Photography Tag

A photography project that many photographers choose to get involved in is a 365 project. If it’s not obvious already; you take a photo every day for a whole year (and since 2012 is a leap year, you’ll need to take an extra photo!)

Following on from my last article about shooting still life work on a table, I want to move on from that and take the techniques I used a step further. For this article I want to show you how easy it is to shoot flowers against a completely white background, working again on a table top with just two lights.

If you’re planning some time at the beach with your camera, then a sandy stretch adjacent to Liverpool and the Mersey estuary may not immediately come to mind. However think again – this long, straight beach is home to Antony Gormley’s “Another Place” installation – 100 iron life size statues cast in his own image, placed at intervals along the beach

Dungeness is an intriguing place unlike anywhere else I have ever been in the UK. The vast shingle landscape is dominated by two nuclear power stations. However in their shadow you’ll find, amongst other things, a RSPB nature reserve, a small airport, the world’s smallest public railway, wartime acoustic mirrors and two lighthouses.

A colleague at work told me about his favourite lens, the “50mm f1.4”. He had used one for a while and could not fault it. With that sort of endorsement it was quite easy to take the plunge and the lens was ordered the same day. That was nearly 3 years ago and since then the 50mm f1.4 is almost permanently attached to my camera.

I had always thought of the Canon EF 200mm f/2.0 L IS USM as a bit of a unicorn – you hear tales about it and it’s magical qualities, but I very much doubted I would ever have the privilege of shooting with one myself. That all changed the moment the doorbell rang.

The first thing I noticed was how light the Kata Bumblebee DL-210 is – just over 1kg (2lbs for those who still measure everything in bags of sugar).That does leave it feeling a little less robust, but Kata are a company founded by two ex-members of Israel’s elite special forces so the emphasis is on hi-tech materials.

It is just not possible to do full justice to a topic as specialised as this in a brief blog – this has been my prime photo interest for over 15 years and I am still learning (and who knows, hopefully improving), but I hope I can give you an outline of a few things that will help you. So where shall I start then? At the end of course!

Last month we asked you to submit images that best capture the essence of ‘Urban Jungle’ for the WEX Gallery photography competition, with a Canon PowerShot G12 digital camera up for grabs for the first place winner!

After spending forever carting lenses that weigh 4kg and upwards around, what an absolute breath of fresh air it was to just go out shooting with the Sigma! It’s so much lighter, making it far more portable, and when paired up to a crop sensor camera it offers an incredible amount of reach.