Newspapers
Portmahomack gala girls with cross-lighting
Sun Jul 22nd - 9:51am
The current buzz word in location portraiture is cross-lighting, or wrap-around lighting as it is sometimes known. The technique is famously used in a very stylised way by Los Angeles commercial photographer Dave Hill and in a more natural way by New Zealand portrait photographer Brent Williamson.
There are several ways to achieve cross-lighting but the set-up that is fashionable at the moment has the sun behind the subject and over to one side, and an ambient-balanced flash in front of the subject and over to the other side. The sun and the flash need to be directly opposite each other.
A few weeks ago I was taking photos of children on a school trip and without intending to I used cross-lighting on some of the photos. They were really good! So I've been looking for an opportunity to try a proper cross-lighting set-up and this photo of the Portmahomack gala girls was ideal.
Usually with a photo like this you achieve separation by using a shallow depth of field to throw the background way out of focus. But I wanted the scenery to be a part of the picture — out of focus, yes, but still recognisable. Another option is to under-expose the background but that produces a more moody and dramatic image that wasn't appropriate for a summer gala. So the picture was crying out for cross-lighting which allows you to keep the exposure nice and bright and the background as sharp as you want.
I hope the other newspaper photographers around here won't mind me saying that the usual close-up shots of gala girls are becoming tiresome, especially when some of them suffer from ugly backgrounds. I'd like to think that this photo raises the bar a little and from now on the papers might push for more creativity and variety in gala girl shots. (Beautiful scenery + beautiful girls = no excuses.) That said, I do know that this picture isn't perfect. I shot it from too far away and I didn't spot that the little girl's sash was folded.
Thanks to the gala organisers for helping to get the shoot done on a fairly tight schedule, and thanks to the girls for getting dressed up especially for the photo!
Harry Potter launch in Tain
Sat Jul 21st - 2:14am
My job is just the BEST fun!
21 July 2007: Staff at the Tower Bookshop in Tain really got into the spirit of the Harry Potter launch. More than 60 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series, were sold in the Highland town at a special midnight event.
Sandra & Jackie — thanks for wearing hats!
Fri Jul 20th - 12:09pm
Only one picture of mine in this week's Ross-shire Journal, a fun shot of Sandra & Jackie from Muir of Ord as they arrived for the Elton John concert. I'd been searching in vain for anyone in fancy dress, comedy wigs, Elton glasses etc and just as I was giving up hope I spotted these two lovely ladies approaching the stadium. I raced over to them and before I even finished asking them to pose for a picture they were strutting their stuff! I was so relieved to finally have a decent shot that I let them walk away without getting their names or where they were from, and when I remembered a couple of minutes later I was lucky to catch up with them just before they went through the turnstile. So girls, thanks for wearing hats that not only made a great picture but also helped me find you again in the crowd!
The only other decent crowd shot I got was of these two Elton fans who couldn't hide their excitement that the big day had finally arrived. Unfortunately I don't know who they are or where they're from as a moment later they were through the turnstile and beyond the reach of my feeble press pass. Still, thanks for the nice picture, whoever you are!
Tain Mussel Shell Art Project
Fri Jul 13th - 1:55pm
Last week I did this picture of shell artist Blott Kerr-Wilson to illustrate an article in the Ross-shire Journal about the Tain Mussel Art Project:
I also photographed the launch night of the project at Collegiate Church in Tain, intending the pics to be used in a gallery on the BBC web site, with captions telling the story of the project. But the BBC reporter preferred the beach pic so he decided to hold the article back until after this week's RSJ came out so he could use that picture instead.
Click here to read the BBC article
I've posted the gallery pics and captions over on Flickr. I can see that the beach pic is more eye-catching but I think of myself as a photojournalist, not just someone who makes pretty pictures. So I'd have preferred to have the gallery used instead of the beach pic but at the end of the day that's not my decision.
Click here to view the launch night photos
Truth be told, I don't begrudge the decision because I don't think photographers should decide which of their pics are used. We pay too much attention to the arty/techy side of things. People who aren't into photography are better at knowing what Joe Public wants to see so leave the decisions to them, I say. That's why it's important to always submit a selection of pics for consideration. When I first started sending pics to newspapers I'd only send my favourites and often they wouldn't be used, which can be discouraging. But when I started also sending the 'okay' ones that I didn't really like, my hit rate went up to 90% plus.
