Gavtrain - Photography Training

Quick Shot Answers No.2

2011-03-14T21:54:00.001Z

It’s time for another round of answers to your Quick Shot Questions. This time the questions include..

My favourite lens for portraits
How to make dreamy water shots
Advice on Macro lens choice
Tips on Auto exposure bracketing

Perfect pure white background - Studio lighting tutorial

2011-03-02T14:59:00.002Z

As you might have noticed from my previous blog posts, I was invited to test out a very expensive Hasselblad camera a few weeks back. The location was the Hasselblad studios in London and whilst I visiting I couldn't resist recorded a couple of lighting videos.

In this first video I revisited the pure white background tutorial I made several years back. Since that original video I've refined the technique which now contains more accurate and useful information for anyone looking for the perfect white background.

RAW Double Process - HDR effect.

2011-02-23T11:31:00.001Z

Ever since I posted the last 15 minute photo challenge video I've been constantly receiving questions like... How did you make the images look so good, what did you do in Photoshop, are they all HDR... and so on.

Now, normally I don't show the Photoshop techniques I use to create the photos from the 15 minute challenge photo challenge. Please understand, that's not for any reasons of secrecy, I just think you would be very disappointed at how little I actually do to the images. On the few occasions I show people they often end up saying... "and that's it!"

However such was the lighting at the Gatwick Aviation Museum, where I filmed the photo challenge, that Photoshop played a much bigger role in the image creation. So here's a short video demonstrating one of the techniques I employed.

Quick Shot Answers No.1

2011-02-18T19:58:00.003Z

You asked the questions and I’ll provide the answers.

Questions in this video.

1- How do I minimise noise ?
2- How many studio lights do I really need?
3- Does Elements have the same RAW controls and Photoshop?
4- Why can’t open Nikon D3100 RAW files in Photoshop CS5?

Hasselblad H4D - Experience and thoughts

2011-02-16T13:40:00.023Z

Let’s get something clear right from the word go… I love my Canon cameras and lenses and have no plans to buy a Hasselblad any time soon. OK with that out of the way I’ll briefly explain why I’m not using Canon for the photos in this post.

A few weeks back I received an email from Hasselblad offering me the chance to get hands on experience with their H4D medium format digital camera. A few emails and a brief meeting later, I’d arranged to shoot a couple of studio lighting videos at Hasselblads shiny new studios in London. They’re coming soon, but for now here’s my thoughts on the camera.

Dream camera?
Hasselblad is a name I’ve been familiar with since my earliest days in photography. It’s a brand that many photographers aspire to and comes with a price tag to match. But for some professional photographers the initial cost isn’t an issue when quality is all that counts and I tell you right now the H4D produces images with amazing sharpness and detail, far in excess of my usual Canon 5d Mark II.

For my day in the studio I’d lined up Delaney, an up and coming rapper, to be my model. Hasselblad had promised to loan me a H4D-31 for the shoot. It has the smallest sensor in the H4D range, but at 30 million pixels small is a relative term. However when I arrived the H4D-31 was unavailable, so instead used the midrange H4D-50 which packs a massive 50 million pixel sensor. Other then a bigger sensor the two cameras are identical.

If it's heavy it must be good
First impressions of the H4D is that it’s a big, heavy camera, but surprisingly comfortable to hold. When I swapped the standard 80mm lens for a 35-90mm zoom, the H4D became very heavy indeed, which may explain why so many Hasselblad owners prefer to use a tripod.

In use the H4D was as easy to operate as any DSLR camera. All the usual shooting modes are there (Aperture, Shutter Priority and Manual). Half pressing the shutter button will lock focus and exposure just like my DSLR. Perhaps my favourite feature was the “True Focus” function, which allowed me to retain focus on a subject even after I’ve recomposed the shot. Believe me it was clever stuff.

Pressing the shutter button is a satisfying experience. A half press will focus, which isn’t fast, but it works just fine. Fully press the shutter button to take the shot and you’ll hear a very satisfying clunk. The image pops up on the cameras LCD almost immediately for review.

The drawbacks
So it’s good news all the way then? Well no. The 50 million pixel sensor produces a 75mb RAW file, so you’ll need lots of memory cards, lots of hard drive space and a fairly beefy computer to process them all. You’ll also need a spare battery for the camera as they drain surprisingly fast.

Such is the clarity and resolution of the camera that every little detail is visible. So for example on portraits, every minor pimple, dry skin patch or makeup mishap will need retouching. Don’t believe me? Take at look at this actual pixel view… Click to enlarge. The yellow square shows you the area I've enlarged. No sharpening has been added, this is straight from the RAW file.

So would I buy one… No. Good as the camera and lenses are, it’s really not going to suit by style of photography. However I’d definitly use one should the need arise, but I'd opt for the hire service that Hasselblad offer on their gear.

Would I recommend one? Well that depends on what sort of photography you do. If you shoot sports, wildlife, need high ISO or prefer to travel light then no, stick to a DSLR. If you shoot landscapes, portraites or still life work, and demand nothing but the best quality images, then this camera should be on you're radar.

And Finally...
I recorded a couple of videos whilst at the studios. This shot of Sam is a test shot I snapped whilst I figured out one of the lighting set ups. We all loved the background which is made of large pieces of foam. It's the stuff that's usually used to sound proof music studios. I'm pretty sure most of it would have mysteriously disappeared had it not been firmly glued to the wall. Great idea that.

Selective colour in five steps

2011-02-02T17:23:00.032Z

Selective colour is one of those little Photoshop tricks that’s well worth keeping up your sleeve. The effect is hardly new, cutting edge or revolutionary, but it can still make an eye catching image providing it’s used sparingly.

The basic idea is simple enough. First find a standard colour image that contains a bold area of a single colour. That done you’ll need to select the colour and turn everything else black and white. OK, that sounds easy enough doesn’t it, but how do you select just one colour from an image?

Take a look at the image opposite to get an idea of the direction I’m headed. So let’s begin.

Step One
First open your image, apply any processing you wish and if your image has multiple layers save a copy and then click Layer - Flatten Image to collapse all the layers down into a single background layer.

Step Two
Click Select - Color Range to open the color range selection tools. If you’ve never used this tool before don’t worry it’s all nice and straight forward. Moving your cursor over the image will turn it into a colour sampler tool. Click on the colour you’d like to select, in this case red lettering, and have a look at the result on the Color Range window. White shows the selected areas and black shows unselected areas of the image.

Step three
Either increase the fuzziness to enlarge the range of similar colours sampled or click on the Add to Sample eyedropper and click on more areas of similar colour. Continue until the area of colour you want to select has turned white in the preview window and the majority of the remaining image is black. Remember CTRL+Z will undo your last click… handy to know if you accidentally sample in the wrong spot.

Step Four
Now this is the bit that seems wrong, but trust me it’s important. Click Select - Inverse.
The chances are there will be areas selected that are the same colour as the thing you wanted to selected, but are not part of it. Remove these using any selection tool you like (free hand lasso is a good choice). Remember to hold Shift as you draw your selection.

Step five
Click Layer - New Adjustment layer - Black & White and the colour will disappear from the image except the area you selected. The back and white areas can be adjusted by moving the sliders on the Black & White adjustment layer to create a mono look that compliments the image.

So there you have it, selective colour in five easy steps.

Out of bounds effect made simple - Photoshop

2011-01-11T06:59:00.003Z

It’s high time I made another Photoshop video tutorial. After a few minutes scratching my head thinking what I should do, I took a quick look back through your Quick Shot Questions. One Photoshop question kept coming up which was this… “How did you make that pop up image at the end of the abstract background tutorial?”

The technique is known as out of bounds and as the name suggests the idea is to make part of the image poke out from the frame.

Despite appearances the technique is fairly straight forward when it’s broken down into a few simple steps as you’ll see in this video.

5 photo motivations tips

2011-01-02T11:36:00.011Z

If one of your new years resolutions was to take more and better photos, you’re not alone. I say exactly the same thing every year and happily I can report that it’s one resolution I stick to. So what’s my secret?

As with any new years resolution the key in hitting your goal is planning and enjoyment, so here are five of my top tips for making 2011 your best ever photo year.

Make some folders
The more photos you take the more you’ll learn about your camera equipment and as your confidence grows your pictures will improve. That’s all well and good, but how do you keep the motivation going?

My trick is to make twelve new folders and name them Jan-2011, Feb-2011, Mar-2011... And so on.

Now stick them somewhere you’ll see them regularly to remind you that they need filling up!

Camera at the ready
When the moment strikes, how quickly could you be ready to take photos? Is you camera to hand and if so is it loaded with a blank memory card and charged battery?

Of course carrying a heavy SLR and a bunch of lenses around just in case a great photo opportunity comes your way isn’t really an option for most people, that’s why I have a small compact camera I leave in the car. I’ll even reach for my phone to take a snap if needs be, just as I did for the photo above.

Take a course
There’s not a photographer on this planet who doesn’t want to improve their skills, so it makes sense to take a training course every now and then.

But there’s more to training then just training. Group training can be a social occasion, a chance for you to meet up with other photographers, swap tips, try gear and make friends with people who share your passion for photography.

Out of your comfort zone
What do you shoot primarily? Is it landscapes, portraits, wildlife or sports? Whatever your speciality it’s very easy to get stuck in a rut and when that happens (and eventually it will) the fastest way to break out is by doing something different.

A great example was when I got the chance to shoot a motocross event last year. I'm not a sports photographer, nor do I plan to be one but I had a great day and learned a lot in the process.

So if you’ve never shot a portrait before, make 2011 the year you give it a whirl. Conversely if you spent the whole of 2010 locked in the studio, then get outside and do a wildlife shoot.

If you’re a social media type why not ask around to find someone who doesn’t do your type of photography and would be willing to take you out to share their knowledge for a few hours. In return you could invite them into your world and share your skills with them.

Borrow, hire, buy.
I love getting my hands on new lenses, but it’s an expensive business especially for exotic things like fish eye’s or super telephotos. A great alternative to buying is hiring. Not only does it give you the chance to experiment with something new and different, but you can really test the lens and decide if it’s a lenses you really need or not.

Having something on loan for a short period should also encourage you to use your camera and in reality it’s taking more photos that will improve your photography.

So there you have it, that’s just a few ideas to get you going. If you have any more suggestions feel free to add them to the comments below.

Best of 2010

2010-12-30T21:14:00.004Z

With 2010 drawing to a close I though it might be a good time to look back at some of the videos I’ve made this year. I’m not 100% sure exactly how many Photoshop tutorials and photography tips videos I made this year but for the purposes of this post I’ll stick to the publicly available content on my YouTube Channel.

So from the 28 videos I uploaded to YouTube here are the top videos in various categories…

Longest video - The 10 minute Emergency Christmas Card Photoshop Technique.
Made for my friends at TipSquirrel.com I originally planned to call this the 5 minute Christmas card technique, but I quickly realised it was going to take much longer then I had planned hence the name.

Shortest video - Star Rotation Effect - Photoshop CS5 New Action.
This was a video I made for the Next Photoshop Evangelist competition. Part of the entry requirements was the video had to be less then 2 minutes long and feature the concept of twenty. See if you can spot it!

Most Commented - Grey background lighting tips and tricks
Another studio/portrait tutorial but this time I demonstrated three lighting tricks with one grey background cloth.

Most Viewed - How to shoot an unusual self portrait.
Me, myself and I get together to make a very strange self portrait. The opening minute was great fun to make and was a learning curve on how to use Adobe Premiere Elements to creatively edit videos.

And finally my favourite video of 2010
To be honest I’m really happy with almost all of my videos, but there are a few that stand out.

Of the 15 minute challenges my last video of the year, filmed at Winchester Cathedral, is high on my favourites list. It produced some of the best images I’ve taken this year and was a location I intend to return to later in the year. The 15 minute challenge in Kens Field was a real tough challenge photographically, so coming back with anything worth showing is a success.

Teaming up with Jared Polin from Fro Knows Photo was a fun thing to try and may be repeated again in 2011 either with Jared or other photographers / Photoshop experts.

But if I had to pick just one video it would be Long exposure technique. It combines some useful photography tips with a bit of fun and produced a stunning photo. Incidentally there is an extended version of this video on the Photo Beach Teach DVD which includes the part where my cable release fell into the water!

So that’s it for 2010. Look out for more Photoshop videos, more Photography tips videos, more review videos and more 15 minute photo challenges videos in 2011.

15 Minute Photo Challenge - Winchester Cathedral

2010-12-24T13:16:00.006Z

It’s time for another 15 Minute Photo Challenge. In a change from my previous outdoor locations I decided to do this challenge inside the amazing cathedral in Winchester. Why inside? Well partly because it’s an excellent location brimming with photographic potential but mostly because it was cold, grey and snowy outside.

As always I had just 15 minutes to take the photos, however if I’m honest the timing went out the window slightly. Not my fault, honest.

As I was wondering around taking photos I was approached by one of the Cathedral staff. I was really expecting to hear the usual “no photos allowed here” comment, but instead the very understanding gentleman offered us a quick tour round the Crypt. How could I refuse…

Click the images to enlarge...

The statue (Silence II) is by Anthony Gormley and when the crypt floods, which if often does, the statue and its reflection look stunning. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective the crypt was dry so we were able to walk inside.

At the back of the crypt was an early first world war grave marker. Most of these have been lost, destroyed later in the war or rotted away.

How high is too high?

2010-12-13T15:11:00.012Z

How high can your camera’s ISO stretch? OK, wrong question. How far would you be happy to push your cameras ISO and still be confident you could get a decent, usable image? Back in the days of my Canon 20D, the listed maximum was 1600 ISO, but the results were always horrible, so in reality 400 ISO was as high as I would go. My newer Canon 40D could also shoot at 1600 ISO in theory, but once again 800 ISO was as high as I liked to go to keep the image clean and usable.

My current camera is a Canon 5D Mark 2 which claims a maximum ISO of 25600 on paper, but in reality a maximum ISO of 6400 is suggested by Canon. Even so my previous high ISO experiences have meant I've limited myself to 3200 ISO when shooting in low light conditions such as at music gigs.

The photo above was a quick test I did to see what 6400 ISO actually looks like and I'm really happy with the results. The image looks more like the results I used to expect at 800 ISO on my Canon 40D. Click the image to zoom in and see for yourself.

The lighting was supplied by one very small candle which gave an exposure on the face of just 1/15th sec, f/4 ISO 6400. The lens was a Canon 70-300 IS and the shot was hand held, yes the Canon’s I.S. system really is that good!

Impressive as the results are, there’s no getting away from the fact that high ISO shots need a bit of post processing to really control noise and for me nothing beats the new noise reduction features found in Photoshop CS5 or Lightroom 3.

Click the image to enlarge.

Not surprisingly I’m going to class 6400 ISO as a usable setting for the 5D mark2 from now on.

Spudz Review ~ Stocking Filler Gift.

2010-12-04T16:39:00.007Z

My top stocking filler gift for any photographer is the Spudz microfibre lens cloth from Alpine Innovations There's not one, but three features that make it my No.1 lens cloth and also a fantastic stocking filler.

Feature No.1 is the design. The whole cloth is pushed back inside a neoprene bag which means the cloth stays clean. The neoprene bag is also stitched to the cloth so you'll never loose the cloth, unless you loose the bag.

Feature No.2 is the hook. Having a cloth is all well and good, but finding the cloth when you need it is another matter. Fortunately the Spudz neoprene bag has a small plastic clip on the outside so you can attach it to your camera bag. The down side is the clip isn’t that strong, so I attach mine to an internal part of my camera bag for safety.

Feature No.3 is the cloth colour. This particular Spudz is 18% grey, which makes it ideal as an emergency gray card for metering and white balance. I say emergency as being a cloth it will have creases and possibly be dirty and that might affect things, but come on, it’s a lens cloth!
NOTE: not all Spudz cloth are 18% grey so make sure you buy the right one.

You can buy the Spudz cloth for around £8 - £10 in many photo retailers, Amazon.com or if you’re in the UK check out Crooked Imaging and them Gavin sent you!

