Taking great pictures over Christmas

We had our first Wincham / Pickmere photography group last night and talked about how to get good shots over Xmas, without getting too technical. Hope you find them useful.

“The best camera is the one you have with you at the time”.

Always have your camera near you so that if something happens you are ready to grab the shot. Taking great photos often isn’t about knowing how to use all the different settings, but more about OPPORTUNITY and being able to SEE THE IMAGE.

Take a few practise shots, check the results, adjust settings if necessary and you’ll be well prepared.

The best shots of people are often the candid ones, especially children. Get them used to you taking photos all the time and they will be less self conscious.

For posed photographs help make people relax by talking to them, make them laugh. Try getting people to say “Cheeky Monkeys” or “Smelly Socks” and after you’ve done one shot get people to tickle each other or hug.

If you want a more informal group shot ask people to toast each other, meeting each others’ eyes rather than looking at the camera. This can also reduce red eye. (But don’t worry about red eye and don’t use “Red eye reduction” setting on camera as the double flash is off putting and it takes longer so you can miss the moment. Sort out red eye on the computer afterwards.)

Get people really close together, heads nice and close and all on the same plane (i.e. not some further in front or behind the others as you could risk some being out of focus).

Take several shots of groups in case anyone had their eyes closed.

Fill the frame when taking pictures of people. Use the zoom on your camera to catch candid shots of the kids—they won’t know you’re taking the shot and zooming in has the effect of blurring the background, making the person stand out.

Try different angles—get down to the same level as your children or shoot from low down or high up. Tilt the camera slightly and take the picture on an angle. Experiment.

At night time or in low light try using the night portrait setting on your camera to capture the lovely Christmas lights / candles etc behind or near your subject. Make sure the flash is on and select night portrait. The camera fires a quick burst of flash but then keeps the shutter open for a moment longer to allow light in. Hold the camera steady or you’ll risk camera shake. Rest the camera on a level surface if possible. Try taking pictures of the children by the Christmas tree like this. Or of the Christmas pudding as it is aflame.

If you want to take a picture of Christmas lights in a town or garden etc, rest the camera on a wall, make sure the flash is off and press the shutter. You can do this in AUTO mode. If the picture is too dark, use the TV mode (Might be “S” on some cameras) and slow down the shutter speed. Experiment until you are happy with the shot.

If you are taking pictures of people on a bright sunny day outdoors, use the flash to avoid harsh shadows. Overcast days are actually the best for photographing people. Snowy overcast days are great as colours of scarves, hats etc look really intense against the white snow.

On cold frosty days look for interesting details and zoom in close—use the MACRO setting. Frosted cobwebs, reeds, teasels etc look magical covered in frost.

Landscapes—use rule of thirds, try to lead the eye, have a clear focal point.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Get out there now!

This is one of my favourite times of year as a photographer. Crisp, clear days, a pure quality of light and an abundance of colours and fascinating subjects. If you are familiar with my photographic style you'll know that I don't usually go in for landscape photography as such, but prefer to find some detail in the landscape - whether that's a close up shot of a leaf, bark, plant etc or a feature within the landscape. I have a wonderful book by David Ward called "The Landscape Within", which has been the inspiration for many of my own shots.

Several years ago I did an assignment on Autumn as part of my A' Level in Photography. At that time I was still using a compact camera, so all the shots shown here are shot on that - a Panasonic Lumix - lovely cameras. Autumn leaves are the obvious autumnal shot and I went off to Tatton Park and Biddulph Grange in search of fiery acers. The red image on the left didn't require any special

techniques - it was just a case of framing the right shot and zooming in a little to blur the background.

 The small shot on the left is quite unusual - the sun had caught the outer branches and leaves of an acer, whilst the trees and bushes in the background were relatively dark as they were in deep shade. When I looked at this shot on the computer I decided to further deepen the shadows and brighten and saturate the leaves. Unusually for me I then applied an effect called cut out which simplifies the colour palette and emphasised the contrast between the leaves and the background (and my Photoshop skills were almost non-existent in those days!).

Although technical ability does play a part in creating a good shot (it makes it easier to achieve what you want), I strongly believe that it's having the all important eye and being constantly on the look out for an interesting composition that is the crucial factor. The shot of leaves under water remains one of my favourite images of Autumn and once I'd spotted it, it was only a matter of framing the shot and pressing the shutter (most likely all done on AUTO in those days!).

I mentioned the amazing clarity and quality of the light at this time of year - it must be something to do with atmospherics and temperature, but you can't beat a cold, clear autumnal day as far as I'm concerned. And as the sun sets earlier you are more likely to be out and about and able to get some great shots. The golden light makes for extremely flattering portraits - this is one of Abbie that I particularly like.

