10 Must-Have Photography Gear for Every Photographer Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, having the right equipment can make a world of difference in your photography. Here’s a rundown of essential gear that should be in every photographer’s kit bag, and why each one matters. 1. Tripod – Your Steady Companion […]
10 Must-Have Accessories for Your Photography Kit Read More »
Why do we need headshots… Corporate headshots are essential for showcasing the professionals behind and working in a company and creating a positive first impression – usually on the About us page of your website and on professional networking sites. However, traditional headshots often lack authenticity and fail to reflect the true personality of the
Tips for Capturing Authentic Headshots Read More »
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
Top photography locations on the Yorkshire Coast Read More »
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
11 Reasons Why I STILL Love the Canon 5D Mark 4 Read More »
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
Why would I buy a PRIME lens when I have a ZOOM already? Read More »
When it comes to choosing the right lens for a specific type of photography, there are several factors to consider, such as the type of camera you have, your budget, and the specific subject you’ll be photographing. I get asked it all the time on workshops – which next? There isn’t a correct answer of
Which lens should I buy? Read More »
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
How Youtube Changed My Life Read More »
90’s House and Rave Music! I was a student in Manchester in the early nineties and a regular at Raves and house music clubs, like:- The state, The Hacienda Sankey’s soap. The boardwalk, The Limit. Home …and many, many others I can’t remember the name of around the Manchester area. So when my friend, soul
The Sharon Stacy’s 90’s Club Hit Band Read More »
Why I Use Manual Mode with Auto ISO for Event Photography Direct answer: Manual mode with Auto ISO is a practical way to photograph events in mixed light when you cannot use flash. You keep control of shutter speed and aperture, so motion blur and depth of field stay consistent, while the camera adjusts ISO
When should you use AUTO ISO on your camera? Read More »
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
The York Walls and Street Photography Experience Read More »
Littondale… then the weather changed! I don’t have a crystal ball so you never quite know what the weather is going to be like in 6-months when you are scheduling workshops in the Dales. This was to be a day in the beautiful littondale, a steep-sided Valley that branches off upper Wharfedale. The sides of
The Most Flexible Workshop EVER! – Littondale Read More »
Tilt Shift and 15 Stops… I always thought 10 stops was more than enough to create surreal exposures, but discovered the Nisi 15 stop filter (which multiplies your exposure time by 32000) and found a whole new world of experimentation. To test the filter on front of the 24mm tilt Shift lens and went for
The Surreal World of Ultra Long Exposures Read More »
Part 2 – Composition The portrait class of 2022 met at Leeds university this time to learn about composition and portraits. We had some exercises in finding:- Lines textures shapes colours angles These are all things to look out for when composing any photograph, can you use a line in the road or a colour
Portrait Photography Workshop 2 – Leeds Uni Read More »
Absolute Beginners Workshop After a 3-year break it was fantastic to get back to to be showing people her to do location portrait photography. We had our friends Andi, Andy and Michele, and a new model called Rachel, to play with around the exchange area of Leeds. The main focus of the workshop was settings
Portraits Beginners Workshop 2022 Read More »
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
What difference 12 months makes? Read More »
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,
How to shoot and edit extra-long exposures with a 10-stop filter Read More »
Have you been a walk this winter and photographed dead plants, twigs or leaves on branches, got home and been uninspired by them – they don’t really jump off the screen? Well previously in Lightroom, to make these “pop” out of your monitor, you would have to work quite hard to make your subject really
LIGHTROOM TIPS: Making subjects jump off the screen! Read More »
Anybody who photographs “normal people” will hear this question – every single shoot! It’s our “question everyone asks”. People want to look their best and they put their trust in you, also a great Icebreaker. The answer is “Yes of course”, we always do “something” to the photograph, just how far and how long we
Can you photoshop me? Read More »