Watch my video review below. If you can see it here watch it on Blip.tv http://www.blip.tv/file/4462717

Photos from this evenings walk in the snow

2010-12-03T18:05:00.006Z

It’s often said that we British love talking about the weather more then anything else and to be honest that’s probably about right, but with weather that’s as unpredictable as next weeks lottery numbers, who can blame us.

If you’ve been following me on either Twitter or you’re a reader of my Facebook page, you’ve probably noticed me talking about the unseasonably cold and snowy weather we’ve been experiencing of late. Well, I’m happy to report that the snow has stopped falling and the sun came out and that means it’s time to take some photos.

As every good photographer knows, light can make or break a photo and the best lighting can be found at either the beginning or end of the day. So with around before sunset my family and I set out on a snowy evening stroll across some local fields.

As the sun set, the fog rose. Here’s a few of my favourite images. Click an image to enlarge...

Camera: Canon 5d mark 2
Lens: Canon 28-135 is
ISO 400-800
Aperture f/5.6 - f/8

Your Christmas gift from the Gavtrain Store

2010-12-01T18:40:00.005Z

With Christmas right around the corner, I’ve got a very special festive gift for anyone who places an order in the Gavtrain store during the month of December (whilst stocks last)

They're limited edition keyrings which feature some of my favourite images from either one of my 15 minute photo challenges or a blog posts I’ve added this year.

They’re strictly one keyring per order and only while stocks last, so head on over to the Gavtrain store and place your order NOW!

If you need your DVD’s to be with you BEFORE Christmas then here are the all important last order dates.

4th Dec Australia, South America, Africa, Middle East, Far East, Asia
10th Dec North America and Europe
20th Dec UK & Channel Islands.

The sooner you place your order the more chance you’ll have of getting it before Christmas.

Frosty window pattern ~ Photoshop processing

2010-12-01T07:14:00.007Z

On Monday I wrote a post about photographing frost patterns on glass. Well the frost has been replaced by snow here in the UK and that can mean only one thing. The country comes to a grinding halt.

But even though my photography work is on hold until the snow eases up, I’ve been keeping busy with a quick Photoshop tip for giving an icy feel to my frost images.

I also used this video to test out my new webcam. Sadly it didn’t quite work as well as I’d hope but if you like the idea I’ll get it better next time. Let me know what you think.

Frost patterns on glass.

2010-11-29T12:42:00.005Z

I’ve got to be honest, winter isn’t my favourite season. Give me spring and summer all year round and I’d very happy. Scraping the ice off the car windows is a daily chore and one which I usually do as fast as possible… but not today.

No, today I decided to embrace winter rather then hide from it. So out comes the camera and the macro lens. On goes the gloves and in to the car we go for some close up macro frost photography.

The set up is pretty straight forward. As well as my Canon 40D and Canon 60mm EF-S macro lens I used my Manfrotto tripod to get rock steady shots. The aperture was stopped down to f/16 for good depth of field. Car windows are often slightly bowed so shooting at the smaller aperture ensured good focus was maintained across the whole image.
To really keep the images tack sharp the shutter was tripped using the cameras two second self timer, but that's not all. I also used the mirror lock up function to ensure super sharp results. All images were shot in RAW, but what else would you expect!

For the record this is my car window... Remember great shots are all around you.

Finally, the new DVD's are here.

2010-11-26T22:24:00.009Z

Typical! You wait six months for a new training DVD to arrive and then two arrive in the same month.

Available right now in the Gavtrain Store is…

15 Minute Photo Challenge (Vol. 1)
If you’ve watched any of my 15 minute photo challenges then you’ve probably asked yourself this question. Great photos, but how did Gavin process them in Photoshop.

Well now you can find out exactly what happened after the shutter went click. I’ve taken five of my original photo challenges and added lots of the Photoshop and Camera RAW tips. The end results is two hours of my top Photography and Photoshop techniques.
Click here for more details...

Take & Make Great Photo
Five brand new photography tutorials and challenges. Fifteen Photoshop tips and techniques. Every single video is totally new and unseen so you’ll be in for a real treat. There’s even a brand new 15 minute photo challenge we filmed in the stunning city of Florence.

But that’s not all. As an extra bonus I’ve added some of my favourite Photoshop actions on the DVD. The Actions are all made by me so are totally unique.
Click here for more details...

Christmas Posting
If you’re think of buying anything from the Gavtrain Store the last day for Christmas posting on international orders is 9th December (3rd December for New Zealand, Australia, South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Far East, Asia, )

Gorillapod SLR Zoom, Test & Review

2010-11-19T08:39:00.003Z

We all know that using a tripod can improve our photos. A Tripod reduces blur from camera shake, no matter what shutter speed you’re using. But there’s another way in which a tripod can improve your photos and that’s by slowing you down. Now that might seem a strange thing to say but by taking a little bit of time to compose the shot you’ll often end up with better photos.

OK so everyone agrees that a tripod is a good thing in principle, but like many people I rarely use one. The simple reason for that is tripods are heavy and awkward to carry around especially when you’re travelling.

On my recent trip to Florence I knew I’d want to take some low light photos, so a tripod was going to be essential. I also knew I wanted to travel light so I opted for the Gorillapod SLR Zoom.

The Gorillapod has been around for many years now and comes in a variety of sizes. The SLR Zoom is the middle sized offering from Joby. They claim it can hold up to 3kg in weight so I packed a Canon 400D and fitted it with a Canon 24-105mm lens. Weighing in at around 1.5kg it seemed like a good match for the Gorillapod.

The Goillapod is an odd looking thing. Made up of lots of rubbery ball joints it’s about 12” in length and very light in weight. So from a travel point of view it was the ideal choice and was no trouble to carry around. The legs don’t extend so you might class it as a table top tripod, but they do bend.

Joby makes a big thing about these bendy legs. The idea is you can wrap the legs around any handy object like a pole, tree or fence and your camera will stay there. The reality is surprisingly close to the marketing hype. It takes a bit of time and practice to get right, but you can indeed attach the Gorillapod to fences.

Sadly there are some weaknesses. The Gorillapod SLR Zoom doesn’t come with a built in ball head so you’re limited to portrait format shooting only. A ball head and quick release plate are available, but that adds extra cost and weight. I also found the Gorillapod to be very bouncy, picking up vibrations and blurring some of the images on long exposure shots or when the lens was zoomed in.

You can watch my video review below.

Conclusion.
The Gorillapod SLR Zoom is a great gadget. Well made, light weight and does what it claims. The bendy legs are an endless source of fun, but care is needed to get the best photos when using it for challenging long exposure images.

Rating:
So did the gorilla pod click my tick? Nearly. It gets a respectable three out of five from me.

Testing the BlackRapid strap by climbing 463 steps

2010-11-11T10:27:00.004Z

If you've been watching some of my recent photography tutorials then you might have noticed that I'm not using a standard strap that came with my camera. A lot of people have asked me two questions, is that strap any good and and why switch from the camera makers strap? So I though I’d make a little video to show you.

Lets start with why I’m not using a Canon camera strap. Well because the stap that comes with my camera I find to be very uncomfortable when worn round the neck so I end up putting it over my shoulder. 30 seconds later it slips off. So I take it off my shoulder and it ends up dangling in front of the lens. Then there’s the whole “advertising a camera brand” thing to consider. Do I really want to be a walking advert for Canon or any other camera brand for that matter?

However everything changed earlier this year, when I got my hands on the RS-7 from Black Rapid.

From lots of real world use I already know it's safe and comfortable on a standard days photography, but what if I treated it to a little more energetic use? How good would it feel after a 20 minute climb to the top of the Cathedral in Florence? That's what you'll see in this video.

So how did the RS-7 strap perform? Pretty well is the answer. As I expected it bounced around a bit on the climb, but resting my hand on the camera solved that. Because of the design of the strap both the camera and lens are pointing down so you’re not rubbing the LCD against your clothes.

In term of comfort it was a joy to use. Despite the energetic climb I really didn't have any problems with the strap rubbing or slipping off my shoulder. Bothe the camera and lens reached the top (and back down) with out a scratch.

So would I recommend one? On the whole yes. If you're spending the day walking around then the RS-7 is unbeatable for comfort and security. If you're into action sports where you're running, jumping bouncing etc, then look out for the sports version of this strap (coming soon I understand)

Rating 4.5/5

Memories of Florence

2010-11-03T07:57:00.004Z

Recently I had one of those big number birthdays, the kind of number when life begins or as they say. Faced with the impossible choice of what present to buy Sam (my wife) wisely avoided anything materialistic and instead spent months planning an experience I’d never forget.

So last week I found myself on a plane with my family jetting off to the historic city of Florence, Italy.

It’s one of those iconic places what just oozes history and where ever you point your camera there’s a photographic opportunity.

Some images like this one are classic “must have” tourist shots and shouldn’t be overlooked simply because this is one of 100 identical images that were taken by me and 99 other people during the 15 minutes I stood in this spot.

Florence is packed full of art of all types. Sculptures are everywhere, paintings adorn walls and photographers fill the streets. I had a bit of fun counting DLSR brands as we walked around one of the tourist hot spots. For the record Canon & Nikon were seen in equal numbers, but I also spotted a couple of Olympus cameras and one Pentax.

Graffiti was everywhere and whilst it might be argued that it’s a form of art, I disagree when it’s applied to historic buildings and even statues.

I’m a bit of a low light fan and Florence is one of those cities that looks as good at night as it did in the day. Their electricity bill must be huge! It’s not easy to take great low light shots, but that doesn’t stop everyone trying. It never ceases to make me smile when I see people use the cameras built in flash to photograph a building and then look surprised when it didn’t come out well. At least with digital cameras they only waste batteries.

I recorded several videos during my visit to Florence which I’ll post on the internet. Keep checking the blog or Facebook or Twitter.

My Low Light Set Up.

2010-10-19T20:05:00.016+01:00

Following on from a recent post I made on Facebook and FlickR there was a lot of photographers all asking a very similar question… Getting great shots in low light, what’s my technique.

Lets start with the photo to the the right. It’s a wide shot which was taken at a recent gig in a local library. It's not a great shot but I wanted to give you an idea of the situation I found myself in. The only light in all the photos in this post came from six small “disco” lights either side of the stage, which went on and off at random intervals.

Now library and gig aren’t words I’d normally put together and sure enough it was a bit of a weird event, but that’s a whole other story. No this was a classic low light situation where I had to nail the shot without resorting to flash and without using a tripod.

Gear guide:
Now normally I tell people that equipment really isn’t that important, it’s the person behind the camera that makes the image. Now whilst that’s true, low light photography is one of the exceptions to that rule. Gear really does make a difference when there’s very little light and every shot is hand held.

Camera Body:
When it comes to low light photography you’ll need a DSLR if you’re going to capture quality shots.

Almost any DSLR camera body will be OK in low light, but I love my Canon 5D mark 2. One of it’s party pieces is it’s ability to shoot at very high ISO. For example many of these images were shot at 3200 iso which is at the upper limit I will use with the knowledge that the noise levels will be acceptable. The 5D is also a full frame DSLR camera which means it’s performance at high ISO’s is exceptionally good and by good I mean 3200 ISO show the same amount of noise as my older Canon 40D at 800 ISO.

Lens Choice:
The lens you use is probably more important then the camera for this type of low light work. I Used my favourite Canon 24-105L lens for most of these shots it has a maximum aperture of f/4 which means it lets in a pretty decent amount of light and that keeps the shutter speed up. It’s image stabilised to further reduce camera shake (but not motion blur) and it’s focus is fast and accurate.

For the really close up shots I switched to a Canon 70-300 IS lens. It’s a bit of a budget lens and zoomed in, only has a maximum aperture of f/5.6, but the image stabilisation is very good.

Camera Settings:
Other tips I can offer would be use Aperture priority mode and keep the aperture wide open to maximise shutter speed and minimise blur from both camera shake and motion blur.

Use continuous shooting to get a series of shots and capture great expressions like this.

Auto ISO is also a handy feature. Now normally I avoid auto features at all costs, but if you know you’re going to be shooting at the cameras maximum ISO (as I was here) auto ISO will drop the ISO if and when the lighting improves.

Finally
If you are faced with shooting a music gig in a library, don’t panic. It may not be Glastonbury music festival but great photos are there to be captured, just like these.

FOLLOW UP:
A couple of questions have come up on post processing. All these shots have been processed in Lightroom. This would include sharpening & noise reduction as well as colour & contrast adjustment.

However don't confuse adjustment with "make over" as very little needed to be altered from the "as shot" originals. In fact the 400+ shots taken on the night we're sorted, adjusted and the best emailed to the relevant media organisations with in 60 minutes of getting home.

Moody Mono in Lightroom 3 - Video

2010-10-03T22:10:00.002+01:00

Lightroom 3 is a big part of my workflow because of it’s amazing ability to process a whole days shoot in just a few hours. Picking the keepers from the rejects is surprisingly simple and because Lightroom uses the same engine as Adobe Camera RAW there’s a huge amount of control at my fingertips.

I’m currently working on some Lightroom tutorials so I thought I’d test the water a little. So in this video I’ll show you how you can use Lightroom to process a moody black and white image.

Even if you don’t use Lightroom you can still follow along as you’ll find exactly the same tools in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) found in Photoshop CS3, CS4 and CS5.

And the winner is…

2010-09-21T15:05:00.006+01:00

…Everyone who read’s this blog, follows me on twitter or Facebook.

Thanks to the amazing outpouring of kindness and commitment from so many people over the past two weeks, I’m now the official winner of Adobe’s Next Photoshop Evangelist Competition.

What does this mean for me?
Well, I get some software (which is nice) but more importantly, I get to teach Photoshop tips and tricks in front of a new and potentially much larger audience. Photoshop World in spring 2011 awaits and I’ll be there.

What does this mean for you?
I can’t thank each and every reader who voted inperson, although I’d like to. So instead I’ve uploaded a free video which is exclusively available to you. Call it my gift of thanks.

http://www.vimeo.com/15151381 PASSWORD: thankyou (all one word, all lower case)

You can watch it right now, for free, in High Definition (requires a good broadband connection) when you click the white HD logo under the video. I usually keep HD reserved for my training DVD's, so make the most of this one.

Eventually this video will make it onto my YouTube channel, but not in glorious HD.

Don't forget to take a look at the runners up.
They both made excellent videos. The video by David Rogers is very educational, but I really liked the puppet warp video by Mark Heaps.

Three Photoshop CS5 tutorials in under 6 minutes!

2010-09-19T11:59:00.010+01:00

If you’ve been following me here on the blog, on Facebook and now on Twitter, you will have noticed I’ve been banging on and on about being chosen as a finalist in Adobe’s Next Photoshop Evangelist competition.

So far things are going well and I owe a huge thank you to everyone that's voted. I also know many of you have also been busy spreading the word around the internet, which is fantastic. There’s still a couple of days to go so please keep voting (once a day).

As a little "thank you" I have an exclusive video lined up for everyone that’s been voting. Details to follow.

In the meantime here are three of my videos that didn‘t make the cut. They all have three things in common.
1 ~ They all use a new feature of Photoshop CS5
2 ~ They all play for 2 minutes or less.
3 ~ They all have the concept of 20 in them (see if you spot where)

If you’d like to see all 12 videos for the Next Photoshop Evangelist competition

click here.

Creative borders & Lightroom

2010-09-11T10:27:00.004+01:00

My blog post for Tip Squirrel is now live. Here’s the link: www.tipsquirrel.com/index.php/2010/09/5-creative-borders-for-lightroom/The Tip Squirrel website is in the middle of running it’s Lightroom fortnight and my post is about adding creative borders without leaving Lightroom. You can watch my exclusive video tutorial on borders and better still there is a collection of border effects which can be downloaded totally free of charge.

If you’re not currently a Lightroom user, Tip Squirrel is giving away a copy of Lightroom 3. All you have to do is add your best photo on their FlickR page. Click here for more details and to see another one of my videos (yes, it’s been a busy week) with some helpful tips.

At the moment there are very few entries so your chances of winning are looking pretty good ;-)

I need your help…

2010-09-08T19:48:00.005+01:00

I'm absolutely thrilled to discover that two of my video tutorials have been selected for the final of The Next Photoshop Evangelist Competition run by Adobe.

