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Let's explore our world, savor those smells, taste those delicious foods, meet amazing people, find hidden treasures, explore cultures and smile. The focus of this Blog is Travel Writing and Travel Photography with helpful hints, tips and advice along the way.

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A camera, ideas, and warmth, a vintage day out

The UK does have a thing when it comes to collecting of vintage objects from past times, whether it is war memorabilia down at Dover Castle or works of art dotted all over the UK, there are collections everywhere. I will not say that I understand why, but I definitely enjoy photographing old objects.

Today in the UK was a snow day, the beast from the East part 2, so I decided to revisit Standen House in Sussex. On the grounds is a huge old mansion full of vintage oddities and works of art and as the temperature outside was 0 Celsius or below, I decided this day would be a good day to be inside.

The photos on this page are a wandering through the house bunch of vintage oddities I found interesting. An olde pre-war camera, old perfume bottles, an older version of headphones and a set of scales that once would have been the center of accounting in the house.

The back of the house has a conservatory, in summer this would be full of blooming flowers but in winter, just a few cacti and one huge banana plant.

The setup for the camera is shutter priority, ISO restricted to under 1600 and tripod. Quite basic really but I was paying a lot of attention to light and background.

I did walk about the garden briefly but the weather was windy and snow and very cold, which did not stop me capturing a few shots.

The upstairs of the house has bedrooms for viewing, complete as if somebody would be staying over at any time. A bit brighter than downstairs and plenty of vintage objects.

Luckily the was very quiet so I was able to pretty much go anywhere and take a photo. The next one is a cactus in the conservatory which is at the back of the house. Nice views from here, I can imagine sitting there on a lazy summers days and just sketching.

And finally, an old camera. Things have changed somewhat.

Overall it was another nice visit to Standen House. I still would recommend it, especially as spring is just about here. by the way, when the house has a moderate or more amount of visitors, they do not like tripods in the house ok.

Heres the link: Standen House

Until next time.....

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A Vintage Day Out in the UK with a Camera and Ideas.

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The South of the UK has a huge amount of places for photography from old mansion to scenic landscapes. The article focuses on the vintage items in the mansion.

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Most modern phones and cameras have this ability. A great way to bring photos to life.

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Let's explore our world, savor those smells, taste those delicious foods, meet amazing people, find hidden treasures, explore cultures and smile. The focus of this Blog is Travel Writing and Travel Photography with helpful hints, tips and advice along the way.

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HDR and Photography

Unfortunately, we live in a world of acronyms and no matter what industry we work in, they are there, and in the industry I work in, there are truly millions of them including 'HDR'. Maybe it is a method to help remember what the subject of the acronym is or maybe it is a convoluted way of the 'super clever' holding on to the illusion of 'super cleverness'. Who knows, but if you are like me, I feel the need to actually know what the letters stand for and if they apply.

Bring in 'HDR'. Without knowing what it is, or what it does, most of our smartphones have this capability and we refer to it as ' taking a nicer photo '. So let us dive into what HDR is and how we can use it.

When I take a photo, the camera looks at the shot, takes an educated guess at setting the exposure (lightness/darkness), and takes one single photo. We look at the photo and typically we will see bright areas and dark areas. For example, a landscape with a really bright sky or dull ground.

SO imagine if I could take say, three photos with different exposures. The first really dark, so the sky looks blue and clouds look white without being overexposed. The second, the balanced one, plain and no punchy colours, and the third, overexposed to bring out the mansion walls, green in the grass and the brown on the trees. The third one would give us an overexposed sky.

So in order:

First: Underexposed, to get the sky colour and clouds.

Second: Camera balances the exposure.

Third: Overexposed, Sky is too bright and looks bad but, the foreground, grass trees have their colours brought out.

Now I have three photos: underexposed <> Balanced <> overexposed

Obviously, these photos are no good as separate photos, but what if we could put them together into one photo, knock out the over and underexposed areas and have a nice full of colour photo with a cloudy sky, the colours on the trees and grass and the building facing me looking bright and alive.

Well, this is what smartphones do, take multiple shots at different exposures then combine them together. This is called 'HDR'.

HDR stands for, High dynamic range. The range kind of being from dark to light.

The DSLR cameras, it is a little different. If the camera doesn't have an HDR setting then a slightly different approach is needed. We still need those shots in different exposures so let us consider how to do this.

DSLR and HDR, an experiment

A Tripod. Absolutely essential. You want multiple shots of exactly the same thing, no movement of the camera.

Set the camera to 'Aperture Priority'. Set the aperture to f11.

Set the camera to fire after 2 seconds. You do not want your finger to move the camera when you take a photo.

Exposure Bracketing. There is a little-dashed line in the big viewfinder, a '0' being the center. This is the master exposure on the camera. This can be mover up and down. On a canon typically, you hold the 'AV' down while rotating the wheel on top of the camera to alter this. This is the key to HDR. Set this to '0'.

Take the first photo, do not move the camera then set the exposure to maybe -2. Take another picture then repeat for +2.

