Out in the Dark

This week we went outside and started using our cameras, which was fantastic. But firstly it was time to have our photographs we had collated for homework assessed. I was one of the first up to have my work looked at, and as I had emailed my images to the tutor, they were up on the screen for all to see. Thankfully, overall the feedback was pretty good.

The first picture of Kew got a good critique in terms of the framing of the shot, and the way the eye is led from the crocuses up to the building behind. It could be cropped slightly on the left apparently, and the crocuses could have been slightly more in focus had I made better use of aperture. Obviously I took that photo on the automatic setting, but by the end of class this week I understood the need much more to adjust the settings on my camera.

The second photo of Half Dome was much admired. I was chuffed with this, but frustratingly this was taken on my digital compact using the automatic settings, rather than my fancy new SLR! We talked about the famous photographer Ansell Adams, who took many truly wonderful photographs in Yosemite long before the digital age. When we were in Yosemite we visited the Ansell Adams gallery and also purchased a photograph developed from one of Ansell Adams original negatives, which is proudly hung in our hallway at home. I can only dream that any of my photographs would even come close to his work. The other amazing thing about Ansell Adams photographs is that they were taken way before the digital era. Whilst many photographers these days can manipulate and enhance their images using digital technology with Ansell Adams it is the real deal. With my photograph we could only comment that I had centred the camera well and the camera had done a good job on the rest. If you ever get a chance to look at the picture in our hallway you can see how it's really meant to be done.

The other students had brought in a mix of different photo's. One of the most impressive was actually taken on a Mobile phone of a street scene in Hong Kong. The student had taken three pictures and merged them using a photographic package on the computer, and I can tell you it looked pretty good. We also touched on how we are going to be able to use Photoshop / Photoshop Elements to adjust our images. The tutor quickly erased a poll from a beautiful beech scene on one students photograph in seconds. That's the only trouble with digital - we no longer know what is real.

We then moved on to talk about some of the technical terms shutter speed, aperture and ISO - those words I have never really understood. It turns out that depending on the type of shot you are taking, you need to adjust these to get the best possible exposure - or the best photograph you can. In automatic settings, which is what I have always used until now, the camera will adjust these for you, to produce what it thinks is the best photograph can. However, there are times when you need to tell the camera what it is you are trying to do, as it cannot work that out for you. For example, what part of the picture you are trying to focus on, or what affect you are trying to achieve. This became particularly necessary with the night time shots that we took later in class.

So what do these terms mean? In short, shutter speed is simply the amount of time that the shutter is open. It is the length of time the film or image setter is open to the scene that you are capturing. It can be adjusted on your camera in degrees of halving and doubling. Aperture is the degree that the lens is open i.e. the amount of light that is being "let in" through the lens. Again this can be halved or doubled on your camera. In film photography, the ISO measured the sensitivity of the film to light. In digital photography the same term is used to adjust the sensitivity of the image sensor to light. This will affect the fineness of your images. We were focusing on the impact of shutter speed and aperture for this weeks session.

So now I knew what these terms meant but was still somewhat unsure how these affected my photo's. The tutor had a clever website to explain this. By taking the same photograph using lots of different setting of changing shutter speed and aperture, we could see how one image could come out very differently in terms of exposure. Sometimes it was too dark, sometimes too light and it was the balancing act between these two variables that gave the best image. We then went on to look at the tutors own website of pictures he had taken, and how he had adjusted his camera manually to get pictures of the same image looking very different.

Time was pressing on and before you knew it, it was time for us to have a go. A great photograph of moving traffic taken at night, with streams of white light on one side and red lights on the other was projected up on the screen at the front of the class and we were told we were collecting our tripods and heading outside to take something similar ourselves. Having only just heard the concept I was struggling to see how I would be able to even get the effect but keen to have a go.

We were on a footbridge above a dual carriageway outside the college. I had just about figured out how to attach my camera to the tripod. A tripod is essential for this to get a stable image. Even with the tripod some of my images were all over the place as the bridge vibrated with the moving traffic beneath us. I started snapping at the cars as they past. Looking at my images on the back of the screen I wasn't getting the affect at all. "Dave. Help. What should my SS and Aperture be?!" Slow shutter speed. Of course. To get the lined effect I needed the camera to see the lights for a few seconds at least. My camera was set on a standard 1/60th of a second. Aperture didn't hugely matter in this situation - it was dark and the headlights were strong. I had another go. A different concept to the "click" I am used to, I pushed down the shot button and the camera "froze" for the number of seconds I had set it to. 2, 4, 8 seconds later and I had the effect on my pictures. Not even close to the one at the front of the classroom we had seen but I had the effect. Totally addictive I was the last to leave the bridge.

Below are some of the pictures I took.

This first one was taken on a 1 second shutter speed. I started to get the effect of the lines of the headlights.

This second one is taken on an 8 second shutter speed. I got the effect of the lines much better but it's not a great photo!

