The Five Best Photo Locations in Copenhagen.

The Five Best Photo Locations in Copenhagen.

 

A summer break in Copenhagen is highly recommended if you have never been to Denmark. The sun and heat is enjoyed by all the locals.

 

As an introduction to the most common places you must visit we’re presenting you with this 3-hour photo walk. If you wish to cover more area more quickly bicycles are a great alternative. Or even a very different perspective can be had from the water if you want to choose a canal tour. Copenhagen is a neat city and you will notice its cleanliness as well as its flat roads which makes it easy to get around, whichever means of transport you choose to take.

 

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Beginning at Frederik’s Church and Amalienborg Palace.

Amalienborg Palace is where Princess Mary lives and is a good place to start your walk. There are no walls or fences, unlike, say, Buckingham Palace in London. You can take photos of the guards and freely walk around the facade of all the buildings. Frederik’s Church is an Evangelical Lutheran Church and is popularly known as The Marble Church due to its Rococo architecture. The Marble Church is easily one of the most impressive churches of the city and with its characteristic copper green dome is an awe inspiring building.

 

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Nyhavn.

Filled with restaurants and townhouses Nyhavn is a bright historic canal front. You can have the obligatory Danish hotdog at a food stall in this tourist hub. If you are lucky you can catch a nice sunset facing west along the canal. Cities all around the world are now looking at ways to copy the phenomenon of the Danes’s love for cycling and Copenhagen is considered as one of the “world’s most livable cities” and has been voted as the “best city for cyclists.” With over 390 kilometers of designated bike lanes Copenhagen really is a biking haven for the cyclist.

 

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Royal Danish Library – Black Diamond.

An extension of the Royal Library is The Black Diamond which was finished in 1999. The interior from the top floor looking down the escalators looks like a guitar and its exterior show the building having shiny black facets which mirror the sea and the sky at the harbour front.

Inside the atrium is lit up by a large incision that cleaves the building into two formations. The atrium connects the city with the sea outside as well as the old and new library buildings. Weighing approximately one metric ton per meter are large iron girders which hold the glass facade together.

 

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Church of Our Saviour – Vor Frelsers Kirke.

This 17th-century place of worship with a carillon and 400 steps is a baroque edifice with a corkscrew spire. You can get some spectacular views of the city from here on a clear day. This is such an important location and landmark because of all the religions in Denmark the most prominent is Christianity in the form of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. You can find some insight as to how the Danes live on houseboats when you take a stroll along the narrow canals nearby.

 

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Christiansborg Palace.

Offices such as the Danish Parliament Folketinget, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of State are all located on the tiny island of Slotsholmen where Christiansborg Palace is situated. Parts of the palace are used by the Royal Family for various functions and events. Foreign ambassadors to Denmark are received by the Queen in the Royal Reception Rooms, including the Tower Room and the Oval Throne Room. The Throne Room gives access to the balcony where the Danish monarchs are proclaimed.

 

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On your walk back from here to Copenhagen Train Station you can also stop at the Town Hall and Tivoli Amusement Park. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, also in Denmark.

 

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Words by Elijah (Content Marketer) via Fstoppers.

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Off-Camera Flash Photography To Help You Perfect The Strobist Effect.

One of the easiest ways to achieve amazing portraits is to utilize off-camera flash.

You’ll be amazed at how you can transform your photos by simply taking your flash off-camera if your only experience of using flash is the disappointing result you got with it fitted to the camera’s hotshoe.

Whether it’s the dramatic results of underexposing the background and employing the flash as your main light source, or using flash to fill in the harsh shadows you get in bright sunlight, with a few simple photography tips you can create a range of lighting effects.

Popular among a group of photographers known as strobists is this technique of underexposing the background and employing the flash as the main light source. Largely thanks to the blog of American photographer David Hobby has arisen a vibrant and enthusiastic online community who practise this art of off-camera flash.

To master this once “secret” art he has helped demystify the techniques and technology with his no-nonsense explanations. Using automatic TTL exposure metering with wireless-compatible flashguns for your system it is possible to achieve the strobist look.

 

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Prepare the built-in flash.

Firstly, you need to turn of any built-in flash when setting up your camera to command a wireless flash system. Change the built-in flash setting to Off (–) by entering the Commander section to find the Custom Shooting menu where you will find the Bracketing/flash section, as on a Nikon body – the exact menu may differ depending on your camera, however, but the method is still the same.

 

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Set the group and channel.

To control the off-camera flash you will need to select the settings that control it. Select TTL from the Group A settings when scrolling down. The external flash is controlled by the channel that you select when changing the settings – in this case, it’s Channel 1.

 

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Set up the flash gun.

Make sure the wireless flashgun is set to Remote. Make sure that the Group is set to A and the Channel is set to 1 to ensure you have selected the same group and channel settings that you have used on the camera.

 

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Position and soften the flash.

You can position the flash either on a lighting stand or a normal tripod now that the basic off-camera settings are done. To make sure that the flash is just out of frame you’re going to want to place the flash to the left and slightly above the subject to create dramatic side-lighting for your shot.

 

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Underexpose the background.

The wireless system will need a direct line of sight between the front of the flash and the camera if you’re not using radio triggers, so, it’s best to take a test shot with the camera set to f/8 on Aperture Priority mode. By setting the exposure compensation to -1 stop you can underexpose the background to give your shot more impact.

 

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Adjust the flash exposure.

You’ll need to increase the exposure from the flash to properly expose the subject as the underexposure will affect both the flash and the ambient exposure. To do this adjust the exposure compensation setting of Group A to +1 stop by going into the Commander setting on the camera.

The rest, they say, is up to you!

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Just starting out? Get to grips with these camera functions before anything else

I was one of the lucky ones, starting out on a non-digital SLR camera. An Olympus OM-1 where loading the film was the first really important ‘setting’ I had to master. Then there was the ASA and the Manual Focus – two features that no longer exist / are necessary with today’s modern marvels.