So now I’m looking for help.

I’ll make no secret about this… I want to win and I need you to vote. Not just you, I need your friends, your followers, your next door neighbour’s friends.. You get the idea.

You can vote once a day until the 20th Sept by clicking here http://www.nextphotoshopevangelist.com/?page=view&video=14250097

Crazy as it sounds, please don’t vote for my other video, it will split my vote in two. Besides http://www.nextphotoshopevangelist.com/?page=view&video=14250097 is the better video in my opinion.

Thanks for your support.

UPDATE: I've recieved several similar comments about the video lacking the "cancept of 20" as required in the competition rules. All I can say is what number was on the Ice Cream hut?

Join me on Twitter

2010-09-07T22:40:00.004+01:00

I finally succumbed to the lure of twitter.

It’s still early days, but it’s already proving to be a firm favourite. Partly because it’s accessible as an app on my Android powered phone, but mostly because it’s short and concise.

You can check out my twitter page here. http://twitter.com/Gavin_Hoey

Great photos, you must be good at…

2010-09-05T16:08:00.014+01:00

Good at what, Photoshop or Photography? Without blowing my own trumpet too much, I like to think that I’m half decent in both disciplines, but have a look at this photo and ask yourself this... Did Gavin use Photography skills or Photoshop skills to get the finished shot?

The answer is photography, I used off camera flash, but why do I think that's important?

Everyone knows Photoshop can do amazing things to enhance or even totally change an image. "Fix it in Photoshop" is a phrase I hear alot. But Photoshop isn't a fix it tool, it's a creative tool so for straight photography I prefer to get the shot as close to perfect in camera.

I sometimes feel photography skills get under valued.

The photos in this post are all from the wedding we attended last Friday. Taken just after sunset I pulled the Bride & Groom away for a 10 minute low light shoot. I used two locations, the first was the road right outside the hotel which was nicely lit up. The second loaction was under a garden arch and against the nights sky.

The groom is a very talented young photographer which he gets from his Dad. I’ve known the family for years and I also knew they'd understand the camera skills required to get the shots you see here

As a rule I don't show my subjects unedited photos on the back of the camera but ocassionally I will. That way they can appreciate the photography skills and not assume everything is done in Photoshop.

I know someone will ask how it’s done. It’s all about trial and error. I balanced the off camera flash power and the distance to subject with the camera settings to mix flash and ambient light. Google “Strobist” for lots more info.

Here you can see Sam holding the speedlight which is illuminating the bride & groom. A slow shutter speed of 1/15th sec ensured that enough ambient was recorded along with the burst of flash and no, I didn’t use a tripod.

Op/Tech Rainsleeve - Video Review

2010-08-27T20:39:00.013+01:00

I really hate the rain and just lately we’ve had more then our fair share of wet weather. Obviously getting rain on your camera isn’t going to be a good thing and is best avoided where ever possible, but a rainy day doesn’t have to be a photography free day.

This image was taken in the rain using a Canon 40D. Good as the 40D is, it makes no claims to be weather proof, so I use a rain cover to keep the water out.

Rain covers range from the quick DIY solution of a plastic bag over your camera, right through to a fitted rain jacket with arm holes and thermal linings. It’s all about need. If you’re a happy snapper then the plastic bag is OK, but if your job is photographing golf matches then you'll want the expensive pro stuff so you can keep working whatever the weather.

I’m somewhere in between. There are times when I need to keep shooting in wet weather, but most of the time I can wait it out. That’s why I always carry a Rainsleeve from Op/Tech in my kit bag.

These things are so cheap (around £6 for two) that I bin them when they’ve been used. They also tiny when folded so take up next to no room in my bag.

The bad news is getting the Rainsleeve to fit on your camera is a bit tricky, but once it's on you can hand hold your camera or stick it on a tripod. Long lenses aren't a problem as the sleeve caters for 7" round and 18" long lenses. You can even make a little hole in the sleeve and keep using the tripod ring on your lens.

Judge for yourself in my video review Below.

Rainsleeves are available from loads of retailers all over the world. Here’s one from my friends at Crooked Imaging.

The Angel of Hope

2010-08-20T20:58:00.007+01:00

Hope, is a small town in the Peak District of Derbyshire and it was there that I found myself on a grim, rainy August morning, waiting for my wife & daughter to return form a visit to a local shop.

With nothing to do, I could either sit in the car or put on my coat, grab my camera and brave the rain. The church was locked so that foiled my plan to shoot some photos in the warm and dry church. Walking back to the car I spotted this grave stone which looked like it had potential.

So I spent a good 10-15 minutes just photographing the “Angel of Hope” as I called her. Like many photographers I sometimes find myself just taking the obvious shot, especially when it's cold and wet. So I this time I challenged myself to look for different ways of photographing the angel. Moving around to find new angles, changing lenses and playing with apertures will make your images look unique.
On the photo above I’ve swapped to short telephoto lens (105mm) to compress the image and bring the church closer so it becomes a background.
This is probably my favourite shot. The 105mm focal length compress the image and that’s combined with a large f4 aperture to blur the background. Look closely and you’ll be able to the falling rain.

The lesson here is don't let the weather stop your photo fun.

Victim of success

2010-08-19T21:44:00.002+01:00

Good news and bad.

The good news is gavtrain.com is going from strength to strength and the visitor hits have been rising at a fast pace. The bad news it the popularity of the gavtrain has caused the site to go temporarily off line.

An upgrade has been put in place but I’m at the mercy of my web hosts who have a habit of being frustratingly slow at implementing upgrades and fixes.

Normal service should resume in the next 24 hours.

Gavin.

Photography and the National Trust.

2010-08-16T22:58:00.013+01:00

Over the past year or two the National Trust (NT) in England has been getting some bad press amongst photographers. Some people have fallen foul of NT rules which restrict professional photography simply by using a DSLR. Personally I’ve never had a problem with the NT despite being a very regular visitor to dozens of National Trust properties with my camera.

One thing that all NT visitors will be aware of is its policy of indoor photography. Basically, whilst you can shoot away to your hearts content outside, you have to put your camera back in the bag when you go inside.

But there seems to have been a change of heart at the National Trust as their website reveals.

"Amateur photography (including filming) without flash is now permitted in historic interiors at the Property Manager’s discretion. As with outdoor photography, any photographs taken are strictly for private use, and enquiries about selling or publishing photographs should be directed to photo.library@nationaltrust.org.uk. However, visitors must be aware that at some places, there may be copyright issues, and further permissions may be required in respect of collections not owned by us. In these situations the Property Manager decision as to if photography is allowed is final."

So to put this new found photo freedom to the test, we paid a visit To Calke Abbey, near Derby, which has many semi derelict rooms alongside the usual pristine show rooms. A few of the results are below.

So now I can confirm that I was able to take indoor photos without any problems. In fact other then a few sideways glances from other visitors I was able to snap away as much as I liked.

Old bottles in the wine cellar

Semi derelict corridoor, Calke Abbey

Books in Library

Servants room

Where’s Wally (Waldo) – Photo homage

2010-08-06T19:21:00.011+01:00

If you’ve ever read any of the Where’s Wally, or Waldo as he’s known in the United States, then you’ll already know this game. For everyone else, here’s how it works.

Here’s a slice of British life captured. It’s a very high resolution image (around 50 million pixels) that contains lots of interesting detail. All you have to do is find it.
Can you find…

The boy up to his neck in sand
The amazing floating spade
The only man looking at the camera
The happy little dog
The Guitar on the beach
The Union Jack Bag

To stand any chance of spotting these things you’ll need the high res file (roughly 6mb). Either click the main image or click here.

The image is copyright Gavin Hoey Photography 2010. Do not publish/print/pass on without permission.

Better backgrounds = Better photos

2010-08-02T17:52:00.006+01:00

It’s very easy to get caught up in the emotion of taking photos and forget a few basic rules. Important rules like checking your camera’s ISO isn’t set to 1600, that the lens isn’t switched to manual focus and the self timer isn’t turned on. Three mistakes I’ve made more then once.

But one rule I always keep in mind is ...
Think about the background.

Take this image. It was part of a music shoot I did over the past weekend. The result is not one of my best shots and I know I could do better. It's the boring brown background that lets the image down, Fortunately I was aware of this and had a plan.

I'd had a bit of a wait before the band came on stage, so I used that time to check the camera settings were all ok and take some meter readings. I also had a look at the stage and realised the background was going to be a problem. This wide shot should give you some idea of what I had to work with.

The background was going to be either brown or black and neither was looking good. Fortunately there was a small poster at the back of the stage and by moving into a central position and picking my moment I could get the artist behind it.

Hopefully you’ll agree that changing the background lifts the image from a good shot to and eye catching great shot.

So remember, backgrounds are important and a good one will compliment and even enhance your main subject.

Chroma key & a free action

2010-07-23T09:55:00.006+01:00

Have a look at this image, can you see the join? Click the image to enlarge it, if it helps. It’s made using a system called chroma key, which you may know as blue screen or green screen. You’ve seen chroma key at work before. It’s used widely on TV shows, in news interviews and weather reports, and all the time in the movies from the biggest sci-fi blockbusters right down to the tiny home spun amateur flicks.

I’ll put the original image at the end of the post.

If you want to try this yourself all you'll need is a blue or green background and either a lot of hours in Photoshop or download my free chroma key action.

To be honest you probably will need more then this action. Getting a good extraction is as much about getting a good shot in camera as it is about Photoshop skills. Hair is always a problem and if it’s long blond hair it’s vital that the original photograph is perfectly lit and correctly exposed. My number one chroma key tip is… always get the model to wear a hat. OK, that’s a bit tongue in cheek but there is a grain of truth in there.

Getting back to Photoshop, I’ve tried many techniques to make a quick, clean extraction in Photoshop. I loved Photoshop’s Extract Filter, but sadly Adobe didn’t and removed in in Photoshop CS4. Photoshop CS5 has a vastly improved masking system for selecting hair, which looks very promising, although I’ve yet to explore it in detail.

I’ve also used 3rd party Photoshop plug ins for chroma key and after trying quite a few demo version I settled on Primatte from Digital Anarchy as the most powerful and straight forward tool I could find.

The trouble was which ever system I used to cut out the blue or green background it always took time, particularly if I needed to work on a whole batch of images. To speed things along a little, I made an action which does a pretty good job of removing either blue screen or green screen from an image. It’s far from perfect but it gives a very quick and dirty way of see how the cut out will look.

The action is roughly based on a Dave Cross & Layers Magazine technique. Read the full article here

Favourite Lens - Quick Shot Answer

2010-07-20T13:47:00.003+01:00

Name:: Tim Elliott

Question:: On your 15 minute challenges, what lens are you generally using please?

Answer: There are two main lenses I use in the 15 minute challenges. The first is my Canon 24-105L which and the second is a Canon 50mm f1.8.

So why use the 24-105? Well it’s easily the most used lens I own. Not only does it produce amazingly crisp images it also covers the kind focal lengths I need to use in every day life. For those two reasons it pretty much lives on my camera, so when the mood strikes to record a 15 minute photo challenge it’s often the only lens for the job I have on me.

You’re probably asking yourself, if Gavin loves the 24-105 lens so much why does he sometimes use the 50mm? It’s a fair question and deserves an honest answer.

Pretty much every camera manufacturer makes a 50mm lens and on the whole they’re one of the cheaper lenses you can buy. So when I conceived the idea for the 15 minute photo challenge I wanted to use a lens that was accessible to all and the 50mm f1.8 was it.

The other big advantage of the 50mm f1.8 is the fast maximum aperture. Shooting wide open at f1.8 allows me to get some very creative images with tiny depth of field like this image from my very first 15 minute photo challenge.

Battery chargers – Quick Shot Answer

2010-07-19T13:25:00.003+01:00

Name:: Sats

Question:: I have Nikon D90 and SB-600. Please advise what kind of battery recharger I should use.

Answer:: Back in the “old days” when I shot film I can remember when I could go for a year or more before replacing the batteries in my camera. Today I rotate 4 batteries in my camera and countless AA batteries in my flash gun.

Sats, you don’t say what batteries you want to recharge but if it’s the big battery in my camera I’ve always used to recharger that came with the camera and I'm happy to continue with that.

The AA batteries that I use in my speedlites is another story. There's a wide choice of rechargers on the market. I’ve used several brands over the years but my current favourite is the GP PowerBank V800C. Sadly this model seems to be discontinued but here's a link to GP's website

The killer feature for an impatient person like me is its recharge speed. Four 2700mAh AA batteries will go from flat to charged in around 30 minutes. Of course that kind of recharging speed comes at a price and I’m not talking about how much the recharger cost.

The batteries get really, really hot during recharge even with the PowerBanks built in cooling fan. Putting hot batteries in the speedlite seems like a bad idea to me so I always let cool before use. I also find the rapid recharge causes the batteries fail faster then then I’d expect on a slower recharge. A failed battery will result in the PowerBank to flash red and stop charging.

Fortunatly AA’s are cheap to replace and represent amazing value compared to their non-rechargeable counter parts.

The making of a strobist image

2010-07-12T19:58:00.010+01:00

Today was a good photography day. I was able to get out of the studio and into the real world, which turned out to be a dark, scary underpass where I photographed a right pair of dodgy looking characters.

Fortunately I know these two guys pretty well and have photographed them several times before. They are iF-e and GManHatton, a couple of Grime artists (a type of Rap music check out their website) from Crawley and despite appearances they’re both amazingly polite and great fun to work with.

They're about to release their second joint album and booked me to do the press / promo shots and the CD cover art. So after arranging to meet them in a Tesco car park we headed to a local underpass which I checked out a few days earlier.

The whole shoot was lit with a single speedlite (Canon 580EXII) as I wanted to perfect my strobist (off camera flash) skills. As soon as I saw the images on the cameras LCD I knew this was going to be a great shoot.

This kind of portrait lives and dies on perfect lighting control and getting it right is a three step process.

Step one: Unless you want your subjects to be against a jet black background you’ll want to mix the ambient light with flash. To achieve this you’ll need to work out what the ambient exposure actually is. IMPORTANT: The camera’s shutter speed must be lower then its flash sync speed (e.g. 1/250th sec in my case). This shot shows the effect I was after, a splash of light and colour in the background. The exposure was 1/40th sec at f11.

Step two: Now I need to setup the speedlite which I always use in full manual rather then TTL. I started with a flash of ½ power and took a test shot. A quick glace at the camera’s LCD showed the flash was a bit to strong so I dropped the flash to ¼ power. A flash meter could be used to skip this step.

Step three: With the flash set and the exposure locked in we’re rolling. Now I can move around and take different shots without needing to reset the exposure. I can even reposition the flash or change the pose and exposure will remain unchanged, as long as the flash to subject distance doesn’t change.

And here’s the final shop after a bit of Lightroom adjustment.
To give you an idea of how fast and free this technique is, here’s a wide shot. Photography by Sam HoeyFinally here’s a few of my favourite images from the shoot

One day workshop - Sunday 8th August

2010-07-10T09:27:00.010+01:00

What are you doing on Sunday 8th August 2010? If you’re at a loose end and want to improve your photography & Photoshop skills, read on or skip straight to the booking page.

You’ve probably seen one of my 15 minute photo challenges so you’ll already have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to cover in my upcoming workshop. This isn’t going to be a day sitting in front of screen listening to me endless talking about myself and it’s not a day where I set up a shot and everyone gets exactly the same image. No, this is a workshop where you’ll learn by doing as well as watching.

The location

I’ve been very lucky enough to book Highley Manor in West Sussex for the day. We’ll have the entire place all to ourselves and I’ve managed to get permission to shoot images anywhere in the gardens and even inside the house.

There are just 15 places on the workshop, some of which have already gone so it’s first come first served on the rest.

I’m really excited about being able to shoot the interior of the Manor house. It has some amazing beautiful rooms which should yield some pretty unique images. There are also some unusual objects like this suit of armour behind the reception desk.

