Remez Ramblings

Yesterday, Helen Boaden (BBC Director of News) led a minutes silence, followed by the release of 50 balloons - each marking a day in captivity endured by BBC correspondent Alan Johnston.

Shooting white balloons against a very bright and sunny sky is a challenge, so I relied on the almost miraculous levels of detail retained when shooting in RAW that would have otherwise been lost. Using Lightroom’s recovery tool, and reducing the luminance of the blue channel, to darken the sky, I managed to get an image which refkected what I could see, but was way beyond the limits of any digital camera sensor.

To show your support for the release of Alan, please consider posting the badge on the right on your blog, or sign the online petition .

The depth of field (DOF) is the area of the photo that is in focus. The things you can change to alter the depth of field are to alter the aperture, the focal length, or the distance from the subject.

I’m very fond of very tight depths of field (with portraits, often I have the eyes in focus, but the eyebrows are already out of focus), but at times, it’s good to use larger ones.

By having a larger depth of field, you improve the chances of the shot being in focus, you show the whole of a person (if it’s a portrait) in focus, and finally, and most relevant here, is you can show the person within a context or environment, as opposed to just being surrounded by smooth blurred colours.

Wedding photos tend to be about the bride and groom etc. Why not take the opportunity to shoot something a little different?

Admittedly as a wedding photographer, you get to see the preparations in the morning, which gives you better opportunities for fun shots, but even as a guest, it’s worth keeping your eyes open.

I love this shot of one of the bridesmaids being strapped in. I think it’s its abstractness and bold colours that appeal.

Anyway, go to a wedding, and take some fun and different photos!

Nifty came to work with me on Friday, and although I couldn’t get any exciting glamourous shots, I thought I’d go back to basics with a black and white portrait.

The first step to having a black and white portrait, is to get a colour portrait - it sounds obvious, but the best way to get a good black and white portrait is to get a sound colour one.

There are a million and one ways to convert colour shots to black and white, using the channel mixer is my favoured technique in Photoshop, and I’m discovering a million more in Lightroom.

What it does mean, is that you have no excuse not to try some black and white portraits. Black and white portraits are more flattering than colour, and have a timeless appeal.

Go on, try a black and white portrait!

I’m looking after a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens while it makes its way around the world. It’s called Nifty, and it travels in a tupperware alongside souvenirs from around the world.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make, is that whilst it’s an incredibly cheap lens, the image quality, and creative possibilities it offers are superb. Its image quality easily rivals zoom lenses that cost 4 or times as much, and given it’s large (f1/.8) maximum aperture, it allows you to shoot in low light, and to create very narrow depths of field, while the background melts away into smooth smudges of colour.

An added advantage of shooting with a prime lens, is that it makes you think more about the composition - you can zoom with your feet, but if you can’t move enough, it makes you think about what other shots you could make (that you normally wouldn’t have thought about).

If you have only ever shot with the lens that came with your camera, find yourself a 50mm f/1.8 lens - almost all manufacturers make them, and they’re almost always the cheapest proper lens that they offer.

Give it a go, shoot with a prime. Not only are budget 50mm lenses generally of amazing quality, they open up types of photography that wouldn’t otherwise be possible!

There’s often the tempation when shooting in poor light to get the fastest lens possible, and up the ISO, to ensure fast shutter speeds.

Actually, sometimes solid support, and slower shutter speeds are better. I was lucky enough to shoot at a small gig this week, and one of the bands there were the awesome The Rumble Strips.

The drummer was superb, and (even though this isn’t my favourite shot from the night, it illustrates the point well) I deliberately knocked down the shutter speed to capture his frenetic movement. Sure (actually it would have been tricky as I was shooting at f/2 at ISO 1600) I could have got the shutter speed faster, but it just wouldn’t have had the same mood.

Even if you can’t shoot at a gig like this, find a local pub which has a live night, and ask to shoot - no unsigned band will say no to the opportunity of getting some decent shots of them performing, then keep the shutter speed up, but just not too fast!

