New Year, New Look at Line and Light

  By Simon Berry | 06/01/2012 - 3:44 pm | Camera Equipment, Course Report, News Bulletin, Photoshop News and Courses
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If you are a regular visitor to the Line and Light Blog you will already be aware of some changes that we have made both cosmetically and technically to enhance your experience with us.

Not only do we have a new-look blog but we have placed many useful links throughout the site directing you specifically to the right pages of the main Line and Light website depending on the topic or subject matter. Our aim is to make things as simple and as straight forward as possible and also to remain relevant to what you might want for further information. We have also added our Videos showing our courses in action. Take a look, you might spot yourself!

The Line and Light Blog now also ties in with our Facebook page which we aim to use to communicate with you on a far more frequent basis. As the comments feature has had to be removed from the blogs on here due to unprecedented levels of spamming, we encourage you to interact with our Facebook page if you have any comments, questions, anecdotes or experiences you wish to pass on or share with us and the rest of the Line and Light Community. Our goal is to more fully integrate each of our sites so that past customers and new people looking to discover us for the very first time get a real sense of online ‘community’ spirit and that your experiences with Line and Light remain current and ongoing long after you have attended a course or two with us.

We are constantly looking at new course ideas and locations and trying to keep things fresh and up to date. New courses for 2012 include our How to Photograph Transport Heritage, HDSLR Video Skills and our Image Assessment Workshop. From the wonderful feedback forms that we have been receiving throughout last year we have tailored these new courses to meet your wishes. We hope you will support us by trying out these new amazing courses and spreading the word. Of course they are all at Line and Light’s great value pricing!

New Year, New Cameras! The very latest flagship cameras are being released imminently, for example the new Nikon D4 has just been officially announced, right on the heels of the new Canon EOS 1DX which means that even if you can’t afford these levels of pro cameras, their technology and features will be filtering down through their respective ranges and making your photography ever more dynamic, versatile and exciting! We are here to help you get the most from your camera and your photography. If you need help looking for that next camera then please get in touch, we are only too pleased to be able to help and advise.

We want to hear from YOU! The best place to do so is on our Facebook page. Here we want you to post pictures that you take that you want to show off or would like some basic tips with if you aren’t achieving what you want. For a more thorough review of your images then may we suggest our new course, the Image Assessment Workshop as mentioned above. Your comments, opinions and views on the world of photography are all welcome and we want to hear from you about ideas for future courses and or locations that would prove popular.

Winter is still here and that means the weather is still highly unpredictable! Not the best time of year for getting out on a regular basis and expanding your photography portfolio. So what better way to spend some warm quality time indoors on post production of images that you have already taken that could be enhanced or transformed with our course; How to use ADOBE ELEMENTS 9 – Stage 1- Beginners. Saturday 28th January is the next available date for this popular course and places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. The course runs from 10am until 4:30pm and is held at one of our regular venues in Sherwood. It’s easy to get to, easy to park and is warm and dry! Refreshments are provided throughout the day but you will need to bring a ‘packed lunch’. Map

We hope you like the new look Line and Light Blog and more importantly find it a useful resource to keep coming back to. We hope to see you on Facebook and back on one of our courses in 2012 very soon! Happy shooting!

Buying a Camera? Welcome to the DSLR Forest

  By Simon Berry | 02/01/2012 - 4:28 pm | Camera Equipment, News Bulletin
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“Arriving at a decision”

Who wants to be a label? Amateur, Semi-Pro, Enthusiast, Professional, Pro-sumer, Consumer and let’s not forget to mention Bridge, Super-zoom, Compact, DSLR, HDSLR and they are just the ones I can think of, off the top of my head – which is now wildly spinning by the way.

I know from buying mobile phones, laptops, software and musical instruments in the past, that advances in technology have presented us, the consumer, with a bewildering choice and multitudes of over-lapping options, especially when it comes to deciding on brand association as well. Looking to buy my first DSLR having owned a Bridge camera for the last three years, has meant that once again I have had to go into full-on research mode and weigh-up more options that you can shake a monopod at!

So I had hoped that my experience of buying from these different market sectors would stand me in good stead. I knew that as long as I had a definitive use for what I wanted to shoot in the majority along with a budget, then this would almost certainly narrow the field to a choice of one or two. How wrong could I be? To date I have seriously considered over eight cameras and have settled on a final choice on three separate occasions. Ha. Even now I am slightly hesitant with my latest and hopefully final choice because of what some people call ‘buyers remorse’.

