Some spaces available on the upcoming photography courses

I’m pleased to be able to offer some limited numbers on my photography courses coming in April 2013.

- Digital Photography for the serious amateur; starting 15th April 2013
- Digital Photography in the studio; 11th & 18th May 2013

For all the info you need, including pricing and contact details, please see the course information page.

Photography course dates announced (updated)

I’m pleased to announce start dates for some of my courses;

- Digital Photography for beginners; 14th Jan 2013 / 3rd June 2013
- Digital Photography for the serious amateur; 5th Nov 2012 / 15th April 2013
- Digital Photography in the studio; 19th & 26th Jan 2013
More info;  http://www.photographynorthwest.com/photography-courses-whitehaven-lake-district-cumbria/

Please call 01946-595476 to book any course

My 10 tips for photographing fireworks

With the International Whitehaven Festival starting this week I posted in a recent thread on Flickr about some tips on taking firework photos.    I hope this is useful…

10 top firework tips from me;

1. Use a tripod!  And also use a remote shutter release so that you don’t transmit vibrations when you press the shutter button on the camera with your finger.
2. Make sure you have a full battery and lots and lots of memory card space (obvious but you’ll be surprised!).
3.  If your camera struggles to focus in low light, set it up before hand while it’s light and switch your lens to Manual focus and don’t touch it.
4. Don’t use auto modes (including Aperture and Shutter priorities). Use manual.  And turn the flash off
5. Shooting in raw instead of JPG will give you better pictures. But be aware that raw will use a lot more memory card space and you may need to process each shot individually depending on what software you use.
6. Exposure?  Get the right amount of ambient light with the shutter speed, a few seconds should be enough for each shot. Adjust the aperture to get the exposure on the fireworks right and use your ISO to control the overall brightness of the scene..
7. Don’t use a long exposure because the results will just be a complete mess of whited-out over-exposed-ness. Instead, try to time each main burst from start to finish.
8. Don’t be afraid to blend two or more shot together afterwards to get the shot you need.
9. Don’t get in anyone’s way!
10. Don’t forget to enjoy the show! I’ve shot loads of fireworks where I’ve concentrated so much on the pictures I didn’t get time to enjoy it.

I’m the victim of stolen images

I found some of my Kite Surfing pictures have been ripped off on other sites. I took these pictures in 2008 in Fuerteventura. One of the picture has even got someone else’s watermark on them, and they’ve not even bothered stripping out MY metadata!!

Image 1 on this page
Image 2 on this page
Image 3 on this page

If you agree this is a dirty deed please post a comment on their site!!

I’ve become Canon Professional Services newest member!

I signed up to Canon’s Professional Services today, not all photographers qualify; there are strict criteria to become a member of this exclusive service and take advantage of its benefits which are access to priority repairs, a dedicated helpdesk, technical support, exclusive CPS benefits and much more.