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MonoChrome course discounts

I have spent the last few days updating my website with new MasterClasses, Workshops and Courses based in Bristol throughout 2015. There are new early bird discounts, introduction discounts and buy one get a second course reduced offers on the ABC of CameraWork Courses and a Lightroom 5 for beginners course. I have place emphasis on grouping participants with similar learning needs together. To facilitate this many of the learning opportunities are described as either Advanced, Intermediate or Beginners coursesRead more
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Master Photographers worry about appropriate lighting

You may think that the light is the light, because its all you have when you have your camera to hand. Time of day and year makes a huge difference to the direction and angle of light and hence its appropriateness to the picture. Think about the direction and quality of lighting and the shadows it will create in your pictures. The direction and quality of lighting is everything to a master photographer. Do you need to learn about theRead more

A lighter camera bag – 3

I like the composition of this picture taken the other evening down in Bristol docks. I am still getting to grips with the vagaries of the X-T1. Fuji claim world beating focus speed for this camera – how true that is I can not comment. I did find however that the accuracy of focusing will be improved if the focus area is made as small as possible (50% smaller than default) and the focus assist button (zooms to 100% atRead more
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The art of repetition

Click on the picture, Hit F11 and then Cont + scroll your mouse wheel so the picture fills the monitor. Getting on for nearly a year ago I did a post called “Allowing perception to mature” that was very well received, see it at andybeelfrps.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/allowing-perception-to-mature/ Here is another example of forgetting an interesting picture taken in an art gallery in The Hague last autumn. The point about leaving pictures for a while (months or years) to mature before they areRead more
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Dakhari – before and after

Dakhari is a model and singer. The plan for the portraiture shoot yesterday evening was to shoot her with studio lighting. I kept checking the ambient lighting in the local graveyard as the sun was setting in the early evening. The first time I checked the light in the graveyard, it was dull and flat. Ten minutes later the sun had come out from behind a cloud and provided the wonderful illumination you see here. Below is the original colourRead more
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Henley Royal Regatta

A punter at the Henley Royal Regatta reading the Evening Standard 1987. This shot was probably part of my LRPS panel. It was specifically selected as it met the criteria about understanding light. I used to use this print in a talk entitled “just Me” years ago. I made comments in the talk about the expensive cars such as Mercs and Jags at the event and how gallons of Pimms was drunk. A big hello to all the new followersRead more
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Old darkroom prints 3 – Mike Eustace LRPS

I first met Mike Eustace on a black and white photography evening class at Brunel Tech College as it was then in the late 1980’s. The course was run by a very well known full time photography lecturer called Brian Tuff. The aim of the course was to get to a standard to allow you to apply for an LRPS without total grace at the first hurdle! In the days before auto focus cameras I distinctly remember Mike saying toRead more
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Old B&W darkroom prints

A long time ago I did studio portraiture. This picture of a Goth was taken and printed in 1989. This print may have been in my Licentiate or Associateship applications to the Royal Photographic Society. Both applications were successful in 1989. I became a Fellow the RPS in 1990. For a jolly wheeze this afternoon I put my camera with a 50mm lens at f11 on a tripod in my kitchen and copied a few of my old darkroom prints.Read more
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The two in one

To quote the AA* (not the Automobile Association) there is always two people described in a portrait. The sitter and the photographer. So when a photographer takes a selfie, the contemporary self portrait – is that still the same scenario? Answers on a postcard. Was I just being a sad old git with no one to take my portrait or was I trying out a new second hand tripod head? *AA – Ansel Adams. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2014 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more

No 1 The Circus, Bath

Hi just to prove that I am still around as I have not put anything up on my blog for a while! Here is a shot from the ABC of CameraWork Course I ran at No 1 The Circus in Bath yesterday. The one day ABC of CameraWork course looks at all the decisions knowingly or unknowingly made in the process of raising the camera to the eye, composing a picture and pressing the shutter release. As a taster theRead more
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Richmond Bicycle Repair Man