Ross County action, Dick Campbell portrait
Thu Jul 12th - 9:23pm
I can't remember a time when I was more exhausted than on Tuesday night. I'd been up since 4pm on Monday, worked through the night, and stayed up to do one of my voluntary days at the village hall. By the time I went home at 4pm on Tuesday I'd been on the go almost non-stop for 24 hours so you can imagine I was looking forward to bed! But no, there was an e-mail waiting for me, asking me to shoot the Ross County vs Clach game in Dingwall that night.
Even if I had my own transport I wouldn't have driven because I could barely stay awake as it was, and it was impossible to get to the match by bus in time. So I had to get a taxi there and back. I'd been told that kick-off was at 7:30pm but when I arrived at 7:10pm the game was already underway. It wasn't a great game for action shots but I got a few that were okay. It's the second one that dominates the back page of this week's North Star.
New manager Dick Campbell was there so I introduced myself and asked if it was okay to take photos of him. Normally I wouldn't ask because any member of the team or management is fair game for photos, but this was a pre-season friendly and Dick had chosen to stay out of the way at one corner of the pitch, so I thought it was polite to ask. He said to go ahead, no problem.
Spotting an exclusive as I was the only photographer there, I asked Dick if we could do a quick portrait at the end of the match. Practically everything that could go wrong did go wrong, right up to the flash batteries dying after one test shot, but Dick was totally cool about it and stood for several different pics. This was one of the first and it's the best. Might be in a future North Star, I won't know until I see it.
When I got home at around 10pm I still had an hour's work to do, sorting through the pics and processing the best ones to send off so the sports editor would get them first thing in the morning. My head was buzzing so I got on with a few other things and eventually got to bed around 1am. I was up again at 11am on Wednesday morning and I'll probably not get to sleep again until midnight tonight, Thursday.
Weeks like this are becoming quite common. I don't have a lot of time for people who say that photography is an easy job! Fun, but not easy.
Balintore Mermaid in Highland Life magazine
Sat Jul 7th - 11:01pm
One of my night-time photos of the Balintore Mermaid appears in this month's Highland Life magazine, full-page and in colour.
One of the most important things to learn in the photography business is that pushing for a fair payment is not likely to lose you the job. I finally got that into my thick head thanks to the educational efforts of John Harrington.When you first start trying to get published it's scary to push for more money than what's on offer because you think the client will just go elsewhere, but everyone learns sooner or later that this doesn't happen.
I was initially offered £20 for that photo of the mermaid, and £20 for another photo to run alongside it. The reason? "We have no editorial budget." Well you can be sure that all the reporters are getting a proper salary, along with the designers, the guys running the printing press, delivery van drivers, etc. So why do photographers fall outside the budget?
After determining the intended usage of the photo and the distribution of the magazine, I quoted a price of £125 for the full-page picture and £50 for a quarter-page use of the other photo. Those figures were accepted without any haggling or other unpleasantness. Plus I secured a £50 payment for another local photographer whose picture was being used, although that's being invoiced at £75 because the photo was used larger than agreed.
There's nothing wrong with publications trying to get photos for cheap. That's just good sense and you should expect it. But there's also nothing wrong with making sure you get paid what you deserve. This business is going through a tough time because way too many people give away their work just for the buzz of seeing their photo in print with their name alongside it. But long-term that's worth precisely nothing. You can't buy food or pay rent with a photo credit. A few hundred quid in your bank account is much more helpful.
Newspaper feature on football skycam pic
Mon May 28th - 5:31pm
This was a pleasant surprise!
Our local papers don't usually run photos from mid-week football matches because they're on Wednesday evenings, so they're too late for deadline. But last week's match had been moved from Wednesday to Monday so the skycam goal pic made it into the paper, large and in colour on the back page.
However that left the paper with a problem: No match report except the brief details I sent myself. So instead they wrote about the photo itself! Here's the shot again with the paper's write-up…
This is how one of Balintore's five goals scored against Ross-shire Club in the Welfare League might have looked to a passing seagull.
