Check settings before snapping

The great thing about cameras is that once you set them to something other than automatic mode, you gain increasing control of the composition of your picture.
The downside to this is that when you switch the camera off, it will not default to an automatic setting but will retain whatever the last setting you used was. If you draw your camera quickly to shoot and fail to check the settings, you may then be stuck with something you did not want. My own weakness is forgetting to change the shutter time from 30 seconds back down to a shorter exposure. Thirty seconds works well for night time shots but not as well in the daytime when you will produce a very bright image of light and not much else.

I took the image below early one morning. I used a variable neutral density (ND) filter which I set initially to be virtually see-through (in order to focus). I depressed the shutter button half-way to set the focus and then set the filter to as opaque as it would go (which was virtually impossible to see through). The exposure was three minutes and I used a tripod and cable shutter release to keep the camera as steady as I could.

However, the setting I had not checked before taking the picture was the white light balance. In place of auto white light balance (AWB), I had left the camera set to use Tungsten light. This created the sense of a moonlit image, as opposed to an early morning. In hindsight, the result was effective as a night time image so I had not wasted the shot, but it did remind me of the importance of checking all the settings before snapping.

Diane Arbus Quote

"Lately I've been struck with how I really love what you can't see in a photograph"

This and other Diane Arbus quotes

Autumn silhouettes on a mobile telephone

As autumn descends and winter draws ever nearer, the skies and the land offer wonderful photograph opportunities. Deciduous trees have become silhouettes of their summer selves, and the Sun creates wonderful colours as it rises and sets. As always, I had my mobile telephone with me when I went walking with the dog yesterday and I captured this image using the 'phone.

I used the limited editing tools on my telephone to make the sky less bright. This has brought out the different colours more clearly but has not lost the feeling of an autumn sky at sunset. I quite like the silhouette of the dog alongside the trees and bushes behind, but if I had a wider range of editing tools I would have experimented with the overall exposure of the shot to try to bring out more of the dog's colouring. 

In the next picture, taken on the same walk, I used the mobile editing tools to bring out more of the colour.

This has worked well for the colouring of the fur, although the sky has now lost some of the impact of the setting sun. 

I had not intended to set the bush behind the dog so symmetrically. Symmetry does not always work well in photographs as it can make the picture look too perfect as though it has been staged (which of course many photos are). However on this occasion I think it adds quite a nice frame to the dog's head. The lesson here is that framing something can work well but perhaps the less it is planned, the more natural it looks and the less it detracts from the subject of the photograph.

Buying a second hand camera lens

Buying anything second hand can be both an exciting and a stressful process. I hope this short-list of tips will help you when it comes to buying a second hand lens. There are some lovely pieces to find out there and it's possible to pick up some real bargains which will serve you well.

Buyer’s tips:

• Look for lens creep. Does the lens slip of its own accord or does it stay in place once you have positioned it?
• Make sure that the aperture ring works (visual check by looking into the lens)
• Look at the country of origin – Japanese lenses, for example, are usually good
• Look for scratches on the lens (at either end)
• Look down the inside lens to identify any internal damage lens
• Check for any external body damage
• Does the lens have a lens cover?
• Does the lens have a rear element cover?
• Has the lens passed any test process?
• Do the switches on the lens work?
• Try the lens on your camera body
• Find out what sort of guarantee (if any) the lens comes with

Night photography – top tips

• Use a tripod
• Use a remote or cable shutter release (ideally a lockable one so you can leave the camera alone for longer exposures)
• Use shutter priority (TV) to ensure a long exposure – this will be up to 30 seconds on most cameras
• If the camera will not focus, use manual focus or find a light source within the picture and focus on that (with a half push of the shutter button) then return the camera to frame the image you actually want and close the button fully
• Use the bulb (B) setting for an exposure longer than 30 seconds – this might be needed for very dark skies in order to get some of the detail, of the Milky Way, for example
• Use the bulb setting for star trail photography and locate your camera somewhere well away from light pollution
• Wrap up warmly!

This image was taken using an exposure of 63 seconds, aperture of f/5.6 and ISO of 6400. I controlled the exposure time by having the camera on the bulb setting, the camera set the aperture and ISO. I used a tripod and a cable shutter release button to keep the camera as steady as possible, and I adjusted the focus manually.

Steve McCurry Quote

"What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling."

Steve McCurry Biography