cheshire photographer

16
photographer c h e s h i r e m a y 2010 expand your horizons learn how to capture the big picture dslr vs hybrid vs compact we give the low down on which breed of camera is best for you take the plunge www.cheshirephotographer.com cp chats to michael seymour about life as a freelance photographer natural light... friend or foe? reflections... h o yeah! macro masterpieces that dont break the bank focus liam cronin examines the latest in camera phone and canon can ever be bridged £3.50 technology and asks if the gap between nokia 2

Upload: liam-cronin

Post on 13-Mar-2016

233 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

A mock magazine that I produced as part of a final assessment during my third year studying Journalism at Chester University

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Cheshire Photographer

photographerc h e s h i r e

m a y 2010

expand your horizonslearn how to capture the big picture

dslr vs hybrid vs compactwe give the low down on which breed of camera is best for you

take the plunge

www.cheshirephotographer.com

cp chats to michael seymour aboutlife as a freelance photographer

natural light...

friend or foe?

reflections...h o yeah!

macro masterpiecesthat dont breakthe bank

focusliam cronin examines the latest in camera phone

and canon can ever be bridged

£3.50

technology and asks if the gap between nokia

2

Page 2: Cheshire Photographer

capture the imagecapture the moment

capture the memories

Page 3: Cheshire Photographer

contentsbringing life into focuscheshire photographer:

The world around us is a beautiful place, filled with infinite amounts of detail that the human eye is unable to pick up on as it passes by. Here at the cheshire photographer we believe that photographs play a vital part in examining the wonder that the planet has to offer. The county of cheshire holds some of the most amazing woodlands, his-torical sites and landscapes that the country has to offer so lets get out there and use this to our advantage to take some breathtaking

photographs. The cheshire photographer endeavours to showcase these areas as well as helping you to create your own masterpieces. In the office we have ex-perts at hand to show you how to introduce various techniques in to your own portfolio without enduring the vast economic drawbacks that is associated with the industry. In this first edition we have focused on the rural aspect of the county bringing areas such as, beeston, northwich, tarporley and delemere in to

the viewfinder. The majesty of the still im-age is one that will never die, so please join us on our journey across cheshire as we bring life in to focus.

page 3www.cheshirephotographer.com

page 4 michael seymour talks to the cheshire photographer about his life so far, favourite techniques and tips for emerging photographers.

page 6 we discuss the issues with natural light. how to use it to your advantage, and what to avoid.

page 7 your latest dose of all the photographic news, be it camera releases or competition launches.

page 8 expand your horizons with liam cronin as he discusses how to improve the technical elements of your portfolio.

page 10 we give you a step by step guide to selective colour enhancement in adobe photoshop CS3.

page 12 dslr, hybrid or compact?a rundown of the facts that you will need to know when looking in to buying your new camera.

page 13 focus: liam cronin talks about the ever advancing nature of camera phones whilst reviewing the all new sony ericsson satio

page 15 macro shots without the damage to you bank balance as well as a look in to reflections in photography

Page 4: Cheshire Photographer

michael seymour:A career in freelance photography is one that is rife with uncertainty. Where will the next job come from? How do you get started? Am I good enough? All of these are questions that play on the mind of a photographer when making the leap in to the industry. The Cheshire photographer has spoken to Michael Seymour, a regularly published freelance photographer and journalist. Michael grew up in Cheshire learning the industry from an early age, playing with his fathers old work cameras. “the first camera I ever owned was an old Pen-

tax ME super, its about 20 years old now but I still use it regularly. “growing up this was an ideal camera as it was all completely manual which meant that I grasped how to perform basic functions very quickly, unlike today’s cameras of which most have an auto setting.” Said Michael

From an early age Michael was

always experimenting with cameras and took every excuse he could to get his hands on a new piece of equipment be it a wedding birthday or other family function. “I have always been interested in capturing memories, probably because my own memory is so poor.” Said Michael By the age of 16 Michael had decided that A-levels were not the choice for him and decided to study for his B-Tech national diploma in photography at Mid-Cheshire College. “A-Levels really did seem too vague for me and non of the courses available offered me enough focus on what I really wanted to do. The diploma was fascinating to me and I could really see the future career path potential.” Michael has been a

liam cronin talks to freelancer michael seymour

page 4 www.cheshirephotographer.com

connoisseur of film

Page 5: Cheshire Photographer

taking the plungecameras for as long as he can remember preferring the aesthetics that can be created using traditional cameras despite the drawbacks in convenience. The young freelancer’s portfolio is vast and covers all areas of photography such as macro shots, lighting effects and experimentation with exposure, however some of the most poignant images in his portfolio are based around the Lomography movement. Lomography focuses on snap shot photographs that are often intentionally over exposed, blurred or over saturated but each photographer carries their own particular style. “I love the ethos of the Lomography movement; ‘don’t think, just shoot’ its brilliant, it really encapsulates how I like to look upon the world.

