Brian Ollivierre’s Blog

One of the common problems that many new digital (and film) photographers have is ‘camera shake’ where images seem blurry - usually because the camera was not held still enough while the shutter was depressed. This is especially common in shots taken in low light situations where the shutter is open for longer periods of time. Even the smallest movement of the camera can cause it and the only real way to eliminate it is with a tripod.

Adding to camera shake is a technique that is increasingly common with digital camera users of holding the camera at arms length away from them as they take shots - often with one hand. While this might be a good way to frame your shot the further away from your body (a fairly stable thing) you hold the camera the more chance you have of swaying or shaking as you take your shot.

Tripods are the best way to stop camera shake because they have three sturdy legs that keep things very still - but if you don’t have one then another simple way to enhance the stability of the camera is to hold onto it with two hands.

While it can be tempting to shoot one handed a two hands will increase your stillness (like three legs on a tripod being better than one).

Exactly how you should grip your camera will depend upon what type of digital camera you are using and varies from person to person depending upon preference. There is no real right or wrong way to do it but here’s the technique that I like to  use:

1. Use your right hand to grip the right hand end of the camera. Your forefinger should sit lightly above the shutter release, your other three fingers curling around the front of the camera. Your right thumb grips onto the back of the camera. Most cameras these days have some sort of grip and even impressions for where fingers should go so this should feel natural. Use a strong grip with your right hand but don’t grip it so tightly that you end up shaking the camera. 

2. The positioning of your left hand will depend upon your camera but in in general it should support the weight of the camera and will either sit underneath the camera or under/around a lens if you have a DSLR.

3.    If you’re shooting using the view finder to line up your shot you’ll have the camera nice and close into your body which will add extra stability but if you’re using the LCD make sure you don’t hold your camera too far away from you. Tuck your elbows into your sides and lean the camera out a little from your face (around 30cm). Alternatively use the viewfinder if it’s not too small or difficult to see through (a problem on many point and shoots these days).

4. Add extra stability by leaning against a solid object like a wall or a tree or by sitting or kneeling down. If you have to stand and don’t have anything to lean on for extra support put your feet shoulder width apart to give yourself a steady stance. The stiller you can keep your body the stiller the camera will be.

Gripping a camera in this way will allow you flexibility of being able to line up shots quickly but will also help you to hold still for the crucial moment of your shutter being open.

Another quick tip - before you take your shot take a gentle but deep breath, hold it, then take the shot and exhale. The other method people use is the exact opposite - exhale and before inhaling again take the shot. It’s amazing how much a body rises and falls simply by breathing - being conscious of it can give you an edge.

Of course each person will have their own little techniques that they are more comfortable with and ultimately you need to find what works best for you - but in the early days of familiarizing yourself with your new digital camera it’s worth considering your technique.

One last note - this post is about ‘holding a camera’ in a way that will help eliminate camera shake. It’s not rocket science - but it’s amazing how many people get it wrong and wonder why their images are blurry.

There are of course many other techniques for decreasing camera shake that should be used in conjunction with the way you hold it. I will go in to more detail in the future.

Check out some of my flickr pic’s here. 

Looking for some ideas? Here are some for when you become a real unmotivated photographer.

• Take another look at your garden.

You’ve probably taken plenty of photos in your garden: family gatherings, barbecues, or the kids playing. Look again and and see what details you might have missed. Have you ever photographed the wildflowers along the back fence? What about the shadows the swings cast at sunset? What does the garden look like at different perspectives? What about when you zoom in on the rose bush plant or the row of runner beans? If you don’t have a garden, is there a green space you walk past every day? Try to look at it as if for the first time. What do you see?

• Try a still life at home.

All you need is a cloth taped to your wall and arranged over your kitchen counter. Try a variety of things as your subjects: the fruit and cereal you’re having for breakfast, the sandwich you made for lunch. Try an arrangement of vegetables from your garden, or hone in on single fruits and vegetables. In one of the first exams I took in creative photography I used a coffee cup and did a series of photos called a day in a life of…..a cup! And guess what? it worked! (i passed). Now pay attention to the light. Soft light from a side window might be best, but experiment with artificial light and flash too. Use your imagination.

• Observe the light moving through your house as the day passes.

Even if you’re busy working around the house, set a timer each hour to check where the light is now. Is there a soft glow that moves down your hallway as the morning progresses? What do the hard shadows from the blinds fall on? Take a look out the window every hour too. What interesting patterns of light are moving across your yard? Even if you don’t take any photos, observing light like this will make you more aware and better prepared when you’re planning a shoot.

• Go find some water.

