The Emulsive Ilford community interview

Di you catch our interview with @EMULSIVEfilm https://t.co/HydJFkqueT

— ILFORD PHOTO (@ILFORDPhoto) August 25, 2016

Purveyors of photographic materials Ilford really need no introduction. Their name already permeates this blog. They are rightly known for the quality and consistency of their products, and many a photographer and darkroom worker relies on them.

In May, Emulsive (a website dedicated to film) invited questions via social media to put to this great company. Ilford have been generous in the time and consideration given to their response, and they answered an impressive number of questions. Click on the button below for the link. It makes good reading for anyone interested in the UK photo industry, and especially the future of film.

Be a better photographer - a postscript

So, today I have posted the tenth, and final, instalment of my little weekly mini series of photography tips. Writing them has been enjoyable, and I have learnt about myself as a photographer and potential blogger.

My website is not very old, and while I can monitor visitor numbers to some degree, and have linked to social media, it is not easy to tell how my writing has been received (or how many readers it has had). I suspect the lot of the blogger is fundamentally a lonely one, especially in the early stages of a blog’s life. Perhaps the game is changing too: maybe the blogs with large audiences were formed when such things were possible, but now a proliferation of blogs means a smaller and more specialised audience for each new one.

A writer is naught without an audience, and so for this reason I invite feedback on the ‘better photographer’ series, or any other posts for that matter. The contact link in the menu above is an easy way to get in touch, or there are sections for comments under specific posts. The latter are moderated and so there may be a short delay before they appear.

Some useful questions are: Which bits did you like? How did you find the format, the length, flavour? Are there things I didn’t cover that you would like to see? Were the tips helpful? Do you want more? Would you like to see some beginners introductions to photo topics? If so, which ones? 

The content of such a website is always going to be the responsibility of the owner, and of course I reserve the right to make it indelibly mine (it wouldn’t be Richard Pickup Photography else, and I have only begun to scratch the surface of what I have to offer). I plan to address darkroom more than I have to date, and certainly more on digital inkjet printing. Modest reviews of equipment and papers will continue. 

At the same time it is abundantly clear from my experience with social media that collaborative and community based dialogue is on the rise (this may link to my suspicion of more numerous, but more specialised photography sites). I welcome this social aspect, and thus if you wish to stick around and get involved, you have an opportunity to shape what I do. I hope, then, that an audience and indeed a community, with you a part of it, will emerge. If you think my content is for you, please do follow and voice your opinion.

Be a better photographer - tip 10

“You don’t make a photograph with just a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”

— Ansel Adams

Train your visual memory

I believe in creativity, but I also believe that we learn a social language ‘through’ which we speak. As it is with words, so it is with photography. Adams puts it economically when he says that ‘you bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen’. Photographers learn photography by learning to speak its language. That language is made up of the work that has gone before us, the grammar, so to write, established by those who find their way into a culture’s visual memory, passed on through books, museums and latterly the web.

Just as a writer might conjure an original feeling or sentiment using the established words, phrases and literary devices of the past, so a photographer aims to carve out a niche in picture-making. Literary minds are nourished by the traditions of literature on which they draw and are immersed. The same goes for photographers. I am not so much of an expressionist as Adams, and maybe the full quote above is unfashionably romantic. However, I think we would not be off the mark to read Adams’ as an educational message to look carefully and widely at good work by others, in order to improve our practice.

So my tip for the day is to consider the wonderful photography of the past as great works that we can read to improve our photographic eye. If you have seen good photos, in other words, you will stand a better chance of drawing on them to make good work. Give time and space in your engagement with photography over to careful looking and contemplation. Galleries and museums are great because we are in the physical company of the work and peruse with minimal distraction. Books are tactile and inhabit our living environments, such that we spend more time digesting a photographer’s oeuvre. Numerous times have I chanced on a photographers monograph from my bookshelf and re-awakened my engagement with the work. Such images stick around, literally and in the mind.

Sure, we might start off being under the spell of great photos, feeling like we’ve made another ‘Adams’, say. Yet given enough time and a generous diet, we might come to put that ‘language’ together, in fresh and contemporary ways. It’s an essential part of learning to be a better photographer.

Artisan and Artist camera straps

Many of the best accessories are simple, aesthetically pleasing and eminently practical. Artisan and Artist camera straps fall into this category. They are handmade from quality materials, and are both beautiful (well, to my eye) and work well.

