PhotoActive - Photography Holidays, Photography Courses, Workshops, DVDs
Photography Holidays-Photography Courses-DVDs with Philip Dunn-Photo Workshops
It is now just four months since Norene’s extraordinary heart operation, and today she has been undergoing tests at the hospital before seeing the consultant.
The results are – and I quote the consultant – “Fantastic”.
The consultant does not want to see her again for another year.
Tonight is cause for celebration and we will be raising a glass to the wonderful people at The Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, Glasgow.
Thank you all.
It’s great to encourage the photographers who come on my Photography Holidays, Courses and Workshops to show their pictures to as wide an audience as possible.
So once again I have set up a small group on Flickr for the those who came to the Photography Workshop at Carlisle Cathedral at the weekend. It’s a good way of building confidence and getting unbiased feedback.
The Flickr Group can be found here. Photo Workshop Group Carlisle Cathedral
So far a couple of the snappers have posted their favourite images from the day, and I have added a few comments and crits, which I hope will help them.
John Smith practicing new-found skills with his camera in Carlisle Cathedral. Photograph Philip Dunn
One of the photographers who has posted is John Smith, who confided to the group that he loved taking pictures purely as memories – he just wanted to create better pictures of those memories.
John wrote a lovely email after the Photography Workshop:
“Thank you for a splendid day at Carlisle – I really enjoyed myself. No wonder the Sunday Times today quoted Carlisle as the happiest town in England!
Your style really was ideal for me: calm, unassuming and so persuasive. Add to that your experience and that lovely way you have of sharing your personal opinion without denigrating that of others, how I wish I had met you years ago. I could have learned a lot from you, as well as a bit about photography too.
Please pass my thanks to Norene for her presence throughout the day too. Not only was she a reassuring anchor if you weren’t about, but her friendliness was contagious for us all.
Kind regards, and yes, I hope that I have the chance to come on a weekend course before too long.”
Thank you John – we look forward to seeing you on a future Photography Course.
Meanwhile I thought I would share the photograph below. One of the staff at the cathedral said to me during the day: “It’s amazing the positions some of these photographers can get into.”
The photograph below proves her point…
So why not get comfortable while taking your pictures? The stone floor may be a little hard for Jane, but it's a good position for reducing camera shake. Photography by Philip Dunn
I will be fixing a date for the next Photography Workshop at Carlisle Cathedral very soon. If you would like me to keep you informed about updates, please just send me your email address in the box at bottom left of the Home Page
Snow – what snow? We had none of that nasty stuff yesterday for our Photography Workshop at Carlisle Cathedral.
It was cold outside but inside Carlisle Cathedral it was nice and warm for our Photography Workshop. Still, Dallas Carter was taking no chances
Photographers came from all over the UK, from Aberdeen, Perthshire, Berwick and London – only the London photographer had problems getting home last night, and that was because he couldn’t get across the city once he arrived.
It was a smaller group than usual, but that was because of cancellations due to the alarmist weather forecasts for this area.
We had a great day of photography and once again I was astonished at the widely differing ways people see things.
The aim of all the photographers was to learn how to use their cameras more effectively and also to take home some great pictures. I think we succeeded on both counts judging from the comments at the end of the day.
Obviously I spend most of my time helping and teaching the photographers during these Photography Workshops, but I do get chance to snap the photographers themselves while they are hard at work.
Dallas Carter (pictured), wearing her brightly-coloured woolly hat and scarf was a perfect subject.
The full group of eight photographers can be seen below. This picture was taken in the Fratry, a superb meeting room in the Friars Tower in the Cathedral grounds. We use this room, overlooking the cathedral itself as our base and for our initial talks.
Our splendid meeting room in the Friars Tower at Carlisle Cathedral overlooks the cathedral itself and is the perfect base for our Photography Workshops. Photograph by Norene Dunn
My thanks to the cathedral staff, and photographers who came on the workshop yesterday – they all helped made the day a great success.
I will be fixing a date for the next Photography Workshop at Carlisle Cathedral very soon.
