North Wales Images

I took my camera to various towns and villages in North Wales this weekend and spent the whole time taking photographs (i'm not obsessed or anything! lol). I took over 800 images and the below are a selection of just some of my favourites. I found that I am becoming much more comfortable with the camera and its functions and i'm quite proud of the images taken. 

I simply took my camera, lens and case with me.

Nearly all images were taken on manual settings as the weekend was a great learning experience for me.  When images weren't coming out how I wanted, I was becoming much better at realizing how to correct and improve images.  For example, a lot of my images were coming out to grainy.....I realised that I was shooting in far to higher ISO settings hence the quality of the image being of a much poorer quality.

The weather was very mixed and I walked over various different terrains so I had to adheer to health and safety at all times for example, wearing sensible gripped shoes to prevent slipping.

Images & general comments of interest

I used a high ISO setting for this to create a poorer quality image but felt it worked for this type of "moody" image!

I purposely over exposed this image but liked it that way as it shows a clear divide between the rail and landscape.

Used a low F Stop and a shallow depth of field to emphasis and detail the front facing rocks.

Image 4 - As above but I used a higher F stop to get both the slate and landscape in focus.

This image was slightly edited in photoshop to get this effect and used a fast shutter speed to capture the stone (as it is) being thrown.

Especially like this image as i actually do much editing after the shot.  This was naturally a darker image due to using natural light once the sun was going down.

Final Choice

After deliberating whether to choose to specialize in either Portraiture or social documentary, I have decided to focus on the latter.

Reasons why?

I personally believe that I take better images whilst being in a non-structured environment.  I also enjoy the thrill of "snapping away" in hectic situations and really capturing the moment.  I eventually want to set up a wedding photography business as I have experience in this already and already have 6 weddings booked for this year. I also have access to 2 cameras (should 1 fail - back up).  This will help me with my chosen subject of social documentary.

I have all the neccesary equipment needed for this area and already have a certain deal of experience within this subject.

From a business point of view, weddings, christenings etc are obvious events that I will be taking images of for my final portfolio but I am also keen to explore the area of "non-planned" social documentary images.  By the term Non-planned, I simply mean going out onto the street or any other area and simply clicking away at points of interest and try to capture an interesting moment, whether it be obvious or not.

"Social Documentary Photography may be defined as the act of recording, with a camera, human beings in their natural (ie unposed) condition. I am attracted to social documentary photography because it deals with reality; revealing and making permanent every aspect of human nature."

Also, my reasons for choosing social documentary is because I tend to be more interested in these type of images through Internet/book research.  

Social Documentary photographers of interest to me follows in my next blog

Understanding my camera more

This week I ordered a step by step training DVD for my Nikon D200 which apparently covers the following:

· Be Prepared (To Get the Shot)
· Shutter Priority
· Aperture Priority/Depth of Field
· Focus Alternatives
· Metering and Bracketing
· ISO
· Playback Options
· Understanding Histograms
· Exposure Compensation
· Flash Overview
· Custom Settings
· Shooting Menu Banks
· Programmable Buttons
· RAW (NEF) Files
· Composition
· Picture Project Software

Hopefully this will help with the use of my camera and in particular help me with its different functions instead of relying on automatic focus all the time.

I will report on my findings/learnings as I go.

Christening Images

To enable me to get to grips with my camera more and to become more confident, I volunteered to take images for a friends christening. I was quite happy with the results. Like any other day, some of my images worked better than others and I only had about 15 mins at the end of the ceremony to work within. I simply took my camera and lens with me for the shoot.

As I was in a church and there was lots of people around, I had to be aware of any health and safety issues involved so I was not putting myself or anyine else at risk of danger.


As i'm still quite new to photography, I found myself using automatic mode quite alot as I wasn't confident enough just yet to shoot manually too much under a very tight time constraint. I did however find myself having to increase the ISO on a number of occasions in order to create a brighter image. The focus ring was used alot also (manually) in order to place emphasis on the people and to soften the stained glass windows in the background.

What is the Shutter Speed?

I thought it would be a good idea to investigate the term "Shutter Speed". Below explains the term briefly and I shall follow this up by producing images experimenting with various levels of shutter speed.

Shutter speed is a setting on your camera which controls the length of time the shutter is open, allowing light through the lens to the sensor inside your camera. Shutter speeds can go from very small fractions of a second, to several seconds long on most cameras.