David Ward in "The Landscape Within" seeks out details which are different to the usual landscape shot. I tried to do the same with this shot of the Tyne Bridge at sunset. After firing off lots of shots of the entire bridge I zoomed in and focused on the idea of commuters on their way home, lifted by the wonderful sunset on the river.

As Autumn moves into Winter we'll get the first frosts (possibly sooner than we think as a cold spell is now forecast) and early in the morning the most mundane of objects is transformed by an icy coat. I love this shot of barbed wire and cobwebs and almost want to shiver as I look at the frosty fields beyond.

So dig out those scarves, hats and fingerless gloves and get out there now!!!

(And don't get me started on fungi - I spent a whole day photographing over 50 types of mushrooms - separate blog to follow!)

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Don't let your favourite photos languish on your hard drive - get 'em out!!

We returned from our summer holiday in Cornwall with hundreds of lovely photos of the beautiful cornish scenery, the kids playing on the beach, surfing in the sea - the usual stuff. I sort of had a plan right from the start of the holiday to do something special with the pictures when we got back, rather than leave them on the computer, never to see the light of day. We don't use albums any more (does anyone?) and we only print a few pictures out every now and again - in fact I think it's almost a year ago since we last did.

I've put lots of photobooks together for clients but never for ourselves, so this time I was determined to. As ever I took photographs every day and almost everywhere we visited and

from time to time I spent a little time in the evening jotting down a few notes about the day's events, anything funny the kids had said or the dog had done!

I was all set up when I got home to put the book together and couldn't wait to get on with it. I used Bobsbooks for the first time as they offered full double page spreads, nice quality binding and a full colour wraparound hard cover. They are not the cheapest around but I think you get what you pay for. I downloaded their software and over the next couple of weeks I did a bit of the book at a time. The software for all the different companies is usually pretty intuitive - each has its little foibles which can be frustrating at times but overall it's drag and drop your image into a standard template, move it around and resize it if you want, add some text and so on.

Well, I don't know about you but I was absolutely delighted with the finished result and was dancing around in excitement when it was delivered. The quality is great, lovely vibrant colours, thick pages and just fab! It's slightly under A4 size and now sits in pride of place on my new cabinet in the family room. Any visitors to the house get it shoved into their hands but I've not had any complaints yet!

So go on - get those pictures off your computer and do something with them. I'm already planning a lot of Christmas presents and had better get started as I'm sure they'll get busy soon, as photo books are becoming increasingly popular and are replacing the traditional photo album. (And Bobsbooks are not paying me - I just think credit should be given where it's due!).

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Made in Cheshire

Dinner, bed and breakfast at a luxury country hotel and kids on sleepovers – fantastic! As soon as offspring and dog were despatched, we headed off to Nunsmere Hall Hotel with a guilty sense of freedom and anticipation of an evening of fine food and wine.

This was likely to be a bit of a busman’s holiday for me, having promised to take a few photographs of the food, as it was a rather special event – a Made in Cheshire evening with all the food sourced from within the county, even including staple ingredients such as flour and salt. As people gathered in the bar and on the terrace in the warm evening sunshine, they were offered a champagne flute of locally made, chilled cider. I, in the meantime, was nipping in and out of the kitchen photographing Chef for the evening, Mark Fletcher, putting the finishing touches to the canapés of scotch quails eggs and welsh toast. I did find time to sample both the cider and canapés and was very pleasantly surprised by just how refreshing and enjoyable cider can be, as an alternative to the more traditional champagne.

I had spent some time chatting with Mark, usually the Sous Chef at Nunsmere, but very much in charge of the Made in Cheshire evening, and he had told me with some pride how he had personally sourced all of the ingredients from suppliers within a thirty mile radius of Nunsmere Hall. He came into the bar to welcome the diners and to talk enthusiastically and humorously about the menu, despite being much more comfortable behind the scenes in the busy, hot kitchen. I don’t envy anyone working in such a heated and pressured environment – it would be my idea of hell – but the kitchen staff seem to thrive on it. Behind the swing doors it was noisy with the banging and clattering of pans, instructions were shouted across the kitchen, there were people rushing about and all seemed rather chaotic to me. But then as a course was plated up and Chef shouted “service!” suddenly all fell into place, waiters and waitresses appeared as if by magic and calmly ferried the dishes out to the dining room. Mark took a gulp of tea from his West Ham mug (I promised to fit in a mention!) and then moved onto preparing the next course.

Out in the restaurant everyone was enjoying the gazpacho with a selection of breads made from locally milled flour. This was followed by a visually stunning goat’s cheese and beetroot dish, which brought out the geek in my husband: “it’s a cone bisected by a plane, which would create an ellipse if sliced across...”. Personally I just thought it looked amazing and tasted divine! Each course was accompanied by a different wine and we had a lively conversation about how hard it is to find wine that tastes as good as those in a restaurant. I think we were underestimating the skill required to match wine with food and then serve it at the right temperature in the correct glass. The goat’s cheese was followed by trout caught locally.

