High Rise Paradise The Marina area of Dubai is still being built, new tram systems going in and sparking new sky scrapers surround the blue water and white boats. Here are some memories of that 34 degree winters day – a day 34 degrees warmer than back home in Leeds….
10 Photos of Dubai Marina Read More »
Huge structures do it for me. Visually that is… I first saw Preston’s bus station in the 70’s, and it was probably the biggest thing I’d seen at that point – Clitheroe doesn’t have many huge buildings! Huge! It’s the shape and majesty of the thing – the curved edges, the ribbed reinforcement bars, the unchanging pattern
Save Preston Bus Station! Read More »
Night Program Finale…. at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds We spent 3 hours playing with torches, lighting the majestic ruins at the Abbey, then at the end, created these amazing sparks with wire wool. How did we do this then? There are lots of Youtube videos online, you just need a 9 volt battery, steel wool,
Sparks @ Kirkstall Read More »
Automated Band Photography? The “ALL NEW” Chicago Blues Brothers came to Dubai and rocked the Manidat Theatre for 3 nights. Flying out on a freezing March Tuesday, we landed at Abu Dhabi in the warm Arabian evening, transferring to Dubai by bus. Here are a set of performance shots taken by Ade on the last gig, saturday
Band Photography – Chicago Blues Brothers – Dubai Read More »
Famous for it’s monumental prison and a gyratory, Armley isn’t the first Leeds suburb you’d go shooting alone in – let alone on an incredibly dull February day. I took to the canal first first, to see how the graffiti artists are doing – these walls change regularly. Then down to the river Aire and over the
HDR Photography in Leeds… Armley Read More »
Flash Bender Accessories – New Toys! Always on the look out for new “light modifiers” of “flash accessories” to advance my off camera flash photography – I’d seen these flash benders around before, so thought I’d take the plunge and get a couple. I took them up to Temple Newsham with trombonist Chris Colbran and
Flash Accessory Test Read More »
Why McFade Splits Beginners Workshops To total beginners, photography is a new, exciting pastime – but with a learning-curve as steep as Hardknott Pass! Where do you start? You can boil photography down to 2 things:- Finding interesting stuff to photograph Using camera settings to get an interesting shot This is the philosophy behind my
The 2 Poles of Photography Read More »
Check out the amazing voice…. https://soundcloud.com/clairecolbran Had a fun shoot with Claire Colbran, jazz singer in these 2 bands, backing singer in the Chicago Blues Brothers and rather excellent on trombone too… a Colbran family thing apparently! The Photography Bit So we had 3 lights – 2 behind at 45 degrees, one at the front at about
Claire’s Band Shoot… Read More »
Michael Blades broadcasts live from Leeds every Saturday and Sunday night, jetting over to Rock FM in Preston for saturday afternoon… Having found McFade Urban Shoots on Google, he’d spotted the style of images he was after – so we met outside Leeds Town Hall and had a great couple of hours shooting and chatting
Radio Aire DJ Shoot Read More »
Got a fair coming to town? They’re brilliant to shoot at night – all those moving lights create amazing patterns; so much for the eye to see. Here are 5 tips for making the most of your night there 1 Long exposures – so take a Tripod! Every night photographer will use a tripod, so
5 Fairground Photography Tips Read More »
Bradford has a bad press. It’s one of those places which offers so much, yet never seems to escape that image of desperation. The thing is, there is so much on offer to the Photographer that it’s well worth a look. Here are a few gems to enjoy… Bradford City Hall – full of statues
Bradford Cathedral Photographs Read More »
A thick Hoar Frost looks amazing. It only happens now and then, so you really need to make the most of it when it happens. One of the downfalls of this frost is that the sky can be very dull on such days, so your usual landscapes can lack impact. So how to add
How To Shoot Ice & Snow – With Flash Read More »
