QCCP May 2012 Newsletter

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QCCP

May 2012 Newsletter

Queenstown Centre for Creative Photography • 2012 Autumn Colours Workshop books • Mixing flash with ambient light - Portraiture • EOS Canon Photo5 book ,Capture One /Phase one tour • Tips on Photographing in winter • Workshop calendar update • News from Mike and Jackie

QCCP- Autumn Colours Workshops The Autumn Colours throughout Central Otago have been fantastic. What has made it so good was the mild weather, with only 5 days of rain, above average sunshine and very little wind.

The two 4WD excursions to Macetown and Skippers Canyon was a great success.

Both destinations take us to the remains of historic gold mining settlements. The early settlers planted the trees that in April each year are in full colour. In both cases this colour has the dramatic background of rugged mountains. For us as photographers this time of year is gold, gold, gold.

See the books made from these workshops at the links below.

Autumn Colours I 6-9 April 2012 HERE

Autumn Colours II April 13-16 2012 HERE

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Macetown

Skippers Canyon Dates for 2013 Autumn Colours Workshops are 12-15 April 2013 and 19-22 April 2013 These workshop always book out to reserve your place email me info@qccp.co.nz- more info HERE

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QCCP- Portraiture Photography Workshops Our Portraiture workshops are designed to inspire you to make meaningful and emotive portraits instead of just grabbing a shot. The small group of up to eight photographers, photograph each other as well as complete strangers on the street and indoors.

To be a portrait photographer you have to practice, you have to make mistakes and learn how to resolve those mistakes. The best way to learn and gain confidence with your photography is the ‘hands on practical sessions’ with two tutors ready to help out.

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Portraiture Tips

Mixing ambient light with your in-camera flash; Too much flash can destroy the light and atmosphere in a room. To mask the effects of flash try mixing your flash output to the ambient light. The ambient light is the mixture of all the lights in a room. To control the ambient mix you can turn lights on or off, remember different lights emit different colour temperatures; ‘tungsten (red/yellow), florescent (greenish), daylight (white/blue). Because of this mix I suggest you set your white balance to auto ‘AWB’. Activate your in-camera flash by pushing the button with a “flash” symbol on the outside of the camera, (it will flick up, it’s tuned off by pushing it down.) The flash power is controlled within a menu called ‘flash compensation’, (read your camera manual), once it is set it stays set until you change it again. These built in flashes are designed to work within 2-4 meters so don’t expect too much from them. The recycling/recharging time can also get in the way of catching the moment so be judicious and make each exposure count...... I now need to write at least another couple of pages to carefully describe the best techniques and equipment to use...and it’s much easier to learn about the control of flash on a workshop. Words are never as good and seeing something done and then ‘doing it’ yourself .

We have two coming up June 15-17 and October 26-29 2012

TIPS: Using built-in flash • Keep your subject simple and fill the frame.

• Be careful of anything closer to your flash than the subject because this will become brighter than the subject and be a distracting bright part of the image.

• Be wary of flare in windows or any shiny surface.

• Our eyes can’t see what’s happening with a flash. You need to quickly judge your exposure by checking your histogram and LCD screen.

• It can be hard to focus in dim light, your flash can help by sending out a small infra-red signal.

• Red eye is caused by light hitting the back of the retina, so what your seeing is blood at the back of then eye. Help by switching on the lights in a room. This reduces the size of the iris and therefore the red-eye. Use a separate flash that sits higher on the camera, so the light does not reflect back so much.

• Cover your flash with tissue paper to soften the light.

• Use a tripod when the shutter speed gets too slow. Remember to turn on, image stabilization when handholding (if you have it).

• Small apertures like f 16 are hardly ever practical unless you want a very slow shutter speed or big depth of field.

• Aperture controls the amount of flash that strikes the sensor.

• In P mode- the camera will automatically shoot at 60th second in dim light, (so it’s not useful for ambient/flash in low light).

Look, learn, evaluate; photography is about taking control of all the elements you can, then it’s about capturing the moment.