So why would you want to change it?

On a very bright day when there is a lot of light, if you allow the shutter to be open for too long then too much light will get to the sensor. When this happens you end up with pictures that are very pale and almost all white. This is known as being Over Exposed.

Let’s say, for a simplified example, that to get a perfectly exposed image on a bright sunny day, ignoring all the other camera settings, that you need the shutter to open for half a second. This half a second allows just the right amount of light through to the sensor to get a well exposed imaged.

Now, as the day goes by and you get to the evening, there isn’t as much light about. So if you took a picture and your shutter speed was still set at half a second you would end up with a very dark image, or an Under Exposed image. This is because not enough light got through to the cameras sensor in that half a second. So in order to compensate against lower levels of light, you would need to keep the shutter open for longer.

This may seem straight forward enough, but the longer the shutter is open, the more chance there is of ending up with a blurred image. The slightest of movements while the shutter is open will register as a blurred effect. Sometimes this can be the desired effect, but most of the time you want a sharp image. Using a tripod, sitting the camera on a solid object like a wall or the floor or holding the camera against a solid object like a big tree or wall can help reduce the chances of getting blurry images.

Most digital cameras will have a fully automatic setting where it decides what settings are best, so all you have to worry about is pointing the camera in the right direction and pressing the button. This may be the mode you use all the time, but it’s well worth experimenting with these settings yourself to see what effect they have. Once you start to understand these settings and what they can do to your image you will open up a whole new range of phs.

Based on the above info, i decided it would be a good idea to test out this theory in order to prove it correct. I have included an excerise of test shots in a more recent blog to help me with this function and to fully undersyand its use.

What is Depth of Field?

Again, i think it is a good idea for me to create a simple understanding of each element of photography. Next on the list is Depth of field. It makes a lot more sense now. Below is simple copy and paste info to show that I have researched the function and I will shortly show images below of my own.

Depth of field is the amount of distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. A preferred selection Depth of field ("DOF") in a focused subject in an image can be quite subjective. Remember this, adequate selection of DOF for one situation, application may be unacceptable for another photographer. It is all a matter of personal preference when trying to determine the appropriate use of DOF to enhance an effect in a photograph.

You have to recognize the eventual effect of depth of field control that can bring to your photo but HOW TO ?? Simple, read on and digest.

In simpler term, we define depth of field as the zone of sharpest focus in front of, behind, and around the subject on which, when lens is focused on a specific subject; with TTL (through the lens) SLR camera, DOF can be previewed in the viewfinder of a camera - the preview is very handy for critical type of work. For an example, when taking a product shot, when you require absolute certain if DOF is adequate to cover the object you intend to photograph Generally, the closer the subject to the camera, the more evenly with the distribution of depth of field in front and behind the subject. As distance of focus extends, DOF usually will be more behind than in front of the focused area.

To help me out, I will experiment with some test images later on my blog (I used the blog with the penguin images). Within this blog I demonstrated with both shallow and deeper depth of fields.

What is Aperture?

Aperture is another element of photography I must get my head around! Test images will follow shortly.

What Is Aperture?

The main function of a camera lens is to collect light. The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the lens opening and is usually controlled by an iris. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film / image sensor.

Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture).

In practice, unless you are dealing with a fixed-aperture lens (many simple point-and-shoot cameras have only one fixed aperture), the aperture of a lens is usually expressed as a range of fstops.

When you read the specifications of a camera, the aperture may be expressed in a number of different ways, the following three being the most common:

• Maximum Aperture:

Max. Aperture

F2.8

This simply states that the maximum aperture for the lens is F2.8.

• Aperture Range:

Aperture Range

F2.8-F8.0

This states the max. and min. aperture, the assumption being that there are standard increments between them.

• Maximum Wide-Angle and Telephoto Apertures:

Aperture

F2.8-3.5 or F2.8(W)-F3.5(T)

This gives the max. aperture for the wide-angle (F2.8) and telephoto (F3.5) focal lengths of a zoom lens.

It is usually not too difficult to figure out that a stated range deals with maximum apertures and not max and min apertures: the mimimum aperture should be quite small at F8, F11, F16 or F22.

I shall follow this write up very soon with an image taking excercise to demonstrate the aperture settings by altering the FStop from small to large.