Compact cameras: down, but not out

The Olympus TG820: waterproof, shockproof, crushproof, freezeproof, and it takes photos.

It's an inescapable, plaintive cry: the compact camera is in decline! You can scarcely go a week without hearing someone lament that sales of compact cameras are falling; that the ubiquity of camera phones is eclipsing the point-and-shoot; that on Flickr there are more photos taken with iPhones than anything else. And all of these statements are true. Compact camera sales fell by roughly 30% in 2011 compared to 2010 figures (and they were down in 2010 on 2009 sales). Annie Liebovitz pulled out an iPhone on Rock Center and recommended it as a snapshot camera. And the iPhone 4 topped the list of popular cameras in Flickr's January 2012 stats. But none of this means that the compact camera is dead. Not quite yet, anyway.

Over the past two weeks Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Sony have all released new compact cameras. We're not talking about piddling little things that they're rolling out because they've some peculiar obligation to the format; some of these are highly specced shooters with a distinct market in mind: considered pieces of kit that are being produced because they fulfil a demand from photographers. I'll grant you that a few of the gimmicks on some of the cameras do reek of desperate attempts to convince a generation of iPhoneographers that they need a compact, but that is to be expected. They're in the business of making money and they're going to try their hardest to poach back the market from Apple, Nokia, Samsung, et al. But whilst the camera phone definitely fulfils the photographic expectations of a swathe of people who need nothing more than a handy-dandy picture-snapper in their pocket, it doesn't provide for everyone who wants an easily-accessible camera.

Without exception, all of those manufacturers with new releases in the past two weeks have included a camera in the lineup that is waterproof and shockproof. In Nikon's case it was only waterproof to three metres and didn't enjoy the most flamboyant functionality ever, whilst Olympus' TG820 can cope with being crushed by upto 100kg as well as temperatures down to -10 degrees Celsius, water to depths of 10 metres, and being dropped from two metres; but they highlight a particular target market.

For people who love to snowboard, snorkel, and rockclimb, and take photos whilst they're at it, they want a camera that can withstand at least some of the perils that might befall it but still deliver photos that do justice to their fantastic pursuits. They want a decent optical zoom and a reasonably sized sensor, they might even want full manual control, and they want it to be small, easy-to-use, and all in one place. Changing lenses on a Nikon V1 whilst clinging to a mountain face isn't ideal, no matter how small it is, and the digital zoom on an iPhone 4S is never going to be as sharp as the 5× optical zoom on the Olympus TG820. It's the compact rugged camera that offers them what they need - photographically and practically - so that they can take photos they can hang on their walls with a camera they can also dip into water, throw onto snow, drag through a sandstorm, or drop onto rocks.

For my money, Sony is on to something with its TX200V. When you read the spec, you get the impression that it's a relatively competent compact; it has a touch-screen, 18 megapixel sensor, 5× optical zoom, HD video, and a gamut of other toys. That it's waterproof to five metres, freezeproof to -10 degrees Celsius, and dustproof are almost after-thoughts in its design. But it's a clear indication of a purpose that the compact camera fulfils: they should be able to go anywhere and take a half-way decent picture in the process.

I started taking photos when I was young, around five years old, using my Ma's Olympus Trip. When I was seven, my parents bought me my own camera; it was an Agfamatic that took 110 film cartridges, had a push-pull wind-on mechanism, and a telephoto lens that slid across the normal lens for closer-up goodness. Until it was replaced about three years later with a far more sophisticated Pentax compact, it was my pride and joy. Having my own camera from such a young age taught me something valuable about photography - and it wasn't just about the principles of light and focus and perspective. It was that photography is a craft; a camera is a specialist tool and it demands specialist skills to get the most out of it.

Compact cameras fulfil this incredibly important need: they provide young photographers with the opportunity to learn and develop with dedicated equipment, but equipment that simultaneously doesn't have to cost a prince's ransom and won't overwhelm them. I might let my niece play around with my SLR whilst I'm standing there, but I wouldn't dream of letting her walk off with it alone, if for no other reason than it's damn heavy for her. Would I prefer that she learned about proper focusing and the rudiments of manual control on a real camera: of course I would! As for being able to wander off by herself and explore her photographic creativity: hell yes! Everyone has to start somewhere, and compact cameras are ideal nurseries for novice photographers; they're definitely not to be sneered at.

Aside from the practical, there's a philosophical element to learning photography with a proper camera: it allows new photographers to gain an appreciation for photography as an art-form, not as something that's a bolt-on to a ubiquitous piece of gadgetry. I want photography to be universally appreciated and accessible, and camera phones allow for that; they're also a fantastic first step into the photographic waters for some people. But in between iPhones and inerchangeable lenses, we need something else, and that something else is the compact.

I use my iPhone to take photos; I also use my compact camera; and I use my dSLR. Sometimes I even drag out a film camera. My iPhone hasn't replaced my compact camera as a picture-taking device; rather, it has augmented my photographic arsenal. It's one more way that I'm able to paint with light. When you think about that in terms of volume of photos taken, it's easy to see that with so many devices out there taking so many photos, camera phones will be topping the league tables of most-used photo-taking device, given that almost everyone has one. Furthermore, when you remember that the total number of photos being taken is now divided amongst four major categories of camera - phone, compact, EVIL, and SLR - the proportions are going to have changed from the days when just compacts and SLRs were the cameras of choice.

Right now, my compact camera does things that my iPhone is only dreaming of, and coupled with its size, that's why I have it. And just as the technology that's in a camera phone will continue to develop, so will other cameras. Consequently, I can't see the day just yet that I'll be relinquishing the compact that I keep in my bag. Of course, that sort of logic won't apply to everyone, and more people will reach a point when they can abandon their compacts for their camera phones, but having all of these choices is no bad thing.

There's also this idle thought that occasionally comes to entertain me when I think about the development of camera phones. Would it be possible that their evolution will eventually come full-circle? As they become increasingly powerful and versatile, will their primary function cease to be that of a phone, and will they essentially morph into a compact camera again? That's probably a long way off, but I wouldn't place it beyond the realms of possibility.

Yes, the compact camera market is declining; no, I don't think it's terminal. The compact camera is another choice for people who want to take photos, and in some respects, it's a choice that satisfies some important gaps in the market. For some people, it's precisely the camera that they need. So they might be down; but they're definitely not out.

Gallery: Embedded with the Territorial Army

For one of my final years of university assignments (I was an International Journalism student at Liverpool John Moore's University), I contacted the Territorial Army to see whether they would let me come along on a training exercise. They agreed, and I spent a long week-end in the rain and the fog, chasing people holding guns with my Canon.

This was back in 2003, and I just re-discovered and re-edited the original files. I remember clearly editing them, one by one, in Photoshop, the first time around. This time. I gave them the Lightroom treatment, in order to make them look like older photographs; Like the ones you might see coming out of the makeshift dark-rooms in conflicts in the 1950s and 1960s, perhaps.

The photos are in the gallery carousel above. Enjoy!

25 time-lapse videos reeking of awesomeness

I've recently done a lot of work on the Kickstarter-funded gadget I invented; the Triggertrap. Among other things, it does timelapses. I'll be honest; before I started work on the Triggertrap, I never really saw the appeal of them, but in order to create a good project, I spent a lot of time on the Interwebs, scouring for good Timelapse projects.

Let's just say that I've found out what the appeal of timelapse photography is. It's hard to put into words without using superlatives, so I'm not going to try - instead, I'm going to introduce you to twenty-five of the most incredible Timelapse videos I've found...

Enjoy!

1. Landscapes: Volume Two

Dustin Farrell's "Landscapes: Volume Two" is one of the most breathtaking timelapse videos you will ever watch. Shot in Arizona and Utah with his Canon DSLR, it is a magical masterpiece which captures every detail and holds your attention.

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

2. Hero

Miguel Endara's "Hero" is an enchanting timelapse of the photographer drawing a portrait of his father. Over 3.2 million ink dots were used and the video records each one as he draws.