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,
How to Get Started as a Model – The Test Shoot Read More »
Sometimes you only get a fleeting second of light and you’ll have to grab what you can with the camera you having your hands. The story behind this photo is that we were walking to a limestone pavement to capture photos of trees growing out of rocks when one of the clouds opened and let
Photoshopping Sunrays with Curves Read More »
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
Lencarta Beauty Dish Test Shoot Read More »
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
Nicola Paparazzo – Greek St. Shoot Read More »
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
Social media content creation in Lockdown Read More »
Who on earth uses a tilt shift lens for portraits? A nurse by day, a fashion model by – well any time he’s not being a nurse really – on this winters day we had a go at using my tilt shift lens for a portrait/fashion shoot… We met up for a walk this sunny
Tilt shift lens for portraits of Andy Taylor Boocock Read More »
Imagine a world where you could click one thing and your photo would be edited to your personal taste – fast photo editing software is the ultimate productivity booster, is Luminar AI the tool for this? Obviously 1-click editing isn’t really possible because every photograph is different and every situation as different lighting and composition,
Fast photo editing software – Luminar AI Read More »
Sometimes you just cannot get everything in Focus in one shot… This happens a lot when you are photographing landscapes with a very close foreground, the background becomes blurry if you focus on the foreground, and vice versa. In this tutorial I show you two photos I took of the exact same scene, all the
How to get Maximum Sharpness with Focus Stacking Read More »
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
Transforming Websites The Easy Way Read More »
You can definitely take great phone photos these days. The technology has moved on massively since the early days, and the app software is truly amazing. There are probably dozens of phone photos tips you could give, but realistically these three things will make the biggest difference. 1 – Where is the light This may
Try these 3 Things RIGHT NOW to improve your phone photos Read More »
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
Using the Godox AD600 on My First Post-Lockdown Model Photoshoot! Read More »
If you’re planning a trip to photograph Leeds, you might be wondering which locations offer the best photography opportunities. With a city as vibrant and historic as Leeds, there’s no shortage of captivating spots. The city offers a mixture of modern architecture and heritage sites, providing a wealth of visual diversity for any photographer. While
10 “Must SEE Leeds Photo” Areas for Photographers Read More »
Like many businesses, we deal directly with clients in person, so have taken quite a hit with this lockdown. We can’t really leave the house to do any new work – and if we could, we can’t get close to people so it’d be awkward. Here are a few things you can do remotely, and
Get the most from your photos during LOCKDOWN Read More »
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
How to choose a photographer from the 1000's recommended on LINKED IN Read More »
It’s the way that you do it… “It ain’t WHAT you do, it’s the WAY that you do it” – As the Bananarama song goes. That’s probably true in most businesses but it’s certainly the case with photography. It’s not just the end product which counts, but how you get to it. I’ve been shooting
BusinesS Headshots – it ain't what you do… Read More »
I know – sometimes it’s too dark to shoot and you don’t have any off-camera kit, so you have to use your flash “on camera” But the light you get off a direct flash is horrible – there’s an example in the video below. It serves a purpose, but it creates a passport photo look
NEVER use direct flash Read More »
Another series of Photography Workshops drew to an end in Manchester on the 26th September. It seems like ages since we started on our beginners evening in Leeds, which turned out to be the only evening where it rained! 2018 was amazingly dry and hot – it made the whole 10 workshops a joy. So
Summer Night Photography Workshops – 2018 Review Read More »
When you’ve done a shoot and have hundreds of shots to trawl through, you need a quick way to get the skin tone the right brighness on your subject. It’s not straightforward enough to use Auto Settings – that will take account of the background as well as the foreground and skin – so you
Correct Skin Tone in 1 Second Read More »
