50/50 project 11/50 Down by the lake (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 11. Down by the lake

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 5d, 1/2500, f/2.8, ISO 250 Aperture Priority

I had a totally indulgent day of shooting at Lake Coniston today. A "styled shoot" had been set up for a group of professional photographer so that we could practise our craft with models and props. The theme was Swallows and Amazons. I shot mainly with my 70-200 f/2.8 "big boy" lens but took some time out to make sure I grabbed a few shots with the 50mm too.

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50/50 Project 10/50 Bee on heuchera flower (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 10. Bee on a heuchera flower

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 5D, 1/1000, f/1.8, ISO 125, Aperture Priority

There are plenty of bumble bees in our garden at the moment, but they aren't very obliging when you try to photograph them, only settling for a few seconds at a time. It makes it very hard to photograph them at extremely low apertures as you have to be spot on with the focusing.

I took this from above (and many more very similar to it but with blurred bees) and love the contrast of the flowering spires of the heuchera with the dark soil below.

The 50mm lens survived being dropped and the front element falling out. It's very noisy on focusing and I'm still eyeing up the f/1.4 - need to save up though!

The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed that I've switched to the Canon 5d. This has made quite a difference as it has a full frame sensor, meaning that the 50mm focal length is now actually 50mm, rather than the 80mm equivalent focal length that I was getting on the 350D which has a cropped sensor. I wasn't being too precious about this as I really liked the ease and convenience of carrying the much lighter and smaller 350D around everyday. But on the 5D the 50mm lens gives a considerably bigger / wider view and I know I'll get much better performance at lower ISOs. So from now on it's 5D all the way.

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50/50 project #9/50 A la Turka (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 9. A la Turka

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/1000, f/2.0, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

The bright early evening sunshine was streaming into this turkish restaurant in Stockton Heath and I wanted to see how the camera coped with the very contrasty scene. I love the way the menu and glassware are lit by the sun. A few minutes later sun had moved and the menu was in shadow.

By the way we had a cracking meal there with great service. Really delicious food - starter and main course £12.95 and kids menu £4.95. Their dessert was a piece of art - complete with cherries drawn with chocolate and red berry sauce.

The bad news is that a very excited dog greeted us at home wearing a neck cone and he knocked my handbag onto the hard stone tiles. My 350d and Canon 50mm f/1.8 were in it and sadly the lens has broken :-(. So this may be its last shot.

My husband suggests I check out the 50mm f/1.4...

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50/50 project #8/50 natural symmetry (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 8. Natural symmetry

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/80, f/1.8, ISO 400 Manual exposure

I bought this plant in 2007 - it was about 2 foot tall. It now stands at least 7 feet high and has thrived in its sunny, south facing corner. I love its enormous symmetrical, waxy leaves, especially after a down pour.

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50/50 Project #7/50 The day after the flower show (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 7. The day after the flower show

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/200, f/2.8, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

Inspired by all those lovely gardens at Tatton I tackled mine. Unfortunately my lack of green fingers and any knowledge means that the plants survive in spite of my efforts and the end result is "eclectic" if I'm being kind.

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50/50 project #6/50 What friends are for (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 6. What are friends for

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350d, 1/4000, f/1.8, ISO 100, Aperture Priority

This was taken at the Tatton Flower Show - Ladies' Day - and I wanted a shot that would really capture the spirit of the day. Friends on a grand day out, taking the opportunity to get dressed up and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was very busy and seats were scarce, as were walls or places to sit and lean against. These good friends (or sisters?) solved this problem by sitting back to back and leaning against each other!

For more pictures taken with the 50mm lens check out my Facebook page.

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50/50 Project #5/50 Blue wins! (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 5. Blue wins

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350d, 1/1250, f/2.0, ISO 100, manual exposure.

I wanted to take a shot today that embodied how good life is when the sun shines. The kids had been playing boules on the front lawn and left them out (!)  and I thought this might work. We only ever play boules a) on holiday and b) in the summer. Also our front lawn is particularly dried out and yellow - another sign of a long hot spell.

