Monthly Archives: July 2014

Featured Photographer Alan Hinchliffe

Today’s featured photographer is Alan Hinchliffe. Alan is a nature and wildlife photographer from South Yorkshire, England. He is half of a two person photography team, known as Jackal Photography. Together they shoot a wide range of nature and wildlife images. Jackal Photography’s work can be seen on their website at Jackal Photography. Alan has had his images published in several magazines, one currently on show in the Leeds Natural History Museum, and an image in the 2015 RSPB calendar which is due out on 11 July 2014. (Editors note – RSPB is the Royal Society for Protection of Birds)

Robin

Robin taken from the garden shed. Copyright Alan Hinchliffe

Alan, tell us more about Jackal Photography …


I set up jackalphotography 2 years ago. It is a combination of me, Alan Hinchliffe, and my other half, Jacqueline Bamber. We have both been into photography for 6 to 7 years. The website was really something I wanted to try my hand at, and to show some of our favorite nature and animal captures.

What are your favorite places to photograph wildlife in the UK?

We are pretty lucky because our favorite places are wildlife parks and nature reserves, and we have some great ones local to us. The Yorkshire Wildlife Park is pretty new and its an amazing place, huge enclosures, a great selection of animals and camera friendly – not too many mesh fences.

Lioness

Lioness at The Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Copyright Alan Hinchliffe

RSPB Old Moor is about 5 minutes drive and it has several hides. The garden hide is set up with perches and has a corner for photographers to sit. It also has some great wildlife, flowers, and bugs for practicing your macro shots.

When you go to a wildlife park what gear is in your bag?

In my bag is a Canon 7D which is ideal for my wildlife needs with its high burst rate and great auto focus with the Canon 100-400mm lens. It is a sharp and versatile lens and is almost always attached to my camera. I also carry a recently purchased Sigma 105mm macro lens, spare batteries, memory cards, cleaning cloths, and that’s it!

It is now mid summer in the UK, what photo shoots do you have planned for this time of year?

For the next few months I will be getting out to do some macro work. At this time of year its great for bugs and wild flowers. I will also take a trip to the coast to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see the nesting seabirds – the thousands of gulls and gannets they get there each year is quite a sight!

Shield Bug

Shield Bug at RSPB Old Moor. Copyright Alan Hinchliffe

What are your top 3 tips for nature and wildlife photography enthusiasts in the UK summer?

Usually I would say – take an umbrella! – but its been a pretty good summer so far. Seriously though, macro is the way to go in the UK summer. So visit a nature reserve or get out in the garden or countryside and start looking for some bugs to shoot.

Gannets

Gannets at RSPB Bempton Cliffs. Copyright Jacqueline Bamber

Also places well known for seabird colonies like Bempton Cliffs, or Farne Islands for the puffins and gannets. Gannets make for great ‘bird in flight’ practice, as they are huge and just glide through the air. Take plenty of batteries and memory cards as your finger will never leave the shutter button at these places. Evening light suits me best – the sunrise is far too early in the summer for me!

Alan’s work in nature and wildlife photography has been recognized by being published in several magazines including Digital Photographer. UK residents can buy prints directly from Jackal Photography’s website and photographers worldwide can connect and follow his work via Google+.

Thank you for being Beyond Here’s featured photographer Alan Hinchliffe.

Newborn Photography Some Easy but Essential Tips

Newborn Photography some easy but essential tips is a guest post from Renate Hechter. Renate is the owner and operator of Pure Dynamics Photography in Sydney, Australia. You can find out more about Renate and Pure Dynamics Photography on the Beyond Here contributors page.

Newborn

Keep your newborn warm and well fed. Copyright Renate Hechter

Newborn photography some easy, but essential tips.

Thank you Craig for the opportunity to write a guest post on Beyond Here.  I am a family photographer, but love newborn photography best of all. It is such a privilege to be able to capture those early moments in the first few weeks of a baby’s life. It will be a keep-safe for the family and the baby in years to come.

When I tell people I do newborn photography, I often hear them gasp, “Wow – how long did it take to get that shot, must have been hours? You must be some sort of baby whisperer!”.

Of course I’m not! It may have helped that I have 4 small children and therefore have had to deal with 4 newborns at some point.

Rather like dealing with your own family, newborn photography is all about planning and preparation. Here are some easy, but essential tips that you can follow if you want to capture the first few weeks of a precious little one’s life.

  1. Make sure baby is safe

Safety, safety SAFETY!! You will need a baby spotter and mum usually works best.  They need to be clearly briefed as to their responsibility – they are to watch their baby and preferably keep a hand on baby at all times before the shot – looking out for hazards such as rolling off the baby posing beanbag.

  1. Newborn

    Take your time with newborn photography. Copyright Renate Hechter

    Make sure baby is fed

Really stress to the parents that baby is fed and burped before arriving and is coming to see you in their normal sleep time. You may want to get the family to arrive slightly early for their session, so mum have the opportunity to give baby a quick feed again, if necessary.

