I admit to being a fan of Charlie Waite. This English landscape photographer has figured extensively in my photographic education. I was lucky enough to attend one of his weekend workshops while in the UK, have interviewed him for several magazines, enjoyed visiting his exhibitions both in London and Sydney and have a collection of his books which I dip into regularly when I need inspiration or reassurance.
He is called the doyen of British landscape photographers, an accolade that is not given lightly but which, in my opinion, is well deserved. And, why all this preamble? I have just been reading Charlie’s latest addition to my library, Behind the Photograph — Charlie Waite’s favourite photographs and the story behind them and this prompted me to dig out one of his DVDs. In it he had forsaken his usual state of the art cameras for a selection of compact digitals. I hasten to add that this was a temporary exercise as he showed that with thought these small cameras can produce quality results. It was a reminder that it is not the equipment that makes great photographs, it is the photographer and the way in which he or she uses the equipment they have.
I bought the DVD for a friend who had just started making pictures of the landscape but I found it most instructive listening to Charlie’s thought processes as he began making pictures. In particular, I was taken by one sequence when he was searching for images in a West Country harbour and finding no big picture that satisfied him. However, in no time he was happily shooting a number of images that many of us would have passed by. It was a vivid reminder that in the big picture there are dozens of small pictures ready for the photographer with the eyes to see them.
I don’t think the DVD is available now but Behind the Photograph is. You can find the details on Charlie’s website (https://www.charliewaite.com/) from where you can download the ebook. If you are serious about landscape photography do get hold of this book and learn how an expert’s mind works as he surveys the scene he is about to photograph.
Freelancing — Targets and How to Set Them
Whether you make your sales directly or through an agent or photo library, do you have a target to keep your mind focused on your output? And, if you do, is it measurable? It needs to be otherwise you cannot assess just how you are performing against your target. It can be as simple as the number of submissions/pitches sent out each month or the number of sales made, or the monetary amount of sales made, all of which are measurable. My targets began as the number of submissions made each month but I felt that that didn’t stretch me enough. Regular submissions are, of course, essential in this freelancing business but results are more important.
So, I amended my goals by setting myself an income-based goal for each month which encourages me to continue to send submissions out but will not let me feel satisfied just by the making of a submission. Now I won’t feel satisfied unless I can eat! Hopefully this approach will improve my selections and lead to more sales.
Don’t forget, that setting a target is not the end of it. There is no point in having a target that there is no chance of achieving just as there is no point in having a target that is too easily achieved. Setting targets that challenge is a fine balancing act so review your goals regularly. And don’t feel that you are cheating if you downgrade your targets if you find that you are not achieving them even though you have put a 100 per cent effort in. Of course, if the non-achievement is brought about by lack of application on your part, you know what to do.
Equally, if you are achieving your targets fairly easily, do consider upgrading them.
Another of my e-books that is popular.
In the days of film BD (before digital) no self-respecting landscape photographer would leave home without an armoury of filters. Then came digital and Photoshop and it seemed that the days of filters for every occasion were numbered. My expensive collection of Lee filters was consigned to my spare camera bag.
But, keen reader of photography books as I am, I noted that filters were getting mentioned again and again and again. The final straw was when I was browsing through a book by one of my favourite photographers, David Noton, who mentioned time and time again the use of his polariser, neutral density (ND) graduated and neutral density full filters. (David Noton: Full Frame (David and Charles) 978-0-7153-3614-4) If they were good enough for a brilliant photographer like him, who was I to forego them. So a scrabble through my spare bag ensued and I went forth suitably filtered.
Not, I hasten to add, with the full arsenal that I used to carry in film days but with those that are proving useful in digital days to improve the results out of the camera so that less time has to be spent in processing in front of the computer.
To buy, go to my ‘Home’ page tab above and click on ‘To see my e-books on photography available for tablet readers, including Kindle, and for reading on your computer’. Then click on ‘Introduction to Filters for Digital Photography’.
One of my most popular e-books. I founded and edited The Black and White Enthusiast magazine when I represented Creative Monochrome, the UK publisher of many books on black and white photography, in Australia. My panel of photographs that qualified me for my Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS) was in black and white. And, today I still love black and white photographs.