This shot was taken on a two day Pixels to Print workshop I ran in Richmond, London last week. I was inside the shop at Active Cycles on Mortlake Road with a 24mm lens at f4. On the workshop we were looking at depth of field and the four controlling factors: Sensor size, lens focal length, Aperture and distance to the subject. If you are interested in photographing strangers but are a little nervous about approaching them see the weiry.com/100strangers Read more

Usable windows 8 goodnews

For those of you like me who finds the Windows 8 Interface totally baffling and irrelevant, I have good news for you. A soon to be client of mine, John told me about start8 – stardock which is the Windows 7 interface, the one with a Start button applied to Windows 8. See http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/features.asp Apparently this little programme has had over 1 million downloads at $5 a time. I think I am going wrong somewhere! The picture above was takenRead more
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Best of photo blogs poll

My blog is currently voted first in a best of photo blogs poll carried out at http://munchow.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/best-of-blogs-round-2/ My thanks go to Otto von Munchow for setting up the poll and adding mine to the list of contenders. Why not take a look and vote. I am pleased to say my blog has now over 1000 followers, so its not a little blog any more. These statues were taken in the back of a gallery in The Hague while I wasRead more
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Digital mono print talk

I am pleased to announce that I will be giving a talk called “The digital monochrome print” on the Wirral in the UK at the Vauxhall Motors Sports and Social Club, Rivacre Road, Ellesmere Port this coming Sunday afternoon. If there are any remaining tickets they can purchased through John Rowell  on 01286 872361. This is quite a prestigious event and I’m quite delighted to be invited to give the presentation bearing in mind the quality of the previous speakersRead more
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Chaplain – Bristol Cathedral 2013

The picture opposite is called “Chaplain – Bristol Cathedral 2013” and was taken on an ABC of CameraWork(c) course I ran yesterday. The purpose of the ABC of CameraWork(c) courses is to help photographers think about the process of making pictures when looking through the camera viewfinder. I help them think about the various decisions that are made knowingly or unknowingly in the process of raising the camera to the eye and pressing the camera shutter release. I will beRead more
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Monochrome is not just taking the colour out

Monochrome photography is not about just removing “the prettiness of colour” to quote the late Barry Thornton. I have not posted a before and after picture for a while so here is one called “Orthodox Priest”. The reason why this picture works for me is that I have controlled the highlight contrast provided by the two light sources i.e. the door in the background and the window to the left of the picture just out of shot. This was doneRead more
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How to make glamorous soft skin tones in Lightroom 4

As you may be aware studio photography is now not a great interest of mine. I did a lot of studio photography in my film days about 25 years ago and felt happy in that situation. Since the digital revolution I have not really done much studio photography. So now I do the occasional studio shoot. I was pleased to be invited to take part in the shoot with Steve and Amelia. Amelia is currently “Miss Oxford”. So the principlesRead more

Questions and Answers…

Please look at the picture against a grey background. This was shot last Saturday morning down in the centre of Bristol. I was out with the Bristol Photography Group on one of their challenges, although I don’t do challenges. I just like to get away from staring at a PC every now and again. Just to throw in a few thoughts for you I have just finished reading a book by David Ward on landscape photography. He raises a fewRead more
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Zombie

Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. This a rare studio shot from me. Taken last Friday evening just after All Hallows Eve. Look at the detail in make-up on the Zombies skin. A big hello to all the new followers of my little blog this week. I am off to Tiverton in Devon this evening to give my talk called the “Untitled monochrome talk.” Fortunately the audience will not be subjected to this picture. (c)Read more
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Feeling blue

Please look at the picture full size. The adaptability and openness to interpretation of a file in black and white is tremendous. I think that has always been the attraction of black and white for me whether done in the darkroom or digitally, it so open to personal interpretation. To show how adaptable it can be this portrait was originally conceived and lit as a low-key picture. The file has been brightened by 4 1/2 stops in Lightroom and theRead more
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Who is that?

Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. This picture called “Who is that” was taken in France a few years ago. What attracted me to put it on the blog seven years later is the direct stare at the camera lens of the guy on the RHS who is in conversation with other two. In effect this a picture about the guy on the RHS’s attitude to me photographing them and the look on his face.Read more