TogBitz Skinny Strap

 Buy the TogBitz Skinny Strap on ebay 

Following the launch of our TogBitz Fat Strap we've had a mountain of requests for a product just as resilient but not as ..... erm ..... "chunky" :-D 

Well, here it is, the "TogBitz Skinny Strap"

The spiel ..... 

Made from one continuous length of paracord, the TogBitz Skinny Strap is the ultimate way to tether your prized camera to your wrist while you concentrate on getting the shot.

Suitable for cameras from compact to professional DSLR level, the TogBitz Skinny Strap will free you from worrying about the security of your expensive photographic equipment whilst shooting.

Decorative and ruggedly stylish the two-colour TogBitz Skinny Strap is handmade to order and is also available in many two-colour combinations (just ask).

 Buy the TogBitz Skinny Strap on ebay

TogBitz Fat Strap

TogBitz Fat Strap

 Buy the TogBitz Fat Strap on ebay

Having been a photographer for quite a few years now I have distilled my necessary kit down from a full setup of heavy DSLR (complete with a full set of L series Canon lenses, an innumerable collection of accessories and filters and rock-solid aluminium tripod) down to a mirrorless Sony A7R with legacy prime Canon lenses and a 3-Legged Thing carbon fibre tripod.

Believe me the change is unbelievable! I often forget I'm wearing the kit, such is the difference in weight!

That said there was always something still bugging me and I finally put my finger on it .....

..... the camera strap.

My situation, I feel, will be common enough, I'm an active photographer and am always climbing something or other and the camera was always swinging round my neck, perilously close to rocks and other hazards. When the camera was out of the bag the neck strap was always flapping around and getting in the way.

Hence was born the "Togbitz Fat Strap"!

TogBitz Fat Strap fitted to Sony A7R

I changed my approach slightly, when the camera is not in immediate use it is in the bag, when it is out of the bag it is attached to my wrist via the strap. It's far more comfortable and secure. A big, big improvement!

As always, I've been asked to provide a couple of the straps to interested parties I've met whilst out shooting and such was the response that I've decided to offer them as a product.

The spiel .....

Do you need a more substantial wrist strap for your camera? With a core made from one continuous length of paracord, the TogBitz Fat Strap is the ultimate way to tether your prized camera to your wrist while you concentrate on getting the shot.

Suitable for cameras from compact to professional DSLR level, the TogBitz Fat Strap will free you from worrying about the security of your expensive photographic equipment whilst shooting.

Decorative and ruggedly stylish the two-colour TogBitz Fat Strap is handmade to order and is also available in many two-colour combinations (just ask).

 Buy the TogBitz Fat Strap on ebay

Best camera settings for astrophotography | Digital Camera World

Dip your toes into Astrophotography with this quick guide to the most important camera settings ...

Our series of pre-shot checklists continues with a look at the best camera settings for astrophotography.

Source: Best camera settings for astrophotography | Digital Camera World

How to get to - Roughting Linn, Northumberland

Following publication of our " Roughting Linn II " image we've had many requests asking "How do I get to Roughting Linn".

Google Maps seems to show the wrong location, some 5 miles off, so we've put together this short post to get you there. It's somewhat hard to describe once you leave the B roads but here we go ....

(as always there are many alternate routes)

Roughting Linn - How to get there ...

1. Head into Northumberland and get onto the B6525 Northbound at Doddington, after approx 10-12 Kilometres you'll come to a crossroads with a white house on the right, turn left. Go to (3)


2. Alternatively get on to the A1 North and exit onto the B6353 for Fenwick, proceed through Fenwick and Lowick, when you pass the entrance to the Barmoor Castle Country Park, stay on the road and will change to the B6525. I around 400m pass a farm on the right, a further 400m should bring you to a crossroads with a white house on the left, turn right.


3. You REALLY need to refer to the Google map below here.


4. Proceed down this road until you pass a large wood on the right, then it is present on both sides. When the wood on the left disappears you will be at a crossroads (in the centre of the Google map below), turn left and there is space here to park several cars on the verge.