It’s sometimes easy to forget the power of photographs. They can cause great pain and distress, but they can also give hope, and support.

The BBC correspondent based in Gaza, Alan Johnston disappeared over two weeks ago. Since then, Mark Thompson (BBC Director General) has spoken to staff twice. This week, a link up was made between Television Centre in West London, and Simon Wilson (BBC Jerusalem Bureau Editor) in Gaza.

Pictured here, (from l to r) are Mark Byford - Deputy Director General of the BBC ,Helen Boaden- Director of BBC News , Mark Thompson - Director General of the BBC, Tamer Almisshal a producer who worked with Alan in Gaza, and Jon Williams – BBC Foreign Editor .

Hopefully this shot will show Alan’s family that in addition to the huge numbers of staff who have attended the two vigils held in TVC (as well as at other BBC offices), the very top of the organisation is committed to his safety - who knows, maybe he will see this image, and it will give him the hope required to make it through this terrible time.

I feel distinctly uncomfortable when I don’t have my camera with me. You never know when you’ll see something worth shooting, and today I had such a moment. This is Robert Garside. He is the first confirmed man to run round the world. Yes, the whole world - 29 countries across 6 continents!

He was presented with his certificate this morning, and as I was passing, I saw a couple of photographers (and in fact, one of them was at the launch of The Apprentice last week!), so pulled out my camera and snapped a couple of shots.

Now, this isn’t a wonderful work of art, but it’s not a bad shot, and it was only because I had my camera with me, and I know how to use it inside out, that I was able to grab a decent shot.

So, always have your camera with you, RTFM, and learn to become proficient with your kit under any circumstance.
Edit: Not to put the dampener on his celebrations, but this guardian article throws more doubt on the validity of his achievement. I’m certainly suprised that lots of footage of him running in front of landmarks around the world is enough evidence - he could have simply had a moped around the corner, and gone round the world on that!

One of the advantages of having a camera with a small sensor is that it’s easy and cheap to make lenses that focus to very close distances. Combined with the increased depth of field that the very wide lenses have (and the slower shutter speeds you can handhold them), means that they’re really good for macro style shots.

It’s also easier with a small child to point a mobile phone or small camera at them, than a digital SLR with a great big lens on the front (although Jack is getting better when the camera comes out).

Anyway, this means that mobile phones, and small compact cameras are really good for close up macro style portraits (or still life, or whatever). This one was shot with my K800i with no flash (in fact, 1/20s, f/2.8 at ISO 200).

Admittedly they need more careful processing - here, I used the high pass sharpening method to sharpen the detail, but not sharpen the noise (yes, even at ISO 200 mobile phone cameras exhibit noise!), boosted the saturation a smidgeon, and cropped into 3:2 (I just couldn’t help myself!)

Go on, try some mobile macro magic! (Also featured on PhotoCritic )

This morning at the London Stock Exchange saw the press launch of the third series of The Apprentice, which sees Sir Alan Sugar (centre) and his two trusted advisors Margaret Mountford (left - if you couldn’t guess), and Nick Hewer (well, he’s got to be on the right!) whittle down a pool of candidates to the successful winner who will land a £100,000 job in one of Sir Alan’s companies.

The conditions for the shoot were far from ideal. Initially, it was to be outside with plenty of space, next to the London Stock Exchange logo. Unforunately, it was moved inside, to a small balcony, where there was little space, and the photographers were crammed in.

This was a real lesson in RTFM. Unless you do press photography for a living you may think that you won’t have to use it under pressure - well, if you want to take shots of your kids doing something funny, or performing on sports day, you need to learn to use your equipment. If you don’t, then you’ll miss out on countless shots.

Now, I didn’t get any beautiful shots, but then the photocall was for press shots, which are always rushed, and never of the quality that can be achieved at a dedicated shoot.

Go on, actually read the manuals for your kit, and practise using it - even when you really know it, it can be challenging when under pressure. (There’s probably also a lesson for the contestants!)

Series 3 of The Apprentice starts on 28th March, 9pm, BBC one.