To be fair, to get the effect well we all needed a far greater volume of traffic. This is one of those rare situations on London that I actually wanted more traffic. However, it proved the point I needed to get my camera onto the manual setting to achieve some things I want to do with it.

My first proper assignment is to go away and take photographs of the same image adjusting aperture and shutter speed on my camera. This I will be doing over the next couple of weeks.

Who knew cameras used to look like that?

This week I started a 10 week digital photography evening class at a local college. I have been very fortunate to have been bought a new digital SLR a couple of months ago, and I have been enjoying snapping away, but am keen to learn and know so much more about how to use it and what I am meant to be doing when I take different types of shot. My current knowledge is below basic. As part of our introductory session this week we all had to say why we had signed up to the course. When it got to my turn I muttered something about my husbund using words like "aperture," "shutter speed" and "depth of field" and these being words that I do not understand. Apparently by the end of the course I will be talking Jon under the table with my knowledge. Hmm, not convinced by that one at all, but am excited about the course. I was also relieved to be in the right room as the rest of the students seem to be like-minded ie we don't know much but would like to know more. My initial objective is to get the camera off the automatic setting, and start to understand more of what the camera can do and how to take different types of images. We were shown around the college and looked at their studios and equipment and discussed what we were going to be learning. All looks pretty ambitious for a 10 week course, but I keen to get on with it.

The instructor gave us a whistle stop tour of how camera technology has evolved massively, and we got to have a look and hold a selection of different types of camera. As he said, it's bizarre how emotional you can get over these objects, if you have any sort of interest in the subject.

The first camera we had a look at was an old Japenese twin lense camera. This has two lenses - a top lense for viewing and a bottom lense for focusing. You looked through the top to see the image and it used 120 film and despite it's antique appearance apparently can actually produce a very good print. It was a tired but beautiful object. I was moved by the fact that something so old and dated had, in it's day, enabled it's users to record images, capture moments and produce photographs to treasure, something they had not been able to do before. We take for grantide our snaps on the fridge, images in magazines and our albums of experiences, but once upon a time this now everyday commodity did not exist.

Next we had a look at a Lieca. This is a camera with a range finder, which used 35 ml film. The main advantage was the viewing lense on the top of the camera that you could look right through, rather than down into with the twin lense camera. The slight problem with the camera was that the image is actually slightly offset. I found this camera interesting to look at, but not as facinating as some of the others.

Next up was a Nikon F3. This is a 35 ml SLR. My immediate thoughts were how heavy and big the thing looked, but soon learnt that actually it brought a new dimension to photography as it was a complete system in it's own right. The size and weight is due to the huge battery case that is attached, but this can be removed and you can use the manual winder on. The huge breakthrough this had was that it could be taken anywhere due to the machanical shutter, no matter what the temperature. In fact there is one that has been left on the moon. Despite the many advances in digital photgraphy, in extreme temperature conditions, many of our modern cameras would just seize up and fail to work, a bit like my mobile phone has on ski lifts. The other disdavantage of this type of camera apart from it's weight is the single shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. Still not sure what shutter speed is used for / what the practical implications of this are, but will post once I have figured that bit out!

We then moved on to have a look at the Hasselblad. My initial take on this camera was it was big, and required lots of kit. Certainly not one to fit into your handbag on a girls night out. This took much bigger negatives, and gave the users much sharper quality. The other big advantage this camera gave, is it came with a spare back. This meant you could switch and change films, for example interchange between black and white and colour without having to discard the entire film. The final bit of history we looked at was the Sinar. This was used a much larger negative that the original Hasselblad, but very similar technology.

I enjoyed looking at these old objects and reflecting on the opportunities and limitations that each of them brought to photographers of their time. I also thought about how in my own life, I have seen, bought and yes broken, a few different models of camera myself. My first camera was a blue and white "Le Clic" camera from the Argos catelogue that I was bought as a birthday present as a child. I thought it was the business a the time, and far more trendy than my Dad's Canon. I then went into the disposable camera phase in my teenage years, which to be fair, had it's place as a light weight object which I didn't have to take any responsbility for. Given my record for breaking cameras this is no bad thing. Picture quality poor though from these things, rarely in focus and no ability to adjust your image at all. Even I found them frustrating. I had a fairly good automatic camera at university, although the red eye reduction never worked properly.. and then borrowed a couple of good compact film cameras from Jon, moving onto digital compact (um two of these as I dropped the first one on a rock in Tobago and smashed the screen oops) and now the Canon Digital SLR, which is a big step up for me.

I digress and reminise. The final thing the instructor showed us this week was his Nikon Digital SLR. It's mind blowing really how the technology has moved on. One back pack with your digital body and 3 good lenses (zoom, wide angle and long lense) and you are basically good to go for pretty well anything. A few extra bit's of kit will help. A tripod and a flash gun if you get really keen. No film, take as many as you like and the instant information you can get about your photographs from histograms etc on the screen is second to none. I hope to learn and understand better what all this information means as I progress through the course, but even from my basic starting point I can appreciate the flexibility and accessibility the new age of digital photography can offer. I found the Japanese twin lense camera a lovely object to look at and think about, but am grateful that I have the D40 to practice my shots on.

