Doing a shoot on a budget

Next weekend I’ve got 6 locations to photograph as part a competition I’m entering and I’ve decided that I want to add more to one of the images and have that dramatic look to it.

Locations

When you know a city so well, its difficult to find a secret spot that maybe know one knows about. I’ve spent over 4 weeks looking at Google satellite maps to find areas and then driving to them to see if they might work out or not. With that said, I think I’ve got it covered.

Adding to the image

The idea of the competition is to photograph the city, and with that thought maybe just photographing the view of a location or some street photography, I want to add a feature to the image that wont take away from the scene but be part of it. So I’ve enlisted the help of a friend who’s going to act as a model for me, this guy has never done anything like this and never really likes having his photo taken, but he seems to trust me for some weird reason, which I’m very thankful.

The Image

With one of the locations, I’ve got this image in my head of the location with this figure standing there and smoke behind them to add effect, but not hide the full scene of the location.

The Options

So I have a few options, hire a smoke machine, buy a can of smoke from Maplin’s or use smoke emitter pellets. The first is not going to happen as it cost to much for what this is, the second really only works in a studio and you need an assistant to help, so that leaves the smoke pellets.

Amazon seems to sell most things and even smoke pellets that are normally used to seek out problems with your chimney and seems like a possible use for this image.

So a small package arrived in the post this week and I have 10 pellets to work with. To see what the smoke was like, I lit one in the garden and for about a minute the garden was full of this white smoke!

The problem is that the smoke comes from one point on the ground and looks more like a rescue flare that’s been lit, I want the smoke to spread and be even in length across the ground.

A bit of DIY

So with some searching on the web and racking my brain, I came up with the idea of some kind of tubing that could have holes for the smoke to break through. The pellets do give off a bit of a smell, which you don’t want to be to close to and sucking in the smoke, and the pellets give off some heat as well, so the tube needs to be heat resistant. After some searching I came up with aluminium semi rigid flexible duct that used in pluming and heating. I went to my local B&Q and found a piece that’s 1.5m long and was damaged at one end, so with a bit of bargaining I got it for £5!

What I’ve done is put in about 15 holes in the tubing so that the smoke can filter through, and at the damaged end I’ve squashed it so the smoke can’t just go out through that end. I did a test this afternoon and found a small tin we have to put the pellet in and makes it easier to light and place in the tube, then blocked off the end with a piece of card with good old gaffer tape.

So guess what, it works a treat! The pellet gives off about 60 seconds of smoke and with it being confined, it comes out of the holes slower and spreads evenly.

Conclusion

Now I don’t know for sure if it will work on the day, but its cost me less than £15 and if it doesn’t work, it wont take anything from the image I will be creating, this would just add to it.

I’m going to have to work with my model and explain how its all going to work and point out that they will have to light the pellet and then run into position and pose, if nothing else it will be fun and a laugh.

I guess the point is that with a bit of imagination and research, you can come up with the same kind of thing that’s done on large sets, just on a smaller scale.

I’m hooking up with my model tomorrow to take them round to the locations so they can see what will be needed and done for the real thing next week. It will give me the chance to see how they will fit in with the image I have in mind for each of the locations and where best to place them. Its all good having it in your head, but can be different when it comes to the real thing, so this will save some time and maybe give me other ideas for what I want him to do.

Once I’ve posted the images to the competition, I will post copies on Google plus to show how good of bad they image came out, who knows it might be a winner as that’s the reason for entering the competition in the first place.

Thanks for reading, AndyD

Photography As A Business

My Story…

I’ve always been interested in photography or photographs taken by others, but it wasn't till 2013 that I got my first real camera which was the Sony A65, I did look at Canon and Nikon, but like others I had set myself a budget and the idea of being able to use other manufactured lenses was the appeal for me and I just liked the A65.

Within a few months I had purchase a few lenses and research YouTube for ideas on how to use the camera and take photos. YouTube is an enormous library that can supply awesome words of advice and step by step ways of doing things.

Facebook is a social network I've used for a long time, I have in the past set up pages and groups to do with a target shooting sport I use to do, but now I’m retired. I did try setting up a group for intermediate or people new to photography to share their images and ideas, but it was slow to take off and I don't like the way Facebook messes with the images when you post them.

