Photographing Seals in the Farne Islands

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This was a September 2022 trip to photograph the famous Farne Island seals. The weather was kind to us - but the water clarity was not! As you'll see it was pretty murky & the seals didn't really want to play. It was great fun though :-)

First Outing for SPORTS IMAGES WITH IMPACT 2

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I delivered my new talk at Nottm & Notts Photographic Society this week - SPORTS IMAGES WITH IMPACT 2 – getting the iconic shots.

As my sports photography has developed I‘ve become a little frustrated because I’m not getting the really dramatic shots I’m after. It’s often difficult to capture a powerful sports shot during competitions because the chances of it happening are slim and even if you do there’s often just too much going on in the background for it to be a clean shot.

To get around this I’ve developed a mobile studio approach to photograph the iconic poses. Working with the club or sporting body we plan a staged shoot in great detail, specifically to capture the dramatic shots. I find that the clubs are really enthusiastic and co-operative because, of course, they want the shots too.

In this talk I show how I go about it by using “Behind the Scenes” videos and stories. Sports covered include; weightlifting, table tennis, swimming, fencing, high board diving & several more.

The talk was well received and I really enjoyed delivering it. Watching the behind the scenes videos takes me straight back to the shoots, all of which were great fun to do.

An image from the Fencing shoot - click on the image if you’d like to see the video.

Click on the image if you’d like to see the video.

The Kendo Shoot Video

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Here’s the video from our recent Kendo shoot. If you’d like to learn more about the shoot you can do that here. Many thanks to the Gaku Shi Juku Kendo Kai club - you were great guys!

A Dance Question from Australia...

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I was recently asked this question via Email. In replying I realised this is the methodology I use to get to the optimum settings for all my shoots, so I thought I’d publish it in case others might find it useful :-)

Hi David,

A friend of mine has asked if I could take a couple of photos of her a local ballroom/Latin dance event. I have no idea what I’m doing so came across you & your fabulous photos while frantically searching for information on camera settings, lens etc.

I did shoot her at practice… and it’s fast. My images were all noisy & grainy so am reaching out to you with fingers crossed and hopeful that you may share some of your tip to help me capture at least one image for her.

My gear;

- Canon RP
- 24-105 / f4
- 70-200 / f4
- 85 / f1.6

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks, Claire, Cairns, Australia

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Hi Claire,

I’m guessing lack of light will be your main problem - this is often the case indoors.

Turn your camera to Manual Mode - we are going to work through logically to get the optimum settings for Aperture, Shutter Speed & ISO;

Aperture (depth of field)

Shoot at the lowest Aperture you can - this lets most light into the camera.

I'd use the 85mm lens & shoot at F2.8 - you only need the dancers sharp, everything behind can be blurred, that makes the dancers stand out. With the other lenses (but I'd try to not to use them) shoot at F4.

Shutter speed

Shoot at the lowest shutter speed you can - this lets most light into the camera.

Start with 1/200s & use auto ISO so the camera gets a good exposure. Take a shot then zoom in on the back screen of the camera;

  • are they blurred? (i.e. motion movement) - shoot faster

  • are they sharp? - shoot slower

Keep going slower until they go blurred - then slowly faster until they are sharp again. You now know the minimum shutter speed to keep them sharp.

ISO

Shoot at the lowest ISO you can - this will give you the best quality image (i.e. less noise / grain).

Deselect Auto ISO & go to manual ISO & start at ISO 400. Take a shot & then use the histogram (or just look at the back screen if you're not comfortable using the histogram);

  • is it over exposed? - lower the ISO

  • is it under exposed? - raise the ISO

Keep going until you get the minimum possible ISO

This would be the way I would approach any new situation to get to the optimum camera settings.

Hope this helps.

Regards, David

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