It’s still not too late to join us tomorrow morning for the Photography Workshop at Carlisle Cathedral.
There are two places still available if you want a great day of photography and photo tuition.
There are photographers coming up from London and down from Edinburgh.
The cost is just £60 and we have our own conference room in the cathedral grounds for the day as a base. This is a splendid meeting room and somewhere we can leave our coats and spare gear while we are taking pictures inside and around the cathedral.
Photographers at work with their tripods in Carlisle Cathedral - come and join them tomorrow and have a great day of photography
Worried about the weather – - the forecast in Carlisle tomorrow, Saturday 4th Feb is for wintry showers with some snow on high hills. We can concentrate of our indoor photography and perfect our pictures of the stained glass windows – and much more.
These are just some of the benefits you can enjoy, so come and join us.
It’s great these days that in any group of photographers on a photography course there’s bound to be at least one with real knowledge of computers.
I’m not a complete numpty with computers, but I don’t pretend to be an expert and there is a huge amount I do not know.
I was giving a slideshow talk the other day to a group of photographers using Windows Photo Viewer – a program that comes packaged with Windows 7.
This is what the work area of the IrfanView photo viewer looks like. All the tools are easily found and the EXIF info display is superb. There is a wide range of skins available. The picture shows the group on the Photography Weekend Break in Kirkcudbright at the weekend
Now I’ve known for some years that this Windows program does not do justice to anyone’s photographs. For one thing, the pictures never appear crisp and sharp.
Among my photography students at the weekend was Bob Pirrie. Bob makes his living with computers and he knows what he’s talking about.
Bob suggested a much better program for viewing images – it’s called IrfanView.
I’ve tried it and it’s great. It does much more than just enable you to view your pictures either singly or as a slideshow. You can crop, straighten, resize, rotate without losing quality, batch process, play movies & sounds and much, much more.
IrfanView is Free Shareware and the program file size is small. One tip – to get the most from this program make sure you download all the Plugins as well as the program itself.
The Photoshop Cloning tool is for wimps…
If you have been on a one-to-one photography course with me here in Galloway, I may well have taken you to one of the most beautiful photography locations in the area.
This is a wooded dell in a deep gorge down which tumbles a delicate waterfall. It is a magical place and I suspect it is where the Little People and fairies live.
Time for action - Philip Dunn attacks the yellow cast iron bath beneath the waterfall in Bonnie Galloway
Can you believe that some moron would dump an old cast iron bath beneath that waterfall?
Well that is exactly what someone did. I suspect it was part of some contraption devised by a farmer – whose eyes were as dim as his soul – to extract water from the stream.
Gone - Oh what a joy. The view of the waterfall without that yellow, cast iron bath
I have put up with that bloody cast iron bath for some years now. It is heavy, immovable and worst of all bright yellow.
Now it is no more. It is gone. Smashed to pieces and I did it.
Things came to a head the other day when I took my student Christine down to this waterfall. Christine came from Switzerland for her day of one-to-one photography tuition. When we climbed down to the waterfall, the stream was so high that it was impossible for us to cross to the other side to get a camera angle on the waterfall that did not include that wretched yellow bath. It stuck out like a sore thumb.
I’m fed up with having to clone out that bath in Photoshop.
Sledge Hammer Photography
So today was Action Day. I loaded a heavy sledge hammer into the Landrover and went on the offensive.
Smashing that hideous bath to small pieces was hugely satisfying.
From now on my students can enjoy an unblemished view of one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Galloway; and the fairies, I’m sure will be pleased.
I simply can’t help sharing this lovely email received this morning from John and Lyn Proud, who were with us for the latest Photography Weekend Break.
There’s an email from Simon Murphy who was also with us – that’s him in the light bulb photograph taken by John!
John Proud's remarkable photograph of fellow photo student Simon Murphy enjoying his own Light Bulb Photography Moment. Photograph by John Proud
Hi Philip and Norene,
Even though I returned to work early this morning it did not in any way dull the buzz from the weekend. Memories of our visit with you in Kirkcudbright will last forever.
