Hi Everyone 

I thought I would do a quick blog on how I have been getting on with the Canon R6 and the 100-400mm lens I recently purchased with a view to using for event photography in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Scotland. I have only used it for sports photography and general usage so far but I know how it will be able to help me with conference and event photography in Scotland and so far but my first impressions are good. Let’s start with the R6.

Canon R6 for the conference and event photographer Scotland.

Pros:

Excellent focus improvements for the Canon R, with better face recognition and fast frames per second for sports photographers in Scotland.

Outstanding ISO performance in low light. The R was good but this is even better, with very little noise even at super high settings.

Focus bracketing facility which was not available on the R but was on the RP for some strange reason.

At last, twin card slots, an essential for the professional conference photographer in Scotland.

Better touch screen than in previous models.

The HDR mode is much improved with more realistic outcomes.

Better battery life.

Excellent image stabilising built into camera.

Cons:

Only 20.1 pixels, which is enough for most photographers to be honest, but maybe not for landscape.

A bit pricey considering the pixel count and a new version is already available.

New R lenses still with some gaps compared to the selection of previous Canon R lenses and whilst the old Canon L lenses work with an adapter, you are still better with lenses tailored for the R cameras and they are pretty expensive.

Canon 100-200 mm lens

Pros:

Great focussing and tracking for sport.

Although the lens is not designed for really low light like some of the far more expensive L lenses, it can work well in low light conditions due to the fantastic ISO performance of the R6.

Works great with R6 focussing speed.

Compact and can be used hand held without a tripod or monopod.

Good value for money.

Cons:

The lens is a bit stiff and can bea problem when photographing subjects moving towards you, the zoom won’t move fast enough.  I thought this may have just been my lens but the other one in the shop was the same.  Maybe this will improve in time.

Not so good in low light, due to aperture, but still good value.

Not too robust ie a lot of plastic is involved and may not look the part for the professional who feels they have to turn up with gigantic lenses, especially for sport.

Thats it, my quick overview of the Canon R6 and the 100-400 zoom lens for the conference photographer Scotland.  Hope it helps.

Kind Regards

Colin

www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk

Hi Everyone

As a professional event and conference photographer Edinburgh Glasgow and throughout Scotland, I tend to work indoors, however not all my work is indoors and as a newspaper photographer in Lothian, I had to drive to locations in severe weather, then to often work outside.  I have also photographed sport, bungee jumping, weddings and supercars in the snow, so I know my way round bad weather.  So what tips are there for professional photographers in severe weather.  Here they are below:

1. Make sure you are dressed for it, prepare for the worst conditions. Event photographers in Scotland should be ready for ever changeable weather, even in the summer.  So wrap up and make sure you car is also prepared for the weather.  As a landscaper photographer in Scotland, I have often had to drive in all sort of locations and a healthy car is just about as important as a healthy photographer.

2. In bad weather, you won’t be able to take so many shots, your subjects won’t want to hang about, I had this at a wedding photography assignment once and I had to make the photos count, as the couple couldn’t stand for too long.  This applies to all outdoor event photography in Scotland in the winter, or even in the summer sometimes.

3. It is even more important to check your gear when the weather is bad.  You will also need more batteries and you won’t want to be changing lenses as much due to time constraints, so pack that zoom.

4. Take care of your gear, I once damaged a lens as I had in appropriate footwear whilst doing sports photography in Edinburgh once.  I tried to get a good vantage point on a snowy hill and went flying. Use waterproof protection when required and a lens hood.

5. Always check the weather forecast and plan accordingly.  It may be better to take the train rather than drive if possible, check on Twitter regarding any weather issues.  I used to use this as my method of determining the football and rugby cancellations when working as a newspaper photographer Scotland.  If the weather is due to be terrible, as an event photographer in Edinburgh, Scotland, you should contact the client. In the case of sport, will the event be cancelled.  For wedding photographers in Scotland, have a chat with the couple about a revised programme of photos, given the bad weather.  Finally, leave earlier than normal.  The professional photographer should never be late for a commission.

Hope that helps.  These tips may sound obvious, but I bet there are cases up and down the country where people have been caught out failing to take the above suggestions into account.

Anyway, until next time.

Kind Regards

Colin

www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk

Hi Everyone

Today in this blog I will be looking at event photography and the importance of possessing knowledge of the event you are photographing. As a corporate and event photographer Edinburgh Glasgow and throughout Scotland, I am a conference photographer in Edinburgh, a sports photographer in Glasgow and a general event photographer in Scotland.  So what is the most important skill (after your photographic technical ability and skills, that is), well I think the crucial aspect is knowledge of the genre and we will will use sports photography as an example.  I used to work as a newspaper photographer in East Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh and this gave me a grounding in all different types of photography.  For the first time I had to photograph rugby.  Now I participated in a lot of sports when I was young and everyone knows I am a big football fan, but I was never really into rugby.  However as photographers, we should be willing to tackle all sports and I was more than happy to try my hand at rugby.  I found out that without the required knowledge of the sport, it was going to be difficult to photograph it.  You need to know the best position to stand, you also need to have an idea what is going to happen next and this is probably the most important thing for event and conference photographers in Scotland, timing your next photograph and being in the right place is the be all and end all in sport.

So as a professional event photographer in Scotland, what could I do to acquire this knowledge.  Firstly I was lucky I have a lot of friends who are into rugby, they helped me to understand the rules, gave me an idea what was going to happen next and on what and who to concentrate on during the game and more importantly why I should do this if I want to capture the action.  I also read about the sport and started to watch games, both locally and internationally, until I now actually enjoy watching rugby.  The other thing you can do is to look at images from excellent sports photographers in Scotland and throughout the sports community.  After photographing local rugby, I was asked about 10 years ago to photograph the international rugby sevens at Murrayfield in Edinburgh and now I love photographing the sport at all levels.  Of course this also applies to conference and event photography, it is important to know your subject, anticipate what will happen next and understand the motivation of the people participating.  In addition knowledge of the light you require to take a good photo is also crucial in these situations.  Also, the ability to distinguish the difference between local sport and high level often international level sport, is important.  There is a difference in pace and athleticism, which has to be taken into account, a well as positioning, which will be more limiting for the photographer at professional level.

So I hope this helps in your quest for excellent event photographs.  Until next time.

Kind Regards

Colin

www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk