04/01/2009 by jim.

I have been working on a job depicting the changing face of farming practices and this is a great time of the year to be shooting close to Sunset.

The secret is in the timing.
Uderexposing the outdoor ambient and fill in the subject with a hint of light.


These shots were taken in that magic light time about 1 hour before the Sun dips below the horizon.
Plus you still get home in time for tea.
You can’t beat it.

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03/01/2009 by jim.

Carrying digital SLR’s around for the last few years have aggravated an old back problem and I have been looking at ways of lightening the load while maintaining quality.
The Canon G9 is my first venture into digital compact cameras and as long as you keep the ISO low gives some quite acceptable results.
No way is it good enough for commercial shoots though, proving that pixel count is not the deciding factor in image quality. At least I can shoot with some degree of comfort.

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31/12/2008 by jim.

It’s getting to that time of the year again when you look back at some of the highs and lows of the past photographic year and add a few photos to the “must get around to printing” pile.
A New Year always starts a little slowly business wise so I am trying to get some of my pictures in some sense of order. Staring at the screen is giving me square eyes!
A big thank you to all of the people that I have met this past year who have filled my life with kindness and positive thoughts. I wish you all well for 2009.

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15/12/2008 by jim.

I have recently been making some of my favourite photographs into wall posters and was quite happy with my method of presentation - until my wife saw them!
I was under the impression that a black background would suit some of my pictures best but this is apparently a very male attitude. Seen from a female perspective, white makes a much better choice.
I guess that I should agree as when I make a Wedding presentation, the Bride always chooses the Ivory album while the Groom goes for the black leather cover and we all know the Bride is correct.

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30/11/2008 by jim.

Whenever you get a famous personality come to town it invites the typical media crush to get a photo while trying not to offend fans and annoy the subject themselves. It becomes very tempting just to shoot with on-camera flash and get the same shot as everyone else.
On this occasion Kate Adie arrived later than she wanted and three photographers ended up with 90 seconds to get our photographs. Fortunately all of the fans - a sell out event, were seated by then so I ushered her into a small area where I had set up a speedlite in a Lastolight ezybox at approximately 45 degrees to a chair and set Canon’s iTTL flash metering system on to ratio. I used a 580ex on-camera to fire the off-camera flash, giving the off-camera flash 3 stops more exposure than the fill in flash.
Using Canon’s iTTL is a way of shooting that the Strobist fraternity are only just starting to embrace but I have found it an excellent method of using of-camera flash when set up and shooting times are pushed to the limit and manually adjusting flash power outputs is not possible.
At least you end up getting a shot that is not the same as everyone else.

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15/11/2008 by jim.

I was looking for an image to use on a friends Birthday card and realised that when you work for the Press you have to be very careful when you alter the content of an image.
No such problem here. I wanted an image of Gateshead that a talented artist would appreciate.
I hope that you like it Alan.

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14/11/2008 by jim.

The traditional business portrait can be a tricky assignement. It needs to engage the sitter with the viewer straight away. It needs to have a degree of animation to make the subject dynamic, it needs a degree of power to instill confidence.
For this portrait I used my favourite light - a 1.5 metre Octa on an Elincron Ranger Speed powered head. It was still daylight outside and the curtains didn’t close so I need to overpower the ambient light. I needed to use 100 ISO to get the best quality from my camera. I wanted a greater depth of focus than usual, shooting at at least f16, I wanted drama yet maintain shadow detail and the Octa makes that possible. I also used a couple of small Canon Speedlites using good old Strobist techniques to add a little hair light and also to put just a hint of light into the background.
I miss the old days of Film Star portraits when they all held a cigarette in their hands. Hands are weird things to photograph, leave them out and the subject looks too static, include them and they can just appear to wave about in thin air. They can add power to a portrait but they also have the ability to do exactly the opposite.
Lots to think about and the pressure is usually intensified by lack of time. Busy men have tight deadlines. You just got to love doing business portraits. I do.

Posted in Projects, Strobist, General photography | No Comments »

07/11/2008 by jim.

It’s a particularly sad day for me. I get back from covering a couple of assignments to listen to a message on my answerphone informing me that the rumours circulating about the closure of the Spalding Target are true and the next isssue will be it’s last.
It’s sad not just because I have lost a client that I enjoyed working for but also because three people who I have come to regard as friends have lost their jobs. As newspapers in general are going through a tough time along with the rest of the economy, they will undoubtedly find it challenging in the job market right now.
Another reason that I feel a real sense of loss is that working for the local press has renewed my faith in human kindness and compassion. Over the last few years I have covered many assignments that have highlighted these wonderful qualities in the population of this fast growing Town. Young people in particular are prone to receiving bad press but contrary to many stories that populate our National Daily papers, the Target gave credit where it was due, to the many youngsters in our Town that play an active, positive and meaningful roll in our community.
Taking photographs for the Target has shown me exactly how much positive energy there is in the population of Spalding and that has been an emotionally rewarding experience for me.
Next Wednesday 12th November, 2008 will be a sad day, not just for me but for Spalding as well.

Posted in Rants, General photography | No Comments »

28/10/2008 by jim.

I have covered a lot of local events over the last few years but some never make it to the printed page and others don’t get the coverage they deserve. This should be rectified with the launch of Spalding News Desk, a Community based, on-line News site.

One of the first stories covered has an environmental theme which is close to my heart.

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26/10/2008 by jim.

I have finally got around to updating my on-line portfolios.
My main “Pro” portfolio is at www.pro.photoimagery.co.uk and
The current state of the “Faces of Spalding” art project is at www.faces.photoimagery.co.uk

I find it very difficult to decide how to present portfolios and this time I have gone for a Flash based presentation made using Lightroom.

Any comments good or bad are welcome.

Posted in Projects, Studio, General photography | No Comments »