Even if it’s just water running over some fruit in the sink, water can be a fascinating, complex subject for photography. Yes there is water in the sink, rivers, the sea as rain it’s everywhere. Google ‘water’  images for inspiration.  Any body of water, constantly changing, can offer unique opportunities for photography. Experiment with different shutter speeds, time of day for different moods in perhaps the the same location. You need not travel far.

• Photograph objects from an ant’s perspective.

Especially if your camera has macro capabilities, try studying the textures of objects by zooming as close as you can, eliminating distracting objects. What do your jeans look like up close? The bark of a tree? Cracked mud on the riverbank? Try looking at objects in a different way, composing your photos for an abstract effect. Or try your hand at more typical macro photography subjects: flowers, leaves, insects, fruit, small objects like screws or pencil shavings.

• Experiment with post processing software. 

Sometimes, I just don’t want to go somewhere to shoot anything new, but I’m still in the mood to make a photo. I often take this opportunity to learn some new photo editing tricks. If you mainly use photo editing software to crop and reduce the size of your photos, try some of your program’s more advanced features. If you don’t have photo editing software, try downloading free software like Picasa or GIMP, both available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. GIMP has many of the features of the expensive Photoshop software. A variety of tutorials for GIMP are available online:

◦ GIMP.org Tutorials

◦ GIMP-Tutorials.com

◦ Gimpology

◦ GIMP Talk

◦ GIMP Tutorials at the Tutorial Blog - list of tutorial websites

The next time you’re in the photography mood but lack inspiration, don’t just spend the whole day on Flickr. Try some of these ideas or brainstorm your own today to prepare for those boring afternoons.

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the Club Entrepreneur Event in Crawley Sussex, what a day! Not only was the room packed with up and coming and very successful entrepreneurs, it was a great opportunity to grab some photos (which i’ll post in due course). Present were my good friend Tamkin Riaz, Alex McMillan and Nathan Goldberg. How could I forget the distinguished John Patterson and of course the great former world IBO champion Billy Schwer pictured below.

OK here we go, in this post I’m taking a look at smaller day trip camera bags. In a future post I’ll include the larger,multi-day or multiple camera bags but for now, let’s keep it small and simple. Rather than tell you which kind of bag to pick (as that would be nearly impossible as there really are too many choices), I’ll ask some useful questions and point out helpful features to help narrow the very wide field of possibilities. And let me just say I enjoy having a bag for different uses, be it a long trip (air travel), weekend outing or just walking around town. An important point is security, the first thing is “does it look like a camera bag?” especially for a day pack this should influence your decision. 

Backpack or front pack?

Let’s start off with where you will be carrying the bag. I’d put forth that the comfort of a camera bag is paramount and thus, where you carry it is equally important. Some people prefer the backpack only, some like something that can clip on a belt and others prefer something in between, like a messenger bag over one shoulder. If you’re not sure, find a friend or two with the different bags and try them out. Load them down with about 4lbs/2kg of weight to get a realistic idea. Another option is an over the shoulder bag, meant to be worn on one side or the other. An example would be the Crumpler bag pictured above, with enough room for camera, one lens and a flash.

Is speed of access important to you?

This question points to how you plan to use your camera. Will you be making a lot of trips where quick access while hiking long distances is important? Do you take it a bit slower and shoot a lot of scenics where stopping often and removing a pack is likely? If the former, a front pack is probably your best bet. A lot of people don’t like to wear their camera around their neck for long periods of time due to strain. This is where the front pack comes in handy. And yet, it may be a bit bulky on your waist so try many different styles on before deciding. Many, like the Lowe Pro Toploader 65 AW bag pictured above, which comes with a belt slot which allows you to attach it to your belt, or an optional Chest Harness with Cinch Straps, a great alternative. Make sure the straps are comfortable and adjust to your proper height.

Also, if you get a front pack, it is very handy to have the lid open AWAY from your body. If the lid opens towards you, it tends to get in the way of removing the camera as the lid can not open fully.

What else are you carrying?

On this point I’d caution you to keep the load to a minimum. If you can’t live without 3 lenses and a camera then you’ll have to expand a bit. But if you can keep your daybag to only include a good all around lens and maybe an external flash, the space and weight saved will be worth it. Check out the pockets of the pack and make sure there is ample organization for what you plan on carrying (flash cards, batteries, notebook, snack, etc…). One large pocket is not the best use of space and will add more wear and tear to your gear. Most bags now a days have handy pockets for flash cards and batteries, such as the Tamrac bag shown above with its quick access pocket for cards. Use this chance to examine what you carry and if it’s really necessary for a quick trip around town or the woods.

