22nd November 2017 - Bokeh Evening - Was it all a bit of a blur?

We enjoyed another excellent evening on 22^nd November 2017, courtesy of our esteemed Chairman, Aodan.

He provided us all with a most interesting and informative talk on the subject of Bokeh. So, to start us off on the right foot, Aodan talked us through the variations of how to pronounce the word and via a quick trip to Paree and a glance at Japan, we ended at Bo Ke (Bow Kay). Thank you Wikipedia!

What is it? That was the very simple question posed. There were some excellent choices made in how to demonstrate the look of Bokeh and it became clear that it is not simply taking the photo with the background out of focus. If one were to get very particular, it could even be argued that true Bokeh only occurs when lights are out of focus and create a regular shape in the background of the picture.  The actual shape is caused by the blades of the shutter and size of aperture. Aodan also provided us with examples of other shapes that can be bought as pre-cut or simply cut your own out of card and hold it in front of the lens when taking the photograph – remembering that you need to get the exposure right if you’re cutting down the amount of light reaching the sensor or film.

Aodan took advantage of David P’s excellent exposure talk a couple weeks ago – see the blog below – to say that many of the same principles apply, i.e. depth of field and choice of f-stop, light and exposure. Colour is also a critical part of making the effect really work, especially if the lights or background involved are complimentary to the foreground.

The simplest way to start was explained as follows:

·         Set focus to manual

·         Point the camera at some lights – outdoors with car lights, street lights, etc. is a good place.

·         Focus until the lights are out of focus

·         Press the shutter!

You can experiment all you want and perhaps see the differences in the shapes you can get and the effect the colours have. The more out of focus the background is, the better the effect. This can be enhanced by using a telephoto lens as there are more choices for a narrow depth of field with the main foreground subject.

Sensor size is another component that plays a part and simply put, the bigger the better! This will allow you to get close to the main foreground subject which you then focus on and that throws the background out of focus. Here, the best results will be found by having good separation between foreground and background.

Separation of at least 3:1 - 5:1 is best. E.g. lens to subject 6ft, to background 30ft.

So far, we have been discussing what Aodan named “Back Bokeh”. He then made us appreciate that you can create a “front Bokeh” effect as well. This can be done by getting close up to the lghts in the foreground but focussing on infinity with your main subject a suitable distance away, e.g. main subject at 6ft, foreground light at 1ft.

In such cases, it is important to balance the overall lighting in order that your main subject standing furthest away is suitably lit for the photograph and the foreground lights are not going to overpower the background.

As ever, in this fast paced world, software can offer a solution if all else is failing you. Alien Skin Software Exposure X3 has a Bokeh effect plug-in - https://www.alienskin.com/exposure/

But be warned, it is not cheap and now has so much more than a few simple enhancement options so it may be a bit overwhelming.

Perhaps a more cost effective starting point will be to watch the experts on youtube and Aodan recommended Mark Wallace - https://www.youtube.com/user/snapfactory - as one to view to see the best examples.

Gavin Hoey is another excellent photographer and his Bokeh demo can found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mXg7-Juvrc

Don’t forget you can make your own shapes for effect by simply cutting a card to suit. If that proves too much, many pre-set shapes can be found for sale online.

And so to end with some of our own work from the evening – which saw a quite magnificent array of cameras and tripods on display! We have a great and growing membership and it is really encouraging to see so many take the chance to try out these effects on the night. After some shuffling of tables, etc. we had a few lights on show plus toys, water droplets and leaves. Some of us ventured out into the night air and whilst we have a few pictures here to start with, I hope more will be added in the coming days.

Well done to all for making the most of a great evening and a huge thanks to Aodan for his preparation and presentation that whetted our appetite to take these fine examples of front and back Bokeh…more to follow!

15 November 2017 | PDI Competition 2

This Wednesday saw the second installation of the ever popular PDI competition – with a slew of top marks across the 2 levels. Congratulations to everyone who entered – with special mentions going to the following:

Level 1:

10+: Maureen H: Tour Guide’s Quiet Moment:

10: Sharon T: A Rose:

10: Sharon T: Skogafoss:

10: Steve H: Dying Sunflower:

Level 2:

10+: Mandy B: Night fighting foxes:

10: Graham S: Autumn Fall:

10: Martin F: Suspended: 

 See you all next week for our "bokeh" workshop!

