Blog, news and lots of tips on technique and processing from Bill Allsopp Photography.

Going to seed.

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Work and other things have kept me from doing what I like best, going out with my camera and making pictures; but earlier in the week, while walking the dog, I spotted some thistle heads going to seed and thought how lovely they looked so yesterday I went back.

Armed with my Canon 5DMk3 and a 180mm macro lens I spent a most enjoyable hour or so in a field hat is part of the growing Nation Forest here in Leicestershire. Conditions for this type of photography were pretty much perfect; bright overcast and very little wind. What little wind there was was just enough to spoil one or two pictures which I had to re-shoot but any more and the job would not have been possible.I started with the thistles which I hope I have identified correctly as Creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense.

Creeping thistle heads.
iso 800 f13 1/60

After a few shots of these I spotted a clover near my feet and, just at the moment I achieved the composition and focus I desired a hoverfly landed on it!

Red clover with hoverfly.
iso 800 f 6.3 1/200

Much of the field was a soft, light yellow from the grass and it was such a complimentary colour to many of the seed heads I took some more pictures of the cow parsley and the grass seed heads. I am not sure what the attraction is of working in a single colour palette but it certainly produced a most pleasing result.

Grass seed heads of Cocksfoot - Dactylis glomerata.
iso 800 f3.5 1/1600

Cow Parsley seed heads.
iso 800 f3.5 1/1600

Late summer.
iso 200 f3.5 1/500

Finally, job done it was back to the van and there at my feet were plantains and the lovely yellow blobs of pineappleweed and nearby were plantain seed heads.

All in all a most enjoyable time spent quietly with nature.

Techniques used

For best results I recommend the use of a tripod any time you can and the heavier it is the better. For this I used a substantial aluminium tripod with a ball head, if you can stretch (both financially and in the weight involved) to a geared head, then all the better. Ball heads tend to shift the composition when you tighten up after composing, although this can be minimised by adjusting the friction knob to the optimum setting.

The aperture used should be the widest that will render sharp the bits you want to be sharp. The more you stop down the more background detail, especially highlights, will distract and in addition you will need a longer exposure allowing more chance for any wind to move the subject resulting in an image which is soft. This can only be overcome using a higher iso and image quality will suffer as a result; although I can and do use higher iso when I have to I prefer to keep to iso 200 whenever I can. For some of these shots I moved up to iso 800 to optimise the result.

For accurate composition and focusing I recommend using live view but when you have set up correctly switch off live view and switch on mirror lock-up which cannot be used with live view. Using a remote release (cabled or wireless) press the release, wait for any camera vibration to cease, two seconds should be fine, and while keeping an eye on the subject to make sure it has not moved press a second time to make the exposure. This sounds tedious when you write it but in practice is quite quick and ensures the best possible results.

You may also find it interesting to read my post on "An outdoor photographers mental checklist."

The camera was a Canon D Mk3 and the lens Canon's 180mm Macro.

Shortlisted in The Landscape Photographer of the Year 2015 competition

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 00:01:00 +0000

It is a few years since I had an acceptance in this competition and for most of the intervening years I have not entered. I rarely enter competitions these days, I do my landscape photography to please me and, for the most part, that is enough. When photo libraries licence my work, as seems to be happening more and more these days, that is a nice added bonus.

I am not sure why I even entered the competition this year. Perhaps I was spurred on and encouraged by the progress I have been lucky enough to make after the health problems of the last year. Anyway for whatever reason I entered and am delighted to have had two images shortlisted. I am also particularly encouraged by the fact that one of the two shortlisted images is the final image from the last full day of the very last landscape photography trip I was able to make in my camper van before heading down the long road to diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

It is now a long wait from the shortlist to knowing if I have an image accepted and many images will fall by the wayside in the intervening weeks. Will I gain an acceptance? Who knows, for now I have to be content in the knowledge that I have made the shortlist.

I must also make more of an effort to get out and do what I so enjoy which is be out in the great British Landscape and to make more images.

Magazine Cover - Sussex Life

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Delighted to see another of my pictures gracing a magazine cover, this time the July 2015 edition of Sussex Life.

Making and using a flare dodger

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Shooting into the light adds drama to an image but often causes flare. A flare dodger is a simple to make and use tool which can cancel out the effects of flare.