By now my fellow diners and long suffering husband were getting used to me dashing away from the table between courses – at least the presence of my camera reassured them that I hadn’t just got a very weak bladder! In the kitchen the medallions of beef were being plated up and Mark’s two young sous chefs for the evening were carefully adding the vegetables. The attention to detail in the presentation of food never fails to amaze me – as an artist bends in concentration, nose almost touching the canvas, so a chef leans over each dish, carefully positioning each item and then adding jus or sauce with a flourish like a signature. The end result looked almost too good to eat, but you could soon hear the scraping of cutlery on empty plates and the rise in chatter that signals the end of a course. We were enjoying the company of the people around us, the majority being strangers to us beforehand. The couple next to us explained that they had bid for the Made in Cheshire Evening (plus bed and breakfast) at a charity auction, with Steven, at the time, under the illusion he was bidding for a balloon ride and egging on his partner, Jane, to bid increasingly higher!

As we enjoyed a short break before dessert, we could see a figure with a torch roaming around the edges of the garden and eventually setting up a white sheet and bright lamp on the lawn. This turned out to be Fungal Punk, a familiar figure at Nunsmere Hall, preparing for a late night moth hunt. I don’t know about anyone else, but in my experience a restaurant dinner has never been followed by a midnight search for Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies to you and me), but more on that in a moment! Dessert was a fruit salad served with locally made elderflower ice cream , followed by a fantastic selection of Cheshire cheeses. I could have grazed on the cheese and sipped port until bedtime but the moths were gathering outside to put on a show for us. Actually it turned out to be a little too late and a little too bright (almost full moon) for them and they had to be enticed out with a mixture of wine and treacle daubed on tree trunks. We must have made a strange sight weaving our slightly tipsy way through the tree line along the edges of the lawn, stopping to peer at moths and spiders in the light of Fungal Punk’s torch (the only torch (!) and we lost a few diners along the way!).

Back to the bar, laughing about our midnight walk and a quick brandy before bed. This was a delicious, fun, and very entertaining evening and nothing like hard work for me.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Eaton Hall Estate - a perfect, private paradise

 Sunday 29th August –heavy rain showers in the morning gradually cleared to leave an unexpectedly sunny but blustery afternoon. After the summer we’ve had I will not waste a single ray of sunshine by sitting indoors. The children, however, take ever more convincing that a trip to yet another garden is going to be a fun day out. The promise of ice cream usually works and I have been known to embellish the truth somewhat: “Sam - this one has a dragon garden!” – “What, with real dragons? Like kimodo dragons?” – “I don’t know – there might be...”

Even though we didn’t spot any real dragons on our visit to Eaton Hall Estate, we will remember it as one of the more unusual gardens. I am still scratching my head over quite how to summarise it in a few hundred words. This 11,000 acre estate lies just a few miles outside Chester and is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Westminster. The gardens are only opened to the public on three days each year and I was very thankful that I had marked the last open day in 2010 on a spreadsheet of gardens to visit. A quick look at the web site was enough to intrigue me – a French style chateau and the promise of several different style gardens. Right from the car park it felt very different to a trip to Tatton. Smartly dressed young RAF cadets shepherded cars into neat rows and a very polite chap took our money, rounding it down to £10, thus giving free entry for the kids. As we always take all morning to get ready to go out it was well past lunch time by this point and we headed straight for the refreshments. Tea, coffee and homemade cakes were served in the covered courtyard adjacent to a magnificent collection of horse drawn carriages. The courtyard was buzzing with visitors and dogs - we had left Daisy at home guessing she would be unwelcome and I was feeling very guilty as we spotted yet another boxer dog.

Having browsed through (and purchased) a book about the gardens I was keen to get going and we headed into the walled kitchen garden where it was evident that the household still very much relies on its abundant produce. It was here that it became apparent that these are gardens where design and form reign – nothing is allowed to stray outside of a precise plan. The branches of fruit trees have been carefully trained horizontally and vertically and every area is precisely delineated. This theme of perfection and formality continues throughout the gardens, even the vast lawns stretching away down to the lake are mown in stripes. Box hedges look as if they would pass any spirit level test and loungers and parasols stand in perfect symmetry by the family swimming pool. The pool is a stark reminder that this is someone’s home. Abigail and Sam couldn’t get their heads around that: “People actually live here?!” We weren’t sure whether to be dark green with envy or just glad that we had the chance to ogle and explore such a private and splendid garden. It’s easier to live with the latter – we would have to go back to our little house and garden at the end of the day after all. We also assumed that the policemen and women strolling around the gardens weren’t just enjoying an afternoon out – another clue that someone important lives here.

