Dr Evil eat your heart out

I have quite a few nieces and nephews. However as a few of them are now firmly in their teenage years the opportunities to buy "fun stuff" are gradually diminishing as no longer are things like colouring pencils or lego high up on the list. Rather it's now vouchers or money to go towards whatever is the latest technological must have.

Wow, I sound old.

Anyway, I decided that I would still indulge myself this year and rather then getting them vouchers or money, I would see if my "cool uncle" powers still worked and get them something they weren't expecting. In the case of one of my nephews I got him a plasma ball, which not only made sure I retained my title of being "cool" but after watching him play with it for a few moments in a darkened dining room, it also gave me inspiration for a quick set of photos unlike anything I had taken before. 

 I started in AV mode but found I wasn't having much luck. I realised that I would need to switch to TV. However with a darkened room, I had no idea what to start on or the best speed. So I simply followed a sound principle that any photographer will employ at somepoint.

 I guessed.

 I also tried some shots using + exposure compensation but curiously enough it seemed to have very little effect.

 For most of the speed I was set around 1/60-1/80. Any higher then that the picture started getting noticeably darker and I was missing capturing the dance of the lights.

Any slower was getting noticeable camera shake and blurring.

Still for a spur of the moment series of photos, they came out fantastically and are certainly a very different addition to my portfolio.

That old double edged sword

Taking photos is perhaps easier now then anytime since photography was invented (must really look up when that was, now that I think about it :-) I mean you could take a picture right now if you had your camera in front of you by just pushing it's big ole button. Of course you would probably only end up with a picture of the wall, your desk or in fact yourself. But you get my drift.

To take a great photograph you need inspiration and one of the best places to get that can be by looking at the work of others.

Of course doing this can lead to you facing the biggest double edged sword in photography. Or the " oh my goodness I can never do that!" moment as I've sometimes called it. Not to anyone mind you but sometimes mentally. But I digress ( and possibly indicate I need to get out a lot more too) 

For example I know several people on facebook who are either "proper" photographers or do photography as a second form of income after their day job.  When I first started looking at their work after I had gotten my first DSLR I found myself somewhat depressed as looking at their work, which to my eyes seemed magazine worthy, I found myself thinking I would never measure up.

However after getting a lot of practical experience under my belt it made me realise ( and not to sound too immodest here) that I could compete with them. Sure in some areas I still can't ( studio experience is still woefully lacking but c'est la vie).

So confidence is just as important as knowing which buttons to push.

Another important lesson is not to accept things on face value as it were. I met one guy who loudly proclaimed his many, many years of experience as a photographer etc, etc, and his grasp of photographic theory was well in advance of mine, leaving me somewhat intimidated. Until I saw his style at least, the theoretical had not come through with the practical. Now to be fair some people might have liked his style but I would tend to assume most people prefer photographs that aren't so over edited and colour boosted that they give you a headache.

So if you are looking at another photographers work remember their style is going to be different from you and their experience will be as well. This was best summed up at a recent course I went on. Five people taking pictures of the same model, all turned out very different. You need to focus on why you are looking at their work to begin with. You're looking for inspiration. 

Take this photo below of Felicia Day, the actress. 

Now, I don't have a internationally known actress, that many bookcases, studio lighting or even a cool ladder, so what inspiration can I draw from this?

Simple really. The books provide a simple and very different backdrop, once we could easily be recreated using a single large bookcase and getting close into the model. Now, I have no studio lighting, but a bookcase next to a window would add a similar effect, getting a model with a glasses and book holding a similar pose gazing out of the window and convert it into monochrome would give a similar look but a very different effect. It would be even better if the book was a Jane Austin as we would instantly get a beautiful lady waiting for her Mr Darcy.

Of course all I would need is a model but then that's a common problem for a lot of photographers.

So, to sum up if your looking at someone else's work for inspiration, don't get hung up on trying to match it exactly as let's face it, the world would be very boring if all photographs were the same. Focus on it's strengths as you will be surprised as to what it could inspire you to do.

Later Folks

the best laid plans of mice and men ( and photographers too)

The only plan is there is only no plan,

The road to hell is paved with good intentions,

Plan for defeat and expect victory,

Proper planning and preparation prevent .....

Well you get the idea.

If there's one thing I have learned over the past couple of years it's that no matter how good my plan, sometimes things are just not going to work out and sometimes you grand plans are going to still remain grand but unfortunately unrealised.

For example after reading a photography magazine on the way up to visit my sister and her brood ( don't worry I wasn't driving) I was inspired to try taking a series of shots involving picture frames ( and would have also involved a large amount of photoshop time but c'est la vie). I invested in two picture frames when we stopped at a shop and was all ready to go.

Unfortunately time, tide, weather and a birthday party all conspired against me and this picture frames are still sitting in their wrapping.

This wasn't the first time mind you, my first offer of paid work would have been photographing a family get together with siblings now spread across three different continents. However as it turned out near enough 2 thirds of the family came down with food poisoning and the get together was postponed until during the week when I was working my day job!

