Exposure Cheat-Sheet
Infographic A simple aide-memoire for the 3 main exposure settings. Enjoy!
Exposure Cheat-Sheet Read More »
Yorkshire Dales Photography – 17 from Deepdale
Where in the Yorkshire Dales is Deepdale? Deepdale is long valley in The Yorkshire Dales which borders Whernside and drops into Dentdale, in the western Yorkshire Dales. Why’ve I not heard of it? It’s dominated by the near by Dentdale, Deepdale is an offshoot which leads steeply into Kingsdale. Deepdale could easily be confused for
Yorkshire Dales Photography – 17 from Deepdale Read More »
22 Yorkshire Dales Photos – Ribblesdale
Where in the Yorkshire Dales is Ribblesdale? It’s one of the major ones, with a west watershed, that starts at Ribblehead then goes via Settle into East Lancashire – ending up at Preston where it enters the Irish Sea. Most people think of Ribblesdale as a limestone heavy location, with the 3 Peaks all around
22 Yorkshire Dales Photos – Ribblesdale Read More »
15 Photos of Kingsdale
Where in the Yorkshire Dales is Kingsdale? It’s that long valley which goes up the west side of Whernside, in the Yorkshire Dales. Why’ve I not heard of it? You’ve probably not heard of it, it’s not one of the main dales – it’s probably counted as part of the Ribblesdale region. What’s it like?
15 Photos of Kingsdale Read More »
Lightroom Rescue in under 10 minutes…
Grim Day… Day 1 of the summer series of workshops and we get a winter night…. in may…. It wasn’t raining too much when we got to the reservoir, so I showed a couple of new people how to expose using a meter. Here’s the shot I got – 4 seconds, histogram told me that
Lightroom Rescue in under 10 minutes… Read More »
Yorkshire Photo Locations – Cow and Calf
Bah T’at Most people go Bah T’at on Ilkley Moor, subject of this Yorkshire Photo Locations post, these days – except the climbers in their helmets. The Cow and Calf is an outcrop of rock on Ilkley Moor, the Cow being a large rock, the calf being an boulder which stands a few feet away from
Yorkshire Photo Locations – Cow and Calf Read More »
How I did This…. 5 Photoshop Steps
So you can do most things in Lightroom these days. I thought I’d meddle with this shot of the Royal Armouries to show a few things you can’t do in Lightroom…. yet! Start point So to get to this point, you could probably have used Lightroom. Its been through these steps… Capture – 1
How I did This…. 5 Photoshop Steps Read More »
5 Tips on “Daytime City” Long Exposures Using a 10 Stop Filter
Get Surreal with a 10 STOP ND Filter! Can you use a 10 stop filter do to long exposures in cities? They are commonplace in landscape photography, where the shots are usually taken in low light at sunrise or sunset. You normally get shots with lots of colours, milky water and foam-like seascapes. So I
5 Tips on “Daytime City” Long Exposures Using a 10 Stop Filter Read More »
CREATIVE Shoot – Dancer Shante Liburd
Location, Lights & Action! Shooting with dancers is as creative as it gets – they spend hours training, perfecting moves and poses you can never get “normal” people to do. Spending the day with fellow lighting obsessive and photography trainer, Jayce Clarke, we took Shante and Daniella to an amazing derelict building to use the graffiti-rich
CREATIVE Shoot – Dancer Shante Liburd Read More »
Muay Thai Boxing Champion
Brad Stanton…. At just 19, Brad has conquered the UK and Commonwealth – just turned 20, he’s now headlining stadiums with his amazing Thai Boxing skills. He’s based at Leeds premier gym, Edge (www.edgegyms.co.uk), and needed some great shots to help lift his profile – so we did a shoot in the actual gym. To
Muay Thai Boxing Champion Read More »
HDR Photography in Leeds… Armley
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 Accessory Test
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 »
5 Fairground Photography Tips
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 »
5 Amazing Lake District Locations
The Lake District is famous for walking and it’s stunning views over hill and lakes, perfect for the active person. However, it’s possible to get great shots without and enjoy a relaxing, sedate day out – all of these shots were taken within 1/4 mile of the road. 1 – Haweswater The eastern side of the
5 Amazing Lake District Locations Read More »
5 Great Yorkshire Waterfalls
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 »
5 Tips on Cropping Photos
Cropping a shot is a great exercise – you can find completely new images within an existing frame. Here’s a shot with lots going on, probably too much to be an effective shot on its own. We have a few rocks in the foreground and lots of lines and circles from the moving foamy water. It
5 Tips on Cropping Photos Read More »
Urban Photoshoot – Gateshead
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 »
Austria Workshop 2012 – Bavarian Church
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 »
HDR Batch Battle – Photomatix V Oloneo
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 »
5 Tips – To Pose, or not To Pose?
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 »
5 ESSENTIALS every photographer MUST know before using Off Camera Flash
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 »
McFade Edit of Dave Goodman’s “Sam” shot
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 »
Fake that sunset in Lightroom 4
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 »
Lightroom 4 to the rescue!
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 »
Discovering Morley
Near Leeds Morley is a large town in the shadow of near-by Leeds, yet had it’s day as a wealthy wool town in the past. This is illustrated by The Town Hall, it is very impressive, similar to Leeds Town Hall in style; it steals the lime light away from the rest of the centre.