As ever my initially reluctant children were soon running ahead of us, keen to get to the next garden or pool before we did. Running up and down stone steps, along pathways, across grass, sitting on giant stone balls, posing next to statues of knights and dogs, hiding behind hedges and jumping out, but best of all dashing through the spray from the fountains as it blew sideways across the grass. Who needs kimodo dragons to keep their interest?! And there was plenty to keep Nic and I interested too. The Lioness and Kudu statue in the oval pond is stunning and fantastic to photograph, with the dark blue water of the brimming pond contrasting with the green grass.

The most photographed part of the gardens must be the Dragon Garden, with the French chateau style house and the clock tower in the background. The dragon statue in the pond and that of an ibis are beautiful, but it is the design of the formal garden and its gorgeous purple, white and green planting scheme, with the house as a backdrop that make it so special. And have I mentioned that it was a glorious afternoon with blue skies and the occasional fluffy cloud? Photographer’s heaven! To mention the lake, the rose garden, the flower borders and the wild flower garden would run the risk of turning this from a blog into a full blown guide book. But I can’t leave out the tea house garden – well the tea house itself really as the gardens were probably at their best earlier in the summer. I could easily imagine myself sitting on the veranda of this black and white building, watching the dappled light playing across the chequered stone floor and sipping tea (or something stronger, as apparently the windows are decorated with glass circles from bottles!). The kids also enjoyed watching light playing across the teahouse, as there was a modern art installation creating arcs and cubes inside the teahouse.

Although the gardens themselves are very formal the atmosphere and mood was very relaxed and people were extremely friendly, from the man who let us off £2 off the entry fee, to the lady who allowed us to eat our own sandwiches in the refreshment hall (we did buy tea and cakes too!). The brass band in front of the Parrot House (no parrots in sight either – sorry, Sam!) played well known and not at all stuffy tunes – we sat on the grass in the sunshine and listened to a theme from a Bond movie. We were reluctant to leave at the end of the afternoon as the sun was still warm, but the Eaton Estate was closing its enormous black and gold gates to the public until next spring. What I wouldn’t give to see the gardens in the autumn, partly for the colours and light, but also to see the neat pathways and lawns strewn with leaves and mussed up just a little!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Perks of the Job

Actually there are two recent shoots which could warrant this title! The reason the first qualified as a perk is a bit sexist I suppose but I don’t think the clients will mind! The owners of the gorgeous and very friendly Bez (see earlier blog) gave my name to a couple, Stacey and Lee, with four month old India. I was really looking forward to this shoot, partly because I love photographing very young babies, but also because I knew they wanted a very stylised black and white look to the photographs. Oh – and how could I forget to mention that they also have a very handsome boxer dog called Kilo! Regular followers of my blog will know that we have a boxer too and that immediately pre-supposes that we will get on well with all other boxer owners – a bit like the Porsche owners club! (Although I don’t think Porsche would thank me for that analogy!).

Stacey had a very clear idea of what she wanted – very simple images of Lee with India primarily and then anything else was a bonus. With Lee stripped to the waist holding a naked India I set about capturing some special moments between father and daughter. We worked fast as babies have a tendency to mood swings and frequent calls of nature (India only peed all over Lee once!) and I could immediately tell that we were going to have some lovely photographs. It would have been a real shame for Stacey not to be in the shots as well and so I got a few great shots of all three of them. Stacey was wearing a strapless maxi dress and the final shots are just gorgeous, with no clothes to distract from the simplicity. The final challenge was to get some shots of Kilo and then of the family altogether. I have to say that Kilo was brilliantly behaved – are we the only people with a completely bonkers boxer dog?! What could have been utter chaos – parents with baby and dog – was really easy and painless; in fact the whole shoot had been very enjoyable, not like work at all!

Back to perks of the job – it wasn’t until I got back home and looked through the pictures that I realised I had been photographing a really hunky, half naked man. I was quite impressed with my own professionalism – not being distracted on the job as it were! Anyway, I loved the pictures and by all accounts Stacey and Lee are very pleased too. India is absolutely gorgeous and it was exactly the right way to photograph her, so that her beautiful baby skin, tiny toes and fingers and big eyes are the focus of every shot. To find out about the second perk read my blog “A night with a difference”.

Bluebell Cottage Gardens

 I don’t think a lot of people realise just how many beautiful gardens lie hidden around the Cheshire countryside. I often mention to friends that I have visited a particular garden and nine times out of ten they are oblivious to its existence, even when it lies only a few miles away. Occasionally someone will claim to “have seen the signpost” but have never diverted from their route to investigate. I am shocked at their “ignorance” and try to persuade them to go and have a look. I want to convince them that they are missing out on a lovely experience. Unsurprisingly I haven’t had many converts – my strange enthusiasm probably scares them off, but more than that I think I am guilty of forgetting everything my years in marketing have taught me about target markets. The majority of my friends just simply don’t seem to be the primary target consumers for gardens. When I visit gardens, particularly the less commercialised ones, I usually encounter lots of retired couples who are spending their well deserved leisure time strolling around, looking for inspiration for their own gardens, or just simply enjoying being there, in the fresh air, surrounded by nature’s bounty. The exceptions to this would be people like myself who are mad about garden and flower photography, and any keen young gardeners.


