Photography

Why it’s still important to understand Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO

2019-12-27 By @AidanEyewitness

It’s important to understand the information the camera is giving you.

As part of every photo walk I do and every private tuition session in photography I give, I deliver my ‘should-be-patented’ one-hour lesson in Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO.

Many photography manuals and tutors completely ignore this fundamental aspect of photography because, they say “you don’t need to understand it” or perhaps “today’s cameras make it unnecessary” or perhaps “it’s a bit too technical for most people, so not worth bothering with.”

I have just one word to say to that, and I won’t use it here! If you want to progress in photography and achieve the results you desire, then you have to understand what is going on when light enters the camera and how the camera deals with the light.

The only way you can understand this properly is to take some time to focus, use your mind, think and make sense of this important principle of photography.

Actually, it is not difficult, rather it’s confusing, because there are confusing and often counter-intuitive sets of numbers. Many people are put off by numbers and other aspects of maths. I had a problem with maths when I was a child, but through my interest in photography, I appreciate it’s not so difficult and it is very relevant to day to day life and especially to photography.

I’ve been teaching photography on a regular basis since around 2009, when I was asked to do an evening class in photography. I needed a diagram or chart to help me explain the basic principles of photography and I came up with the photography crib card which I have used countless times. I give people free copies of the card in in my photo walks and one-to-one photography sessions.

I use it as part of my one-hour lesson in photography and people find it very useful.

I don’t have enough time in this blog post to explain the card in detail. For that you would need to attend a photo walk or course. However I will set out some bullet points about why it’s important to understand Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO.

The camera gives you information on the back of the screen. You need to understand this information, just as you need to understand your car’s speedometer and rev counter.
Photographic exposure is a fundamental principle of photography. Every person who takes photographs should try to understand it better.
The principle of exposure is not difficult, it’s just confusing. By going through my chart step by step, it’s possible for people to gain a much better understanding in a short space of time.
Learning Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO is similar to learning to spell in your native language, or learning the times tables in Maths. Yes, we have apps and calculators, but better to try and get it right in your head.
It requires some mental effort and a bit of self-discipline to learn this basic principle but it’s worth it. The insight you will gain will give you a sense of satisfaction. Even if it wasn’t helpful to photography, it’s a worthwhile thing to do.
The fact is that many professional photographer and people tutoring in photography have a poor understanding of exposure don’t realise how important it is. That’s the only reason I can think of, why it is omitted in photography manuals and courses.
As well as learning an interesting and essential principle of photography, you will also learn my unique approach to using the camera in Manual Mode. I use this approach whenever I am working in unusual lighting conditions. It’s easy to learn and of immediate practical use.
Even experienced photographers find the crib card, my explanation of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO as well as my unique approach to using the camera in Manual Mode to be very useful as it approaches a familiar subject from a different angle.

My 6×4 inch exposure crib card

My Exposure Crib Card is an item from my Mediathek – (pronounced ‘media – teck’, like discotheque) that’s the word I use to refer my Media Library, which contains a growing collection of material on the subjects I teach, including photography.

I am developing an online course on understanding Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO and I hope to have it ready soon.

You can support what I’m doing and gain access to exclusive materials from my media library by sponsoring me on Patreon. It’s possible to receive a printed copy of the Exposure crib card in the mail, with a personalised welcome message from me. Go to http://www.patreon.com/aidanorourke to find out more.

Protected: Photographing Eric Bell co-founder of Thin Lizzy

2019-10-08 By @AidanEyewitness

The beauty of the baths captured on the Victoria Baths Photo Workshop

2019-07-02 By @AidanEyewitness

Angel at Victoria Baths by Chris Currie
I’ve been running the Victoria Baths Photography Workshop for a few years now and have welcomed a large number of people, ranging from complete beginners in photography to highly experienced professional photographers. The age range is very wide as well, from teenagers to octogenarians.

Every time I run the workshop, I see something in the Baths that I’ve not seen before – not with my own eyes but through the camera viewfinders of the people on the workshop.

The aim of the workshop is to give people the opportunity to photograph this amazing building. I’m on hand to chat to people, giving tips where needed and also asking questions. There’s no formal instruction due to the widely differing levels of the participants.

I normally chat individually to each person on the workshop for ten minutes or so. There are normally between 7 and 10 people attending.

I always look through the photos on each person’s camera screen to gain an idea of what they have been photographing. I give positive feedback and suggestions for improvement. I also look at photos and say things like: ‘Wow, I wish I’d taken that!’ and ‘You’re very talented, aren’t you?’ or perhaps ‘That’s incredible, look at this everybody!’

I’ll also give them a task to complete, for instance making use of exposure compensation and asking them to do a series of bracketed shots to show me later.

