Photography on location in Southend-on-Sea

100

There's only 100 days left of my journey and I'm away from home this week. I've taken some photos on my travels. One of  the things I wanted to get out of the course was the ability for my photos to tell their own story and I think in starting to get there with my final project and these photos.

I've deliberately under-exposed this to emphasise the sky and the dark, cold conditions. I liked the geometry of the fence and lamp posts and how this repeated through the image.

I worked hard here to ensure that the shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds showed up here. I've enjoyed shooting industrial scenes, often alongside natural features and this continues on that theme, which is also the theme for my final project.

The contrast of the flurry of colour at the bottom of the picture against the bleakness of the top half of the picture really appealed to me when I saw this. Again I've slightly under-exposed to ensure that the sea stays dark

And there isn't too much going on in the sky.

This is my favourite picture of the week as I've used depth of field and leading lines to capture the construction and length of the pier at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. Again I think it captures and conveys how cold and bleak the day was and how man-made structures can take on and reflect the elements.

Photographs from my time away

209

I've been practicing my photography skills whilst away from "245 days" in the last week.  I am now trying to match the skills I am learning to the end product of photographing property and making it more saleable as a result.

This is my take on not following the crowd when I was in London and taking a photo of Big Ben.  I moved away from the tourist crowds and looked at the building through different eyes.  I hope to be able to use my eye for seeing something different and the framing effect when photographing houses.

This photo of the underside of a bridge in Central London is testament to my desire to overcome the fear of light and shadow in my photos.  In terms of taking photos of someone's property, the effect that light and shadows can have will add to the interest in the photo and hopefully this will translate into click-through.

The green and blues from the field and sky in this photo and setting up what I want to do when taking marketing photos of the gardens that belong to my client's property.  I see so many photos taken that do not conform to the rule of thirds, and this does the garden a disservice.  Being able to see the sky too will remind potential buyers of what they will be in the garden for.

I think that a lot of estate agents are afraid to embrace the seasons as they may date the property, and how long it has been on the market.  As an agent that believes he will sell every property quickly, I don't have this hang-up.  It's also really easy to go back to the property and re-take any photos that may be a giveaway that the property has been on the market for a little while - Autumn l;eaves, snow, Christmas decorations, paddling pools, etc.

Taking these photos has helped me to think about the photographer, estate agent and marketer that I want to be.

Last photos from week 2 of my photography course - slow shutter speed

These are the last 2 pictures I took tonight, using a slow shutter speed of 30 seconds to capture the movements of traffic (and traffic lights) on a busy road and a busy roundabout. The first one is from above a motorway, and I left the caged bridge crossing in the picture to give it some focus and context-


 















The second photo is of a roundabout, with the same technique, slow shutter speed and a narrow aperture (to balance out the amount of light getting in) and this is of a roundabout.  I'm not 100% happy with this - I could have done with a more elevated position and a busier time of day, but the movement of the car lights and the traffic lights is still evident-

As I said, this is all for this week, hopefully I'll learn some new techniques next week and I can move forward from there to develop my own style.

Photos from week 2 learnings on my photography course

233

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I have enrolled and am participating in a photography course at the local college. It's a 20 week course, so the idea is that I am prepared to take brilliant photographs of people's homes when the time comes and I am marketing property. I will also extend my current website, where I have exhibited and sold my photographs- My new photos for this week are as follows- This is another experiment with depth of view, where I set the camera up to have a clear view of the first cupboard handle, with the others fading out of view. This is by setting a shallow aperture, and leaving the shutter speed at 1/60. Another experiment with depth of view was with the kids sitting on the sofa, playing on their iPods-

 


The next two photos are in the same style, working with the depth of field to get the subject at the front in focus, with a blurred background-





 Both are just attempts to play with my new camera and have an understanding of what I can do with it. The final photo for this week is using a very fast shutter speed to capture a single moment in time linked to the movement of my eldest when playing in the garden. He was throwing a conker and I managed to capture it's movement just as it was reaching the edge of the frame-




 Obviously these are basic exposures at the moment, and I'm experimenting with my Canon EOS 1200 digital SLR camera that I've only owned for 2 weeks.

The camera is a
 

The tripod I've bought and used is -

Field trip to practice some techniques learnt from my photography course

242

I've been into town to practice some of the techniques that I have been learning at my night school photography course.  I tries to create 2 types of photo based on adjusting the shutter speed on the camera.

The first is based on a quick shutter speed, to capture a split second in the movement of something quick.

I did struggle in a city to find something to get close enough to, to capture the essence of the technique, but I'm quite pleased with this effort from a distance.  Sunday will bring a trip to the seaside to try some more similar shots of the sea and the kids running through the sand.

The second photo is using a slow shutter speed to create an exposure that captures the essence of movement, rather than a split second in time.

I know it's quite derivative, and I haven't found my own style yet, but I like the ability to use the techniques I have learnt to gain the confidence in my skills before looking for my own style.  I have ordered a tripod from Amazon to ensure that all of the movement is in the subject, not in the camera.

Once I have the tripod, I will be able to take longer exposure photographs with more confidence.

First work using learnings from my photography course

243

This is the first of my work on depth of view/depth of field after my first two photography classes.  The idea is that the closest flower is in complete focus and the shallow depth of field leaves the other flowers out of focus/blurred in the background.

And I've gone for the same effect when photographing my eldest, here. He appears so much closer than the sofa he is sitting on, and the rest of the background.

And my final effort with roses from the garden.

I am using this course and the grasp of basic techniques to look at how I might develop my style and how I might make the most of the marketing photos I will use when I open my estate agency.  I'm off into town tomorrow, so I'll look at using some more of this week's techniques there.

Don't forget that all of these have been taken with the Canon EOS 1200D DSLR camera.

I've enrolled in a photography course to improve my marketing photos

244

I have started a photography course at the local college on a Monday evening, so last night was my 2^nd lesson.  The reason I have taken the course is so I can learn some basic and then more advanced techniques for the marketing photos I will use when selling my clients property.

The first 2 lessons are of a rather basic nature, but it is about understanding the fundamentals of photography and learning all about my camera, so that I can take the photos I want.  It’s all about telling the camera what I can see and what I want it to capture.  I have the theory locked away, regarding the setting of shutter aped and aperture to get the right amount of light into the lens and to create the perfect exposure.  Next step is to put it into practice, where I need to attempt to produce the following effects-

• ·        Changing the aperture to create different depth of view shots
• ·        Trying a long shutter speed to capture movement in an exposure
• ·        Trying a very fast shutter speed to capture a split second in time of a moving object

I’ll post the results on here, so we can monitor my progress over the 20+ weeks of the course.

The camera I have bought to create all my photographs is a Canon EOS 1200D DSLR camera and I think for the level of photography I will reach and need it is more than adequate.  It came with an 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens, which will be sufficient for all but the wide-angle lens shots that I will create both on the course, and for the agency.

It's early days, yet but if you're looking for a reasonably-priced entry-level DSLR then I can heartily recommend it.