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

3. The Mountain

Filmed on Spain's highest mountain, "El Teide", this is a stunning look at the Milky Way. Rich colours, boiling clouds and a vibrant soundtrack help make this one you should watch.

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

4. The Aurora

This is a timelapse video of the Aurora Borealis shot in Russia. This is incredible viewing and the shimmering colours are beautifully realised. The brooding soundtrack taken from the film "Gladiator" compliments it perfectly.

The Aurora from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

5. Earth from Space

This is a stunning video of the Earth made from photos taken from the International Space Station. Watch the Aurora Borealis pass over the United States at night, views of California, the Phillipines and Middle East. Amazing stuff.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

6. San Francisco to Paris in Two Minutes

This is an incredible timelapse of a plane flight from San Francisco to Paris. The changing landscape is amazing to watch and it has to be seen to be believed.

On Vimeo

7. Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - - May 1st and 2nd, 2010

This is a cinematic timelapse of the Icelandic volcano which erupted in May 2010. The swift transformation from placid to eruption looks like something out of a Hollywood movie and makes for must-see viewing.

On Vimeo

8. Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse

This is a timelapse of the lunar eclipse in December 2010, taken in Florida. The blood-red moon is a sight to behold and the event was captured brilliantly.

On Vimeo

9. El Cielo de Canarias / Canary sky - Tenerife

This timelapse is a fascinating look at the Tenerife sky from Daniel López. There are some beautiful scenes of clouds crossing the mountains and of the night sky. Enchanting.

On Vimeo

10. The Longest Way

This is a funny and original timelapse video from Christoph Rehage, a man who spent a year on foot. Watch how he goes from clean-shaven to a shaggy beard.

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

11. Bathtub IV

This timelapse is one for anyone who has fond memories of Thunderbirds. Watch a dramatic oil rig rescue and be amazed at how similar it is to the show. Was Gerry Anderson around?

On Vimeo

12. Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam

This is a mind-boggling look at traffic in Vietnam. If you thought your morning commute was bad, look at this. Brilliant stuff.

On Vimeo

13. Compressed 02

Kim Pimmel's "Compressed 02" is an enchanting, eerie timelapse of soap bubbles combined with ferroliquid. The haunting soundtrack will give you the shivers.

On Vimeo

14. A Day in California

This is a fascinating look at a day in California. Made from over 10,000 photos, this is a wondrous timelapse for you to enjoy.

On Vimeo

15. Light Writing Proposal

This is a sweet, touching timelapse of an engagement proposal created in lights. It just makes you want to go awww.

Light Writing Proposal from Derick Childress on Vimeo.

16. The Water

Filmed during August 2011 in Norway, this is a great capture of a Norwegian fjord. You'll love the contrasting textures and colours. The photographer has done a fantastic job here.

On Vimeo

17. A Day at A Walmart Store

This is a fascinating look at a day in a Walmart store. Watch the store erupt into a hive of activity and then die down again. Brilliant stuff, and a timelapse which makes you think.

On Vimeo

18. "Freedom Gundam" - 4 foot papercraft

This is an interesting look at the creation of a 4 foot gundam, a character from Japanese anime. Made with paper, this is something no one taught you in school.

On Vimeo

19. December 2010 Blizzard

If you thought snowstorms were just a minor nuisance, you haven't seen anything like this. This is an amazing look at a blizzard seen from one man's garden.

On Vimeo

20. The Arctic Light

This is a magnificent capture of a light show seen in the Arctic. The powerful soundtrack is a great accompaniment to the bold colours that emerge onto the scene. Wonderful stuff.

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

21. Manhattan in Motion

This is an exciting and fast-pace timelapse of busy New York, taken from all over the city. Fans of the urban should watch this.

On Vimeo

22. New Meadowlands Stadium

This is a great look at a changeover from the Jets to the Giants (two American Football teams). Watching the stadium slowly fill up and then empty just as quickly as it began is a sight to behold.

On Vimeo

23. MÖBIUS

A collaborative sculpture in Melbourne, Australia, this is a quirky and cartoon-like timelapse for you to enjoy.

MÖBIUS from ENESS on Vimeo.

24. Virgin Atlantic Livery

This is a fun look at one of Virgin Atlantic's Boeing 747's being repainted. Thirteen days of work are compressed into a three-and- a half minute timelapse video. Amazing to watch.

On Vimeo

25. Bryant Park

This is an amazing timelapse video of an American park. Watch how quickly the park fills up before disappearing back again. Lovely to look at.

On Vimeo

Your turn... Got any other gems that I've missed? That's what the comments are for!

Writing good press releases - a quick and dirty guide

Stirrups... leg up... helping each other out... okay I'll get back in my box

Every week a stream of emails tumbles into my inbox attempting to convince me to cover numerous products, services, or projects that are somehow going to revolutionise the photographic industry, alter my life beyond my wildest expectations, or maybe even bring world peace.

As a general rule, most of the literature that I get to wade through is well written and well pitched, so it executes its intended purpose with aplomb. But sometimes, PR people just get it wrong. At best it can be sigh- or groan-inducing; at worst, you might hear an anguished scream released into my Twitter stream. Of course, it is far better to actually do something about the phenomenon of poor PR, instead of just moan. So in the interests of the betterment of society, here's my idiot's guide to producing reasonable PR that shouldn't leave journalists and writers everywhere banging their heads on their desks.

1. Provide a concise, accurate précis.

In the first paragraph of your release I want to know exactly what your product, project, or service is; why it is going to change my life in heretofore unimaginable ways; and just how it is a revolutionary upgrade on its predecessor, if it has a predecessor. If it's filling a hole in the market, tell me that, instead.

2. Include images.

I write about photography. I'm immersed in an image-based community. I, and dare I say it the people who read what I have to write, want to see what a product looks like and just what it can do. Reading about it is not enough. Don't make me go on a wild goose chase for useable images. Either attach some to the email or provide a link to downloadable examples. Even if you're just announcing something as mundane as corporate appointments, include a decent-sized version of the company logo.

3. Think about your language.

The tone of the language that you use in your PR acts as a key reflection of your company, how it operates, and what it stands for. Some companies are fluffiness incorporated and I expect their PR to reflect that by being informal and relaxed. On the other hand, some companies are going to use far more formal language. Both are entirely acceptable, and so are the infinite points in between. All you have to be is appropriate.

However, your text must not, under any circumstances, be dry or dull. You do not want me to fall asleep when I'm reading it. That's no way to sell a product, even if it can control the International Space Station in its spare time. Do not, whatever the temptation, use a smiley. I don't care how fluffy you are, you still need to be professional. If you want to use humour, I won't complain, but ensure that I laugh with you and not at you. Finally, do not talk down to me. I'm not stupid.

4. Provide your PR in good time.

Breaking an embargo is more than our professional reputations are worth, but in order to provide timely, accurate coverage that does justice to whatever radical product you're launching, we really do need to receive the relevant information ahead of the scheduled release. Put the embargo across the top of the literature in big red letters, and send it out a day or two in advance. We'll honour the embargo and thank you for the advance notice.

5. Provide background information.

Who, what, where, why, and when. If you're a small or new company, provide me with some background information that tells me about you, your history, and your philosophy. It makes you far more approachable and will help to bring to life whatever I write. You don't have to include the information in the PR itself - a link to a website is sufficient - but make sure that it's accessible.

6. Check your facts.

And that doesn't relate just to your product. If you're addressing an email to me personally, please ensure that you have my name and gender correct.

7. Include the basic details.

Chasing you up to find out how much something will cost or when it will become available is a frustrating waste of my time. If you don't have exact dates or prices, that's fine, but please acknowledge it.

8. Give a named individual as a point of contact.

It's entirely possible that I'll need to contact someone for more information or some kind of clarification. If you give the direct details of the individual responsible for handling these sorts of enquiries, it will inspire far more confidence in me than a generic email that I can't be certain will be answered or even reach the appropriate person.