Slingbags…the wave of the future?

Slingbags might be called the hybrids of the backpack and front pack. The idea is to wear the bag on your back and when a camera is needed, you simply sling the bag around to the front using just one strap. The LowePro bag featured here has a side opening with a panel that opens away from the body to make access to your gear even easier. At the time of writing a Lowepro Slingshot 200AW is my chosen day bag. Another positive point is it doesn’t look like a typical camera bag, the same can be said of the Crumpler range.

Comfortable and quick, these bags are a good mix if you desire a backpack and want quick access.

Some features to look for in any pack:

• Zipper pulls– These are the little tags on the end of a zipper. Without them you will be fumbling around more than you wish when the weather outside might be chill. Some have bits of reflective tape on them which is always a good idea (most bags are black)
• See thru pockets – If there is more than one pocket, it’s great to be able to spot the contents from the outside. Just make sure the plastic these pockets are made of is sturdy and built to last.
• Padding – Padding can be tricky. There shouldn’t be too much as to make the bag too bulky. Yet, it should provide ample protection in the right areas. Especially make sure the padding on the bottom is up to the beating it will take. Often the front of the lens is here so don’t be afraid to add in your own to help protect your investment.
• Quality buckles and snaps – Check out the buckles and see if they look thin or flimsy. I also like to figure out how hard it’ll be to replace a broken buckle in the future. Some are sewn in hard and fast and require an experienced seamstress to repair. Others can be fixed with a 10 minute visit to an outdoor or camera shop.
• Removable parts - A lot of bags have panels attached with velcro. These are great for customizing or simply removing when you want more space.

Some features to avoid

• Built in rain cover – I’ll admit, this one can go either way. Some prefer to carry a separate rain cover that will fit other packs. Just consider if it’s worth the extra cash for an integrated rain cover if you’ll rarely be out in such weather? Or you could simply save money and buy a cheap cover that’ll fit a range of bags.
• Too many loops or straps – If there are too many attachment loops or straps, you’re bound to get them caught some place at the wrong moment. Airport security checkpoints comes to mind. Also, loops can catch on objects when passing by, such as in a crowded market. Keep the bag lean and sleek to make movement easier
• Plastic zippers – Look for high quality zippers that move easily.
• Mesh pockets – Mesh tends to catch things and make items hard to remove from pockets. It’s also hard to clean after a couple months on the road.

The choices for a daybag are nearly endless. Hopefully some of the pointers here will help steer you to a bag that is right for you. And that’s one of the most important aspects; make sure the bag is right for you no matter how fashionable or hip it is. If a £5 padded bag from a street vendor works, use it! If you’re looking for a few more features, I hope this post will give you plenty of ideas in considering your purchase of a day bag for you camera.

Things have been really hectic lately and I really need to add more content to my blog. Coming soon, will be my events calender, tips and photography lessons and of course my photography website so folks know more about what I do. Watch this space!!  

1. Visit a new place

There’s nothing quite like visiting somewhere that you’ve never been to before to open your eyes wide and make you reach for your camera. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m always at my most productive when I visit a new location or find myself in a new situation.

The Caribbean is a great example - both before and after my visit, I’ve taken very few photos here in Britain, but during my visit I took several thousand photos in a 3-5 week period. Having nothing to do all day except wander around, taking photos in the sunshine and eating nice food certainly helped, but the simple change of location was the biggest factor.

You don’t have to travel abroad for such a long period of time to get your creative juices flowing again. A visit to a nearby town, a picturesque spot in the country, or the seaside will provide the perfect excuse to blow the dust off your camera and load some film/insert a memory card. If you live in the country, visit your nearest city for a completely different experience, and vice-versa if you live in the city.

The new place may only be a few miles away from where you live - we all tend to overlook what is nearby in favour of what we perceive as more interesting locations. A lot of the photos are of places that I have never seen before, despite only being a 30-minute drive away from Central London. So London is a rather extreme example, but I bet if you take a look at a map there are several interesting local places that you have never visited before.

Visiting somewhere for the first time is a guaranteed way to get you out of a photographic rut. You may not take fantastic photos as you madly rush around snapping whatever moves (or doesn’t), but then you have the perfect excuse to go back and visit again later!

2. Attend a public event

Attending a public event is both a good way to get back into the swing of things from a photography point of view, and also helps to overcome any fears that you have of photographing people. Pointing your camera at someone is often one of the hardest things to do as a photographer, but at a public event people will expect to have their picture taken, whether it’s by the professional with all the expensive kit and the press-pass or the amateur who has arrived early for the best view. If someone doesn’t want to be photographed, they will soon make it obvious, but you will find that most people will just ignore you, and some may even stop for a chat!