They are not cheap (should we expect a high quality, handmade item to be so?), and have a somewhat austere simplicity that some might find off-putting. In this latter regard, they fit into a tradition of simple, ‘form follows function’ design, and perhaps for this reason are often associated with rangefinder aficionados.

For my own cameras, I have presently opted for an adjustable model, which allows the user to determine the precise location of the camera on the belly / chest when the strap is around the neck. They offer non-adjustable versions too, for those who are happy with the length on offer (it depends on your size and physique of course), which again derives from simple designs past (notably the bundled film Leica M strap, with its formidable spiked rubber neck pad). There is the bonus of a little more economy to the non-adjustable version.

Personally, I find my A&A straps very comfortable. So much so that I hardly notice wearing my, admittedly smallish, cameras. The straps are not especially wide, but there is just enough width to make them an effective upgrade from thin nylon straps. The material is wonderfully soft, and in that regard feels very luxurious. They are finished with hand stitching, which I find attractive to look at, and a beautiful printed logo.

I am unable to comment on the hardiness of the straps because I have only owned mine for about a year and a half. Suffice it to say, they haven’t aged very much and fill me with confidence that they will last a great deal longer (probably a good few years). The leather and ringlet system at the ends works fine with my cameras, although it is certainly a little tight on my Sony A7II. This may be a consideration depending on the position of the lugs on your camera, but I doubt it’s of too much concern.

If you are looking for a little luxury and practical excellence in an accessory for you camera, look no further than an A&A strap.

Be a better photographer - tip 9

How to make interesting photographs

My tip today is to photograph what you find interesting, in order to make interesting photographs.

Some of my tips in this series have bordered on stating the obvious, I know, but sometimes there is wisdom in a truism. This tip is no different. There is so much to occupy us in photography, from equipment to light, to compositions and processing, that it is easy to forget that we will love a photograph to the degree in which we love the subject. Sally Mann has said something to the effect that you should photograph what you love in order to make great art.

So in my customary manner I ask you a question: do you love - find interesting - what’s in your photos? Have another looks at your images. Maybe this applies to some and not others. Are you even photographing what you love at all? (When we become enamoured with gear we often forget the simple practicalities of using it. We might, for example, pursue equipment to make landscapes, because we dream of making landscapes; but in actual fact have neither the time nor opportunity to make such work).

I cannot tell you what you love. It might be cars, buildings, people, places, little details in everyday life (or, following from the modernists, the medium itself). Herein lies the subjectivity in this, and the very good reason we make work with an audience in mind. Photography is powerfully and fundamentally tied to the thing in the image.

Take the time to ask whether you still love the thing in front of your lens, and you will go a long way to retaining the spark of your own interest in what you do.

Passageway, Menorca

A by-product of writing a blog is that it inevitably records the author's developing tastes and predilections. I seem to be very much in a black and white mindset at the moment, to the point, even, of giving a monochrome treatment to shots I originally saw in colour - like this one here.

There is a very old tradition in picture making of a landscape in which the viewer's eye is led towards a source of light. This has a pictorial effectiveness, the eye undertaking a 'journey' and finding satisfaction in so doing, and it also has an obvious metaphorical resonance. 'Out of the darkness, and into the light.' I write 'picture making', because it abounds in historical painting, and therefore long precedes photography.

I am close to this shot, having just processed it, and so am not yet decided as to how much I like it. It is significant because of its relationship with the above tradition, but as usual with these things, it is also something of a photographer's set piece, just as are windows, doors and so on. My main reason for including it is that I know I am happy with its tones.

I trimmed the image a little, before darkening the edges and tweaking the highlight tones. I worked towards a tonally full piece, one having a range of tones from black to near white. This image presents one of those very balanced and full-looking histograms that fills the graph as a neat and symmetrical, centred hill. I haven't yet printed it, but imagine that it will print very well and has plenty to occupy the eye, in textural detail as well as fulsome tone.

Be a better photographer - tip 8

Find the street scene, then wait for actors

In a great deal of the best street photography work there is a special relationship between the setting and the people in it. We often find ourselves marvelling at these shots because not only is the composition elegant and convincing, but there is a person in ‘just the right’ place in the frame. There is a coming together of setting and event, and in the very best this carries the extra weight of a poignant meaning as setting and actor(s) create a frisson. Henri Cartier-Bresson is one such master of this technique.