Then Google was plugging its Google Plus and I found communities and photographers of all stages in their work, in one place and the layout seemed great. 

It’s a bit nervous posting your own images in a world where people are much better than you at taking images and have a good eye for an image. But my experience with the site has been positive as everyone is willing to give you positive feedback on what you’re posting. For me, that what's important so to progress in my work to get better results. Seeing others work, not only makes me envious in some way but gives food for thought on what maybe I can do based on the technique that they've used.

Over the first part of 2013, I got more into what I was doing and getting better at the understanding of images and the post editing side of things. I had used up my budget and wanted to progress further, but to do that I needed to get a better understanding of photography, so I embarked on signing up for a 3 year degree in professional photography that is part of a Plymouth University degree, but done at City of Bristol College.

Right now I've done my first year and soon to start my second year, I’ve invested in a new camera body which is the Sony A99 so all my lenses would work with it, bought gear to make a small studio at home and built a website so to promote myself and to show my work in galleries that I've set up. Now I feel ready to start doing paid work, but where does one start?

Photography Business…

So I’ve done the friends and family bit and promoted on social networks and even entered competitions, but what more can be done to get one’s self out there?

I’ve decided that I won’t stick to one area of photography like Weddings and made the point in my site and in advertising that I'm freelance. Being freelance gives me a wider audience to approach, it also allows me to decide what’s possible or not in my ability physically to do jobs that come my way.

Photography is no different from other businesses in that you have others offering the same service, I don't believe in looking to lower pricing to tender for jobs out of being desperate, your work and social skills should talk volumes for them to pay the going rate and get what they pay for and leave being not just happy but to express to others how good you are as a photographer to put your name forward.

Working for yourself isn't easy and it takes drive and looking all the time at what’s around you that might bring you work, networking with social media is good but needs to be fresh and updated, just like your website and the images you’ve put there to be viewed and to tell others that there is new items to view.

I’m just starting out and would be grateful for ideas on what can be done or improved to bring clients to see me as a potential photographer they might use. There are many on Google Plus that are Professional Photographers that have been in the business for a while, your thoughts would be so welcomed to this blog feature, even though I know it’s a big ask to make a comment and share your experiences with me and those that are reading this. 

Maybe there are pitfalls to take into account when setting yourself up that you know of or affected you when you started out, anything that you can comment on would be welcomed.

If you are just starting out like me, then maybe you have views on what works and doesn’t and happy to share in this blog.

We all have a love for photography and some decide to do it as a business while others do it as a hobby and maybe feel taking it to that level as a business is too much to take on or even see it as binge a risky thing to do, maybe you can explain why feel that way.

Thanks to everyone that's taken the time to read this and to say thank you in advance if you do decide to comment.

AndyD

24 Hours in Bristol 2014 Competition

This is a competition that’s open to everyone, it does cost to enter and you can pay for extra images to be included and you get allocated a time slot that one of the images must be taken in.

Last year was the first time the competition was run and photographers had from midnight on the Saturday till midnight on the Sunday, I got the slot from midnight till 1 am! The weather was terrible with it being cold and raining added to the torment.

Like most I decided to photograph in the city centre and around the docks, a lot of photographers did same thing, and one of the finalist actually took a photo from the opposite side of the docks from me.

Hundreds of photographers took part in the event and were from all over the country and from Europe as well, it was a great event and I knew that if it was to happen again that I would take part.

There are lots of photographic competitions to part in, and in my view it worth having a go to gain experience and having the chance to have your work in a gallery for all to see.

This year the event is being run from the midday on the Saturday till midday on Sunday, I think this is a better way to do it and makes life slightly easier for all. We didn't have much of ID to say we were doing the event but this year supplied with proper ID's so that if anyone gets stopped by the police in the early hours of the morning, they will know what their up to as the council and police are made aware of the event and the Bristol Lord Mayor, is very much behind the event.

I'm not sure if this kind of competition is run in others cites in the UK or abroad, but it’s a great thing to get involved in and helps to promote your city. Over a thousand images were taken last year and I'm sure that a lot more will be taken this year.