Since I wrote an 8-page article for Digital SLR User magazine in 2008, I’ve loved shooting at night. Once the unreliable ambient light has gone, you are in control. Photographers are control freaks…. Also since then, LED torches have massively improved, to the point where for as little as £50 you can buy a Cree
5 Light Painting Shots Read More »
Yorkshire photography – Wet, cold, miserable, overcast…. Today was all of the above, so time to head to a stream and make the most of the low light conditions. Luckily the river was abnormally high so lots of white water and unusual flow patterns. Ideal for creating a milky, surreal effect. We’ll be taking
Malham Sneak Preview…. Read More »
Yorkshire’s never short of water, it rarely stops raining for long, so Yorkshire’s Waterfalls are a great subject for anyone into photography. Waterfalls are abound so we thought we’d show you a few of our favourites from across the region. 1 – Scalebar Force, Settle This is the prettiest of the lot in many ways,
5 Great Yorkshire Waterfalls Read More »
Photographers fall into many camps, but one that really stands out is the “kit obsessive”. These tend to:- Talk incessantly about kit – above anything else Buy novelty items they rarely use Are never happy with their current kit Motivated by numbers and specifications Can compare and quote reviews of competing kit items More interested
The Photography “Kit Obsessive” Read More »
Love the Classic 5D… I’ve been shooting with the classic Canon 5D from 2006 to present, been perfectly happy and only once been short of pixels for a job (it was a colossal print… did a stitch of 9 images in the end). But my main body has now done way over its allotted 150,000
5D Mark 2 – First impressions Read More »
Yorkshire Landscape Photography – A Perfect Place To Practice Your Art! Yorkshire is a paradise for landscape photographers. It’s accessible, stunning, and full of variety, offering endless opportunities to capture the natural beauty of the North. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or just starting out, Yorkshire landscape photography is a rewarding subject to explore. Why
Return to the Land – Yorkshire Landscape Photography Read More »
Facebook was awash with “god it’s cold” comments yesterday – so a great day for some blue wintery sky shots. Parking around Granary Wharf, taking a walk up through town, down past the market and back along the canal, these images were created. Was indeed nice light. They are all HDR – that’s what I
The Photographer’s Post-Shoot Ritual: 5 Steps to Safeguard Your Precious Shots You’ve just wrapped up an amazing photoshoot. The excitement is palpable as you rush back to your computer, eager to see your masterpieces on the big screen. But wait! Before you dive into editing, there’s a crucial ritual every photographer should follow. Let’s walk
5 Post Shoot Tips to Safeguard Your Precious Shots Read More »
The biggest Varsity showdown after Oxbridge is held annually in Leeds. I was commissioned by Leeds University to capture 10 hours of action at many different venue throughout the Uni and Met campuses. The breif was to capture as many events as possible – so took the huge list of sports, planned the day and set off
Sports Photography at Leeds Varsity Read More »
Never posed before? Never had your photo taken before? Nervous in front of the camera? These 2 Cramlington girls answered yes to all of these – but that didn’t stop us having a great shoot with some cool results. We’d got a location in mind with a bit of graffiti and in a reasonably quiet
Urban Photoshoot – Gateshead Read More »
Night time means long exposures, things moving through your images, high contrast scenes, a new world of creativity with you camera, a change for your imagination to run wild. To most, the M62 is a car park they traverse every morning and evening, a place of wasted time and torture. To a photographer, it’s a
View from the M62 – Light Trails Read More »
Homeward Bound – Church, Coffee and Cake Beautiful landscape is one part of out workshops, but we’re partial to a bit of architecture too, and when the weather is lacking, we can always pop into something interesting like this church. It’s on the way to Munich Airport so we pulled off the Autobahn and had
Austria Workshop 2012 – Bavarian Church Read More »