There is a simple technique you can use to make this happen in your shots (not that I’m promising you’ll immediately become a Cartier-Bresson). You simply find a setting you like, paying attention to composition and the shapes in the frame, and wait for somebody to arrive, in the right place.

In the image above, I was struck by the scene and the view through the opening (the slanting tree caught my eye), long before anybody arrived. I realised I could use this technique and wait for somebody to walk into the frame. It took several attempts to get somebody in the right position, and the right somebody, posture particularly, at that. I enjoy the way the woman’s leaning stride echoes the leaning tree. This elevates the shot from a view that catches the eye to something more.

A great technique if you’re into street photography.

Black and White Photography magazine

A few posts back I shared a smartphone image of some alliums against a white wall. I'm pleased to say this image has been published in Black and White Photography magazine, as part of their 'Smartshots' feature.

Alliums against a Wall

If you don't already know it, this is certainly a publication to check out. Highlights this month include work by Stephen Shore and Nick Brandt, as well as lots of inspirational images and advice. While the magazine doesn't exactly have a house style, there is a unifying elegance to the work, and the quality of the reproductions is very fine. The emphasis is on artistic photography (of the black and white kind, naturally) rather than equipment or industry issues. I also enjoy that the images are subtly toned, which creates a visual variety, even in black and white.

Darkroom prints from digital negatives

What follows is a little report on some work I have been doing with digital negatives. It is relatively specialised ground, especially as it entails access to a good inkjet printer, editing software, and a darkroom, but I think it will be of interest to anyone intrigued by the thought of a marriage of digital and darkroom.

The story starts with an excellent product by Permajet called Digital Negative Transfer Film. This is the material on which the technique rests and its ready availability and quality is of crucial importance. This is not a technique you will wish to spend time on if it turns out you can no longer get the essential media, or indeed if that media fails you. A wise master printer once said that it is your time, not materials, that are your biggest outlay. I personally am not prepared to invest time in a process that I am unlikely to be able to repeat, unless I can value the occasion as a one-off simply so to be enjoyed.

In this sense, what I offer is a little review, too, of Permajet’s film. I am happy to say that it passes muster, and I am confident that I can use the process much more, and to fuller effect.

A digital negative printed on Permajet's Digital Negative Transfer Film

Ever since I heard about high quality digital film, I have wondered whether I could make a negative from a digital file that I could print on darkroom paper. Readers familiar with platinum / palladium printing (and indeed other alternative processes involving a digital negative) will be aware that a tradition of using such materials has existed for some time. Processes like cyanotype or platinum entail the creation of the photographic medium (paper) prior to exposure, whereas printing with conventional darkroom papers offers a little more speed and convenience. 

The motivation for making a digital negative to print in the darkroom is that one can have the detail, sharpness and control of a digital file combined with the unique tones of a silver print. I have long thought that what makes darkroom prints so special is that we are looking upon a physical manifestation of silver in a print. The process is based on a contact print method of printing, not unlike that used by large format photographers who print directly from, say, 10x8 inch negatives. There is no enlarger lens mediating the light and so all the glorious detail of the original negative is preserved (you may have seen this in 35mm when enlarging your negatives, the contact print creating an unobtainable, crisp rendition of the original negative).

Digital negatives on the lightbox.

I have written before that I consider the controls offered by darkroom to be more than adequate on their own (as supported by the many fabulous prints made throughout darkroom’s history). However, it is inescapably true that when you can work on a digital negative first, you have all the controls of the digital darkroom at your disposal in addition to those under the safelights. This inevitably brings its complications (and as you will see adds to steps to be taken) but the precision and creative possibilities open to the printer are mind boggling.

The first step is to establish a minimum exposure time for your paper that will yield a black tone. You can do this with a simple test strip, as you would when testing for negative exposure times. My paper of choice was Ilford’s fine Multigrade Warmtone Glossy. My rationale was that, as well as the fact that I enjoy its tonality, I could process, wash and dry it without the restrictions of fibre based paper.

You next print a step wedge showing a range of tones onto the digital film. These can be found for download on the internet, and are simply a range of different densities of tone running from ‘0’ (white) to ‘100’ (black). I printed mine using Epson's Advanced Black and White driver, through Lightroom. 