The Photography Workshops that I teach in Copenhagen always start out in the exact same fashion, but each and every trainee learns in a different way. So today I thought I’d write a blog post to clearly outline the First Five Things you should understand about your camera.

ISO

This is where I start on every photoshoot. The first question I ask myself is, what are the lighting conditions like? Most cameras have an ISO button somewhere on the camera, or failing that, actually inside the menu settings.

Basically, the ISO controls How Sensitive the Sensor is to Light. The lower the number, the less sensitive. So on a bright sunny day in the middle of summer, when the light is super strong and bright, the sensor doesn’t need to work too hard to soak up any available light. So it chills out. I tend to set my ISO between 100-200 on a day like that. If it’s looking a bit cloudy or overcast, then I start around 400. Moving inside where the light is diminished? Crank it up to at least 800 and adjust as necessary.

Unfortunately increasing the ISO comes at a price: pixel noise and grain. The amount differs from camera to camera, but you can generally except that anything above 800 is going to give your pictures a grainy quality and even a few random dots of blue, red and green. This is caused by the sensor heating up as it goes in to overdrive. But remember, it’s better to have a noisy, sharp image than a blurry one. More on that later…

White Balance

Our eyes, over millions of years, have evolved to recognise whiteness. Camera’s, on the other hand, have not. That’s because white light is made up of the seven colours of the rainbow, and therefore not all light sources produce the same colour. Take, for instance, your bedside lamp. It has an orange tinge to it (quite a powerful one, actually) so the cast it produces over everything in the room looks a bit orange, too. In photography we call this colour cast Tungsten.

And then there’s that horrible green colour cast produced by fluorescent lights. My gran’s kitchen has them, and so do most buildings and subway tunnels that are lit up in the evening. When photographing in cities at night, the amount of background light from fluorescent bulbs is pretty high.

When photographing in these situations we have to tell our cameras what light sources we are shooting in. Most of the time Auto does a pretty good job, but that’s not always the case. For instance, on a cloudy day red is the first colour in the spectrum to fade away (just like underwater). Red has the shortest wavelength of them all, which is why it’s the first to go. So in these conditions the camera needs a little help putting the red back in. Selecting the Cloudy White Balance option will achieve this result, and it also helps make skin tones appear warmer. Most photographers will use this WB setting even when it’s not cloudy, especially when photographing people.

Metering

Often overlooked by many amateur photographers, the metering settings can make all the difference to your photos.

Most cameras come with three basic settings: Matrix, Spot and Centre-Weighted. So let’s imagine our viewfinder as we look through the camera prior to taking a picture. Depending on the make and model, each camera has a number of areas located on the sensor that record the amount of light that hits it. If we imagine our viewfinder represents what the sensor eventually sees, then we can easily grasp what is dark (a black jacket, maybe), what is light (the sun in the background) and any grey bits in between (the road our model is standing on, for example).

In Matrix Metering (where I live 90% of the time) the sensor takes a light reading from as many of these areas as possible (again, depending on the make and model) and produces an average. In other words, yes the bright sun will play an important factor in the final image, but so too will the dark jacket and the light bouncing off the grey road.

But there are times when you don’t want all light sources considered. Like when the church doors open and the bride and her father are standing there for the first time. Behind them both you can be sure there’ll be a huge patch of bright light streaming in from outside. If this light makes up the majority of your scene, then the bride and her dad are gonna be silhouettes pretty much. Not good. In a perfect world you’ll be using flash, but that’s not always allowed or possible. So change over to Spot Metering, or maybe even Centre-Weighted. The difference between the two is that Spot will only take a light reading from the focus point you have set in your camera, whereas Centre-Weighted will do the same, but will also include anything that tightly surrounds this area.

A good way to practice this is to find something small and black, like a cup or a button, and place it in front of a bright light source. The sun or a torch will do. Then snap away using all three metering options and check out the results. Chances are, though, that you’ll remain in Matrix most of the time.

Shutter

The difference between a nice sharp image and one with motion blur is all down to what shutter speed you select.

Try to imagine water running through a tap and collecting in a bowl. The longer you leave that tap on, the more water you’re going to get. The same applies to photography, where the bowl becomes the sensor, the water becomes light, and the amount of time you leave the tap on equates to how long you leave your shutter open.

The shutter works a lot like a pair of curtains. If you opened the curtains for a split second then you’d’ only get a glimpse of what was happening outside. But if you leave them open for longer then you start to witness so much more. Cars driving past, or someone jogging by. How much of this you want to see depends on you and what mood you’re in.

Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and fractions of. So a three second exposure would appear as 3″ on your camera, whereas 250th of a second would appear thus: 1/250 or just 250.

Generally speaking, I was always told to never go lower than 1/80th of a second, simply because I couldn’t hold the camera steady enough. Nowadays I can hold it at much slower speeds, but it’s a good rule of thumb if you’re just starting out. Maybe even 1/125th just to make sure. Over time you can practice your technique and hone your skills, but for now this is a good place to start.

NB: If you use a flash on your camera, make sure you have a shutter speed SLOWER than 1/250, otherwise your images will get two underexposed bars at the top and bottom known as banding.

Aperture

Ah, the Golden Nugget and the subject I have to repeat throughout the workshops. The most confusing thing about it is the fact that opposites apply here. Let me explain.

Going back to our tap image, this time we’re going to have two side-by-side. The setup is exactly the same, but the diameter of the first tap is one inch and the second is two inches. By leaving both taps running for ten seconds, which bowl will have the most water?

Of course, the correct answer is the second tap, because twice as much water is escaping through the two inch diameter than the one inch.

In photography, the lenses that we buy each come with a minimum and maximum diameter. And because we photographers ‘paint with light’, then the manufacturers know that we want more diameter to play with, which equals a more expensive lens.