The workshop that took place on Sunday 9 June followed the usual format: Start at 10am in the Turkish Baths rest area, by the magnificent stained glass window. Participants then go and explore the building. I chat to each one individually. We then meet at 12pm to go up the ‘secret’ staircase to the abandoned rooms at the top of the building. After 30-40 minutes we return to the ground floor and go to the canteen to chat.

This time I found some of the photos taken by the participants to be so impressive, I decided to do a write-up and showcase their photographs.

So here is a selection of images, sent in by people. I asked them to pick out three of their best images, particularly the ones I had praised on the day. I chose two images for each photographer who got back to me, and what follows is my critique of the photos.

Victoria Baths light switch by Emily PIckering 9.6.2019

This photo by Emily Pickering of a light switch and torn wallpaper really captures the atmosphere of the abandoned rooms on the top floor, which we always visit on the Victoria Baths Photography Workshop. She has caught the textures and details very well. She has placed the switch in the lower right of the frame, leaving room to display the wallpaper layers, patterns and colours at the top of the image.

Victoria Baths stained glass windows by Emily Pickering 9.6.2019

Emily Pickering has captured the stained glass windows superbly in this image. Very often, with stained glass, you have to underexpose the image in order to make sure the colours look saturated. The camera’s exposure meter will often photograph coloured stained glass wrongly. Often it makes the glass too light. By making use of the Exposure Compensation setting on the camera, Emily has achieved the ideal exposure – not too dark and not too light. The viewpoint, from slightly to one side, gives a hint of spontaneity.

Victoria Baths stained glass window on the stairs by Maggie Malyszko

Maggie Malyszko took this excellent shot of the ‘sunrise’ window on the stairs. She has adopted a different viewpoint from most. She is looking from behind the staircase through the gap, giving a sense of an observer. This viewpoint creates an unusual pattern and composition in the image. The strong verticals and dark tones give a sense of mystery and atmosphere.

Victoria Baths corridor by Maggie Malyszko - 9.6.2019

Maggie Malyszko’s photo of the door and corridor is another superbly composed image. She has placed the part-open door in just the right position so that we can see through it, and so that the door at the far end of the corridor falls inside the middle pane of glass. Having a foreground element like this placed at the front gives a sense of depth. The textures of the wood, the shiny tiles and the marks on the out of focus windows give extra visual interest. She has placed the light on the wall in the upper left exactly inside the curve in the door. Great composition!

Victoria Baths abandoned rooms by Richard Waldock 6.9.2019

Richard Waldock created this very enigmatic image in the abandoned rooms at the top of the building. Eventually these rooms will be converted into apartments though at the time of writing – June 2019 – this is still a long way off. In the meantime the peeling ceilings and torn wallpaper will continue to fascinate visiting photographers on the Victoria Baths Photography Workshop. What’s disturbing about the image is that it looks almost as if there is a human form under the dark blanket. Lighting and composition are very good.

Victoria Baths bathtub by Richard Wadock 9.6.2019

Chris Currie has adopted an unusual viewpoint for this shot of the bath in the abandoned rooms. He has reduced the composition down to two areas of grey wall at the top and the white of the bath in the lower part, with taps, holes and stained sides. The wide angle lens has magnified the edges of the bath. It’s as if we are sitting in it ourselves, (though thankfully no legs are visible, unlike in those ‘me on the beach’ photos!). Of all the photos taken of that bath I’ve never seen one quite like this! All credit is due to the photographer!

Angel at Victoria Baths by Chris Currie

This image by Chris Currie shows that simply by adopting a different viewpoint, you can create an image that’s unique and with a lot of visual impact. He has re-interpreted the angel in the stained glass windows by moving to a low position and looking upwards. The shallow depth of field has made the stained glass out of focus in the upper and lower parts of the image. This works well as it adds a sense of depth, and the out of focus effect is visually pleasing.

Victoria Baths stairs and tiles - Richard Waldock

Richard Waldock took this photograph on the stairs near the main entrance. In any other building, the question in the viewer’s mind might be: ‘What made him take that photo?’ but in the Victoria Baths, every inch of the building is photogenic. The hand rail takes a zig zag path from top left to bottom right, and the reflections in the shiny green tiles are pleasing to the eye.

Victoria Baths sunlight and shadow, 9.6.2019

Laura Gritti took this photo in the abandoned rooms on the top floor. In this part of the building, objects lie on the floor for no apparent reason and can be used as subject matter for photography. Here a section of pipe and a meter provide an interesting focus, lit up by the direct sunlight through the windows, which cast a pattern on the floor. It’s a well composed image and quite enigmatic.