Bluebell Cottage Gardens is a beautiful garden that I have visited many times and feel everyone should know about. It’s a great “starter” garden if you’re a virgin garden visitor. It’s small enough to go round in half an hour and can be tied in with visits to other nearby attractions. It falls into the category of a smaller, non-commercialised garden although it does have a lovely, well stocked nursery – Lodge Lane Nursery – from which you can buy some of the plants you’ve seen in the garden and you will often find Sue Beesley, the owner, on hand to answer any questions you might have. You can’t miss Sue on account of her battered and well worn leather wide brimmed hat – I’m not sure I would recognise her without it!

I have been to the gardens several times over the last three years, both as a visitor and in a professional capacity and have had the pleasure of seeing it in different stages of maturity. I love seeing it in the springtime, partly for the bluebell woods (see earlier blog,) but also because it looks all neat – like a fresh short hair cut on my son – and you just know that it’s waiting to burst forth at the first sign of warm sunshine. I am always struck by the marked contrast when I visit later in the middle of summer, as I did on Sunday. The crisp, neat edges of the flower beds are softened and hidden in a profusion of colour and texture. Grasses which were just a few inches high now bob gracefully in the breeze at waist height and the trees in the orchard are laden with plums and apples. This year Sue has sown wildflower seeds beneath the trees and the effect is wonderful as you look up or down the gardens through the orchards.

I particularly like the fact that despite its relatively small size, there still feels like there’s a lot to explore and see. On Sunday I went to the gardens with my niece, great nephew (doesn’t that make me sound and feel old!) and daughter. Abigail loved walking across the lawns, holding hands with Joe Jack and leading him through into the different areas. They spent a lot of time rolling around on the grass and trying out all the different seats around the garden. I was left free to watch them from a distance and get some lovely portraits of them. It’s when I look at the photographs later that I wonder why more “non-core” target consumers don’t know what they are missing out on! Surely playing and exploring in such beautiful surroundings would appeal to almost anyone? There’s the added bonus that it’s a really cheap day out and there are usually tea rooms too! At the weekends you can partake in home baked cakes, locally made ice cream and of course a pot of tea in the basic but charming tea rooms at Bluebell Cottage Gardens. It’s a refreshing alternative to a soft play centre or MacDonalds and yet I bet the kids would have just as much fun, if not more!



By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

A really secret garden

You could easily fail to spot Walkden Gardens right towards the bottom of the list on the Cheshire Garden's web site and, equally, you might drive or walk straight past it on your way through Sale. Indeed many locals are probably unaware that there is a secret oasis right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a busy suburb of Manchester. I was purposefully looking for a garden to visit in the vicinity of Altrincham where I was working in the morning and Walkden Garden's own website promised "a beautiful and peaceful hideaway" and "a magical place". I met up with the rest of my little clan in the FREE(!) car park and we entered the gardens (which are also free to visit!), drawn immediately to the fairytale-like dovecote, originally built around 1840 and a now a grade II listed building. Wild roses climb the red brick walls and it was a wonderful spot in which to take a lovely photograph of Abigail, proudly wearing her new maxi dress. At the end of this blog I explain how I shot this. You can sit awhile and admire the dovecote from a bench built into a drystone wall in a modern curving wave form - the first sign for me that these gardens have been thoughtfully developed by people who care about design and natural materials and who want visitors to really enjoy their surroundings.

From the dovecote you walk towards the very striking Compass Point, made from granite and sandstone, with pebble mosaics and ceramic edgings. The compass marks the heart of the gardens and points towards the different areas, from the Woodland Walk, the Field of Hope, Japan, the Theatre Lawn, Wisteria Arch, The Raft Birch Walk and the Dovecote. Again this is a beautifully designed and crafted feature, that speaks of a team of dedicated supporters. From the compass you can explore the intersecting gardens, all very different to one another. Lawned walks edged with flowerbeds and clipped neat hedges dissect the centre of the garden and beg to be explored and run along. "Doorways" through the hedges lead to amongst others, the fuchsia garden the theatre lawn, the mini arboretum and - a real treat - the Japanese garden. We were constantly surprised and pleased by what lay around each corner, at the end of a path, through a gap in a hedge. The laburnum arch must be breathtaking when it's in flower, but the kids enjoyed running through the dark leafy tunnel it creates now. In fact they loved exploring everywhere, dashing through the maze, climbing walls, posing on rocks, tumbling across lawns, running through the meadows and woodland and cartwheeling across the compass.

