Sunday, 30 August 2020

Tutorial: Exposure Bracketing and Photo Blending

One of the limitations of the digital camera vis a vis the human eye is it's inferior ability to discriminate between dark and light; the average human eye can distinguish approximately 2^20 - or approximately a 1,000,000x difference between darkest and lightest points. My high-end Olympus camera can only discriminate a 7,332x difference - 140-fold less. You've probably noticed when you take photos in high contrast light conditions such as a sunset or any scene where you have very bright parts and strong shadows that you either have a well exposed sky with extremely dark land or a well exposed land with a very pale sky. This lower discrimination power is why. But there are ways for overcoming this. In the days of analogue cameras, photographers would place a sheet of glass in front of the lens that was half smoky, half clear and use the smoky half to reduce the light in the sky. These days, most photographers achieve the same effect by taking multiple photos at different exposures (exposure bracketing) and then assemble them to a single image using software (photo blending). 

This is the final edit of one of my photos of the delightful Dolomitenhütte in the Lienzer Dolomiten that featured in my recent post Osttirol Revisited -  Part II.

The Dolomitenhütte at Sunset || Olympus 50 mm, f/5.6, 1/50 s, ISO 200


Exposure Bracketing

Some cameras, such as my Olympus OMD E-M1 Mk II, allow you to automatically take multiple exposures with varying levels of exposure compensation. One click of the button and the camera will rapidly take a series of three photos, one at the default setting, one with ¼ of the light ("2 stops under") and one with 4x the light ("2 stops over"; a "stop" in photographic terms is always half or double the light/exposure). If your camera doesn't offer this facility, you can almost certainly use exposure compensation (usually a dial labelled E.V. with a scale running from -3 to +3 in ⅓ steps). This is a magical dial that every photographer should be familiar with and using all the time, especially if you're shooting through an electronic viewfinder. Normally you need to do this with a tripod in order to be able to overlay the images 100%.

Exposure compensation scale (orange)


Photo Stacking/Blending

Most modern photo editing software allows you to compile multiple photos as layers and choose what parts of each layer should be visible in the final image. One prerequisite for the process is that the images be essentially compositionally identical, otherwise matching them up can be a pain. Like I say, normally this is assured by using a tripod to fix the camera in place, composing the photo carefully and then manually setting the focus. Normally. Unfortunately I tend to get a bit sloppy with these types of photo and shoot by hand and using auto-focus. 

The real art lies in blending the photos; defining which part of which photo is in the final image. Again, most modern programs offer the option of automated HDR image creation (HDR = high dynamic range, the art of compressing more levels of light into the final image than is possible with a single photo). Alternatively, the process can be done manually by opening multiple photos in layers. I prefer the latter process as it gives me a great deal more control over the final image. Here, the cleaner the edge defining the various layers the better, but invariably there are trees in the photo at the borders of the two layers and these are always a challenge to process. I've chosen a pretty straightforward image here that I manually masked for blending. I'll take you through the process as I do it in ON1 Photo Raw 2020, my photo editor of choice.

We'll start with the basic image, where you can see that the foreground is ok, if a bit dark, but the sky has no character whatsoever, a poor reflection of what we were seeing at the time. 

Native exposure - Olympus f/5.6, 1/15 s, ISO 200

The auto-bracketed shots are 2 stops under- and 2 stops over-exposed. In this example I didn't actually use the over-exposed image as it didn't fit the mood of the scene. As you can see from the under-exposed image, there's a lot more interesting stuff going on in the sky, but if you compare it to the final image, I've taken it even further. 

2 Stops Under Exposed - 1/60 s

2 Stops Over Exposed - 1/4 s

In the ON1 Photo Raw Browser module I select both images and then on the right click on the icon [Layers]. This generates a new image file in the Edit module where both images are simultaneously open. To start with you'll only see the top image, however, so don't be disconcerted. Any time you're working on the image from now on, you'll have to pay attention to which layer you're currently working on and you can click on them at the top of the right hand menu bar. The active layer has a turquoise highlight:

How the layers are displayed in ON1 Photo Raw, the blue circle indicates that the layer is selected (visible)


Masking

So how do you define which bit of which photo appears in the final image? Through an arcane process called masking. Masking defines which parts of a layer are visible (white in our case) and which parts of a layer are invisible (black). But the mask isn't limited to just black and just white, it can also be shades of grey, allowing nuances of layers.