So if a perfect circle is represented by the number 1, then we know that the larger the number, the SMALLER the aperture. i.e. less light reaching the sensor. Take a look at any of your lenses and you’ll notice on the barrel or just above the glass a bunch of numbers. One group will look like this 1:3.5/5.6. This number shows us that particular lens’s MAXIMUM aperture (how wide it will go). The reason you have 3.5/5.6 is because (in this case) you’re using a zoom lens. In other words, a lens that can take a wide landscape picture, maybe at 17mm, and then can zoom in on something far away, say, 55mm. When shooting the wide 17mm picture, the widest possible aperture that can be achieved by camera and lens is 3.5, but when shooting at 55mm that aperture shrinks even more, giving you f5.6 (apertures are measured in Focal Stops, called f numbers).

Right now you might be asking, why would I want to use anything higher than f5.6? Well, there are two reasons. The first is that, obviously, going all the way to f22 can be useful on a bright sunny day. The aperture ring is tiny at f22, so less light is getting through, meaning we can have a slower shutter speed if we want to show something moving (think of the knob of the tap and the diameter of the tap working together in harmony to get just the right amount of water in the bowl – as you increase or decrease one, you must do the opposite with the other).

The second reason is Depth of Field. DoF determines how much of your image is in focus and how much isn’t. When we shoot at f1.4 or f2.8 we get lots of light to work with, but we also get a small depth of field. In other words, the subject is very sharp and in focus, but immediately the background starts to lose focus, as does the foreground. This is a nice technique for portraits or close-ups of products, because the viewer automatically focuses on what’s sharp – the subject.

But if we take a nice landscape of a beach with some mountains in the background then we want most, if not all, of it in focus. That’s when we’d dial it up to f22 or even f36 if your camera allows it. In these circumstances you’d probably need a tripod, because as the amount of light decreases through the narrow aperture, so increases the amount of time the shutter needs to remain open for to compensate for that lack of light. Remember, slow shutter speeds equal motion, so your camera needs to be super steady.

Which brings us nicely back to the start: your ISO settings.

The aperture or shutter speeds you choose are all down to the ISO you select in the beginning. If your sensor is sensitive to the light then a wide aperture letting in lots of light is gonna burn it. Like throwing bleach on a pair of jeans. But choosing a lower ISO makes that Bleach Assault seem more like a little sprinkling instead.

Of course, it’s entirely down to you which settings you choose, but hopefully this is blog post can help you make a much more informed decision. So get out there, start learning how to use that tiny but amazing machine in your hand, and let me know how you get on…

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I’ve only got one pair of hands… until now!

Finding a solution to doing everything myself has long been at the top of my long list of priorities.

I’ve found over the years, that it’s definitely getting easier to outsource some of the work I do, especially when students answer the call for unpaid work experience. Naturally I also receive a lot of requests from amateur photographers asking if I ever need a spare pair of hands. I’m flattered, of course, and wish I could accommodate them all in my growing business. Sadly it’s not that easy, although I do have a small team of guys I go to when I need a second photographer or an assistant to help me out, and this seems to be working out.

In particular, a former Photography Workshop attendee called David looked after the business last year whilst I took a four-week vacation to the other side of the world. David took on several assignments on my behalf and was just a phone call away whenever I needed him. Without his help I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the holiday, and I might not have been able to go at all! Since then David has started his own photography business, and he often assists me during weddings and portrait shoots. He even speaks Spanish, which came as a great surprise when one of my clients from South America started conversing with him. There was even a client whose grandmother spoke no Engish, only Spanish, and yet David was able to chat with her and make her feel welcome. I should at this point mention that David is German, and therefore speaks that language as well. It all helps.

Inundated with requests

Another guy who’s been backing me up is fellow Brit, Matt Marsh. Matt contacted me a couple of years ago wanting to assist whenever possible, and later told me I was the only one in Denmark who answered his email. It’s unfortunate news, but it probably happens a lot. As I mentioned earlier, I get inundated with such requests, and have started to feel frustrated that I can’t really help most of them anymore. Matt’s timing was perfect, and thankfully we’ve struck up a good business relationship and friendship. It always helps to reminisce with someone from your country of birth, even if that person is 15 years younger than you!

What I like most about Mr. Marsh is his ability to listen and learn, as well as his willingness to crack on with the job. In journalism, deadlines and communication are paramount, and Matt is pretty good at fulfilling both. He’s also gone on to start his own business, and is working hard at networking and perfecting his craft.

Joseph Miller is the third (but not final) name on my list. Originally from Wales, Joe now lives in Malmø in Sweden, yet commutes to Copenhagen every day for work. Joe approached me in a similar manner; eager to get back in to journalism and photography. Since then, Joe has heeded my advice and regularly finds himself photographing live music concerts all around Europe. Not only that, but his writing style is fresh and unique and he’s contributed a couple of articles to my own personal blog.

Joining forces

So this year the four of us decided to become a team and start a brand new venture. The Copenhagen Photographers website is already live, but we are still in the process of ironing out the creases before we start producing regular content. Trying to find ways to fund it is a real head-scratcher, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. You can go take a look if you want.

Which leads me nicely to the final gentleman in this ongoing search for permanent assistants, and fingers crossed I may have found “the one.” Elijah James and I go back a long way – 19 years, in fact – and have been through a lot together. Maybe one day we’ll get round to telling his full story (I like a good tale, me) but for now we’ll keep it clean. Elijah (or Murdy as I like to call him) and I used to play in a band together, and I was always struck by his forward-thinking approach to our image and marketing strategy. He had ideas the rest of us would never even dream of, and he just looked awesome on stage. One time he stitched a triangular cut of Adidas material from his joggers straight in to a pair of bell-bottom jeans and looked absolutely rock-n-roll.

On another occasion he ordered us to print a bunch of posters for an upcoming gig (one we hadn’t even booked) with the words CANCELLED pasted over the top. His idea was that the poster stood out more with the word CANCELLED on it, and when we replaced them with BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND posters the fans (and soon-to-be fans) would take notice. I have no idea whether or not it worked directly, but in the space of a year we were selling out local venues that wouldn’t even let us play 12 months previously.