John Proud hard at work with his Nikon D7000 during his Photography Weekend Break in Kirkcudbright
Your help has switched on several main beams and made my photography even more enjoyable and I thank you sincerely for that. Your explanation of photography is so good that it resulted in several “Eureka moments” for me.
Lyn and I enjoyed the weekend enormously and I could not recommend the experience in more glowing terms than EXCELLENT!
Thank you both very much and we look forward to seeing you both soon.
With sincere best wishes,
John and Lyn
Just to prove his point, John took a photograph of Simon Murphy enjoying his own Light Bulb Moment…
This is what Simon emailed this morning…
Hi Philip (and Norene)
Thanks to you both for a very enjoyable weekend.
I really feel I stepped up a level in my confidence and control of my camera. I think I had a fair idea before but now I actually feel I know what I am doing and why.
For me personally I think the most useful part of the course was the critiques, then the technical discussion and practical reinforcement.
My next mission I think must be to learn to see the photo opportunities in a given situation.
Thanks again
Simon
Thank you both. The truth is, the pleasure was really all ours – we always enjoy running these Photography Courses when we have such a super group of people with us. Everyone in the group last weekend came with two things firmly in mind – to learn and to enjoy themselves. Exactly the right approach.
I also got a lovely email from our old friend Russell Turner, who was also with us on the Photography Weekend – he sent a photograph of me. Hmm, thank you Russell, maybe I’ll post that one sometime, too.
The Next Photography Weekend Break will be March 30th – April 1st at The Selkirk Arms Hotel. The fully inclusive cost is just £399
I take it as a great compliment that photographers come from far and wide for photography tuition I provide here in SW Scotland.
Christine from Switzerland - at work on Kirkcudbright harbourside during her Photography Weekend Break. Photograph Philip Dunn
I have had students come from as far as Singapore, France, Germany, Belgium, Madrid and one chap who flew from New York specially for two days of one-to-one photography tuition with me.
Last week Christine came specially from her home in Zurich, Switzerland. Christine chose a day of personal tuition before joining the group on the Photography Weekend Break at the Selkirk Arms here in Kirkcudbright.
Outdoor Photography
A real ‘outdoor girl’ Christine was overjoyed to see the fabulous arrays of wild snowdrops, which carpet some woodland areas here in Bonnie Galloway. It really is quite a spectacle at this time of year. There’s nothing like it in Switzerland apparently.
I took Christine to a very special place – a hidden dell buried deep in a wooded gorge beneath the trees where there is a tumbling waterfall.
When Christine started work with me she had never used her Sony A300 camera on the Manual setting. Everything was done on Auto. We soon changed all that.
Manual Exposure
Christine hard at work among the wild snowdrops in the hidden dell in Bonnie Galloway. There's nothing like this near her home in Switzerland
That first afternoon Christine was shooting away happily using Manual Exposure setting and had taken control of her camera for the very first time. She produces some beautiful images from her climb down to that wooded dell.
By the time Christine was working on the harbourside in Kirkcudbright with the other photographers on the Photography Weekend Break, she was gaining more and more confidence. It was a pleasure to watch.
Christine now wants to come on a PhotoActive Photography Holiday and put her new photography skills to good use.
Find out more about One-to-One Photography Tution
A group of really keen photographers were with us over the weekend for one of my latest Photography Weekend Break here in Kirkcudbright – and what a great time we all had.
I get a tremendous buzz when the photographers relax and share their enthusiasm for taking better pictures, and this group all seemed to share a common aim – to enjoy themselves and to learn as much as possible.
We always emphasize the sharing aspects of making pictures during these Photography Weekend Breaks - the more we share, the more we get out of our photography. Here, John Proud (from Yorkshire) and Helen Tait (from Argyll) discuss the merits of a portrait just captured - of me! While snappers Elizabeth Eastgate (from London) and Simon Murphy (from Carlisle) concentrate of their cameras
It was good to see some old friends joining us again – Eddie Dewhurst and Russell Turner have both been on my photography courses before – Russell several times.
