The Yorkshire Dales
A list of the main Yorkshire Dales – with the river which runs through them and the highest hill on their edges. Interesting how many dales each of the large mountains touch
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Top photography locations on the Yorkshire Coast
The Yorkshire Coast is a stunningly beautiful destination for photographers, with a rich history and a diverse range of landscapes to capture. Starting from Robinhoods Bay and travelling northwards towards Saltburn, there are plenty of opportunities to take some truly breathtaking shots. Robinhoods Bay Robinhoods Bay is a picturesque village with narrow winding streets and
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Why constant-aperture ZOOM Lenses are the best
The main difference between a constant aperture lens like an f/2.8 zoom and a variable aperture lens like an f/3.5-5.6 zoom is how the aperture changes as you zoom in and out. A constant aperture lens maintains the same aperture throughout its zoom range, meaning that regardless of the focal length you set, the aperture
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11 Reasons Why I STILL Love the Canon 5D Mark 4
The Canon 5D Mark IV is a favourite among many professional photographers due to its high-quality build and features. Here are the top things that I love about this camera: Overall, the Canon 5D Mark IV is an absolute joy to use and is a great value for the price. If you’re in the market
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Why would I buy a PRIME lens when I have a ZOOM already?
While zoom lenses are indeed more flexible and convenient than prime lenses, there are still several reasons why photographers might prefer to use prime lenses in certain situations: Overall, while zoom lenses are more versatile and convenient, prime lenses can offer superior image quality, wider apertures, and specialized uses that make them an important part
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Long Exposure Photography
Making surreal images using Long Exposure Photography Techniques Long exposure photography is a popular technique photographers use to create stunning images that capture the beauty and essence of natural and urban landscapes – I love revisiting old places I’ve shot many times before to capture it through a different technique. Long exposure techniques involve using
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How Youtube Changed My Life
Is Miserable Telly Dragging You Down? The relentless negativity of broadcast media I don’t know if you’ve found this, but in the last few years, broadcast TV is filled with relentless negativity, pessimism, doom and gloom and general misery. Take channels like the BBC. I’ve long been a massive fan and advocate of theirs, watching
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The York Walls and Street Photography Experience
Street Photography Experience It’s great to take people with strong landscape photography skills around the city and challenge of them and to capture people and architecture as it happens. That’s Street photography for you. Some of the most memorable photos you will have seen are street photography. Often you sit around waiting for things to
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Selby Abbey – Long Exposure Photography
We have all the time in the world… That’s what Louis Armstrong sang at the end of a famous James Bond film or two, and if you have some time to spare then get yourself a 15-stop or 10-stop neutral density filter and have a go at long exposure photography. That’s just what I did
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What difference 12 months makes?
The 12 Month Test Have you ever looked back to things you did 10 years ago? You should see some huge progress and changes, based on everything you’ve learnt, new tools or technologies and just growing as a person. But have you ever looked back just one year and revisited something? Like a “Remix” in music
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How to shoot and edit extra-long exposures with a 10-stop filter
In advance of our Manchester workshop, where I was going to show the delegates how to shoot extra long exposures, using 10 stop (or even 15 stop) neutral density filters, I popped down to the beautiful world heritage site at Saltaire. If you’ve not been, this is the site of a Victorian Mill,
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How to Get Started as a Model – The Test Shoot
How do you get started in this industry? I’m sure you’ve seen some of the amazing photos gracing magazine covers and advertisements. You might even have a few friends who’ve modelled for various modelling sites and agencies. But what do you really need to know about getting started? Before diving into the world of modeling,
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Modern Property Photography
Like many people I have used HDR or purely ambient light for property photography for years, when time permitted I would use a a flash or 2 to add some light to the rooms but the results were always a little bit garish, bright and weird shadows would get in the way. This relatively novel
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Your old work should be embarrassing!