Public events are usually one-of-a-kind occurrences that offer something completely different to the usual things that you photograph. Whether it’s a public march against the war with Iraq, a trip to the circus, or a local football match, all of them will provide a different challenge, make you think about what you are doing and therefore get your brain out of neutral and into a higher gear.

Public events are also something that you can plan for and work towards. You will know that on Saturday next week you will definitely be at such-and-such event as a photographer, so you can prepare for it accordingly and maybe even get excited about it. They’ll give you a concrete reason for getting out there and using your camera and because they usually only happen once, you will feel compelled to attend them, whatever the weather.

Photography magazines often list upcoming events on a national scale, but the best place to start is your local newspaper or website, which will feature similar smaller-scale events. Pick out a few that interest you, make a note in your diary and make sure that leave the warmth of your armchair and attend them!

3. Carry a camera everywhere

The first thing that I want to admit is that I don’t actually do this all the time, but mostly depending on where I go.

So if your journey to work is a little more exciting than mine, or better still if you don’t actually have to go to work (!), then a small, pocketable camera could prove to be the ideal way to keep your photography alive and interesting. It doesn’t matter if the end result doesn’t match the quality of your main camera - just so long as you keep taking pictures and looking at the world through the eyes of a photographer, rather than as a passer-by. Even if you only take a few shots every other day, that’s a lot better than only going out once a month or however often you go on a photography day-out.

4. Enter a competition

Entering a photography competition can be a great way of defeating the photography blues, especially if you are required to try something new in order to enter. Just selecting an image from your existing library of photos and entering it is not what I’m talking about here - you need to either select a competition with a theme for which you have no suitable images, or force yourself to go and shoot something new.

Competitions are good because they impose a deadline and they challenge you to do the best that you possibly can, simply because other photographers are doing exactly the same thing. You can’t be late with your entry and you can’t be half-hearted about it either - perfect for getting you out of the armchair at least several times in the next few days/weeks.

Best of all, you could even win a prize for all that effort! The old adage is “you won’t win unless you enter”, so don’t be intimidated if you think that previous entries are beyond your photographic capabilities - how will you know until you try? And even if you don’t win that latest and greatest digital gizmo, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve given it your best shot and that you have started using your camera again.

Most of the major photography magazines run year-long competitions that have monthly rounds with specific themes; in the UK, Practical Photography, Photography Monthly and Amateur Photographer all do this. Each round offers a prize, with an even better prize going to the overall winner.

Alternatively, there are lots of websites that run regular competitions.

5. Set yourself a theme or project

A lot of amateur/semi-professional photographers, myself included, will go out for a few hours, camera in hand, with no real idea of what they want to shoot. Personally I don’t think there’s anything wrong in doing that - a great photograph will often present itself in the least expected of places - just so long as you don’t do it all the time. All of my tips are based on breaking the routine and trying something new, so if you always go out with only a vague idea of what you want to shoot, you are already falling into a routine. Worse still, if there is no continuity to what you are doing there is no way of measuring if you are improving or not. Setting yourself a specific project may sound a bit too much like being back at school, but it can help to give some much-needed structure to your photography.

Photography projects don’t have to be several months or years long, as is often often suggested. During my recent 3-5week trip to the Caribbean, I quickly noticed that Santo Domingo had a lot of beautiful buildings with interesting doorways. Most of them were numbered and had faded, peeling facades that were a photographer’s dream. Or at least I thought so anyway. Before I knew it, I was stopping and taking photos of every old doorway that I could find, driving my friends crazy in te process. 3 weeks later and I now have hundreds of old doorway photographs, which are quite interesting individually but even more so when taken as an overall project. I haven’t decided how to present them yet, although I quite like the idea of compiling thumbnails into one master image. I didn’t go to the Caribbean with the intention of photographing doorways (I’m not that mad), but once the basic idea had taken root, it was hard to stop.

A project can quickly form a body of photographs that works both as a whole and as individual images. Having one great photo of the swan on your local lake is fine, but what if you had a series of photos of the swan through the seasons, in flight, with its young? You would have a great collection of images that tells a story, rather than just a single image that captures one particular moment in time. And best of all, you would have been on many photography trips in order to get those images, returning again and again to improve the quality of your photos and the quality of the overall project. Which is the whole point of this article - to get out there and start taking photographs again

So there you have it. 5 relatively simple ways to beat the photography blues. If you have any more bright ideas (and I’m sure that you will) then click the link below to post them.