The gardens are impeccably maintained and lovingly tended - there wasn't a single piece of litter, no signs with DOs and DON'Ts, just discreet litter bins and the freedom to enjoy and relax in beautiful surroundings. We only saw a handful of fellow appreciators, strolling slowly around, despite it being a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon.

The main challenge I think I'm going to face is not getting around all of Cheshire's Gardens of Distinction, but resisting the urge to return to the same ones time and again. I already want to see the Japanese Garden in the autumn when the acers be will fiery red and purple and the idea of a summer's evening spent on the Theatre Lawn watching an al fresco performance whilst sipping Pimms is very, very appealing.

The gardens provide the ideal location for a photo shoot and Abigail enjoyed being my model. In order to get the above shot I asked her to lean against the wall - a great way to get people to relax and not look awkward - and I made sure that from where I stood the climbing white rose would edge the left side and bottom of the shot. I then zoomed in and focused on Abigail, ensuring that she would be clear and sharp, but the roses in front of her and the background behind would be soft focus. I also checked that she was in shade rather than direct sunlight. The resulting portrait is evenly lit, nicely composed, realxed and romantic.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Welcome to Dunge Valley - I think...

Last time we visited Dunge Valley Hidden Gardens near Kettleshulme it was on a cold, bleak and windy Mothering Sunday, so it was quite apt that the next visit should be on a warm and sunny Father's Day. So much more welcoming - or so you would think! First stop was the loo - Abigail emerged from it and insisted that I accompany her back inside to read the sign. I was somewhat baffled until I saw the piece of paper stuck above the sink, with the words "Because some idiots..." printed in capital letters at the top. We laughed about this and sympathised with the £350 cost of unblocking the drains because of said idiots. However, this turned out to be just the first in a series of very bluntly worded and belligerent notices around the garden, demanding that we MUST have a ticket, keep to the right, don't have picnics, continue straight through if we are hikers and informing us that there would be "NO DISCOUNT!". I met a very nice couple who were also bemused by the nature of all the notices and we all agreed that somehow they added to the charm and personality of the gardens. We envisaged a Victor Meldrew type who lived for his gardening and very begrudgingly opened his gates to the great unwashed.

And we are so glad that he does! From the manicured lawn in front of the house narrow paths lead off steeply to the Rhodendron Dell, the Woodland and the Waterfall. Visitors can choose to go around following the numbered system or just explore and see where the paths take them (although I was a little nervous, expecting someone to jump out and berate me for missing out number 12 and going the wrong way through the dell! It was a hide and seek paradise for the kids as they could get a little lost but still be within shouting distance. As you climb upwards, away from the house the steep wooded sides of the valley are lush with ferns and late flowering rhododendrons and azaleas. A stream runs through the valley with occasional short cascades, so there's a constant sound of water, not to mention the bird song. I can't identify any bird calls but can foresee the inevitability of evolving from keen visitor and photographer of gardens to twitcher as time goes by. Do twitchers tweet?
Anyhow, I digress. The view from the top of the garden down the narrow valley and back to the house was breathtaking and you can understand why the owner guards this slice of Eden so jealously and probably would like it to remain Hidden.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Make photos while the sun shines

 This sunny weather is fantastic but it doesn't half make photography tricky! Have a look at a few of my simples DO'S and DON'T'S of sunny day photography.

DO... Use your flash if the sun is high in the sky when photographing people who are in direct sunlight. Chances are they will have dark shadows across their faces which will look even darker on the photograph. make your flash fire by popping it up or switching it to "Forced flash on" depending on your camera type. (Don't forget to switch the flash off afterwards as your next shot might not need it). In the shot of Abbie and Sam on the statue at Kew I used the flash.

DON'T... make your subjects squint into the sun. Get them to turn sideways slightly.

Do... look for shady areas - umbrellas, shade of a tree etc and get your subjects to pose in the shade. You don't need the flash for this and your pictures will look very natural. In the ice cream pic and the tunnel one the kids are in natural shade and the light is nice and even.

 

DO... take photos in the late afternoon / early evening (or early morning if you're mad as it would have to be about 6am currently!), as the light is fantastic - the sun is lower down and the shadows are less harsh. In the photo of Abbie on the beach it was late afternoon - you can tell from her longer shadow. No flash was required and the colours are lovely and saturated.

Although mid-day can be a tricky time for portraits DO take landscape shots as the blue sky / green grass / azure seas etc lend themselves to picture postcard shots - no flash required and make sure your horizon is straight. Many cameras have a grid display on the LCD viewer that you can switch on, or you can straighten the shot up easily in PICASA and other software.

