Having lugged a portable outdoor lighting system (2 stands, umbrellas, flash lights and power) about with me over the past few weeks I have recently discovered the joys of reflected light.
What took me so long?
This week I invested in a 42″ reflector (white/silver/gold options) and yesterday got a chance to try it out.
A stroll down one of our village country lanes afforded us the opportunity of trying out this new bit of kit. It was around 7pm and the sun was just dipping behind the trees to our right. The light was being reflected back from the left on to the model’s face.
Spring Stroll
It was great fun using this bit of kit and it proved very easy to use, in fact the most difficult bit was folding it back up to put away!
So it is set to be a ‘must take’ piece of kit whenever I’m shooting on location from now on.
Collective terms are up for grabs. You won’t find any hard and fast rules about what can and cannot be a collective noun. You can basically make them up as you like.
For example; there is a ‘murder of Crows’, a ‘parliament of Rooks’ and an ‘unkindness of Ravens’. No, it’s true.
So if we can have a ‘Clutch of Car Mechanics’ and a ‘Flutter of Nuns’ what would the collective noun for photographers be? A ‘focus’? a Montage? A Composite? Or …
… stop logging in to the Forums and go and do something more productive instead!
With apologies to the TV show ‘Why don’t you…‘ that ran during my adolescent years. But it applies here; just say ‘no’ the next time your fingers twitch toward your favourite internet Forum bookmark. Think of all the things you could be doing instead.
When it comes to Photographic forums I’m guessing that they are no different to any other forum. They are populated by people who sometimes seem to spend more time typing about their enthusiasm for photography than actually practicing it.
Then there are the ‘gear head‘ sites, where people enthuse about the latest lens or camera and ask and answer countless questions about why piece of equipment ‘A’ is better than piece of equipment ‘B’. Each to their own of course, but if you are keen to progress and improve your photography then shouldn’t you be out taking photographs?
There’s a lot to be said for making sure you don’t work for nothing. And of course, there are times when you need to consider what working for ‘free’ might get you.
But watch out that somebody wasn’t taking a picture of you when you least expected it.
… safely negotiated. I don’t think people make the same effort that they used to when we were kids (you know you are getting old when you start using phrases like that). And all that the BBC could manage was the announcement of 3D Radio. Laugh? I almost started.
That 3D effect is something that we as photographers are always striving for. That special something that really lifts the image.
And any photographer worth his salt will tell you that it’s all about the light! That wonderful golden hour at the beginning and end of the day. But that one hour window at the start and end of the day isn’t really that narrow. The light an hour or so before and after can also do wonders for your photography.
Taken as the light began to fade
Of course depending on the weather conditions and the available light, capturing fast action sports can require some more dedicated equipment. The shot above was taken with a fast f2.8 telephoto lens and a camera capable of high ISO settings without introducing too much noise.
When photographing sports action it isn’t usually possible to dictate the time and place, but hanging some knowledge of the sport and the best locations on the course will pay dividends, and then it’s simply a matter of waiting for the light fantastic.
Until now I always thought of ‘blogs’ as being virtual space for people to rant, rave and generally get off their collective chests anything that was irking them. And a very small part of me believed they facilitated ‘billy no mates’ in allowing him or her to reach out to the world, and inform it with their daily diatribe, gaining some delusional satisfaction in the belief that they were indeed being ‘listened to’. What a cynic.
Ranting! It’ll get you a funny look every time!
But to move along…
This blog, this; in no way a ‘billy no mates’ blog, is designed to record my rants and raves about the world in general and the world of photography specifically. Ah, yes, the world of digital photography and digital art. I adore great art. Art, that is, that I can understand. Not the other kind; the ‘art’ that requires you to buy a book to understand what you are looking at, and that offers guidelines, in not at all a patronising manner, as to what that art should make you ‘feel’.
Personally, I like art that makes me want to look at it. If Art where an organism that needed to survive and evolve and remain competitive it would be ‘art that made you look at it’ wouldn’t it? I mean, surely it wouldn’t be that kind of Art that gets thrown in the dustbin by mistake when the cleaners come in to the gallery at night, would it?
Art that gets thrown away wouldn’t survive to pass on its genes. Darwin would not be impressed. And as we traverse the current economic ice age then there is only so much ‘real estate’ available and only the viable survive. But please no fluffy cat pictures or pictures of smiling babies wearing comedy sized hats. I think I’d sooner face extinction.
And there we go…
My very first rant. But hopefully, less ranting and more photography in future. I shall leave you with a picture of Art in motion.