A blog you’ll want to visit

As of yesterday, Elijah and I have been collaborating on the Photography by Matthew James project and I have high hopes. His ideas are already producing interesting results, and the goal of making this journal an interesting place to visit now-and-then is at the forefront of the brainstorming process. But don’t expect me to give away any secrets just yet…

The business is now entering its fifth year, and I’m reminded of a photographer I met here in Copenhagen at the start of my journey. It takes about five years to build a network, he told me, so if you can hang tight that long you should start to see major results. Well, I’m pleased to say that I’ve been seeing strong results ever since I opened my door to other people, and sharing my daily business struggles with them. It’s not been an easy process, nor have I always been willing to share all my trade secrets. But to quote Elijah himself, the only person you’re in competition with is yourself.

I trust you’ll all join me in welcoming another Mr. James to the fold, and I hope you enjoy what’s to come.

This blog post originally appeared on www.photographybymatthewjames.com

Photography’s Commitment To The Environment

When we think of sustainability our attention is obviously drawn to areas such as fossil fuels like oil and gas and, especially, these days, that is to what the media’s attention relates to also. However, with that being said, what people do on a daily basis and the...

Aerial Photography Protecting The Planet

Aboard a tethered balloon, from an altitude of nearly 500 meters, when Gaspard-Félix “Nadar” Tournachon photographed Paris from above was the moment when we can trace the roots of aerial photography right back to 1858. Before airplanes entered the picture, photos were...

Regular Photography Turned Inside Out as Fujifilm X-Pro3 Officially Arrives

As part of a drive to rediscover “pure photography” is a rear screen that has been turned inside out.   Innovative Feature Tilting the screen downwards to become visible, the rear screen that faces inwards not outwards,is a bizarre yet extraordinary feature...

Depth Of Field

What is depth of field in photography, and how do you control it? There are many terms which relate to a shallow or large depth of field in photography and photographers will bandy about these terms such as “hyperfocal distance”, “creamy bokeh”, “shooting wide open”,...

Stroboscopic Portraits

Use your unit’s strobe function to achieve rapid-fire flash and capture incredible staccato action.   Pulsing Flash A pulsing flash that fires lots of times during a long exposure can create a stop-motion effect by freezing the action multiple times as the...

Cheap Photography Projects’ Creative Lighting Ideas

Get creative with your images by using these lighting hacks to shoot cheap but conceptual photography. Beauty in Simplicity You don’t necessarily need to use top-of-the-line kit in order to capture brilliant photos. To help you inject some creative lighting into your...

Defining Street Photography, the Cartier-Bressonian Way

Street Photography pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson has come to define the way the photography industry thinks about the genre. This article draws on sources that explains the way the genre has taken shape. Defining Street Photography Of what constitutes “street...

Even Photography Boffs Will Be Impressed By Polaroid’s New Camera.

    Vintage but not backwards. Whatever is in style right now, it seems, can make us feel like we’re in another decade. Vintage fashion, retro cars, and record players are all making a comeback.  Making the decision to jump in on the action, and by doing so...

Rear Curtain Sync.

With streaks going in the right direction, this article examines how to capture streaky headlight shots.   By combining flash with a long exposure you can achieve some great shots. You can get ghostly movement blur and trails of light from moving light sources if...

Tips For Using a Snoot in Photography.

Learn how to use a “snoot” in your photography to control the light and create theatrical lighting with your hot-shoe flash.   Even though it can often be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut a flashgun is always a handy tool to have in your camera bag....

Famous Photographs That Inspired Film.

There has always been a sibling-like relationship between film and photography.   “The Horse in Motion” (1878) was a famous photographic series using an early movie projector called the zoopraxiscope invented by Eadweard Muybridge, a 19th-century photographer who...

UV Photography: tips for blacklight.

Blacklight photography can be great for shooting portraits so we are “shedding some light on the dark art” to reveal the secret of mastering ultraviolet photography!   You would most commonly see blacklight, or UV lighting, in nightclubs. White objects radiate...

Copenhagen Photographer Casper Sejersen’s One, Two, Three, Four.

Casper Sejersen Debut Exhibition. Set to the beat of a drum, Copenhagen-based photographer Casper Sejersen takes us on an unsettling visual journey in his debut exhibition.     Alluring Yet Uncomfortable. Copenhagen-based Danish photographer Casper...

Photos Reveal Copenhill Ski Slope on Amager Bakke Plant.

    Copenhill Ski Slope atop Amager Bakke Plant. Coloured in vibrant shades of green an artificial ski slope on the roof of the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen has been captured in images by Danish photographer Rasmus Hjortshøj.  The centre...

The Five Best Photo Locations in Copenhagen.

  A summer break in Copenhagen is highly recommended if you have never been to Denmark. The sun and heat is enjoyed by all the locals.   As an introduction to the most common places you must visit we’re presenting you with this 3-hour photo walk. If you wish...

And Slash Makes Four

It’s not everyday one gets to say this, but I do believe I’ve completed my to-do list. In this case it’s a list that involves four musicians, who I always hoped I would one day get to photograph. Copenhell Festival Last week saw the rock festival Copenhell return to...

Photographer’s Picture of Bald Eagle Gets Overwhelming Response

The worldwide response to a photograph of a bald eagle has overwhelmed a Canadian amateur photographer who took the picture.   Initially posted on Facebook photography groups, Steve Biro snapped the image of Bruce the bald eagle at the Canadian Raptor...

Off-Camera Flash Photography To Help You Perfect The Strobist Effect.

One of the easiest ways to achieve amazing portraits is to utilize off-camera flash. You’ll be amazed at how you can transform your photos by simply taking your flash off-camera if your only experience of using flash is the disappointing result you got with it fitted...

Ex-Oasis Photographer warns UK Risks Losing Classic Rock Archives.

Unless a dedicated museum is set up British musical history may be lost. According to one of The UK’s most celebrated photographers unless a dedicated museum is set up to preserve large swathes of classic British rock photography it could lose them all to private...

Samsung reveals a phone with screens on both sides which could change photography forever.