Blackpool – Vegas of the north! Friday night saw me playing with the Blues Brothers band at the Empire in Blackburn, so I stopped in the area for the weekend, calling into Blackpool for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. Interesting light – sunny in one direction, overcast in the other, so decided to get
McFade Photography in Blackpool Read More »
Austrian Landscape Photography Holiday McFade Photography’s “Austrian Photography Holiday & Workshop” took 5 photographers over to the stunning Tirol area of Austria in the middle of October 2012, an area of outstanding mountains, lakes and gorges. A long weekend, from Thursday to Monday, with 3 full photography days in stunning locations, fantastic food and accommodation with Keith and Manu
Austrian Landscape Photography Workshop – Day 1 at The Gorge Read More »
Celebrity Look Alikes in Leeds Had the great pleasure of meeting and photographing:- David Beckham Mr T Austin Powers Simon Cowell Britney Spears Will Smith Or at least I thought I did! These were a great bunch of actors who make a career from looking like the actual celebrity – and it is uncanny when
Photographer Meets Celebrity Look Alikes in Leeds Read More »
The most complete night photography workshop series in Leeds today? Does your camera go into hibernation over winter? Join our Night Photography Workshops in Leeds. Embrace the dark to create amazing images! We’ve listened to your feedback from the recent survey. People wanted…. a “collaborative” approach, one where we learn from each other to know more
Night Photography Workshops in Leeds Read More »
Light Trails I was looking for a few example light trail shots to promote the Night Photography Programme’s first session, which was on Tuesday 9th October, back in 2012. I ended up looking in my 2006 folders and got these shots from a bridge over the M621 between Morley and Gildersome. So for the first
Light Trail Photography Read More »
10 Similarities Between Chefs and Photographers Everyone cooks, and everyone takes photos – so there must be some similarities between Professional Chefs and Professional Photographers… here are a few:- 1 – Everyone can use the tools I’m not a professional chef, but I can use a hob, oven, knife and many other things you see
Chefs and Photographers – 10 Things They All Do Read More »
Theatre Rehearsal Photography in Leeds…. Destination Holbeck… Driving around Holbeck (Leeds) slowly caused a few long, suspicious looks… parts used to be the red light district and it’s not improved much in the last few years. The road I was after didn’t seem to have a name on it… there were just lock ups and
Twisted Theatre Photography in Leeds… Read More »
Round and Round We Go Have you ever found yourself munching on your favourite steak and chips every night only to realise, somewhat sadly, that it’s lost a bit of its zing? That’s a bit how photography can feel sometimes. Day in, day out, same old stunning vistas, yet the thrill isn’t quite what it
Reframing the Familiar: Mastering the Creative Cycle Read More »
Just been asked to do a piece for Ephotozine, on Landscape Photography. Thought it worth sharing on here with you all. It’s just 3 questions, with my ramblings on each. How did you get into landscape photography? I’m from the countryside originally, rural Lancashire by Pendle Hill, so was always at home there. When affordable
Landscape Interview…. Read More »
What is HDR…. Love it or hate it, or have no idea what it is, HDR is a great solution to difficult exposure conditions, where the bright and dark areas of the shot are so contrasting, your camera just can’t capture it all in one shot. So we take a few shots at different exposures
HDR Batch Battle – Photomatix V Oloneo Read More »
A few people mentioned to me that they’d like to know more about “posing” people, and in on of the McFade Training Taster workshops last year, I covered some ideas – maybe ones which surprised people. The “by the book” posing techniques will produce just that – by the book, traditional shots of people. They
5 Tips – To Pose, or not To Pose? Read More »
Castlefield – Central Manchester A more imposing set for a northern city shoot is hard to find. Castlefield has a mix of huge bridges, canals, brick, steel, pagodas, bars, locks, tow paths and bars…. Add to that the imposing Beetham Tower looming over you constantly, you’ve got an incredible array of backgrounds to play with.