5. Walk back to the crossroads, cross to the other side and proceed down the track for around 50 metres where you should find a small track heading off to the left, if you can hear the waterfall you've gone too far.


6. Follow this track down into the gulley and round to the right, like a horseshoe, and you should come to the burn.


7. Follow the burn to the waterfall.


8. Bingo

** As always, be careful as it is a track and not a footpath, the rocks can be slippery and if it's been raining a lot then the falls could be in full spate.

N.B. While you're there you can take a look at the Neolithic rock art. Back up to the track, cross over and look for the flat rocky area.

Map ...

That was the way we did it.

Relevant Links

Roughting Linn Rock Art

Hyperfocal focusing: how to calculate the best distance to focus at |Digital Camera World

If you're obsessed with critical sharpness in your shots from front to back, usually the landscape photographers, then it would be worth your while to read up on Hyperfocal Focusing. Whilst not the only method to achieve sharpness it is certainly one that cannot be ignored and is well worth having in your arsenal.

In this tutorial we answer all of the common questions photographers have about hyperfocal focusing and how to calculate the best distance.

Source: Hyperfocal focusing: how to calculate the best distance to focus at | Digital Camera World

A Natural Light Tip That Will Have Strobists Selling Their Lights |Fstoppers

One of the most noticeable differences between portraits taken outside using natural light as opposed to artificial light is the background. Images using artificial light tend to have darker backgrounds. This is crucial in catching the eye of the viewer and allows him or her to focus on the subject. This article is a guide in achieving this look using natural light only.

Source: A Natural Light Tip That Will Have Strobists Selling Their Lights | Fstoppers

Lake District Landscapes - Sibling Guardians

Sibling Guardians

#BrothersWater in the #LakeDistrict can be so beautiful.

An Honour Guard of trees protects a small islet against all who would invade.

Wet feet weren't strictly necessary here but I had to cut out the shore so in I went. :-)

Dorothy Wordsworth, having left William sitting on Cow Bridge, walked beside the lake on the 16th of April 1802, delighted with ‘...the boughs of the bare old trees, the simplicity of the mountains, and the exquisite beauty of the path...the gentle flowing of the stream, the glittering, lively lake, green fields without a living creature to be seen on them.’

Get out there and Discover the Lake District!

Thanks for looking in, please feel free to like/share, always appreciated.

Keith.

#getoutdoors #loveoutdoors #greatoutdoors #lakedistrict #discoverthelakedistrict

Mountainsmith Blog | How to shoot the Milky Way In 4 steps for DSLR

A few basics to get you started in Astrophotography. Milky Way to begin with ...

Source: Mountainsmith Blog | How to shoot the Milky Way In 4 steps for DSLR

Brenizer Method: how to shoot and stitch a bokeh panorama | DigitalCamera World

Following an earlier article on rocking the Brenizer Method, here's an article on stitching together the results.

What is the Brenizer Method? In this tutorial we show you how to shoot and stitch a bokeh panorama to achieve a shallow depth of field.

Source: Brenizer Method: how to shoot and stitch a bokeh panorama | Digital Camera World

Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies

When I first got my digital camera, words like Aperture and ISO were foreign to me, and it took me a couple of weeks of reading and studying a lot before the lightbulb turned on in my head. You might be feeling a little confused, and you may even feel like you will never get your camera […]

Source: Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies

TUTORIALS - FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY - (en)VISIONOGRAPHY -Black and White Fine Art Photography | Julia Anna Gospodarou

You will find here a selection of my essential guides and tutorials - fine art black and white photography, (en)Visionography, architectural photography, long exposure photography, and my original black and white processing method Photography Drawing (PhtD) that introduces a new way of seeing and working with light and shapes, a new way of processing black and white photographs, based on techniques that are used in art and in classical artistic drawing. This space will be constantly updated and enriched, so keep an eye on it for new tutorials and useful tips and tricks for fine art photography.