It was captured by photographer Andrew Smith who, in pursuit of something a little different, set up a remote-controlled camera atop a 12-ft monopod. His arresting image shows how Ross-shire Club goalkeeper David Mitchell, unprepared as his sight was blocked by one of his own defenders, could then only watch as a thunderbolt from Balintore's Graeme Davis hit the net during the Welfare League game on Monday this week.
(No I don't really have a "12-ft monopod". it was a 6-ft monopod that I held up in the air, putting the camera about 12-ft off the ground.)
Multi-layered group shot
Fri May 18th - 7:24pm
Group shots are group shots, there isn't a great deal you can do to make them more interesting. But there is one technique you can use and I tried it for the first time today, with some degree of success.
When you have lecturers, instructors, guest speakers, or anyone else who has been leading or addressing a group in some way, then you can put them in the foreground of the image. Keep them turned towards the group but facing the camera and hey presto, the picture tells the story.
Geniuses like Bobby can pull off shots like this in their sleep but I was scared to try it until now! As you can see, though, it's a useful technique: This picture is a catalogue of flaws, with the group not even being lined up straight, but still it grabs your attention and it doesn't 'feel' like a group shot. Well at least I hope it doesn't.
Notice also that everyone from foreground to background is side-lit. Now that portrait lighting has become something that I can do intuitively, even my group shots are benefiting from it! Practice, practice, practice.
Total time to organise the group, set-up the lighting and take the shot: A little less than 15 minutes. The most challenging aspect of the shoot was having to politely ignore the one mouth in the group who constantly complained about how long it was taking, but several people apologetically came up to me afterwards and made it clear that they didn't agree, which was nice of them.
Balintore mermaid
Tue May 15th - 1:50am
Evidently I've still not quite got to grips with these reportage-style photos, but I'm certainly getting better. And about time! I just don't get many opportunities to try them so I haven't had a lot of practice.
The idea is that you have two distinct subjects in one frame: The person/people at the front, and whatever the story is about at the back. But both must dominate the frame without overpowering each other. I'd say that I accomplished all of that with this shot of Steve and Will with the mermaid.
What I don't like, and I know I'm being very fussy here, but rather than having the guys in the foreground and the mermaid in the middle-ground, I've got the guys in the middle-ground and the mermaid in the background. There isn't a strong foreground element. I knew this was happening while I set-up the shot but we were all standing on slippery rocks and we were running out of time so I had to settle for this. Not bad, but not perfect.
And consider this a work-in-progress photo of the mermaid herself…
(Click the picture to see it larger)
I've been down on that beach two nights in a row trying a new lighting technique, and it's working very well, but I still haven't quite produced the killer shot that I'm looking for. It's difficult because I'm having to do the photos in near-total darkness, which makes focussing almost impossible, even with shining a torch on the mermaid. In some of Sunday night's attempts I got the lighting perfect but the mermaid was out of focus. I'll keep on trying, the result will be worth the effort. The photo above is just a regular long-exposure shot without any additional lighting.
Stephen Stewart memorial pool match
Sun May 13th - 3:51pm
If you've been following this site for a while then you'll know that I'm usually quite slow and methodical in the way that I light photos. Yesterday I had to do a photo as quickly as possible as we were doing it at the beginning of a pool match and we were using one of the two pool tables!
I'd already done one picture that the paper could use, a group shot of all the competitors, so to some extent the pressure was off. But I wanted to do this photo and I wanted to light it properly so we gave it a go. The three women were the mother and sisters of Stephen Stewart, a young soldier who died of cancer. The pool match is held annually in his memory and raises money for the Highland Hospice.
I quickly set-up one flash into a silver brolly as the main light and another bare flash as a hair light. Guessed the settings. Put the women into position, did one test shot of the back of their heads to check the hair light, and turned it down a notch. Did another test shot of their faces and the main light looked okay. Rattled off a couple of dozen shots and we were done.
From set-up to pull-down it took about seven minutes. I could nitpick the photo to pieces, and some of those nitpicks would be major ones, but the bottom line is that it's an okay picture and we did it in a busy pub without causing too much disturbance. I hope the paper runs this instead of the group shot!