Castlefield – Manchester Read More »
20 years ago, I was a fresher at UMIST, the highly regarded science and technology uni in Manchester – so when I was invited back by Trish to shoot some photos of the new Student Council, I jumped at the chance. Proper nostalgia – I’d not actually stepped into the Union since 2005 when I
Manchestaaaaaaaaar! Read More »
Off Camera Flash Essentials Off camera flash is a popular technique at the moment, taking speedlite flashes off the camera, onto light stands and using radio transmitters to trigger them. It’s getting easier and cheaper – with budget brands bringing flash to the masses Technically, there and awful lot to understand to get fantastic results
5 ESSENTIALS every photographer MUST know before using Off Camera Flash Read More »
On the way back from my sight test today, I called into a park and grabbed a few floral shots – thought I’d give it a bash, they’re not really my thing to be honest but you never know who may need them…. The park’s usually full of all kinds and colours of flowers, but
As part of the Lightroom 4 exploration, we’ve been editing our student’s shots for fun – using just Lightroom 4, no plugins or photoshop. Here’s one from the Lyric of Chris with his trombone on the stairs. Original Shot This shot seemed to suit mono, so started off with a black and white pre-set – went through
McFade Edits Phil Gledhill’s “Chris” playing Read More »
As part of the Lightroom 4 exploration, we’ve been editing our student’s shots for fun – using just Lightroom 4, no plugins or photoshop. Here’s one from the Lyric of Chris playing his trombone. The gallery feature isn’t in the right order, but each shot has a number after it;s name “brass-band-119-3” – that number
McFade Edits Phil Gledhill’s “Chris in Window” shot Read More »
Enhancing Workshop Photos with Lightroom: A Step-by-Step Guide As part of our exploration into Lightroom 4, we have taken the opportunity to edit some of the photos from our students’ workshops. In this post, we’ll demonstrate how we transformed an image from a McFade Taster shoot featuring Sam and Chris from the brass section of
McFade Edit of Dave Goodman’s “Sam” shot Read More »
On Ilkley Moor Bah Tat A bright mid-morning trip up to the Cow and Calf is a lovely way to start a bank holiday Monday. Light breeze, nice patterned clouds and nice shadows were what we were greeted with. The ND Grad Problem Thing is, using ND Grad filters to keep detail in the sky would blacken
Ilkley Moor – Photographed in HDR Read More »
So many landscapes have these amazing sunsets, nuclear red skies with amazing orange hues…. Do you think they “really” looked like that when the photographer was there? Here’s a demo of how easy they are to fake in Lightroom 4…. Original Look Tone and Saturation changes Tidy up dust and lift the dark areas Lens
Fake that sunset in Lightroom 4 Read More »
An example of workflow in Lightroom on a coastal shot. 5 shots here Unedited Tone to add contrast, slight rotation, dust removed Clarity added to boost detail/contrast Colour boost – more blues and orange Selective edits with the brush tool and final crop. To view each step, just click on the picture below
5 Steps to better Coastal Shots Read More »
You can’t always win 🙁 Some days were just not made for landscape photography, unfortunately my recent Northumberland trip had 3 consecutive days…. Not one to be defeated, I did clamber onto some rocks and get a few wave shots, but as you can see here there was little help from the ambient light. Also, I’d found
Lightroom 4 to the rescue! Read More »
Sanctuary on a wet day When it rains in Newcastle, it’s time to head inside – and the Sage was perfect. A huge complex of theatres, all under a curvy roof, designed by Norman Foster. They are fine with people taking photos here, which is refreshing as most places in Leeds chase you out the second
McFade Training’s Brass Night at the Lyric April’s taster session saw delegates return to the amazing venue that is the Lyric Cinema. This month we ventured away from the main auditorium into the more abandoned looking areas around the projector rooms – the prefect backdrop. Chris Colbran and Sam Houghton were the subjects this time, both professional musicians working in many bands
Brass Musician – Training Shoot Read More »
Leeds Training at the Lyric! Here’s a few shots from March’s McFade Training evening in the Lyric Theatre in Armley. The subject was “an introduction to Off Camera Flash” and had people using our speedlite system to capture Rocco, Salman and Eleni in the dramatic setting of an old, disused cinema. Have a go…… The
Photography in the Lyric, Leeds Read More »
What’s Most Effective…. So many different websites for photographers these days… There are many varieties :- “Fun” social media – casual chat on facebook, twitter, foursquare etc. “Serious” social media – Facebook Business Pages and Linked IN Blogging – share your wisdom Website galleries – show those shots off! Photo community sites – 500px, ephotozine, flickr Youtube
Where Should Photographers Invest Time Online? Read More »