What to expect
The day is split up into a series of challenges. I’ll show you a camera technique, explain when and why to use it and we’ll all go out and put theory into practice. We’ll then spend some time reviewing the results and applying some of my Photoshop tricks.

By the end of the day you’ll be seeing interesting images all around you and have the skills to get the best images in camera and an understanding of some simple Photoshop techniques for getting the best out of them.

I’m a beginner, should I come?
The workshop is aimed at beginners/intermediate photographers. What does that mean?

To get the most out of the day you’ll need a basic knowledge of how to control your camera’s settings including how to change the ISO, how to shoot in RAW and most importantly, how to put your camera in Aperture Priority Mode. If you can do that then you’re good to go.

What equipment do I need?
A digital SLR camera is all that’s required. This isn’t a gear competition, bring everything you’ve got, but don’t buy anything just for the day. One of the themes for the day is learn your current equipment before buying more.

The only other essential equipment is a tripod. We’ll be shooting inside the manor at some point in the day and for that a tripod is a must.

Where are we going?
Highly manor is 5 minutes from the M23 (junction 10A) and about 15 minutes from Gatwick Airport so it’s very accessible. We have a maximum number of 15 places available on a first come first served basis. Bookings must be made in advance.

Will there be course notes?
Everyone attending the workshop will receive a free limited edition 15 minute photo challenge DVD. It was recorded at Highley Manor and will feature an extended 15 minute challenge with lots of unseen footage plus all the Photoshop tips and tricks I used to achieve the final results.

And before you ask, no you can’t just buy the DVD you’ll need to attend the workshop.

For more details or to book your place follow this link.

New online portfolio

2010-07-07T20:44:00.004+01:00

Over the past few weeks I’ve been burning the midnight oil redesigning and rebranding the photography side of my business. The first site obvious change is a all new portfolio website which is now online.

As with any new website, it still needs a bit of polishing, but I’d like you to have a look and let me know what you think so far. Either click the image or here’s the link http://www.gavinphoto.co.uk/

So what’s the rebranding? Well after years of photographing kids, families and weddings it’s time for a new challenge. I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph some great unsigned bands and aspiring models over the past few months and that’s an area I’m keen to explore further… Watch this space.

How to photograph fireworks

2010-07-04T08:35:00.008+01:00

My Quick Shots inbox has had a sudden flood of questions overnight regarding photographing fireworks. Here in the UK fireworks only come out at the beginning of November as we celebrate Bonfire Night or for New Years Eve of course.

But fireworks are part of celebrations all over the world and at different times of the year. This Photo was taken in Italy during Ferragosto (Assumption Day)which happens on August 15th.

So why the question today? Well today is 4th July, independence day in the USA. So, here’s my firework photography advice.

1) You’re going to need to get your camera on a tripod as the exposures will be long, far longer then you can do hand held.

2) Switch the camera to manual mode (M on your camera) and enter an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed of 2 seconds.

3) Point your camera to where the fireworks will be and wait.

4) As the fireworks go off take a shot and review the result.
If the sky is too bright use a smaller aperture (f11, f16 etc)
If the firework trails are too small use a longer shutter speed.

Extra tips
A cable release is very hand for this work. It stops you touching and therefore moving the camera which can cause blurred images. If your camera is having trouble focusing switch for manual focus and set it to infinity. Finally, don't use flash.

Guest blog post at Tip Squirrel.com

2010-06-25T15:17:00.007+01:00

I'm very pleased to be todays guest blog poster over at Tip Squirrel.com

I wasn't asked to write about anything in particular so my post is about Lightroom vs Photoshop. There's also an exclusive Lightroom video that goes with the blog post. If you want to see it click the photo.

If you've got a few minutes to spare pop over to Tip Squirrel and have a read of some of the excellent Photoshop & Lightroom tips from some very well known authors.

Grey background lighting tips and tricks - Quick Shots 08

2010-06-23T20:37:00.003+01:00

This Quick Shot question is from Nick Stewart who wanted to know what all the fuss is about grey backgrounds and some tips on lighting them.

First off I should say my studio is fitted with a seamless vinyl background which I absolutely love working with. With careful lighting I can make it pure white through to dark grey. I also have a roll of black muslin which I roll out if I need a black or light it with gels for some funky colour effects.

Much as I love my white seamless, if I only had the room/money for one background it would be grey. Why? Well watch the video to find out.

A couple of questions from the video.

What triggers were you using?
They’re the Yongno RF602

I love the gel idea who makes them?
I’m using the Strobist gels from Rosco Here's the link

Great, how do I attach them to the speedlite?
I use two little bits of blu-Tack at the edge of the flash. The gels stick every time.

Where have I seen that softbox before?
It's a Lastolite Ezybox and you might have seen it here

Where did you get the grey background?
You can pick them up from many places but mine came from my good friends at smick.co.uk. Here’s the link

Why didn’t you iron the background?
Good point. The reason was to show that creases can vanish when lighting the grey background to white.

So are you saying DON’T iron a muslin background.
No, always iron it before using it.

Last chance to win...

2010-06-21T11:00:00.007+01:00

There’s just over a week to go on for your chance to win one of three limited edition signed prints from the Photo Beach Teach DVD.
To be in with a chance of winning you simply need to buy a copy of the Beach Teach DVD before the end of June 2010. Good luck.

Many of you know that I’ve been a freelance contributor to Digital Photo Magazine (The UK’s best selling photographic magazine) for a good number of years, but if you haven’t seen a copy here’s a sneak peek. Have a look for part of my article on capturing an action sequence.
The July issue of Digital Photo Magazine is out now.

.

What's missing from your DSLR?

2010-06-14T19:49:00.007+01:00

Today’s digital SLR cameras are amazingly clever things, but turn the clock back 25 years or so and you’d find me using a Praktica MTL-5B. It’s feature list was pretty slim. Things like aperture priority, TTL flash and even a motor drive we’re luxuries I could only dream about.

A few years later I blew all of my first pay cheque on a Minolta 7000i, one of the most advanced cameras of it’s day. Now I had everything that was missing on the Pentax. The Minolta even had an auto focus that actually worked… as long as you weren’t in a hurry.

By today’s standards both the Praktica and the Minolta are technological dinosaurs, but despite all our new fancy “digital” technology there’s one thing our DSLR’s are no better at then my old Pentax. Can you guess what it is?

OK, I’ll put you out of you misery. The answer is YOU, or in my case me.

No amount of digital wizardry has yet solved the problem that only you can decide what will make a great shot and what won’t. You need to train you eyes to see photographs and the only way to do that is to get out there and take to photos.

Have a look at these three images. They were all taken last weekend on a family walk along the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. All three images were taken from exactly the same spot. In other words I didn’t have to move my feet to take the images, I just had to look for them. Of course Photoshop, or in this case Lightroom, played it's part, but far less then you might imaginge.

Great pictures are all around you. The hard part is point the camera at them.

Quick guide to reading a histogram

2010-06-08T21:29:00.015+01:00

The chances are you already know what a histogram is or at least where you’re likely to encounter one, but do you really understand what it means and how it can help your photography?

Where do I find the histogram?
In Photoshop the histogram will appear in a couple of places but most of us will be more familiar with the histogram that appears when we press CTRL+L and open Levels.

The chances are your camera will also offer a histogram view of your images and it’s that we’re going to be focusing on in this article. How you access the histogram on your camera will vary depending on the make and model, so if you don’t know how to find it on your camera go back and read your cameras manual.

So why should you be interested in the histogram? Because your camera’s LCD tells you lies, that’s why.

Who hasn’t looked at their images on the back of the camera and believed their images look great only to get home and discover the horrible truth… Your images are poorly exposed.

Remember, use your cameras LCD to check a photos composition, use the cameras Histogram to check exposure.

What is a Histogram?
In its simplest form a histogram is a graph which shows brightness across your image. The left side of the graph represents the dark tones, the centre shows the mid tones and the right is the light tones.

Lets start with a nice snapshot of a general scene, it’s got a big blue sky and nice green grass. In an ideal world a correctly exposed photograph will have a histogram with a fairly smooth curve which touches both edges and peaks towards the centre. That would indicate the image has a full range of tones and good contrast.

A histogram which is weighted more to the left would usually indicate an underexposed image, where as a histogram weighted to the right usually indicates an overexposed image. If you see either of these you need to think about altering the cameras exposure compensation.

The histogram trap.
Once you’ve mastered the basic skills in reading a histogram, you’ll be able to check your images on the cameras LCD and be pretty confident you have captured a good image before moving on. But a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and in photography that means you’ll need to understand what your photographing before deciding that the histogram is telling you that the exposure is incorrect.

Take this image. There is a large amount of light tones in the image, which needs to be considered when looking at the histogram. A correct exposure would have the histogram graph pushed towards the right hand side. If the graph was a neatly centred histogram (like our first image) we would actually have an under exposed image.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that because the histogram is pushed to the right side it automatically means that your exposure is wrong. It just means there’s a lot lighter tones in the image. You have to read the image as well as the histogram.

Conversely this is a very dark image so the histogram is pushed to the left. Once again it’s correctly exposed.

Understanding your histogram will allow you to capture better images and spend less time adjusting them in Photoshop and that’s got to be a good thing.

Selective colour in Photoshop - Quick Shot 07

2010-06-04T19:04:00.003+01:00

Name:: Jessay, Winnipeg, Canada
Question:: Hi Gavin, Can you explain how to make a color splash in the photoshop.In a Big frame only one person in color and the rest in B&W.

Colour popping, selective colour, colour splashing... Many names but one technique which never seems to go out of fashion.

I expecting a few comments along the lines of "That's so easy... or, show us something more complex..." and so on, but before you post a comment just remember there was a time when even YOU didn't know this technique.

By the way, this video is also available in HD which is great if you watch the video in full screen mode. Have a look and tell me what you think.

Fun shooting MotoX

2010-05-27T19:58:00.008+01:00

My new found "hobby"of motor sport photography recently took me to Canada Heights in Kent. The event was the round 3 of Motocross Federation Red Bull Pro National tour which meant lots racers of various ages and abilities competing almost constantly for the best part of 5 hours.

Never having been to a motocross event before I my research and realised this was no ordinary motorsport event. The biggest difference for photographers was how close you could get to the riders compared to normal motorsport events. I don’t just mean in the pits, I mean the actual race itself.

This photo of me should give you an idea of exactly how close to the track we really were. Incidentally this photo was taken by my good friend and awesome sports shooter Jonathan Munro. You can check out some of his shots from the day on his Flickr page.

Although I applied for media credentials (I was hoping to shoot some photos and video for Digital Photo Magazine) the organisers weren’t forth coming, which made me a bit disappointed at the time. But the moment we got to the track I realised that I didn’t need a press pass to get unbelievably close to the racers.

We were so close to the action that we were regularly hit by the dirt thrown up by the bikes. The hat wan't a fashion statement but an essential item of clothing unless you want to spend the day picking mud out of your hair. It goes without saying that there is a very real risk to you’re your camera gear as well as your person.

I started the day using a Sigma 50-500mm lens I borrowed from Jonathan. It’s a monster long lens when wound right out to its full 500mm. The images looked excellent, but as we moved round the track we found ourselves getting closer and closer to the bikes and that long lens spent most of the day in my kit bag.

Swapping to my favourite lens, the Canon 24-105L, proved to be a good decision. It’s a super sharp lens with swift focusing which was perfect for shooting the bikes that were whizzing past just a few meters or so in front of me. I also did something I’ve not done in a while… I spent the whole day shooting JPEG images.

OK, I know I bang on and on about shooting in RAW and I’ve not changed my opinion on the subject, but when it comes to shooting sports the shear volume of images I shot made shooting RAW an impossibility.

Some of my favourite images of the day were the panning shots. I really wanted to get this technique mastered and after a few hours practice I pretty much had it sorted so here’s how I did it.

Practice the shot
I spent a couple of minutes watching the bikes go past and noting which line they took round a bend or along a straight. Next I’d practise the panning (without taking the shots) so I could be sure I had the zoom wide enough to capture the action all the way past me.

Background
As with most events there were plenty of advertising banners, spectators and marshals to distract from your photos so picking a good spot was vital.

Camera settings
I shot in Shutter Priority and settled on a speed of 1/125th of a second, which was slow enough to blur the background but fast enough to keep the biker sharp. I also used the cameras focus tracking and a single centre focus point to which I tried to keep locked on to the bikers helmet.

The reality
So how did I do? Well I shot around 3000 images (I couldn’t believe it when I got home) of which the vast majority are only good for the bin. I knew that would happen and I’m not worried, because when the photos worked they look fantastic.

I’ll defiantly be going back to Canada Heights again and who knows, next time I might even be able to work out who’s winning the races!

Race For Life - The Results

2010-05-27T09:55:00.003+01:00

You may recall I had a blog post about my wife and daughter running the Race For Life. The response far exceeded our expectations as many of you were kind enough to sponsor us. All the funds are going to Cancer Research.

Well the race for life was last night and I’m happy to report that Sam & Freya completed the 5 kilometer run in a fraction over 30 minutes and raised £325 pounds in the process.

Once again a big thank you to everyone who sent messages of support and filled out the online sponsor form.

So, why wasn’t I running? Two reasons. One, Race for life is for women only and two, someone’s got to take the photo’s ;-)

Photo beach teach - New DVD

2010-05-26T07:21:00.004+01:00

It’s been a while since I’ve released a new DVD so I’m very happy to announce that the newest Gavtrain DVD is finally available.

Follow this link for full details. You;ll be able to watch three sample videos from the DVD and better still I'd be very pleased if you buy a copy.

This DVD is a very slight departure from my previous offerings. Yes there’s still plenty of Photoshop tutorials of course but there’s also three live action photography videos. Two of the videos you may have seen short version of before. They are the long exposure technique and the beach 15 minute challenge, but there’s also a brand new unseen video where you’ll discover a secret passion of mine, stacking stones.

I’m constantly asked how I make my images look the way they do, well watch the DVD tutorials and you’ll find out.

As always I go to great lengths to ensure the DVD is compatible with both Windows and MAC computers and with every version of Photoshop from CS3 onwards. I even have two versions of one tutorial so CS3 and CS4 users both get a complete insight into how I work.

Free prize draw
Anyone who buys the Photo Beach Teach DVD before 30th June 2010 will be entered into a prize draw to win a limited edition, signed copy of my favourite picture from the DVD. There are three prints up for grabs and the only way to get one is by being in the prize draw.

Don't worry if you've already bought a copy of Photo Beach Teach, you've already been entered. Good Luck.

Exposure compensation - video & tips

2010-05-25T09:48:00.004+01:00

This Quick Shot question comes from Gary S who asks:

“…I don't really understand what the Exposure Compensation is and when it should be used. I remember seeing you use it by 1 stop I think it was to prevent a white back drop looking grey”

Scroll down for some exposure compensation FAQ's

A few questions that have already arisen:

Where’s Exposure Compensation on my camera?
I might be called EV +/- check your manual.

Can I use Exposure Compensation in Manual mode?
No, exposure composition may is usually only available in Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Program modes.

Isn’t the camera meter always correct?
Modern cameras feature intelligent meters which produce good images every single time… almost. Good as they are they still make mistakes, which is why checking your cameras LCD and histogram from time to time is a good idea.

My Canon DSLR’s exposure compensation doesn’t seem to work.
Make sure you have the on button switched to the angled line symbol.

But I was told real photographers only ever use Manual mode, everything else was for amateurs.
Total rubbish. Most photographers I know generally use Aperture Priority when shooting in natural light.

Can Exposure Compensation be used in other ways?
Yes it can. By deliberately inducing under or over exposure you can add mood to an image. Dark images add drama where light images feel calming.

I thought Camera RAW could pull back two stops, so why do it in the camera.
In fact Adobe Camera RAW can pull 4 stops each way and that can be a life saver at times. But be careful not to fall into the mind set of thinking “I’ll fix it in Photoshop”, it’s a very slippery slope. Try and think I’ll get it right in camera and you’ll be a better, happier photographer.