Screens are multiplying! Offering photographers a truly revolutionary ability, Samsung has designed a smartphone with two or more screens.   The front and back display on the device has just been granted a patent. The gadget will be able to run speech translation...

Viral Photographer Quits To Make Bread.

Viral Photographer Quits To Make Bread. Amassing over 300,000 followers after dreamlike photos from Burning Man Festival went wildly viral online a few years ago, photographer Victor Habchy went on to become a Sony ambassador as his career took off. But, as of last...

First Professional Wedding Gig Shot by Photography Robot.

Would you hire a robot for your big day? Making the rounds for a few years now has been the news that robots are coming for our jobs. Many of us have nothing to fear despite automation increasingly taking over our lives, unless you’re a wedding photographer, maybe? A...

The World’s Creamiest Bokeh.

    Full-Frame 50mm Lens with Aperture of f/0.35. The world’s creamiest bokeh (definition: the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image) can be whipped up to give us incredible subject separation through the use of huge apertures. In...

Colour Photography Pioneer’s Images of Old Russia.

    Way Before Instagram A Revolution in the Use of Filters was Taking Place. Deep scientific roots underlie the art form we know of as photography today. Early pinhole cameras were both described by Euclid and Aristotle in ancient Greece. In order to...

Making a Living in Photography in 2019.

    How Viable is it Being a Professional Photographer? Whilst being both stuck in its ways and simultaneously forever changing, photography is indeed a strange profession. The majority of the profession work in a very different way to the old guard who...

The Hidden Colours of the Moon Revealed by Photographer.

A Mineral Impact. Different minerals impact the Moon’s surface leaving different splashes of colour as shown by the enhanced photo of the Moon created by extracting colour data from 150,000 photos of the Moon composed by Sacramento-based astrophotography enthusiast...

Piccadilly Circus’ Neon Lights Reflected By Shiny Cars: the Photography of Nick Turpin.

    Advertising Reflecting. In London’s Piccadilly Circus vehicles are caught reflecting advertising to show how modern life embraces consumerism as shown by photographer Nick Turpin in his latest series, “Autos.” “Shiny new vehicles passing through the city...

Nobody Talks About The Problem With Camera Phones.

The camera itself was the biggest problem with camera phones once upon a time.   Released in 2000, the J-SH04 was one of the world’s first camera phones. Things have come a long way since then. Tiny 0.11 megapixel images was all it could shoot. To give their...

What Is The Focus of Your Photography?

Does your photography have a point? And how can your images engage with more viewers?   You can help define your photography by implementing these few very helpful following techniques, especially if you have reached that stage where it may be a struggle to...

Capturing Cancer: Tumour Cells in Action.

Every year, researchers submit extraordinary images to the Science and Medical Imaging competition which tells the story of pioneering work and its benefits for patients. Replicating cancer cells invade the blood vessels.     Each year, The Institute of...

Selfie Harm.

Selfie Harm. Witness the scary results of Photoshopped portraits done by teens at the behest of professional photographer Rankin as part of his project called “Selfie Harm.”     Unnaturally Perfect. Unnaturally perfect social media photos are being made...

Young Marketing Guru Who Helped Photo of Egg Go Viral on Instagram.

Going Viral Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks you should be fully aware of the photo of an egg that went viral and claimed the top spot for having the most liked photo on Instagram. The simple photo of an ordinary, brown egg has garnered...

The Story of the Desert as Told by the Dubai Photography Exhibition: Inhabited Deserts.

Dramatic Landscapes. Some of the most dramatic landscapes across the world have been captured by UAE-based explorer Max Calderan and Italian photographer John R Pepper through their much renowned collaboration. It was never going to be the usual desert landscapes when...

What Is The Best Aperture and Focal Length For Portraits?

Get The Basics of Portrait Photography Right. You’ve probably asked yourself what is the best aperture and focal length to use if you’re just getting started in portrait photography. You can produce very different effects with your subjects by changing the aperture...

Psychedelic Images of Tokyo by Jean-Vincent Simonet.

Psychedelic Experience. Tokyo at night can be a near-psychedelic experience in itself, and this is echoed in the warped images created by Swiss photographer Jean-Vincent Simonet who prints onto plastic paper then washes the photograph with chemicals, all part of his...

The $90.3 Million Painting That Reveals Unique Photography Methods.

A Masterful Piece of Art. The 1972 painting entitled “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” by legendary British painter David Hockney fetched the highest auction price ever for a living artist as it sold for a jaw-dropping $90.3 million last month. A man in...

X-Ray Apparatus & Concrete Pyramids: Guy Hollaway’s Photography Studio.

The Process Gallery. Distinctive works are created using X-Ray equipment, housed in a concrete pyramid chamber, by British photographer Nick Veasey, who has had a studio built and completed by Guy Hollaway Architects.     Inquisitive. Designed to be an...

Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards Reveal Hilarious Winning Images.

World’s Funniest Animal! And the world’s funniest animal photograph of the year goes to a squirrel who thinks he’s Tommy Cooper, writes The Express. The world’s funniest animal photograph of the year has been judged to be what appears to be a cheeky squirrel pictured...

Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards Reveal Hilarious Winning Images.

World’s Funniest Animal! And the world’s funniest animal photograph of the year goes to a squirrel who thinks he’s Tommy Cooper, writes The Express. The world’s funniest animal photograph of the year has been judged to be what appears to be a cheeky squirrel pictured...

Vanishing From The Museums.

Confronting the absent. Largely absent from Parissien museums are works and faces of photographic pioneers who have become invisible; so, curator Fannie Escoulen is inviting visitors to walk across the city and confront it.   “The history of photography has been...

Analogue Limelight

In an increasingly digitalised world, why is there still a special place for the physical? After connecting on Instagram around two years ago, James Moreton and Raph Hurwitz conceived AllFormat - a global photography collective. After developing a loyal community of...

A Career Shaped By The Photograph

Starting Out For more than three decades the biggest names in show business have been photographed by Derek Ridgers, but it all began by chance, one night in Finsbury Park, north London. With a Miranda SLR slung over his shoulder, Ridgers walked into the Rainbow...