To buy, go to my ‘Home’ page tab above and click on ‘To see my e-books on photography available for tablet readers, including Kindle, and for reading on your computer’. Then click on ‘Black and White Photography in the Digital Age’.
This is one of my best selling photography e-books. If you are interested in starting macro photography perhaps it would be useful to you. To buy, go to my ‘Home’ page tab above and click on ‘To see my e-books on photography available for tablet readers, including Kindle, and for reading on your computer’. Then click on ‘Starting Macro Photography’.
You are invited to view my photography Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/y92z65a9
Of the 24 e-books on photography that I have published,
(To see my e-books on photography available for tablet readers, including Kindle, and for reading on your computer Click here)
)this is the best seller. It shows how to make black and white pictures in the digital age including how to convert colour images to black and white using Photoshop, how to use Photoshop’s duotone, my steps in processing a black and white image, and how to simulate processes such as split toning, sepia toning, lith printing, and selenium toning.
As someone who spent many happy years watching images appear in dishes of developer by the glow of the red darkroom safelight, I still have a hankering in this digital age for black and white photography. And it is somewhat incongruous that the digital camera has actually made it easier to produce black and white images than it was in film days. Then if I wanted to capture both colour and black and white, I needed to have two cameras with me with one loaded with black and white film and the other with colour. And, if the light deteriorated during a shoot, I had either to give up or load a faster film if I had one with me.
Now, I just use one camera and shoot in RAW format in colour and vary the ISO according to the light level for each shot. Why RAW? Simply because I end up with as much material available to me as my sensor can handle without the camera making decisions about what should be kept and what thrown away. That job should be mine and mine alone. Once I have the pictures on my computer, I can then decide how I want them to appear and process them accordingly.
This book is dedicated to showing how first class black and white images can be produced from the colour pictures you have captured on your digital camera.
If you have problems, please use the form under the tab ‘Contact’ to contact me by e-mail.
Price: $US1.99
Buy Here
Also available in paperback from your Amazon store.
Black and White Photography in the Digital Age is also now available as a pdf book in a landscape format.
Order your copy below. You do not have to have a PayPal account to do so.
The e-book will be sent to you electronically once your payment has been confirmed. You will receive an e-mail from High Tail with details of how to access the file. You will need the Acrobat Reader (available free from https://get.adobe.com/reader/) to read this e-book.
Black and White Photography in the Digital Age — a PDF Book
a pdf e-book
A$2.50
This picture of my daughter was a casual portrait as she leant on our bed one morning. I can’t remember what it was that she wanted but I was so taken by the naturalness of the pose that I grabbed my camera and captured it.
The soft light was from the windows on the other side of the room with some reflection from the light bedspread she was leaning on. You can see the catch-light from the window in her eyes.
It is one of my favourite pictures of her as a little girl and it would have been almost impossible to duplicate the expression in a studio lit shot.
This is a picture and the commentary that goes with it from a page in my new e-book Introduction to Natural Light Photographic Portraiture Indoors and Out to be published on 5 February. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/785760 to see details.
My latest photographic e-book is to be published on 5 February. Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/785760 to get details.
As someone who spent many happy years watching images appear in dishes of developer by the glow of the red darkroom safelight, I still have a hankering in this digital age for black and white photography. And it is somewhat incongruous that the digital camera has actually made it easier to produce black and white images than it was in film days. Then if I wanted to capture both colour and black and white, I needed to have two cameras with me with one loaded with black and white film and the other with colour. And, if the light deteriorated during a shoot, I had either to give up or load a faster film if I had one with me.
Now, I just use one camera and shoot in RAW format in colour and vary the ISO according to the light level for each shot. Why RAW? Simply because I end up with as much material available to me as my sensor can handle without the camera making decisions about what should be kept and what thrown away. That job should be mine and mine alone. Once I have the pictures on my computer, I can then decide how I want them to appear and process them accordingly.
This book is dedicated to showing how first class black and white images can be produced from the colour pictures you have captured on your digital camera.
Order your copy below. You do not have to have a PayPal account to do so.
The e-book will be sent to you electronically once your payment has been confirmed. You will receive an e-mail from High Tail with details of how to access the file. You will need the Acrobat Reader (available free from https://get.adobe.com/reader/) to read this e-book.
Black and White Photography in the Digital Age — a PDF Book
a pdf e-book
A$2.50