The step wedge is taken into the darkroom and contact-printed at the minimum exposure time for black established in step one. When I exposed the step wedge, I made sure I covered a small section of the paper with opaque card. This creates a reference point representing unexposed paper, or paper white. The resulting print is then dried properly (this must be done to allow for ‘dry down’ of your print tones) and scanned at 300 ppi. I next opened this file in Photoshop, converted it to greyscale, and opened the levels adjustment. I sampled the black and white points to shift the curve so that ‘pure’ black and white are represented. This step is necessary, because we are now creating a model of the darkroom print in, as it were, a virtual space. The white reading is taken from the area of the print that was covered during darkroom exposure, the black from the 100% black section.

Now comes what is most difficult part. A curve must be constructed to ‘correct’ a processed digital file so that it will print correctly on darkroom paper. You could of course simply invert one such file, print it onto the film and contact print it. I’d almost encourage you to do that, because you will see the distance between digital film and a film negative. It should look pretty horrible tonally, with a whole raft of tones missing. 

So what we do is read the tones from the scanned step wedge at intervals of ten to ascertain how our correction will go. This is done using the eyedropper tool in Photoshop. My numbers went 0-4, 5-4, 10-7. 20-14, 30-24, 40-37 and so on. I then built a correction curve by reversing the inputs and outputs and doing a little judging by eye. I looked at numerous accounts of how to do this online and they all yielded slightly different results. I don’t think you can get away from guesswork here. This is alchemy, and labour. You then print your curve-corrected step wedge in the hope that the tones more closely match a healthy, well spaced, sequence of tones. I printed a sample image at the same time because the tonal ‘rightness’ of images is much easier to judge. Again, however, hard work was involved because that meant applying the speculative curve to the image as well as the step wedge! You have to enjoy repetitive processes and the splendid isolation of the darkroom for this work.

The image that appears in print D054, the moment of triumph.

You will now appreciate why I experimented with the process over a period of several weeks. I had a lot of disappointments along the way, and had to look upon a lot of truly nasty looking renditions of my test image. Then, suddenly, I had it. D054 was the unglamorous name of the negative, and it printed pleasantly enough at grade 2.5. I increased the grade slightly and felt I had reached my goal: a file processed with care and accuracy digitally, with fine sharpness and ‘bite’, that I could print with confidence and precision onto beautiful darkroom paper. D054 was 6x5 or so inches, yet I knew I could go back and make a 10x8 negative if I so wished. A 10x8 negative that would require no dodging and burning (because that was done to the original file) and could be re-made at the touch of a button if it got damaged. Phew!

In subsequent work I made a fibre-based warmtone print using the sibling paper from Ilford. I made a small adjustment to the grade, and to my eye the print took on that ‘something extra’ that fibre paper so often bestows. This is the stage that I am at now. I intend to do some more printing using the same curve I developed for this first image, but it is my understanding that subsequent images may require bespoke curves (which in turn may require some iterative testing). I also intend to explore larger negatives and therefore prints. Permajet offers the film in A3 (as well as larger sizes in rolls), which will accommodate this. The possibilities are therefore very exciting, if the work time consuming and demanding, as I have emphasised.

Others have observed that one consequence of digital technology is that we live in an unprecedented era of available technology. For those who are willing to look, not only has darkroom not gone away, but it now sits alongside developing media, opening up opportunities for those who can and do seek them. Exciting times indeed.

Be a better photographer - tip 7

Keep on photographing in your mind

Today’s tip is to practise taking pictures all the time, even when you don’t have a camera with you. You can go through much of the process in your mind, thus sharpening your skills of seeing.

Ask yourself some questions as you go. What is the subject? Where does it start and end? Where are the edges of the frame? Do you need to be closer (or further away)? Do you need to change your perspective by crouching down, or getting higher? Is the image you see black and white or colour?

If the ‘shot’ is particularly memorable, you may want to take things a little further. Can you imagine how it would be processed? How would you make the print? What size should it be? How might it be presented?

Reference print special offer

While there is a lot of fine work out there, acquiring prints is often an expensive business. As I have written before, I think it's really important for photographers to study example prints by established practitioners to calibrate their own printing. How can you print well if you don't know what a good print looks like?