“Even my favourite bit of kit comes from the Lomography movement, its my fisheye Lomography camera, it’s a bit dated now but it really does still know how to cut the mustard. “It gives such an interesting effect on the prints and in my opinion nothing can match it.” Michael made his break on to the freelance scene whilst at university, selling several photographs to various newspapers in the area as well as building a substantial portfolio. “My advice to anyone looking to make a move in to the freelance photography industry is just to shoot everything you can, you never know what someone may find artsy

or important enough to spend their cash on. “Most of my favourite pictures I have in my portfolio are completely unplanned, and they seem to be the ones that sell. “Most importantly never be knocked back by somone telling you your images are not of use to them, times change and the good thing about photographs is that they don’t. Peoples opinions of the same image differ.” For more information on freelance photography please visit the cheshire photographer’s website, www.cheshirephotographer.com

about his youth, kit and love of lomography

page 5www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 6: Cheshire Photographer

Lighting provides us with the ability to see the wonderful world around us, producing shadows and creating shapes upon ordinarily mundane objects. For the photographer though, lighting does pose somewhat of an issue. To get the balance right between the two extremities of the medium takes time and practice but when you crack

it the world is literally yours for the taking. Be conscious of where the light source is. If it is right in front of you be careful not to over expose the image by adjusting shutter speeds, if the image is to bright, increase the shutter speed to allow less light in to the lens and if it is too dark, increase the shutter speed to allow more light in. If the light source is above

or behind you be conscious of the shadows and where they fall. The last thing you want is the colour of your fo-cal point to be blunted by a shadow. Natural light is a bit of a double edged sword in this manner, work with it and your images will be brighter, more colourful and eye catching than anything that could ever be shot in a studio, but try to fight it and you will lose.

natural light: a friendly foe

Page 7: Cheshire Photographer

photographersnewsyour one stop shop for all

Metropolitan police officers are no longer able to prevent the taking of photographs under new regulations con-tained within the officers handbook. Up until last week police officers were able to prevent photographs being taken in “sensitive” areas and confis-cate any images that had already been taken. The amended hand book states, “Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search. Dele-tion or destruction may only

things photographytake place following seizure if there is a lawful power (such as a court order) that permits such deletion or destruction.” The adjustment in policy has been met with a sigh of relief from the photographical industry, Peter Thorp, Daven-ham Studios, said, ”this is such a huge step forward for free-lance photographers. “In the past it was almost impossible to get any photo-graphs when the police were in risk of being in shot but now we can breath easy and just concentrate on getting that snap. “The law was very vague prior to this, and I’m not en-tirely sure the police were able to enforce it consistently, hence the issues that the in-dustry was having.”

rights changefor

photographers

The Cheshire photographer has launched its photogra-pher of the year competition. The competition is open to all photographers and categories range from best landscape shot to best use of lighting and the winner will receive £10k worth of photo-graphical equipment as well as studio time with the pros. The judges will be looking for how the photographs are composed, use of focus and lighting. In order to stand a chance of winning the competition

you need to send all of your pictures, maximum 3 per entrant, to; [email protected]

competition launch

canon has announced the release of the new 1D DSLR camera. the camera boasts over 25 customizable shooting modes as well as a hybrid auto white balance. the camera is due for releas in july of this year priced at apporximately £4500

new canonannounced

page 7www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 8: Cheshire Photographer

view finderliam cronin gives you tips on how to bolsteryour technical portfolio

Landscape photography is pivotal to any decent portfolio, but taking a good landscape photo can be a lot harder than it looks. It truly is a real skill to be able to squeeze miles of horizon in to a few inches without loosing any of the natural beauty that the human eye can see, but with a few simple pointers we can get you on track to capturing some stunning shots. It is important to remember the basic principles of photography before you begin to experiment with the more advanced techniques. One of the most vital rules to remember is the rule of thirds. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this technique it really is very simple, and you are probably doing it subconsciously anyway. Essentially you must remember to break what you can see through the view finder up in to vertical thirds. Strictly speaking it is important to make sure that the focal point of the photograph is not solely contained within the middle segment. This helps to naturally frame the photograph and as a general rule looks more professional, but as with all

rules there are some exceptions. With this rule in mind you can start to look for the natural shapes within your surroundings, be it plants, mountains or cloud lines. There really is no real technique in to using these natural objects but being observant of what is going on around you will take you a long way. Natural lighting will also play a large part in all of the landscape photographs that you take so you need to be aware of how to use it to your advantage. Try to avoid having the sun shining directly in to the lens of the camera as this will create glare and could ruin the photograph. Where possible try to have the sun shining over your shoulder towards the area that you want to photograph this will highlight the area nicely and natural shadows should help to highlight areas of focal importance. However if this is not possible you can increase the shutter speed in order to combat the glare from the sun. Lighting can make or break a photograph so be aware and consider photographs you have seen previously.

