New Website

For many years now, I have hosted my website using Clikpic and I would recommend them to anyone looking for an easy way to build a site. However, I have now switched to Smugmug and my new site is live. The content hasn't changed greatly from the previous website but I am happier with the appearance and Smugmug have eliminated the issues which used to make their templates so difficult to work with. I'm happy but I will be happier still if you go and have a look.

www.landscapeandlight.co.uk

From Genesis to Revelations

A couple of things have led to this post; firstly, as you may have noticed from the last entry, I have been going through my back catalogue to see if I've overlooked any files with potential. Secondly, I've just returned from a couple of days in London where I took in Sabastiao Salgado's 'Genesis' exhibition. For this, I have to be thankful for a day of truly miserable weather; being a family outing, there is little doubt that a nice day would have meant seeing the sights. As it was, we looked for somewhere to get shelter and the Natural History Museum was my choice and not for unselfish reasons - I have long wanted to see Salgado's work in the flesh.

The exhibition was worth every penny of the £10 admission and I would urge everyone to see it although, sadly, it is only on until 8th September. We spend so much time viewing photographs on a screen these days that it is easy to forget just how much better it is to see a really well produced, large print and these were some of the finest I have ever seen - certainly some of the most impressive black and white prints. It is certainly true that Salgado has spent time in some amazing landscapes but that isn't the only reason why the prints held me spellbound.

And so it is that I have started looking specifically for images which might make a decent black and white picture. Of course, there is a world of difference between my pictures and his but maybe I can come up with something that makes a nice print of my own. I certainly realise there is a lot more work required to make a print sing the way his did but I'm going to try. The proof will be in the print.


Prints are available from my website : www.landscapeandlight.co.uk 

Featured Photograph for August

I certainly couldn't claim that this month's featured photograph is very original. Liverpool's waterfront is iconic and many people have photographed it at dusk from the Birkenhead side. Perhaps surprisingly though, this was my first attempt, exactly a year ago. J was out at a work event so I headed up to New Brighton with the intention of photographing the lighthouse (yet again) at sunset before moving on to this spot for dusk. As it turns out, that was slightly ambitious and I arrived at Woodside Ferry Terminal a little late to get the best light and I confess I was a little nervous to be standing there on my own with a bag full of expensive camera equipment. I am, however, reasonably happy with the result, especially as I hadn't bothered processing this file until just now.


Prints are available from my website : www.landscapeandlight.co.uk

Featured Photograph for July

I'm a bit late with this month's featured photograph and, as that is due to me being on holiday for the last couple of weeks, it seems only right that I should post a photograph made during that holiday. There is something of a risk in spending your main two weeks annual leave in Anglesey; I love the place and the coast is wonderful but, if the weather is bad there is not a lot to do. This wasn't going to be a problem for us as we mostly wanted to relax so, stocked up with plenty of films and books, we were set for whatever the weather threw at us. Of course, you will know by now that we were incredibly lucky and had two weeks of amazing sunshine. My legs don't often see the light of day but I wore shorts every day.

We had a fabulous break but there is something perverse about landscape photographers in that they are rarely satisfied with the conditions and such settled fair weather meant I wasn't going to get any dramatic lighting. Even so, I had established that the sun would set behind South Stack lighthouse and that is where J and I headed after a wonderful meal at the White Eagle. The image I've chosen to feature was made just after the sun had sunk behind an annoying bank of cloud on the horizon; consequently, the colours are rather muted. Compare them with the image below (the first I made that evening) where the foreground is lit with a beautiful golden light; the drawback being the unavoidable flare from shooting directly into the sun. Two quite different moods with only something like 20 minutes between them



The previous evening we watched a fascinating program about wildlife photographers in which one of them said that he was nearly driven mad by the noise he experienced during months spent with penguins and I felt I knew a little of his pain in just one evening in the company of thousands of seabirds.

Featured Photograph for June

I'm a little late posting this month's picture, largely because the last two weeks have been spent editing pictures from our latest wedding. I was tempted to use one of those pictures here; although our experience of weather for June weddings has generally been poor, this time it was a glorious day and we had some gorgeous evening sun in which to photograph the bride and groom. However, the couple have yet to see the pictures themselves and it would be wrong to post any online before they had.

The picture I have chosen is from a few years ago. It shows the sun setting over Liverpool and was taken from Frodsham Hill. It is only during the longest days that the sun sets this far round and I had been hoping to see it frame the Anglican Cathedral as it sank. I've been meaning to go back closer to the longest day to see if that does actually happen but have never had that combination of time, weather and tidal conditions necessary -for me, it is important that the foreground is broken up by the mud banks exposed by the low tide. Maybe I will have a chance yet this year.



Prints are available from my website: www.landscapeandlight.co.uk

Am I a bad person?

I have a confession to make. I have been carrying a guilty secret around with me for the past few years but I think it is time I got it out there so I can move on with my life with some degree of normality.

I don't use the histogram.

There, I've said it. I don't feel any different right now but I am almost sure it will help to have got that great weight off my shoulders. But the question remains; does this make me a bad person?

I say this because I read quite a lot about photography and it seems that every description of someone making a picture requires them to pay great attention to the histogram in order to get an accurately exposed image. I've never done this. I do refer to the histogram when applying relatively minimal tweaks during post processing but I can't recall ever having done so at the time of making the exposure.

Now, clearly, I have my tongue firmly in my cheek right now but I honestly do wonder whether I am missing a trick by ignoring what appears to be commonly held best practice for digital photography. Alternatively, is the value of doing this overstated somewhat? To answer that, I will tell you what my approach is: For general landscape photography (i.e. fairly straightforward lighting conditions), I generally use aperture priority (I can almost hear the sound of mouths dropping as I write - that is, assuming anyone ever reads this) because the aperture is typically what I need to control. If the camera is on a tripod (almost always the case for landscapes), I obviously don't care how slow the shutter speed is and I trust the very advanced metering to cope with such lighting conditions.For trickier lighting conditions (for instance, sunrise or sunset), I usually switch to using manual exposure and employ my trusty, handheld spot meter - very old school I know but also very accurate.Wedding and street photography are a different matter. I still tend to use aperture priority but if the lighting is contrasty I find it easier to switch to the highlight view on the display; this means a very quick glance at the back of the camera gives me instant feedback (in the form of flashing) of any burnt out areas and I can quickly determine whether I need to re-shoot with, maybe, some exposure compensation. I certainly don't have the time to study the histogram in such circumstances.

So, in my opinion, reviewing the histogram isn't really as crucial as some would make out. I don't even think it is necessarily the best way of checking exposure. However, everyone out there in printed media land seems to think it is crucial so perhaps it is just pure, dumb luck when I do get something correctly exposed.


Prints are available from my website : www.landscapeandlight.co.uk

Featured Photograph for May

My featured photograph this month is from May 2012. Although late May, it gives an ideal of just how late spring has been this year. Here we are in May and the blossom is only just appearing while a couple of weeks later than this last year, the laburnum was in full flower.

The photograph was taken at the Dorothy Clive garden in Staffordshire. I wrote about it at the time and don't propose to repeat myself but you can see more of it here. I do recommend you go if you enjoy peace, quiet and a beautiful garden.


Prints available from my website : www.landscapeandlight.co.uk