Exposure Exposed by David P

One of the fundamental issues of capturing a photo is how much light to allow into the camera, how long to "expose" the film (or sensor) to light.

Most modern cameras now come with internal mini-computers and light meters that make many of the exposure decisions automatically based on what they think you want. It assumes you are in average conditions and as a result gives an "average" photo. But sometimes that's just not good enough and we need to guide the camera's computer to take account of our creative preferences.

Dave's talk explained the background to the "Exposure" process, what the camera tries to do automatically and more importantly how and when to override it's "average" algorithms.

So fundamental is the exposure to the photo capture process that any talk that tries to explain it will also divert into side-subjects of ISO, aperature and then focussing.

David covered all of these admirably and also left time for questions afterwards.

I can't repeat all of David's talk here just to mention some of the rules of thumb he included.

(1) If you have no light meter, guess !!  Also called the sunny sixteen rule. On a bright sunny day, use a shutter speed of 1/ISO speed (i.e.) with ISO set at 200, then the correct shutter speed with f16 is 1/200sec.

(2) To avoid camera shake use a shutter speed faster than 1/focal length of the lens. (i.e) when using a 200mm lens, use a shutter speed faster than 1/200sec.

(3) When shooting stars, the longest exposure before stars start to trail is 500/focal length of the lens.

And some more friendly advice, when photographing stars, most cameras might allow you to focus beyond infinity, but don't do it. You don't know what will happen ...

 

 

London by Night | Umbreen Hafeez | 1 November

As the days get shorter and the nights draw in, some people put their cameras away. Not so, Umbreen Hafeez, the speaker at Photocraft last week. Umbreen’s specialism is photographing London by night. She took us through a kaleidoscopic array of her night shots of the capital, captured with pin sharp detail and a consistent eye for excellent composition. Most of the photos had been taken from tall buildings, though some had been taken at ground level or, more precisely, river level: Umbreen isn’t afraid to don her wellies and take to the foreshore (though always with an eye on the incoming tide!).

Her real passion at the moment is photographing London from the air. There seemed to be hardly any tall building that Umbreen hadn’t used as her vantage point to create her mesmeric images. She has taken her camera to high rise council blocks, new builds, rooftop restaurants, penthouse suites, and offices in the sky. One way or another she has managed to gain entrance, by blagging, tailgating residents, befriending office workers or simply asking permission. Initially, she is sometimes refused, but her dogged persistence usually gets her into the vantage points she most covets. Sometimes there is some quid pro quo, as she donates low resolution pictures to her hosts. She confessed that she even resorted to becoming a volunteer at Severndroog Castle in order to take photos there. As well as persistence, Umbreen certainly has oodles of patience as she waits for a day with the right weather conditions (50-70% cloud). Mind you, she also warned against cancelling because of bad weather: two of her most amazing images were taken in less than ideal conditions (a full rainbow and a lightning strike). 

The camera she uses is a Canon 5DM2, with 17-40 F4 L lens, 24-105 F4 L IS lens and used to use a 70-300mm DO IS lens but has now switched to Sigma 50-500. She normally shoots an hour before and an hour after sunset, so a tripod (carbon fibre) is essential. She uses Adobe Lightroom for post production. Her standard setting is f13 for 30 seconds at ISO 100, though sometimes, if she’s having to shoot through a dirty window, she’ll open up the aperture to reduce the depth of field and blur out the dirt. As much of her work is through windows she also uses a "lens skirt" to keep light interference from double glazing panes to a minimum. (This is a black cloth/hood which fixes to the window with suction cups and the lens fits through a hole in the middle).

Normally she works with a single exposure, except, say, in the case of Big Ben, when, for obvious reasons, the clock face has to be taken separately and overlaid on the rest of the long-exposure image in Photoshop. She said her use of Lightroom was fairly conservative and usually amounted to: taking down the highlights, upping the shadows, adding lots of contrast, and doing some sharpening. Interestingly, she said that she didn’t tend to boost saturation. She will also adjust white balance, not necessarily for accuracy but for something that looks pleasing. So, there were plenty of useful tips to emulate and Umbreen’s presentation certainly whetted my appetite to try out more London photography. It’s amazing to think that people travel the globe to photograph London… and it’s right here on our doorstep! 

One of the most impressive things about Umbreen’s photography is that she is self-taught – which gives all of us hope! Be inspired by her images and find out more about Umbreen at TimeOut and on Flickr. 
 

 

Here is a short video interview I did with Umbreen