There was some dappled shade courtesy of an enormous pine tree, but I've blown the highlights on the distant red boule. Did a bit of warming up in Photoshop and was tempted to patch the chip on the blue boule but managed to suppress the urge! 

50/50 Project: #4/50 Poor Ferb (by Cheshire family photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 4. Poor Ferb

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical stuff: Canon 350D, 1/160 f/2.8 ISO 100 Aperture Priority

Have you ever seen such a sorry sight. Poor Ferb went off to be neutered today and has to wear this collar for three days. He's so frustrated and unhappy as you can tell. I know this collar looks enormous but he was still managing to lick his wounds with the first one he came home in. And to add insult to injury this one is pink - as if he wasn't already feeling emasculated.

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50/50 Project: #3/50 Rainbow Sharpies (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 3. Rainbow Sharpies

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical stuff: Canon 350d, Shutter speed 1/15, f/1.8, ISO 100. Aperture priority

As ever I had to play around a bit before I got the final shot. I did lots of different angles but found it hard to fill the frame with a long thin line of pens. This final angle has allowed me to capture every pen with no empty space in the frame. I've put a few of the rejects at the end of this post.

Working with the fixed 50mm lens is certainly making me work. With a zoom lens it would have been easier to just zoom in to fill the frame. But I would not have got this incredibly shallow depth of field with only 2 pens in focus.

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50/50 Project: #2/50 Windswept man (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 2. Windswept man

50 days with a 50mm lens

Technical data: 1/400, f/3.5 ISO 100. Aperture Priority.

We went shopping in a very hot Manchester city centre today and came across this strangle windswept man - especially as there wasn't a breath of wind! He's a street artist - what a strange way to earn a living. Perhaps his wife thinks he's actually going out to work in an office each day!

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50/50 Project: #1/50 (by Cheshire photographer Jane Burkinshaw)

Day 1. Seedheads

50 days with a 50mm lens
Technical data: Canon 350D, 1/500, f/1.8, ISO 200 and manual exposure.

I really enjoyed taking the 350D out today - it felt like a little compact compared to the 5D mk II that I've been lugging around lately. And of course the 50mm f/1.8 mk II lens is very light too.

This was taken whilst we were out walking the dog at an area known locally as the Flashes and we chose a route along the river Weaver. I was spoilt for choice really but settled on this image because it was "cleaner" than some of the others - less clutter from stray grasses and leaves in the background and a nice contrast between the lighter seed heads and the darker background of ferns.

F/1.8 is a very shallow depth of field (most of the image is soft focus apart from the small focal area) but it does allow a faster shutter speed. I had to be really careful about picking the point of focus out and also waiting for the plant to stop swaying in the breeze.

I did a little processing afterwards to slightly emphasise the contrast between the foreground subject and the darker background.

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A new photography project - 50/50 (photography course Cheshire)

I've really missed doing the 366 project I did right through 2012, when I took and posted a photo every single day. It wasn't always easy (at times it was a downright chore done at 11pm at night!) but I learned so much and enjoyed swapping comments with other people in 365 forums.

I was chatting with another photographer a few weeks ago and he suggested that I do something else this year that wasn't such a big commitment but would give me scope to be creative - a 50/50 project. My brain was trying to work out how a project could be half and half of anything but he put me out my misery and clarified that it was 50 days using a 50mm lens. I was hooked straight away as I have a 50mm lens that I adore using but haven't had out the bag much recently.

(Pic taken on my lovely HTC One camera phone)

This is a Canon 50mm f/1.8 mk II prime lens and cost me around £90. To cut through the jargon / numbers it is a lens that doesn't zoom (to get closer to your subject you move yourself), it isn't very wide angle and is often used for portraits. The low aperture of f/1.8 means that you can get very creative with soft focus and also it lets in lots of light so is good in low light conditions. Not bad for £90 and a favourite of wedding photographers.

