in photography – 4

Photography down river – part 2

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Here in SW Scotland the tides can be very high, fast and strong. Be safe – check the tide times so that you don’t get stranded on sand banks on a rising tide. Try to time your photography for the falling tide when the water level is falling.
Buy a local tide table, or check on tides at the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides

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Use your fingers

Even the best autofocus system can be a little confused when photographing water, you may find that it ‘hunts’ for something to focus on. Be prepared to resort to the tried and tested method – manual focus. Use your fingers on that focusing ring. If you are photographing a landscape scene and using a wide angle lens, you may find it difficult to manual focus accurately – so use the distance scale on your lens – if you have one. If you set this scale to just less than ‘infinity’ and use a small aperture, perhaps f11 or less, the wide angle lens’s extra depth of field should ensure you get most of the scene in focus.

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Remember those basic rules of light…
Frontlight – Reveals colour – good for the straighforward reflections.
Sidelight – emphasizes texture and form.
Backlight – reveals outline shapes – like silhouettes.
Toplight – go have a beer!

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Do not get carried away by the wonderful sounds of the estuary. The haunting call of the curlew does not photograph very well – you need to record only visual information in your camera, and this picture contains lots. The hull of the boat is in pretty low, non-directional light, and this has helped show more colour than texture. The rusty ladder leans at an angle that counteracts the lines of the planking, and the focal point, the sky, is a mass of bold colour. The camera was put on a tripod, a slow shutter speed (1/8sec) and a small aperture (f16) was used to gain maximum depth of fieldPhotograph 2

It is late afternoon and the last glimmer of sun just catches the superstructure of this scallop dredger as it heads down river and out to sea. I have not tried to counteract the extremely high temperature blue light, but kept the White Balance (WB) setting on the daylight (Sun) setting. This has had the effect of washing the whole scene – except the dashes of yellow sun on the boat – with blue

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Always be alert to those moments that just happen, and don’t get so wrapped up with one type of shot that you ignore everything else around you. When the lifeboat appeared going flat out down river, I stopped photographing the river bank for a few moments, took a couple of pictures of the lifeboat, then carried on with what I was doing

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Explore each subject carefully and take lots of pictures. Don’t be afraid to return to the same subject if possible to photograph it in different light or tide conditions. In this case, I photographed the boat’s reflection at high water, and returned when the tide was out to take more details.

Photography down river – part 1

Water has always inspired photographers to reach for their cameras. Sunsets dipping into reflective seas, waterfalls, fountains – the possibilities are endless. My favourite watery locations are tidal estuaries and rivers, and I’m lucky enough to live near the beautiful River Dee in Galloway. My students love the area, too. However, all tidal rivers, whether they are industrial or rural, can draw me like a magnet. That soft morning or evening light bouncing off rippled water; undulating muddy river banks; fishing boats setting off to sea or heading home after a long trip… just some of the subjects that have me spending many happy hours exploring the river banks.

The River Dee has a huge tidal range, often 8 metres or more, and at low water an entirely different scene is revealed. I’m not in the least put off by all that mud and exposed sand – it is sure to present me with wonderful picture opportunities. At low water the mud shines silver and vibrant – especially when you shoot into the light. This is the time to look for different shapes and textures in the wet surfaces.

Unless you are aiming for a totally abstract feel to your picture, try to use some readily identifiable object as a focal point or foreground – perhaps a wooden stake, a clump of reeds or a boat. Without this, your picture can be confusing to the viewer, who can easily be disorientated with little visual information to go on. For example, an image full of nothing but mud ripples stretching into the distance can lack a sense of scale and impact… again, I stress that that is fine if you are aiming for abstracts. Personally I find, in many instances, these sort of images are unrewarding.

Sensitive use of light is probably the most important asset when trying to produce evocative images of wide-open rivers. Of course, if you can stir yourself to be in position at dawn, you may be rewarded with the most glorious soft light peeping through the sort of hazy, low-lying mist that creeps silently in with the tide. Do not waste these opportunities. Take pictures as if your life depends on it. Explore each and every subject thoroughly. Do not be afraid to shoot straight into that light. This will not only illuminate the mist, but will bring contrast and texture to the surfaces of the water and mud.

