How To Take Photos With Mobile Phones

This article shows slides from The Pink Place, Basingstoke, presentation held on 14th August 2020. 

The presentation is on understanding mobile phones modes to take better photographs.

Tips for better landscape photography

I love landscape photography, especially when it is not sunny and bright outside, I believe weather conditions that we have here give us an endless opportunity to capture the beauty of the countryside/landscapes we have. Here are a few tips to improve your landscape photography.

Tip 1:
Photograph sunsets:
* metre for reflective foreground, such as the water; this will record the sunset and the foreground correctly
* use the ND (Neutral Density) filter

Reflections on the canal

Mountain reflection in the lake - Lake District

Tip 2:
Choose the right time of day:
* understand and see your light
* find a suitable viewpoint
* wait for right lighting conditions, light can make a huge difference in your final shot
* photograph in golden light
* photograph landscapes early morning

Photograph taken in Wales in the evening

Early morning, Loch Lamond, Scotland 

Golden light on bridge - Reading

Tip 3:
Weather conditions:
* capture atmospheric shots - take photographs in bad weather, capture rainy day shots, fog
* capture raindrops on tree branches, spider webs etc
* take a spot reading from a mid-tone from your scene

Early morning mist

Dew drop on the branch

Rain on grass reed

Snowy day, view from start of the Iron Bridge - Telford

 Tip 4:
Photograph seascape in all weather conditions:
* capture sky and reflections
* shoot dark stormy skies to create mood and atmosphere

Sunset behind the mountains

After the sunset over the beach - Lake District

Before the rain - Leicester

Tip 5:
Show scale in your photographs
* include in your photograph a human, tree, house to show scale
* use a long focal lens
* use a tripod for long exposures and in low light conditions

The tall tree - France

Walk in the park - Wakehurst Place

The red taxi - Bangkok 

Tip 6:
Exclude the sky:
* create dramatic, colourful images by excluding the sky
* concentrate on colour
* photograph reflections in the water, be creative
* photograph during the summer's hazy light to add character to your images
* exclude sky on dull days, shoot detail, patterns in the fields

Stormy day - Lands End, Cornwall

Carpet of Tulips - Keukenhof , Amsterdam 

Bubbles - Eden Project, Cornwall

Tip 7:
Photograph winter landscapes
* sun in the winter has a warm hue, giving it the 'golden light', which adds mood to the photograph
* photograph trees covered with snow, frost or rain drops
* shoot looking up at the trees
* shoot in wide angle and zoom in

Snow - Near Bishopswood Golf Course, Baughurst

Tall trees - Pamber Forest

Snow in the trees - Tadley

Tip 8:
Leading lines:
* include paths, lines leading into the image, it creates perspective and adds sense of distance & depth
* use a wide angle lens

Micheldever Woods, Basingstoke

Dinas Head - Cornwall

Tip 9:
Include foreground interest:
* use wide angle lens
* include foreground interest to create a sense of distance
* shoot from low angle to emphasize the sky
* photo white clouds and dramatic stormy clouds

Seaside - Northumberland 

Textures - Northumberland

Tip 10:
Use slow or fast shutter speed:
* capture movement in water or to freeze the waves
* on bright sunny days use filters to have a slow shutter speed
* cloudy/shade is perfect lighting conditions to photograph movement in water

Waves - Cornwall

Bradgate Park - Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire

Bhupinder Ghatahora ABIPP, ARPS, ASWPP
Ghatahora Photography
info@ghatahora.co.uk
www.ghatahora.co.uk
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Learn how take photographs at anytime

Morning & Night Photography

Photography during winter is fun, especially when the mornings are filled with mist and the light is golden. There are long shadows during sunset and frost throughout the day, beautifully formed on spider webs, plants and anything that touches the chill. Then there is snow, which creates its own unique atmosphere. But most importantly, the whole ambiance is a wonderland.

Even though it gets cold during these months, don’t let this put you off photography. Wear suitable clothing to keep warm and capture the beauty of nature in your photography.

In this article I will briefly explain how to take great photographs in different lighting conditions using the ISO, aperture, shutter, and manual mode of your camera.

Morning Photography

Before sunrise, the light reflected from the sky hitting the scene is very soft and diffused, which gives very weak shadows. The colour of the sky will be blue on a clear day and grey on a cloudy day, such lighting conditions can create very atmospheric photographs. This photograph was taken before the sunrise.

Use the Aperture Priority mode; set the aperture at f16 (the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed).

For Manual mode, set the aperture at f16 and the shutter speed at 15 seconds. Use this shutter speed as a guide only, as your exposure time may vary depending on the available light. You may either have to increase or decrease the shutter speed depending on the image produced.

Cameras which do not have the Aperture Priority or Manual mode will often allow selecting different scene settings, such as ‘dusk/dawn’, ‘nightlight’ or ‘sunset’ modes. Please choose which suits you and your camera best.

Here is a photograph taken using Aperture Mode. The exposure will be long, so use a tripod as this will avoid camera shake. In this photograph the sun has just began to rise and you can see how the colours are different in both images.