I used this lens a fair bit last year for the 366 project until I bought a new telephoto 28-300mm lens from Tamron which quickly became my favourite toy. So I'm looking forward to pushing the boundaries a little more this time with the 50mm lens.

366 photos taken in 2012 with 50mm lens

I hope you'll follow my daily photos for the next 50 days and let me know what you think of them. If you're doing a photography project at the moment I'd love to hear about it. And don't forget that I run courses in digital photography and offer one to ones designed around your needs. Find out more about my photography courses on the website.

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How to take great summer photos - Tip 7 (Cheshire photography course with Jane Burkinshaw)

And here's the final installment for this series on how to take sizzling summer shots:

ENHANCING, ENJOYING & SHARING YOUR PHOTOS

You haven't taken all this trouble to take some great photos only to leave them languishing on your hard drive, so the next step is to edit them and create stuff. If you're not very confident at image editing - or you just don't have the time, then you should consider using some of the straight forward software that's available. Two great examples are Picasa and Picmonkey and they are both free. I prefer Picasa because it's the one I've used for ages and has been developed by Google. Lots of people love Picmonkey and it looks good but certain features are only available if you upgrade whereas Picasa is 100% free.

I'm not going to go into loads of detail here on how to use these applications - they are both straight forward and intuitive so the best thing is to play around with them. You can crop, straighten, change the exposure, recolour, add great effects, make collages, share on line and by email and lots more. Although I edit all my professional work using Photoshop I often use Picasa to show images to clients and I am a HUGE fan of collages. See my earlier blog on how to make collages.

If you want to try more sophisticated editing but feel a bit intimidated by Photoshop you should try Photoshop Elements and if you know someone who is in education or at school then you can buy it more cheaply. Also you can try before you buy by downloading a 30 day trial.

To see the difference between a non edited and an edited pic see below - it really is worth learning how to use editing software if you're keen on photography.

I'm a big fan of photo books too and can't remember when I last used an album (all those plastic pockets and pics that fall out of them!). Photo books are really easy to do and there's a huge choice of companies doing them now. My favourite is Bobs Books for quality and great colour reproduction but they are not the cheapest. I've also used Photobox and Albelli for cheaper options and many people swear by Blurb for really great value.

This book on our holiday in Cornwall was made with Bobs Books and you can read more about how I made it in my blog.

And why stop at books when you can share your images on mugs, key rings, jigsaws, placemats - you name it and I think you can probably get a photo printed on it! I use Snapfish for travel mugs (love my coffee whilst I'm travelling!) but again there are lots of companies. Look out for all the offers and you can get some really great deals.

I hope I've inspired you with this series of blogs on Top Tips for Sizzling Summer Shots. If you need any help I offer one to one tuition tailored to your requirements (in the Cheshire, Manchester area).

May this weather last into August when I'll be heading off to South Wales with my photobook half visualised in my mind!

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How to take great summer photos - tip 6 (Cheshire photography course with Picture It Big)

This is my favourite of the top tips so far...

BE CREATIVE, EXPERIMENT AND HAVE FUN!

This sounds like it could be the introduction to a totally different topic, but we are still talking photography!

Digital photography is brilliant because you can play about as much as you like, take dud pictures and just delete them - at no cost. With apps and different settings you can get some really great effects. I've never done Instagram personally, only because I'm an android girl, but I've got some great apps on my phone that I use a lot for my fun photos. My favourite is Retro Camera - it's really easy to use and has about 6 or 7 different camera effects.

Most of the pics on the left have been taken using this app and a few had effects applied in Picasa - free image editing software from Google (more on this in the 7th and final post of this series).

A word of caution - don't over do the effects - don't use them for every picture and make sure it's still a photo worth taking. It should still be well composed, in focus and correctly exposed. Don't use effects to disguise a bad photo - it never works.

I like to make photo books, calendars and all sorts of stuff so that I can enjoy and share my photos (again more on this in tomorrow's post), and this sort of fun, creative shot gives some variety to whatever it is I'm making.