So, there you have it. Week one and I am in. Photography is so much more than just a record of events. It can be a science and an art, a hobby or a passion, an instantaneos snap of a moment or a carefully planned image. I hope to be able to create at least some images that I am proud of, and maybe that some others can enjoy.

My homework this week was to bring along a couple of pictures I have taken previously, and to say why I like them. Looking through my hard drive of well over 1000 photographs, I am acutely aware by how many there are that are poor, and that I now have to justify to my fellow students why I think they are worth showing. In the end I have chosen these two.





















1. The first is this photograph that I took on our honeymoon in Yosemite of Half Dome. It was taken on a digital compact camera. Firstly I like it because it means a great deal to me personally. We hiked all the way to the top of there, which was a pretty special experience. Secondly I like the way the Half Dome is centred with the expanse of mountains behind. I also like the shadow on the rocks.

2. The second photograph I have chosen is this one taken in Kew Gardens earlier in the year, on my digital SLR. I like it because the beautiful bulbs are in focus at the front, but you still get the effect of them scattered across the grass up to the building. I also think this photograph evokes the sense of peace and quiet you get when you wander around Kew during the week, which is something that I like to do.

Next week we are going to try some night photography. I will be wrapping up and will let you know how I get on.

Jo's Shepherds Pie

This is Jonny's favourite thing that I cook, and others have asked for the recipe so thought I'd post it here, as the first of my "Food things I love". We love a good Shepherds Pie. So much so that we had it at our wedding (although not this recipe - this has only been cooked by me) For all those technical foodies who may read - I guess this is actually a Cottage Pie as I use beef mince - but I don't really see the point in being pedantic about these things. We all know what we mean, and in our our house Shepherds Pie means a proper hearty meal, comfort food, and always having room for seconds.

Like most casserole / stew type dishes I think this tastes even better if it is cooked in advance and then reheated the next day. However if needs must and you can't wait that long, then go ahead and eat it straight from the oven. It also freezes well. You can get as far as putting on the mash potato, stop, freeze, defrost and then cook in oven to get a lovely fresh crispy top. Try to use the best quality ingredients you can source - especially the mince - as it really does make a difference.

Ingredients (Serves 6 good size portions)

1 large White Onion - finely chopped
2 bulbs Garlic - crushed
Splash of good Olive Oil
1 kg Lean British Steak Mince
4 or 5 large Carrots - chopped finely
500g white closed cup mushrooms
2 beef Oxo cubes
500 ml hot water from the kettle
Good splash of red wine if you have the bottle open, if not use sherry
2 teaspoons cornflour
2 teaspoons Bisto Gravy Powder
Few dried herbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 kg Maris Piper white potatoes, peeled and chopped
Good slab of butter
Splash of milk

Preheat the oven to 200

1. Heat the oil in a good large iron based deep pan (I use our ever faithful Le Crueset for this) Gently soften the onion and garlic in the oil. After a few minutes add the mince and cook until browned. Make the beef stock by mixing the Oxo cubes with the hot water and then add to the beef and onion mixture. Add your herbs and season taste. Bring to the boil, add the carrots and then turn turn down the heat and leave to simmer for a good 30-40 minutes. In this time the meat and carrots will soften in the lovely meaty flavours. Stir occasionally.

2. Whilst the beef is stewing, bring the potatoes to the boil in lots of slightly salted water. Turn down the heat, cover and leave to boil until soft. This should take about 20 minutes or so, depending on your hob. Once soft, drain the potatoes, return them to the pan you boiled them in and add a good slab of butter, a splash of milk and mash until smooth.

3. Now return to your beef mixture. Check the carrots are nice and soft, and add your mushrooms. Check the seasoning and adjust if needed. Add a glug of red wine / sherry if using. Mix well. In a separate cup combine the cornflour and bisto with a drop of cold water to make a paste. On a high heat add the paste to the beef mixture, stirring well. This should thicken up the mixture to make a rich gravy consistency that is not too watery. A little judgement is required as to whether you need more or less cornflour here.

4. Tip out your mixture into a large dish, that will have sufficient room to take the potato topping also. I use a large lasagne dish or two smaller dishes if going to freeze one pie. Spread evenly and then spoon on your lovely fluffy mash potato on top. Spoon and spread and when even run a fork over the top in whatever fashion you fancy - this will mean extra crispy bits when it goes into the oven. If you like a really buttery topping, you can then put a few extra blobs of butter on top.

5. Transfer to the top of your hot oven. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, checking from time to time that it isn't getting too crispy. There is a fine line between a good crispy top and, quite frankly, burnt.

6. Serve with some good green veg - green beans and broccoli go particularly well - and enjoy what we think is one of the best British inventions there has ever been.