Save time with a Grad. Filter

2010-05-17T20:18:00.011+01:00

Last week I took delivery of my latest piece of equipment. It’s not a fancy new camera body, fast lens or even the latest version of Photoshop (although all of those are on my wish list). Never the less I do expect the new equipment will save me time and improve my photography.

So what’s this amazing, must have gizmo? Nothing more then a good old fashioned Grey Grad filter.

It often surprises people to discover that I still use filters on my camera. That’s probably because I enjoy using the powerful features that Photoshop offers. But despite the advantages Photoshop gives me, I still try to capture the best image possible in camera.

I’ve been using an old square Cokin grey grad filter for years, but as the quality of lenses I use has gone up, I’ve out grown the Cokin filter. I really have literally out grown it because it’s only just covers the front of my lenses. So my replacement is a large 100mmx125mm filter from Kood.

I’m pretty sure there are many newer photographers out there who have never used a grey grad filter. So here’s a quick Q&A session to explain what it does.

When do you use a grey grad?
Whenever you’re shooting landscapes and the sky is the brightest part of the image.

But isn’t that’s always the case?
Pretty much, yes.

How do I use it?
You place the filter in front of the lens and move it until the grey part covers the sky.

Do I need a special filter holder?
You can buy a filter holder, just make sure it matches the size of filter you bought. However I use a rapid attachment device, better known as my hand.

Why don’t you just take multiple images and do a bit of HDR?
I do, but if the grey grad is in my bag and it does the job, it saves a huge amount to time.

I’m happy doing the multiple photo method, do I still need a grey grad filter?
Not if you don’t want to.

OK, I’m interested, can I see and example.
Here you go. Here’s one I made recently.

OK I’m sold, where can I get one and how much does it cost?
I bought a Kood two stop ND Grey, cost around £20 from: http://www.crookedimaging.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=384

If moneys no object, you can buy the "pro" version by Lee filters for around £60 from here: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-lee-neutral-density-0-6-soft-graduated-resin-filter/p1010470

Of course there are plenty of other suppliers for both filter types.

So there you go. If you’re wondering how the final image turned out have a look at the image below.

Shooting banger racing

2010-05-11T10:05:00.011+01:00

Last weekend the family and I all went to the local Banger race meeting. There are other similar meetings all over the UK but this one was the Smallfield Raceway in Surrey, which is only a few miles from my home. Despite my close proximity to the meeting I’ve never been before and although I was pretty sure it would make for some good photos I really didn’t know what to expect.

In the end I had a great day. Banger racing is full of thrills and spills and I bagged a couple of really great shots, but I also came home with some really poor ones. I learned a couple of useful things during the day, which my help you in the future.

Camera Gear.
I’d heard the banger track we were going to would be a dust bowl, so I opted to pack my older gear. I used my Canon 40D for the body and an old Canon 70-300 zoom lens. The 40D body was the perfect choice with it’s APS-C sensor increasing the effective zoom to over 450mm. Best of all it has an awesome continuous shooting mode of 8 frames per second.

Problems
The weather is always a problem in the UK, or rather we like to think it is. It’s either too bright, too cold or too wet. Well, this day was too dark. Think big brooding skies, perfect for landscapes shots but not so good for action shots where a fast shutter speed is required.

But the biggest problem, by a mile was the fence. You can see the problem in the image on the right and this was one of the better ones.

As soon as I saw the fence I knew it would be a problem. It was a tall, black, heavy mesh fence which was great for catching flying tyres, but terrible for photography.

Camera settings
I set the camera to continuous shooting 8fps which could knock out 6 RAW images before pausing for breath. I shifted the ISO between 400 – 800 as I tried to keep the shutter speed around 1/1000th second for maximum sharpness.

Focusing was a total nightmare. Servo focus mode is essential so the camera can track a moving object and keep it sharp. Unfortunately the constant focus was the cause of a major head ache. One second I could see a sharp car in the viewfinder, then it would vanish when the camera suddenly focused on the fence. By the time The focus was back on the car I'd have missed the action. This happened again and again and again...

To minimize the appearance of the mesh fence I shoot with a wide open aperture and zoom in as much as possible. I managed to find a spot where I could get a little closer to the fence (about 2 metres) but it still appeared in many of the photos

Useful lessons.
1 Getting on a corner where the cars were coming towards me worked really well.

2 The old 70-300mm lens wasn’t a good choice. Yes the long zoom was good, but the focusing was painfully slow and the f5.6 max aperture gave me problems with shutter speed and fence issues.

3 Take a step ladder. Not being the tallest person in the world I had trouble getting a good view point. I should have packed the steps.
4 Shoot loads and loads of photos. Practice makes perfect and the later images were easily the best. You’ll also need plenty of spare memory and spare batteries.

5 Go to the pits. This isn’t Formula 1, so it’s perfectly OK to wonder round the pits and capture the action. Angle grinders, greasy mechanics and bent metal make for some interesting shots.

6 Share your work. Banger racing is pure amateur fun, so if you get some great shots send them to the race organisers and sponsors.

7 Cheap lenses will do the job, but it's so much easier to use good quality lenses.

8 Banger racing is a great day out, even without the photography angle. They award a prize for "The best roll over of the day" which says it all really!

Race for life - Help needed

2010-05-09T19:26:00.006+01:00

I know this is a photography blog, but there are a few things more important then taking photos.

Race for life is a 5 kilometre fun run organised by Cancer Research UK it's the largest women-only fundraising event in the UK. Now you've probably spotted I’m not a female, but I know two people who are.

On the 26th May Sam & Freya (my wife & daughter) will be running the race for life in Crawley and are looking to raise as much money for Cancer Research as possible and that’s where you come in.

So if you’ve enjoyed watching my videos and can’t believe they’re still free, I’d be most greteful if you could make a charity donation by following this link.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/samhoey1

Thanks for your support, normal photography blogging will return very soon.

Beach - 15 Minute Photo Challenge

2010-05-07T20:55:00.003+01:00

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who’s helped kick the new Gavtrain Facebook page off to a flying start. I know a lot of you have already become fans which is fantastic.

OK, on to today’s blog post. I get a regular stream of emails asking for me to do more 15 minute challenges so after a winters break I’m very pleased to be able to post the first 15 minute challenge of the year.

If you want to have a better look at see some of the check out my Flickr photostream or follow the links below to see the individual photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574957716/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574326343/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574959432/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574324635/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574325197/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4574325523/sizes/o/

Quick Shot Answers

2010-05-04T21:59:00.003+01:00

OK, it's time for some more answers to a selection of the hundreds of Quick Shot questions you've sent me. Sadly I can't answer every question I've been sent, so if I missed your question out please don't take it personally.

Name: Kristian L (from Hungary)
Question:: Hi Gavin Hoey! My question is, i have cs4 but i can't find the Extract buton under Filter!!! In old Photoshop i've got it! What can i do?
Answer: Extract is still on the CS4 installation DVD but doesn't install as standard. However if you'd rather not go hunting through the Photoshop DVD John Nack (one of Photoshop's lead product developers) posted links to download the missing tools on his blog. Here's the link. http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/where_did_extra.html

Name:: Putu A
Question:: Hello Mr. Gavin. My question what is the difference of lens diameters ie.. 58mm for 18-55mm or 67mm or 72mm. Thank you
Answer: Different lenses have different diameters, don’t get to hung up about it. If you use filters with your lenses always buy filters that will fit the largest diameter lens you own. Step up adaptors can be used to attach the big filter to the smaller diameter lenses.

Name:: Monica C.
Question:: Hi! I take lots of pictures during my daughter's soccer game ... (outdoors).. And most of my pictures do come blurry! I do set up my camera in "action mode" and my ISO in "auto".. Any suggestions on how can I improve my pictures?? (I don't use flash at all)
Answer: Blurred images can be caused by either camera blur (everything blurs) or motion blur (subject blurs) To help avoid both work in Shutter Priority mode (Tv on Canon) with a speed of 1/1000th second or as high as you can go. Increase the ISO so you can hit that shutter speed.

Name:: Tony J
Question:: Hi Gavin, Just watched you tutorial on beach/sea shots. Would it not be easier to alter your shutter speed manually to say 5" delay & get the results you needed that way? maybe iso 100, f22, 5" Thank, Tony
Answer: Tony you were one of many people who said the same thing. The answer is simple. THAT WILL NOT WORK.
Sorry to shout but think about it for a second. Shutter speed, aperture and ISO are all linked. Change any one of the settings and at least one of the other settings would also need alter to compensate. Dialling in a longer shutter speed would allow more light into the camera so to compensate I’d need to either make the aperture smaller (f22 was the smallest) of lower the ISO (100 was the lowest).
If you missed the video you can view it here

Name:: Tim A
Question:: Your Question Here: When I set the white balance manual using a white paper after it set can I use flash on my shot will the setting be wrong? Tim A Kentucky 41824
Answer: The white balance applies to the lighting you used when it was ser. So if you lit the paper with your flash you’ll be OK with the flash gun, but if it was lit by room lights the white balance will be wrong for flash. Best answer is to use RAW and adjust the white balance if it looks wrong.

Name:: Chris P
Question:: Hi I have watched your videos and tips on photoshop and found them graet now I have got proshow producer 4 and wanted to know wheres are the best to learn how to use
Answer: Check out the amazingly kind people over at the Proshow enthusiasts forum. http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/

Gavtrain now on Facebook

2010-05-03T16:37:00.004+01:00

Many of you have asked if I have a Facebook account and up till now the answer has been no. Well I’ve very pleased to announce that now the answer is YES! OK it’s not a big thing for many people but as someone who is pretty much clueless when it comes to Facebook it’s a leap into the unknown.

Fortunately my wife Sam is rapidly becoming an expert in all things Facebook as she has volunteered to take on the role of Facebook administrator for the Gavtrain page.

So far the results look good. Click the screen shot to have a look (or click this link). You don’t need a Facebook account to view the page, but you do if you wish to and comments and become a fan.

To kick things off Sam’s added a brand new 15 minute challenge video to the Facebook page. It was recorded at the beach a few weeks back and the challenge was to find great photos in a very small location. It was great fun to do and the results look pretty good.

The same video will appear right here on the blog on Friday, but until then it’s only on the Facebook page.

120cm Octagonal Softbox – Video

2010-04-29T12:24:00.007+01:00

I’ve always wanted to give a octagonal softbox a go. I’ve heard wonderful things about the light quality that such a large light surface produces. A few weeks back I finally got the chance to use one during a video shoot for smick.co.uk.

The more observant will notice this is the shoot is connected to yesterdays post. So if you want to know what was done to the images in Photoshop click here.

So what’s the verdict? Well lets start with the plus points.

First the light really is amazingly soft and I was only using the smaller 120cm version. A 400w flash head was easily able to fill the softbox with light and a quick check with a light meter showed the light drop off was pretty good at ½ to ¾ stop centre to edge. That gives predictable, controllable illumination making my job a lot easier.

As you’ll see in the video the large size of the softbox also enabled me to use it as an illuminated background making a it perfect for head shots where a white background is required. Just remember set the background light 0-3/4 stop brighter then the key light.

Another nice thing about the octagonal softbox is the eye catch light it produces is rounder then the rectangular softboxes I usually use. Having said that it’s not something my clients have mentioned so it may be one of those “photographer” things.

Now for the drawbacks and there are a couple.

First is its size. The very thing that makes it a great light is a big problem when space is limited. My studio is pretty small and the octagonal softbox made it feel even smaller. You also need to watch the balance. I found by using a sturdy lighting stand fitted with a DIY sand bag weight at the base kept things stable and avoided any expensive accidents.

If you to see the video in full or find out more about the Octaganal Softbox follow this link http://www.smick.co.uk/index.php/portrait-lighting-tutorial-using-120cm-softbox/

The unseen tutorial

2010-04-28T09:56:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was the Photovison Roadshow at Hatfield House and it was a fantastic day with lots to see and do. I spent a large part of the day talking to lots and lots of fellow photographers, answering Photoshop questions and giving mini training sessions.

First of all I’d like to thank the Photovison team for the opportunity to be there, but more importantly a huge thank you to the many people who came up and said hello. I’m always totally humbled by photographers who shake my hand and tell me how much they’ve learned by watching some of my YouTube training videos, buying my DVD’s or reading this blog. I even discovered that one or two people, who I looked up to, are also following this blog. What an honour.

To give you a flavour of what I was doing, here’s a video tutorial exclusively for my blog readers.

If you missed the Hatfield Roadshow, never fear. Photovision moves on to Manchester in two weeks time. I highly recommend a visit, not only to talk to many photographic companies that will be exhibiting, but also for the excellent free seminars from Mark Cleghorn, Guy Gowan and Uzair Kharawala to name but three.

From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success

2010-04-22T13:46:00.007+01:00

So a volcano erupts in Iceland and Europe grinds to a halt. OK that’s a bit of an over exaggeration but it’s certainly thrown a light on just how much we rely on air travel.

The ash cloud floating over parts of Europe has meant many peoples week in the sun has turned into a longer and potentially much more expensive stay away from home. For many more, it’s become an unwelcome road trip across Europe that’s cost them £000’s.

But as they say, one man's problem is another man's opportunity. For me that’s exactly how things might turn out.

Next Tuesday sees the Photovision Roadshow arrive in Hatfield, Hertfordshire (here’s the Photovision link). This one of my favourite events, partly because the road shows are less crowded then the big events like Focus, but mostly because they have some excellent free seminars.

One of the star speakers is Photoshop expert Guy Gowan. Unfortunately Guy has been stuck somewhere in Europe and may not be able to make it back in time for the Roadshow. That means there’s a spare lecture slot and I’ve been approached to fill it.

Sadly for me I get the feeling that by Tuesday everything’s going to pretty much back to normal and Guy will make his flight, but I’m feeling pretty chuffed to be asked to fill his shoes.

Although the Photovision Road shows are open to any photographer, both professional and amateur, the show is defiantly geared towards wedding and portrait photographers. Currently I don’t have an off the peg lecture that really fits that bill, so I’ve been busy pulling a few ideas together.

Here’s a portrait retouching before and after sample from the talk.

Even if I’m not giving a talk I’ll be attending the road show. Come and find me on the Photovision shop stand. I’ll be there with my laptop answering questions on photography and Photoshop

Long exposure technique - Quick Shots 05

2010-04-16T21:32:00.002+01:00

UPDATE: The photos from this post are now on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4530406343/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4531039982/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4531040134/

It’s been a bit of a blog free week for me as I’ve been away with the family for a mid week break by the sea.

We managed to find one of the few places in the UK without a 3G internet connection, so I feel like I’ve been a little cut off from all the excitement that’s been going on around the launch of Photoshop CS5.

Just be for I left a Quick Shot question landed in my inbox from Daniel Roberts who asked a great question. Basically Daniel wanted to some tips and advice on how to get silky smooth water on long exposures.

Fortunately I was planning to take exactly that kind of shot whilst I was away, so I threw my video camera into my camera bag and set off for the coast.

Video - Focus stacking in Photoshop CS4

2010-04-09T21:19:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I was giving a talk to the Lee Valley Nature Photographers and demonstrating the finer points of Adobe Camera RAW. But I always like to throw a few curve balls at my audience in my lectures and as I was talking to a group of nature photographer I got the chance to demonstrate a feature of Photoshop CS4 that’s amazingly useful for macro photographers.

It’s called focus stacking and automates the process of combining multiple images and gaining maximum depth of field. If you've not seen focus stacking it in action, then you have to watch this video.

Experiments with lighting

2010-04-07T08:37:00.012+01:00

At the bottom of this post are a couple of images from a quick test shoot I did with my daughter. It came about because I’m working on a couple of new DVD’s that require portraits. One is a live action DVD that will teach a bunch of lighting setups and tips. The other is a Lightroom 3 training DVD on working with portraits.

These shots were the result of me testing a simple two light setup and a new background donated to me from a retiring professional photographer and an all round decent chap called Frank Page.

As is often the case, I like to share my knowledge with anyone mad enough to stop and listen, so here is the lighting setup I used.

It’s a really simple set up that’s great for head shots when you need smooth skin tones and gentle lighting. The only this missing from the diagram is a fan which I used to add movement to her hair.

