Almost since the discovery of photography and certainly since the early 20th century filters have been used to make changes to the look of photographs. There are hundreds of filters you can use. Some are for use with black and white only some for use with colour only and some can be used with both. Each filter has a number and in the case of warmup filters they range from 81a, 81b, 81c, 81d, to 81EF. These are generally used with colour photography when the sky is very grey and overcast and gives everything that dull grey look. Things look cold and uninviting. In the days of film a warmup filter was essential, this was put on the front of the lens, either screwed onto the front or a generic system can be used where a ring is screwed to the front of the lens and an adapter put on the ring and the filter fits in the adapter. With the adapter method several filters can be used together. In these days of digital photography it can all be done with photoshop, simply click on image->adjustments->photo filter (in CS3). This brings up a window which asks you to name the layer and choose your filter colour. You can vary the strength of the filter by adjusting the density, changing the filter itself or even picking your own colour, it’s all so versatile and done in the comfort of your own home. Below are 2 photographs one without any filters and the other has a warmup filter added to show the effect. In the second image you could almost imagine the sun had come out (it hadn’t).

photograph taken in grey overcast conditions

same photograph with warmup filter added (in photoshop)

When taking portraits make sure that the person you are photographing has their head tilted very slightly to one side so that the eyes are not level. This helps to make them look more friendly and less austere. So below:

corporate portrait showing eye not level.

Something that people don’t often notice when they take photographs is how objects pick up the colours of things close to them. In the example below the 1st photograph is of a jug which is lit from the right hand side so the left side is in shadow with nothing close to it. The shadow is grey.

photograph of a jug with lights to one side showing grey shadows

The next photographs are of the same jug with same lighting except that a piece of card has been placed to the left of the jug. This results in the jug picking up the reflected light fromthe card and colouring the jug with the colour of the card.

photograph of jug with blue card showing red shadows

photograph of jug with blue card showing blue shadows

When it comes to landscapes generally the best light to take such photographs in is either during the one to 1.5 hours before sunset or during the one to 1.5 hours after sun rise. At this time of day the light turns from being very bright and white to a softer light with a hint of orange or pink and it is not so contrasty. Compare the 2 shots taken below, one was at 3.00pm in July the other was about 8.00am in October. In the midday(ish) photo St Paul’s is very bright and white and the contrast between that and the shadows under the bridge is great. In the photograph taken early in the morning St Paul’s is much less bright and the sun is still low enough to almost be under the bridge so the shadows are not so dark, so the contrast is much less and therefore easier on the eye. The early morning shot is much warmer, the midday shot looks a little cold even though the sun was out.

photograph of the Millennium Bridge about 2 hours after midday

photograph of the Millennium Bridge about 1 hour after sun rise

Some of you are probably thinking you can get a friend or reletive to take your wedding photographs, yes you can, but I have heard so many stories from people who are disappointed by the end result, that when they come to the second marriage or the wedding vow renewal one of the first things they book is a professional wedding photographer. So why do we do it so much better than your friends or relatives?

well where do we start:

1/I have all the right equipment for the job, including spare camera, spare flashes (in case the main one stops working (things do happen)) and studio lights in the event that we have to take the photographs inside. What will uncle Fred use if his camera breaks or he drops it or he forgets to charge the battery. I also have a camera with a battery that will take over 2000 pictures before needing re-charging, does uncle Fred? How many will his take (with flash).

2/ I take most photographs with flash to ensure that all are beautifully lit with highlights in peoples eyes. Will Uncle Fred make sure you look that good?

3/ I am fully trained in how to take supurb wedding photographs, I know how to arrange the people and how to deal with the awkward members of your family that never want to be photographed.

4/ I have often been to the venue before and so know the best places to use, will uncle Fred go and reconnioture the venue? I doubt it.

5/ I can make sure that all the images when printed are colour corrected, i.e. take the redness out of those indoor shots, make those awful grey days seem a liitle warmer than they really were.

6/ I have a vast array of poses that I can use to make for more interesting photographs, not just stand you all in a line like Uncle Fred will. I know how to use differential focus to make things more artistic and when to use a fast shutter speed to capture that moment in motion.

7/ I can supply the end result as a beautiful album to treasure for ever, that you will want to open time and time again, not just pass on a pile of 6×4 inch prints that end up curled up in  a box for ever more, unloved and un-viewed.