Facebook Bans a Photographer Who Innocently Posted About ‘Shooting a Few Christians.’

Double Entendre When it comes to the word “shooting,” photographers can be subject to endless jokes. So when you post about “shooting a bunch of Christians,” the double entendre is there; this is what happened to one London photographer who found himself faced with a...

Further To The NorthSide

From one island to a peninsula From one island of Denmark to a half island of Denmark (otherwise known as a peninsula); a total of 116 miles, on a train that goes under the sea in a tunnel as well as above the sea on a bridge, we travelled from Copenhagen to Aarhus...

Jacob Cockle: in Life & in Death.

A life lived in the sea was a favourite past-time of one Jacob Cockle. Whilst learning to walk at a tender young age he also began to learn to swim and his natural element became water. Any opportunity to film surfing was the best of all options because he loved it so...

How a Shot Went Viral is Revealed by The Royal Wedding Photographer.

Viral popularity and huge amounts of praise were received for one particular photo during this past weekend as the world's attention was captured by the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The details of how the picture in question came to be have now...

Behind The Scenes: Royal Run.

Keep the diary open Whether it was wishful thinking or simply experience, when I first heard about the Royal Run back in 2017 I decided to keep the 21st May available in my calendar. “We won’t be needing you for that particular race,” I was told, but a voice in my...

Future King of Denmark Joins In Birthday Celebrations With The Royal Run.

In merely a few days time the future king of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik, will be celebrating his 50th birthday and all over the country flags will be at high mast. A total of five Danish cities are involved in celebratory shenanigans which began on May 18, and...

Wildlife Photos Reveal Dirty Tricks as Insiders Spill: “There’s a lot of fakery.”

From trained tigers to glued insects many photographers are revealing the fakery in this niche as one such photographer lost an award for allegedly using taxidermy in a shoot. Inauthentic Capturing a shot at the entrance to a national park was how Brazilian...

One in a Trillion Shot Captures Food Chain in Action.

“What can you shoot with that thing?” “What can you shoot with that thing?” This was a question that photographer Doc Jon was asked when a passerby noticed his Canon 6D camera with 500mm lens attachment as he was walking along the boardwalk of Madeira Beach in...

Three Great Books to Improve Your Photography Career

Three Great Books to Improve Your Photography Career

Whatever your style of photography, these three books are guaranteed to change the way you work

When I first started this journey of being a freelancer, I really didn’t have much of a clue about running a business.

But the more jobs I got the more I realised what skills I needed to brush up on and dived head first in to a wide range of books, video and podcasts.

I’ll start in reverse chronological order, just to confuse things slightly. Best Business Practices for Photographers, by John Harrington, has been a huge game changer since I picked up a copy earlier this summer. I was told to buy it over three years ago, but for some reason kept putting it off. What a waste! Inside you’ll find sound advice on image licensing, invoicing clients, pricing your work and backing up your digital files. It’s already paid for itself, as I now add separate line items, such as transport costs and a fee for uploading images to my website for clients. Buy it; you won’t regret it.

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Next up is No Plastic Sleeves; a book aimed at helping creative folk find their branding, and present it in a well-designed portfolio. Just looking at some of the ideas makes you realise how much talent there is out there, forcing you to reconsider just how hard you need to work to truly stand out. They also have a website that is handy if you’re looking for inspiration and ideas.

Both the book and website are perfect if you want to spend time defining your image and crafting something amazing.

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Last on my list is The Hot Shoe Diaries, by Joe McNally. Some of you might be familiar with Joe’s style and portfolio, but for those who don’t he’s a man who’s pretty much done everything in the photography world.

This book centres on flash photography (I prefer the term Creative Light) and shows the readers techniques and written accounts of how he got the shot. I was introduced to it back in 2009, on the way to London to photograph a protest-turned-riot. The opening chapters introduced me to flash / camera settings that I applied that day, achieving pleasing results.

But it wasn’t until October 2013, after I met him in Copenhagen, that I was turned on to his musings once again. So I picked up a copy of this book and immediately set about experimenting with coloured gels, snoots, c-stands and reflectors. I spent a small fortune to get all of these new toys, of course, but I now use them as often as possible

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All three of these books will have a positive impact on your photography and business skills, though No Plastic Sleeves is a bit harder to digest. If you have access to a space where you can create, and tools to get the job done (leather, wood, a drill) then you’ll have lots of fun with this one.

Biz Practices for Togs is pure written information, without any beauty, but it really makes you feel that someone is on your side who knows the industry inside and out. And McNally is just McNally. If he doesn’t make you want to learn flash then nothing will.

Photography’s Commitment To The Environment

When we think of sustainability our attention is obviously drawn to areas such as fossil fuels like oil and gas and, especially, these days, that is to what the media’s attention relates to also. However, with that being said, what people do on a daily basis and the...

Aerial Photography Protecting The Planet

Aboard a tethered balloon, from an altitude of nearly 500 meters, when Gaspard-Félix “Nadar” Tournachon photographed Paris from above was the moment when we can trace the roots of aerial photography right back to 1858. Before airplanes entered the picture, photos were...

Regular Photography Turned Inside Out as Fujifilm X-Pro3 Officially Arrives

As part of a drive to rediscover “pure photography” is a rear screen that has been turned inside out.   Innovative Feature Tilting the screen downwards to become visible, the rear screen that faces inwards not outwards,is a bizarre yet extraordinary feature...

Depth Of Field

What is depth of field in photography, and how do you control it? There are many terms which relate to a shallow or large depth of field in photography and photographers will bandy about these terms such as “hyperfocal distance”, “creamy bokeh”, “shooting wide open”,...

Stroboscopic Portraits

Use your unit’s strobe function to achieve rapid-fire flash and capture incredible staccato action.   Pulsing Flash A pulsing flash that fires lots of times during a long exposure can create a stop-motion effect by freezing the action multiple times as the...