So, go enjoy the sunshine, put your suncream on and try out all these techniques. Meanwhile I'll be mostly found in my hammock with a chilled glass of wine!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Up close with a creepy critter

We came across this hairy beast on the boardwalk by Pickmere Lake - I'm amazed that Daisy didn't spot it and it therefore survived her passing by. The light was great - sunlight filtered by the high reeds and also bounced back up by the bleached wood of the boards. My first shot is a bit typical and although in focus and correctly exposed, it is, well, just boring!! So I decided to try another angle, which involved me lying down. The caterpillar wasn't going anywhere - frozen to the spot in fear of a strange giant - so I thought I'd play around a bit with camera settings. These shots are all taken with my compact camera - Panasonic DMC-FS12 - so no fancy lenses or kit. I set the camera to its Macro setting for a close up shot - just select the flower setting to do this. I then put the camera on the boardwalk, rather than hand holding it. This was partly to get right to eye level with my hairy model, but also because I was lying at an awkward angle and wanted to ensure I didn't get camera shake i.e. blurred picture. Then I took picture 2. This has started to look quite interesting but the point that is in focus is the middle of the caterpillar's body (where the + is).

When you select the flower / macro setting it gets your camera to start doing some quite clever things. Wherever you focus with the little square in the middle of your screen will be in focus but other areas will be out of focus - this can be a really nice effect and is called "shallow depth of field". But you really want to think about which bit of your picture is going to be in focus and which bit is blurred. In this case it would look better if the caterpillar's head were in focus. I decided to change my angle again for picture 3, looking along the length of the caterpillar and making sure I focused on its head - I actually wasn't sure which end was which so I may have focused on its bottom by accident! I still put the camera on the ground and just pressed the shutter to avoid camera shake. This is a much more interesting shot and I really love the blurry grey of the boardwalk and green of the reeds.

So next time you meet a hairy critter that is willing to model for you have a little play around with your macro / flower setting and don't be afraid to get up close and personal!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Look for a different angle

Give your photos a bit of interest and add some quirky humour by shooting at a different angle. In this shot I lay on the ground at Abigail's feet and shot up through the tree branches. The tree in question is a Canadian Redwood, a baby admittedly, as these can grow spectacularly high and I wanted to emphasise the height and the fact that the kids were fascinated by them. I also made sure the flash would fire so that Abbie's face wouldn't be in dark shadow. The flares across the picture are from the high sun coming through the branches. If this had been coming directly into the lens it would have ruined the shot and I would have changed my angle. As it is I quite like the effect here.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Zoom, zoom, zoom!!

I love my zoom lenses because...

• I can take candid shots without the subject being aware. Little Mathilde had no idea I was catching this lovely moment as she crouched to examine the flower she had picked.
• It makes people less nervous when you are further away. It can be very off putting when someone points the camera right in your face (Nic - please take note!)
• Zooming in blurs the background and isolates the subject. Background objects become less distracting and the blurring can create a very pleasing effect - the blues and greens of the bluebell wood in this shot.

I used a 70-300mm f4-5.6 Canon lens for this shot - it's a good lens to use for candid portraits as it has a good zoom range letting me get close up shots from a distance and has image stabilisation - a must if you want to avoid camera shake. (Imagine using binoculars to look at the moon and it seems to jump all over the place?) This lens is at its best when it's nice and bright but I have to watch out if the light is a bit low as f4 does not let a lot of light into the camera, so the shutter speed can be slow, with the result that movement can be blurred. In the shade of the trees it was occasionally too dark to get sharp shots of Mathilde running. I have my eye on a telephoto lens with a wider aperture (lower f number) but you wouldn't believe how much the cost jumps up for this sort of kit!

Many compact cameras now have great zoom lenses. My Panasonic DMC-FZ20 has a 12X zoom (i.e. a lot! equivalent to 36-432mm on a film camera) and also has built in image stabilisation. Be careful about "optical" zoom and "digital" zoom when you use your compact camera to zoom in. The optical zoom uses the lens to make the subject closer. Digital zoom isn't really zoom - it's actually just magnifying part of your image, a bit like zooming in on a picture on your computer screen to look at it closer. Image quality isn't as good once you start using the digital zoom so I usually avoid it. I can set my compact camera to only use the optical zoom but on some compacts the digital zoom kicks in after you have zoomed in as far as the optical zoom lets you. There's often a slight pause and you have to click/ press to zoom digitally. If I've lost you, then just look it up in your manual and have a go with your camera.

Otherwise, just get zooming, fill the frame and enjoy getting some lovely candid shots!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Mad dogs and english men...

... out in the midday sun! Phew! We've had an arctic Spring so far and then suddenly we're sweltering in mediterranean temperatures with no chance to gradually acclimatise. I've been on the verge of complaining that it's too hot but have caught myself in time and just made the most of it. I'm never more certain that I made the right decision to work for myself than when the sun is shining, I no longer have to commute to work and I can choose to be outside whenever I want. This week I've done several outdoor shoots - watch this space for more on twin boys with a lively puppy and a Weimaraner called Bez who took rather a liking to me! I've also been to three different gardens - 2 in Cheshire for my Picture It in the Garden Challenge - and one in Derbyshire.