Do not be afraid to play around with you depth of field either. Get up close to a point of interest and slightly blur the horizon in the background. This will help to, once again naturally frame the object. All in all you need to remember what it is you look for in a good photograph and try to recreate it. Keep these tips in mind but do not be afraid to branch out and try something new.

www.cheshirephotographer.compage 8

Page 9: Cheshire Photographer
Page 10: Cheshire Photographer

v

We have all been there, you get that killer image that you know will look amazing given some care and at-tention in photoshop but you cant remember for love nor money how to get the effect you want. Well here at the Cheshire photographer we can help. Adobe photoshop is somewhat of a speciality of ours and nothing would give us more pleasure than to help out our readers. This month we are on hand to show you how to adjust and specify the colour range within your photo-graph. Firstly you need to open your version of photoshop, we recommend CS3, new versions of this programme are available frequently but we find CS3 the easiest to use and the interface seems to be the most user friendly. Open your image file and press the ‘Q’ key to enter the programmes editing mode, this will enable you to work freely over the top of the image without causing any irreversible changes.

the eagle has landed

adobe photoshop selective colour

enhancement made easy

Once in edit mode you will need to select the ‘brush’ tool, you can do this by either pressing the ‘b’ key or clicking on the brush icon.

Using the paintbrush you now need to paint over the parts of the image you would like to change, so in the case of the image of the eagle the entire photograph has been painted over apart from the beak and the sky. During this process the areas you are painting should be turning a red-pink colour dependant on the shade of the painting area. Once you have painted over the sections of the photograph that you want to edit press the ‘Q’ button once again to exit the editing mode. The painted areas should now be outlined by a dotted line.

page 10 www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 11: Cheshire Photographer

v

enhancement made easy

Next you need to select the lasso tool, you can do this by pressing ‘L’ or clicking on the lasso icon.

Using the lasso tool right click anywhere on the image and go for the ‘select inverse’ option. This will enable you to alter the highlighted area outside of edit mode.

On this new layer you can make any changes that you would normally be able to make in Adobe Photoshop and here in the CP office we decided to introduce greyscale to thehighlighted area leaving only the sky and the eagles beak, which helps to create an attractive focal point to image.

Whilst still using the lasso tool right click again and select the ‘layer via copy’ option, this will create a new layer of the highlighted area above that of the original photograph.

With a bit of luck this tutorial will have you well on your way to becoming a photoshop master, who knows, next time it could be cheshire photographer asking for your help.

page 11www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 12: Cheshire Photographer

With the vast range of cameras available to you today it can become a bit daunting when buying a new camera, and this is not made any easier by the manufacturers, each of them claiming that their new camera out shoots the competitors. Well don’t worry, because the cheshire photographer is here to help. Firstly it is of paramount importance that you set a budget and stick to it. It is way too easy to walk in to a re-tailer and be sold all sorts of equipment that you don’t want or need, so by setting an upper limit to your spending you can aim to avoid this. After setting your upper limit it is important that you understand a small bit of the jargon, primarily the differences in the 3 types of camera we are discussing. A DSLR, or digital single lens reflex camera, uses a system of mirrors to reflect the light from the lens to the view finder. This allows the pho-tographer to see the image immediately before the point of exposure, which in theory reduces the chances of poor-ly taken photographs. This type of camera is used extensively at professional lev-

el due to the extensive range of attachable lenses that are on offer, thus infinitely increas-ing the range of photographs that can be taken. Next up it’s the hybrid camera. A hybrid camera sits somewhere in between the DSLR and the compact. Hybrids use electronics to digitally show the image in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen on the

back. This is one of

the drawbacks of this breed of camera however as the image that is shown does not always accurately rep-resent the final quality of the photograph. Hybrid cameras are also unable to use lens attach-ments and thus all images must be taken with the stan-dard lens. On the plus side hybrid cameras do come with hun-dreds and hundreds of vari-ous different electronic set-tings, such as macro, profile and image stabilisers, all of

which go some way to make up for the lack of extra lenses. Hybrid cameras also cost significantly less than their professional counterparts so if you are on a tight budget, this may be the way to go. Finally we need to look at compact cameras; the main advantage of these cameras is given away in their name. They are tiny. Unfortunately there are no lenses to add on or indeed

many manual settings to play with other than zoom. It really

is photography at its point and click

roots. Compact cam-eras do come with several electronic functions like face recognition, image stabilisers and auto focus but these tend

to be regarded more as gimmicks than serious

functionality options. Compact cameras can also be picked up relatively cheaply and new models are being released all the time. When choosing your cam-era remember to think about when you will be using it, if you are looking for a camera that you can take every-where with you and that will fit in your pocket then choose a compact, but if you want to take professional quality photographs that have been well thought out then go for a DSLR. If you are looking for a middle ground its probably best to go with a hybrid.