I have two dodgers, one made from a cut down tea-spoon and the other from a length of wire and some Shumi. I keep one in the Fuji bag and one in the Canon bag so I am never without one. What you are looking to create is a solid disc to place between the sun and your lens so that the image is not affected by flare.

A flare dodger made out of a cheap metal teaspoon filed down to size. Make sure there are no rough edges in case you touch the front element or filter- you do not want to scratch it.

Making a flare dodger, a piece of garden wire cut to length and the ends flattened then dented to make a secure grip for the Sugru.

The Sugru formed into discs and placed on the ends of the wire - I put one on each end so I would have a good grip and a reserve in case one did get knocked off. The pliers are to hold the whole assembly off the surface until it is dry.

Hold the disc just in front of the lens and use the cameras live-view screen to make sure it is positioned correctly. Do Not look through the viewfinder if you are shooting into the sun; you can permanently damage your eyes.

The disc and the stick it is on will of course appear on the image so you take another picture without the dodger and blend in the sun and sky from the second shot with the rest of image one. Hey presto – no flare and a perfect image!

Flare from shooting into the sun.

Here I am using my finger to prevent flare but a dodger is easier to use and control and there is less risk of joggling the camera out of position.

The two images bended for the finished result.

An Outdoor Photographers Mental checklist - WAIST FAFF

Sat, 06 Jun 2015 00:01:00 +0000

One of the most important things for a photographer to learn is to make a mental checklist of the things to do before each shot AND to run through that checklist before each shot. No one is perfect, I still slip up sometimes, the light is changing, the moment is fleeting and for whatever reason the shot is rushed. It perhaps looks OK on the camera screen at the time but you get home, view it full size and “oh the disappointment!” Do you recognise this, been there and not done it justice? We all have.

My mental checklist as an outdoor photographer is as follows; it breaks down into two core parts to make memorizing them easier.

White balance – is this set correctly? You will often be able to get away with ‘Auto’ but a defined setting will be better in many cases and essential in unusual lighting setups, such as in a wood at autumn on a cloudy day.
Aperture – how much or little depth of field do I need?
ISO – can I get both the desired shutter speed and aperture while using base ISO for the camera to capture the best quality file or do I need to reset?
Shutter speed – what will I need to freeze the action or allow the movement to show in the image?
Tripod – should I really be making do without one? Yes, that’s right. As a landscape photographer the question is the opposite of what you might expect. Use it or lose it - the shot that is.

Focus – where in the scene do I want the point of focus to be? Am I going to use auto-focus or go manual. If I am using hyperfocal distance is the aperture set correctly?
Artificial light – do I need flash, a torch or perhaps a reflector to lighten a foreground object?
Filters – do I need filters? Neutral density, graduated neutral density, polarizer and warm up all have their uses from time to time. If I am using a ND filter have I set the focus to manual so the camera does not lose focus due to hunting through the ND filter? If using a graduated ND filter have I metered correctly?
Flare – shooting into the light adds drama to an image but often causes flare, especially if you strap filters onto the end of the lens. So should I use a flare dodger?

WAIST FAFF

Not familiar with a flare dodger? I’ll show you what one is and tell you how to use it soon.

In the garden

Fri, 15 May 2015 00:01:00 +0000

he last few days, after getting back from Scotland, the days have had a fair bit of light cloud. The conditions were far from ideal for landscape photography but the soft even light of these days is ideal for flower photography and as the garden is really coming alive now I have spent some time making the most of it.

We have two quite large Clematis Montana, one on the fence next to our neighbours on the right, and the other over the shed and garage to the left. This latter is South facing and so gets the full sun and so is first to bloom. Photographing this is, by comparison with the forget-me-nots quite easy. At six to nine inches tall you have to get down to their level to get the best shots. I took some with a Fuji X-T1 and 60mm macro which for some I was able to hand hold; the gear being very light.

For other shots I used a Canon 5D Mark 3 with their 180mm macro lens. This combination is very heavy and the depth of field so shallow that the slightest movement of me or subject loses the focus so there is no alternative but to use a tripod. This brings its own problems including how do you see to frame the shot? The answer is to use live view; the viewfinder is really not an option at six inches off the deck. First however you have to get the camera this low and make it easy to move a fraction at a time to recompose. Now I don’t possess a macros slide, the camera, or rather the lens foot, goes straight on to the mounting plate on a ball head so rather than have the top post of the tripod horizontal and the tripod legs sticking out and then having to work around house walls, fence panels etc. I opted to keep the legs short and reverse the top section so the camera hung inverted from the centre column; still tricky but the best option in the circumstances.