  1. Make sure baby is warm

Make sure where you take you photographs are toasty warm so the baby does not get cold – especially if you are taking pictures of naked or semi-clad babies. Turn the heating up to around 25 degrees C or use a directional heater. If using a directional heater, make sure you keep it far enough away from the baby’s sensitive skin.

The next few tips involve four S’s for helping to settle a newborn into a pose;

  1. Swaddling

Invest in a number of stretchy baby wraps.  They can be used successfully for babies who struggle to be settled straight away. Shoot your swaddling poses first if that’s the case.

  1. Shushing (or white noise) 

There are a number of smartphone and computer apps that you can download for white noise – turn up the volume – that is very effective for baby, and I find that it also relaxes the adults.  Relaxed parents mean a relaxed baby.

  1. Sucking

Have a dummy/soother ready and make sure you communicate this with the parents beforehand.  Some parents have dummy fear, but using a dummy to settle baby in the pose and then taking it out just before you take the shot works well.

Baby suckling

Use a dummy or soother to calm baby. Copyright Renate Hechter

7. Sidelying or stomach position

Almost miraculously, a lot of baby poses are in tummy or side-lying position.  Babies do love those positions and will often settle and fall asleep.  Keep a firm hand on baby in those positions, as that will aid them falling asleep.

8. Take your time

Add a good dose of patience into the mix. The newborn should be fast asleep when you attempt your poses, and that may not happen immediately.

9. Keep mum calm

Explain the process to the mum.  A calm and relaxed mum often means a calm baby.

Newborn

Newborns allow you to position them. Copyright Renate Hechter

10. The younger, the better

The best time to photograph newborn are between day 5 and 20.  During this time period, they tend to sleep a lot (especially if they are fed well). Your can also get them into those wonderfully squishy positions.

And last, but not least – Safety again!

So important, it’s worth mentioning twice.

Do not forget to enjoy your session!

Angry painter

Featured Photographer Rob Mattingley

Welcome to a new section on Beyond Here – where we meet featured photographers from around the world. First is Rob Mattingley from Canada.

Rob is a stock photographer based in South West Ontario, Canada. He supplies images exclusively to one of the world’s best known microstock agencies (iStockphoto). He is also one of their discussion forum moderators. In his early microstock days, Rob was known for his friendly, helpful approach to other contributors, and for modelling in own stock images.

Rob, tell us about Rob Mattingley Photography and the type of images you make.

 

Child drawing

Family Portrait. Copyright Rob Mattingley

Hi Craig – thanks for having me! I am based just outside Toronto, Ontario, Canada and primarily focus on stock photography. Occasionally I am asked to help out taking photos for a variety of events, but most of the time I’m shooting stock (when not taking photos of my family). A good chunk of my stock photography came from two events I attended over the past few years, but I also have a bunch that were taken closer to home. I try to get as many “people images” as I can – but I also created a bunch of “child like drawing” images over the years which have proved to be successful.

In the early days of your microstock photography career you regularly featured as a model in your own images. How did you manage being on both sides of the camera?

It definitely takes a lot of trial and error when trying to take these kinds of self portraits, that is for sure! I often find myself too far on the side of the image and then need to adjust myself in the next shot. It is a lot of fun though as you can go for as long as you want – and the model doesn’t cost you any money!

 

Angry painter

Angry Painter. Copyright Rob Mattingley

Beyond Here is going to call these “stock selfies”. Where have some of your stock selfies appeared in use?

I am a big fan of the Google Image Search for finding my photos in use. Some of my stock selfies have shown up on websites either to sell a product or to help tell a story. A friend in England found a photo of me on a bank billboard which I thought was pretty cool. My favorite find though had to be when one of my self portraits ended up on the American television program TMZ. I’ve managed to sell quite a few of my stock selfies and my most downloaded image is one of me as a construction worker – I guess I look the part!

 

Construction worker

Construction worker. Copyright Rob Mattingley

You have been an active contributor to microstock forums and are now a forum moderator. What is it about the interaction with clients and contributors that you enjoy?

Honestly, I just like helping others whenever I can! As an iStock moderator, it allows me to be able to point people in the right direction to get the answers they need. For a lot of people iStock is their main income so I want to help make sure that they can quickly find what they are looking for and get back to taking photos. I remember when I first started, I saw a lot of new contributors asking the same questions, so I decided to put together a FAQ for “newbies” so that they could find everything they needed in one place. It was great that so many people found it useful.

Rob, you have attended organised stock photography events with other microstock photographers. Can you tell us about them, and how they have benefited your photography?

 

Line of scrimmage

Line of scrimmage. Copyright Rob Mattingley

I have been lucky enough to attend two fantastic events through iStock. The first one I attended was in Utah in 2011, hosted by Rich Legg. We had a 3 day shoot with 12 different “stations” where we had the ability to take photos of things such as indoor rock climbing, auto mechanics, police officers, a yoga class, and a backyard pool to name a few. The second was in Texas in September 2013, hosted by Steve Debenport. We had a 2 day shoot that was made up of various business scenarios on the first day and American football on the second day. Both of these events were very well organised and had lots of models to work with. I met some fantastic photographers who were willing to help me learn. I was able to add 250 images from each event which really helped build my portfolio. Definitely a great experience each time!