Victoria Baths main pool motion blue by Laura Gritti - 9.6.2019

Laura Gritti took this shot of the Gala pool, looking across towards the changing cubicles and the balcony above. She has placed the ‘water 4 and a half feet deep’ sign on the left and just passing underneath, a man walking towards the right. She has used a slow shutter speed – I would estimate about one quarter of a second. The image is well composed with almost perfect horizontals. The picture is mostly static, but the moving figure provides a dynamic element. She pressed the shutter at just the right moment, when the guy was just in front of one of the red and white striped curtains. A great example of ‘le moment juste’ – the right moment – to press the shutter.

All in all I was very impressed with the photographs taken by this group. Every photographer who enters the Victoria Baths comes away with something unique, something memorable. This is a building that likes having its photo taken!

If you’d like to come on the Victoria Baths Photography Workshop, just get in contact with me directly and I will reserve a place for you.

Please visit my information page on the Victoria Baths Photography Workshop.

How I chose the winners in the Sale Festival 2019 photo competition

2019-06-08 By @AidanEyewitness

What goes through the mind of a photo competition judge when he or she is choosing which photos to select? Are there any tips or guidelines you can follow if you’re submitting photos? Is it just a matter of personal taste or are the best photos always selected?

In June 2019 I was very honoured to be asked to judge a photography competition organised by Sale Photographic Society, part of Sale Festival 2019. Previous judges included BBC personalities Phil Trow, the late Dianne Oxberry and Eamonn O’Neill, Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. Gerry Yeung, also a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, has judged the competition too.

The first thing I needed to do, one week before the awards ceremony, was to go to the venue, Waterside Arts Centre in Sale town centre, 20 minutes by tram from Manchester city centre, and select the photos. The prize-giving event took place on Friday 7 June, 2019. I was to talk about the photos, giving the reasons why I chose them, and meet the winners.

They always say it’s difficult to choose from competition entries. There’s some truth in that, but at the same time, some photos stand out more than others.

But before starting to select, there is one very important factor that you always have to keep in mind as a judge, and that’s the brief, and for this competition, the title was: “The living city”

I therefore decided that, for images to fulfil the brief, they would have to show life, human or otherwise, set against the backdrop of the city. I wanted to see both people – or maybe not people, doing things, engaging in some activity, and also I wanted to see the city in which they were located.

Just on this principle alone I was able to rule out many images. There was nothing wrong with them, many were excellent and I might have taken them myself, but they didn’t answer the challenge. For instance some were cityscapes with no people visible. Others depicted people but the city wasn’t visible.

Immediately one photo jumped out at me. That was the one I awarded the first prize. It’s this image, which, at first, I couldn’t make out. What was it? Some kind of abstract pattern with circles and rectangles? A firework display? And what’s that red blob at the bottom?

Quickly I recognised the subject – it was Manchester’s Albert Square with the Christmas Markets. The red blob was Father Christmas. The photographer had photographed the square from the clock tower of Manchester town hall after dark. Chatting to him after the event he told me he had deliberately booked the last clock tower tour so that he could take this photograph.

This is a good example of how the best images often result from good planning so that you can be in the right place at the right time. The image is well composed and the brightness is just right. The people thronging the square provide an abundance of visible life. They almost look like tiny insects. We can see some of the buildings on the opposite side of the square, which gives us a sense of the city. It is a very good photograph and a great example of low light photography.

OK, let’s continue looking at the winning photos, now moving to number two (senior category), taken in Bangkok. As soon as I saw this image, I felt that it deserved to win a prize. That’s because it’s a very high quality image, well composed and executed. It also fulfils the brief very well. The swarm of motorbikes moving down and to the left provides life and movement. The flyover above also gives a great sense of diagonal movement. Diagonals of course tend to give a dynamic effect while verticals and horizontals have a more static effect.

As I looked more closely I began to find interesting details – like the bus numbers and the indecipherable Thai language destinations. On the left is an elephant and there are more details hidden in the image. And the backdrop is a typical Asian cityscape of tall buildings. A great image.

I awarded third prize to this photo of the Bridgewater Canal in Sale, not far from the exhibition venue. Various things struck me about this photograph. First, it is in portrait orientation. I would probably have taken it landscape. The main emphasis is in the middle of the photograph, the people – and one dog – walking along the canal, with one person visible on the right watching them.

What’s interesting is that the point of focus is under the tree. The people in the distance are left out of focus. This gives a painterly effect, similar to reminiscent of 19th century painter Seurat, who used the pointillist style. Typically he painted groups of people on the banks of the Seine having a picnic. Here the people are are walking by the canal.

I wondered aloud whether the focus on an empty spot under the tree was deliberate. The photographer told me after the award ceremony that it was. Focusing on an empty spot made me think that perhaps the subject is invisible, they are not there, but still present in some way.

The next image was the junior entry. What I liked about this photograph of the bee painting in Stevenson Square Manchester, is that the photographer took it at an angle. I’ve often photographed these paintings – which are part of an arts scheme and are always painted over after a period of time.

