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March 2023 Newsletter
This image of a tree was taken on March 6th 2023 using a borrowed Canon 600D with an 18 - 55mm kit lens. This is a type of shot that I take regularly with my Sony A7Riv and I was interested to see how the two cameras compared. While I find the Sony easier to use, I cannot fault the quality of the image. Trying this camera just highlighted the fact, once again, that there are no bad cameras nowadays. You will always get good shots from your camera, but only you, with training and experience, can acheive the great shots.
Apologies for missing the February Newsletter, I quite simply ran out of time and energy. However we are here now, so lets go forward.
What can we do this month. Well, so far there has been a really good sighting of the Aurora, some great sunsets thanks to the clear skies and currently we have a full moon, (I'll post shots of all of these below).
The Aurora is the most difficult, because we only see it rarely, but, if you want to know when it is likely, then put the Glendale Aurora App on your phone. Then you need to find a hill with a clear view North and as little light pollution as possible; dress warmly and take your camera and tripod and go and set up. Set your camera on manual focus by finding a distant point of light and using that to get your focus. Everyone will have different ideas about what settings they like to use. For the following Aurora photo, my settings were:- A 10 second shutter speed, f5.0 aperture and 800 ISO. I was using a 90mm focal length. The lens that was on the camera was a 90mm prime lens and I didn't have my wider lens close enough to be able to change lenses, so, while those settings suited that lens, you should experiment.
The following three sunset images were all taken within five minutes of each other. I was using the Manual setting on my camera and playing with my shutter speed only. My ISO 400 to 100, Aperture f2.8 to f9.0, White Balance SHADE and Shutter Speed varied from 1/1000 to 1/8000, I had no filter on and was shooting straight into a really bright sun. Try this and see what effects you can get.
Lastly, we have the full moon, it doesn't have to be full to get a good shot, but when it is, it's certainly impressive. There are two moon shots, the first was taken at exactly the same time as the sunsets by simply turning round, re-setting the camera and taking the shot. The second was taken today while I was out walking the dogs.
The settings: First one 1/500 f9.0 ISO 100, second 1/500 f4.0 ISO 100.
I went out again tonight with the dogs and was able to get an even better shot of the moon. The settings: 1/1000 f4.0 ISO 100.
We are being warned about lots of snow coming, some places already have. Snow gives us another opportunity for some really interesting shots, contrasting the white with the dark green of conifers or the deep orange of beech leaves. There is however, a problem with photographing snow; if you dial in the correct exposure settings, you image will turn out dull. The reason for this, is that the camera sees everything in shades of grey and it turns the snow grey rather than the crisp white that it should be. The answer is to brighten your settings by about 1.5 stops and the simplest way to do this, is by adjusting your exposure compensation by +1.5. This will brighten the image and make the snow the crisp bright white that it should be.
This image illustrates the problem with snow, in the bottom right hand corner, the highlights on the vertical face of the snow are almost burnt out, while the top surface beside the hedge are just barely white. Personally, I am very pleased with this image, it has all the ingredients that I like to see in a snowy picture.
Whatever subject that you choose, get out and take photos and remember, clicking the shutter is free. The more images you take, the more mistakes you will make and the more quickly you will be able to correct them. I went out recently, took nearly 50 photos and deleted all but 2. I repeated shots with different settings, tried different angles and distances till I got the shots that I wanted. To me, it was an extremely successful day.
Additionally, in conjunction with Shieldbank Riding Centre, I will be running classes on photographing horses. These will be starting in April 2023. Information and prices will be available here next week, March 14th.