9. Be friendly, polite, and personable.

You know, when I do call you up to find out something more, to request a review model, or to check a fact, please do not sound as if you would rather be anywhere else than on the phone to me. I won't mind if you say that you don't have the answer immediately and need to check, but I will mind if you don't get back to me. Similarly, I will also mind a great deal if you don't respond to an email or return a message left on your voicemail. That's plain good manners, let alone good business practice.

10. You'll win some; you'll lose some.

For various reasons, I might not want or be able to cover your pioneering gadget or ground-breaking service. If that's the case, please don't harass me or try to second-guess my motives. It won't win you any favours. Ask me politely, and I'll likely provide you with feedback. Be rude to me, and I'll not forget in a hurry.

That's especially important because just because I cannot or will not feature your gizmo this time around, it doesn't mean to say that I won't be interested in upgrades or releases next time around. Unless of course you were rude to me.

Remember: I need good PR to do your product justice. The more that you can help me, the more that I can help you. It's that simple.

25 Wedding Photos That Break the Mould

Some wedding photos are not like the others...

Whether it's just you and your significant other in front of a judge at a courtroom or a rowdy crowd of family and friends filling a large reception hall, weddings are festive and exciting events. While many of us prefer to stay simple, elegant, classy, or tasteful, it can't be denied - a lot of wedding photography is so acid-reflux-inducingly boring that the prospect of looking at twenty-five wedding albums might want you to dig your eyeballs out with a cake spoon.

To counteract that instinct, I've collected 25 wedding photos that are worth an extra peek - because they're awesome and inspirational in similar doses!

25. Undead Wedding

Okay, so themed weddings have risen in popularity in the last couple of years as couples seek ways to host unique and creative wedding events. That said, this undead wedding album should be rated PG-13 so we don't scare the kids!

24. Video Game Wedding

Hopefully, this bride knows that there is no restart button or cheat codes to her marriage…

23. In Sickness and In Face-Paint

We aren't sure if this guy is getting married or going on a tribal hunt, but either way, this has to rank as one of the weirdest wedding photos we've found.

22. One Super Wedding

Best man? Superman. Maid of Honor? Superwoman. Yikes.

21. Poor Child

We're all for themed weddings and fun, but this is taking it a little too far. Someone get this kid out of there! Oh, and please someone bring the groom a robe!

20. Hold On, Brother!

Every groom understands exactly what this groom is feeling. Sure, this picture is probably staged, but we're rooting for him to hold on tight…to the rail!

19. Hold On To Your Balloon!

We're wondering if this balloon dress was filled with helium, could the bride fly away? Either way, one wrong move is certain to deflate her wedding day (HA deflate, get it?).

18. That's HUGE

Classic, but still disturbing. Hopefully this picture (nsfw) found it's way out of the wedding album, but we're still glad that it found its way onto to the internet!

17. Is That The Groom?

In sticking with the trend found in #18, this picture has some more adult humor. Another picture that mommy might want to edit before it makes the family album.

16. Camouflage is the Perfect Accessory

We're guessing the wedding registry for this couple can be found at Smith & Wesson. Rumor has it the pastor had to stop the wedding for a brief intermission when the groom spotted a buck. Unfortunately for him, his bride beat him to the shot…

15. Track Star

It is going to be tough to get the men and the women to agree on whether or not this is a good idea, but when a groom actually convinces his bride-to-be to let him wear an Adidas track suit to his wedding…that's just downright amazing.

14. Ghetto Wedding

Where do you get a wedding dress like this? Do you have to get it made or are these actually available? All we know is, she MUST be in love. On the bright side, the groom's graffiti jeans match the bride's graffiti wedding dress very nicely.

13. NC-17 Wedding Album

Certainly we've had some photos that likely will be left out of the family wedding album, but we have no idea what this couple will do…

12. The Old Will Be Made New

Or at least we hope so. Yikes. We're not judging where people find love, but she could be his grandma!

11. When Ya Gotta Go...

Alright, so there are a number of photos to this effect on the internet, but this was the most classy. You get the idea.

10. Supersize Me

Remember the celebrity jeopardy SNL skit when "Burt Reynolds" wore an oversized cowboy hat and then explained why it was funny? This lady should have watched it because this photo is hilarious.

9. Cute Ride

Okay, we'll admit it, this picture is actually kind of cute. Not the way we'd spend the money, but this is definitely clever and unusual.

8. That Cake Looks Gross

Sorry bride and groom, there's nothing you could say to get me to eat that cake.

7. Tell Me How You Really Feel

Wow. To think that one day they will reflect on this photo and remember it as one of the best days of their lives…

6. What A Catch

Hey guys, you missed out on this one, and we're not talking about the turkey!

5. Need A Ride?

Guess this couple was running late to their wedding reception. Good thing this driver was nice enough to give them a ride!

4. Speaking Of Rides, Maybe We Should Get A Different One

Notice the conspicuous license plate number. I think maybe I'll take the train.

3. No Honey, Let Me Cut The Cake

Somehow this picture just seems frightening. We're sure they are madly in love and will be married for years…just don't let him have the knife.

2. Plank Wedding

No unusual photo compilation would be complete with a reference to the unusual fad of "planking." Good luck explaining this one to the kids. And to think, these two probably think their parents are weird!

1. Pillow Bride

Believe it or not, this is not a joke. This guy actually married his 'dakimakura' pillow. This is simply the most unusual wedding photo we could find.

0. Git yer Gun!

After I completed this list, I came across this absolutely astonishing shot... What can I say - it doesn't look like the kind of wedding I'd particularly enjoy attending, but unique, for damn sure...

Okay, so I did say that these photos would be inspirational. I may have lied a little - but at least it illustrates that you don't have to go with the tried-and-tested... Marriage is a beautiful thing, usually, and hey, if you want to be creative, go all out! Just remember, it's a fine line between edgy and creative, and ending up on this list!

What's your most memorable wedding shot? Mine is at the top of this post - show me yours in the comments!

Finally a useful way to make money off events photography

Event photography is many things, but 'easy to make money off' isn't one of them, and it strikes me time and time again that the way most photographers do it, doesn't make much sense.

I recently went on a motocross day, for example; there was a pro photographer there, who sold his pictures on disc or as prints (he had a little colour laser printer set up in a trailer); it works, of course, and with the prices he was charging, I'm sure he was making a decent living, but it doesn't seem like a very efficient way of doing things.

The same thing goes for stuff like high-school sports events, junior-league sports, dance competitions, and more traditional event photography, like parties and weddings etc... The whole mechanic behind having to actually produce the photos and get them to your potential customers is, if you'll forgive my French, and absolute ball-ache.

Doubly incredible, there isn't much in the way of websites out there that make things any easier for you. There are a few companies that embrace event photography, but they make it really work-intensive to actually sell anything, which is yet another challenge.

I've long since given up finding a useful solution, and then someone pointed me to the startup Frozen Event - they just launched their service in beta, but holy dogs, is it head and shoulders above anything else I've seen in the field.

As a photographer, you can simply upload your photos to an event, and then users can browse through them, and buy the images they like.

It's bloody clever, and I reckon if you do events every now and again, it's well worth keeping an eye on 'em! There's a pretty decent blog as well, which seems to focus on events photography specifically.

Ten cool photography projects for 2012

There is nothing better than looking back on the photos that you've taken over the years to bring back memories and feelings that have since been stored in the back of your mind. The start of the New Year is the perfect opportunity to embark on a unique photography project to make sure 2012 is a year that you'll never forget and always be able to remember by looking back on photos.

Are you stuck for ideas for how you can make the most of a new beginning? Here's ten clever plans to get you started...

1. 365 photos: Take a photo a day and compile them in an online album, noting where you took each photo and at what time. At the end of the year, you'll have beautiful montage of your memories. The pictures will highlight where you were on each particular day and will give you some insight into how you were feeling on that day.

