My husband Alan Franks and I have begun a new project, The Place of the Poem, and for the first illustrated essay, just published, we went to Dover. Here is a gallery of some of the shots. This was an opportunity to work on landscape and some long-exposure, as well as post-production skills in Photoshop.
RACC Level 1 Photography Course
Learning about natural light
It was lovely after all this time in lockdown to venture out to my first London Photographic workshop for well over a year. Alex and Jane were leading, and the subject was natural light. As Jane said, there is no such thing as bad light. Every form of light has its uses. I had not … Continue reading Learning about natural light
Dreams Reality: AC 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (LO1)
My aim was to develop some macro photography skills while attempting to insert some more abstract element into the final project in keeping with the concept of dreams and reality. A macro photography workshop with London Photographic meet-up group was a literal eye-opener and made me aware of this area of photography as … Continue reading Dreams Reality: AC 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (LO1)
Term Two: Health and Safety in the Studio
Electricity and glass can be terrifying and dangerous phenomena. Studio photography is not possible without either. So it is important to know how to use them safely, for legal and personal reasons. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 covers most of the essentials for professional photographers in the workplace. In photography, questions … Continue reading Term Two: Health and Safety in the Studio
Studio and product photography: Flowers
Term two we analysed use of studio lighting in relation to product photography. We made a presentation on a particular photographer. My presentation was on Robert Mapplethorpe, and found his studio work with flowers, both on their own and when photographed with people, incredibly inspiring. Using dark backgrounds and split lighting techniques in the studio … Continue reading Studio and product photography: Flowers
Lighting: portraits and studio work
Photographing in the studio a fellow student Happi. Here I achieved the butterfly lighting missing from the last portrait set, as well as experimenting with background light to brighten the grey background. This is part of the preparation for studio lit project at the end of this term.
Winter Lights: Night photography in London
I did two night shoots in London over January, in central and at the Winter Lights display in Canary Wharf. Practised using different lenses and zoom blast with tripod. One of the interesting aspects was editing using photoshop and the magnetic lassoo tool to brighten some areas of a picture while darkening others. I posted … Continue reading Winter Lights: Night photography in London
Long exposure, ND filter
Spent a morning on the north bank of the Thames, practising ND filters and long exposure from last term. Also went beyond camera raw and used Photoshop properly for the first time to lighten the foreground only by masking, and also to enhance the natural drama of the sky.
Studio: Patterns in hard light
In studio portrait photography, there are four main patterns: butterfly, split, loop and Rembrandt. The latter three are demonstrated here. (Butterfly, which I'll show next week, is straight on, with a butterfly shadow thrown just below the nose.) These portraits were shot using 'hard' light, in order to demonstrate more vividly the shadow effects. Soft … Continue reading Studio: Patterns in hard light
Landscapes with new camera
Having been given a Nikon D500 at Christmas by dh, I spent some time mainly familiarising myself with the new controls in Kew Gardens and on Richmond Riverside, when a gentle sunset at an exceptionally high tide obliged nicely. The controls turned out to be surprisingly intuitive. Focusing is so much easier and the colours … Continue reading Landscapes with new camera
