July’s guest photography
July’s galleries are now available to view via clicking on the photo. Jo and Lindsay produced some excellent abstract photos particularly at the non-touristic places.
Our photography holidays hopefully continue to inspire. At all levels there are techniques to learn as well as compositional approaches that come through practice and the benefit of looking at other photographers. Essaouira is the ideal compact place for intensive learning. Plenty of sun, texture, colour and oddities make this a paradise for photographers.
Photography is all about finding the light and here in Essaouira it’s usually in abundance but on a photographic holiday you want to explore the range of photographic opportunities. Night time photography offers something completely different when street lighting is the only source of illumination. Both Jackie and Ciaran were keen in the last week of September to take some photos of Essaouira’s atmospheric backstreets and alleys. The old fortifications combined with the night time sea air are suggestive of a town unchanging and of course this is part of Essaouira’s charm. The main challenge of night time imagery is firstly to be able to see what one is doing so at the very least always take a small penlight with you. Most DSLRs have an illuminated LCD screen but that can be tricky to see when your camera is positioned at head height so a torch will help you see the camera’s screen at the back. Of course you’ll also be using a tripod and this helps both steady the camera for slow shutter speeds and also slows down your working processes which can help you think about better compositions.
A & A can be seen left, entirely unposed! just outside the souk Idagouard which course participants visit on Wednesdays. Increasingly I’m using image manipulation programs, such as Aperture and Photoshop during the week’s course, to demonstrate the possibilities of controlling highlights and what can actually be recovered from an over-exposed image. Understanding what software can achieve, can inform our use of histograms on location and encourage us to expose for the highlights and let the shadows areas fall away into darkness. It’s easier to “bring up’ the shadows than render detail in a “blown out” areas of white. Emma Simpson’s photo from last month, demonstrates what I mean. She exposed correctly for the bright central area which on her camera led to a surrounding solid black area. In post-production we brought up some of the foreground shadow detail offering more interest in the final image as seen right.