Photo (cc) by Daniel Zedda

2. Monthly page challenge: Make sure you bring your camera with you throughout the month to special events and various outings. At the end of the month, pick the best pictures and arrange them on a scrapbook page. Headline the page with the month name and include a brief summary of what the highlights were.

3. Improve your technique: Techniques are what can help make anyone a great photographer. Challenge yourself each month to learn a new photography technique to improve your photography skills. Whether you focus on black and white, macro, high key or experiment in motionblur, there is a lot to learn. Spend the rest of the month trying to polish these skills.

4. Camera experimentation: Digital cameras have taken over the market, but there are many great cameras from the past that are great fun to experiment with. Spend some time finding an old camera and playing with it, to find out what it's like in use. Who knows, perhaps some of these techniques and the lessons learned can be used in your everyday photoraphy!

5. Go on a photographic journey: Plan a weekend vacation, or even a day trip, around where you can go take great photographs. A pasture filled with cows? Excellent. A hiking trip up a mountain, with beautiful city views? Even better. An old-school diner with handmade milkshakes? Spectacular.

Photo (cc) by Thomas Leuthard

6. Pick a color of the month: Pick a color to focus on for the month and have that be what you focus your photography efforts on. For instance, if you choose blue, then focus on photographing blue items. Use blue as the accent color in all of your photographs.

7. Volunteer with an organization: Most nonprofit organizations are looking for photographers to help out at their events or with internal projects. Work with an organization to fine-tune your skills. For instance, animal shelters are often seeking photographers to help take pictures of animals that are up for adoption. It is a great opportunity to improve your skill at shooting animals and moving objects.

8. Hold a photo shoot: What better way to test your skills than with a photo shoot! Find a friend or family member interested in getting their photo taken and offer to do it for them. This is a great project to show off your skill or talent, and help someone out. Even if you are a photographer just starting out, it is helpful to hold a photo shoot to see what you need to work on. Plus, once you get more experience, it's fun to look back on and see how you've grown.

9. Get online: The web is the best place to learn and grow as a photographer. Start a Flickr account to share your photos with the world. A great photography project for the year is to create a profile on Flickr, and maintain it throughout the year.

10. Keep a photography journal: You don't need to write in your journal every day and it doesn't have to be filled with long prose entries about how much you love photography. Keep a journal of your photography adventures and include details such as time of day, what you shot, what technique you focused on and what you plan to do with the pictures. It will be a good record to see how much you've accomplished over the year. You get bonus points if you combine #9 and #10, by the way: Keeping your journal online means it's easy to search, and perhaps your friends learn something too!

So, you have a new SLR camera… Now what?

If you’ve been extra super special good over the past year, you might have woken up to Christmas Day with a brand spanking new SLR camera under the Christmas tree.

I don’t want to ruin your sparkly-new-camera buzz, but may I please just take this opportunity to remind you that your shiny new dSLR is still just a tool: Sure, it’s a bloody good tool with lots of new buttons and levers and settings… It doesn’t matter whether you’ve just graduated from a compact camera or perhaps from an older, film-based SLR camera: It’s still all down to you: Your camera might be more powerful than the computers they used to put a man on the moon, but it will still only do what you tell it to. Think of it this way: switching from a 28 year old Datsun to a brand new Maserati won’t make you a better driver, and trading in your battered old Olympus Trip with a shiny new megapixel monster isn’t going to make you a better photographer.

What you have gained, however, is a tremendous amount of new potential. Your new tool will have a ton of new features. Buried somewhere deep behind all those new wheels and buttons is the doorway to life as a better photographer.

Here are the 10 next things you should do to become a better snapper:

1) Read your camera’s manual. I know, you’d be hard-pushed for thinking of anything more boring to do than read a camera manual, but I’ve made a habit of reading every manual of every camera I’ve ever had: It’s the only way to fully understand all the features of your camera and where to find them. Except the A-DEP feature (Automatic Depth of Field), of course. Nobody understands the point of that.

2) Start paying attention to what your camera is doing. Even if you decide to start gently and turn your camera to ‘P’ for Program Mode, it’s a good idea to start keeping an eye on the aperture / shutter combinations your camera is choosing for you. It may take you a while, but slowly and with some practice, you’ll be able to start guessing what your camera’s exposure choices are

3) Try Manual Mode. As soon as you dare, try turning your camera to Manual Exposure mode for a week. You don’t have to keep it there - most photographers use a range of different photography modes - but getting used to your camera controls goes a lot quicker when you have to change all the settings yourself. One top tip: Even in manual mode, you’re not on your own; your camera will still tell you whether it thinks you are about to over- or under-expose your photographs. Feel free to ignore it and expose however you like; it won’t mind. You’re the boss

4) Learn how to use the histogram on your camera. The LCD display on the back of your camera is great for checking colours and composition, but don’t trust it to show you what your exposures are like: Use your histogram for the scientific approach to getting your exposures right!

5) Don’t worry about wasting film. Yeah; I said it: New SLR users are often shy about taking photos, but there’s absolutely no reason to be. Look at it this way: if 1% of your photos come out as masterpieces, it’s better to take 5,000 photos than 50; if you take five thousand shots, you’ll have 50 great shots. If you only take 50, you may not have any. Best of all, the more photos you take, the more comfortable you get with your camera, and the better that percentage gets. Take tons of pictures, you can always delete the rubbish ones later.

6) Don’t be tempted to buy more kit. A SLR with a kit lens is an incredibly powerful combination. Sure, there are tripods, flashes, more lenses, and other gadgets you can buy, but until you are comfortable with… We had you going for a while there, didn’t we?  Ignore us: Buy all the awesome accessories you can lay your hands on, photography is a hell of a lot more fun with gadgets, and it’s a good way to learn as well!

7) Shoot in raw. No, seriously. Shoot in RAW. Stop reading this article right now, switch your camera to RAW mode, and don’t look back.

8) Get some good software. Personally, I’m addicted to Adobe Lightroom, but Aperture is pretty decent, too. You’ll want a solid piece of software to help you deal with those raw files, to make adjustments to your shots, and to help keep track of all your photos.

9) Sign up for Flickr. Flickr is a great way to show off your photos, and it’s great fun to track your own progress as you get better. The first 200 photos are free, and after that, you can get a Pro account for less than a week’s supply of lattes. Then, spam all your photography mates with your Flickr profile, and bribe, beg, or threaten them into giving you feed-back on your photos. Some sobering comments and constructive criticism is the fastest short-cut to better photographs.

10) Imitate your favourites. The quickest way to become a great photographer is to plagiarise the hell out of photographers you admire. Pick 10 photos you really admire, and go about recreating them: Learn the techniques you need, jump through all the hoops they did, and try to get your photo to be as close to identical as possible. Done? Great, you’ve committed copyright infringement. Ssh, don’t tell anyone. On the bright side, you’ve learned a load in the process, haven’t you? So now take the photo you just took, and add your own twist to it; replace, improve, or change something. Let it become the first step of an evolution of your photographic style - pick the bits you love from photographers you admire, and mash them together to create your own style.

Enjoy your new piece of equipment, but never forget that the bottleneck in this creative process is you: your shiny new toy is going to help you, but without you, it’s nothing. Show it who’s boss, and get out there and snap some fantastic shots.

Good luck!

This article was originally posted on the Usual Shutter Specs, an awesome photography gadgets site based in the UK.

Evaluating your photos

As the end of the year rolls around, it becomes natural to take a look at what you've done over the past year... And as a photographer, taking a closer look at the past year of photography can be extremely exciting indeed!

Apart from just taking a closer look at your own photos, if you're in a self-improving mood (and you may very well be; the new year's resolutions are just around the corner, after all!), perhaps it's a good idea to take a closer look at your year in photos, with a critical hat on.

If you've never actively sat down and consciously evaluated your own photographs, it may be quite hard to get started. In fact, even if you've made a habit of doing just that, it may still be difficult to actually vocalise what makes a photo 'good', and how you can make it 'better'.

