I used to go out drinking, now i just go out thinking (how am i going to take a photo of that)

Only a few years ago i still regularly went out 'clubbing' now i only go to photography club. Oh how my life has changed.

In December i spotted an advert in a local paper advertising a new photography group starting up. Having experienced a fresh spark in interest in photography in the last half a year, due to the recent wedding photographer role, i thought id give it a try.

The group has been limited, i guess due to winter, to taking pictures inside, i personally can't wait for some warmer weather so we can go out exploring local spots together. 

Each person has been asked to bring in items they would like to photograph as well as including suitable back drops. Themes have been set, each member is able to interpret the theme and create images around the theme. Thinking of and finding objects to photograph is quite difficult in my opinion as, being honest, i have no interest in photographing objects on a table top.

Although the previous paragraph sounds negative, a positive point for the sessions is that i am learning to create images of items, objects, scenes etc that i wouldn't of previously took photos of. I suppose a professional photographer working on a job may not always be enthusiastic about the subject but they still have to create a quality piece of work regardless.

Working on a table top does test the skills; creating a scene worth capturing, finding the best composition, adjusting camera settings to capture details and to not capture others like gaps and seams in the background and finding a suitable white balance due to overhead lighting.

Most recently i was having difficulty focusing on an object using my 50mm lens. I only wanted one small object in focus however i had reached the limit of the lens and couldn't focus close enough. I had to change to a longer focal length lens and step back a bit to create the same composition. I used knowledge of how focal length affects depth of field/perspective as well as aperture to allow the desired object to be in focus and to to cause the rest to be out of focus.

There's an example of how attending the group and doing something i don't like has been an advantage of refreshing skills.

On to some of my favourite images from the sessions in December and January.

ISO 1600 f/4 1/100

ISO 1600 f/5.6 1/40 

The reflections is the ball is my favourite part of the above image.

ISO 200 f/8 1/200

The shot above was created by using the built in flash to expose the figures and my Nissin flashgun to expose the background. The reason I'm so please with the above image is that the white background was made up of many A4 pieces of paper which had horrible joins everywhere, i used my flashgun to over expose/blow out the white to create the flat background. This was my intention on the night and i was very pleased to have succeeded. The image is slightly over saturated though......my bad.

ISO 400 f/7.1 1/200

It took many attempts to achieve focus in the desired place. The image has had the contrast increased to create a harder edge between the subjects and the background.

I hope you continue to enjoy my images and honest approach.

Thanks.

Ben