You should now have three photos of varying exposures.

Download a copy of Lightroom, install the trial.

Copy the three photos onto your computer.

Open Lightroom and import the three photos.

Select the three photos in the library.

Goto: Photo > Photo Merge > HDR

Play with the settings here and see the outcome.

Quite simply, take three photos of different exposures and merge them together.

SUMMARY

HDR is another tool in our photographic toolbox that definitely has a place. The effort in getting the camera setup, stable and taking those shots is worth it when a program like Adobe Lightroom composes the final HDR image. Like all other components of photography, take your time and practice.

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More Colour, More Depth, More Vibrance, Bring in HDR.

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Unfortunately, we live in a world of acronyms and no matter what industry we work in, they are there, and in the industry I work in, there are truly millions of them including 'HDR'.

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Taken with an IPhone.
IPhone Photo Tips

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By night, amazing colors and smells.

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Let's explore our world, savor those smells, taste those delicious foods, meet amazing people, find hidden treasures, explore cultures and smile. The focus of this Blog is Travel Writing and Travel Photography with helpful hints, tips and advice along the way.

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Portrait Photography

Portrait photography can be sorted out with a few tips that can make the photo look more balanced and more professional so when the person who has been photographed sees the photo, they have a sense of a wow factor rather than 'looks nice'. I will start with what I feel is the most important, rather than the typical list that appears online.

Intro

When we take a photo with a phone or camera it has a size. It will have a height and width, which nowadays is quite big. This is the natural size without zooming in or out. Unless there is a specific reason for printing posters or big books it is unlikely that they will ever be needed at that size. This means there is room for error ie, we can crop some the photo if it is not right. So do not stress if every photo is not perfect.

TIPS

Focus. Get the camera focused on the eye nearest you. Sharp, clear and really try to get that focus. Do not let the camera focus on several points, one point, the eye. The most amazing portrait images can be ruined by the shot being out of focus or the focus on the chin or something. The eye.

Take multiple shots. Single shot perfection is unlikely, take a few photos.

Get the camera stable. Reduces the chance of a blurred shot. Models move, hands move, added together, lots of movement.

Lighting. This will be an article on its own as it is very important but for now, do not have the sun full on in someone's face. Put the sun behind them and use a flash. When indoors use a combination of natural light and lamps. A nice idea to try is: sit a person on a window sill, let the natural light come in, take shoot then turn on an indoor light and do again. See the difference.

Background. This can destroy a good photo immediately. Follow this link to backgrounds here.
Camera TIPS
Shutter speed. This does depend on the model or models. If you have a person who is moving a lot, a fast shutter speed (1/1000). If you model is seated and relaxed then you can go with a slower shutter speed (1/100).

Aperture. If the background is close and you want this part of the shot, a small aperture (f9). If you are maybe doing headshots and the background is far away and aperture like f4 or f2.8 will make the model prominent and the background blurred.

ISO. I high ISO will give you a faster shutter speed indoors. Higher the ISO the more grain in the photo, but, a bit of grain or out of focus? grain any day. Blurred shots are ruined shots.

Composition. Try not to stick the model dead center. What will you focus on? two eyes? Try to be a little more creative in the look, position, the negative space, background and colors in the frame. Rule of thirds, leading lines, the background and where the light is coming from.

Diffused light. If the sun is overpowering, hang a white sheet over the window.

Reflectors. I use these and they can be really handy to balance light over the face.

Model TIPS

Talk. Chat with the person being photographed, a few jokes, lighten the mood.

Move. Don't just stand there with the 'this is where I want a shot'. Move about, try different angles from below or above, left and right.

The model. The model wants to see nice pictures, take your time, move the model, try different positions, talk to them and make them feel relaxed while getting them into unnatural positions.

Summary

Remember this is portrait photography. Putting someone in the kitchen and the food looks more in focus than the model is not right, especially when the image is properly composed and the models face is out of focus. The whole picture looks out of balance. If it was the food that needed to be in focus then the rules of composition would put the food in the right place and the model as an accessory. SO, get the focus on the eye, follow the composition rules and be creative.
Remember. A blurred photo is useless.

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Tips to get that Portrait Photography Nailed

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Portrait photography can be sorted out with a few tips that can make the photo look more balanced and more professional so when the person who has been photographed sees the photo, they have a sense of a wow factor rather than 'looks nice'.

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The hows and tips of photography

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I am not a fan of hobbies, sports, and activities that use huge complicated words to mask certain techniques. I feel it acts as a barrier to newcomers to photography and I do not like it. In this article, we are going to talk about how we can focus on two objects or more to the point, how we can get a good focus on ...

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Let's explore our world, savor those smells, taste those delicious foods, meet amazing people, find hidden treasures, explore cultures and smile. The focus of this Blog is Travel Writing and Travel Photography with helpful hints, tips and advice along the way.

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I love the lines and disappearing horizon in this shot.
Landscape Tips

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Finally spring has arrived and the local gardens are coming to life.
Macro Photography