I was having this very discussion with a friend of mine online, who asked me 'but I don't even know where to begin to evaluate a photo. Have you got any tips?' I sure do;

Self-Evaluation Aide-Memoire

• What is the story? All photography is ultimately about storytelling in one way or another: If your audience is to connect with your photograph on an emotional level, there has to be a 'story'. As such, the first challenge is to identify what the story is that I'm trying to tell.
• Technical Quality Is the image in focus? Is the exposure perfect? What about noise and sharpness?
• Composition: Does the composition of the photo improve / help tell the story I am trying to convey?
• What was good? Even if it isn't perfect, there's probably something I like about this photo. What and why?
• The right tools for the job Could this photo have been better if I had used different equipment? If so, what is the difference between the equipment I did use, and the equipment I wish I had used? Why didn't I use that equipment? Can the effects be recreated with the equipment I do have?
• Hindsight Now that I am looking at my photograph over a cup of tea, is there anything I wish I had done differently, creatively?
• Did I tell the story? Now that I've answered all the other questions, the line of questioning comes in a full circle. It's time to go back to the first question, and determine whether the story was successfully told. If the answer is 'no', chances are that one of the questions between the first question and this one holds the answer to why the image 'failed'.

Especially when you are just starting out, using a form asking the above questions can be extremely useful in increasing the percentage of photos that come out great.

Don't worry if the process feels like it takes quite a long time at first; like anything you are learning, it will feel a little unusual and clunky at first, but once you grow accustomed to running through this little checklist, it'll become second nature to evaluate your own photos.

The secret to why this is so successful is that you're not just training yourself in evaluating your photos back in the comfort of your office chair – you'll also gain the ability to evaluate your photos as you are taking them! Bonus.

Wet-plate photography

You're probably familiar with taking photos with a digital camera. If you're adventurous (or mature) enough, you've probably had a go at taking photos on film as well. As a true film aficionado it's interesting to dig deeper into the history of photography, and give wet-plate photography a shot, too. If you manage to avoid poisoning yourself or blowing up half your city, it can give awesome results!

Wet-plate photography is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: You don't use film; instead, you expose a wet film plate (usually a plate of glass or metal) that is covered in a still-wet chemical solution. You have to 'pour' the plate (i.e. add the chemicals), 'activate' them, expose your photo, and then develop it in a very short span of time - usually less than 20 minutes. That means that you can forget about taking a quick series of photos: Once you've prepared your plate, you have to run and take your photo, run back, develop it, and see how it turned out. If you messed up, you've wasted 20 minutes, and you have to start over again from scratch.

Because your final result isn't an enlargement of a photographic print, the detail in wet-plate photos can be absolutely astonishing - it is as if you are looking at an enormous negative, chock-full of glorious, glorious detail, often without a trace of 'film grain' - because there was no film involved in the first place.

Wet plate photography as it is done today is often known as the Collodion process, invented more than 150 years ago.

It's worth noting that wet-plate photography can be quite dangerous; you are working with volatile chemicals that have been known to catch fire, oxydise or explode (nitric acid, nitrocellulose and ethyl ether). Some of the chemicals used in these processes are poisonous (pyrogallic acid, silver nitrate, zinc bromide, cyanide and denatured alcohol), corrosive (silver nitrate), or bad for you in other ways - it's definitely a good idea to get someone who knows what they are doing to give you a tutorial - in person - before you try it yourself.

What do you need to have a go?

For starters, you would need a View camera (or 'field camera', which is the smaller, more collapsible version of the same). This will usually be a large- or medium-format camera that will accept your plates. It doesn't have to be big - the world's smallest wet-plate camera has a wet-plate size that takes half-inch square plate images, but part of the attraction is the huge sizes you can work with.

Glass plates will become your negatives or positives. For positives, you'd typically use black glass, or you can experiment with aluminium or polished steel if you want a different 'look' to your photos.

In addition, you're going to need a lot of chemicals; there's the Collodion mixture (consisting of pure alcohol and various chemicals), A Siver Nitrate bath used to make the plates light sensitive, a developer to develop the plate, a stop bath (usually just water), and a fixer.

To get a proper idea of what is involved, "The Wet Plate Collodion Process" by Quinn Jacobson on YouTube is a pretty decent introduction showing the photography process.

So; it takes a lot of practice to get right, it's dangerous to your health, and taking 10 wet-plate photographs will take approximately twelve thousand times longer than taking the same number of photos with your SLR camera. Sounds like a challenge!

Most local colleges and some photography clubs that have a photography department occasionally run wet-plate induction nights - or search online. There's a few very active forums where you can learn more, and perhaps you'll be able to find someone local to you who can show you the ropes before you blow up your face, set your poodle on fire, and poison most of your city.

Good luck!

Photo Credit: Andi Todea on Shutterstock.com

Photographing Lightning with the Triggertrap

The most frequently requested feature on the Triggertrap is a deceptively simple question with a wickedly complicated answer: “Can the Triggertrap be used to photograph Lightning”. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this one, because it’s not as easy to answer as you’d think.

The problem is that cameras are not as fast as you would like. No matter how fast the Triggertrap reacts, an SLR camera has to do several things before it is ready to take a photo: Flip the mirror out of the way, and open a shutter curtain, among other things. These things don’t take a lot of time, I’ll grant you, but it’s not for nothing that “fast as lightning” is a pretty standard expression. Lightning is fast. Very, very fast.

The Triggertrap unversal camera trigger is also very, very fast – much faster than your camera, in fact. It can react in about 2 milliseconds, which makes it fast enough to use it as a slave flash trigger. However, only a flash reacts quickly enough to the Triggertrap; a camera will always have a delay. And I probably don’t have to mention that there’s no point in trying to trigger a flash in response to lightning: we have light a-plenty, but what we really want, is to get the camera to trigger.

Enter the Triggertrap: Taking luck out of the equation.

My standard method of taking photos of lightning is basically to dial in a long shutter speed (10 seconds, perhaps), and then just hold down the shutter button and cross my fingers. Eventually, you’re bound to get lucky, and get a beautiful lightning photograph.

Of course, the ‘spray and pray’ approach has its problems: There are short periods of time between exposures where you aren’t taking photos, and it’s sod’s law that that’s exactly when your lightning will strike. This gets more complicated as well if you are shooting in raw (and you should…), because depending on your shutter speed, you might find yourself running into problems with your buffer filling etc. Anyway, if we plot this approach on a graph, we get something like this:

Gaps. Gaps are bad.

So, how can you hedge your bets? Well, it’s simple: Use two cameras, and trigger them alternately. It’s pretty easy to do this using some electronics; set a timer, and make sure the cameras alternate:

No gaps! That's an improvement.

Of course, that still isn’t perfect; as we already discussed, cameras have tiny delays between shots, and if you trigger them electronically, there would in theory be no gaps. In practice, however, there are going to be times when one camera is closing its shutter, and the other one is still flipping up its mirror, and you’d still be missing your photographs. Useless!

The next logical step, then, is to make sure they overlap a little:

Ah! That's better!

Now, every milisecond of the thunderstorm would be captured; and we’d even have a tiny little bit of overlap for good measure. Fabulous.

Adapting the Triggertrap

“But Haje”, I hear you cry. “The Triggertrap only has one camera port, how are you going to get around that one?!”

Well, true, it does only have one camera port, but it does actually have two triggers built in: The Focus and the Shutter triggers. If we decide that we don’t need the ‘focus’ trigger (because we’ve pre-focused our cameras”, that frees up one of the triggers. All you’d have to do then is to create a cable that enables you to plug in two Triggertrap cables into the same Triggertrap. Easy:

By using 3.5mm sockets, you can continue to use the Triggertrap cables you already have; plug it directly into the Triggertrap to use it as normal, and plug it into the above-described gadget to split the signal so you can plug in two cameras.

The rest is all software

By overlapping the shots, you can guarantee to capture whatever is happening in the night sky; whether it's star-trails, a meteor shower, a lightning storm, or anything else you can think of!