Source: TUTORIALS - FINE ART BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY - (en)VISIONOGRAPHY - Black and White Fine Art Photography | Julia Anna Gospodarou

5 Steps to Rock the Brenizer Method

What is the Brenizer Method? The Brenizer Method is named after wedding photographer, Ryan Brenizer. He invented the method (but didn’t name it) and made it popular by using it with his wedding clients, and teaching others how to do it as well. For those who have been around photography for a while, you will […]

Source: 5 Steps to Rock the Brenizer Method

Digital Asset Workflows for Low-to High-Volume Studios with LaurinThienes - Behind the Shutter

“Digital asset workflow” is just a fancy way of describing how your files are managed. Whether you shoot one session a year or hundreds, this term needs to be in your vocabulary. Just because you are the best photographer in the world does not mean you know what to do with your images after the shoot, during the editing process or upon final archive. This article takes you through some proven workflows for small, medium and large studios, and gives some overall tips on best practices.

Source: Digital Asset Workflows for Low-to High-Volume Studios with Laurin Thienes - Behind the Shutter

How to get to - Cathedral Cave, Lake District

Cathedral Cave, Little Langdale, Lake District

Following release of our Lake District Landscapes image, above, of Cathedral cave in the Lake District, we've been asked many, many times now - "How do I get to Cathedral Cavern"

"Cathedral Cavern" is available to purchase in our shop ...

So here's a short blog post to show you the way (as always there are many alternate routes)

How to get there ...

1. We parked just up the road from the Three Shires Inn in Little Langdale (post code LA22 9NZ). There is space to park on the bend opposite the 'T' junction for a few cars. Alternatively you could have a word with the staff at the Three Shires Inn, they may allow you to park there if you buy a drink or cake :-)


2. We then walked down the road for a couple of hundred metres until a sign posted footpath appeared on the right.


3. We followed the track to Slaters Bridge and stopped to take a few shots.


4. Cross the bridge and follow the track up to the main track


5. Through the gate, turn left and head along the track


6. A couple of hundred metres along the track a smaller track will fork right uphill, follow this for a short way and you're there!! :-)

Read the warning sign and in you go through the tunnel.

Enjoy!

Map ...

That was the way we did it, because we wanted to stop off at Slaters Bridge first, but this looks like the easiest route. You, basically, carry on down the road instead of turning off onto the footpath. It does miss out Slaters Bridge, though.

Tutorial - Expose To The Right (ETTR)

At wilson photographics we sometimes use a technique know as ETTR or Expose To The Right when shooting landscapes and seascapes in Northumberland. You may have heard this term and wondered what it was ..... read on, dear reader, read on ....

As with all my articles I will keep it simple and adopt a "just gimme the facts" approach, only introducing as little brain-melt as possible.

The Problem ...

A common held philosophy followed by photographers for a long time has been the technique of setting your exposure for the highlights in your scene and taking an, effectively, underexposed shot with a view to raising the shadows later in post-processing to reveal the detail in those areas. The main problem with this technique is, due to the lack of information in the shadow areas of the image, increasing the exposure to recover these areas will introduce noise into the shadow areas resulting in a poor end-image.

I'll try to explain ...

ETTR - Background info ...

The recording of the scene by the photo-cells on your cameras sensor depends on the sensors linear response to the light striking it. Generally speaking, it is not a linear response so if your camera's sensor has a dynamic range of, say, 5 stops then the brightest stop (at the far right of the histogram) will record one half of the available tonal values, the next stop down will record one half of the remaining tonal values, and so on, halving all the way to the darkest stop (at the far left of the histogram). This explains the halving or doubling of light entering the camera when you stop-down or stop-up.

ETTR - The Skinny ...

This may seem somewhat complex to take in so, in a nutshell, just accept that much more information is recorded at the far right of the histogram than at the far left. You can always read up why at a later date (if you need to).

So, to follow on from that little bombshell, it would seem common sense that, in order to record the maximum possible information about a scene to produce the best possible image you would do well to overexpose the image with a view to lowering the exposure later in post-processing. This is, indeed, a valid technique - welcome to ETTR.

The below image, of a chain in a harbour somewhere in Northumberland, was taken using ettr ...

 

[caption id="attachment_1335" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ETTR Before Processing[/caption]

... the histogram clearly show an over-exposed image, but with adjustment to exposure, contrast and saturation in post-processing it can be recovered ...