So who tells the program which bits of each layer I want in the final image? Well, you do using masking brushes and gradients. You paint in (or out) the bits of the layers that you want. Clicking on the icon to the right of the layer thumbnail opens a panel giving you access to the masking tools. When you first open it, this panel will be completely white, indicating that all of this layer is visible.

Accessing the various Masking options

There are multiple ways to create a mask from the simple gradient tools, the brush as well as luminosity and colour range masks. Looking at the layer mask that I created for this image, I used the Masking Brush combined with the Perfect Brush option to get a hard edge on the hut itself, together with a slightly softer brush towards the bottom right corner:

Mask for the final image; the Native exposure image is on top, this black and white mask defines which parts of that image are visible over the darker underexposed layer

Ok, so apply that, and what do we get? Certainly a lot more appealing than either of the originals, but still a long way from the final image:

First Blend

So what else do we need to do to get from this to the final? There are a number of steps that I applied to each of the layers in order to really bring this image to life. In ON1 Photo Raw it generally doesn't matter what order you apply the steps in (there are exceptions, but they are too complex for this post. OK, I admit it. I don't know what they are, I just remember watching a YouTube video once where a bloke tried adding the effects in different orders and got different results. There. Happy now?). I don't generally adjust too much in the develop tab at the moment, concentrating almost exclusively on local adjustments

Background Layer (sky and left-hand foreground):
  1. Cropped the image to give a more pleasing cut
  2. Globally added the Effect Filter: Color Enhancer - Increase Color
  3. Locally added a -1 EV Darken adjustment to the sky (gradient mask)
  4. Removed the stray branch top left using the Retouch tool
Foreground Layer (cabin):
  1. Locally added a +1 EV Lighten adjustment with +20 to the shadows and +30 Color Temperature to the area around the cabin lights
These I combined to form a New Stamped Layer (a new layer combining all of the visible parts of the image; right-click in one of the layers and choose this option).

Stamped Layer:
  1. Globally added the Effect Filter: Vignette - Big Softy 50%
  2. Globally added the Effect Filter: Color Enhancer - Warmer 50%
  3. Locally added the Effect Filter: Tone Enhancer - Clarity on the cabin
  4. Locally added the Effect Filter: Tone Enhancer - Tonal Contrast to the forest bottom left
  5. Locally added a Vibrance adjustment to the sky
  6. Other minor dodge and burn (local brightening and darkening) adjustments
And that was it. The first Color Enhancer added a touch of colour to the sky, amplified by the Darken adjustment. The Lighten adjustment with the colour warming added a pleasing glow to the lights in the cabin, even spilling over to the rocks outside. The Vignette focuses the viewer's vision on the central part of the image - I do this to almost all my images - it's part of my personal preset. The Clarity enhancer on the cabin brings out the texture of the wooden slats of the cabin and the Tonal Contrast enhancer brings a bit of definition to the dark forest bottom left - making it a bit less 'mushy'.

And that's it. A lot more editing that I'd normally employ, and certainly a lot more 'dodging and burning', but I think it's worth the effort. End-of-day photos are always a little more challenging due to the lighting conditions. If you have any thoughts or questions on the editing process, do leave them below.

- Dolomitenhütte at Sunset -


Osttirol Revisited - Part II

The dream is relatively straightforward and specific; buy up an old farmhouse with a barn but not too much land somewhere close to Lienz. The farmhouse has a large country-style kitchen with a massive table. The barn will be converted into holiday accommodation; downstairs the guest rooms and upstairs a massive open-air space that will serve as kitchen, dining room, living room, seminar room and anything else you'd chose to use it for. The barn will be available to rent for small groups of up to 10 people, mostly self-catering but with the option of breakfast in the farmhouse if needs be. It'll open for pretty much any type of group accommodation, but the focus will be on photo safaris and workshops in the surrounding mountains. Both the main chain of the Alps and Cortina - the heart of the Dolomites - will be within easy driving distance for day tours. When the kids visit, there will be plenty of room for them and when we get too infirm to run the photo safaris, we'll still have the additional income of the holiday let to fall back on. Like I say, straightforward and strangely specific.

Covered Bridge, Matrei || Olympus 25 mm, f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200

In the meantime, I've got a few years to work on my photography and instructor skills. I'm not yet where I want to be, but I'm happy with the trajectory so far as I look back over the last two years. We'll keep you posted.