The Triggetrap doesn’t have a Lightning mode built in, but it is fully Arduino compatible, and as soon as we get a final version of the software, we’ll open up our Github repository and open-source the code so you can hack it to your heart’s content.

Since we haven’t yet got a final version of the code, I’m not going to post my hacks here (yet! I’ll do it as a proper tutorial once we have a final release version of our source-code) – but you’ll be pleased to know that it didn’t take me very long to get a working version of the Triggertrap Lightning Trigger to work.

Now all I need is a lightning storm so I can test it properly…

Learn More

To learn more about the Triggertrap, check out Triggertrap.com. If you want one, try the Triggertrap Shop!

Rights and Respect in photography

Today, I stumbled across an article on Found Photography, titled ‘Your rights as a photographer‘. At first, I was intrigued, thinking that it would have something to do about copyright.

Instead, it turned out to be about photographing Amish people, who, according to the article, "The Amish don’t like to be photographed because it might cause them to be tempted by pride". The article then finishes with some tips about your rights, if you come across Amish people in public places, and what your rights are regarding photographing them.

This reminded me of a different discussion I had a while ago, which regarded photographing people who didn’t want to be, also for religious reasons: Some Native tribes, for example, believe that a photograph of them means you steal their soul. It would, therefore, be less than wise to photograph them.  

The rights, as described in the article, are as follows:

1. Almost anything you can see you can photograph. If you can see it, you can take a picture of it. If you are standing on public property you can photograph anything you like, including private property. It is important to realize that taking a picture is different than publishing a photo, which leads to point number two.

2. As long as you are not invading someone’s privacy, you can publish their photo without permission. You can take someone’s picture in any public setting and publish it without consequence (even if it portrays the person in a negative way) as long as the photo isn’t “highly offensive to a reasonable person” and “is not of legitimate concern to the public.” You can even publish photos if you took them on private property. While you may be punished for being on private property, there is no legal reason why you can’t publish the photo from prison!

3. As long as you aren’t using someone’s likeness for a purely commercial purpose, you have the right to publish the photo. You can use your photos of other people without their permission for an artistic or news purpose, but you can’t use them for a commercial purpose (such as an ad). You could sell a photo of a person without their permission, but you couldn’t use the photo in an ad saying the person endorses your product.

Whilst this is all correct, and really important to keep in mind, there is a different consideration to keep in mind, which brings me to the point of this article...

Respect in Photography

As a photographer, I have experienced feeling that I have touched people in a ways I wish hadn’t. An accidental invasion of privacy, so to speak, which made me feel as if I had commited the rudest form of sexual harassment – without even being aware of it.

In photography, One day, you can take a photograph of someone who is not wearing any clothes, but it will be okay. The next day, you can take a picture of someone who is fully dressed, even if you don’t see their face, and it is the worst of possibly imaginable sin. What is okay in one situation can be wrong in another.

The legal aspect

Many countries in Europe have added the European Convention on Human Rights as part of their set of laws. This convention has something that is devastating to privacy, called Section 10.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include to receive and impart information without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” In practice, this is roughly the same as the 1st Amendment in the American Bill of Rights – the freedom to expression.

The conclusion drawn from the 1st amendment and Section 10 is that you can always take pictures. Even on private property, you have the right to photograph anything you can see.

Despite of something being legal, it doesn’t mean that you should, though.

The moral aspect

Several minority cultures believe that taking a picture is the same as stealing somebodys soul. Taking a picture of a member of such a culture is inexcusable. Upon having taken the picture – as far as they are concerned – it is too late.

If you, as a photographer – especially as a professional photographer – make the mistake of taking a picture of a member of such a minority group, you have fucked up beyond forgivenness. Call it a breach of professional conduct, or a kick to the shins of common sense.

Other times, however, you meet people of whom you really couldn’t have known their aversion to photography. I have experienced taking a picture of a couple looking wonderfully in love. When they realised I took the picture, the male half of the couple came over and asked me for the film. Apparantly he was married, and didn’t want me to publish the picture. What was I to do? I decided to promise him to not use the image, and deleted it off my camera. Not a legal choice - a moral one.

In the grand scheme of things, I haven’t been a photographer for all that long. Situations like that will arise again, I am sure. And I am certain that modesty, along with a dose of appropriateness, will get me through those situations.

I have a few friends who work as wartime photographers. In the job, they see some of the most horrible things known to man. The pictures in the newspapers are the mild versions of some of the pictures I have seen people come back with. And the pictures never go outside their photo albums. Why? Because some things don’t need to be shown.

A man far wiser than me said to me once: "These things are not secret, but they are sacred, and should not be taken lightly".

I know of no respected photographer who didn’t have respect for the subjects s/he photographs. And – even if you aren’t the best photographer in the world – showing respect will get you the respect you need to get a good start in the lion’s den that is Photography.

The Breathalyser Photo Booth

Hey Cindy, I think you're probably drunk enough to get your photo taken now. Cindy? Cindy? Oh well.

As I was writing up the user guide to the Triggertrap, I was googling around to find out what kind of sensors you could conceivably connect to the Aux port of the device. I came across a sensor I didn't even realise existed: An Alcohol Gas Sensor.

Brilliant. Spectacularly brilliant. Why? Because it gave me an idea for a completely novel way to use the Triggertrap that I hadn't thought up quite yet. You probably see where this is going already, because once you know that such a thing as an Alcohol Gas Sensor exists, the idea writes itself:

The Wobbly Photo Booth.

For parties, rig up a 'photo booth', connected to the Triggertrap, that measures the alcohol content of your breath. If you're sloshed enough, it'll take a photo of you!

To create something this awesome, all you need is a $4.95 Alcohol Gas Sensor wired to your Triggertrap, like this:

Now, you need to calibrate the device. You can either use mathematics, or you use a reference: Pick someone who seems quite inebriated, and get them to blow on the alcohol sensor. Set the Threshold on the Triggertrap's Aux sensor to the value they just blew, and get everybody to try.

Get ready to Facebook a gallery only of the most sloshed people at your party! Fabulous.

Of course, the Wobbly Photo Booth is simply one of many, many other sensors you could use to trigger your cameras.

This little project illustrates why I'm so excited that we included an Aux port on the Triggertrap - it opens up for all sorts of crazy and creative uses of the device, letting trigger the camera using literally anything you can think of.

What's your favourite crazy idea for the Triggertrap?

This article was first published on Triggertrap.com

Film developing database

Back in February 2007, when I was working with a lot of darkroom and black and white developing, I had a brain-wave: Why is it so bloody hard to find a complete resource for film developing? And so, like the good little geek I am, the Photocritic Film Developmet Database was born. My black and white film development database is designed to look up times for combinations of black-and-white film and a specific developer. The extra special ingredient, however, is this: If there isn't a lookup for a particular film and developer combination, it does it best to calculate a likely development time for any given combination of film of developer.   

I came up with the idea when I was doing some processing with some obscure films. I could find processing times for a combination of film A and developer B, and I could find the combination of developer B and film A. However, I also found the combination of Developer B and film B. I thought: There has to be some way to interpolate the data so I can make an educated guess as to how long film A needs to be developed in developer A.

So I came up with a formula that calculates how long any given film needs to be in any given developer, as long as you have the information for a known film in both developers.

But how accurate is it?

Surprisingly, actually. Most of the time, I’d find the time to be off by up to 15%. Which is obviously not perfect, but significantly better than just taking a wild guess.

Of course, some times the times would be off by more than that, in which case I’d ruin my films, but at least the formula gave me a starting point.

As I started refining my formula, I discovered that some combinations of films and developers have predictable deviations (T-Max, for example, tends to need 15 % less than other films in similar developers), and I started adding this data into the formula, rendering it even more accurate

But you use lookup tables as well, don’t you? Damn right. You can’t beat looking up the developing time in a table. Which is why the Photocritic Developing Database first looks up the combination of films and developers in a database, before it tries to calculate.

This way, you are guaranteed either a 100% accurate processing time (provided I entered the information correctly in the first place, of course), or a very well educated guess as to how long the processing will need to be!