 

Police

Policewoman. Copyright Rob Mattingley

For Beyond Here readers starting in microstock today, what are your tips for success?

It is definitely getting harder to make a name for yourself in stock photography these days as there is so much competition. I would suggest that if you want to be successful the first tip would be to take it seriously! Obvious I know, but so many people don’t do that. You need to do some research to see what makes a good stock shot and how to make it possible. You typically need to have models “doing something” – but that doesn’t mean you can’t use friends and family members (or yourself, if you are like me!). Most sites have millions of images so you need to make sure that you always upload your best work and keyword it properly or else it won’t be found. I started roughly five and a half years ago and I definitely learned a lot in my time at iStock and look forward to what the future brings!

Thank you to Rob for being Beyond Here’s very first featured photographer.To connect with Rob Mattingley, look for the Rob Mattingley Photography facebook page or follow his work through his istockphoto portfolio.

Capture the Icons

This week I have been in Tasmania, Australia (without the camera). Being there made me think about how important it is to me to photograph the icons in each place I spend a significant amount of time. In addition to my wedding photography, I’m a keen wildlife photographer, so that means I try to capture the icons of the local wildlife.

Tasmanian Devil

Close up of a Tasmanian Devil

If you are not familiar with Tasmania, it is an island state of Australia located south of the mainland. It is important to me to clarify that, because I recently posted a picture of a Tasmanian Devil on Google+ and indicated the picture was taken in Australia.

Tasmanian Devil

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivore

I got one comment which said it couldn’t possibly have been taken in Australia, as they are only found in Tasmania. While I found this mildly amusing, he refused to believe that the image had been taken in Australia, or that Tasmania was part of Australia! I should have suggested he come and visit some time.

Tasmania is known for a number of things including – spectacular scenery, friendly people, fresh air, great sunrises and sunsets, fantastic farming conditions and primary produce, excellent fishing, windy weather, and for the animal which bears its name – the Tasmanian Devil.

Tasmanian Devils are not easy to photograph as they are hard to find and don’t often keep still. I have been slowly building my range of Tasmanian Devil images over the last 5 years. Some quick facts about Tasmanian Devils. They are:

  • characterized by a stocky, muscular build
  • the size of a small dog
  • known for the power of their jaws relative to their total size
  • known for their ferocity when feeding
  • exist in the wild only in Tasmania (that’s Tasmania, Australia!!)
  • since 2008 have been listed as endangered, mainly due to the impact of facial tumor disease on the population
Tasmanian Devil

Tasmanian Devils are known for the power of their jaws

One fact I didn’t know until today, is that very few Tasmanian Devils exist outside Australia because the population which has been exported have not been successful in breeding. Interesting. Perhaps that’s why pictures of them seem to get an extraordinary number of comments on social media? Or maybe people feel a connection to them through the Looney Tunes character “Taz”?

Visiting Tasmania is always enjoyable, even if it is a little cold at this time of year. It was also a timely reminder to me to take time to capture the icons photographically.

Do you have a favorite icon to photograph? Buildings, architecture, people, wildlife? Have you had the chance to photograph a Tassie Devil??

 

Making Unique Portraits

In this post we look at an example of making unique portraits without spending hours in post production.

For this stock photography shoot, the model had very long red hair. We decided to make a feature of her long hair, to make an interesting and unique series of images.

Unique portrait

A unique portrait created using fishing line and parental support

How did we set about making these unique portraits? For the first portrait, we took her plaited hair and attached several pieces of fishing line at different intervals along the length of her hair. Her parents stood on each side of her, holding the fishing line. Then it was a matter of raising or lowering the different sections to achieve the wavy pattern. The total time to shoot this image was about 15 minutes. That consisted of preparing the fishing line, attaching it, and then taking a series of images to get the right look. What about post production? There were small parts of the fishing line visible in her hair and against the white background. These took about 5 minutes to remove in post production. There you have it, making unique portraits version one.

For the second image, the idea was similar, but the execution was different.

Unique studio portrait

Unique portrait created using a coat hangar threaded through her hair

In this case, we unwound a wire coat hanger, and threaded it through the models hair. This time, her hair was in a single plait. This made it possible to create more solid shapes out of her hair – in this case a large question mark. Once the shape was formed in the hair, again a parent held the coat hanger – which protruded from her hair. This one took longer to make. The coat hangar had to be threaded through the models hair, then shaped appropriately, and then the images taken. This took approximately 30 minutes and I was grateful for a very patient model. Again, about 5 minutes was required in post production to remove the coat hanger and parents hand which were visible in the corner of the shot.

There you go,  making unique portraits without spending hours in post production.

If you have found this interesting, you may be interested in these related posts:

Do you have a story to share about creating unique portraits? Please add a comment to this post.