I knew from the outset that I wanted to develop my skills towards being semi-pro in Live music photography which is the home of low-light photography which also meant that after the initial criteria of budget was settled, ISO was the next major factor. It seems that Nikon is synonymous with excellent low-light performance so I started off down that route. It turns out that Nikon is significantly more expensive than other brands when comparing like for like. I quickly determined that my ‘perfect’ camera choice would be the Nikon D7000. Only problem was that it blew my budget – big time! So trying to stay with the Nikon side of things I looked at the D90 which appealed with the top-down LCD screen and exterior button controls. Rapid changing of ISO, Shutter Speed, Focus and Metering are very important when shooting a live concert, so no time to start drilling into screen menus.

The DSLR Forest

The DSLR Forest

So the D90 was looking good, very good in fact until I noticed the D5100 with enhanced HD video capability and higher resolution for a cheaper price than the D90. The drawback to the D90 was the resolution as I crop all my finished pictures and I was concerned that it was becoming ‘out-of-date’ technology and if I am to buy-in now it needs to be relevant for at least three years or more. So I turned my attentions to the D5100. This had fast auto-focus and a similar sensor to the D7000, so I was hoping to achieve all the great things the D7000 offered but in a less expensive package. It came close but fell short on the top LCD screen, lack of exterior buttons, burst rate and the user interface being clunky, even for Nikon which meant no super-fast way to change the crucial settings for me.

The D5100 was very frequently compared to the Canon 600D which put Canon on my map. I then had similar issues with the model ranges here looking at the 550D, 50D even the old 5D model (yes full frame) but none of them ticked all the right boxes. Canon seem to be inferior in noise level performance to the tune of one stop. So where Nikon can go to 6400 ISO with practically no noise, the Canon is on a par further back at 3200 ISO. But increasingly it is looking like this might be the only sacrifice I need to make as the Canon 60D is looking like the current favourite for me to buy. It seems that Canon’s models are discounted more and I can get more camera for my money than with Nikon. As I need to also invest in good lenses that offer f2.8 throughout the range I need to buy as economically as possible for the body and the prospect of being able to film some performances may create more opportunities for me in the future.

So unless the D7000 suffers a £250 price drop in the next couple of weeks or Sony, Pentax or Olympus release a killer camera, then it is looking like I will have finally made a decision and will take the plunge.

 

Now for the lenses……..gulp!

 

Useful sites that I have used in my research are;   (not endorsed in any way by Line and Light)

Digital Photography Review – Very well known and respected review site. Unbiased and thorough

Camera Labs – Gordon Laing presents many videos and very thorough reviews from Queensland, New Zealand

Snapsort – Great for any make camera comparisons, this link shows D90 vs 60D as an example

 

A new contributor to the LINE+LIGHT BLOG

  By Martine | 20/12/2011 - 7:05 pm | News Bulletin
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Any of you who have followed this blog over the last two years will know that it’s written by me, Martine Hamilton Knight, founder member of LINE+LIGHT. From the beginning of 2012 we shall have a new contributor, Simon Berry, a keen photographic enthusiast and team crew for my other business- BUILTVISION.

Simon will write from another perspective, with interests and experience very in tune with LINE+LIGHT clients. As a keen photography enthusiast, his shopping list for kit is likely to be on a par with the things you’re searching for, the tips and tricks he’s using whilst shooting are the things you want to know about, and the questions he’s finding answers about on your behalf are the things you want to read about as you photograph during 2012.

I shall continue to post course reports for Bob & I, and to tell you things that I think are relevant, but I shall enjoy reading what Simon posts and his contribution is greatly anticipated by us here at LINE+LIGHT.

So, its not ‘over and out’ for me, more a case of you spotting who has posted what, and whilst we don’t allow comments directly on the blog (we’ve had more spammers than hot dinners in 2011- 65,000 at one point- yes, truly!), this is still very much the platform in which we can answer and advise, so please email us at info@lineandlight.co.uk in the usual way, or send us a message via our Facebook site, and we’ll respond.

Have a fabulous Christmas and although we’ve not really seen any snow in the midlands this winter, I hope you can get out with your cameras over the festive season and post some great images to our Flickr site.