Cheap Photography Projects’ Creative Lighting Ideas

Get creative with your images by using these lighting hacks to shoot cheap but conceptual photography. Beauty in Simplicity You don’t necessarily need to use top-of-the-line kit in order to capture brilliant photos. To help you inject some creative lighting into your...

Defining Street Photography, the Cartier-Bressonian Way

Street Photography pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson has come to define the way the photography industry thinks about the genre. This article draws on sources that explains the way the genre has taken shape. Defining Street Photography Of what constitutes “street...

Even Photography Boffs Will Be Impressed By Polaroid’s New Camera.

    Vintage but not backwards. Whatever is in style right now, it seems, can make us feel like we’re in another decade. Vintage fashion, retro cars, and record players are all making a comeback.  Making the decision to jump in on the action, and by doing so...

Rear Curtain Sync.

With streaks going in the right direction, this article examines how to capture streaky headlight shots.   By combining flash with a long exposure you can achieve some great shots. You can get ghostly movement blur and trails of light from moving light sources if...

Tips For Using a Snoot in Photography.

Learn how to use a “snoot” in your photography to control the light and create theatrical lighting with your hot-shoe flash.   Even though it can often be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut a flashgun is always a handy tool to have in your camera bag....

Famous Photographs That Inspired Film.

There has always been a sibling-like relationship between film and photography.   “The Horse in Motion” (1878) was a famous photographic series using an early movie projector called the zoopraxiscope invented by Eadweard Muybridge, a 19th-century photographer who...

UV Photography: tips for blacklight.

Blacklight photography can be great for shooting portraits so we are “shedding some light on the dark art” to reveal the secret of mastering ultraviolet photography!   You would most commonly see blacklight, or UV lighting, in nightclubs. White objects radiate...

Copenhagen Photographer Casper Sejersen’s One, Two, Three, Four.

Casper Sejersen Debut Exhibition. Set to the beat of a drum, Copenhagen-based photographer Casper Sejersen takes us on an unsettling visual journey in his debut exhibition.     Alluring Yet Uncomfortable. Copenhagen-based Danish photographer Casper...

The Five Best Photo Locations in Copenhagen.

  A summer break in Copenhagen is highly recommended if you have never been to Denmark. The sun and heat is enjoyed by all the locals.   As an introduction to the most common places you must visit we’re presenting you with this 3-hour photo walk. If you wish...

Photographer’s Picture of Bald Eagle Gets Overwhelming Response

The worldwide response to a photograph of a bald eagle has overwhelmed a Canadian amateur photographer who took the picture.   Initially posted on Facebook photography groups, Steve Biro snapped the image of Bruce the bald eagle at the Canadian Raptor...

Off-Camera Flash Photography To Help You Perfect The Strobist Effect.

One of the easiest ways to achieve amazing portraits is to utilize off-camera flash. You’ll be amazed at how you can transform your photos by simply taking your flash off-camera if your only experience of using flash is the disappointing result you got with it fitted...

Ex-Oasis Photographer warns UK Risks Losing Classic Rock Archives.

Unless a dedicated museum is set up British musical history may be lost. According to one of The UK’s most celebrated photographers unless a dedicated museum is set up to preserve large swathes of classic British rock photography it could lose them all to private...

Samsung reveals a phone with screens on both sides which could change photography forever.

Screens are multiplying! Offering photographers a truly revolutionary ability, Samsung has designed a smartphone with two or more screens.   The front and back display on the device has just been granted a patent. The gadget will be able to run speech translation...

Viral Photographer Quits To Make Bread.

Viral Photographer Quits To Make Bread. Amassing over 300,000 followers after dreamlike photos from Burning Man Festival went wildly viral online a few years ago, photographer Victor Habchy went on to become a Sony ambassador as his career took off. But, as of last...

First Professional Wedding Gig Shot by Photography Robot.

Would you hire a robot for your big day? Making the rounds for a few years now has been the news that robots are coming for our jobs. Many of us have nothing to fear despite automation increasingly taking over our lives, unless you’re a wedding photographer, maybe? A...

The World’s Creamiest Bokeh.

    Full-Frame 50mm Lens with Aperture of f/0.35. The world’s creamiest bokeh (definition: the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image) can be whipped up to give us incredible subject separation through the use of huge apertures. In...

Colour Photography Pioneer’s Images of Old Russia.

    Way Before Instagram A Revolution in the Use of Filters was Taking Place. Deep scientific roots underlie the art form we know of as photography today. Early pinhole cameras were both described by Euclid and Aristotle in ancient Greece. In order to...

Making a Living in Photography in 2019.

    How Viable is it Being a Professional Photographer? Whilst being both stuck in its ways and simultaneously forever changing, photography is indeed a strange profession. The majority of the profession work in a very different way to the old guard who...

The Hidden Colours of the Moon Revealed by Photographer.

A Mineral Impact. Different minerals impact the Moon’s surface leaving different splashes of colour as shown by the enhanced photo of the Moon created by extracting colour data from 150,000 photos of the Moon composed by Sacramento-based astrophotography enthusiast...

Piccadilly Circus’ Neon Lights Reflected By Shiny Cars: the Photography of Nick Turpin.

    Advertising Reflecting. In London’s Piccadilly Circus vehicles are caught reflecting advertising to show how modern life embraces consumerism as shown by photographer Nick Turpin in his latest series, “Autos.” “Shiny new vehicles passing through the city...

Nobody Talks About The Problem With Camera Phones.

The camera itself was the biggest problem with camera phones once upon a time.   Released in 2000, the J-SH04 was one of the world’s first camera phones. Things have come a long way since then. Tiny 0.11 megapixel images was all it could shoot. To give their...

What Is The Focus of Your Photography?

Does your photography have a point? And how can your images engage with more viewers?   You can help define your photography by implementing these few very helpful following techniques, especially if you have reached that stage where it may be a struggle to...

Capturing Cancer: Tumour Cells in Action.

Every year, researchers submit extraordinary images to the Science and Medical Imaging competition which tells the story of pioneering work and its benefits for patients. Replicating cancer cells invade the blood vessels.     Each year, The Institute of...