To this end, I am offering my own affordable reference print. In this case, it is a black and white pigment inkjet print on superb Canson Baryta Photographique paper. It is printed on a state of the art Epson P600 printer (this is significant because Epson have improved the depth of the blacks). It is a 'full bodied' (moderately high contrast) image, with a full range of tones. You can see this to some extent in the image above: there is no shortage of deep blacks and crisp highlights, but also there is a range of subtle greys in between.

I won't sign and date this print as per my usual practice (to distinguish it from my fine art prints) but I will caption it with some essential technical information. Postage to the UK is free, with a modest postage charge to the rest of the world. I am essentially trying to cover costs and a little of my time.

You can find the print here:

Prints

Signed original photographic prints for sale

Be a better photographer - tip 6

Buy a trip, not more gear

Should I buy more gear (probably a camera or lens) or a trip to a far-flung location? I remember pondering this once myself, and have recently been asked the question by another photographer.

There is a malady amongst photographers affectionately known as GAS, or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Photographers, especially amateurs it seems, are inveterate shoppers. You can see the logic in this: if I don’t have a 24mm lens, pictures with a 24mm field of view I will not make. The tendrils of consumerism do their dark work, and gear research and online shopping are a fact of our photographic lives.

I will simply answer that when I plumped for far-flung location (India, actually) over the camera I was pondering, my decision proved to be a sound one. Looking back, the best possible one. Suffice it to say, I made some of my best work on that trip and cannot now conceive of trading the experience - and the shaking up of my photographic vision it provided - for a camera I may, or may not have needed, that I certainly wouldn’t have ever used in India.

Be a better photographer - tip 5

Deepen your vision by shooting in black and white

This tip is deceptively simple: shooting in black and white allows you to concentrate on the photographic essentials of shape, texture and tone.

Setting your camera to shoot monochrome jpegs or choosing a black and white film, you dispense with the complexities of colour relationships and enjoy a simplification, an intensification even, of your vision. I say deceptively simple, because although you 'dispense' with one layer, you still have plenty of work to do. It is challenging to translate the colour-based world of ordinary vision into a convincing arrangement in grey. You have to watch light carefully, think about the tones that will be produced and how they will work together, follow shape and line, and observe the play of texture and form. 

If you are used to colour work, you may get a sense of liberation in this. It can be a little holiday from colour relationships - which affect your work whether you know it or not - that makes returning to colour work a pleasure again. You discover a world that is utterly photographic in kind, a world unlike our vision, and become acquainted, or reacquainted, with some basic concerns of image building.

Be warned though. Black and white in itself is very addictive. There is no shortage of eloquent advocates who see it as the highest, most lyrical, or purest form of photography. While this tip is a little more modest and practical in aim, you may just become initiated into something much bigger.

Be a better photographer - tip 4

The drawer of contemplation

There are two reactions that I frequently have in response to my own ‘just made’ prints. One is an excited feeling that I have ‘done good’, the other a sense of deflated dissatisfaction. In both cases, I often look back with a feeling that my initial thoughts were wrong and that the intervening time has given me a more realistic or accurate perspective. Initial excitement turns out to be premature, and, conversely, deflation is replaced with more affection and admiration. To put it more simply, things are either better or worse than I originally thought. Not in all cases of course, but in enough to be noteworthy.

It is the time and the distance on the work that is of critical importance here. Enter the metaphorical (or real, if it suits you) ‘drawer of contemplation’. This is the place you are going to put your work ‘on hold’ to avoid making a snap judgement. It is more than a metaphor, because you do need some time physically away from the print so as to refresh your vision and obtain a visual and mental distance. Coming back to the print (no less than a week I would say), you are in a much more objective position and far less ‘close’ than you were when you made it.

Not only does this make you a better judge of your own work, but it can help to avoid that very contemporary pitfall and temptation of immediate - and sometimes, unfortunately, regrettable - media sharing. Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, et al, are at all times hungry for novelty. We experience a huge pressure as creatives to play up to that hunger and share work with unsustainable regularity. This suits the medium, but maybe not so much us as photographers, who need proper distance and time to evaluate what we do. If we are lucky, we will have a critical friend who will appraise our work with honesty before we take it to a wider public. 

The drawer of contemplation gives you the option to put stuff away (maybe for future thought) or, equally, to pull stuff out that might otherwise have not been granted the reprieve.  

Be a better photographer - tip 3

You are a better photographer than you think

This tip is a little morale booster designed to banish to the devil who sits on the shoulder of every creative person. You know, the devil that says, ‘in reality, you are no good’.

