Photo Story - A Day in Ghent, Belgium

The following photographs were take around Ghent, Belgium. It is a beautiful place to visit with Medieval Architecture, beautiful Cathedral, small local chocolate shops. All the below photographs hand held and have been taken using available light.

Bhupinder Ghatahora ABIPP, ARPS, ASWPP

Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk

www.ghatahora.co.uk

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Taking Better Photos Tip 18

Tip 18:

Be selective; use selective focus to create interesting images

Bhupinder Ghatahora
Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk
www.ghatahora.co.uk
@Ghatahora
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Before & After - quick editing in Lightroom

I always take photographs in RAW format, it is still necessary to edit these photographs for best results.

Before adjusting:

One foggy morning

Below are the steps taken to edit the above photograph.

• Convert photograph into black/white
• Exposure 0
• Contrast 0
• Highlight +5
• Shadows -30
• Whites +30
• Blacks -2

After adjusting:

Use the above setting as guidelines, always have keep an eye on the image while adjusting to see how these adjustments effect the final image.

Bhupinder Ghatahora
Ghatahora Photography

info@ghatahora.co.uk
www.ghatahora.co.uk
@Ghatahora
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Flowers

Below are some photographs of flowers taken in garden, garden centres and various National Trust Gardens (United Kingdom)

Please see link below on how to photograph flowers.

Bhupinder Ghatahora

Ghatahora Photography
www.ghatahora.co.uk
info@ghatahora.co.uk
@Ghatahora
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How to photograph flowers

It is possible to take good flower photographs with a compact camera also and not just with a SLR.

Compact cameras often do not have interchangeable lenses like SLRs, but the macro and zoom facilities on most compact cameras will allow photographing subjects in close-up as well as distant.

The first step is to know your camera; it is your greatest tool in creating your master piece. It is also advisable to read the camera manual to familiarise yourself with its basic and advanced functions.

I have often been told by novice/beginner photographers that the manuals tend to be complicated with terminology that tends to be alien to them. My advice to them is to start with the basic controls such as ‘Program Mode’, then move to the advanced features as ‘Aperture/Shutter Priority’, bracketing and others that may be unique to their camera.

Every compact camera should enable you to have some control over the aperture, shutter speed, the ISO, exposure compensation (+/-) and finally focusing. Some compact cameras will allow the user to take full control over the focusing using the ‘manual’ mode.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when photographing flowers.

The main control on a compact camera for close-up photography is the “Macro” button (often with the symbol of a flower). This enables you to focus closer to the subject and also blurs the background, keeping the flower sharp. The camera automatically sets the aperture and the shutter for you, so you don’t have to worry about the exposure, allowing you to just focus and press the shutter release.

Now I will briefly touch on the Aperture Priority (AV) mode. When in this mode, the camera will set the shutter speed to give you the right exposure. This mode is very useful as it allows the user to determine what part of the subject and background to keep in focus and what to blur by choosing the desired aperture. In close-up photography, it if often advisable to blur the background, as it draws the eye on the main subject when viewing the final photograph, therefore having an out of focus background is not considered bad.

When the camera is set to Aperture Priority, if the lowest ‘f’ number is selected, then the area nearest to the focus point will be in focus and the remaining picture will be out of focus. When the highest ‘f’ number is selected, the focus point and the area before and after the point is all in focus. If ‘f’ numbers between the lowest and highest is selected, then through practice and experience you can determine what to keep in focus and what to blur.

As well as the aperture mode, the Shutter mode (TV) is also important. This mode can be used when you are unsure of what aperture to choose and its great for capturing movement in the flowers caused by any wind.

Selecting a slow shutter speed of 1/30 or 1/15 will capture the movement in the leaves on the trees and flowers creating a ‘ghostly’ effect, whilst shutter speed of 1/60 or above will freeze the movement without blur.

I hope this very brief insight into flower photography assists you in your photography. 

Bhupinder Ghatahora

Ghatahora Photography

www.ghatahora.co.uk

info@ghatahora.co.uk

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Flowers

Flower photography for me is always fun and creative. As soon as it is Spring and Summer, I take my kit out and take losts of photographs of flowers.

Here are some examples:

For more Flower photographs visit www.ghatahora.co.uk

Bhupinder Ghatahora
Ghatahora Photography
www.ghatahora.co.uk
info@ghatahora.co.uk

New Photographs to share

Here are some new photographs that I wanted to share.

Chinese dragon in its enclosure. Photographed through the glass.

I love flowers and most of the time I am also photographying them. Below are some examples.

Visit www.ghatahora.co.uk