Summer Seminar From James Beltz and "PhotoTips"

Protect Your Expensive Strobist kit from thieves

Hi everyone,

Ok now this subject is a very real threat, and the threat translates into all countries and languages across the globe.

Lets say your setup for a shoot at an education building sports event, lets say your shooting gymnasts or a basketball game something like that.

You may have set up lighting gear on clamps in bleaches or on railings, they are securely clamped and not gonna fall........

BUT..........

They are gonna be near the general public when they arrive to watch the event.

Any one of these people might be a potential thief. Im not suggesting that all or any mothers watching their young daughter compete in a gymnastic event are thieves, but somebody might see this expensive equipment, SEEMINGLY just sitting there unattended and think to themselves......

"Hmm I bet thats worth a buck or 2 on Ebay...."

Or maybe they scope you out and plan to get the rest of your kit after the game by following you back to your car to jump you and steal your stuff.

PHOTOGS OF THE WORLD .............. WE ARE NOT DEFENSLESS!!!!!!!

OK so maybe not lightsabers the thought is there, and the threat is certainly feasible.

David "Strobist" Hobby has posted a blog post about this very subject, and suggests ways to protect yourself in these situations.

This post is summarised here also by a YouTube contributor called "Art of the Image"



Now I have also taken this a step further and produced sheets of stickers to warn against potential thieves.

These can be purchased directly from my zazzle page by clicking the image.

Using these stickers on or around your flash and clamp is just another seed of fear to unsuspecting potential thieves.

By occasionally manually popping these flashes will help remind people these are constantly being used and will be noticed if removed immediately.

Hopefully if you ever do this kind of shoot, you will not need to use the "Strobist - Self Defence 101" technique but should you need to here it is in simple 3 step form.

For this defence method you will need 2 items.

1) A powerful flash (i suggest a Nikon SB900) set to FULL POWER (turned on and charged) and hold it with your thumb on the TEST button

2) In your other hand a heavy MonoPod, strapped to your hand, and held at the handle

"Basic strategy: 

1. ***POP***

2. Whoppity, whoppity, whoppity, whoppity...

3. Rinse and repeat as needed."

Although the post was originally written in a tongue in cheek and humorous way, it is a real and present danger.

DONT RISK A £300 Flash unit for lack of not having the correct warning stickers!!!

DONT DELAY BUY TODAY!!!!

A Cinematic marvel

Now this post is photography related of sorts, but cinematography more than still photography.

Im a HUGE fan of this movie.

Not a word really said throughout the whole duration, just visuals, and music.

It occasionally uses time-lapse photography to show the passing of time at accelerated rates and when they do the outcome is always astonishing.

Many parallels are made between the human and animal kingdoms as well as exploring the differences between many cultures and religions.

Any person that lives and breathes as part of planet earth, should watch this movie at least once in their lifetime.

It is serene, shocking, enlightening, interesting and amazing, usually all at the same time.

Here is the trailer to give you just a small taster of the beauty within.

Enjoy..................

Simplification

A well used compositional technique is called simplification.

As its name suggests, this is all about making the image simple and clutter free.

This removes doubt as to the subject and often employs or enforces other rules to be used automatically.

Here I shot a snapshot with my iphone, the image is simplified , no distracting background to worry about, but i also used another technique called the rule of thirds.

This places areas of interest into an imaginary line on a grid that splits the image into 3 equal parts both horizontally and vertically.

Here the road sign sits on those lines, plus i also made use of another rule without thinking about it.

That is "Negative space"

Enjoy the image

Not Photo but Still COOL

Here is an animation by one of my friends Tony Comley.

This guy has some twisted ideas sometimes and everything he makes is always a scream.

This is a sci fi pandas adventures in space.

What? you don't think pandas can dogfight in a space battle? Guess again.

I cant quite choose if this is cute, insane, bizarre or just plain daft, one thing I can be sure of is its totally Tonys personality written all over this one.

Great work as always Tony, the rest of you .......sit back and enjoy Retro Rocket panda space thingy story!!!!

QR Code gen test

this is to test the use of QR codes on items to auto direct to my website.

 scan it with a smart phone QR reader and try it out

Wheelchairs and vomit, lost rings ....OH MY!!!

First wedding shoot under my belt!

Ok at this juncture I should probably be elated, proud, relieved its over........

To be honest, if any other wedding shoot I do is like the one I just shot I will be reduced to a gibbering wreck holding my knees and rocking myself while i sob.

It was, how can we say ........eventful.

Few mishaps along the way, some unexpected surprises and some nasty ones too.

I barely escaped with my sanity.

Now for all those people out there looking to shoot their first wedding with no helper or little preparation, my advice is to book yourself into a psych ward now.


Don't let these words put you off though.

Ultimately it was a lot of hard work, I learned plenty of mistakes NOT to do in future, I learned a little about myself and it was a memorable experience.

I joked a lot after saying stuff like "Never again" and "No more weddings......EVER" but in truth,


Id love to get more experience at these events.

I didn't get all the shots I wanted and was not entirely happy with the ones I did get, but I learned a heap of valuable lessons.

First lesson:
Always have at least one helper for your gear (preferably 2)


Second Lesson:
Know the Schedule backwards and prepare to take charge if the schedule slips


Third Lesson:
SLOW DOWN!!!!

Its true that you have little time to "GET THE SHOTS" sometimes but its better to have a handful of awesome photos than 2000 junk photos.
Running and Gunning is no way to shoot a wedding.

I found I needed to slow down, Pick my moment and shoot a good shot, machine gunning shots it pointless and creates a million images to edit and prepare for a book or dvd etc


Fourth Lesson:
Know your STYLE and stick to it.

There are so many rewards to getting great shots from a wedding (i wish I got more from my set) and with a little care, patience and perfect planning wedding shoots can be a lot of work but a whole lot of fun too.

Through looking at the images I shot and seeing my style emerge, as well as having it pointed out to me by my good friends Shannon Allison and Jimmy Beltz, I came to recognise where I fell foul, where I did ok and where my individuality lies.

Personal style is not something that can be taught, it JUST HAPPENS. It will emerge the more you shoot.

I have been schooled in recognising my style, and its been suggested I stick to it.
(And I intend to from here on in.)

This is great advice.


DO YOUR THING, YOUR WAY, AND TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY, AND YOU WILL CREATE AWESOME IMAGES EVERY TIME.


Fear of weddings????? me??????? Not any more!!!!