When you run the look-up, you are given a warning if I've calculated the developing time for you, or a 'congratulations' message if the developer time was done with a lookup.

Film X or developer Y is missing from your database! My bad. Send me an email with all the available information you have about the film, and I will add it both to the calculations and to the available lookup tables.

I want to give the developer Database a shot!

No problem it is right here!

Photo credits: The 'retro' camera and dev reels is (cc) by Jim Sneddon, and the lovely, scantily clad lass is Kelly, photographed on my favourite film, Ilford Delta ISO 3200 (cc) by Sean McGrath

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Running in circles? Try a ring flash!

When you're taking photos with a flash, there's a problem: Because the flash is mounted on top of your camera, you get some pretty horrible shadows. One way around that is to move the flash as far away from the lens as you can, in the now-famous Strobist approach to photography lighting, but there's another way, too: Move the flash closer to your lens. A lot closer.

A ring flash is designed to be ring-shaped, and to sit around the lens of your camera. Originally developed as a tool to facilitate dental photography, it's great for all sorts of macro work. However, it quickly got another use, too: in portraiture and fashion.

Because the light from a ring flash is coming from exactly the same direction as your lens, you don't get the harsh shadows traditionally associated with flash photography. Perfect!

The only problem is that ring flashes can be very expensive. A Canon MR 14EX ring-flash will set you back the best part of an arm and a leg (that's about £400), and even third-party ring flashes will cost you at least a couple of fingers, if not a hand.

The El Cheapo Deluxe option is to use the strobes you already have, and use a light shaper that'll turn your normal directional light into a lovely circular light source. There are loads of ways to make your own ring flash; Out of a plastic bowl (better instructions here), with some bits of plastic, with a whole load of light sources or even using a metric tonne of white LEDs.

Whist it's lovely to spend a rainy morning up to your elbows in glue and bits of aluminium foil, there's an easier option as well; DIY Lighting Kits does a flat-pack kit that's quick to assemble, and pretty easy to use, too.

How much fun can you have with a giant water balloon?

If you think that the exploding water balloon thing has been done to death, no matter how awesome it looks in slow-motion, how about having a go at making a six foot version of one pop? And still filming your antics - you know, somersaults, jumping it on it from trees, that kinda thing - in slow-motion, obviously.

It's just what Gav and Dan, also known as the Slow Mo Guys, did over the summer. You can see for yourself the precise moment that the balloon gave up the ghost entirely, spewing its contents over their garden, and soaking them!

Now, it might be turning decidedly chilly here in London, but I'm still tempted to try this one. I wonder whom I can recruit to help me burst a giant water balloon? Hmmm.

Gursky's Rhine II - small potatoes in an auction house

How sharp was your intake of breath when you read the Andreas Gurksy’s Rhine II sold for US $4.3 million (£2.7 million) at auction at Christie’s, New York last week? For most of us $4 million is an obscene amount of money to spend on anything, let alone a photographic print. But baby, this is small potatoes in an auction house. For some people this sort of money is pocket change. When I was 18, I was an intern at a London art dealers. The painting hanging on my office wall was a Renoir worth £6 million. So it got me thinking, how does Gursky’s print compare against a few other things sold at auction?

Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

Let’s start with the most expensive painting sold at auction. That would be Picasso’s 1932 Nude, Green Leaves and Bust. Like Gursky’s photograph, it was also sold by Christie’s in New York, but in May 2010. The sum it went for was a little more than Gursky’s print, though. An anonymous buyer handed over US $106.5 million for it. Heaven only knows what that dude’s insurance premium would be.

That Picasso isn’t the most expensive painting ever sold, though. That honour goes to a Jackson Pollock, called Number 5, 1948, which David Geffen sold privately to an anonymous buyer in 2006. The precise sum wasn’t disclosed, but it’s widely believed to have been a shudder-inducing US $140 million.

Number 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock

What about a sculpture? Alberto Giacometti’s 1961 L’Homme qui marche I sold at Sotheby’s in London for US $104.3 million in February 2010. At the time, that made it the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction.

Giacometti's L'Homme qui marche I

Laurence Graff left school at 14 and began his career cleaning toilets. He’s now the owner of a diamond mine in South Africa as well as the Graff Pink – a potentially flawless 24.78 carat pink diamond – that he bought for £28.8 million at a Swiss auction house in November 2010. The boy made good.

The same thing couldn’t really be said for the most expensive racehorse sold at auction. The Green Monkey was bought by John Magnier for US 16 million in 2006. He barely saw a racecourse and was retired a maiden. Mr Magnier is well aware that you win some and you lose some, though. That’s just racing.

So in the grand scheme of things, US $4.3 million isn’t that much for a photograph, even if The Guardian did describe it as a sludgy image of desolate, featureless landscape. Ladies and Gentlemen of the photographic profession, we’d better get cracking with our sales.

I Just Remembered How Fun Photography Is

Blinkers. Yes, those things they put on horses to keep them looking straight ahead. But I’m not talking about real blinkers, no: these are special, invisible, metaphorical blinkers. In particular, I’m talking about the ones that form around the eyes of a photographer once in a while. The more you learn, the less you experiment. It’s the process of going from a hobbyist to taking photos for a living, or indeed to just having the drive and need to improve. We all get it once in a while and it can be hard to shrug off, especially when we’re looking for a new subject or concept but feel bound by the rules. So how do we start afresh? How do we tear those blinkers off (no, stop clawing at the sides of your face – like I said, they’re metaphorical blinkers) and find a fresh new approach? This week, I think I found the answer: you have to remind yourself that photography is fun. 

Baileys - the smile maker.

At the moment, I’m undertaking a couple of portraiture projects. One of them was born of frustration, of sorts, at feeling like I had no ideas, or that anything I could think of only took a quick trip to google to discover that it had already been done. Of course it had: seeing as there are 7 billion people in the world (that’s right, I read the news), it’s quite likely that someone has had a similar idea to your incredible, totally original megaplan that just formed in your massive, omnipotent, glowing master brain. Any project I could think of seemed boring, limp, overdone, predictable, stiff, stupid, silly. The only photo work I was doing was commissioned stuff – stuff I’ve been doing for a while for which I have naturally developed a pattern. This is an inherently human problem: we are genetically programmed to recognise and find comfort in patterns, yet simultaneously, we get tired of repetition. We need variety, change, difference. This is why we are often warned about photography as a job, because we find that when it goes from a creative pastime to something we do as a matter of course or a process we repeat for cash, it becomes that other thing: it becomes work.

Just chillin'

You can imagine my delight, then, when I began this new photo project and the blinkers came flying off at speed at wild angles. Tragically, one of them flew headlong into a small boy. Thankfully this small boy is also metaphorical and represents creative inhibitions, so we can all relax. This long term project was coming along nicely, when I felt something at the sides of my face. That’s right, further blinkers, only these ones were flesh coloured and therefore harder to detect at first. I sat down and sighed heavily, like a man struggling with a tortured, extended metaphor. The subject was interesting, but I needed to mix up my approach also.

The company I am following for my project had an office party upon reaching a milestone, and I was invited. As I am both never one to turn down the opportunity to take photographs yet also never one to turn down the opportunity to party,
I found myself in something of a quandary. Then I came up with the solution: I would take my equipment, set it to an auto mode to make it at least a little foolproof, and then set them loose with it. Tonight, they would take photos of each other, in a relaxed environment where they were in control of everything. As I handed the camera over to the first willing participant, a wave of consternation laden questions passed over me. Will they be into it? What if they break the camera? Will this work, or will it just be a bunch of terrible, unusable snaps? Is this cheating? How far is too far when breaking the rules? Has the gin run out?

I have no idea what's happening here.