Next, having been forced to use live view before taking each shot I had to switch off live view so that the mirror lock up could be engaged (for obvious reasons it does not work with live view) and it was important to minimize camera movement from the shutter movement. I’m sure you can see it is not a fast way of working but work slowly and carefully, and in an hour you can make a few excellent shots. Personally I would much rather spend an hour to get one good shot than take 10 minutes and settle for second best.

Forget-me-not

Clematis Montana

Thrift

Bonnie Scotland

Thu, 14 May 2015 00:01:00 +0000

I like a drop of Scotch and will readily acknowledge that the main ingredient is water so having just returned from Scotland can confirm that supplies of the amber liquid should continue unchecked for the foreseeable future. Whether they really need quite as much rain as we saw is another thing. The rain and clouds continued almost unabated during our time there.

We had two nights on the west coast on the way up, staying near Onich before journeying on to Skye where we stayed for one night only; the forecast there was truly dire and it is the only time I have pitched a caravan and had to have it tied down! We quickly moved south but the weather was no better at Killin and after a few nights there we gave up and journeyed the nearly 400 miles south to home in one tough leg which we had to do quite slowly due to ferocious winds blowing us about on the motorway.

Will I go back? Undoubtedly, the countryside and coast is stunning and with the right light it is a magical landscape. For now however the next trip is off to our beloved Norfolk.

I did at lest manage a few pictures during the brief intervals of light so not all was lost.

April Showers

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

We had a sharp shower last night just as the sun was setting, just had time to grab the camera and take a couple of shots of the raindrops on our front window. The light was spectacular.

A week in Norfolk with a Fuji X-T1

Sun, 26 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

A week ago we were in North Norfolk, it seems a lifetime ago but I have the memories courtesy of the Fuji X-T1 which as you can see from the attached thumbnails turns in super results and cope well shooting against the light.

I can recommend this camera to anyone finding that the bulk of a full frame DSLR comes at a price - weight! The Fuji fits in my hands and becomes a part of me, the electronic viewfinder, once you get used to it is wonderful; we have had WYSIWYG in other technology for a long time but here it really works in a camera. We have all made that "great shot" only to find in reality the file is not what we hoped for when viewed at home on the computer - not with a Fuji and it is highly customisable too.

I can also report that the exposure meter is wonderfully accurate. I use it almost always in the "full frame average" setting.

Return visit to Ratcliffe

Wed, 08 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Landscape photography is never predictable; if you want to be able to pick up a camera, press the button and get a perfect picture every time you had better stay in the studio. The only element of control you have in landscape photography is in deciding whether you want to be out there with a chance or stay at home. And, if you stay at home you can bet your life you will regret it nine times out of ten.

So yet again it's a five o'clock rise and out of the house by twenty past. The forecast was promising and I hoped to get the shot I had planned for two days earlier but which had not quite worked out due to persistent fog. As I neared the chosen destination I saw an opportunity and despite my wish to press on to the same spot as before thought it would be foolish not to take some shots when a gift was being offered.

Now normally I loathe and detest transmission towers; their lattice forms and attendant cables sprawl across out beautiful landscape like invading Martians just waiting for the chance to wipe us out. As it was the view was from directly beneath the cable and the hiss and crackle of 400,000 volts on a damp, slightly misty, morning added to the feeling that a green death ray would soon spill out.

With a few shots on the card I pressed on the last mile or so and was glad to have stopped. The mist was much more prevalent as I got lower down and nearer to the river a bank of cloud hung stubbornly over Gotham Hill Wood in the distance and the nearest the sun came to breaking through was a half disc for thirty seconds at best.

Not the light I hoped for but nonetheless a few more good shots in the bag and although, once again, the light was not quite what I hoped for I had a very enjoyable start to the working day and ten good shots to show for it.

Ratcliffe Power Station

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Yesterday was the first time I have left the house pre-dawn with a camera for about six months (for reasons I will not bother with now).