D'oh!

Then at work, I discovered there was a "picture of the week " competition for the company worldwide. I took several pictures after much careful planning.

As it turned out the one that was chosen ended up being a very quick snap taken using my camera phone which I had only submitted to make up the numbers.

sigh...

However this is the thing with photography, if I had gotten disheartened by a failure of some plans and bad photos, my first dslr would have quickly disappeared back into it's box and joined a few things buried deep at the back of a forgotten cupboard.

It's what succeeds that counts and it's the fact that I don't know it all and I can usually always find out something new when I pick up my camera whether it's a new setting or a new way of creating a effect in camera or in photoshop, which is what keeps me going.

Well that and the thought that maybe one day it could be my day job.

It could happen :-)

Later folks

Getting a Head

Photography is not a cheap hobby.

There I've said it out loud. the big dark secret of photography that everybody knows but don't realise they know until they actually get into it.

In fact when I got my first DSLR I joked that I had managed to find the only hobby that was more expensive then games workshop! Although thanks to ebay that hobby is now helping to fund my photography is some rather strange circle of life thing.

Anyway, one thing I have found is that regardless of the type of photography equipment you are buying, there is a rather large gap in the costs between the "basic" and more advanced items. Which of course leaves you with the inevitable dilemma of whether to buy a basic item now or save for a more advanced item.

I recently was due to attend a photography course and found that I would need to take a tripod, now I did have a tripod but it was quite old and although it worked it wasn't quite the image I wanted to go for attending my first course with a tripod nearly as old as me.

So I went shopping. Online shopping that is back to the same website, wex photographic where I got my 7d from. Now I had made my mind up to go for something "mid range" because if I was going to invest in a new tripod I wanted one that would last me a while. Fortunately as they have a system where you can streamline results both by price brand and customer ratings, I soon found one in my price range that seemed to have a lot of people raving.

A few clicks of the button and waiting one working day, I arrived home to find my new tripod waiting for me. After happily unwrapping it and setting it up in my bedroom ( only space we had in the house at that point thanks to decorators. Goodness knows what the neighbours were thinking), I proceeded to get out my camera to attach it to the tripod so I knew precisely how to do it for my course.

Or at least I tried to attach it to the tripod.

You see in my excitement of buying a tripod and my complete lack of experience with the latest tripods for cameras you see there was one piece of important information I had overlooked.

Most tripods now, don't come with heads, For those of you unsure what that is, it's basically the bit that you attach the camera too.

So now I had a tripod for my camera but no way to attach the camera too it.

When I mentioned this to my parents they suggested to send it back and asked if the website mentioned this. I went back to check and no it didn't mention it didn't come with a head.

But then again it didn't say that it did.

It was simply due my inexperience that I had never looked closely enough at the picture of the tripod to realise that there was no head. It also never occurred to me that tripods would ever be sold without a way to attach it to the camera.

With the course fast approaching and no time to mail order a new head, I was forced to go into Nottingham to a camera shop there to buy a head which unfortunately due to it having to be able to hold a 7d ended up costs more then 2 thirds of the cost of the tripod.

So the tripod wasn't quite in my price range as much as I thought. but at least I now had a complete tripod ready for my course.

If I had needed it mind you because as it turned out the equipment list for the course was wrong. We never needed a tripod at all.

To quote homer " D'oh!"

And I suppose it also highlights a issue buying items online, it may have cost more in a high street store but at least a staff member would have been able to tell me to get a head.

Later folks!

That there chicken and egg

Okay, so wayyy back, well not that far back but it seems like it just after I had got my canon 500D, I was deciding on how to start a portfolio/expand my bank of images as it were.

My Dog Owen, well he had proven very useful and to this day he remains the most happy of models I have "worked with" to be photographed ( if somewhat uncontrollable but that's a different story.) However I was more interested in taking pictures of people.

Now of course irony being what it was, if I had got my DLSR just a couple of years earlier I would probably have had more then enough opportunity to practise taking photos of people. However with most of my peers at church now happily married, options were not as forthcoming as I may have hoped.

So after reading just one or two ( or a lot if I'm honest) magazines I decided to follow some advice that there are several websites out there such as model mayhem where aspiring photographers, models, make up artists etc can link up as it were and use it's others skills for free ( or time for print) and help each other expand their portfolios.

Now I tried one and immediately ran into a road block as in order to join you had to have pictures of two different models. So basically a website where you were recommended to go to help expand your portfolio or even help start it, insisted you needed pictures of two different models to join.

Hmmm, seeing where the title of this blog post has come now?

It I had pictures of two different models I'm not likely to be wanting to join this website now am I?

Now admittedly, this may be intended to keep any tom, dick or harry with a camera joining the site but it does kind of create a large hurdle for anyone with genuine interest.

And before you ask, no they wouldn't accept pictures of Owen, as it was adult human models only, not dogs..... ( oohhh, gonna step away from the obvious jokes there :-)

But in hindsight this is a issue that must face every photographer when they start out. In order to create a portfolio or get work, you need to have pictures. But you're only going to get a pictures to go in your portfolio if you get work.