For me, I want to have images that cover the morning, afternoon, evening and night. So over the last couple of weeks I've been looking and Google maps and travelling around all over the place to try and find something new and part of Bristol. I guess I'm lucky as I live in Bristol and have the time to look, while others maybe are just coming along for the weekend will find it slightly difficult to maybe get outside of the city centre and know where to go.

Last year images where landscape and street photography images, but I'm looking to try and find something different or to maybe photograph something in a slightly different way that’s more creative. 

One tool that I've found fantastic to use for knowing where the sun is going to set or rise is called TPE - The Photographers Ephemeris App, there’s also an Android version as well as a desktop version. Where ever you are in the world, you can drop a pin on the map and it will show you where the sun will rise of set as well as when there's a full moon. You can even go to a date in the calendar and see what time and where the event will happen. The app cost about £4.00 but worth the money as you can work out before you turn up at a location where sun will be at that exact time of day, its brilliant.

There's still time to register for the event and to find out more you can visit their website which is http://www.24hoursinbristol.co.uk.

Thanks for reading, AndyD 

Sony A99 First Play

Sony A99 Camera

For most of my friends know that I started with the Sony A65 half-frame camera, and its done me proud in the images that helped me to capture. But there is a time I think when you get into Photography in a more professional level that you can out run a camera and the features that it offers.

The A65 is a great camera, the only downside is the flash fitting that we all know they changed from the universal fitting to a four pin shoe, this limited you to what flash you used and remote triggers, but putting that all to one side, its still a great camera in my view.

When I started looking at what to get to upgrade to a more professional camera, I didn't and couldn't afford to start from scratch in buying a whole new load of lenses. I have about ten lenses in my bag and they all do a certain job, from two telephoto lenses, one ultra wide and the prime lenses.

I know that the all the manufactures are going for the retro look, which is fine for that just walking around work, but for more industry style images you have to revert back to the normal andconventional  cameras.

So the A99 was my choice after much reading on reviews and talking to people that actually own one, and the great thing is that my lenses fit this body, but they've stuck stuck to the conventional flash shoe, but for the fix for those like me that bought the HVL-F58AM flash, they supplied free of charge ahot shoe adaptor, which works fine, so no need to go out and get a new flash or remote trigger system etc.

While I was about it, I also got the battery grip but was slightly annoyed that for £300, they didn't include some batteries! The battery grip though is more that just a battery pack as when you do portrait images you have a shutter button on the grip and a few other buttons to tweak that image. The grip is so comfortable and when attached to the main body, with a lens and flash, its half the weight of say a Nikon. Everything is within easy reach, button wise and the LCD screen is far better set than on the A65, you can even do a selfy if you wanted to as it goes is all directions for great viewing.

I could go through all the different setting but you can see other blogs for that, this is just a personal view on the camera and how it feels and looks. But the the images have great colour and when looking closer at the colour aberration, there is very little magenta in the images, the ISO doesn't start to deteriorate till about 16,000 so great for low light shooting. The bracketing is great for that HDR work we do with Photomatix etc and does come with a HDR image if you wanted it.

The camera is full of great features, but like many have said, it is power hungry, so the battery grip is a good option to get.

The price of £2,350 or there about's is hefty, and I decided to go down the road of leasing the camera by using Culmanet which is a professional photography company and have underwriters that is just for the purpose. So no big loan with interest rates to worry about and a set monthly outlay and paid off in three years. Leasing photographic equipment gives photgraphers that are starting out to get the best with ease,I couldn't of afforded that kind of money straight out, but if I want to take professional looking images that then hopefully goes towards paying for the camera, then that's got to be a good thing and there is know reason not to pay off earlier.

I love the camera and starting to play and I think that because I've had one of Sony's A series cameras beforehand, does give that little heads up as most of the camera has the same layout of buttons with just a few new ones to learn about, but you can adjust while looking through the viewfinder with ease and none of this having to look where you have to place you thumb to click on a setting for those changes, its much lighter than other makes of camera which is a real benefit for me as I struggle with heavy gear. Yes the camera does look bulky, but once its in your hand then it moulds to you, so there is know struggling when it comes to taking an image even quickly.

Thanks for reading, AndyD