Fellow photographers,
Another bumper newsletter! Lots of events happening this month. On the 9th September we have a Burlesque themed shoot. Followed by a Manchester Photo Walk (updated info from last time) on the 11th. A pet photography night, and a Wedding Photography Workshop
Also in this newsletter… Tips for photography in the rain and Behind the Scenes – I talk you through how I lit a publicity shot for a play.
Read on for more details on all these topics……
Burlesque!
Friday, 9 September 2011 , 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: Ian’s Studio
We have a burlesque dancer and model Cerise Derrière back at Ian’s Studio this week. The event will be led by New to Photo’s Rick Bradbury.
On Saturday 20th September, burlesque dancer and model Cerise Derrière visited the studio for group shoot. Sadly several photographers who wanted to come to that event were unable to attend. In view of this… and also because Ceriese is a great model… I decided to book her for another session.
Even if you did come to the last session I am assured by Cerise that she will be bring some different outfits. Additionally with Rick leading the event in my absence you will get a different perspective on lighting!
You can see images from Cerise’s previous shoot at the studio here…
http://photos.imb.biz/models/shoot/cerise
And you can find here purestorm profile here:
http://www.purestorm.com/p
Price: £22
Manchester Photo Walk
Location: Manchester Town Hall
Meet 2.30pm in front ofManchester Town Hall. (Near Victoria Fountain with the gargoyles on it).
Join me for a walk round the centre of Manchester to photograph the city. I’ll show you some of my favourite views of the City. This will be a great chance to practice travel and architecture photography.
Starting at the Town Hall, places of interest will include Lincoln Square, Spinningfields, Trinity Bridge, Manchester Fort and we finish at Castlefield.
At the end of the walk those who want to can retire to a pub/restaurant for a drink, food and to share photos on the back of your camera.
Consider bringing your tripod if you want to try long exposures of the fountains or locks. The walk will go ahead whatever the weather. For general advice on photography in the rain please take a look at the “Hints and Tips” post below.
Price: £8.00
(NOTE: For those attending my “Intermediate Photography Course” I am offering this event at discounted rate of £5.00)
Pet Photography
Friday, 16 September 2011 , 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: Ian’s Studio
For this session I will be arranging a number of pets/animals to visit the studio throughout the evening for photographers to work with.Any photographer able to bring a pet to the shoot will get free entry!
I am hoping to have at least two dogs, a tortoise available for photographers to shoot. I’ve recently had the offer of a couple of reptiles and a snake too!
Price: £18 (Free entry to anyone bringing a pet!)
Introduction to Wedding Photography Workshop
Saturday, 17 September 2011 , 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Ian’s Studio
At some point all photographers get asked to photograph a wedding – even if it is on an informal basis just as a favour for a friend. This workshop will introduce you to what is involved.
While taking the photographs is relatively straightforward what scares most photographers is the fact that you have limited time and only have one chance at a wedding.
In this workshop we give special emphasis on the ‘stage management’ role that a wedding photographer has to assume. We look at the planning side, and how to make sure things run smoothly from a photographic perspective.
We conclude the workshop with the chance to photograph a bride and groom models in the local park. Whatever the weather we will go ahead with the outdoor shoot! If it rains this will be a good chance to learn what to do for wedding photos when the weather is not as you would wish it!
Cost £69 (Includes lunch and notes)
(NOTE: For those attending my “Intermediate Photography Course” I am offering this event at discounted rate of £50)
Tips File: Photography in the Rain
A few hints and tips for photography in the rain….
The first concern in rainy conditions it to protect the camera and lens. High-end DSLRs and lenses have a certain amount of rain resistance.
Additional protection can be provided by using specialist rain covers, or even something as simple as a clear plastic bag with a hole cut in it for the lens and held in place with an elastic band.
For light rain/drizzle a small towel folded and placed over the camera to keep most of the moisture off it can work well. I’ve been told that those drip towels you sometimes find on bars are good for this and just about the right size too!
Lens hoods are just for sunny days. Use a lens hood to reduce the amount of water splashing on to the lens, and regularly check the lens for drops and clean them off with a lens cloth (keep the lens cloth in a plastic bag in your pocket).
When shooting in rainy conditions it is often best not to ‘fight’ the conditions. Instead of trying to take shots as though it wasn’t raining try to make the rain a feature of the images you are producing. Look for people holding umbrellas as points of interest in an image. Try to use reflections in puddles. One ‘trick shot’ to try is to just photograph the reflection of a building and then invert the image.
Behind the Scenes : Gaslight
I am currently directing “Gaslight” for Stockport Garrick Theatre. I’ve also done the publicity/cast images for this play. You can see the finished image on the right.
Very simple lighting set-up gridded strip-light soft box left and behind the subject. Gridded light with blue gel camera right pointing at the black background paper.
I didn’t want to shoot with an aperture of less than f/7.1 because I wanted a reasonable depth of field for this image. I knew I needed face and hand to be in sharp focus and knew they would be at different distances form from the camera.
My gridded strip-light softbox positively eats light so I had my 500W bowens head on maximum output (set to 6.0). And I still had to up the ISO to 250.
Very little work required in post production. I boosted the red in the rubies and added a graduate filter to fade to black at the bottom of the image. After that just a case of adding the text and logos.
The only other thing to say… if you are in the Stockport area it would be great if you could come to see the play. Details and booking info here: http://www.stockportgarrick.co.uk/index.php?page=whats-on
Training Courses – Not too late.
Don’f forget…. I have two seven session training courses running through the autumn. These are:
“Introduction to DSLR Photography” – This course takes is suitable for anyone just starting out in digital photography, we cover all the basics including composition, exposure, aperture, ISO, and digital processing. The course begins on Sunday 18th September at 3.00pm. Still have some spaces available.
“Intermediate Photography Course“ – The course will consist of seven sessions (plus and optional session). Each session will be two and half hours in length. Each session will look at one or two related genres of photography. We will cover techniques and equipment, and I will be providing practical advice and where appropriate I’ll share experiences from a professional perspective. Not too late: Although this course started on Wednesday 31st August – I will be running a catch-up session for anyone who missed the start of the course and wishes to join before week 2. Email me for more details.
Please follow the links above for more information about the courses and if you know anyone for whom the courses will be appropriate please let them know about them.
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