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Winter Photography in New Zealand What is distinctive about New Zealand winters as opposed to other areas of the globe?

Winters are different here in New Zealand because is the landscape and the people ‘are’ different.

The skies are bluer and the air is cleaner than many places on the planet. In the north Island the steaming thermal areas like Rotorua are much more dramatic in the winter because the sur-­‐ rounding air is colder. The Volcanos like Mt Ruapehu Taupo and Egmont get a new coat of white that makes the horizon line inspiringly beautiful.

It’s in the south that winter is at it’s best. Dumps of snow can transform scenes that we see every-­‐ day into something abstract and minimal.

The sun’s trajectory is much lower in the sky, this side lighting enhances the contours of hills and valleys and creates stronger shapes within the landscape. The high level of ultra violet light makes the shadowed areas very blue.

Mount Cook Winter Workshop this year is already full 2013 date -­‐ August 23-­‐26

Jackie what are your favourite elements to shoot in winter?

Regardless of what time of year it is I still like to shoot all my favourite subjects: trees, rocks, grasses, water. The water elements now include ice, frost and snow. I like to shoot the in early morning light or dusk if possible. Some valleys near Queenstown don’t see the sun for weeks at a time. These valleys can receive layer upon layer of frost. The ice crystals can grow so big that they can be scraped up in your hand and they make tinkling sounds as they fall to the ground. It’s great being out in these surreal winter landscapes.

Central Otago hoar frosts are likely to occur on clear frosty nights when the surface temperature gets well below freezing level. Ice crystals form on any available surface; living or man-­‐made.

Everything can be covered in an eyrie white veil of crystals, but, to make an interesting photo-­‐ graph you still need to Oind an interesting subject.

How do you approach shooting on days when the light is dull and grey?

I shoot in monochrome picture style and add contrast at the time of capture. I shoot a jpeg as well as a Raw Oile and bracket my shots, over exposing to allow the grey tones to become white. When I

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go to process the Raw Oile I have the BW jpeg to reference. On grey days I also make sure I have a strong subject and that it is the dominant part of the image.

What considerations need to be made when shooting in the snow?

1-­‐Check your exposure by looking at your histogram. White snow generally should be white not grey. The histogram should show a bump on the right. Moving your exposure compensation to plus one (+1) will help or on manual mode watch your exposure and ‘shoot to the right’. +1 or more.

2-­‐Use the snow as your white to make a custom white balance (otherwise your snow may look very blue).

3-­‐ On sunny days the shadows in a snow scene can look very blue. That is because the light in shadows, is blue. One way to correct this is to select this blue tone in Photoshop with your eye dropper and slightly desaturation it (in ‘replace colour’.) See below

What is the best way to capture fog or mist in a landscape?

1-­‐ Get up early so you have time to Oind the mist and the time to Oind an interesting subject. Then as the sun rises use this subject to make a silhouette. Misty landscapes or street-­‐scapes can be wonderfully emotive, you can use mist to mask an otherwise busy scene.

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What are some things to keep in mind when shooting rain?

1-­‐Keep your lens free of rain drops-­‐ don’t shoot up!

Have a dry lens cloth as well as a cloth to dry your hands. Use an umbrella. Have someone hold the um-­‐ brella for you.

2-­‐Slower shutter speeds make the raindrops blur onto lines (30th Second,) while fast shutter speeds make freeze them into drops (1/500 second). To make the rain visible, Oind an angle where the rain has a dark background.

What gear or accessories are essential during winter shoots?

What’s most essential is to keep your camera gear dry and yourself dry and warm. Have extra batteries handy and keep one battery in a warm pocket. I use Oingerless gloves that turn into mittens and have lay-­‐ ers or warm clothes that must allow freedom of movement.

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Canon EOS Photo5 Winners win a Landscape Photography workshop with QCCP

This years winners not only won a new Canon EOS 5DMKII they also won a Landscape Photography workshop with Mike and myself. The workshop was based at one of our favourite workshop destinations: Kinloch Lodge (40 minutes drive from Queenstown, New Zealand.