But back to our most recent foray to Osttirol.

Matrei and Kals

To change things up a bit, instead of hiking we decided to rent some trekking bikes and cycle up the valley along the Isel, a tour that I would recommend to anyone, especially the way round we did it; Lienz-Matrei-Lienz. The tour gains around 300 m in altitude over about 30 km - 300 m that are much more acceptable downward than up after lunch! 

The cycle ride up to Matrei was good fun if a little challenging in places. The bikes we'd rented from Probike Lienz (for a very reasonable price) admirably did the job of getting us up the valley and the views on the trail, which changes from one side of the river to the other, are varied. We found Matrei asleep at lunchtime, the streets practically deserted. Part Corona, part mid-day slump on a hot day. Quizzing the waiter in the pizzeria, even without Corona the village is quiet on sunny summer days as the tourists are all up in the mountains at midday.

Old Matrei || Olympus 24 mm, f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200

After visiting the National Park Centre (really a must if you're in town), it was out into the streets. There are a couple of really quaint corners of old Matrei near the Park Centre, including the neighbouring Pfarre Matrei church, a couple of old wooden houses and the lovely covered bridge over the Bretterwandbach stream that bisects the village. 

Parish Church, Matrei || Olympus 13 mm, f/8, 1/200 s, ISO 200

One of my favourite scenes of the day was a little church on the hillside above the Isel in the tiny village of Gereiter.

St. Niklas, Matrei || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 200

We stopped off on the way back to go up the Hochstein chairlifts and take in the view down the Drau valley. Of course, if you're up here already, you may as well come down on the Osttirodler, probably the coolest summer Rodelbahn out there.

The next day saw us up in Kals, a picturesque village at the foot of the Großglockner, July is still a little bit ahead of the main summer season and so only the cable car open was the one up to the Adlerlounge and so we headed up to the Rotenkogel before hitting the thoroughly recommendable Kals Matreier Törl Hütte. If you're ever up there, just don't forget to ask for Gina 😉. 

Towards the Großglockner || Olympus 12 mm, f/16, 1/125 s, ISO 200

Kals Matreier Törl Hütte || Olympus 34 mm, f/8, 1/160 s, ISO 200

On the way back we stopped off at the spectacular Staniska waterfall - always worth a visit either on the way to or from Kals from Lienz and really low hanging fruit - you have to walk 10 m from the car park to set up your camera! Generally I prefer shooting waterfalls in more subdued light because of the high contrast situation you'll often find, but the full-on afternoon sunshine here didn't detract too much. I used a variable ND filter here to reduce the light level so that I could shoot at 1/10 s to blur the water.

Staniska Waterfall || Olympus 14 mm, f/22, 1/10 s, ISO 64

Lienzer Dolomites

If you've seen any photos of the Lienzer Dolomites, you'll have probably seen shots of the beautiful Dolomitenhütte. This delightful hut lies at the starting point of many tours in the Lienzer Dolomites. You can drive up from the valley to 1,600, saving yourself a 1,000 m slog up a fairly boring track. From the Kreithof it's a toll road. Unless... We were camping at the Tristacher See and wanted to drive up for dinner at the hut accompanied by shooting the sunset. We drove up to the toll booth and found the barrier up and the hut unoccupied. Asking at the Hütte the road is open from 17.00 onward and you can drive up to the hut without paying the € 8.50 fee.

In the Stube, Dolomitenhütte || Olympus 44 mm, f/4, 1/3 s, ISO 200

Unfortunately the terrace was full, but inside the hut is very appealing too and so we settled down to dinner, waiting for the sun to set. We were not disappointed! The light was challenging - classical sunset problems of bright skies and dark foregrounds. I started writing how I overcome this problem in this post but decided that it was probably better in a post of its own. I'll post it later and link here.

Dolomitenhütte at Sunset I || Olympus 50 mm, f/5.6, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Dolomitenhütte at Sunset II || Olympus 23 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 s, ISO 200

The next day Sharon drove me up to the Kreithof and then went off with the kids to do another Klettersteig that was outside of my comfortable power to weight ratio, leaving me to meander down to Lavant on my own and take time over the photos. It was another case of everything going different than planned: I'd understood that there was a small gorge on the descent to the valley and a massive waterfall just beyond the village at the bottom. The gorge proved to be pretty much unshootable and I couldn't get to the waterfall because there was too much shooting! The Austrian army was using their firing range  at the bottom of the Frauenbach waterfall, preventing access. 

