My name is Jez Sugars I have been a Photographer for 30 years, and worked in the photographic trade for 25 of those years. I have dabbled in almost all types of photography within my creative process, but for the last ten years I have specialise in Country and Urban Landscape.
With the quality of Camera stabilisation you can do almost anything hand held now, but there are still a couple of creative topics which a tripod is essential for.
At Vanguard we offer the very best kit for the job.
Neutral Density
Is the timeless effect of slowing movement into a long Exposure from 5 seconds to a couple of minutes using filters on the front of the camera. The style allows for a creative fine art output, which is normally presented in B&W. A strong tripod with a ball head fitting is essential to this. To give the stability needed and to provide the ease to frame the shot in all environments.
ND is for the Landscape or Urban photographer that wants to create images that are more dynamic and thought provoking. Due to the extension of the exposure you really get a sense of impermanence, as rivers and weather becomes beautiful flows of movement. The structures in the image becoming more rooted to the environment and the temporary becomes background. This style of image making is best where there is moving water, and preferably good chunky British clouds being pushed through the frame. But at the same time it is great for Architectural work in busy cities because the people are removed or become blurry background. I use a 10 Stopper to create this effect, but a lot of traditional Landscape photographer use Graduated filters to hold back the sky from over exposing when the contrast is too harass.
So what is the process…. firstly you will need to attach your filter using a holder and step up ring, please note the diameter of the lens you want to use to purchase the correct size of filter, holder and step-up ring.
Once assembled put your camera in manual, drop your ISO to low, and close down your aperture to somewhere lower than F11. Now is the time to start doing some test shots. I normal start at 4 seconds and work my way up to a couple of minutes doubling each time. Tweaking the setting as I go..
The image above was taken at the famous Pulteney Bridge Weir in Bath using a 10 stop ND, camera set at ISO Low, F11 with a 120 second exposure. Giving a lovely creamy effect on the moving water, and long enough for the reflection of the pillars to develop in the camera.
This Photograph Below was taken on a busy Saturday at Winchester Cathedral, it was the peak of summer and this path along the side the Cathedral is a pinch point where there is a heavy flow of people. I set up my tripod just in front of the path, so I had people heading toward the camera and around the tripod in both directions. With a 34 sec exposure at F16 with a ISO low those people become ghosts. At the time of shooting it felt very hectic and challenging spot to be working. But with that ND filter the location has become a nice study on line and light.
The image above was taken in Cardiff Bay shot at F14 ISO Low and was a 59 second exposure The tide is leaving to the left, the clouds are coming towards us over head, alongside the spinning of the big wheel it achieves a great sense of movement. There is a push and pull within the image which adds to the surreal qualities of the environment.
Macro Photography
As a Photographer we are always looking for the decisive moment, or to capture the essence of the environment. But with Macro our human perspective go from foreground and background to searching for hidden details. Macro is about elevating the small unobserved animals we normally disregard to the central subject, and when enlarging the scale of the small a whole new world is unlocked. Personally I find this the most challenging type of photography, due the low depth of field of Macro lenses, and nature doesn’t like to wait for you to compose your shot, and focus. The best practise is to really visualise the shot before you composite it, once you have spotted the detail you are interested in. Macro lenses have a ratio of 1:1 compared to most lenses being 1:2.8 and higher this is what increases the scale, but also means the focus is paper thin, so manual focus is the way forward. A tripod real helps with this, and frees you up to be able to compose the shot and focus the very thin depth of field in the correct area without moving out of the sweet spot. But is most modern cameras you have focus peaking and in camera magnification to assist with this.
To get as much DOF as possible you will need to shot with a small aperture, somewhere north of F8, so to maintain a reasonable shutter speed your ISO is going to have to be at the more sensitive end ISO 2000 plus.
To really capture a great image you will need to aid your shot with extra constant light or off camera flash, as nearly all insects and bugs are in shady spots. This where the MA-1 attachment comes into its own holding the light source along the Multi Angle Central Column, which has become a handy rail. You will have to dig around gently to source your subject and always make sure you cover the spot back up
To take Macro to the next level, you will want to get the whole Insect into focus. For this, you will need to stack the focus points. This means you will take a group of images all at a different point in the focal range and combine them in one great photo. Stacking can take a couple of seconds to expose, so a tripod is perfect for the job. The below Flower photograph was taken in a basic studio set up with two constant lights and is a good example of stacking. This image is a composite of ten images stacked on top of each other to achieve the depth to see more of the subject. But still to have that macro feel. You can stack hundreds of images if you want and you can buy software to assist with this.
Night & Low light
What I love about Night Photography in Urban Environment is the sense of people, but no one is present. With our buildings and utilities always on show in a modern Landscape, it makes for an interesting image. Cameras now have superb ISO abilities and some great results can be achieved hand held. But to really get an award winning image you will need a tripod to slow down the exposure time down, removing camera shake, and enriching the saturation. Lowering the ISO reduces the noise produced at higher ISO’s and gives you better quality images.
But for astral photography other than the Moon you will need the brightest lens F2.8 and below. The image below is a 40 sec exposer at 3200 ISO using a fish-eye open to F2, when I shot this image you couldn’t see the Milky with the naked eye, but using a Sky map on my phone I could point it in the right direction and capture this great photograph.
About the author:
I hope this blog was helpful, and if you want any advise please email me at jeremy@vanguardworld.co.uk
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