The background was illuminated with a honeycomb grid light and that gives a natural vignette to the image. The power of the lights was carefully controlled to give me a working aperture of f4 which blurred away the creases on the background cloth.

And finally here are the photos. The first image is "as shot", without any Photoshop tricks being applied (apart from the border).

And this one is the same setup again but with the Vibrence turned way down in Adobe Camera RAW, which added to the slightly sad, far away look in her eyes.

The Casement Collection

2010-04-06T08:31:00.007+01:00

My good friend and fellow Photoshop expert Jack Casement ARPS, has recently finished updating his website. You can find it at http://www.jackcasement.co.uk

Jack is an incredibly creative photographer and an expert not only in Photoshop but in many other digital imaging fields. His work with Poser and Bryce is particularly interesting if surreal images are your thing.

For those of you who enjoy a bit of Photoshop learning and I count myself in that group, then Jack is planning to write a regular Photoshop tutorial. His first on a simple out of bounds trick can be found by clicking here.

This way for answers

2010-04-02T13:49:00.005+01:00

Sorry, there’s no video this week. Two factors have conspired against me. First I’ve been very busy, which is fantastic for me but not good for your video. Second, I had planned to get out and shoot a couple of photography Quick Shots, but the weather has been wet and windy most of the week.

So this is a good chance to answer some more of your Quick Shot questions which I can’t quite make into a video.

Name:: shery
Question:: How one could create zoomin or zoomout effect in phttoshop
Answer: Copy the layer and apply Radial Blur. Then mask (or erase) away the centre. This video from the achieves should help.

Name:: Mattias M***
Question:: Here is a question from Sweden:
I often end up in photography situations where the light is mixed from different sources. For example, both day light and fluorescent light in the same picture. That gives me problem with white balancing. Any ideas on how to fix that?
Answer: The simple answer is shot in RAW and adjust the white balance back at base. When looking at the final image get the white balance right for the main subject even if that means getting wrong on something else.

Name:: Wilson
Question:: Can you make more 15minits photo challenge?
Answer: Yes, as soon as it stop raining!

Name:: Mahmud
Question:: How some wild photographs are taken where the sun looks so much bigger but subject in front it seems to be in usual shape?
Answer: Assuming it wasn’t done in Photoshop the technique is to use a really long telephoto lens and carefully arrange the subject to be in front of it.

Name:: Steve J***
Question:: Hi Gavin,
I would like to make a clock face with just the 4 numerals on it 12,3,6,9 on a 210mm diameter circle that I can then move around on any picture to form the clock face.
I would also like to mark the centre to pierce later.I can do it as a one off but not so that it is repeatable.
Answer: If you already know how to do it, make it into an ACTION in Photoshop. That way whenever you feel the need to make a new clock face you can just play the action and it’s done!

Name:: Timmy
Question:: Hi sir good day! Could you make a tutorial about slices. Thanks in advance
Answer: I’m not planning one, but here’s a handy tip for anyone who accidently turns on slices and gets that annoying number in the top left corner of every image. Go to View – Show and untick Slices.

Name:: david d***
Question:: hi gavin could you plz help me a i trying to take photo of the full moon what would be the best setting on my nikon d50 70mm 300mm all the best
Answer: Go somewhere really dark (away from city lights). Next get your camera on a decent Tripod. I would use ISO 100, Aperture Priority mode set to f8. Take a test shot and review. Adjust the exposure compensation as required. Use a cable release or self timer to trigger the shutter.

Name:: Mark H***
Question:: Gavin, Aside from the additional cost, am I better off with proshow producer than proshow gold. I'm doing advanced intermeadiate level stuff, but will not be using it for business purposes.
Answer: Proshow Producer is the best. It’s got some advanced features which you can learn and grow with. More over, it allows you to customise the loading screen with your business details and graphics for a more professional look.

Digital Day - The results

2010-03-30T09:25:00.009+01:00

Saturday just gone was a great day where I was running the digital day at Wantage Camera Club. It was great for a number of reasons. First I got to meet many readers of this blog, some of whom travelled a long way to be there. Second I was able to do something that I’m really passionate about; sharing my knowledge about photography and Photoshop.

For me the day just got better and better. The highlight of the day, for me, was the part that I called “Live & Unplanned” because that’s exactly what it was. Normally I carefully plan out my lectures but this was something very much out of my comfort zone and I’m so glad I did it.

I did a mini photo challenge with three excellent photographers. They immediately got the idea of what I was asking them to do and despite the rain doing it’s best to stop us, we all managed to get all get some great images in the bag.

With the help of the audience, I spent 20 minutes skimming through the memory cards and applying a few Photoshop tricks. Below are a few of the best shots. Click to enlarge them.

The two pictures above are by Ian Bateman. Check out his excellent website (and amazing AV's) here

Photos By John Long

Photos By Alec Finch

Photos By Gavin Hoey

All the above photos were taken in a five minute period in and around the lecture hall. The cameras were all second hand compact cameras bought from ebay for less the £20 and my three fellow photographers had no time to learn how they worked. It just goes to show what can be done if you focus your mind on seeing photos.

Creative Flower Photos - Quick Shots 04

2010-03-25T20:29:00.012Z

This weeks question was sent in by Alex R who asked:

Question:: Hi Gavin, I'm really into flower photography, and was just wondering what is some cool ways to improve and edit them inside of photoshop. E.g blending, borders, colours...etc

The final image can be view on my Flickr photostream

If you fancy having a go yourself then you're welcome to use the same images I showed in the video.

Usual rules apply: Images are copyright Gavin Hoey and are for personal use only. They may not be sold, passed on or used for any advertising without my permission.

Shoot wide for more options

2010-03-24T16:26:00.006Z

By and large it’s a good idea to get your images as perfect as possible in camera. Relying on Photoshop to bail you out of a hole is always second best. But when it comes to cropping, getting it right in camera isn’t always the best way to work.

This is something I learned as a wedding photographer taking group shots. When I first started I’d compose the shot in camera ensuring that the people on the ends of line up were just inside the image. That works fine until someone orders an 8”x10” print and you have to crop off the ends or grow more photo at the top and bottom. Neither was a good way to work.

The answer is simply to leave more space around the subject and get the perfect the crop in Photoshop. Take a look at this image to see what I mean.

Here I’ve left space around the door panel so I choose how to crop the final shot later.

This is the same image as before, but this time I've cropped in in Photoshop. Had I cropped in camera and only taken the above shot (the one I knew I wanted) then I would have had to do some serious Photoshop work to make the following image.

This image was taken on today’s photo training session. Many thanks to Melanie and Michael for placing and pruning the ivy.

5 Minute Photo Challenge - Dress Rehearsal

2010-03-22T13:57:00.009Z

The clock is now ticking until my all day talk this Saturday. If you’re around the Oxford area on the 27th March 2010 then there’s still time to book your place. Details are here.

I’ve been working hard to find ways of adding some audience participation in to the day. One of the things I’m planning to do is recruit 2 or 3 delegates to take part in a mini photo challenge with me.

The idea is pretty simple. I’m going to give them a basic point and shoot compact camera and a list of three photos they need to take. They’ll then have 10 minutes to take the best photograph they can to fulfil each brief. Later I’ll process the images live in front of the audience taking suggestions from the floor.

Now, as I’ve never attempted this before I though it would be wise to test the idea first. Below is the result from the pictures taken by myself and my wife Sam in our 5 minute mini photo challenge. As always, click a photo to enlarge

I'm really pleased at how well this worked. Five minutes isn't long, so I'll be increasing it to 10 minutes on the day. Best of all, I had no idea what images I was going to get from Sam until she handed me the memory card. If it works half as well on Saturday I'll be very pleased.

By the way the camera's are all second hand EBay bargains. Not one cost more the £15 inc delivery. To quote Chase Jarvis... The best camera is the one you have with you.

Shadows & Borders in Photoshop - Quick Shots 03

2010-03-18T21:36:00.007Z

This weeks Quick Shot question is...

How to add a border and a drop shadow onto an image.

If you have a question you’d like to see answered in a Quick Shot video then head over to the Gavtrain home page and send it over.

I can’t believe how many of you have taken the time to send me your Quick Shot questions. There’s some really great answers coming up. I received a surprising number photography related questions, which is great. If the fine weather holds, I plan to get some photography tutorials filmed next week.

Portrait Professional 9 - My new best friend

2010-03-14T19:31:00.019Z

The debate about “photoshoped” or “airbrushed” images of models being used in magazines and advertising is one that’s been rolling on for sometime. But whatever your opinions on the subject the reality is almost everyone wants to look 10 years younger in there studio portraits.

For me that usually means hours on Photoshop reducing wrinkles, smoothing skin and deleting spots. I’ve always viewed it as just another part of the job, but all that has changed thanks to a clever piece of software called Portrait Professional 9 from Anthropics Technology. For the record, I’m in no way connected, employed or getting any kind of kick backs to promote their product, I just love it.

This picture is the final product of about 40 minutes at the computer. Without Portrait Professional that would have been more like 90 minutes. Although the makeup effect was added in Photoshop, the underlying skin tones were smoothed in Portrait Professional.

I could go into great detail about the benefits of the software, but to really understand what a game changer Portrait Professional is I made this short video review.

For a clearer look at the difference, click the image above for a before / after view.

And so the question you really want to know is… What the price of this software ? Unusually for a software company, Anthropics Technology is asking a very fair price of £50.00. Better still for a limited time you can get 10% discount if you use the promo code dp4010 when you buy Portrait Professional online. They also offer a free trial of the software so you can make up your own mind.

Share & Back Up your Photoshop Custom Brushes - Quick Shots 02

2010-03-12T07:21:00.002Z

This week the question is...

"How can I share my custom brushes with my friends?"

The answer is pretty simple so as well as answering the question I'm going to show you how you make a custom brush and them save a modified version of that brush.

Photoshop on my phone

2010-03-11T14:27:00.003Z

The “must have” gadget of 2009 was the iPhone. This little wonder of modern technology seems to have found it’s way into many photographers pockets and has changed how and when we communicate, email and text. So common has the iPhone become that many companies seems to be of the opinion that everyone has an iPhone (or iPod Touch or iPad).

So hats off to Adobe who have just released an update to Photoshop Mobile for my smart phone which is powered by Android. Even more impressive Photoshop Mobile is 100% FREE.

I downloaded the original Photoshop Mobile when it was released at the end of last year. 24 hours later I deleted it from my phone. Why? Because it was far to basic with just blur, crop, exposure and toning available.

Now Adobe have released an update which adds brightness and contrast plus a handful of effects. It’s a small step forward, but as someone who loves a bit of contrast in my images it makes the world of difference.

So before anyone jumps on me, I know the iPhone version has this and a bit more, but as a non iPhone user it’s nice when a company puts some real effort into a free Android app.

Well done Adobe

By the way Photoshop Mobile is also available for iPhone and Windows Mobile users

There are more questions then answers

2010-03-09T18:28:00.004Z

Last week, with the help of all my blog readers, I launched “Quick Shots” my new video tutorials. It needs a bit of time to get the format right, but the reaction has been better then I hoped. At the same time as uploading the video I updated the front page of www.gavtrain.com which now sports a Quick Shots form where anyone can send me a question. And lots of you did just that.

I’ve got some great questions to answer; although many of them will need a bit of planning and the photography questions will need an outside shoot to be filmed.

However there were lots and lots of questions that didn’t quite fit into the format of the new Quick Shots videos or ask a question I’ve answered before.

Below is a selection of those questions and some answers that might be useful.

Name: moazzam
Question: which camera and lens do u use urself?
Answer: I own lots of lens and Canon bodies. My main two bodies are the 40D and 400D. I use a Canon 24-105 L most of the time but you’ll also find me using Sigma’s 10-20 and Sigma’s 18-50 f2.8 (a great lens)

Name: Shahbaz A
Question: which camera setting are best for snow fall season
Answer: This video should help

Name: Dinger
Question: can I create the effect of turning a page in pro show producer
Answer: Not really, Proshow producer doesn’t allow that kind of distortion to an image. I wish it did and if anyone knows a way I’d be happy to learn it myself.

Name: Simon R
Question: When should you use curves rather than levels when adjusting an image?
Answer: When ever the mood strikes you. To be honest I never liked using Curves and ALWAYS use levels. From talking to lots of photographers I get the feeling the use of curves is diminishing as the use of RAW software is increasing.

Name: MARTIN R
Question: Hello Gavin, I would like to see you edit and include some video footage with stills in ProShow Producer.
Answer: I don’t use Proshow Producer for video editing, yes it can do basic editing, but it’s not a very efficient way to work. I use Premiere Elements 7 for all my editing work. If there’s a demand for it I’ll do some tutorials on video editing in the future.

Name: Bazil
Question: Your Question Here Do you have instructional videos for wedding photography
Answer: We’re working on new videos, but have no plans to do one on Wedding Photography

Name: Darshan
Question: Which is the best way to calibrate monitor...? is it the same procedure for desktop or laptop.... they both r LCD anyways...
Answer: I use a Spyder 2 Express on all my PC’s it works really well and I’d recommend one to anyone (and no, I’m not being paid to say that)

Well that’s a selection of the questions, if you have one of your own, then hop over to the Gavtrain Home Page and send it over to me. The next Quick Shot video is out on Friday and will appear right here on the blog.

Jpeg in to RAW - Quick Shots 01

2010-03-05T12:13:00.002Z

First a huge thank you to everyone who took the time and trouble to post a comment or send me an email with suggestions for the name of the new videos and your questions.

As you will see I choose the title “quick shots” from the many excellent suggestions.

This week the question is… Can I open Jpegs in Adobe Camera RAW?

Check back again next Friday for another Quick Shot question answered.

7 tips for surviving Focus on Imaging

2010-03-04T07:07:00.001Z

Here in the UK Focus on Imaging 2010 is just 3 days away. Last year 34254 photographers made the trip to the N.E.C. in Birmingham during the four day event. That’s a lot of photographers, but then there is a lot to see and do.

I’ve visited the event several times and from experience I know how overwhelming a day at Focus can be. It’s all too easy to get swallowed up in the crowds of people and the hundreds of exhibitors. In fact in the past I’ve come away wondering why I made the trip in the first place.

So if your planning to make a visit to Focus (or any trade show around the world) here’s my top 7 tips.

1) Plan of action
There is so much to see and so many people to talk to it’s all too easy to miss something important. Focus 2010 has a useful online floor plan which list of all the exhibitors. You can download it from here. Decide which vendors you want to visit and make a note of where they are.

2) Camera or no camera?
Although it’s a camera show there’s really nothing to photograph. Yes some of the stands will have mini studio shoots and models, but you’re unlikely to get anything more then a grab shot. Unless you need to bring your DSLR for a specific reason do yourself a favour and leave it at home.

3) What to wear.
It’s a long day and you’ll be on your feet a lot, so comfortable shoes and clothes are the order of the day. Don’t weigh yourself down with heavy bags either.

4) Eat & Drink
Food and drink at any trade show or conference is always going to be pricey and the NEC is no exception. Bring a packed lunch and a drink and spend the money you save on photo goodies. Just remember the car park is huge, so if you leave your lunch in the car you’re in for a long walk.

5) Arrive early
The earlier you get there the more you’ll get to see and do. In fact I often find I can get to talk to three or four key suppliers in the first hour of the show before the really big crowds arrive.

6) Research and budget
There really are some bargains to be had at the show. Discounts, offers and free extras are very common, but it makes sense to do your research before you go. If you’re looking for new kit, narrow the choice down by checking internet reviews. Have an idea of the best internet price before going to the show. Once at the show you’ll be able to get hands on the real thing and make an informed decision.

7) Listen to the talks
For me the very best part of any trade show is the free talks that many exhibitors lay on. Famous and talented photographers are on hand to pass on their knowledge and techniques throughout the day. It’s a great way to pick up new skills and see different styles of photography.

Upcoming all day Photoshop event.

2010-03-03T07:59:00.003Z

If you’re in the UK on Saturday 27th March 2010 and can get to the Oxford area, there’s still time to book a place at my first all day talk of the year. It’s going to be a great day. I’ve been given free reign for the day and I intend to avoid turning into a brain melting 6 hour Photoshop marathons at all cost.