Emerald Beetle || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/60 s, ISO 200

Harebells || Olympus 66 mm, f/4.5, 1/400 s, ISO 200

None of this stopped me from getting some lovely woodland images on the walk down and some decent shots of the St. Ulrich church above the village. There's a 'Stations of the Cross' path leading up to St. Ulrich and I followed this down into the old part of Lavant. The path comes out an old farm that looked like just the sort of place that I'd envisioned. After establishing that the Frauenbach waterfall was off the ticket for the day I went into a local restaurant to sate my thirst. The village lies at the northern foot of some pretty steep mountains. Speaking to the locals at the restaurant I discovered that the village doesn't see sun for two months a year - it simply doesn't get high enough behind the Lienzer Dolomites to shine. That's Lavant crossed off the list then!

St. Ulrich, Lavant || Olympus 29 mm, f/4, 1/500 s, ISO 200

The Wicked Woman

On our last day, the kids decided that they weren't getting enough exercise and went off mountainbiking on their own, leaving Sharon and I to drive up to the Hochsteinhütte above Lienz and from there to hike up the wonderfully named "Böses Weibele" - I think literally the Evil Wench. One of the many attractive things about Osttirol is the sheer variability of the mountains, from the high Alps of the Groß Venediger and Großglockner to the impressive crags of the Lienzer Dolomites and the more gentle slopes of the Vilgratener Mountains to the west. 

Down the Drau Valley || Olympus 13 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

The Böses Weibele was a fitting final tour - an Ausklang or finale. Only 500 m up from the 2,000 m high car park. The trail leads along a gently climbing long ridge up to the Weibele with amazing views both of the Drau and Isel valleys. As we were approaching the summit, Sharon spotted a bird hovering above the slopes not far from us - a kestrel. He/she didn't appear to be in any hurry, giving me time to swap out lenses for my longer-reaching Panasonic f/4-5.6 100-300 mm lens. She disappeared for a moment, swooping down on some prey, drifted down away towards Assling before returning to her starting point, letting me snap away in continuous shooting mode. Don't ask me how many shots I rattled off! This was about the best I could make of it. A shot I'm happy with, especially as the bird is nicely lit against a relatively dark background rather than being a black silhouette against a bright sky, but it's still not absolutely sharp. Probably my favourite shot of our time in Osttirol though as I've been looking at getting an image like this of a kestrel for a while.

Kestrel on the Böses Weibele || Olympus 300 mm, f/6.3, 1/2000 s, ISO 500

Tuesday, 25 August 2020

Osttirol Revisited - Part I

Back in July we decided that we needed a break; our May vacation plans had fallen flat and we'd been working solidly since our ski trip to Norway in February. After debating where to go, we finally decided that we'd return to Lienz in East Tyrol on the Austrian/Italian border. We'd camped there for 10 days in 2017 and felt that it warranted a second visit, particularly as the area is a very strong contender for us to settle down in in the future. Stuck between the main alpine chain and the Dolomites, this little corner of Austria is charming, a little off the beaten track and very competitively priced.

Old Lienz, the heart of East Tyrol or Osttirol || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 200

The campsite was adamant that it wasn't necessary (or even possible) to make a reservation, but we were optimistic that there would be enough space for our six-person tent on the meadow next to the Tristacher See. We needn't have worried; when we arrived on the Thursday afternoon there couldn't have been more than about 20 tents and vans scattered at responsible distances over the large field. Although the campsite restaurant and bar were closed, there were plenty of places open in Lienz itself and the forecast was looking great for at least the next week.

The Region of East Tyrol

The week started off a little overcast as we revisited the hills above Sillian in the Pustertal. What did blow us away was the abundance of wild flowers, especially the alpine roses (actually a misnomer; they're azaleas). Being a little higher than the mountains than are our normal stomping ground in the northern Alps, everything was significantly further behind. They say that the temperature decreases by one degree Celsius per 100 m ascent and the extra 500+ m of elevation on the hills meant that everything was significantly behind Bavaria.

Alpine Roses above Sillian || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 200

As well as revisiting some old haunts we used the week to look at some further corners of this remote region that we hadn't seen before, such as the Gailtal, which is pretty, but we were able to rule it off the list of places that we might consider for retirement - despite being very modestly priced, the corridor between Sillian and Kötschach-Mauthen is just too remote.

