Making Music

Those of you who have been reading this blog for while will know about my 'Making Music' series of images. Well, finally I have a selection of images form this series on the site. The 'Making Music' gallery is here!

Making music is dynamic. Music does not exist in a moment in time, it exists through time. This series of photographs captures the dynamic process of making music. The photograph above shows a bodhran which is an Irish hand drum.

 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Which Camera?

Once friends and colleagues get to know that you can take half decent photographs, they start asking you about what you use. An old favourite used to be, 'What film do you use?' as if changing the film that they used would make all the difference to their pictures. It was a bit like asking a painter which brushes he used. The question misses the point by a mile.

One of the most frustrating things about photography forums is the constant, 'My camera is better than yours,' nonsense. To be honest, if you buy a camera from a decent maker, you are going to have a decent camera.

Anyway, cameras are not good in all situations. Like many things in life, camera choice is a compromise. In some situations a 10x8 view camera is probably still the best choice, in others, a camera phone is perfectly fine. And of course for most photo opportunities neither of these is appropriate.

Most enthusiasts and professional shooters choose a DSLR. The image quality they produce is very good and they are also very versatile. With the correct lens you can take shots of the head of a wasp or the craters on the Moon - or anything in between. Having said that, a DSLR with a collection of lenses and other accessories can be a pain to carry around. If you haven't got the right lens with you then shot is lost.

Another choice is a digital compact. These cover a very wide range from high quality products that will shoot RAW and produce images suitable for stock agencies to cameras only suitable for happy snaps - which is just what many people want.

The choice that you make has to be a personal one. The best thing to do is first decide what sort of images you want to take with the camera and then go from there. Also, will you be going out to make photos or will the photos be incidental to other pursuits. When you have answered these questions you can start to make a choice. It is only then that brand decisions should be even considered. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Food for Thought

Some of you may know that I enjoy taking photos of food. Setting up the lighting for the shot above was a little tricky. The main light is from the right with a white reflector to fill in the shadows. I also used a piece of card to stop the base from being illuminated. I recently bought a handheld lightmeter from ebay - at a very good price - and this was useful in establishing the exposure. I'm sure it will get a lot of use in the future. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Calling all UK Photographers No doubt you will have heard about photographers recently being challenged by 'officials'. Sometimes they have been asked why they are taking pictures in a public place, sometimes they have been detained and sometimes they have been asked to delete images from their memory cards. These stories of photographers being harassed have become quite common.

Austin Mitchell MP, who is himself a keen photographer has proposed an Early Day Motion to help to stop all this nonsense. It would be great if you would contact you own MP and urge him to support Mr Mitchell's motion. You can do this through Write to Them.

Edit: Thanks to all those who have responded to this one. The list of MPs who have signed the motion continues to grow. If you have not contacted your MP yet, please do so soon. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Another Reflection

I have always had a soft spot for photos of things reflected in water. The movement of the water's surface breaks up the usual outline of the subject into something new. The trick is to get just the right amount of movement in the water. If there is too much the reflection is too broken up and becomes unrecognisable. Too little movement and the reflection is too much like the original subject.

If there is water around, I am always on the look out for reflections to photograph. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  I Love Coffee...

The shape of the cup and saucer is the only subject in the photo above. I used a white background for the white subject using fairly flat light to emphasis this shape.

In fact I'm just off to pull a shot of espresso right now. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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  Early Morning

I got early the other day and got this picture of a tree that is leaning over a field gate. The daylight white balance helped to keep some of the warmth of the light at that that time of day. If I had taken a custom white balance all that warmth would have been lost.

Even so, the warmth of the shot does not really reflect the feel of the time of day. In Photoshop I added an 81 series filter to really bring out the warmth of the shot. Here is the result.

Early in the morning at this time of year, especially under clear skies, it is cold. So I thought I would have one final go at the picture. This time I used an 80 series filter in Photoshop to put the chill back into the picture. Here it is.

It is interesting to see how the mood of the picture has been changed by altering the white balance. And each of the images evokes a different emotional response in the viewer. 
Copyright © Greg Wright 2005-14 Photography from Frome - All rights reserved
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