I generally photograph them straight on, excluding the background and trying not to crop the painting. But here, the photographer broke some rules. She took it at an angle, cropped part of the painting and also included some details you wouldn’t consider photogenic – some scaffolding and a couple of façades. But these details are interesting and they place the subject in its context.

The bee symbolises Manchester, its industry and the hard working character of its people, so the picture exactly fulfils the brief, whilst disobeying many so-called ‘rules’ of composition. As I often say it’s important to know the rules – or more exactly, guidelines – but they are there to be broken.

After the prize giving, the photographer told me she took it on a school trip and it was taken spontaneously. She told me she had just received her GCSE photography results and received an A*. I’m always very keen to give encourangement and support to young photographers,. I hope she will take her photography further.

In addition to these four prize winners there were four images selected for special recommendation.

This one of guys doing parkour stood out, partly because of the photographer’s excellent timing. Using a very fast shutter speed, they managed to catch the guy jumping at just the right moment – le moment juste – as I often like to say. Another thing I liked was that a woman in the background was photographing the performance on a mobile phone. The setting is the former UMIST campus, now Manchester University.

I liked the photograph of four figures – dog, human, human, dog – walking through a park. It’s actually Longford Park, not far from Sale. The vista reminds me of 19th century French painters such as Corot.

As I mentioned in my presentation, I often find inspiration for photography by going to art galleries and looking at paintings. Every photographer should do this, as you can learn so much about composition and lighting.

I liked the fact that the right hand figure – the small dog – was off the footpath. All four expressed a sense of gentle movement away from the viewpoint. The lines of perspective are striking. The splash of colour from the hats, scarf and boots are also pleasing.

I was happy to be able to include in my selection a very impactful black and white image. Two people walk across the tracks at the top of Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The sun is coming from behind and casts shadows on the ground.

The figures and their shadows form a V-shape that gives a pleasing composition. Again, we see the skill of the photographer in choosing ‘le moment juste’ – the right moment to press the shutter, capturing the movement at just the right point. Further along the street, another person crosses in the opposite direction and they are placed between the two figures in the foreground.

In the distance are the new residential towers under construction south of the city centre, so this image is up to date and topical. The person on the right is looking at a mobile phone. This image captures a very familiar subject and location in a new and visually captivating way.

This photograph of a man sitting on a canal boat, with Manchester’s Castlefield basin and bridges in the background. I felt that this image also illustrated life, though in a more restful state – the man is reading Canal Boat magazine. The saddle of a bike is also visible as well as the usual paraphernalia of boats, including ropes, with a glimpse of the interior of the cabin.

On the outside we can see people, cyclists and walkers who have just crossed the bridge. Maybe a tram or train crossing one of the bridges would have been nice but it’s not necessary. That was the scene when the photographer pressed the shutter. I don’t like the phrase ‘should have had’ or ‘should have been’. I once heard a picture was rejected because the door of beach hut ‘should have been’ a particular colour.

I like the composition – the photographer has placed the right hand side of the boat parallel with the edge of the image, leaving a vertical strip of water on the right. It highlights an important and often overlooked aspect of life in Manchester: that some people live on boats or at least they are visiting from other parts of the country by canal boat.

All in all, judging the competition was a very interesting experience and I enjoyed explaining my reasons to the people at the awards event, alongside the Mayor of Trafford and members of Sale Photographic Society.

I was happy to see the photographers receive their prizes. The junior entrant won £50.

I have to say the framed photos looked great on the display board. They will remain there during June 2019.

Chris Boyes
Manchester Christmas Markets
Winner Senior Competition
Cheque for £100

Roy Grindrod
Bangkok traffic
Second Senior Competition
Cheque for £50

Tom Chadwick
From-Coal-to-Stroll
Third Senior Section
Cheque for £25

Erin Kelly
Bee in the City
Winner Junior Section
Cheque for £50

and the Commended authors were:

Andy Carpenter
Relaxing In The City

Lesley Heptinstall
Crossing The Tracks

Therese Lee
Parkour Training in Manchester

Aamir Sabzwari
Dog Walker Longford Park

So finally: some advice for people entering a photography competition, which I’ll formlate as questions:

Have I fulfilled the brief? Have I thought carefully about the title and tried to respond to the challenge it sets?
Have I depicted the subject in a new and unique way that few other photographers might have chosen?
Is the picture technically competent, in focus where you want it to be in focus, with good image and print quality
Does your photo look like it is the kind of picture that deserves to win a prize? Be honest with yourself here!

And one last note: If your photo wasn’t chosen for a prize, it doesn’t mean it is without merit! Photography judging is still partly a subjective thing. Some competitions are judged by several people, but as John Earnshaw of Sale PS remarked, the cream still has a tendency to rise to the top.