In the hills above Obertilliach || Olympus 15 mm, f/11, 1/100 s, ISO 200

At the Golzentipp || Olympus 7.5 mm,  f/16, 1/1250 s, ISO 200

The campsite is a couple of hundred meters above Lienz at a sheltered lake called the Tristacher See, great for a swim at the end of a hot day's hiking and free to campsite users. The walk round the lake only takes about 30 min. At the far end is a swanky hotel that didn't look like we would fit in, especially not in our outdoor camping gear.

Evening Mood at the Tristacher Lake || Olympus 20 mm, f/5.6, 1/8 s, ISO 200

The Defereggental is similarly stunning, but a tad too far from the madding crowd as well as being exceedingly steep sided - you'd hardly see the sun in the winter in this deeply cleft east-west running valley. One of the unique features of the area is that in many places, where there's no cable car it's possible to drive really high into the mountains before starting to hike. The Defereggental is one of those places and we were able to drive up to 2,000 m along a very rough logging track before abandoning the car at a small car park before heading into the mountains.

The Majestic Defereggental || Olympus 24 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 s, ISO 200

Our hike up the strangely-named Speikboden was rewarded with a view of the Groß Venediger, one of Austria's most prominent peaks, together with a field of the eponymous violet flowers and a couple of marmots scuttling across a late snow field. One delight on the way down was a patch of wayside wild lupins at a bend in the road. This was an opportunity to put my new manual 7.5 mm 7Artisans fish-eye lens to the test. Originally bought so that I could cram more sky into my astrophotography, I've taken to using it instead for floral shots like this. You can get within a few centimeters of the flowers, allowing them to take a significant part of the picture, whilst retaining depth of field to the background setting.

Speikboden and the Großer Venediger || Olympus 7.5 mm,  f/16, 1/640 s, ISO 200

Wayside Lupins || Olympus 29 mm, f/4, 1/1250 s, ISO 200

Just outside Lienz is a gorge - the Galitzenklamm - with a number of fixed climbing routes (via ferrata or Klettersteig). After tackling one of the easier routes, the kids decided they wanted to take a crack at "Adrenalin", one of the more challenging routes. Too challenging it turned out, and so Joshua did a solo  on the route next to the water, taking time to pose for a short long-exposure shot.

The Galitzenklamm Klettersteig || Olympus 28 mm, f/13, 1 s, ISO 64

Water in the Gorge || Olympus 86 mm, f/9, 1/5 s, ISO 64

The nice thing about the gorge is that you can spend the morning there and still take in the alpine zoo at Assling, a lovely little village in the Hochpustertal and one that's definitely on our radar for later. On top of the chamoix, ibex and marmots, there's a wonderful lynx enclosure that lets you look in from above without fences as well as some delightful snowy owls.

I was sleeping!  || Olympus 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 s, ISO 64


Note to self: When switching from long-exposure shots in the gorge to long focal length shots of animals, it can be helpful to set the ISO back to 200, duh!

Snowy Owl || Olympus 100 mm, f/4, 1/125 s, ISO 200

Still to come: sundowner at the picturesque Dolomitenhütte, a sunny day in Matrei and a close encounter with a kestrel.


Wednesday, 29 July 2020

Feedback on the First Workshops

"Apparently, if you try to cram two years of learning into 4-6 hour 1-2-1 workshop, the participants can find it a bit too much. Who knew?"
The Old Gypsum Mill || Olympus f/5.6, 1/125 s, ISO 1250 

I’ve now run my first two workshops for volunteer guinea-pigs recruited from among my local friends on the understanding that they would give me in-depth feedback on the sessions in lieu of payment. We had two great afternoons, one hiking in the local mountains in less than perfect weather and one shooting flowers in a friend’s back garden. We had several “aha” moments as they learned things about their cameras that they didn’t know before and both have got some great shots out of the sessions. But what did I learn?

Over the last 18 months I’ve invested a lot of time in my photographic education. I’ve read books, I’ve watched a ton of videos and online courses on photography and post-processing and I’ve endeavoured to put a lot of it into practice in the field. I think that most people would agree with me when I say that I’ve come a long way photographically in that time. I’ve almost completely changed my approach to photographing and my philosophy of photography. A lot of things are now obvious that would have been a complete mystery to me even two years ago. I was an idiot to think that I could convey the significant parts of that learning in a single session, but that’s what I set out to do. Twice. In my defence, the second session was probably much better structured than the first. But I need to trim it down much further, or at least give the students more time to take each aspect of the teaching on board before progressing to the next.