“Fostering creativity, EOS Photo5 inspires enthusiast digital SLR photographers by challenging their way of thinking and encouraging them to push the boundaries of photographic excellence. Participants receive a box with four everyday objects in it and are challenged with not just shooting the EOS Photo5 object, but also incorporating a specific creative photography technique into their shot, taking their photography to a new level. There is also an ‘open brief’ which makes up the fifth challenge and ensures that those who miss out on receiving a box can still enter.”

Jackie Ranken , Jo Johnson, Linda Duncan , Rebecca Pearson (Canon), Glenn Davidson, Gina Szafner and Mike Langford.

See the link to the BOOK To know when the next competition is running we suggest you become a member of the World of EOS http://www.canon.co.nz/en-nz/worldofeos/photo5/home There are lots of great tutorials to learn from although nothing is as good as attending a workshop.

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What makes a great image?

Put simply, it’s an image that catches your eye, it holds your attention and gets better the longer you look at it.

It’s emotive, it has something to say and it’s technically good.

A great image is an image that communicates and what it has to say shows us something new, in a new way.

What ever, it’s the personal interpretation of a subject that’s the most rewarding for everyone.

In our workshops and Photo Safaris we are constantly evaluating students images, the reason for this is ‘to learn’. We ask the right questions; at the time of exposure and in the critique sessions.

For instance: • What are you seeing? We ask you to say it in words? Then we let you know what we are seeing when we look through your viewfinder and offer suggestions on how to make what you are seeing more obvious.

• How do you feel about the subject? We offer suggestions on how to communicate this feeling.

This process may sound daunting to a novice but once you get into the practice of it, it works.

IQ Photography workshop

This workshop offers Photographers the opportunity to try out the Phase One IQ camera system, shooting landscape and resort Photography and training in capture One software. Mike and myself will be there to share our knowledge and passion for Photography. Book online at L&P Photo Cost NZ$85 Queenstown 7 June 2012 Christchurch 9 June Wellington 11 June Auckland 13 June 9am-5pm

Field Guide to Landscape Photography The cost NZ$40 + $5 postage in New Zealand or NZ$8 postage to Australia. For other international postage please ask Jackie. Payment to our NZ or Australian bank account or via paypal. Visit our STORE

Now also as an EBOOK-cost US 9.95 see this link

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NEWS and Links

We were privileged to have two inspiring photographers stay with us recently. Doug and Victoria Cooper from Toowoomba , Queensland, Australia. They made a camera obscura in our guest bedroom. See the image at this link See their blog HERE We have both entered the Australian Photography awards be judged in Melbourne May 25-27. Last year Mike won AIPP Travel Photographer of the year and I was second in the AIPP Landscape category. We have both entered the same categories this year.

Our Kinloch workshop starts tomorrow May 18-21 .then we will be in Melbourne so if we don’t answer our emails straight away you know why.

QCCP Workshops 2012 June 15-17 Portraiture- Queenstown $1200 June 22-26 Volcanic Workshop - Rotorua $1450-Full June 29- July 2 Fiji Portraiture / commercial - based in Suva $1300 July 29-August 1 Winter Landscape - Aoraki Mount Cook $1130-Full September 7-13 Travel- Bali- Ubud area US$3570 (3 places left) September 27-October 2 West Coast- Hasst $1400 October 13-18 Fiordland - Milford Sound , Te Anau, Mavora lakes $1400 October 26-28 Portraiture- Queenstown $1200

QCCP Workshops 2013 April 12-15 Autumn Colours- Queenstown $1200 April 19-22 Autumn Colours- Queenstown $1200

more to come....keep an eye on the website ESCAPE WINTER book into our FIJI OR BALI workshops.

Photo Safari web site for those who just want a 5 hours Photography tuition Please take a look, and join us on http://www.facebook.com/QCCP.PhotoWorkshops