Selfie Harm.

Selfie Harm. Witness the scary results of Photoshopped portraits done by teens at the behest of professional photographer Rankin as part of his project called “Selfie Harm.”     Unnaturally Perfect. Unnaturally perfect social media photos are being made...

Young Marketing Guru Who Helped Photo of Egg Go Viral on Instagram.

Going Viral Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks you should be fully aware of the photo of an egg that went viral and claimed the top spot for having the most liked photo on Instagram. The simple photo of an ordinary, brown egg has garnered...

The Story of the Desert as Told by the Dubai Photography Exhibition: Inhabited Deserts.

Dramatic Landscapes. Some of the most dramatic landscapes across the world have been captured by UAE-based explorer Max Calderan and Italian photographer John R Pepper through their much renowned collaboration. It was never going to be the usual desert landscapes when...

What Is The Best Aperture and Focal Length For Portraits?

Get The Basics of Portrait Photography Right. You’ve probably asked yourself what is the best aperture and focal length to use if you’re just getting started in portrait photography. You can produce very different effects with your subjects by changing the aperture...

Psychedelic Images of Tokyo by Jean-Vincent Simonet.

Psychedelic Experience. Tokyo at night can be a near-psychedelic experience in itself, and this is echoed in the warped images created by Swiss photographer Jean-Vincent Simonet who prints onto plastic paper then washes the photograph with chemicals, all part of his...

The $90.3 Million Painting That Reveals Unique Photography Methods.

A Masterful Piece of Art. The 1972 painting entitled “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” by legendary British painter David Hockney fetched the highest auction price ever for a living artist as it sold for a jaw-dropping $90.3 million last month. A man in...

X-Ray Apparatus & Concrete Pyramids: Guy Hollaway’s Photography Studio.

The Process Gallery. Distinctive works are created using X-Ray equipment, housed in a concrete pyramid chamber, by British photographer Nick Veasey, who has had a studio built and completed by Guy Hollaway Architects.     Inquisitive. Designed to be an...

Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards Reveal Hilarious Winning Images.

World’s Funniest Animal! And the world’s funniest animal photograph of the year goes to a squirrel who thinks he’s Tommy Cooper, writes The Express. The world’s funniest animal photograph of the year has been judged to be what appears to be a cheeky squirrel pictured...

Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards Reveal Hilarious Winning Images.

World’s Funniest Animal! And the world’s funniest animal photograph of the year goes to a squirrel who thinks he’s Tommy Cooper, writes The Express. The world’s funniest animal photograph of the year has been judged to be what appears to be a cheeky squirrel pictured...

Vanishing From The Museums.

Confronting the absent. Largely absent from Parissien museums are works and faces of photographic pioneers who have become invisible; so, curator Fannie Escoulen is inviting visitors to walk across the city and confront it.   “The history of photography has been...

Analogue Limelight

In an increasingly digitalised world, why is there still a special place for the physical? After connecting on Instagram around two years ago, James Moreton and Raph Hurwitz conceived AllFormat - a global photography collective. After developing a loyal community of...

A Career Shaped By The Photograph

Starting Out For more than three decades the biggest names in show business have been photographed by Derek Ridgers, but it all began by chance, one night in Finsbury Park, north London. With a Miranda SLR slung over his shoulder, Ridgers walked into the Rainbow...

Facebook Bans a Photographer Who Innocently Posted About ‘Shooting a Few Christians.’

Double Entendre When it comes to the word “shooting,” photographers can be subject to endless jokes. So when you post about “shooting a bunch of Christians,” the double entendre is there; this is what happened to one London photographer who found himself faced with a...

Jacob Cockle: in Life & in Death.

A life lived in the sea was a favourite past-time of one Jacob Cockle. Whilst learning to walk at a tender young age he also began to learn to swim and his natural element became water. Any opportunity to film surfing was the best of all options because he loved it so...

How a Shot Went Viral is Revealed by The Royal Wedding Photographer.

Viral popularity and huge amounts of praise were received for one particular photo during this past weekend as the world's attention was captured by the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The details of how the picture in question came to be have now...

Wildlife Photos Reveal Dirty Tricks as Insiders Spill: “There’s a lot of fakery.”

From trained tigers to glued insects many photographers are revealing the fakery in this niche as one such photographer lost an award for allegedly using taxidermy in a shoot. Inauthentic Capturing a shot at the entrance to a national park was how Brazilian...

One in a Trillion Shot Captures Food Chain in Action.

“What can you shoot with that thing?” “What can you shoot with that thing?” This was a question that photographer Doc Jon was asked when a passerby noticed his Canon 6D camera with 500mm lens attachment as he was walking along the boardwalk of Madeira Beach in...

How Well-Being is Improved by Photo-a-Day Projects: Following the Story of an Artist who Started Out in Project365

Project365 Well-Being is reported to be improved through the online sharing of everyday images shot by amateur photographers. To reference it, it is known as “Project365” in photo circles; it begs the question: how can your life be changed by a Project365? A precious...

5 Things Every Photographer Should Know

Just starting out? Get to grips with these camera functions before anything else I was one of the lucky ones, starting out on a non-digital SLR camera. An Olympus OM-1 where loading the film was the first really important ‘setting’ I had to master. Then there was the...

How Photography Can Be Ruined By Bad Habits

Leaving The Camera At Home Even if it's your smartphone the camera you have with you is always the best one. Not every photo you take will be of commercial value or be photography-competition material. Nevertheless, if you leave your camera at home what use is it...

Unethical Upselling

By offering additional products and services and convincing a customer to purchase them many types of businesses can make a lot of money and this type of “upselling” is a tactic that camera equipment stores can maximise their gains. But how far can this upselling go...

Very First Photography Show is Recreated By Virtual Reality.

Transported To The Past The world's first photography exhibition is being experienced once again for the first time in 150 years with people being transported back in time thanks to Virtual Reality. A selection of prints were then presented by photographer William...