I started my photography career in the early 1970s so I have thousands of slides and large and medium format transparencies in my archive. Every now and again I need to pull one out and scan one for some reason. Here are a few that I have pulled out from the box. A year in […]
Read More Egypt, transparencies, travel photography
How to fix a maddening problem common to most compact cameras: the sticking zoom. In this video shot in my gallery I show how to fix a maddening problem common to most point and shoot cameras: the sticking zoom. When the zoom either refuses to protrude at all or does so only to retract immediately […]
Read More dirty sensor, lens error, stuck zoom
‘…..what digital camera should I buy?’ is one of the most frequent questions I’m asked before starting a photo trek. To be frank it’s a bit like asking someone ‘what car should I buy?’ or ‘how long is a piece of string?’ As a general rule I suggest that if you already have (or can borrow) […]
Read More DSLR, hybrid cameras, pointandshoot, sensor cleaning, what digital camera
Is film dead ? No, it’s alive and well in medium format photography. If you want my opinion I think 35mm film is a waste of time, but as I used to teach film and old processes until last year I still think there’s a roll, sorry role, for film, namely medium format. I never […]
Read More film medium format, i20 fim, Mamiya rb 67, medium format film cameras, noblex, Polaroid 665, Polaroid negative
Want to add a bit of atmosphere to your pictures? Then you could add a bit of smoke in photos. One way is to hire a smoke machine, but a more economical way is a simple bee-gun (0r bee-smoker) that bee-keepers use to get into their hives. This burns hessian rags or better still in […]
Read More bee-gun. bee-smoker, smoke, smoke in photography
Filters in the digital age. Photo filters are still useful. Although the effects of filters can be duplicated in Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture etc there is a strong case for creating the effect during the shoot. I use the following: Soft, neutral grey gradual, polariser, neutral density. Soft focus filter. A soft focus filter will […]
Read More cokin filters, cokin system, grad, graduated, Portait photography, Soft focus
In these days of miraculous stitching software is it worth investing in a panoramic head? Well I think so. I use a Manfrotto 438 ( €55/ £50/$75) levelling base, and a 410 geared head(€200)- plus the indispensable hot shoe spirit level (about €5 from eBay the best fiver a photographer ever spent) A panoramic head will ease your Photoshop work […]
Read More hot-shoe spirit level, levelling head, manfrotto 438, manfrotto junior 410, panoramic head, panoramic spirit level