Seasons Greetings from the team- Martine, Bob, Paul, Melanie and…Simon!!

Using Photography in your Day to Day Life

  By Martine | 15/11/2011 - 11:02 am | Architectural & Interiors Photography, Learning to use your camera
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How many of you use your cameras outside of your specified ‘photo’ leisure time? I often wonder this as we meet LINE+LIGHT clients and I hear about your jobs, or your retirement time, and it seems that cameras creep into these elements of your life pretty regularly. Often its just a case of keeping your compact in a bag as you travel to and from the workplace, we hear stories of fabulous sunrises, or early morning mists. Some of you keep one with your sports equipment, for using on the golf course, or perhaps whilst walking the dog.

For me personally, I’ve seen a massive change in my patterns since starting LINE+LIGHT. Having been a commercial Architectural Photographer since 1990, photography was my day job, and other than actually going on holiday, it simply never occurred to me to carry a camera unless I was being paid to do so. For me, my leisure time represented other interests, and photography was certainly NOT a hobby. Since using images to teach with and to explain the photographic world to our clients, my folio of images with which to do so has had to upscale a hundred fold- I could demonstrate many things with my very large commercial archive; speed, aperture, lighting, colour temperature etc, but only with buildings- and after the 100th picture- oh how dull!

A beautiful staircase, but perhaps not the most exciting subject matter for some!

I’ve been forced to diversify my image making, and in doing so, have re-discovered the joy of the medium which drew me to my career in the first place. It seems I have an enthusiasm for subject matter which previously held little interest, Bob struggles to keep me away from the Birds of Prey day, I’m like a child in a sweet shop:) and guests will verify my enthusiasm for portraiture, macro, flowers….. to name but a few.

So, in short, what I’m saying is that doing this made me start to use my camera to describe the OTHER things in my life, and if you don’t already carry a camera outside of your specific photo trips, perhaps you should. It may awaken an interest in things you perhaps don’t currently think of as pleasurable subject matter. ENJOY!

First Course at Crich Tramway Village – October 17th 2011

  By Martine | 18/10/2011 - 7:21 pm | >NEW< LINE & LIGHT Photography Course, Course Report, Transport Photography
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Ten veteran LINE and LIGHT clients met Bob & I at The National Tramway Museum at Crich yesterday for some fabulous imaging opportunities and to help us roadtest our new course there.

Readers of this blog will know that we’ve been very excited to be working with the team at Crich, and to be based at their new education centre (which is VERY nice indeed!).

Crich can be very busy in the mid summer with visitors from far and wide, but on this rather chilly, dreary October day, it was really a case of us and only a handful of other guest in evidence over the entire site, which meant some VERY individual shot opportunities with the drivers and their fabulous historic working trams, and no pressure on either time spent with them, or in asking them to pose for the group.

In the afternoon, we were able to have 40 minute slots in the restoration workshop in small groups and a tutor, which allowed for some lovely portraits up close with craftsmen, the tools of the trade and the workshop atmosphere up close as opposed to being seen form a balcony afar as the public normally do. Our own double decker tram sat on the yard for us to explore leisurely too, and guests we able to climb on and off for details, top deck shots and viewpoints that wouldn’t usually be viable, or accessible if it were one of those in public service on the trackway.

At the end of the day we requested the all-vital feedback. Was it a success? Well, trying to second guess tram arrivals was tricky- getting in position for a shot and then discovering that drivers had gone for lunch was probably something we’d want to fine tune the timings for next time (oops!), but on the whole, the view was that there was SO much to photograph, the wonderful bonus of having re-entry for the following 12 months on a special LINE and LIGHT pass which was given to all guests on the day means that our course can be viewed as a vital recce with tuition, and backed up by a 12month opportunity to return and polish for some really sparkling results. Now that’s what I call a good plan for a course!

* Images Courtesy of Mark Price

Martine on the tracks with a guest at Crich

Bob and guests at Crich Tramway Village

Have you joined LINE and LIGHT’s Flickr groups yet?

  By Martine | 30/09/2011 - 6:55 pm | Learning to use your camera, News Bulletin
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Line and Light‘s two Flickr sites have been running for over eighteen months now, and we’re really glad we started them back in January 2010. There are two groups, one called LINE and LIGHT Friends and Pictures, where guests who’ve attended courses post their images from the days, and a second called the LINE and LIGHT Nottingham Group, which is for general images that guests have shot anywhere, of any subject. Most popular for this tends to be scenes of Nottingham itself, an we even have members who are locally based and enjoy contributing but actually haven’t been on LINE+LIGHT courses.