[caption id="attachment_1336" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ETTR After Processing[/caption]

... the histogram now shows a much more balanced image with detail covering the full range of tonal values.

Importantly no noise was introduced into the shadow areas, which would almost certainly have been the case if the shot had been under-exposed and then lightened in post.

All-in-all, ettr is a valuable technique to have in your arsenal (just to be clear, you may still have to use filters if the range of the scene is too great). It will take a little practice and experimentation to work out how much your equipment will let you get away with because, bear in mind, the histogram you see is not based based on the RAW file but is based on an in-camera jpeg representation of the RAW file. With this in mind your histogram may show a little clipping when that is not the case, you will need to try a few images to work this out for your own gear.

It took a few test images to work out how far we could push our own gear, when out shooting landscapes and seascapes in Northumberland, and we found we could allow the histogram to venture out of the top stop a little before it affected the end result.

ETTR - The Caveats ...

• You must shoot in RAW, to enable you to get the best results from post-processing later.


• You cannot allow the shot to leave the right hand side of the histogram, this would result in lost information and clipping, the skill is in exposing as far right as your particular camera will allow without clipping.

Relevant Links ...

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposing_to_the_right

 

Wedding Albums for Professionals

Stunning Wedding Albums by Master Printer Paul Grundy, Owner of UKV Pro.


A re-blog from Steve Grogan Photography giving a fantastic review of a new Wedding Album service from Paul Grundy of UKV.

Some of my couples want a wedding album, some of them don’t. That’s why I don’t include albums in my packages as standard; I prefer to charge for my time and then an album can be ordered at a later date if desired. But I always encourage my couples to print their images, why spend good money on a luxury product such as Wedding Photography and then leave the photos lying dormant on your computer hard drive or compressed as low resolution 72 dpi images on Facebook?

A beautifully printed photograph is a sight to behold. I’m not talking about a quick 7×5 from one of those cheap photo machines in Asda, I’m referring to an image printed by a Master Printer on premium paper stock. Please print your photos, trust me, it’s beautiful!

All images shown are copyright of the very talented Craig Richards of Petite d'amour Photography

To view the full article on Steve's blog Click Here.

Introduction to Aperture - Digital Photography School

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been writing a series of posts on elements that digital photographers need to learn about in order to get out of Auto mode and learn how to manually set the exposure of their shots. I’ve largely focussed upon three elements of the ‘exposure triangle‘ – ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture. I’ve previously written about the first two and today would like to turn our attention to Aperture.Before I start with the explanations let me say this. If you can master aperture you put into your grasp real creative control over your camera. In my opinion – aperture is where a lot of the magic happens in photography and as we’ll see below, changes in it can mean the difference between one dimensional and multi dimensional shots.

via Introduction to Aperture - Digital Photography School.

Cheat Sheet: How to Get Metering and Exposure Right - Digital Photography School

A really useful chart illustrating the major decisions of exposure, over at Digital Photography School.

via Cheat Sheet: How to Get Metering and Exposure Right - Digital Photography School.

Step By Step How to Do a Head Shot on a White Background - Digital Photography School

Today you are going to come ride along with me as I shoot head shots for a client in San Diego, California. I was hired by a company to create simple head shots of their instructors in the San Diego area.There is a very big market for head shots and quite a few people want them shot on a white infinity backdrop. There are many ways to do this but I’m going to take you along on a shoot with me and show you how I do it:

via Step By Step How to Do a Head Shot on a White Background - Digital Photography School.

500px ISO » Unbelievable Photography » 15 Tips For Getting Razor Sharp Photos

Jimmy Mcintyre is a travel photographer, educator, and 500px ISO contributor. His photos have been published in local and national magazines, including the BBC. His online courses on digital blending and post-processing can be found in his official website. You can also check out the rest of his tutorials on 500px ISO here. In this tutorial, Jimmy shares his expert tips for capturing tack sharp photographs in-camera and in post-processing. Read on!

via 500px ISO » Unbelievable Photography » 15 Tips For Getting Razor Sharp Photos.