How do you know whether you are progressing at photography? Well, There are many ways to look at this, it could be how successful you are with competitions in your local camera club or whether you get more likes and praise on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Flickr or more sales and new clients But that’s
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Lencarta Beauty Dish Test Shoot
I recently bought the “MOD048 | 60cm Folding Beauty Dish Silver Mk.2” as a small, portable light modifier. These are available (or will be when stock arrives) on their website (https://www.lencarta.com/all-products/light-shapers/studio-beauty-dishes) or if you’re in West Yorkshire, you can order on line and pick it up in Bradford, which is what I did. Couple of
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Nicola Paparazzo – Greek St. Shoot
You’ll never get an opportunity to photograph on Greek Street in Leeds like we did this January. The UK was in lockdown and this end of Leeds had virtually nobody there. We had the place to ourselves. Greek Street is one of the busiest bar areas of the city centre, bustling with people eating and
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GUEST POST – David Garthwaite – Fine Art Photography
I’m a fine art photographer from Yorkshire in the North of England, I started photography in January 2017 after being disappointed by the quality of images from my compact camera, from a once in a lifetime trip to Iceland (once in a lifetime because of the unpaid motor tickets I left behind). As soon as
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Social media content creation in Lockdown
How can you create new images and social media content, safely, whilst we are still operating under bizarre lockdown circumstances? The good news… Luckily, the government guidance states that people should work from home unless they “absolutely cannot do so” – which most photographers can’t. So this means we can still travel to create images
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Leeds Pubs in Lockdown
Leeds always had a thriving hospitality sector packed with innovative bars, traditional boozers and amazing restaurants. I’ve been part of the scene by probably drinking a little bit too much in many of these places, and also photographing quite a lot of food and drinks for bars, restaurants and hotels over the years. I even
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Are AI voiceovers a godsend, or hell?
I learn more through audio than text…. I don’t know about you but I definitely take more information in through my ears than through reading! Which is kind of ironic, because I’m writing this using words which you will be reading…. Anyway, having searched for the most realistic, affordable text to voice converter on the
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Transforming Websites The Easy Way
Here’s a quick “video blog” on solving the problem of poor looking websites the easy way… The text is below if you prefer to read or can’t have the sound on right now I read a Pearl of Wisdom on LinkedIn yesterday which was “Business is all about finding a problem then providing a solution
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Using the Godox AD600 on My First Post-Lockdown Model Photoshoot!
Back in Action with the Godox AD600: A Post-Lockdown Location Portrait Photography Session It’s been donkey’s years, but I finally got back behind the lens with my long-time collaborator and model, Andy Taylor Boocock. Picking a spot in Leeds was like choosing your favourite biscuit—difficult, but ultimately rewarding. So, I packed my Godox AD600 and
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Locked Down Leeds
9 weeks into lockdown and I finally decided to take my daily allocated exercise by walking around the city centre of Leeds. I had been putting it off because I didn’t really want to upset and overstretched police force or get a fine! I expected in the early lock-down weeks, it’d be desolate, 9 weeks
Photos only work when you use them
How many things in life do we buy & not use? Most kitchen gadgets I use once or twice, and then stash away neatly in the cupboard never to see the light of day again, All that money spent, all that good intent to make a change and no return. The same can be said
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The Madness of Share the Shoot…
What’s it all about? About a year ago I came up with an idea, it was based on years of photographing companies and what had worked best. It offered individuals who may be just starting out (or ready for a new set of images) 5 photos of them for a bargain price… and other people to act
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How to choose a photographer from the 1000's recommended on LINKED IN
Photographer Recommendations are King – But Are they Right For YOU? The best way to source most products and services these days is to ask for recommendations based on people’s experience. It can certainly filter out solutions, products, and providers who have given a good experience. Most people look at Amazon reviews or What Hi-Fi
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Don't Forget About Photography!
Everything is video these days, we are all told to do Facebook lives or record things from the seats of our cars, in car parks, before meetings to engage with our audience. I’ve spent the last year creating video content, be that behind the scenes footage of a photoshoot, close-ups of food or even photoshop editing videos. It’s
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How to organise your photos like a pro
Finding old photos can be a pain – if someone asks if you’ve got photos of Liverpool (or something like that) in future, how quickly could you locate them in your file system? Or if you’re looking to create a print of Ingleborough, could you find all your photos of the hill and quickly make
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Hiring a Photographer : 7 things you’re REALLY buying
Most businesses need images for websites, brochures, press, adverts…. the list goes on. So when you hire a photographer, what are you actually getting? Good ones will be expensive, they may quote £1000-£1500 per day even in West Yorkshire – how on earth can this be justified. If you read most marketing copy, we would
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Same Photo Cooked Many Ways
Sunset at Gross Glockner – Tirol – Austria Do you ever take a shot and never manage to settle on a final edited look? Well this happened with this shot – it’s one of 3 brackets taken at sunset with a 17mm TSe lens… so nice and sharp, oodles of data to play with…. but what
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9 Letters which define your business photos
Your business photos are your first impression Get them wrong – you lose business It’s as simple as that – people’s first impression is made instantly and will influence whether they bother to read your carefully honed copy and click “play” on that professionally produced video. Business photos are more important than you think Visual
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How to buy your first camera when you’ve not got a clue
So you want to buy a camera? I get asked a lot about buying cameras. The main questions I ask are:- what do you want to do what is your budget The first one is almost impossible to answer for most people – they have an idea what they’d like to do, but until you
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Mind Blowing Depth of Field – Tilt Shift Lenses
Tilt Shift Effect… Most people have heard of Tilt Shift because of the miniature filters you get on camera apps. Ones taken from high up to make the world seem like a toy town – or like this where just a bit is sharp. It’s a cool effect and very handy for creative souls –
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The No. 1 Reason To Update Business Photos NOW!