I also like to capture shots of details that remind me of my holiday or that special day. I love trying to do abstract shots too. This next collage has some great examples.

The more you experiment the more you learn so get playing with those settings and apps!

And if you like the collages learn how to create them in Picasa by reading my blog about it! Here to serve!

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How to take great summer photos - Tip 5

The Pier in Naples, Florida

SUNSETS!

Sunsets have a magical power over us, making us stop we are doing and just gaze at the sky, feeling calm, romantic (?) and at peace with the world. We want to freeze and keep that moment forever so we get our cameras out - but often the pictures never seem to capture what we saw with our eyes and what we felt.

Sunsets are tricky - the bright orb in the sky fools the camera sensor, often making the foreground too dark as it over compensates for the bright sky. Or if we focus on something dark in the foreground the sky comes out too bright on our photograph. Ideally you should master things like Exposure Lock or Manual Exposure to get the picture you want but if you haven't got to grips with the techie stuff or your camera doesn't offer them, then there are some easy ways to still get a hot shot!

• Use the sunset scene mode - it uses the appropriate settings and will enhance the colours of the sky and the wispy clouds. Try a shot with and without it to see the difference.
• Wait until the sun is quite low in the sky otherwise it's just too bright. And then be quick as it sinks really quickly!
• Often the best colours appear in the sky when it's just gone below the horizon so don't stop shooting.
• Remember the rule of thirds for your composition (see Tip 4) and get your horizon straight.

Shot at Pickmere Lake Cheshire with sunset mode on a compact camera

• To create a silhouette make sure you're focusing on a bright area in the sky - this is when ideally you need to know a bit more about things like Exposure Lock to really control the results but you can get lucky.
• Silhouettes can give your sunset a story or a point of focus too. In the shot above, I was waiting for the water skier to come into the shot, when the dog ran up and paused for a second to watch - thank you, doggy!
• Don't be afraid to play with your photos in simple editing programmes  to increase contrast and warm up your shot like I did with the one below:

Arnside, South Lakes - photographers' dream

And sometimes it's nice to put the camera down and just watch the sun set with a G&T!

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How to take great summer photos - TIP 4 (Cheshire photography course with Jane Burkinshaw)

We've done a fair bit on taking photographs of people in the sunshine, so let's look now at

HOW TO TAKE GREAT PICTURES OF LANDSCAPES

Now I'll freely admit landscape photography isn't really my bag - I can capture a half decent picture on holiday but I take my hat off to the true landscape photographer greats - like Joe Cornish, one of my favourites. They devote an enormous amount of time to searching out great shots and planning the best time to photograph them, even going back time and again to get it just right.

But for us mere mortals there's some simple ways to make our landscape photos look better and here's one:

THE RULE OF THIRDS

Imagine your picture (the one you're going to take) is divided into thirds, horizontally and vertically and put the horizon on one of the horizontal thirds. This gives a much better composition than if you put the horizon across the centre.

 You can decide whether you have more sky or more land, depending on which has more interest.

On many cameras you can get a grid to display on the LCD screen to help you divide the scene into thirds. This also helps make sure your horizon is level!

Also - see whether your shot looks better as a portrait or landscape orientation - take both to compare.

So whilst the sun continues to shine have a practise! Tomorrow I might skip ahead to sunsets as we're getting such beautiful ones at the moment!

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How to to take great summer photos - TIP 3 (Cheshire photography course with Picture It Big)

With all this gorgeous sunny weather this one will be very useful for you:

HOW TO TAKE GREAT PICTURES OF PEOPLE IN BRIGHT SUNSHINE

Lovely weather makes us all feel happy and we go to lots of events where people are enjoying themselves in the sunshine - the perfect time to take photos of friends and family. But actually the bright sunlight makes it difficult to get good shots. People's faces can be hidden in dark shadows or they are squinting into the sun.

