Which Camera Do I Need To Buy?

Well I am opening a can of worms posting this blog. I have used and still use allot of different cameras and formats including.

1. Large Format 10"x8" Horseman View Cameras
2. Large Format 5"x4" Studio Toyo View Camera
3. Pentax 645 System
4. Canon eos 35mm system
5. Various compact cameras with very good lenses.

So why use so many different Cameras when every body says

"If your a good photographer you can use anything!"

You can use what ever you like but I always think about what my customers want and the quality they require. I try to use the camera gear I have for different tasks that will allow me to bring back the best quality images.

• Landscape Photography - Large Format Cameras
• Stock Photography - Pentax 645 System
• Portraits and Weddings - Canon eos 35mm System and Pentax 645
• Candid Wedding Images - Canon eos 35mm and Nikon 995 Digital

Richard Barley
www.pureprints.com

Flash Photography - Quick Tips

1. Never use direct flash its too harsh.
2. Buy an Stofen Omni Bounce at www.stofen.com
3. Buy a lightsphere by Gary Fong www.garyfong.com
4. Read the blogs I have produced about lighting.
5. Remember to bounce flash off white ceilings its spreads the light and creates a Larger Light Source.
6. Fill in flash looks better if its a bit warmer try an 81A Filter on your lens and reduce the flash output by -2 stops on your flash gun.

Richard Barley
www.pureprints.co.uk

Choosing the right lens for Portrait Photography

The focal length of your lens will determine how far you have to stand away from your subject to get the image your after. A technique I use is to stand at a comfortable distance away from my subject and so they do not feel like you are `too close`. I put a 50mm lens on my Canon 35mm Camera and look through the view finder. I like to be able to see a three quarter length image of the subject with head and shoulders and waist line in the image. I now know if I put a 100mm lens on I can get head and shoulder shots from this distance.

My favourite lens to use for portraits is the Canon 85mm 1.8 set wide open or a 150mm 3.5 lens on my Pentax 645. If you need three quarter length shots you can stand back a bit further. Distortion of your subject will take place if you get to close with shorter focal length lenses. If in doubt stand back...

The longer the focal length the further back you will need to stand and the less eye contact you will have with your subject. If you use 200mm lenses for portraits you may find that when you ask your subject to look towards the camera they can not look straight down the lens for visual impact. With shorter focal length lenses 85mm-100mm you can get high impact eye contact images through the lens.

To make the back ground go out of focus behind the subject focus on their eyes and use an aperture of f1.4 - f4 depending on the lens you use. The longer the focal length the smaller the aperture you may use to keep their face sharp. This will take some experimentation but i use 85mm at f1.8 and throw backgrounds out of focus with eyes and face in focus.

The set up I use for portraits and weddings.

Canon eos 55 - 50mm lens
Canon eos 50E - 75-300mm

1. Full Length Shots - 50mm
2. Three Quarter - 85mm
3. Head and shoulders - 75-300

Richard Barley
www.pureprints.co.uk

Photographers Website Design

A website is a very important marketing tool for photographers.....


Every photographer should have a website to show their work to customers. The design of your website can make a big difference to who visits your website and who picks up the phone to call you. The majority websites on the Internet are not accessed due to bad design and search engine optimisation. Your customers will want to see the best images you can offer presented in a professional manner. Most websites built for photographers are not search engine friendly but look very good. This is like having the best studio you can buy with amazing front window display in the middle of a desert. Looks amazing but know one can find it.

For more information about web design and search engine optimisation for photographers websites please visit www.pureprints.co.uk/web-designer-worcestershire.php


Richard Barley
pureprints.com

Photographers Gallery Section

A photographer’s gallery section on their web site is very important.....

To show all of your recent work and show a selection of styles you can work in. Customers can view your images at their leisure without having to make appointments. This makes you more accessible to your clients and will free your time for more creative photography. If you would like to visit www.pureprints.co.uk/web-designer-worcestershire.php you will be able to see my online photo gallery and shopping cart for royalty free stock photography. If you would like any information about websites please feel free to contact me from the pureprints.co.uk website.

Richard Barley
pureprints.com

Photography Techniques - Wedding Photography 2

Wedding Photography Lighting Outdoors: Overcast Day


You have arrived at the venue and look to the sky. It is cloudy and looks like it may rain later. You are the photographer for their wedding day and your thinking

How am i going to make the images look bright and colorful, with this sky full of cloud and everyone running for shelter when it rains?


The images you will take today could look dull. Here is a technique to try. If you are using a digital camera use the histogram setting to take a picture of the happy couple outside the venue. The histogram will show the distribution of tones and the preview image will give you an idea of what it will look like. If the image looks dull and under exposed add some exposure with the +/-1 stop button on the camera. You want the white dress to be the brightest high light in the scene. Experiment by adding exposure to brighten the image. I shoot with an 81A Warm up Filter attached to the lens with the camera set to raw images and add +1 stop exposure. This brightens and warms up the image to make the skin tones glow. After the wedding when you are using the raw converter software you can tweak the images and slightly saturate the colors as much as they require.


Advice: Do not expect to take dull photographs on the wedding day and retouch later. You will spend hours in front of a computer screen and have trouble color matching your images. If you can, try to get everything well exposed in the camera.

If you require any information about photography techniques please visit www.pureprints.co.uk


Richard Barley
pureprints.com

Photography Technique - Wedding Photography

Wedding Photography Lighting Outdoors: Bright Sunny Day


The sun is shining on beautiful summers day and everyone at the wedding is ready for the photography to start. You are the photographer for their big day and your standing thinking.


How am i going to deal with those deep black shadows with bright white highlights?


The first thing to do when faced with a high contrast scene is not to panic. I look for the nearest shade either under a tree or at the side of the venue. The shade will tend to increase the amount of blue light in the photograph so I fit an 81A Warm Up filter to my lens or select a white balance on the digital camera that is warmer than usual. e.g Cloudy is a warmer setting.


The trick is to pose your the couple in the shade of the tree in a position that allows the softer north light to Illuminate their faces. This means you do not have any direct sun light falling on the couple and their whole bodies will be evenly lit. A burst of fill in flash at -2 stops can be added to brighten their eyes.
If you would like to see a few examples of this technique please visit www.pureprints.co.uk and click on the wedding photography category.


Richard Barley
pureprints.com