I was absolutely delighted to discover that almost everyone was not only willing but eager to have a go. In addition, they took greater care of my camera than I do, holding it with extreme care as if I had given them my newborn baby. I smiled as I watched the behaviour of those with the camera and how it differed from person to person. Some would try to be more stealthy in their approach, waiting to become unnoticed before firing off a few shots at distracted individuals. Others initially took the camera with some uncertainty, gingerly padding around wondering what to do. I would turn away and check back on them a few minutes later to find the same person sliding down the wall into a crouching position, snapping here, snapping there, rushing around the other side of the sofas to get that crucial shot they’d just spotted. Some would simply observe and record, whilst others would get their workmates to pose or dance or do something silly. It made me incredibly happy to see people enjoying photography, to see everyone take to it and have a go and the fun and enjoyment it was bringing them.

That’s when I had a somewhat simple yet important revelation – they were having fun with the camera. Because that’s one of the many things photography is: fun! Somewhere along the line, although I had never stopped loving what I do, I had forgotten to relax and have fun, instead of being intense and super concerned all the time when taking photos.

I also got a lot out of being on the other side of the camera. As a portrait photographer, it’s important to get a sense of how it feels to be the subject as well as the photographer. That sense of empathy can help you when it’s your turn to take photos again. I also realised that it can be easy to forget that someone is taking photos, and you get used to it more quickly than I thought. This is also useful to me, because where once I might have hesitated to shoot, because I wondered if the shot would be natural enough or if I was being overly conspicuous, it seems that often this would not have been the case.

This is Dave. He has lost.

What was even more rewarding was that the learning process did not stop there. When I uploaded the images to my machine the following day to look over them, I was initially picking out all the focusing problems, all the low lighting issues, the odd compositions with peoples’ head coming out of other peoples’ backs or not being quite right in the frame and the strange choice of angles. On my first pass through the images, I was thinking “hmmm, can’t really use that, can’t really use that, not sure about that”. On my second pass, I learned something – on at least a few images that I had supposedly looked over, I had missed some brilliant moments that made the photograph worth including, such as Dave losing at a game of Super Puzzle Fighter, his head in his hands, which was being matched by his onscreen avatar and accompanied by the word “LOSE” in big letters in the top right. It was a brilliant little image and, regardless of how much intention was behind it, it had recorded a whole story in one frame. Surely, this is the very essence of a great photograph. I had lost myself in the rule of thirds and exposure levels, looking purely at the technical and missing the artistic, the story being told in the image. It was an eye opener for me – a technically proficient image still lacks punch and excitement if there’s no story within it. It’s not that I didn’t know this, of course, but sometimes learning by experience is infinitely more valuable than learning something in theory.

If you’re feeling burnt out with your photography or you feel like you’re treading water, it’s probably because you’ve forgotten how to have fun. Don’t allow the technical to overwhelm you. Remember, photography is part science, part art, and wholly fun.

Thanks to Gareth Dutton for this. You should completely check out his work, too!

Finding the Fuji that fits

Those of us who’ve been around cameras for a while pretty much know what we want out of our magical lightbox machines when we come to upgrading or getting a new toy. But if you’re new to photography, or not surgically attached to your camera, buying one is a tricky business. There’s more choice out there than Imelda Marcos faced on a daily basis selecting a pair of shoes, from price, to spec, to how they look and feel. It’s headache-inducing. Small wonder, then, that I love things that can make choosing a camera easier for people, and I got a bit excited when I trundled over to the Fuji website and saw its new-fangled camera comparison widget.

I was all set to find the right Fuji camera for me, or more likely my camera-phobic mother. I was expecting a few simple check box questions, asking about my camera needs, my proficiency levels, and my budget. And then, whizz-bang, it’d spew out a few suggestions. But no, that was a bit too much to hope for.

Instead, you get to compare the specs side-by-side of three different cameras. You can filter your selections by series, zoom, how wide the lens is, pixel count, stabilisation, and even heaven love us, by colour. Once you’ve made your choices, you can see how your three cameras’ of choice resolutions, lenses, sensor types and size, sensitvities, screens, video capbility, and about 15 million other specifications match up against each other.

The Z90 against the JZ500 against the F600

Now that is, in itself, a fairly useful feature. But it assumes that you’ve already a good idea of what you’re looking for. Different types of camera aren’t explained. It doesn’t take into account that people might not know the difference between the X100 and the F600. It doesn’t accommodate people who aren’t sure if a bog-standard point-and-shoot is what they need, or if something a bit more zoomy will suit them better. And price doesn’t even come into it. I can imagine a first-time camera buyer taking a look at it and exclaiming something along the lines of ‘Wuh?’

Seeing as I’m being a bit picky, too, it’s usually a good idea to standardise units of comparison. So I wasn’t thrilled seeing some sensor sizes given in imperial and some in metric.

It’s hard to say that Fuji has missold this widget entirely. The tagline is ‘Find the right camera for you, review camera specifications at a glance.’ It compares camera specs, dead on. But it doesn’t really help people to find the right camera for them. Still it’s a shame. With a bit more thought, Fuji could have a developed something actually useful for its consumers, instead they’ve produced a gimmick that’s vaguely useful for some of us, and doutless overwhelming for a whole lot more.

Pity. You can go judge for yourself on the Fuji website.

Canon vs Red: The battle for amateur filmmakers is about to commence

In the Blue corner... Canon's C300

I don't want to say I told you so, but... I told you so. Specifically, I've been saying that shooting video on SLR cameras simply doesn't make sense - in some cases. Don't get me wrong; if you're a stills shooter who occasionally shoots video, knock yourself out. It's just the current wave of filmmakers shooting on SLRs that baffles me.

In that article (originally written some time last year), I'm arguing that it's only a matter of time before Canon launch a video-specific camera with an EF lens mount, so you get the best of both worlds: Access to affordable, high-quality glass, and all the features you expect from a video camera (but that tend to be lacking from an SLR camera; including things like decent video codecs, fine-adjustable frame rates, and audio recording that doesn't make you want to stab yourself in the eyeball with a 3.5mm jack plug)

It's fantastic news, then, that the EOS C300 comes along. If you look at it, it looks like the bastard lovechild of an EOS camera and a Sony Camcorder - but it's got a rather fantastic spec, which is what makes it all the more interesting.

I see that my Pixiq stablemate Jose has already beaten me to the details of the new camera, so I'd invite you over to his article to learn more, but I'd just like to talk for a minute about the implications of this...

What does it mean?

The new camera comes in two versions; The C300 comes with the EF lens mount, so you can use the incredible varied array of pre-existing EOS-series lenses with a device that's built from the bottom up to create high-quality video. In addition, there's a C300 PL version of the camera, which means you can marry up the new Canon body with any of the Arri Positive Lock lenses - that's the high-end lenses used on many a 16mm and 35mm film cameras.

The price tag of this new wünderkind is around €12,000, according to Amateur Photographer, so that probably means around £10,000 / $14,000 or thereabouts.

It's worth pointing out the obvious here: That's not pocket change. The whole reason for the video-on-SLR revolution is that it affords amateur and semi-professional filmmakers high quality video at entry-level pricing. If you're going to lay down that kind of money, there are other alternatives out there that are more tempting. Red's entry-level video snapper Scarlet, for example, comes with a £6,000 price tag, a much better set of accessories for filmmaking, and Red's cameras have had the option to use Canon EF lenses for a while, if that's your thing. It's almost obscene how thoroughly Canon has been beaten to the punch on this launch.

Not everything is lost though. Even though I have to admit that I'm disappointed by the price point, I think there's definitely a space in the market for both the C300 and the Red Scarlet. If Canon marketed their new video-cannon more in the $2,000 range, we'd have a true alternative to the 7D or 5D mk 2 for film makers. The tech included in the video camera isn't all that different from the net sum of bits and pieces that goes into one of Canon's high-end SLR cameras, so there's no particular reason for why they wouldn't be able to create the cameras at a loss for a while, until the economies of scale make the cameras profitable.

Canon certainly has its work cut out, but this is one battle where there can only be one winner: Amateur filmmakers. It's taken bloody long enough, but things are finally getting interesting in this market, and I, for one, am thoroughly looking forward to this battle!