So what can you expect to see? (click the image to enlarge)

Well Photoshop will feature throughout the day, of course, but I aim to start gently and progressively ramp up the level.

If you’ve ever been to one of my short talks you’ll know I love a bit of banter with the audience, so at the all day event I plan to take that a stage further. The plan is to have a live photo shoot with tips on simple flash (strobist) techniques and even a lunch time photo challenge. My 15 minute photo challenge videos will feature along with some inside tips on the Photoshop techniques I use.

To round the day off I’ll be hosting a very special quiz “How wants to be a Photoshop Guru” which will send you home with a smile.

Tickets are limited, so don’t miss out.

New video tutorials – I need your help

2010-03-02T08:09:00.002Z

Good news! After an extended break, I’m back making weekly video tutorials.

This time the content is going to be a little different. My video tutorials get viewed 1000’s of times a day and that generates lots and lots of questions. So every week I hope to answer as many of those questions as possible.

The new videos will cover either Photoshop (or possibly Lightroom) and Photography. I plan to keep them short, 3-5 minutes and they’ll have a relaxed, casual feel.

So how can you help? Well, there are two things I need.

Name that show.
I want the new videos to have their own identity so I’ve got to come up with a name. Something snappy that sums up the idea in a couple of words. “Ask Gavin” and “Photo Answers” are both taken so what would you suggest?

Here to help
After a quick look through my inbox and YouTube message account I’ve jotted down the first batch of questions. But this project is going to need a steady stream of new questions, so I need more. So if you have a specific issue with Photoshop or Photography let me know.

The kind of questions I’m going to answer should be short and to the point. So a bad question would be “How do I use my camera?” A better question would be “How do I get blurred backgrounds on portraits”

I hope to have the first video online by Friday and it will appear right here on my blog

Marryoke – Every wedding video should have one of these

2010-03-01T07:55:00.004Z

I can’t speak for other countries, but here in the UK professional wedding videos are something of a rarity. Over the past few years that I’ve photographed many weddings and every one has been a unique experience. But not once have I worked along side a true professional videographer.

Almost every wedding I’ve attended has had an official video, it’s usually the brides uncle (or other close family member) who lands the job of “video guy”. The responsibility of taking on such an important role must weigh heavy on amateur shoulders. No tape in the camera, flat batteries and filming from the back of the room hoping the microphone will magically pick up perfect audio, are just a few of the pitfalls.

All that changed two days after Christmas when I was photographing my last wedding of 2009.

The bride had informed me at our pre wedding chat, that they had hired a professional “video guy” named Leo from Perfect Day Studios. To be totally honest my first thought was along the lines of… Great! So I’ll end up doing the hard graft whilst the video guy points his camcorder over my shoulder… How wrong was I!

Turns out the videographer, Leo Ferenc, is a true professional with his own unique style and he was more then happy to share his own ideas for shots and poses with me. Of course I have my own shots planned, like the champagne shot you see here and I'm pretty sure that they'll end up adding to the bride & grooms wedding video.

Leo produces something he calls the “marryoke” video, which you really have to watch to appreciate. Whenever there was a pause in the day, Leo had someone (usually the groom) sing a few lines of the song. The editing must have taken hours but the results is truly amazing. All wedding videos should be this fun.

Sadly I can’t embed the video he sent me, but here’s the link or just click on the screen grab. I hope you enjoy a bit of Billy Idol.

Portrait Photography using continuous lighting - video

2010-02-24T21:56:00.005Z

Although I'm really a flash based studio photographer, a recent video commission gave me the chance to try out some high powered continuous lighting for studio portraits. I use similar lights for my video work, but I've never really thought of them as being bright enough of still photography.

To be honest the first few shots didn't really looked poor and I nearly didn't bother doing the video. Put simply the images were very soft, verging on them being blurred. The softness was caused by a combination of slow shutter speeds and the wide apertures I needed to use with the lights. But I'm not one for falling at the first hurdle so I turned up the camera's ISO and instantly solved the problems. In fact the results were surprisingly good as you'll see towards the end of the video.

If you have no interest in continuous lighting but do want some general lighting tips and techniques, feel free to jump past the first three minutes of the video.

The lighting set up I show in the video is often called beauty lighting and consists of a main light above the model and fill light (or reflector) below the model and a hair light behind the model. It's a very simple and effective lighting set up that I use a lot in the studio.

Disclaimer: the video above was commissioned by www.smick.co.uk and other companies produce similar products.

So am I going to ditch flash and move to continuous lights? No. The pictures were good and the results were predictable (what you see is what you get) but all that light was a bit to blinding for the model.

Windows 7 and RAW images

2010-02-24T07:38:00.003Z

Regular blog readers will know that due to unforeseen circumstances I recently found myself without my main PC. If you missed what happened, jump back a few posts. In the end I decided to replace rather then repair and jumped on the Windows 7 band wagon with a shiny new PC.

Like Vista (and XP) Windows 7 comes in both 32bit and 64bit version. But unlike Vista (and XP) the 64bit version of Windows 7 is well supported by software and hardware companies. The upshot was, all my hardware worked without a problem and almost all of my software reinstalled without complaining.

I say almost, because there were one or two problems which needed an extra download from the internet, but nothing to worry about.

However, I hit a major hurdle when it came to RAW files. I like to use Windows to view thumbnails of my images and in Windows 7 I could see JPG’s but not RAW thumbnails. Yes I could’ve use Bridge, but Windows is always there and really easy to use.

Previously I’ve blogged about installing RAW codecs from both Canon and Nikon to view enable RAW thumbnails viewing in Windows, so I downloaded the latest versions and rebooted the PC. Nothing happened. So I tried again, but still I couldn’t see the thumbnails.

It turns out both Canon and Nikons RAW codecs are for 32 bit operation systems only. How frustrating!

A search on Google pointed me to a tiny little program called “Fast Picture Viewer” which claims to provide a free RAW codec for almost all camera models. I have to admit I didn’t believe that it would work, especially as it was a 3mb in size compared to Canons 60mb file. But needs must, so I gave it a try.

Wham! As soon as I installed the software it worked. Amazing!

Now all I need is a PSD file viewer for Windows 7 64 bit and I’ll be a very happy bunny.

7 Theatre photography tips.

2010-02-21T13:53:00.013Z

Photography is all about light. So how do you cope when you’re asked to photograph in almost total darkness, when you have to freeze moving subjects, where flash is banned and you've only get one chance to bag the best photos? Welcome to the world of theatre photography.

I’ve been lucky enough to be the official photographer on many drama and dance productions. Over the past few years I’ve learned the hard way exactly what works and what doesn’t. So here are my top seven theatre photography tips.

1) Preparation
Before you leave home you need to be prepared for the task ahead. First there’s the obvious stuff. Pack lots of empty memory cards, a couple of extra batteries and a back up camera, just in case. The next thing to get ready is you. Wearing black will help to blend into the shadows, comfortable and quiet shoes are also a must. Finally pack food and drink; you may be in for a long day.

2) Theatre etiquette
Weeks or months of rehersals and planning will have been put into the preparation for the show, so be under no illusion that you, as a photographer, are not going to get any special attention. In fact you might well be the cause of problems. So, find the director or stage manager and introduce yourself. Ask about the “house rules” e.g. can you move around during the performance? If you can, always photograph the dress rehearsal (know as a technical rehearsal) rather then the actual performance.

3) Flash or no flash.
The light levels are going to be very low, so it's very tempting to use flash. But the golden rule is, during the performance, absolutely no flash… ever!

Two reasons for that. One, it’s very off putting to the actors and two, you’ll end up with really horrible pictures. The lighting crew have spent time and money creating atmosphere with their lights and it’s your job to capture that atmosphere.

4) Lens choice
Fast glass is the name of the game. Fast glass is lenses that have a wide aperture. f4 is OK but f2.8 is better. Image stabilising lenses can help with camera shake, but motion blur is the biggest problem. When you get shutter speeds of 1/100th second or below you can expect to get motion blur on the hands and feet of the actors. Predicting when the actors are going to move is a skill you'll learn very quickly.

5) Camera settings
I always shoot in Aperture Priority mode and open the aperture as wide as possible. I’ll keep an eye on the shutter speed and will stop down whenever I get the chance. ISO is often on max (1600 iso on my Canons) and I record in RAW of course. Theatre lighting can be a mixed bag, so RAW allows me to correct the white balance back home.

6) Shooting position.
I always shoot with two or three cameras. The first camera is set on a tripod in the centre of the theatre just higher then the stage and is opperated by my assistant, Sam. She takes small group shots, whilst I move around close to the stage to take the close ups. I also have a third camera fitted with a wide angle lens to cover the whole stage. This is connected to a time-lapse trigger and takes a picture every 15 seconds. You can see the results below .

7) And finally…
Over shoot. Expect one in five shots to be sharp and perhaps only half of those to be good photographs. You may well do better then that, but it’s far better to have two many pictures then to few.

Have a "comfort break" before you start. Dress rehearsals can go on and on and you don’t want to be nipping off to the loo half way through!

Back up your images as soon as possible, the unthinkable can strike at any time!

Lastly, have fun. Theatre photography is fantastic fun and a real challenge to even the most seasoned professional. Embrace that challenge and you’ll come away with some amazing images.

Don't look down!

2010-02-21T09:09:00.004Z

You get to go to some pretty strange places in the name of photography and today is no exception.

A local junior amature dramatics society has put on a production of "Alice in Wonderland" and once again, I'm the official photographer. I've been lucky enough to photograph a number of theatre productions over the past few years, several of which have been in the same theatre. That's given me the opportunity to get to know many of the hard working backroom boys (and girls) and it was that connection that got me a very unusual invite.

If you've ever been to a theatre and looked up at the lights you may have spotted the lighting gallery. It's a small walkway which gives access to the lights and is where the spotlight operators sit and work during the performance. For one performance only it was permitted to use it as a photo platform.

As you can see from this wide shot (taken just for this post), it's a good job I don't have a fear of heights! That said I was really aware of making sure I didn't drop anything. I took off the lens hood (just in case), I strapped my camera bag to a railing. I even wore my camera strap round my neck and that's something I NEVER ever do normally.

The initial results look great. The elevated position really shows off the lighting effects and will compliment the more traditionally shot (stage height) photos I took during the dress rehearsal.

In the next post I'll share with you a few more images and give you some top theatre photography tips.

The lesson of the past 10 days is….

2010-02-15T14:53:00.002Z

The blog has been strangely quiet over the past 10 days or so. Thank you to everyone who got in contact to make sure I’m OK. You’ll be pleased to hear I’m fine and no I’ve not been off on some exotic holiday or struck down with a terrible illness.

No, the lack of posting has been caused by the utter chaos caused by the sudden and unexpected failure of my PC’s main hard drive.

Now I know what you’re thinking. A professional photographer like Gavin would have everything backed up just in case. Well you’re right, I have every wedding, studio shoot, training article and video I’ve every made safely backed up, but there’s a lot more on my PC then just photos.

Emails, correspondence, passwords, stationary, work in progress, internet favourites and mp3’s are just some of the day to day items that I never thought of backing up. Replacing them is taking forever!

So what is the lesson of the past 10 days?

B A C K U P !

Normal blogging will resume later this week.

Gavin.

360 panoramas in Photoshop?

2010-02-05T18:32:00.014Z

In the last post I talked about how amazingly quick and simple it is to make a panoramic inside of Photoshop. Photomerge has become increasing clever at seamlessly joining overlapping images together, but it does have it's limitations.

First off, if you're using Photoshop CS3 you're limited to a panoramic that covers a field of view that's roughly 180 degrees. That's pretty wide, but Photoshop CS4 can manage an eye spinning 360 degrees.

There's other differences too. For example Photoshop CS4 can join a multi row panorama and even a vertical pano. Photoshop CS3 can't do either of those, although a quick cheat for vertical panos is to rotate the images and trick Photoshop into thinking it's a horizontal image. Just remember to rote the final image back to vertical.

The other major difference between Photomerge in CS3 and CS4 is how wide a lens you can use. I found CS3 was OK with lenses going down to 24mm (on a APS-C camera) but struggled with anything wider. In Photoshop CS4 we have a Geometric Distortion Correction option which allows the use of super wide optics and even fish eye lenses.

So in theory Photoshop CS4 is capable of stitching a full (spherical) 360 degree panoramic. But does it work?

Actually, no. Well ok it does work, but when it comes to full panoramics shot with a 10mm wide angle lens, it's far from perfect.

Have a look at this panoramic I shot today. It's a full 360 pano, so that's everything I could see in front, behind, above and below. 17 images were needed to complete the image.

Click to enlarge

Look closely. Can you see the joins? I'm pretty sure you won't find any. Mind you I didn't use Photoshop, I used Autodesk Stitcher, a purpose built panoramic stitching program.

The location is stunningly peaceful Worth Abbey in Sussex, England and I was lucky enough to be allowed in to take a number of interactive panoramics. Why are they interactive? Well download my virtual reality tour (4mb) to see. Just drag your mouse over the Quicktime "movie" to see exactly what I saw. including the top of my tripod!

Here's the link: http://www.gavtrain.com/free/worth-abbey-VRtour.mov

By the way, vrtual tour images is just one of the services offered as part of my Photography Services. See http://www.gavinphoto.co.uk/

Preaching to the converted

2010-02-02T09:37:00.010Z

Wow, doesn’t time rocket past when you’re busy and last week was one of those times. I get to many enjoyable things as a photographer and sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m actually at work. One of the things I enjoy is giving talks to camera clubs and photographic societies all over the UK.

My diary for camera club talks is booking well into 2011, which is great. Usually I try to keep the talks down to a few each month, but last week I presented three lectures in seven days.

Until now, all my talks have been based around Photoshop tutorials. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy teaching Photoshop and they’ve always been hugely popular. But to keep things fresh and exciting for the audience (and for me) I’ve been looking for ways to spice things up a little.

So recently I’ve introduced some live photography to each lecture. The plan is to have some sort of “shoot it, Photoshop it” talk ready for 2011, but because live photography is something of a rarity in UK camera clubs I thought I’d better test drive the theory first.

But what do you photograph at night in front of an audience made up of other photographers? After a bit of head scratching I figured out that the simplest and most interesting thing I could photograph was the audience.

What you see in the picture above is a panoramic image of the members of Horley Camera Club. It's made up of four images stiched together.

How to take a pano
If you’ve never taken a pano before, the technique couldn't be simpler. The first thing to check is your software. If you’re using Photoshop CS4 or CS3 then you’re in luck as it features the newest version of Photomerge. Similarly, users of Elements 6, 7 & 8 are equally blessed with the panoramic stitching power of Photomerge, although it has a few less features.

The next thing to do is take a series of images. For these shots I used my Canon 24-105L lens at its 24mm setting. I cranked up the ISO to 1600 to avoid the use of flash and overlap each image by roughly 30% to ensure a good stitch.

How to stitch a pano
Open all the Images in Photoshop and click File – Automate – Photomerge (Elements users click File – New – Photomerge Panorama)

Use the Auto setting and click the Add Open Files button. Click OK and wait for a few minutes as Photomerge does it’s thing.

It’s that simple.

One quick tip. If you’re pano gets the bow tie effect, meaning it’s stretched out at the corners, restitch it with Geometric Distortion Correction turned on (not available in Elements).

Here’s a the pano’s from the other two clubs.

Gravesend

West Malling

One final tip. If you’re coming to one of my talks, dress smart, sit up and smile!

Freezing motion in the studio

2010-01-24T22:02:00.003Z

On the whole studio lights are the best choice when it comes to studio work, but there is one occasion when a speedlite is a much better choice then a studio head. If you want to freeze a moving subject you need a speedlite and a little strobist know how.

First thing that springs to mind when I talk about freezing action is shutter speed. To be honest you’d normally be absolutely spot on, but there’s one very important thing you really need to know about shutter speed and flash.