If you are a keen gardener or visitor of gardens then you'll know that the flowers of the moment are azaleas, camelias and rhododendrons. Yesterday we went to Lea Rhododendron Gardens with Nana Maggie (the nanas in our family have to adopt the name of their dog to help the children know which one we are refering to and Maggie is a black lab owned by my stepmum Ann). We last visited Lea (nr Matlock) about 10 years ago and Nic has never let me forget that I shoved him (gently!) in the back and caused him to go head over heels down a path. Steep paths wind their way down the hillside through rhodendron bushes as high as single storey buildings and laden with stunning blooms of every hue. The kids really enjoyed exploring, hiding from each other and occasionally calling out "I'm down here, you numpty!"

Back to almost complaining about the weather - it was stinking hot in the gardens with hardly a breath of fresh air but luckily lots of shade under the rhodendron bushes and plenty of little shady benches to sit awhile and drink in the view. Shade was a scarce commodity in the tea gardens though and pensioners are particularly spritely when they spot a table with an umbrella suddenly becoming vacant! I'm usually a champion at elbowing my way over to a free table before anyone else but I was no match for this bunch.

We've enjoyed the sudden arrival of Summer in lots of other ways. The kids have almost lived outside and the hose pipe seemed to be a good substitute for a paddling pool (which fell foul of Daisy's claws last year). We've all had a lot of fun - me especially - with a bubble set which created enormous irridescent bubbles. We've spent ages swinging in the hammocks - until Nic and Daisy somehow put their feet / claws through the big one - it now has a yawning hole and I'm replacing it at Tatton in July (Nic's paying!). And we spent an interesting hour or so at the lake which has become a mecca for people far and wide on sunny afternoons.  The heat did get the better of us by the end of the afternoon and we came back to find shade in the garden. Anyhow, I'm really not complaining and it's not often I can blog outside at 9pm - it's been idyllic this weekend and long may it last (as long as it cools down just a bit!)

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Danger - crocodiles!

Very very busy at the moment but it was too good an opportunity to miss when Nic suggested we nip out to another garden for a couple of hours this afternoon. My pangs of guilt quickly faded as we drove through the Cheshire countryside, air-con and sunglasses on and dog in the boot. I had selected Stonyford Cottage Gardens from the Cheshire Gardens of Distinction leaflet, as it was only a few miles away and quite small (in comparison to, say, Tatton Gardens). We had driven past the brown tourist sign pointing off the A556 many times but had never realised what a beautiful garden lay hidden down a quite unremarkable lane.

The car park gives onto a small grassy area with a few trees (perfect for providing shade for a dog) through which could be glimpsed the brand new timber tea room and patio area. We had come prepared with flask and sandwiches but I could have forced myself into tea and a slice of cake! We paid our £3 entry fee and received a very friendly and informative welcome. The garden is quite quirky and it is obvious that its character has been passionately developed by the owners. It really came home to us how much work goes into creating a garden when we were shown an area which represented what the land was like before work started.

I was really struck with the feeling of being miles from anywhere in this garden, despite the occasional noise of passing cars and trains. A small lake lies at the centre of the garden, with an island reached by wooden bridges. The transition from “mainland” to island is almost un-noticeable and the wooden bridges and walkways linking both provide pleasing curves and contrast beautifully with the plants. So much variety is packed into such a small area. The island is quite untended beyond the immediate vicinity of the paths and the feeling of being in wetlands such as the Everglades is reinforced by the signs warning us about crocodiles! The odd gem of a plant such as the extraordinarily vivid blue Himalayan poppy surprised us as we wandered along the paths through the trees. The rest of the garden is more structured and carefully planted. Purple Candelabra Primulas edge many of the pathways, particularly pleasing against the wooden boardwalks. Grasses, ferns, shrubs and trees provide lots of colour and texture and I can’t wait to see the masses of irises when they come into flower. We sat at the top of the garden on a bench looking across the lake, with the musical sound of water running down through the rockery to our left. Nic was quite happy to sit there awhile with his book and coffee whilst I roamed around with my camera. I also took the time to sit down and just soak up the atmosphere and sunshine and again felt as if we were far away from home and day to day worries.

But all good things have to come to an end and we wandered back along to the nursery at the entrance to the garden. Hens pecking around on the ground and drinking from a small fountain reinforced the informal and home grown feel. We retrieved Daisy from her shady spot under the trees and dragged ourselves away. But we'll be back as I have a feeling those irises will be stunning in a few weeks time and it'll be hard not to pop in when I'm passing by - and I'll definitely sample the tea and cakes next time!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!