We value these posts, as two or three regular contributors, Guy Berresford (aka Berega) and Lamar Francois in particular are very skilled photographers, whose eyes enthuse and encourage others to go out and shoot what’s around them; their work is creative, technically accomplished and very inspirational.

We sometimes get images up from Dave Jones 2 too, and those who have attended our Digital Stage Days will recognise the name as he’s one of our regular assisting tutors, and his images are simply stunning.

However, the bulk of our contributors are in the first of the groups- Friends and Pictures, and we now have over 60 members. Their work is a testament to their visual progress, their expanding folio of images, and a great guide to image opportunities on LINE+LIGHT days. What never ceases to amaze me though is how you can put a bunch of people in front of the SAME subject, on the SAME day, in the SAME lighting, with the SAME tutor advocating a particular style, or lens choice and boy, how the results vary.

No two sets of eyes and brains are the same and the delightful variety of interpretations that come from a single scenario are a joy to see. Sometimes of course, the technical barriers that certain group members still have to overcome as they learn their craft means that some images are far stronger than others, but even those that perhaps would have benefitted from a different aperture choice, or a slightly stronger composition, will still have visual merits which place them as ‘valued images’ in the group pool.

If you joined the groups when you came on a course and haven’t posted since, well, we’d LOVE to hear from you and see what you’ve been up to recently. For these submissions, you’ll need to post to the Nottingham Group, and for course based images, it’s the ‘Friends’ group of course.

If you have a Flickr account and haven’t shared your images with us yet, log on, ask to join the group and I’ll sign you in. Submit away after that, as I tend to log on weekly and do a batch upload.

See you there………….!

 

 

New Season’s Beginners courses popular as ever

  By Martine | 15/09/2011 - 5:15 pm | Camera Equipment, Course Report, Learning to use your camera
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September 10th saw a full house at Papplewick Pumping Station, our base for the autumn’s Digital Stage 1 courses.

We always enjoy running Digital Stage 1 days as our clients are always either brand new to photography, or have been using their cameras for a while (sometimes years), but have reached an impasse with their kit, where pleasure is replaced by frustration; they’re not getting the results they want, but have no idea why.

We note the keen but slightly stressed air in the room after the introductions have gone round, and then watch the body language change with the first revelations about ISO, the joy on understanding histograms, and by first break, excited chatter between folk as they start to compare shots on their cameras from previous shoots, and are able to then interpret the results and see how exposures were created, successful or otherwise.

After the break, we move into practical operation and get shooting in Program mode, judging our results with histograms, adjusting the exposure using ev+- compensation and change ISO according to the varying indoor/outdoor situations.

It’s at this point I tend to say to people that even if they learn nothing else in the day,  just being confident with these controls is a massive leap forwards from where they were at 10am, and that the rest of what we’re going to teach them will be demonstrated and followed today, but will be ‘learned‘ on forays out with their cameras in the weeks that follow – its simply impossible to go from a starting point of zero, to full confidence with aperture and shutter priority in six or seven hours.

If you’re taking the first steps towards control with your camera, taking one new skill at a time and practising that single element, incorporating it into your shoots BEFORE moving onto the next control, is a really good idea. Its SO easy to get bamboozled, especially with a compact or bridge camera, where the controls are quite buried in menu systems and not easily accessible.

I began teaching a beginners night school class at Toothill Academy in the south-east of Nottinghamshire this month too, and three of the class members are really struggling to grasp photographic concepts with their limited control compact models. Watching the ‘eureka’ moments with the rest of the group who are armed with DSLR’s is very rewarding, and I do feel sorry for the compact brigade as it takes twice, or even three times as long to access features such as ev+-compensation on these models.

Anyone who knows me, has been taught by me, or even reads this blog will know that I passionately advocate the use of compact and bridge cameras though, I’m simply not a camera snob. I would always personally purchase models with as many manual controls as possible though, it annoys me that so many compact cameras are ‘dumbed down’  with scene modes rather than proper aperture or shutter speed dials. Its really hard trying to explain to someone that when they’re using the running man scene mode, that their camera is using shutter priority and selecting a fast shutter speed, and that in firework mode its using a slow shutter speed to catch the colour trails!