I went to a location I had researched online using Google maps and The Photographer's Ephemeris near Ratcliffe Power Station. Fortunately I had done a recce' the day before as the intended route was subject to a 10mile plus diversion because of major road works. I doubt I would have found my way in the dark without the planning trip beforehand.

I left home in thick fog but it cleared to reveal a beautiful day being promised within an few miles - and returned to thick fog a mile from my destination! After standing round for nearly an hour I gave it best and went for a walk round; the sun was now high in the sky but I still could not see the power station for thick fog. Shortly afterwards the fog did clear and I got a couple of shots but with the sun now high in the sky and not what I had hoped for.

Another visit is called for.

Rain bowed daffodils

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Well it's raining but as it 's Easter I suppose that should be no surprise. Outside our patio door is a tub of daffodils and covered in raindrops as they were they looked bedraggled but still beautiful. I set up a black cloth for a background because the tub was in front of the patio table and chairs, opened the patio doors, lay down on the lounge floor with the Fuji X-T1 and XC 50-230 on a tripod and fired off a few shots.

Spring flowering crab apple.

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Such a lovely afternoon I just had to take some time off and get a shot of the first blossom on our crab apple.

Fuji Firmware Update

Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Mar 31 2015 Fuji issued a firmware update for the X-T1 and X-T1 Graphite Silver Edition Ver.3.10

This provides
Improvement of the flash function
Improvement of the Wi-Fi function
Improvement of the display
Improvement of camera function stability

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and Arrows of constant updates, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, become totally outdated.

I suppose I shall have to go with the flow.

Acoustic pickin' at the Crown Inn Heather

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Great night last night organised by my friend Guy Rogers and featuring local musicians including Dark Horse. Thanks to all for some great music. (The beer is good too!)

The pictures were taken with Fuji X-T1 and X-Pro 1 and a variety of lenses. Shame you can't hear the music.

Iris

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Feeling withdrawal symptoms due to not using my camera for ages and since it is horrid outside I set to with a vase full of Iris and Pussy willow stems in a makeshift home studio. Have to say yet again the Fuji X-T1 and lenses have come through, so easy to use and such good results.

These were all taken in natural light coming through a north facing patio door with a Lastolight white background using a tripod and cable release, the first eight using the XF 18-135 lens and the last two my XC 50-230 zoom.

Using Adobe Lightroom as a catalogue and picture editor.

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 00:01:00 +0000

Lightroom is both a superb cataloguing program and photo development tool.

When I import my RAW files (I almost always shoot in RAW as I gives so much better quality files than jpegs) I import them into a folder defined by date, this folder being a sub-directory of my computers “Image files” folder. For example today’s shoot would be 2015-03-21 and when the files are imported I will add a description to the title such as Leicestershire or Westminster. This way files are easy to find by date. I will also add a few basic key words to the files, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, statue etc. so that individual files can easily be found. Lightroom can quickly search for these identifying words across all the files in its catalogue. Next up is to delete any files that are not up to scratch; there is no point in cluttering up the hard drive with pictures that will never be used.

Raw file as shot without the use of graduated neutral density filters which, if used, would have created a more balanced image similar to the developed version below.

Finally comes development; RAW files are not like jpegs, they have undergone development by the software built into the camera whereas RAW files have not. They need editing for contrast, vibrance, saturation and sharpening etc.

These days all my photos are edited solely in Lightroom and apart from a bit of split toning now and then and use of Lightroom's grads and brushes I don't think I do any special editing but I am careful to photograph in good light whenever I can (early morning or late evening for preference). Key to my work is the use of Lee ND grads to get the balance between sky and land. Most landscape togs seem to recommend one, two and occasionally three stop grads but I use 1.5 and 2.5 soft grads (I occasionally use the 2.5 from the top and the 1.5 inverted from the bottom to provide a bright "window" through the centre of the picture) and a 2 stop hard grad.

Getting it as right as possible in camera is key to restricting the amount of editing needed (thus preserving image quality and saving time). One thing I have started to do recently, that I find a most useful hidden feature of Lightroom, is to hold shift and double click on white or black (the word itself) and Lightroom automatically sets the whites and blacks to values that prevent clipping. You will still need first to edit the highlights and shadows to values that maximise your picture dynamics.