Keep alert for everything that happens on and alongside the river. Everything will be changing all the time, and it is a common mistake to get so focused on one particular type of picture that you miss those fleeting opportunities – when the fishing boat appears through the mist, or a flock of waders take flight.

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It is simple enough to capture moments like this provided you stay aware of what is going on around you and anticipate what might happen next. I had watched the lobsterman moor his boat in the middle of the river and row ashore in his dinghy. Obviously he had to walk up that muddy river bank. I took lots of pictures of everything that happened , but this is the one I liked best because it seems to sum up the atmosphere of the riverside town and the man heading home after his day’s work

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Always be on the lookout for reflections in still water. It would have been a great mistake to crop off the bottom of this picture because it contains so much visual information. The soft sidelighting and threatening clouds have certainly helped create atmosphere, but those reflected masts have given the picture its appeal

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I took lots of pictures to record this special morning light as the mist rolled up the river. In this picture, I have included a clump of grass in the foreground and, combined with a wide angle lens, this has induced a tremendous feeling of distance. Mist always photographs really well when it is backlit like this, and that backlight also reveals the texture of the mud. Using Centre-Weighted Exposure mode, I took my exposure reading from just above the grass to the right side. This has underexposed the grass and created bold dark shape

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Remember the mantra – backlight to emphasize outline shapes! In this case the old wooden mooring piles have been completely silhouetted against a sunset. The exposure reading was taken from the sky

NEXT… more tips and more photographs about photographing rivers

Photographing junk – part 2

When I am faced with the enormous array of picture possibilities to be found in this old barn, I find it best to pick off each picture one at a time and move on to the next subject only when I feel Ihave captured what Iset out to achieve. Explore each subject thoroughly and be prepared to move in close to pick out details. These close-ups can make fascinating images, especially when you are photographing old and weathered tools and implements.

Moving further inside the barn and away from the door, it got much darker. But this just meant using slower shutter speeds. There is absolutely no reason why you need use a wide aperture in these low light conditions – provided you are using a good firm tripod. For most of my shots I set the aperture to around f11 or f16 and used shutter speeds ranging from 1 or 2 seconds. Be patient when waiting to check your image in the LCD, processing usually takes a little longer when you have used a slow shutter speed.

For many of my pictures I used a slow shutter speed and let off a hand-held flash. Sometimes firing the flash several times from different directions and positions while the shutter was open.
Read more about this The flash does not need to be connected to the camera in any way: a very basic technique that can create beautiful light if done well – experiment. It costs nothing.

If you’d like the opportunity to photograph the wonderful contents of this old barn, it is sometimes – not always – possible when you come to me for one-to-one tuition. See my website for more details

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I moved some other implements that were hanging on these same hooks. This was done to keep the shapes simple. When shooting at a white wall like this, your exposure metering can easily be confused by all that white and give you a reading that will under expose. Use you Exposure Compensation function to increase the exposure by up to one stop. If, like me, you only ever use the Manual mode, simply over expose by a similar amount

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The Ski-Lark has been in this barn since the 1960s, gathering more and more junk around her – a tin bath, milk churn and a mildewed tarpaulin. It was the combination of greens and blues that attracted me. I simple put the camera on the tripod with an exposure of 1sec at f9.5 and used the available light that was filtering down from the roof

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I did no re-arranging whatsoever with this picture. I did not want to disturb the dust and leaves on the floor – it might have taken years for them to get like that. No flash, no reflector, no tricks. Just a straightforward image with loads of nostalgic interest

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This saw wheel was in a very dark corner of the barn. In order to pick out the outline shape of the curved blade, I simple fired a flash behind the wheel facing towards the camera… remember – backlight accentuates outline shapes. I debated whether or not to remove the bright green nettle. In the end I decided I quite liked the splash of colour

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