Hi Everyone
As its the holiday season, and I am normally a freelance corporate and event photographer out and about in Edinburgh or Scotland, I figured today would be a good time to do a short post looking at the important, but often slightly boring issue of preparing your gear for event photoshoots. Why is this important, because, after your skills as a photographer, or probably even more important, is that you must ensure nothing can go wrong on the day. If you lose all your photos you may as well leave the country, due to the long term effect on your reputation
Anyway here are my top 5 preparation tips
1. Have at least two of everything, this includes flash cameras, a choice of lenses. Every bit of equipment is capable of failing. It goes without saying you will need loads of batteries, chargers etc.
2. Check your settings and have them all prepared the day before, you may have time to arrange for replacements if anything goes wrong. If you have a dual card slot in you camera, use it. This once saved my life at a conference photography event in Edinburgh when one of the cards broke when I took it out after a full days shooting. Oh and make sure you change the settings on your camera to record to both cards
3. This may sound obvious but as an experienced outdoor photographer in Scotland , prepare all your waterproof clothing etc the day before. Don't be fooled by the seasons, this is Scotland after all. I photograph supercar events around Edinburgh and East Lothian and we had better weather in November and December than in July and August. Remember rain is the enemy protect your camera and yourself. 7 hours in the rain can effect your sanity and health - be prepared
4. Make a list of things you need and tick it off. It is so easy to forget one crucial item. If you forget a lens cloth or a flash diffuser for instance it could have a profound effect on your photos
5. Gauge the equipment you need for each job and make sure you take only what you need. This also helps you to visualise what you intend to do on the day, in addition to ensuring you don't take too much gear. I am getting on in the years now and don't want back trouble due to taking too much gear on the job. It also makes it easier to find the correct equipment when you need it, without getting into a flap
Anyway hope this helps. I am of to do some infrared photography in Scotland next week and some newspaper photography in Midlothian, as well as an equine photoshoot in January. See you soon and have a good new year
Kind Regards
Colin
Colin Wright Photography
Hi All
This will be my last blog post until after Christmas, just thought I would say Merry Christmas to all my friends and business colleagues. I will leave you with my version of a Christmas card without snow, yes you guessed it, an infrared photo, taken at Haddington earlier today. My project for next year is to bring out an infrared calendar and see how many people realise it isnt snow in the images
All the best and speak to you soon
Kind Regards
Colin
Colin Wright Photography
Hi All
In the preparation for Christmas, I have had a wide range of event photography commissions in Scotland this week. As a corporate photographer in and around Scotland, I had some conference photography in Edinburgh and newspaper photography in Midlothian. As promised a bungee jumping photo is attached, thanks to UK Bungee for a great couple of days out in Glasgow last week. Like everyone, at this time of year we evaluate our goals and aims and plan our new targets for next year. I have had my best year for a while and for that I would like to thank Business Gateway for assisting me in my digital strategy and to all my customers, in particular, NHS Education for Scotland, Big Bang Promotions and Johnston Press. As an event photographer in Edinburgh, I have had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of corporate and sports commissions and it has been a very enjoyable year. I also had a very rewarding Infrared Photography in Scotland exhibition this year. So if variety is the spice of life, I have definitely had a spicy year
Until next time, all the best and have a great Christmas
Kind Regards
Colin
Colin Wright Photography
Hi All
Just recovering from some event photography, Glasgow, after an extremely enjoyable weekend photographing bungee jumpers at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. The weather held out well and a great time was had by all. A short corporate event photography commission in Edinburgh before Christmas and some infrared photography in Edinburgh at the weekend. So keeping busy in the lead up to the festive season.
Event photography takes in a variety of disciplines and can include photographing a conference in Edinburgh, a Historic Scotland battle re-enactment in Linlithgow, supercar event in Scotland, or a bungee jumping event in Scotland, but for all photographers, the most important element for all events is don't miss the moment and this is the message for the week. Next week a more detailed more detailed article on a day in the life of a sports event photographer.
The photo attached is from the aftermath of a New Year party event in Germany
Until next time.
Kind Regards
Colin
Top Five Tips - Introduction to Infrared Photography
With the lead up to Christmas now in full swing and my corporate photography commissions in Edinburgh winding down for the holiday period, I have decided to concentrate on infrared photography for this blog. This week has been fairly busy mind you, with a conference photography commission in Edinburgh last week, probably the last one of 2016 and some newspaper photography in the Lothian area at the weekend and some event photography in Glasgow, with a bungee jumping at the transport museum this weekend.
Anyway back to the subject of the day. Infrared photography can be very complex and there are a number of myths surrounding it, so as part of my regular blog, I aim to do a number of articles to help people starting out, in what is a fascinating photographic genre. Today, I am going to concentrate on some basic issues before we go onto the technical stuff in later blogs - anyway, most of you know my opinion on photography, which is that it is 95% visionary and 5% technical. so here are the five tips for the day.
1. The easiest and best way to take infrared photographs in the digital age is to have a camera converted, this can cost form £250.00 - £300.00 depending on the model of the camera. Having said this, to get an understanding of infrared, it wouldn't do any harm to practice with an non-converted camera first using a filter and long exposures. I like to hand hold when I shoot infrared, so I prefer using a converted camera.
2. You can shoot infrared all year round, not just in the summer. Although your time is limited due to lack of light, all you need is some sunshine and I am sitting here now in December with the sun splitting through my window. You wont get the white tree effect to the same extent as spring and summer, but you can still catch blue sky and clouds, the light can also be very contrasty, which is good for infrared and it will force you to look for other subjects, ie metal can produce interesting infrared pictures, as shown in my scrapyard shots in the attached link http://www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk/p304082559
3. You don't need an expensive camera to produce good infrared results. I use a small Lumix camera with relatively inexpensive lenses for infrared, partly because I want to carry my gear around with me all the time and I also think the smaller newer cameras are better suited for infrared conversion, with the results often better than larger DSLR bodies. The other weird thing about infrared (and I cant really explain the reason) is that often the cheaper lenses perform better than more expensive ones.
4. Experiment, if you can shoot hand held and the sun is out, don't just take the clichéd white tree and sky shots, photograph people, cars, animals etc. The effects you get can often be unique and can set you apart from the crowd
5. You will need some software experience. Photoshop preferably if you are shooting colour infrared, although for black and white, all you need to do is to convert to black and white and tweak the contrast, brightness etc. Obviously you could write a book on software editing for infrared, but that is a brief starting summary.
Anyway, enjoy, more to come soon
Kind Regards
Colin
Colin Wright Photography