8/ I am fully insured for public liability (in the event someone falls over me or the equipment I use) and I am fully covered for indemnity.

9/ And in the event that I cannot make the day due to unforseen circumstances, I have an array of excellent photographers that I can call on in order to make sure that you have someone there that can do the job for you just as well as me, well almost!!!! What will you do if uncle Fred doesn’t turn up?!!!

One of the major problems with taking photographs inside is that you usually need a flash to illuminate the subject and if that subject is a person wearing glasses and you use an on board (the camera) flash then you often end up with reflections of the flash in the glasses which can obliterate the eyes of the subject. There are a couple of things you can do to reduce the affect:

1/ get the person to lift the arms of their glasses so that the lens are no longer parrallel to the camera, so reflected light goes in another direction rather than directly back to the camera.

2/ take the picture from a slightly different angle so that you are not firing the flash directly at the lens.

3/ tweak it in photoshop afterwards (last resort)

Number 3 really is the last resort but if you are careful and have a little bit of eye that you can clone from you can clone out the flash and then smooth it over with the healing brush. The 2 pictures below show the sort of nasty reflection you can get and how some of it can be removed in photoshop afterwards.

photograph of 2 people with flash reflections in their glasses

Then after a little work in photoshop they look like this:

photograph of people with glare on glasses reduced.

One of the main rules of photography (as always rules are meant to be broken) is that things (and people) should come in odd numbers. 1,3,5 etc. This is particularly true of objects and items but does apply to people as well. Groups of odd numbers of people always look better than even numbers, the only possible exception here is 2 people as they are so close to each other they become 1 item. Take a look at the following images and see what you think about the odd number rule.

2 people in a photograph breaks the rule of odd numbers but works here because they become 1

3 people here looks better than the next image where there are 4 people

4 people here not as good as with an odd number

One of the most dynamic compositions is to get things into a triangle or a V shape, this gives the eye somewhere to move from and/or to and so gives a pleasing effect. Take a look at the following photographs and notice how much more dynamic and interesting the 1st photogrpah is compared to the second.

portrait photograph with good composition -traiangles

Here it is again with the traiangle drawn in; in case you can’t see the shape.

portrait photograph with trainagle line drawn in

And here is the not so good composition.

photograph showing not so good composition

I was recently talking to someone who had bought a new compact camera and proudly stated that it had 13Mega pixels. That got me thinking about the marketing hype around cameras, manufactureres are using the numbers game to pursuade us to part with our money. Unfortunately the higher the number of pixels does not necessarily mean a better quality picture, in fact quite the opposite. The biggest factor on picture quality is the size of the sensor, the larger the sensor in general the better quality picture that is produced. Why is this? Well without getting too technical it is all to do with noise (unwanted information) in relationship to the light that we do want and the smaller the pixel the greater this ratio becomes and so the noiser your photographs will appear. (Noise is usually very fine black dots on your photo, usually more noticable in pictures taken at night in man made lighting.) So if the sensor size stays the same and they add more pixels, in general the picture will become poorer in quality. There are other mitgating factors like the quality of the process to produce the sensor that will affect the quality of the photograph as well, but in genreal the higher the camera price and the larger the sensor size the better the quality, so pictures from the extremely small sensors on mobil phone cameras are never going to be as good as those taken from a compact which will never be as good as those taken with a full frame (35mm) sensor and so on. If you want to get more tachnical about all this there is a superb article which discusses all this and much more at the website found here :http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-camera-sensor-size.htm

When taking photographs of people there are several things to consider where composition is concerned. In this photography tip I shall concentrate on the close up.

Portraits usually look better if they are taken as close ups, concentrate on the head and shoulders. If you get in really close it does not matter if you crop off the top of their head, but it is usually better to not crop off the chin (there are always exceptions to the rule). Take a look at the example below, the 1st image is full length of 2 people:

Photograph of 2 people full length

The next image is the same picture but cropped to show just their head and shoulders, it has a much more intimate feel about it, you can see the detail of the faces and feel much closer to the people, more like you are there with them, rather than just looking at the at them.

Photograph of 2 people close up

Here is another example, the 1st image is of a baby full length, it is just a baby, you don’t get any feeling of being with the baby or any detail of the face:

Photograph of baby full length

The next photograph is really close to the baby and you really start to feel like you are there with the baby and get a feel of the mood she is in, it has much more impact. In fact it could even be cropped a bit to remove some of the forehead and the red top.

Photograph of baby close up