Discovering Morley Read More »
Rocco in the Woods
Leeds Model in Leeds Woods We’re always on the look out for new locations for both training and shoots with models, families and business people. So on this rekke shoot Rocco and I took to some woods in Leeds, armed with 2 flashes and a mix of lenses – and got some shots using the
Rocco in the Woods Read More »
Published in Photo Professional Magazine – March 2012
McFade in the Pro Photography Magazines Hot off the press this week is our latest article to go in to a glossy photography magazine. Previous published articles have been on “inspiration” and “painting with light”, this one’s our first in Photo Professional and discusses the merits of small flashes on location shoots – and it’s
Published in Photo Professional Magazine – March 2012 Read More »
Why should you shoot RAW?
Should I be Shooting RAW? RAW is a Mystery RAW is a mystery to many, resulting in them using JPG when taking photos. There’s nothing wrong with JPG, but you are throwing much of the baby out with the bathwater each time you hit the shutter. RAW is your Digital Negative RAW is just the
Why should you shoot RAW? Read More »
Night Photography in the City
Don’t put your camera away in the dark! Too many people put their cameras away for the winter – night photography is one of the most creative forms there is. Amaze your friends with long exposures, light trails, wierd shapes etc. Here are 5 Photography ideas to do at night which would be impossible during
Night Photography in the City Read More »
Top Tips – Sunny Day Cities
Photography in bright sun is a bad thing…. right ? Well it can be – it’s not ideal for landscapes, can make a wedding dress impossible to shoot without blinding your self and creates really harsh shadows. But like any light, it has its uses – so here are a series of shots from a few weeks
Top Tips – Sunny Day Cities Read More »
Perspective on Roads
Perspective and Lines…. I’ve always liked vanishing points and perspective, not only photography but in art, and just in life when you’re wandering around the countryside. You can find them in arable fields, where the farmers leave long rows of potatoes or lines in the wheat. If you have an old Roman road
Perspective on Roads Read More »
Camera control simulator
Here’s a really handy online tool to help you work out how things like Aperture, Shutter Speed, Focal Length and ISO all work http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator.html Well worth a look if you own a DSLR
Camera control simulator Read More »
5 Tips…. Sunny Day Photography
Sunny day photography Make the most of these “bright day” tricky conditions Bright days are great for many things, walks, days on the beach, beer gardens etc. but for Photography they cause a lot of issues:- very high contrast scenes too bright for a flash to work washed-out colours in landscape scenes etc. Here are
5 Tips…. Sunny Day Photography Read More »
5 Landscape Photography Locations in Yorkshire
Unlocking the Secrets of Yorkshire Landscape Photography: Where to Start? Yorkshire is not just a county; it’s a canvas for Yorkshire landscape photography. With its towering coastal cliffs, rugged limestone formations, ancient stone walls, and mesmerising waterfalls, Yorkshire is a haven for photographers. But where should one start their Yorkshire landscape photography journey? To guide
5 Landscape Photography Locations in Yorkshire Read More »
Lines everywhere!
The Lead Line – A powerful friend for your compositions When you start getting interested in photography and look to improve, there are a few “rules” which help – things like the Rule Of Thirds or ensuring you’ve got a Single Focal Point/Subject in shot are very useful. These basic guidelines can make a significant
Exposure Explained…. via Beer?
F stops, shutter speeds and ISO can be confusing. I like to think in terms of things I understand when trying to explain difficult concepts, and it happens that beer can be roughly equated to exposure… F-Stops So the F stop relates to how fast a beer flows from the pump:- Guinness takes ages, that’s
Exposure Explained…. via Beer? Read More »
The Secrets of HDR processing….
HDR’s (High Dynamic Range) a very much maligned and misunderstood beast, most people associating it with eye popping colours and cartoon like portraits. Well yes, you can very easily end up with images just like Loony Tunes if you want, but there’s not much use for them out there in the big wide world, so I’ll take you through
The Secrets of HDR processing…. Read More »
5 tips for Night Photography
It may be heading towards Spring now, but there’s still time to make the most of the dark evenings with you camera. As the city lights twinkle like stars, capturing the essence of urban life at night can be truly rewarding. For those eager to explore this fascinating realm, be sure to check out some
5 tips for Night Photography Read More »
9 Profile Photo Types – Which Are You?
LINKED IN – TWITTER – FACEBOOK – all need a great profile photo We all social media – we’re all on Linked IN, Facebook and Twitter, they all use profile photograph to identify us. In most cases, this photo is the first impression people have of you! So what impression is your profile photo giving? Recognise Yourself – The 10 Profile
9 Profile Photo Types – Which Are You? Read More »
5 Tips for off camera flash
The Power of Off-Camera Flash in Photography Introduction When it comes to photography, understanding the impact of lighting is essential. One powerful tool that can transform your images is off-camera flash. By taking control of the light source and positioning it away from the camera, you can unleash your creativity and capture stunning photographs. In
5 Tips for off camera flash Read More »
Portraits…. outside is where it’s at?
I guess the traditional “Family portrait” is usually thought of as:- a visit to a shop on the high street where you sit in a little room with umbrellas, choose a slightly mottled blue background get posed in a traditional way feel awkward and have to calm the kids down get a few shots taken
Portraits…. outside is where it’s at? Read More »
5 tips for photography on dull days
Dull days kill landscape photography, transforming fantastic scenes in to flat, boring ones. Here are a few ideas on what to do when you get a dull day
5 tips for photography on dull days Read More »
5 tips for better portraits
We all take photos of people these days, be it on the phone, a little camera or a £5000 pro camera. Here are a few ideas which apply to any camera and any skill level… 1 – Don’t put the person in the middle of the shot, but slightly to one side 2 – Get
5 tips for better portraits Read More »