Nonetheless, even if someone turned up with a phone I’d teach them what I could, but certainly, the vast majority of guests who seek LINE+LIGHT’s training are DSLR users, excited with their kit, and keen to explore the wonderful world that photography brings to them.

 

 

 

Website re-launched- new courses, new prices, dates until December 2012

  By Martine | 01/09/2011 - 2:56 am | >NEW< LINE & LIGHT Photography Course, News Bulletin
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We’ve uploaded the new look website this week. We think its simpler, bolder, brighter, more exciting, and will entice anyone with a camera and an interest to come and spend some time with LINE+LIGHT learning and having fun this autumn.

Information about our new days at Crich Tramway Village, and our new Image Assessment Workshop can be found, together with a page about HDSLR Video Training which we hope to introduce in summer 2012. Bookings taken since mid August show a massive preference for card payments, a few people still prefer to use cheque or BACS, but most prefer to chat to us and pay over the phone. We’re also able to take the machine out to our practical days for re-bookings, where we’ll be offering incentives for future courses.

The new season kicks off on Septmeber 10th with Digital Photography Stage 1, which is a sell-out, and followed by Adobe Elements Stage 1 on September 17th.

Learn HDSLR Video skills with Line+Light

 

LINE+LIGHT Website re-vamp announcment and new payment options

  By Martine | 14/08/2011 - 3:27 pm | News Bulletin
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Whilst we’re on summer ‘down time’, we’re far from idle. We’ve spent time over the last few months canvassing feedback from clients about how they use the website- is it easy to navigate? Can they find what they’re looking for?

It seemed that a few folk, especially those looking for beginners courses, were a little bamboozled by the variety on offer and felt they needed channelling a little more into the area of learning they wanted to concentrate on. So, we’re taking this time to look at the design hierarchy, strip it back and try and see if we can make the homepage simpler. If we can lower the number of options at the top level, but offer the user further choices further in, we might succeed.

Currently we have 12 boxes on the grid, we propose to go back to 9 (which is how the site looked in 2009). At the same time, we want to be able to give clients more options on pricing, course packages and flag up special offers etc.  If you have any suggestions for us, do give Martine a call. We now have our new GPRS Barclaycard machine installed too. This means that we can now take phone payments by Debit or credit card. Being able to instantly pay for courses makes booking much easier for clients, and means we can process payments for courses much closer to the time they are running.

If you spot a course you fancy doing that’s only a day or two away, its worth checking if we have space as now we can take that last minute booking!

Exciting new course announced for autumn 2011

  By Martine | 25/07/2011 - 10:21 am | >NEW< LINE & LIGHT Photography Course, Transport Photography
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Summer is a time when most keen photographers are out with their cameras on days out and holidays, and we’ve learned that its not a period when we can expect high attendances on our courses, so we tend to stop around mid July and resume again in September as the academic year kicks off again.  Summer 2011 is no exception, but here at Light+Light we’re not resting on our laurels- far from it!

We’re forward planning with all of our venues to bring you course  dates for 2012, and these should be on the website by September 1st. We’ve managed to secure dates at our most popular locations and in addition have begun to design a new course for the autumn, this will fit into our stable of courses which are based at significant midlands heritage venues, such as our popular Papplewick Pumping Station day.

The new course is to be based at The National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire. The Tramway Village has been in receipt of a Heritage Lottery Fund and now boasts a fabulous new education centre where we shall be able to run from. This will be our second base in Derbyshire, as we’ve run many events from English Heritage’s Bolsover Castle  since 2009. Whilst there are many beautiful historic buildings on the site, the focus this time is on vintage transport, as the musuem is home to the national collection of trams, mostly British, with some international tramcars too. They are a working fleet, operating on over two miles of hillside track, with unlimitied riding throughout the day for visitors.

Line + Light’s day will follow the established pattern of our DAYS OUT series, meeting at 10am on location with a classroom briefing followed by guided tuition throughout the day. There should be several ‘ons’ as Bob likes to call them, which will give our guests unique access and experiences which usual day visitors to Crich won’t have, so watch out for the course page coming on the website soon. we anticpate that the first event will be on Monday 17th October, and then will run reguarly from Easter onwards next year.

Vintage tram at Crich Tramway Village

Crich Tramway Village- new location for Line+Light courses