Talk about a catch 44 situation. (it's like a catch 22 but only twice as bad :- )

And don't even consider the issues of trying to be a wedding photographer!

It was suggested to me that I could try street photography, but I had a feeling trying to photograph random women in the street who I didn't know, was a scenario which could only end in tears.

However, maybe it was time, tide, the fates or just one of those things but I was soon presented with a opportunity to work with one model.

Still waiting on number 2 though.

Any volunteers?? :-)

Later folks

The pick of the pile 1# Jump to it

If there is one problem with digital photography ( and I hesitate to call it this mind you) it is that you don't have to be as considerate as you used to with film cameras. You can keep pressing that button and taking photos until your memory card is full and even then you can simply delete what you don't want and start again.

Now I'll freely admit that not all of my photos are perfect (far from it) but I have started to fill up my external hard drive at a rather fast pace. Which means a photo has to be something that grabs my eye before it reaches the top of the pile.

So that is all a roundabout way of saying this is a first in a series of blog posts where I will be presenting some of my best photos that have caught my eye, or other peoples eves. The first is " Jump to it".

This was one of the first occasion where the ower of my new Canon 7D met the raw energy of some of my nieces and nephews. And neither disappointed.

This guy is one of my nephews and although the picture started as all colour I decided to try colour popping using photoshop elements and this is the result. A unintentional heavy use of the burn tool created the rather dramatic sky ( it was actually quite sunny that day believe it or not). 

The 7d's fast FPS rate captured the action fantastically and it was actually this first attempt at capturing action " mid flight" after I had persuaded him to try jumping off the seat ( in my defence it didn't requite much persuading) . It was also his leap that lead to his sisters wanting a go and actually lead to my Sister and our Mum jumping off the seat as well.

Their jump was just as successful even if the landing was not. And before you ask I don't think I'll risk putting that photo up as I'm not feeling that brave! :-)

Later folks

Is technically correct always correct?

I am due to shoot a wedding next March so I am currently into the depths of some serious studying.

However one thing that has cropped up several times in many articles is that it is not always best to get photos technically correct.

Wait? What?.... I'll just say that again.

It's not always best to get photos technically correct.

Which on the face of it seems a rather bizarre statement. If you're expected to be taking high quality photos of the day, why would you not want to get crystal clear, technically perfect photos of pretty much, well everything?

Well that my friends is best summed up with one word. Atmosphere.

Take this picture for example. Taken at a birthday party using my Canon 7D, it is far from technically perfect, mainly due to me suiting in AV mode and forgetting to change the Aperture (d'oh!), so most of the photo is not as sharp as it could be.

However I like this picture because I feel it portrays the fun of the party, the action and also not least it portrays my nieces personality. AS far as she is concerned the doughnut is the only thing in her world right now ( to quote homer, mmmm Doughnuts) and she's having fun. It's also a great example of the "what happened next" . You can look at this photo and wonder, did she get the doughnut? A little? A Lot? Or did she miss it, as it swung away.

In contrast to that my Mother received "official" school photos of my niece and her Brother and Sister. Now taken using a camera that was undoubtedly full frame and shot with a full lighting kit that would make me drool with envy ( and experience that right now I don't have in studio lighting) I totally cannot argue that the photos were totally and technically correct.

But... ( and this is the big but) when it came to my nephews photo something was missing. Taken with his whole body and face flat, stiff and straight  onto the camera it reminded me more of a mug shot, but more importantly "he", as in his personality just didn't seem to be there. Not like in the photo below,

Not that I am advocating that school photos need to be taken with hanging doughnuts mind you. His Sisters photos were much better mind you, slightly tilted heads, big smiles and catch lights in the eyes, they had captured "them" even if the photos were not perfectly correct.

Now reading that I'm sure some of you are starting to wonder if I am advocating that we don't need professional photographers or it's fine not to get everything right.

But that's not what I'm saying.

I'm just trying to show that old maxim that taking a photo is easy, getting is right is hard, is a maxim for a reason. You need atmosphere in a photo to turn it from a good one into a great one.

Don't believe me? Well just consider the photos on your facebook page and the ones you look at on a regular basis and the ones that you don't ( or untag yourself in pretty quickly :-) What brings you back to them time and again?

I'm sure we both know the answer there?

Later everyone!

New Beginnings

Hello, welcome, greetings....etc, etc.

Welcome to the new blog for CJ Beaumont Photography.

The purpose of this blog is very simple. It will be a outlet for me to show off some of my latest work in photography, mention some musings and show off what I consider to be my best work.

It will also be a outlet to let people know about what I have found to work for me when it comes to photography, what wasn't as successful and what should have really stayed deep in the deepest depths of my imagination.

Please feel free to leave any comments. I'll reply to any serious or constructive feedback as soon as I can because unfortunately photography is far from being able to keep me supported alone so I have to rely on a "day job" .

Which one day I might even talk about as well.

But that's for the future. Now is a time for beginnings, so please read on!