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Holiday Time
Just to let you know that we are off to the
beautiful
waterways of Kerala in southern India for a well earned rest. Well a
complete rest for my wife Sally because I shall be putting the Olympus
E-P2 through its paces - it's a tough job but someone's got
to
do it!
I'll be publishing my findings in the
Product Reviews section when we
return in March.
During my last trip to India, I grabbed a few shots in the Golden
Triangle area - Delhi ... Agra ... Jaipur - and wrote an
article for the Photography Tutor section.. Here's
a slideshow, so turn up your sound
system and sit back - I hope you
share my passion for Rock
Guitar!!
"From Slides to Digital" is aimed
at folk who make presentations at meetings
but contains information that will be useful to all
photographers - whether you are already into digital photography,
thinking about it or just have a large collection of slides.
The
booklet has the following sections:
Projectors and projection
Screens
Digital photographs - picture images
Setting up for a lecture
Converting film-slide photographs to digital picture
image files
Adjusting the picture images
Making up the lecture
The presentation process
More picture image preparation
Adding text/titles to picture images
Maps and photographs
Lists and scripts
Highlighting parts of picture images
Projection programmes
Projecting single images in that ‘questions to
answer’ section
The lecture - finally...
"From Slides to Digital" was
written for the Hardy Plant Society so has a few botanical references
and illustrations, but it is eminently suitable for any society, group
or individual who is now concerned to upgrade to a digital
system.
It
can be downloaded to any computer in PDF format to print A4 size, and
there is also a further File for A5 double sided (duplex) printing with
printing instructions. The files are free when downloaded from the
HPS website provided the Society's name and logo are not altered or
erased.
It's easy to see why digital
photography has overtaken analog in popularity-it's affordable,
convenient, versatile, and, above all, it makes photography more fun
than ever before. Tom Ang's latest book is an in-depth, inspirational,
and uniquely practical guide to every aspect of digital photography.
Our first
Masterclass for 2010 is about Underwater Photography.
This fascinating pastime is no longer just for professionals with loads
of expensive equipment.
We are seeing more and more everyday compact cameras capable of taking
superb photos underwater.
Paul Shepherd is a very experienced diving
instructor and an accomplished photographer who has been recording
the sights he sees almost every day in the seas off Zanzibar's
coastline.
In this masterclass he shares some of the
key lessons he has learned in
perfecting his photographic skills and provides us with an insight as
to
what it is like to take a photographic adventure with him at the Rising
Sun Dive Centre in Zanzibar.
Last October we invited your vote on the use of infra-red equipment in wildlife photography competitions. We did this in the light of the image of a wolf which won the prestigious "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" competition. Without exception, you voted that images triggered by the animal itself should be in a separate category in wildlife competitions.
Following a recent investigation by the owners of the WPOY, it appears likely that the winning image was of an animal model.
A statement has been issued - "It saddens us to confirm that after a careful and thorough investigation into the image, the storybook wolf, the co-owners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide have disqualified the winning entry of the photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez."
We believe that the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" will continue to be a highly respected competition of complete integrity. However, if it is to maintain its appeal to honest photographers, we feel that clear lines need to be drawn. Shameful cheating aside, we maintain that the use of technology has its place but needs to be set apart in the case of infra-red. We believe that the photographer should actually depress the shutter at the instant of capturing the image, albeit directly or by wireless control. Infra-red can assist the creation of superb images but such images should be categorised separately in wildlife competitions.
Hello
from the Hampshire Snowdrifts. We've been snowed in for a week or so;
even when we have managed to walk to the local shops the cupboard is
bare because deliveries by lorry are not possible. Like the rest of
Britain, what has been a nightmare for most folk, has been a dream for
photographers.
I'm
no exception so a couple of days ago I wrapped up warm, set up the
camera - (remembering to
dial in over-exposure to render the snow as white. Actually +0.7
compensation with the shutter set to 3 bracketed exposures of 1 stop.
Not just as a safeguard, but because I prefer to use HDR techniques
when necessary. Few of the scenes I shoot have straight enough horizons
for graduated filters.) - and set off in search of some
"great" images.
Three hours later I returned home with 250 shots and cold wet feet - my
boots had sprung a leak. Unperturbed, I reviewed my images on the PC.
Were they all "great"? Of course not. One or two that I might exhibit
perhaps but a lot more that, even though they are just average, tell
the story of the first time in a generation or so that snow did fall in
Hampshire.
What to do? Leave them on the hard drive to rot? Post them to Facebook
or elsewhere to be forgotten?
OR
Put together a slideshow set to music, with a difference. Take a look
at "Snow
Falls On
Tisted". Perhaps you
might produce something similar? If you do, let me know so other
readers can share in it.
Finally, one image is very different. It was inspired
by my friend Damien Lovegrove. Whilst he specialises in Portrait
Photography, with particular attention to lighting, I had a go at
applying one of his ideas to this image - simple use of a reflective
surface and an off-camera flashgun. Which reminds me of my next project
- to watch Damien's latest instructional video - "Speedlight
Mastery". I'll let you know what I think of it
in a day or so.
We begin 2010 with
your free downloadable photograph - "Until
Tomorrow".
The sun sets on an idyllic island in The Maldives bringing peace to an
area where, just five years ago, debris from the violent tsunami across
the Indian Ocean was washed up on its beaches.
Just taking a break from hanging the holly and stuffing the turkey to wish all Better Photographs readers a very Merry Christmas.
Thank you for your support throughout the year and I look forward to hearing more from you in 2010.
John
Learn Landscape Photography
This masterclass assumes you have read what John
Perriment covered in Better
Landscape Photography about the importance of light,
particularly around dawn and sunrise, and takes it further..
Thinking I had enough camera equipment and
that I would be very unlikely to change to a different system (yet
again), I let all the Micro
Four Thirds hype pass me by.
John specialises in close-up photography of flowers and insects and has
been leading photography courses in the UK and abroad since 1979. He
also lectures to Photographic and Natural History societies.
In 1991 he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society for
a panel of slides on the theme of - Protective Colouration in European
Lepidoptera.
Over 2,000 of our readers have benefited from John's
masterclass -
If you want to get the most out of your photography session, these modeling tips from successful model and actor, Steven Hooper are valuable to you whether you are a photographer or a model.
In October, the results of the "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" were announced and the overall winning image was an outstanding photograph of an Iberian Wolf.
Like last year's winning image of a Snow Leopard, the wolf triggered the photograph itself as it cut an infra-red beam.
Whereas the winning photographer set up the necessary equipment to take the photograph, he did not fire the shutter himself.
This posed a question - should photographs triggered remotely by the animal itself and not the human photographer be in a separate category in wildlife competitions?
Since we asked this question, the BBC Wildlife Magazine has published readers' letters which also beg this question. In view of this, I intend writing to the magazine with the results of our survey. We have some but we need more votes to have a more realistic sample.