‘Why do I take so many rubbish photos?’ might be another refrain. The question is, who doesn’t take rubbish photos? How many frames does a ‘professional’ (I use the term loosely) shoot to get ‘the shot’? I can assure you it is not on a frame for a usable frame basis.

There is a kind of common sense to this (thus says your devil-on-the-shoulder), and you might still be full of self doubt. Here is a fact that might help. Robert Frank’s truly iconic book The Americans contains some 83 photographs. How many did Frank shoot to achieve that number? A reliable estimation is 28,000 frames. 

Yes, that’s right - sorry devil - 28,000 frames. Needless to say, Frank was selective. Not because he wasn’t a brilliant photographer, but because he knew what all successful photographers know, and that is that a subject and a photo opportunity must be worked. We can’t simply roll up and steal one or two images, however great we may be.

Consider this the next time that devil appears and concentrate on keeping on it. You are better than you think.

Be a better photographer - tip 2

Learn to see and capture good light

Subjects are very seductive and there is a tendency when we are learning photography to get carried away by the desire to capture. 'X' is there before me, and I want of photo it, now! Much of the time, however, 'x' is in poor light. For sure, this matters less if what we want or need is a record, but should it be a fine photo we are after then the light is an essential, but easy to overlook, ingredient.

The light our subject is in is the light that will structure our photo. Good light, photographically speaking, will be kind to your subject. The camera and the media inside it 'sees' differently to us. We need to learn to see good light as the camera sees, and seek such light for our photos. Given time and experience, photographers build a mental list of conditions to look for, reliable kinds of light that will bestow that extra magic. I have heard some experienced photographers say, "find good light, then go find a subject."

What is good light? Window light for portraits, dark skies before the rain for landscapes, diffused light for soft and open shadows, controllable and even strobe light for products, side light for textures - there is quite a list and you will find varieties particular to your chosen photographic genre. There are some nuances to this, but if you are starting out a few simple suggestions can help.

Take a look at your subject and the light that is on it. What is it like? Is the subject in shadow and something else in the frame brighter? Can you avoid this? If the scale is architectural, might another time of day be better? Is there an unpleasant or distracting shadow running across it? Do you have enough light? There is no point counting pixels or bemoaning a lack of sharpness in your pictures if the subject is not well illuminated. Does the light help to describe the subject's shape or is it flattening it undesirably? Is the light too harsh and unflattering?

Keep looking at light without your camera and analyse your photos to understand how your camera 'sees' light.  

Magical interchangeable sensors

“Magical interchangeable sensor technology”

— Adam Lee

What a great phrase from Adam Lee. It appears in a Leica camera report on Macfilos website.

I think I'll be revelling in this magical technology today. Sensor of choice as I head out? Ilford HP5 plus.

Be a better photographer - tip 1

Watch your subject, not just your camera

We all do it. Digital cameras are especially to blame, luring us in with their dials, buttons and screens. These little computers demand our attention and feedback delicious, backlit, crisp images - immediately satisfying, in a way. Old fashioned manual film cameras too, have their own distractions. Have I focussed ok? Does that half a stop over-exposure matter? Can I get away with 1/30 second?

Especially with people shots, and others where the action unfolds in tiny fractions of time, we profit from paying most attention to the subject. Indeed this is a skill: you have to learn to do the jobs you need to (focus the thing, remember) in a fluid, almost unconscious manner, so that you can concentrate on what counts. We do this all the time when driving. I have no conscious recollection of my gear changes on the way to work this morning, yet all the evidence points to me doing it.

By concentrating you discern and select. For me, you are simply more likely to grab that special gesture wherein the whole image comes together and the picture made.

New blog mini series: 'be a better photographer'

I'd like to introduce you to a little series of weekly posts I will be making called 'be a better photographer'. Short and to the point, they will be easily digestible, wide ranging in practical subject matter, and focussed on making valuable improvements to your photography.

Each post will contain a tip or little wisdom that I have picked up from my own experience, or from the many excellent practitioners I have learned from. I therefore make no special claim to originality, but would like to think of the tips as somewhat off-beat and distinct from the oft-repeated advice currently on the interweb.

I am aiming at ten posts, but I may do more. I hope that a wide range of photographers can learn from them, from beginners to the more experienced.

Tip 1 coming soon, so watch this space.