Let’s take a look at the two sessions and try to assess what works and what doesn’t and look at how to build this into planning future workshops.

In the Pöllat River || Olympus f/11, 2 s, ISO 200


Session 1: In The Pöllat Gorge

The first session was held at one of my favourite local spots – the Pöllat gorge below the fabulous Neuschwanstein castle near Füssen. My student, a friend from the Munich choir that I sing with, had previously been a teacher – a huge plus for me, as this was someone who had first-hand experience of teaching methods and knew what he was talking about when it came to feedback. We’d had a chance to chat a little about photography on the way down in the car and I’d already sounded him out concerning what he wanted to learn.

The fun part about this session was that Andrew had a relatively clear idea of the images he wanted to get, but wasn’t always clear on how to achieve those images technically. This was definitely something I could help with.

Parking the car at the Tegelberg car park (much cheaper than parking in Hohenschwangau at the bottom of the castle), we trekked along the base of the mountain, the clouds lingering in the trees above us. Excellent opportunity for composition questions 1 and 2: (1) What catches your attention, and (2) what aspect of the subject do you want to emphasise or caricature? (thanks Joshua Cripps!)

Moody, Misty Forest || Olympus f/5, 1/200 s, ISO 500

Arriving at the bottom of the Pöllat gorge, I was dismayed to see that the gorgeous wooden mill race had been very badly damaged in the recent storms. I sincerely hope that they repair it using the original wood, since this has always been a complete eye-catcher and really strong element for photos here. As it was, the heavy flow was just gushing out of the broken end of the trellis into a mess of tree branches. Such a shame.

After we'd walked around the bottom of the gorge for a bit, scouting compositions, we went a few meters downstream where it was a little quieter so that we could chat about how to emphasise the water movement, leading into a discussion of long exposures and tripods. I'd established in advance that Andrew would be using the Nikon 18-55 mm kit lens and managed to source a cheap step-up ring of the right diameter so that he could use my filter system to create a series of shots with different exposures.

Shooting in the Pöllat || Huawei P30 Pro

Having had a good long session at the bottom of the gorge, we walked up through the shady forest, looking for other compositions. There are some nice shots to be had of the falls as well as some nice intimate forest landscapes - what my father calls my signature shots. The moss was particularly appealing 

Moss Micro Landscape || Olympus f/4, 1/8 s, ISO 200

At this point, I forgot a bit that I was supposed to be leading a workshop and got side-tracked by taking my own images - wrong of me I know, but too easy to do in the circumstances. In future, I'm really going to have to put my own shots in the background, unless they're to make a teaching point.

Carrying on up to the path between Neuschwanstein and the Marienbrücke, we were rewarded by a moody view over Hohenschwangau with the sun breaking through the clouds. An impossible shot for Andrew's camera, but no match for modern exposure bracketing. Once again, I was putting my own photos first. But come on, who would have said no to this:

God-Rays over Hohenschwangau || Olympus Exposure Bracketing

After waiting a while in vain to see whether the weather would provide us with anything better, we headed on up to the Marienbrücke, the bridge overlooking Neuschwanstein, to see whether the light would allow us to catch any useful shots. Andrew took quite a few from the bridge and we toyed with the concept of including some foreground in a shot in order to establish a bit of 3-dimensionality to the scene.

It was quite late by the time we got back to the car and we were both starving, so we looked for a suitable hostelry. Waiting for food, I had a chance to go through my workshop cheat-sheets with him. In my mind I had planned to shoot and then go over the theory in the hope that he would be more receptive to the concepts - a teaching style that we often use at work. In reality, it would have been helpful to look at them beforehand and then try to put some of it into practice in the field.


Session 2: A Munich Garden

For the second session I visited my friend in her garden in Munich. Because one of her primary photographic interests was flowers and because they have a beautiful flower garden, this really worked out nicely. The weather was definitely playing ball this time as well, which really helped. It had rained just before I got there, but we had a great 4 h in the garden in lovely late afternoon light, shooting anything and everything in sight.

This time we were able to sit down before we started and look at some of the concepts that help me focus on what makes a good photo. I was delighted that my friend was able to make the intuitive jumps from the things I was pointing out (more here) to compositional consequences. Once we'd got some of the basics out of the way, we were able to knuckle down to the two issues that she had highlighted approaching the workshop; exposure and focus.

