A walk through the lens.
As I said when I was last on my soap box ; we are getting close to a release of our new site. but hey, if they can delay the Air Bus for another year, what’s a week among friends!
Cameras are interesting when it comes to taking pictures that look good. People often say to us, “Ah, but look at the camera you have got, its a super digi two tone whatsit with a Kleb attached”.
Whilst a nice camera does help from the point of view that it reduces the numbers of failures, especially when you are clinging by your teeth to get a shot, it is not the whole argument.
Now here I have a confession to make. I don’t begin to understand half of what makes a camera tick. Especially in the area of focal planes and specialist lenses. It’s too much overload for a simple lad lilke me to get my head round.
Now that doesn’t mean to say that I dont know how my cameras work. (I do, I do, he said forcefully.) Its more of a case that I know what I want from a camera and more important, I live within the expectations of the lenses that I have chosen for the effects that I want.
Ok so your confused. So am I. So lets add meat to that statement. (Sorry vegetarians)
Experience has taught me that framing a picture properly is half the argument to making a good photograph. Logic really and it sounds easy. It is if you follow the rules. When I look at a possible picture my head calculator does a series of checks.
No 1. Whats in the picture that I like. (a) Abstract (b) Pretty (as in wow!) (c) Architectural or Historic. (Interesting) There are other bits of mental dross too, saturation of colour and contrasting light effects, but I wont bore you with too much trivia, trivia.
No 2. “What’s the llight meter doing, flashing or steady”. Then, what do I want from the picture. Now this is often a difficult one as pictures can happen too fast for the subject to sit there whilst you analyse the outcome. But hey, lets not be shy. The fact I am holding the camera to my head suggests to any audience that I may have the intention of taking a photograph!! So I do. In the days of film I doubt if I would. You know the argument, 35 shots on a roll and the cost of deveoping them!!
So, what else.
No 3. Is the back ground interesting? If its not, I will adjust the camera to blurr the backgound (If I can) i.e. Faster the shutter speed less depth of field. Slower , vice versa etc.
Now this is where the serious part takes over. Composition. Now lets not have any friviolity. This is not a place where you dump your kitchen waste. As an experienced Rainbow Journeyman I will run my eye around the periphery of the picture in the viewfinder looking for No, no’s. Bits that distract from the main theme. I try to focus these out or move to compensate for them. I then look for theme lines. Here at this point may I suggest that you will need to look at the Widmouth Beach pictures where the wind was streaming the sky up and over the cliff edge. The cliff edge rock styrations are matching the cloud movement. Now that’s what I would call a neat shot. Or look at the couple on the Trebarwith Strand in Cornwall. The picture is hauntingly simple. But it’s the light effect which took my eye. The reflections from the sun making the beach look like a golden pavement. Now to me that’s a wow factor. And talking of WOW factors if you really want to impress your friend try buying one of these picture printed in AO size. It will stop them in their tracks. The visual effects are stunning. But I digress so back to the soap box.
One big unwritten rule, get over the problem of nerves before you take the camera into the field to do your shots. Practice shooting pictures around the garden or house, trying out different setting as you do so. Then erase the bad ones and start again. (Rembering what settings you used for each failed picture helps here…) With that type of familiarity you wont find yourself fumble fingered when you are the centre of attention taking shot after shot and switching settings as you do so to gain the best result. Think of your camera as the Kama Sutra of cameras. There’s always a new position to be tried!!!
One of the Camera’s I use (Canon Pro 1) has a twisting LCD screen so I can take odd angles without cricking my neck in the process.
Finally batteries and odd add on’s.
At a club meet recently one member arrived with several thousand pounds worth of super camera and all the gismos that would make Lord Lichfields efforts look box brownyish. Except, his battery was flat. No spare so no photographs. He had paid good money to come of a trip to a special locatiion (Invitation only) to find that he couldn’t take a single shot.
Odd add on’s? If it’s summer time remember insect repellant. Horse flies don’t give a damn if you are not horse shaped. They just love the flavour. Same for midges and mosquitos. And in the bottom of my gunny bag I carry Wasp eaze. Not for wasps but for stinging plants which have a distinct liking for bare arms and legs. And in winter, keep your camera warm. You may be clinging to your thermals but your camera can’t. Keep it away until you need it for a shot or two. Then put it away after the event. A dangling camera on a cold morning not only invites misting of the lense but chills the batteries into a nonperformance peak. All good exciting stuff and enough for today.
To see more of our portfolio of stunning images of South West England see www.rjsw.co.uk
More soon.
Visit our site at www.rainbowjourneyman-southwest.co.uk