Our second portrait workshop the summer was with Nicola Papperazzo, Chloe Mason and Andy Blue McLaren. We split it into a couple of locations on the west end of Leeds city centre. Starting in the flowery Park Square, where I showed people how to use flowers in the foreground to add blurry texture – like this one
2018 Portrait Workshop 2 Read More »
Can mixing a holiday and photography ever work? So you’re off somewhere amazing for your holiday, with friends or family who probably are not photographers – or at least not as serious as you are. Can you really make this work? The dream holiday photography… For the die-hard-photographer who wants photography perfection, you really
The Nightmare Of Holiday Photography Read More »
Gone are the old days… Stitching panoramic photos used to be a pain. you’d have to do all kinds of prep on each photo in LIGHTROOM first, then export them as high res files, then create a stack in PHOTOSHOP and merge them…. and it’d probably go wrong at some stage! The panoramic world has
AMAZING Panoramic Photos Made Easy with LIGHTROOM Read More »
Is Portrait Professional 17 Terrible? My Experience and Verdict The internet is not kind to Portrait Professional 17. In the depths of comment sections, where opinions fly unchecked, there’s no shortage of criticism for this software. But is the backlash justified? In this post, I take a deep dive into my experience with Portrait Professional
They say Portrait Professional 17 is Terrible… but is it? Read More »
The bright sky problem… We’ve all done it – had a great scene to shoot but not got the right filters to balance the bright sky and land! We end up with a boring bright sky and really dark foreground – it’s not ideal, but with most camera RAW files you can now fix this
LIGHTROOM Bright Sky Rescue! Read More »
Age your photos in seconds! I’ve tried using “bought” LIGHTROOM presets many times and they all seem to have one thing in common… This makes perfect sense to any seasoned Photoshopper or Lightroom expert – but I guessed that most photographers don’t know about this. So here’s a video explaining how you do it – a quick “how to” guide so you can start making your own toned presets for free!
Instant Vintage Effects in Lightroom Read More »
Using LIGHTROOM to make a dreamy waterfall Here’s a shot from a recent workshop at Swaldale – it’s Crackpot Force, yes, that’s really a thing! The shot was underexposed, but I liked the shape – so gave it a go in Lightroom anyway. Things we explain:- black and white conversion basic controls like Highlights, Whites, Shadows
How to make a soft, dreamy, black and white waterfall photograph in LIGHTROOM Read More »
Flash of inspiration This technique came to me one night – just watching sunset on a road bridge and thought about it. It applies to Tilt Shif lenses mainly – but I’m sure you can do it with a normal lens, or telephoto. Maybe not an ultrawide 16mm though. The Problem So you invest £2000
How to fake an ND Grad filter with LIGHTROOM Read More »
Yellow fields of Discovery Discovering just what Tilt Shift can do is great fun – and you have to be hands on. Sure, I’d seen 10 Youtube videos so had a good idea what I needed to do – but here are a few examples from my first landscape trip in summer 2017. Tilt Shift
Wonderful Yellow Fields – Tilt Shift Lens Read More »
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
How to buy your first camera when you’ve not got a clue Read More »
Learn Spot Colour in Seconds The Magic of Spot Colouring in Adobe Lightroom Welcome to the fascinating world of spot colouring, a technique that can transform your photographs from ordinary to extraordinary. With Adobe Lightroom, you can achieve this stunning effect in mere minutes, no faffing about! The Art of Black and White Photography with
Super-Fast Spot Colouring in LIGHTROOM Read More »
Here’s a scene from a cornwall town – it’s been uploaded anonymously so I’ve no idea who’s work it is. Essentially it was a quick case of brightening up the photo to add a bit of punch – using the GRAD tool. Before… After The Video https://youtu.be/zgQoOuix7rY
LIGHTROOM TUTORIAL – Cornish Beach Scene Read More »
Is Swaledale the best Dale? There are so many dales, all with different character, all with different features. Swaledale is known for its steep sides, lead mines, waterfalls and 1000 barns – so lots to go at for the photographer We went up there yesterday – Richard Spurdens with his new Canon 5D mark 4
LIGHTROOM tutorial – Landscape – Swaledale Waterfall Read More »
Lightroom Edit of Zell Am See – Austria Real-time Lightroom editing tutorial Here’s a 10 stop shot – taken with a very dark ND filter which makes the exposure 1000 times longer. This one has a 30-second exposure. The filter has a blue cast, so we show how to correct this – and work through
Editing a Landscape in LIGHTROOM – Zell am See, Austria Read More »