File after development in Adobe Lightroom.

Next up is to review all the files again and grade them, for which Lightroom uses star ratings, or reject them if better files exist or for any other reason. Finally keyword fully and send off to your chose photo library or upload to your website or Flickr account etc.

A good photograph or a good exposure?

Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:01:00 +0000

I want to consider one of the most important aspects of photography, the difference between a good exposure and a good photograph. A good photograph is dependent upon getting the exposure right but a good exposure is not of itself a good photograph.

Getting it right in camera is a good aim but especially with landscape photography where the photographer does not have control of the lighting this is not always possible. What should be done at the point of recording is to make a good exposure. In this respect photography has not changed as it moved from film to digital. I know there will be a few purists who will say, “I never edit my photographs.” Well, that is their loss; good editing can make almost any exposure better. When we talk of landscape photography our minds must at some point turn to Ansel Adams who was well known to spend a whole day in the darkroom just to make one print; this after developing each negative individually to suit the exposure conditions!

So what is a good exposure? The first target is to make an exposure which has no areas that are “blocked up” shadows, meaning dark areas where there is no detail and no “blown” highlights or light areas without detail. For subsequent post-processing the usually quoted guide is “ETTR” or expose to the right. This means the right side of the histogram, being the light areas. (We will consider the histogram in a subsequent paragraph.) Why is this? Well in post processing an image will start to show noise in the dark areas when trying to open up the shadows a lot whereas an over bright image does not degrade in the same way when darkened down. All this assumes you are shooting RAW images and not jpegs which will stand far less post processing.

The ultimate goal is still to get the desired final result in camera and to this end please consider the use of neutral density filters to prevent the sky being too light or of polarising filters to control reflections and saturation.

The histogram shows the amount of light recorded by the sensor at each of 256 levels of brightness.

This is the scene as recorded; the tones are all there, the composition pleasing and there is enough negative space around the island to set the scene. No filters were used and in consequence the sky is very light.

This is the colour image after editing including the addition in post processing of an exposure reduction to the sky. The image now has much more “punch.”

A monochrome edit in which the contrast has been enhanced further to bring out the dramatic light. I have sought to have a large tonal range in all three elements of the picture, sea, sky and island and to prevent one area being much brighter than another and so drawing the eye to a large bright area. Note that at the dark (left hand) end of the histogram there is a vertical bar of pixels. These pixels are fully black with no detail in them but because they are spread around the frame they do not detract from the final print and are not seen a black block in the image.

One final edit to think about; paste the monochrome edit on top of the colour edit and change the bland mode of the top layer to luminosity and this is the result. When using this technique note that blues can come out too strong and you may wish to fade back the effect for the sky in this image, it is all about personal choice and every image comes out differently.

My Favourite Location

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 00:01:00 +0000

Norfolk is flat and boring right? Well yes and no. Norfolk is relatively flat, it’s highest point is Beacon Hill near West Runton which, at 103 metres, is the second lowest high point of any county - only the City of London is lower. Photographically however Norfolk most certainly is not boring.

As a young man I spent every available minute enjoying the North Norfolk coastline and its marshes, creeks and beaches from Hunstanton to Salthouse but for me the number one spot for photography is Thornham to which I keep returning again and again. It is one of the quietest creeks in the area having very few pleasure craft and many working boats. It is well know for the Thornham Stumps which I have seen described as the stumps of an ancient woodland and part of a petrified forest, but are most likely part of the moorings / quayside for the grain barn which stood alongside them years ago in the days when Thornham was a working port for the region; now only the disused coal barn remains. I have made many images of the stumps and shall keep going back, the light and the tide differ on each occasion so that whilst the subject matter is constant the images are never the same.

Thornham boasts a lovely beach which is usually very quiet because it can be reached only by a walk of about ¾ mile along the sea bank along the Norfolk coast path, which continues west into Hunstanton and East to Wells and beyond. The whole area is a goldmine for outdoor photographers and those who just enjoy some space, peace and quiet.

Thornham is half way between Hunstanton and Brancaster on the A149, coast road; access to the creek is down Staithe Lane at the western end of the village. There is plenty of space to park when the tide is out but make sure you know the tide tables as the whole area including the road floods at high tides. Don’t go out on the marshes when the tide is coming in either, you could end up swimming across a channel!