Shade creates the perfect light conditions for photographs, so if you can, ask your subject to move fully into the shade and make sure there's no bright sunlit area in the background. The contrast between the shade and the brightness tricks the camera and can still make your subject too dark. So a fully shady area. Make sure your flash is switched off as you want to make the most of the lovely even light.

In this shot Abii is shaded by a covered seating area and the light is coming from the left

Sometimes you can't move people into the shade so if you want a shot without dark shadows on faces then switch your flash on. Use the "Forced flash on" setting which is the lightening symbol without the A for automatic next to it. This will light up the dark areas on your subject's face. The effect is not as nice as shade but much better than without flash.

When you use flash stand at least 1 metre away and no further than 3 metres away.

Watch out if people are wearing hats that shade their face. Flash can help but ideally push the hat back a bit or take it off. Also if they seem to be squinting because the sun is behind you, move so that they don't have to face the sun so directly.

Eve with hat shading her eyes

This is much better!

Simples! You can apply all of this to animal portraits too of course! These guys were very obliging when I asked them to take their hats off and move into the shade. Such posers!

Simples!

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How to to take great summer photos - TIP 2 (Cheshire photography course with Picture It Big)

OK, today's tip is a great one:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR SUBJECT FEEL COMFORTABLE

I hate standing and having my picture taken! I don't know how to stand, what to do with my hands and I'm convinced I'm going to look embarrassed and awkward - and I did!

Until, that is, I learned to pose people myself and now I feel much more comfortable. I hardly ever stand if anyone wants to take my picture - I lean or sit because I know I feel so much more relaxed and I look at ease.

Izzi looks very relaxed in front of the camera

And again here she is looking chilled out sitting down

This really works and results in lovely natural shots. Keep talking to the person you are taking a photo of and don't take ages! Sort your camera settings out first and then get them to pose for you.

This is a great pose and has resulted in a lovely shot of Sam

In the shot above of Izzi and Abii, they look very relaxed but also this shot works because there is a lovely vibrant background behind them and also they have put their heads close together. This would work well cropped in tighter around their heads and shoulders too.

And here's a pic that Abii took of Izzi on a compact camera - I did an edit on it for her but what a lovely shot - by a 12 year old!

So there you have another very simple but really effective tip! Look out for tomorrow's on the blog!

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How to to take great summer photos - TIP 1 (Cheshire Photography Course with Picture It Big)

Summer is here (for the moment) and if you're anything like me you're making the most of it whilst it lasts. As I've browsed Facebook I've been seeing lots of pictures taken at the beach, at picnics, barbecues, out on bike rides and walks. They've inspired me to put together 7 top tips for sizzling summer shot.

These tips are for anyone who uses a point and shoot compact camera or camera phone whilst out and about enjoying the lovely weather. I've kept things very straight forward, there are no tricky settings*

So - here's Tip 1

AVOID BLURRY PICTURES BY STANDING & HOLDING YOUR CAMERA / PHONE CORRECTLY

• Stand with your feet hip width apart, flat on the ground. If you are kneeling, sitting or lying to take the picture always make sure you are stable on the ground i.e. sat on both buttocks, leaning on both knees or both elbows instead of just one.
• Hold your camera / phone with both hands, taking care not to have any fingers over the lens or flash.

Izzy looking through viewfinder of compact camera

• Tuck your elbows in at your sides - whether you're using the little viewfinder or the larger LCD screen. It's tempting to hold the camera with arms held out away from the body but this makes you much less stable as you take the picture.

Abii keeping her elbows tucked in whilst using the large screen on her phone to take a picture.

• When you actually take the picture, stand nice and still and squeeze the shutter or touch the onscreen icon gently - don't stab at it as this can jerk the camera.
• If it's dull where you are taking the picture, lean against a wall or column. But make sure its solid - my dad leant on a grandfather clock in a store and knocked it over - but that's another story!

This may seem like basic stuff but it all makes a difference. Tomorrow we'll look at how to take great pictures of people on bright sunny days - it can be trickier than it first seems!

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