dslr, hybrid,compact?we help you to decide which camera best suits your needs.

page 12 www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 13: Cheshire Photographer

As mobile technology progresses the bridge between the humble telephone and the DSLR is being bridged. The general public no longer want to carry around a phone, a camera, an mp3 player and a GPS system. In the past the quality of pictures taken from camera phones has been questionable at best, but with the introdution of smart phones the photo-graphic community has had tolisten to the claims of the manu-facturer. Sony Ericsson has always been regarded as the photographers choice of mobile, and with their new release, the ‘Satio”, this trend looks set to continue. The phone boasts traits such as 3G capability, Wifi and 256MB of RAM, which is more than most Windows 95 computers. On top of all this the phone contains a camera with the highest resolution yet to enter the mobile market at an as-tonishing 12 megapixels. In order to put this figure in to

focus: satiothe new sony ericsson satio, can it really be as

good as the hype?perspective for you, the ma-jority of middle range DSLR’s out there, such at the Canon 450D shoots at 12.2 mega-pixels. The phone itself is relatively small, in comparison to most cameras at least, and weight is not going to be an is-sue, even for the most feeble armed of users. There are, however, some drawbacks to having such a

small body for such a pow-erful camera. For example at the moment, even with its impressive 256MB of RAM, the phone is unable to offer a ful-ly manual setting which would enable both manual focus as well as accurate zoom. On top of this it must be noted that the functionality of the camera phone, all be it good for a phone, is over-powered by even the lower spec compact cameras, with only five separate setting available to the photogra-

pher on the move. Despite this the phone does offer something that most cameras can’t, rapid acces-sibility in a tiny sub-frame. The images that you will produce from the Sony Erics-son Satio will impress you in comparison to other camera phones, if only for the level of detail that can be at-tained, however, the camera does lack an aperture setting

mean-ing that depth of field is entirely deci-phered by the phone itself which at times can become somewhat tedious. Over-

all the phone does what it does very well, it makes calls, plays music and it does take some attractive pictures, but, and this is a very big but, it will never replace the DSLR in the photographers arse-nal although it would make a handy quick shooting side arm. It seems that the technol-ogy is just not there at the moment to encompass a fully functioning, professional qual-ity camera and a phone all in the same shell.

page 13www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 14: Cheshire Photographer
Page 15: Cheshire Photographer

Macro photography is quite simply breath taking. The sheer detail that can be seen through the lens in such seemingly mundane objects could hold the attention of even the most critical of onlookers. Unfortunately there is one main problem with macro photography, the cost. The technique is possibly one of the most expensive in the industry with thousands of pounds being paid for high end macro lenses. There are, however ways to get around these costs with minimal impact upon the quality of the photograph. Most modern day

cameras come with an inbuilt macro shooting mode, and providing you know your way around the manual focus and aperture settings of your camera the results can be just as impressive as the latest in lens technology. Even the majority of compact cameras do come with a macro shooting mode, although it is harder to use effectively than the likes of a hybrid cameras or even a dslr ’s due to the lack of manual settings. Obviously the lower spec the camera that you are using is, the harder it will be to create a breath taking macro shot, but keep

experimenting with focus, aperture and ISO settings and it will happen. Once you have taken the image it can be touched up using any photo editing software, we do recommend Photoshop CS3, in order to enhance the areas of intense colour, zoom or even to increase or reduce blur in certain areas to adjust artificial depth of field within the shot. So before you fork out for that lens, just remember to experiment with what you already have, it could save you a lot of money.

Water is a wonderful sub-stance; it gives life to all things and can also take it away in an instance. As if this wasn’t enough, water also gives an added depth to any portfolio with reflection photography. Reflection photography captures distorted images that are bounced of the surface of the water. Try to take these pictures on a sunny or bright day as this enables the maxi-mum amount of light to be bounced off the water and thus clearer more prominent reflections. It really is that simple. So give it a go, we would love to see what you are ca-pable of, send your pictures to [email protected] and they could get published in next months issue.

h o yeah!2

macro masterpiecespage 15www.cheshirephotographer.com

Page 16: Cheshire Photographer