If you don't have a SLR, it's still possible to get good photographs, just need to understand your camera and its modes. Read more on 'Understanding your Camera'. 

Example of photograph using ‘Dawn/dusk’ mode on a compact camera

During the morning also try to photograph the morning fog, water droplets on spiderwebs and frost. The photographs below are all taken with a compact camera. To get maximum depth of field, set your compact camera on 'Landscape Mode' (set f16 on SLR - using Aperture mode ) and for minimum depth of field set the camera on 'Close-up Mode' (set f2.8 of f5.6 on SLR - using Aperture mode). The result of using these settings will be similar.

Morning fog (camera set on 'Fog Mode')

Dew drops (camera set on 'Close-up Mode')

Night Photography

During total darkness, there is obviously no natural light available. These are perfect conditions to photograph trailing lights from cars, lit cityscapes, fireworks and light movement. 

If using Shutter mode, set your SLR on a slow shutter speeds such as 1/8th, 1/4th to capture movement. If using Manual mode, set the camera at f16 and use the camera’s exposure indicator to set the value on 0 as this will give you the correct exposure.

An exposure indicator is visible through the viewfinder which looks like:

2||||1||||0||||1||||2+.

On compact cameras choose 'Nightlight', and the camera will adjust the aperture and shutter accordingly.

Photograph of snow at night using Manual Mode:

It's great to experiment and be creative with photography. Try changing the ISO to 1600 or higher to minimise camera shake and to achieve moody, atmospheric photographs. I also convert my images to black/white to add more drama to it.

On compact cameras choose ‘Nightlight’ and the camera will adjust aperture and shutter speed accordingly.

Example of photograph using ‘Nightlight’ on a compact camera:

Bhupinder Ghatahora ABIPP, ARPS, ASWPP

Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk

www.ghatahora.co.uk

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Trees

Trees

Bhupinder Ghatahora ABIPP, ARPS, ASWPP

Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk

www.ghatahora.co.uk

@Ghatahora

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How to capture Autumn colours

Capture the Autumn Colours

Autumn is one of my favourite seasons for photography as it’s filled with cool nights, misty mornings, golden lighting, dew drops on spider webs, reflections of autumn colours in the water, long shadows and fallen leaves which all create a great atmosphere. But most importantly, the striking colours in the environment.

The main advantage of living around trees, parks and woodland areas, is that you don’t have to travel far to capture the autumn colours. Most of the woodland locations are easily accessed by public footpaths. Local parks provide plenty of opportunities for close-up nature photography.

The colours at the beginning of autumn can be disappointing, it is advisable to wait till they are rich and vibrant, which is usually at the end of October till end of November. However, keep an eye on your surroundings and keep your gear and equipment ready to capture the best lighting.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when taking autumn photographs:

Camera settings:

SLR: To photograph Landscapes, set the camera on Aperture Mode at f11 or f16, the camera will adjust the shutter speed accordingly. For Close-up Nature photography, use an aperture of f4 or f5.6. The use of a tripod is recommended as exposures will be long.

Compact Camera: Set the camera on Landscape Mode. For close-ups use mode. These modes are also available on SLRs.

I took the below photograph using my compact camera. The photograph has been changed to sepia using an editing software. Many compact cameras have an inbuilt facility which allows you to change the tone of your image. (This can be found in the menu settings of your camera). I always take two photographs of the same scene, one in colour and other in b/w or sepia. 

Framing:

Trees make dominant focal points and create the finest displays, use ‘rule of third’ to frame the scene.

Catch the light:

The warm light at early morning or evening is perfect to capture some stunning autumn photographs, so get up early to photograph the ‘Golden Light’.

The Golden bench

Bridge on River Thames

Move closer to concentrate on detail:

Instead of just photographing wider landscapes, create a much stronger composition by moving closer to the subject. Focus all the attention on a single subject, such as dew drops on leaves, spider webs, leaves, berries, long shadows, etc.

Rain drop on leave

Dried leave

Grass

Visit the local park or the woodlands:

Take photographs at a local park or the woodlands.

Photograph wildlife:

Photograph horses in a field or wildlife in your garden. Feed the birds - putting food and water out will encourage birds in your garden so you don’t have to travel far to photograph the wildlife.

Use backlighting:

Position the sun behind a tree trunk or branches to capture the vibrant colours of the leaves, long shadows and silhouettes

Photograph the autumn mist:

Man in the mist

To capture mist, it is necessary to get up at dawn before sunrise or wait till it is just about to set. Rivers, lakes and open fields are the most likely locations to have mist. Exposures can be tricky, set the exposure at +1 stop to prevent the mist or fog being recorded as dull murky grey.

Here is a small list of locations where you can take autumn photographs:

Local Parks;

New Forest - for both autumn colours and wildlife

Kew Gardens – autumn colours

Wakehurst Place – autumn colours

Westonbrit Arboretum (Tetbury, Gloucester, GL8 8QS) – autumn colours

Richmond Park (not far from Kew Gardens) – autumn colours and wildlife (herds of deer) 

Bhupinder Ghatahora ABIPP, ARPS, ASWPP

Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk

www.ghatahora.co.uk

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