New Business Photos Get You Noticed INSTANTLY! It really is that simple – investing in new business photos is like having a mini re-brand. If you and your team all got new business photos tomorrow and updated LINKED IN, your engagement would go through the roof. So what are you waiting for? Try it –
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Oxy – Personal Trainer Photography Session
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Why Chefs are on TV and Photographers Aren’t
I can’t taste or smell the food I see on telly, yet I still watch cooking shows… I’ve never really got why food is such a compelling viewing pleasure, despite the 2 main senses food excites (taste and smell) are not yet available. We can’t feel the texture either… so that’s a third sense we’re
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The Pixelstick – The Verdict
Was the Pixel Stick Worth it? Having watched this cool light painting tool evolve for a while it was only a matter of time before I got one. That came on Black Friday 2015 when the offer price was right. It arrived from the states a few days later, and I was raring to go
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The Great Photo Watermark Debate
Why do people get so angry about photo watermarks? You’d be amazed how polarised opinion is on photo watermarking is. Many think it pointless, and will fight to the death to convince everyone so. Others think it idiotic to post anything without the protection of a watermark What is a photo watermark? It’s a logo, text
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9 Ways Photography Can Transform Your 2016
Why does every marketing team love stunning, unique images? It makes their job easy – photos are powerful – they make your business:- stand out from the crowd easy to understand have INSTANT impact communicate who you are show how you do it Well here are just 9 of the many ways photos help boost your
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4 Easy Steps to Photography Mastery
4 Easy Steps to Photography Mastery Want to make your friends say “wow” when they see your photography? Brilliant. But let’s get one thing out of the way first: there’s no magic button for mastering photography. You can buy a better camera, a sharper lens, or some whiz-bang bit of kit, but none of that
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Commercial Photography Should Be Fun
Photography Should Be a Laugh, Even in Business Take the team at ABL Business, for example. We’ve had a few sessions updating their photos, and every time, it’s a right laugh with Alex, Andy, and the rest of the crew. It’s less about posing for the camera and more about having a chinwag while getting
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Retouching in Photoshop
Retouching in Photoshop – Skin and Eyes Lightroom has so many great tools that Photoshop is fast becoming redundant for most tasks. Retouching is one area where Lightroom still needs development. There are tools for skin softening and bumping eyes, but they don’t really have the same accuracy or fine results. For most commercial work
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Travel Photography – Literally!
Ever travel long distances as a passenger? I do – as a member of a touring band, we sometimes cover hundreds of miles – and a few weeks ago, that involved going from Leeds to Inverness… and back! Naturally I took the camera – for photos of the lovely Scottish city, but also to capture
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9 Affordable Gadgets To Transform Your Photography
Photography Kit Which Doesn’t Cost The Earth 1 – Angle Finder – £20 – £200 If you shoot low down, maybe for landscapes or createive atchitecture shots, so see through your camera, you’ll either have to lie fly on the floor or guess your compoisition. This is where your “angle finder” comes into play. It allows
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5 Essential Questions for Aspiring Pro Photographers
5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Pro I’m sure many pro photographers get asked “How do I become a professional photographer?“. I have and it’s never a straight forward answer – in fact, the answer would be unique for each person. Every photographer is different (personality, experience, confidence, business savvy, camera skills etc.), so there’s
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A Souvenir of Sunderland
So we set off early for a gig at Sunderland Empire – with the intention of enjoying the beach, maybe popping to the Angel of the North or Penshaw Monument. The weather had different ideas – it was grim, cold and grey. So we did a pub lunch instead – then went to Roker Beach
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6 Essential Steps to Hiring the Right Photographer
Choosing the right Photographer For Your Project Let’s help you with a few simple steps:- 1 – Think about what you NEED It’s worth having a think about the purpose of the photos before you start. Go online and check out your competition’s websites, see what they are doing – or people in California doing
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3 Things You Never Think of When Hiring Photographers
I need some photos…. fast! You need some photos, something which is going to make you look great for a press release, or your web developer needs something to fill that website.. Where do you start? Be honest – do you get a few photographer’s “day rates” and plump for the lowest? Or do you just
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Design is not how things looks, but how things work
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The “X-Factor” Problem
“False Praise” on Social Media I joined my first online community in 2004 – it’s called EPhotozine – and since then I’ve learned an incredible amount from the site, lots of useful tips from more advanced photographers guided me away from common mistakes. However, what has been a perpetual gripe on the site, from me
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