Water in Photoworld - Update

Back in January I posted that I had an illustrated article about photographing water published in Photoworld. Well, that issue of Photoworld is now available online. So you can read my article here!

Happy reading. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Opportunities

Some of you may remember that last summer, one of my images was misused on a teenager's social networking page. The matter was resolved in the end and the image was removed from his site. As I have mentioned before in my blog, not only am I a photographer, but a writer too. This incident gave me the idea to write a couple of articles for publication. I used different angles for different markets. I am pleased to say that I have now made far more by writing about the incident than I ever would have done in fees for licencing the image. The trick was to turn a mishap into an opportunity. It also inspired me to make the image above which I hope will be successful as stock. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Here's Looking at you Kid

Another photo for my series on waste. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Setting the Right Tone

I am lucky enough to live in a town with a lot of listed buildings. It does have a great deal of character and the centre of the town still follows the medieval street pattern of narrow streets winding their way up the hills away from the market place that is next to the river. Not surprisingly, like every other town in the country, there are areas that are not quite so picturesque. This post is about a set of images that I have made of one of these areas. It shows a footpath that leads up a fairly steep slope. Unfortunately the path is surfaced in an ugly patchwork of concrete. There is also an unsightly hand-rail that runs up the centre of the path. If this was closer to the heart of the town this street nightmare would not exist. It would be paved or cobbled with a wrought iron rail or two.

The first picture, at the top of this post, shows a colour image of the scene. It is in fact a blend of two images, one exposed for the sky and one for the foreground.

The next version is a black and white rendering of the same picture. I created this version using the Channel Mixer in Photoshop which allows you a lot of control of how the scene is rendered.

The final version - the finished photograph - is how I previsualised the scene. I have toned the black and white version to give a sepia look to add to the feeling of desolation and decay.

 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Making Music

Those of you who have been reading this blog for while will know about my 'Making Music' series of images. Well, finally I have a selection of images form this series on the site. The 'Making Music' gallery is here!

Making music is dynamic. Music does not exist in a moment in time, it exists through time. This series of photographs captures the dynamic process of making music. The photograph above shows a bodhran which is an Irish hand drum.

 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Which Camera?

Once friends and colleagues get to know that you can take half decent photographs, they start asking you about what you use. An old favourite used to be, 'What film do you use?' as if changing the film that they used would make all the difference to their pictures. It was a bit like asking a painter which brushes he used. The question misses the point by a mile.

One of the most frustrating things about photography forums is the constant, 'My camera is better than yours,' nonsense. To be honest, if you buy a camera from a decent maker, you are going to have a decent camera.

Anyway, cameras are not good in all situations. Like many things in life, camera choice is a compromise. In some situations a 10x8 view camera is probably still the best choice, in others, a camera phone is perfectly fine. And of course for most photo opportunities neither of these is appropriate.

Most enthusiasts and professional shooters choose a DSLR. The image quality they produce is very good and they are also very versatile. With the correct lens you can take shots of the head of a wasp or the craters on the Moon - or anything in between. Having said that, a DSLR with a collection of lenses and other accessories can be a pain to carry around. If you haven't got the right lens with you then shot is lost.

Another choice is a digital compact. These cover a very wide range from high quality products that will shoot RAW and produce images suitable for stock agencies to cameras only suitable for happy snaps - which is just what many people want.

The choice that you make has to be a personal one. The best thing to do is first decide what sort of images you want to take with the camera and then go from there. Also, will you be going out to make photos or will the photos be incidental to other pursuits. When you have answered these questions you can start to make a choice. It is only then that brand decisions should be even considered. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Food for Thought

Some of you may know that I enjoy taking photos of food. Setting up the lighting for the shot above was a little tricky. The main light is from the right with a white reflector to fill in the shadows. I also used a piece of card to stop the base from being illuminated. I recently bought a handheld lightmeter from ebay - at a very good price - and this was useful in establishing the exposure. I'm sure it will get a lot of use in the future. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-8 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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