The other photographers came from far and wide. Christine came over from Switzerland especially for the weekend. In fact, Christine joined me on the Friday before the course for some one–to-one photography as well. So she’s had a really good long weekend of photography.
Nikon D7000 White Balance
As usual, camera gear and experience among the students varied widely, but I was surprised to see three photographers using the super little Nikon D7000. What smashing camera. I found the effects of its White Balance settings a little confusing, though. While we were working indoors in what was obviously the low temperature yellow light of tungsten bulbs, the Nikon D7000′s Auto White Balance (AWB) setting seemed to give a much more natural effect that the camera’s Tungsten (I think they now call it ‘Incandescent’ – or is it ‘Halogen’?) setting. The picture taken with ‘Incadescent’ certainly seemed to remain very yellow, while the AWB shot had more blue and looked much more natural.
Anybody else noticed this?
Time for a Quick Photograph
Of course I get very little time during these Photography Weekend Breaks to take my own photographs – although I do try to take lots of pictures of the other photographers when I can. However, I did manage to take just one picture which I spotted while working indoors – it was just a set of coloured coat hangers, but I liked the effect they created. The picture is below.
I spotted this in the cloakroom of the house we were photographing. The Camera was quickly on a tripod for a hurried shot between photo tuition. Photograph Philip Dunn
The next event on the PhotoActive Calandar is the Photography Workshop next weekend at Carlisle Cathedral – there are still just a couple of places available, but these are sure to fill during the week, so please don’t leave it too late if you want to join us. It’s just £60 for a full day of tuition and photography BOOK NOW
The next Photography Weekend Break will be March 30 – April First 2012. BOOK NOW
It’s always good to keep in touch with the progress of the photographers who come on my Photography Courses.
Irene Dunton came to my Photography Weekend Break here in Kirkcudbright last October and she wants to follow this up by coming on a Photography Holiday to Menorca.
Just before Irene came on the Photography Weekend she had started a Level One City & Guilds Photography Course and is looking forward to moving on to Level Two later this year. Irene has now volunteered to take photographs at a reading & literacy event at a local London school and is hoping that her photographs will appear on the charity’s website.
This is all very good news and a great example for any keen photographer wanting to extend their knowledge and boost their confidence behind the camera.
Irene also sent me a couple of her portrait shots this morning.
That’s Irene pictured above hard at work with her Sony A380 during her Photography Weekend Break.
I particularly liked the shot of her friend, which, Irene says:
Irene's original portrait of her friend. Photograph by Irene Dunton
“Was taken on a sunny afternoon in my front room which has a north-facing window and the light reflects off the houses on the other side of the street, and I used a reflector – I’m sure I had it white but the reflected light seems quite golden so that could be either I had the gold cover on and I have a memory like a sieve or it is from the sunlight coming through the kitchen door!”
Gold Reflector?
Well, Irene, I’m guessing that you may well have used the gold side of that reflector judging by the angle of the golden glow on your subject’s cheek. It’s really given a pleasant, warm effect.
I felt that Irene portrait could really benefit from a little careful editing and I did a few quick adjustments in Photoshop.
Firstly I corrected the Levels a tad, then cropped out some of the background.
I then cloned out the distracting wallpaper border and vignetted the image a little by using the eye-dropper tool to copy a dark green from the shadow of the subject’s jacket and, with a large paint brush at just 10% opacity I painted in the vignette.
Irene's photograph after a little adjustment to the crop - you must have a good, sound portrait photograph to start with to make a crop successful. Photograph by Irene Dunton
Why Crop the Portrait?
With a straightforward and simple portrait like this I feel that the viewer’s eye should be concentrated on the sitter’s face and unless there is real value in the background – for instance if it is putting the subject in context – then it is best cut down.
It is important to remember that even the most intelligent of crops cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
In this case the portrait was a good, sound image to begin with and well worth a little editing.
Irene’s portrait was taken with her Sony A380