Reach for the Sky || Olympus f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

After explaining the various ways in which cameras measure exposure and the shortcomings of assuming that everything is 50% grey, we looked around for potential examples. She has a beautiful honeysuckle growing up the side of the garage. Against the sky, most cameras will underexpose the subject to avoid an overly-bright image, leaving the subject quite dull. Exposure compensation to the rescue (once we'd found out how to in the manual).

Essence of Hydrangea || Olympus f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200

Looking back, we should have spent a little while at least concentrating on exposure, but I was so excited with the progress that I was all for moving swiftly on to the next issue; focus. Once we figured out how to give her back the control over what the camera was focusing on we even got a chance to look at the concept of depth of field before switching over to her macro lens and fiddling about with focus magnification in a foreign camera system.

Old Wooden Chair || Olympus f/8

All in all we had a great afternoon/evening working through various technical and compositional aspects before I was gently told to stop - I'd passed on enough information and time was required to process and practice.

Lessons Learned

What Went Well

Let's start with what went well:
  • The second workshop was much better structured than the first, working through the teaching materials and having a chance to put it all into practice.
  • Knowing both locations well before the shoots was essential. Even then there were surprises, like the demolished mill race at the Pöllat gorge.
  • Both locations were good and had some 'gimme' images where you couldn't really go wrong, whether Schloss Neuschwanstein or my friends gorgeous garden.
  • Having a few toys to hand to play with worked well, such as the ND filters for the gorge and my tiny fish-eye lens as a demonstration of how aperture works.
  • Getting the students to fill out a self-assessment form (below) well in advance of the workshop so that I could prepare a session to fit their individual needs worked really well.
  • The handouts I had prepared turned out to be really good teaching aids.
  • After the first workshop we sat down and went through a handful of the best images, looking at technique and possible tips. The offer is still out on the second workshop, but, life!

Challenges

  • One of the time-consuming aspects of both workshops was becoming familiar with other peoples’ cameras. After 18 months with my Olympus I can operate it pretty much blindfolded. Previously I’d been using a Panasonic bridge camera and so had at least a working knowledge of the menu structure. My students had Nikon and Cannon cameras respectively and finding functions in the various menus took time. If students aren’t familiar with their cameras, it’s essential that they bring the manual with them. It was also challenging switching between a mirrorless camera with all of the associated ease of use and the more flighty DSLRs.
  • The weather and, more importantly, the light during the first workshop was extremely challenging. But that’s life sometimes.
  • It’s important to establish ahead of time which lenses your students are bringing to the workshop. I’m used to the flexibility of being able to choose between ultra-wide angle, long telephoto and everything in between. Students aren’t always going to be able to bring that variety to the workshop and the location needs to be planned accordingly.

What Didn’t Go So Well

  • Looking back, although the first workshop was fun, setting out without covering at least the basic theory was a mistake. I was all gung-ho for the location and thought I could explain as we went. I couldn’t.
  • After the first few shots, I also assumed that the student was doing ok and didn’t need as much help or feedback. In future I’ll have to be more proactive in checking in with them.

Looking Forward

Looking forward, I think I will have to offer either one or the other; either a photo safari or a photography workshop. It’s much easier to concentrate on teaching skills in a calmer environment with few distractions, where we can sit down, talk about the principles and then put them into action.

On the other hand, once someone has mastered the basics, it will still be fun to head out to the hills to look at how to put those skills into practice.

Fairy-Tale Neuschwanstein || Olympus f/4.5, 1/8 s, ISO 800

My Questionnaires

I've created two questionnaires, one to give me a feel for the student's needs, one for them to give me feedback on the workshop so that I can continue to improve as an instructor. I'll reproduce them here for anyone wanting to use and adapt. I've created these using Google docs, and the answers flow directly into a table. I'm a huge fan of Google docs as they allow me to access the information on the go using a variety of platforms.

Student Assessment Form

I ask a lot about my students because I really want to understand their needs and offer a tailor-made session. It also helps them to assess where they are and think a bit about the issues involved. I also ask them either in advance of - or during the session how they would define a "good" photo. Although a straightforward question, it really helps focus on the issues.







Student Feedback Form

Feeback is critical to the process of becoming a better instructor - which is a huge part of the process for me. Here's my Student Feedback Form