Every heard the term “sync speed”? It’s the fastest shutter speed your camera can handle where the shutter is open long enough to expose the whole sensor to the flash of light. It’s most likely to be 1/125th 1/200th or even 1/250th second at the most. Go faster then that and you’ll get a horrible black strip over the image. To put it another way, in the studio setting a faster shutter speed isn’t the answer.

So how do you freeze action? Simple, make the burst of light last for less time.

A burst of light from a typical studio flash head will last for around 1/500th second. It’s called the flash duration and you can think of it as the effective shutter speed. 1/500th sec is pretty fast, but that’s a walk in the park for a speedlite which can reach easily speeds of 1/8000th second or faster.

As you’ll see in the video below a speedlite is easily fast enough to freeze my daughter bouncing on a mini trampoline.

As is often the case there was a lot more I could have shown you in the video, so here’s some extra content for my blog readers…

So you’re probably thinking there must be a down side, and you’d be right. First the speedlite isn’t as powerful as a studio flash head, so I increased the iso to 400 to compensate a little. The second problem is the speedlite takes a while to get up to full power which meant several missed shots.

In the studio I use multiple lights to achieve the look I want, but as I only have a couple of speedlites I had to be a bit more careful about where they were placed. The main light was put in a Lastolite ezybox at 45 degrees to the model. To fill in the shadows I placed a large white reflector on the opposite side.

The Pocket Wizard radio flasg triggers are amazing devices allowing you to maintain full E-TTL even off camera. The practical up shot of that is you can forget about setting the flash strength and concentrate on the other stuff, like focus, posing and aperture.

You’ll probably have noticed that I used a second speedlite to light the white background. Although I could have also set that to E-TTL control, experience has taught me that the white background fools the system. So I set the second speedlite to manual and dialled in 1/8th power. I also deployed the flash diffuser to give a big spread of light.

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Me, me, me.

2010-01-13T19:27:00.005Z

Don't be fooled by the title, this it's one of those "I'm better then you" blog posts. Instead it's an answer to a question from a message I received from a blog reader (yes, I do read EVERY email and message you send).

The question went something like this... I want to take a self portrait like one I've seen somewhere on the internet.

Ok so far, surfing the web is a great way to get ideas and inspiration. The image I was directed to was an excellent image which featured a guy on a skateboard, but unusually it looked like the guy has skating with half a dozen identical twins.

As I can't skate, here's my interpretation of the image.

You can see abigger version on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin/4272359952/

So how's it done, your asking? Well here's your answer, complete with live action video showing all the studio work and that's followed by the complete Photoshop technique.

Busy week on the net

2010-01-06T22:58:00.004Z

The new years barely a week old but already things are getting busy. As well as creating a couple of new videos for my blog, I've been working on content for a few other websites.

Lighting tutorial
Over on the smick website I've just completed a video tutorial on studio lighting effects which you can view here. Although the tutorial ,covers video lighting the set up is essentially the same one I use in the studio for portrait photography.

Translated tutorials
At the end of last year I was contacted by Dennis Vermaut who has spent hours and hours translating many of my tutorials in to dutch. I'm really amazed at his dedication. Thank you Dennis. Here's a full list of tutorials and links.
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=91 ==> Waterdrops
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=94 ==> Smoke
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=95 ==> Waterbottle
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=96 ==> Mirror 3D box
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=97 ==> HDR
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=98 ==> Rain
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=99 ==> James Bond
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=100 ==> Zip open an apple
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=101 ==> Fog
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=102 ==> Image by text
http://www.eleanorcomputing.be/index.php?p=blog&blog=103 ==> Extract filter

Tip Squirrel - Guest Blog
Last but not least today my guest blog post for the tip squirell website goes live. The subject was mine to select and I opted for sharpening in camera RAW. The post has plenty of written content as well as a exclusive video tutorial. To view the post and the video click here

Well that's about it for now. If you're in the UK I hope you're making the most of the snow which still looks fantastic (if a little cold).

How to take amazing photos in the snow

2010-01-06T19:27:00.008Z

Anyone who lives in the UK will be all too aware that this winter is unusually cold. Snow isn't a rare round these parts but this year has started with an unusually large downfall which has made everywhere look like a winter wonderland.

Of course, no self respecting photographer can resist the temptation of taking snow photos so to help you get decent photos here's a short tutorial on snow photography.

As always I'm not simply making videos for the sake of it, I'm also out taking photos for myself. You can view the photos seen in the video on my flickr page

Here's one of favourite form the day. It's a panoramic made from 6 images. I think this would make an amazing canvas print. 6 images joined together makes for a pretty big image, in fact it can be printed 130cm wide without interpellation.

Click the photo to enlarge

Of course I'm well aware the whole world isn't in the grip of winter and according to Gym, one of my readers in Australia, he's never actually seen real snow!

Bath Abbey - 15 Minute Photo Challenge

2009-12-28T22:32:00.002Z

As promised here is the 15 minute photo challenge recorded around Bath Abbey. But as a special thank you to my blog readers this video is an extended version of the one on my YouTube channel.

If you'd like a clear look at many of the photos in the video, then my Flickr page is the place to go. Here's the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/photogavin

Coming soon... Bath Abbey

2009-12-24T09:19:00.007Z

I'm getting a lot of positive feedback about the 15 minute photo challenges and many emails and messages asking for more. That's great news for me, because I really enjoy making them and the results are often some of my favourite photos.

The plan for 2010 is to record a lot more live action photography tutorials and that will include more 15 minute photo challenges as well. I hope to run these along side the Photoshop tutorials that I'm known for. At the moment I'm on the hunt for more great photo locations, so if you have any suggestions, contacts or advice I'm all ears.

Last week my family battled our way through the snowy weather for a short break in the roman city of Bath. I've been there before and knew it would make a great spot for a 15 minute Photo challenge. The weather was freezing cold, so I needed the challenge to make me go out and take some photos and I'm really pleased that I did.

15 minutes it's long when your brain is focused on finding photos, so I stuck to the tourist area around Bath Abbey. That worked out well and provided loads of great photos. I was really hoping to record a second 15 minute photo challenge inside the Abbey, but sadly the Abbey was closed. Next time I'll plan ahead...

If you want to visit Bath Abbey have a look at their website which also has the opening times.

Whilst I'm busy editing the video footage I thought you might like a sneak preview of some of the photos that resulted from the challenge. As always, these are the actual images taken during the filming and no more the 60 minutes was spent in Photoshop making any adjustments.

In total there are around 20 good pictures, here are my favourite 6.

Click the images to enlarge.

Kinetic Photography

2009-12-18T21:32:00.005Z

Photography is like fashion, some styles and techniques rise in popularity whilst previously popular techniques fade into the past. I've seen happen time and again over the 20 years or so I've been an active photographer.

A great example of the ebb and flow in photography is black and white prints. In my early days "real" photographers had a darkroom and no one made colour prints. OK, there were a few people, me included, who did colour printing, but colour prints were the reserve of amateurs.

Of course the reality was that colour printing was far more complicated and expensive then black and white, so when easy digital inkjet prints came along everyone jumped to colour. A few years passed and suddenly colour prints were boring, ordinary and mundane. Suddenly black and white prints looked different, new and creative.

It's a funny old world.

So what has all that got to do with kinetic photography? Well, kinetic photography has never been, and probably never will hit the mainstream and that makes an interesting area to explore without fear that the results will look old and tired in a few years time.

So what is it? It's abstract art taken with your camera. It's more Tate Modern then The National Gallery and I'd love to make it into a large canvas print form my office wall.

But there's a twist. At the moment the image was taken the camera was moving through the air. Yes you read that right, the camera wasn't being held by me or a tripod, but falling to the ground.

No I can be mad, but I'm not stupid and the camera survived without a scratch. So here's how it's done.

The image is a photo of my TV which wasn't tuned to a channel. The camera (a Pentax Optio A20) was set to self timer and as the count down reached 1 second I tossed the camera a few inches in the air. It landed on a large beanbag safe and sound.

As a disclaimer, don't try this with a camera you really love. It could easily go wrong and result in a broken camera.

If you want to see more kinetic photography images there's a great group on Flickr. Here's the link.

Your text is on fire - video tutorial

2009-12-16T19:29:00.007Z

Burning text effects are big news in the media and advertising worlds. You're probably seen the effect before and wondered how it's done. Well it's not to difficult but only if you have some decent images to work with.

Let's start with the texture. From the 100's of textures I've got of file, very few gave the right effect. So exclusively for the readers of my blog here is my texture image as used in the tutorial.

Click the image to open the full sized version.

The second image is a touch more tricky. First, don't try photographing this at home kids, you might end up with burn or worst a burnt camera!!!

Of course there are ways of faking fire in photoshop, but you just can't beat a proper fire photo.

Once again, click the image for the full sized version.

As always, your free to use the images for personal use, but don't pass them on and sorry, no commercial use without written permission. Enjoy.

By the way this video was made for a photoshop competition run by the NAPP entitled "So you think you can teach Photoshop". Unfortunately I didn't win, in fact I didn't even get a runners up spot. So, if you would like to watch some videos from people who apparently can teach Photoshop have a look at some of the other videos entried.

3 for 2 offers

2009-12-13T09:17:00.007Z

The past week has been a really busy one and that has stopped me blogging. Sorry. My website www.gavtrain.com has finally been completely reworked and now sports a very neat shopping cart. Hopefully you won't be able to spot the changes as it all happened behind the scenes.

The new cart has a number of improvements over the old system, including the ability to buy with a credit card (including American Express), which means you no longer have to sign up to PayPal or Google to buy from me. Best of all, it's now possible to order multiple Training DVD's in a single transaction, a feature that lots of my customers have been waiting for.

To really give the new site a work out, I'm running a special offer. When you buy Totally RAW and Photoshop Layers you'll get The Best of YouTube vol.2 absolutely FREE. That's more the five hours of Photoshop tutorials!

Here's a link to the special offer page

If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a photographer then these might just be the answer to your dreams. But remember the last day for UK orders on "standard deliver" is this Thursday (17th December).

Continuous vs Flash, which lights are best.

2009-12-01T19:09:00.010Z

When it comes to choosing studio lighting there are many choices open to a photographer. Let's kick off with the obvious things, like which manufacturer do you choose, how many lights will you need and finally, should you buy flash or continuous lighting?

The first two have always seemed to be a very personal choice. There are lots of excellent brands around. I use Elinchrom in my studio and have been very happy with the results, but a good friend of mine swears his Bowens lights are superior. One thing we both agree on is the need for at least two (or better still four) lights as a minimum.

The last point has always been a "no brainer". For me flash has always beaten continuous lighting for three reasons.
1 Flash is far brighter then continuous lighting.
2 Flash doesn't make a models pupils go really small.
3 Flash is far less hot for the model.

But recently I had a chance to try some of the modern alternatives to traditional tungsten continuous lights. They’re based on low energy fluorescent bulbs and the results really surprised me. Let’s look at those three points again.

1 Flash is far brighter then continuous lighting.
Well this is still true. I used a twin continuous light kit which punched out 1000w of light each. Even with the lights very close to the subject and using a nice wide aperture, I was getting shutter speeds of 1/60th sec at ISO100.

2 Flash doesn't make a models pupils go really small.
No change here. Not surprisingly 2000w of light in your face will always cause your pupils to shirk right down..

3 Flash is far less hot for the model.
Not with the modern fluorescent bulbs. These things produce more light then heat. Yes they get warm, but no more then the modelling lamps on my flash heads. Plus they're daylight colour balanced, so no strange colour problems.

Another thing to consider is the size of these modern fluorescent bulbs. They range from big to huge. To give you some idea, have a look at this image.

To give you a guide, the 20w bulb is from my office light and pushes out the equivalent of 100w. The 50w bulb produces the equivalent of 250w and the massive 105w bulb punches out just over 500w of light. Wow!

So, on to the big questions.

Would I still recommend flash over continuous? Yes (see below for exceptions), flash still wins in my opinion. Whilst the new bread of continuous lights are a vast improvement over the hot tungsten lights of my youth, they still have some issues to resolve.

Why did I buy continuous lights? In a word, video. I'm spending more time producing video content for a number of different companies and I need some better lights. So, if like me, you’re thinking about combining video and stills photography continuous lighting make total sense.

Will I be using continuous for still photography? Yes. Despite all I've said there's still one big advantage to continuous lights. What you see is what you get. So for product photography where shutter speed isn't an issue, they're amazingly good. I'm also planning to try them in my next photo session when I want to very shallow depth of field. I’ll let you know the results.

For more details on continuous lights check out http://www.fjwestcott.com/ (North Amarica) or http://www.smick.co.uk/ (UK)

Selective colour inside Adobe Camera RAW

2009-11-26T21:24:00.003Z

My last 15 minute photo challenge seems to have hit a chord with many people and I'm not totally sure why that is. I think it has something to do with being shot in a typical tourist shopping town, the kind of place so many of us visit on our annual summer holiday and the kind of place most people overlook as being a "photographic" hot spot. It's also created a steady flow of questions, the top three I'll try and answer here:

No 3. Did you get flown out to Sicily just for the photo challenge?
I wish! No, I was on a much deserved family holiday, but for me a holiday isn't a holiday unless I get time to take some photos. Photography is my job, but it's also my hobby.

No 2. Did you REALLY take all those pictures in 15 Minutes?
The whole point of the 15 minute photo challenges is to show that great photos are all around us and equipment, location and available time are not barriers to photography. I really believe it's possible to take great photos anytime, anywhere and I absolutely love putting that theory into practice.

Having said that THIS challenge was so much fun I over ran a little, so technically it show be called "The 20 minute photo challenge". In fact if it wasn't for the lure of a pizzeria, I'd have stayed there all night (or until I ran out of memory cards)

No 1. Yes but you then spent hours working the pictures through Photoshop, right?
Well actually no. I took about 150 photos during the photo challenge, so I got home I picked out the best dozen or so. I then ran them through Adobe Camera RAW giving them all a similar high contrast feel. The whole thing took about an hour.

To demonstrate how this is possible I put together this short video. Enjoy

Product Photography & bonus video

2009-11-23T20:58:00.005Z

Regular blog readers will be aware that I produce training videos for a few photographic companies. One of my regular gigs is with http://www.smick.co.uk/ who are a UK based independent distributor of studio equipment.

A few weeks ago I visited their warehouse which is an Aladdin’s cave of studio goodies. The best thing for me was being able to actually see many of the items I have on my wish list at first hand. That's also purpose of making the videos; you get to see the kit being used for real photography.

This week I got my hands on the tabletop lighting kit which is geared towards product photography. The lights are of the “continuous” variety rather then the flash lights I’m more used to. For anyone who remembers the days when continuous lighting meant hot lights, these new low voltage bulbs are amazing. Firstly they're cool to the touch, but they also use far less power. For example the 105w bulbs I was using pumps out 500w of light, which is amazingly bright.

You can see the live action at the end of this post, but because this blog is all about training, here's a bonus video. After you've taken your product photo you may need to extend the background. I that happens here's a quick Photoshop technique which can help.

So here's the live action video. As well as going over the equipment, I also provide a whole bunch of photographic advice on photographing against a white background. The same advice applies to portrait photographers as well as product photographer. Enjoy.

15 minute photo challenge - Taormina, Sicily

2009-11-13T20:43:00.003Z

It's been a while since I've added a new 15 minute photo challenge video to the blog, so I'm really pleased to correct that today.

If you've not seen one of these challenges before, here's how it works.

The theory goes something like this. I believe the quality of photographs you take isn't directly related to what camera or lens you own. Sure those are important, but a good photographer can take good photos with any camera you give them, just look at the iPhone gallery by Chase Jarvis to see what I mean.

So in that vain, earlier this year I set myself a personal photography challenge. Go somewhere I've never previously visited, take a "budget" DSLR camera fitted with a cheap 50mm fixed focal length lens and spend just 15 minutes photographing what I see. The results are run through Photoshop where once again I spend as short a time as possible which usually means less then 45 minutes.

In this 15 minute photo challenge I visited at beautiful town of Taormina in Sicily where I walked from one end of the main tourist shopping street to the other stopping only to take photographs.

I hope you enjoybthe results half as much as I enjoyed taking them