Keep all your pictures and shoot RAW - you just never know!

I have often heard people say “keep all your pictures, you never know…” or something along those lines and probably a lot more eloquently put than that!  Until I started to take my photography more seriously I didn’t realize the value of that statement.

I mean I have folders of pictures from uni days and so on so I have always been in the habit of keeping pictures – that or I am too lazy to sort them haha.  But seriously I think I find it very hard to delete pictures because they are moments of time that have been snatched from life and immortalized and I think that is kinda cool.

But there is an even more significant reason I think for keeping your pictures – especially if you shoot them in RAW format.  Photography is a journey where you are constantly learning new things, picking up new tricks and, in this digital world, where new and wonderful software is constantly arriving to give us options and new ways to express our creativity.

Couple this with RAW files and you have a library of light that you can constantly return to - old pictures can be reworked and brought to life in new and exciting ways that you weren’t even thinking about when you took the picture!  I think shooting in RAW is crucial to this process as it lets you keep a file that you can work and rework to death, safe in the knowledge that you are not degrading the file or that light information in anyway.  I heard Trey Ratcliff say that jpegs are like little wafers of light where as RAWs are like huge wedges of light that can be molded, information extracted and sculpted in a diverse number of ways and he is spot on.

Take a look at the examples below, both shots look fine in their original form and I was really happy with them when I took them and processed them the first time round.  Since then I have learned a whole lot more though about post processing and it is really fun to go back and take these older shots and breathe new life into them through new techniques that I have learned along the way.

Narrow neck sunrise - taken and edited March 2014

Same shot as above, this time edited a week ago (November 2014)

Since then I have learned a whole lot more though about post processing and it is really fun to go back and take these older shots and breathe new life into them through new techniques that I have learned along the way.

Maori Bay Muriwai - taken and edited February 2014

Same shot re-edited August 2014 - love the sky effect I learnt for this one!

Keep your pictures, all of them, you never know when you will want to revisit them. And shoot in RAW - RAW is not scary!  Sure it’s weird to down load files onto the computer for the first time and see blank white files, soon though you’ll recognize those files as little white blank canvases with a treasure trove of information waiting to be unlocked and transformed by your own artistic visions.  That vision can change and it will but that is natural and it is really cool to know you have a stack of files to go back through and re-work till your heart is content!!

That one picture you were never sure about could become one of your most favorite, so make sure you keep them all.

Landscapes - Learn from your errors

Landscape photography can be a frustrating medium to pursue.  There can be days when you get out there and the light you thought was going to be there just doesn’t eventuate.  You can wake up at the crack of dawn full of anticipation for a glorious and fiery dawn only to get skunked when miserable grey clouds close in and squash the life outta the sky and your dream photo.  Nature can be a very fickle thing, especially when you are relying on it to provide you with the light and drama you need to really get a picture that pops and you can be really happy with.  For me though that is part of the joy or challenge. 

There are times, however, when you skunk yourself.  I did that a few days ago when I was out at Karekare hoping to catch a sunset.  Let me set the scene for you.  heading home I was keeping an eye on the clouds and in the time the journey took I was suitably convinced I needed to be out on one of the beaches for sunset because it was going to be immaculate!  So I packed up and headed to Karekare and set about exploring different compositions that you see below.

18mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1/10sec

Now don’t get me wrong I am pretty happy with how these have turned out, I think there are some solid shots here but this is where it gets tricky and when landscape shooting can be a frustration.

18mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1/10sec

As the evening was progressing I was keeping an eye on how the clouds were stacking out on the horizon line.  They were forming a pretty formidable looking wall and I figured that the chances of getting the really dramatic sky I had initially hoped for was getting slimmer by the minute.   As the sun dipped in behind them and out of sight the color drained out of the sky so I packed my gear and started to head back to the car pretty satisfied I had come away with some cool shots.

18mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1/3sec

Now the car park at Karekare is a good 10 minute walk from the beach, at least with the route I took, and it was about three quarters of the way back there that I turned and looked back at where I had been……. my heart dropped.  You guessed it, the sky was on fire, the clouds tinged with deep reds and purples and pinks!!!  I couldn’t believe it.  Here I was almost at the car and the show I had turned up to capture was going on all around me.

I learnt a really valuable lesson that evening.  Landscape photography is all about being out there and giving yourself the chance to capture that great light on a stunning scene.  I had got out there, put myself in the thick of it and given myself the chance but let it slip by when I called it wrong.  Sure I could say “the clouds looked like they were there to ruin the show” or something like that, but in actual fact I should have just stayed out there till the end.

Nature cannot be predicted, we all know this yet sometimes we think we can call a situation and know better – sure there are times we may be spot on – but what I do know now is that if I’m going to get out there and give myself a chance I’m going to make the most of my time out there and stay to the end.

We live in such a manic fast paced world and part of what attracts about landscape photography is it is a slow process where you are afforded the luxury of taking you time to get prepared for when the good light hits.

Stick it out till the end, even if it looks like a dud, because you never know what will happen – I sure was pleasantly surprised when this is how an evening in late April after looking like a dead fizzer.  I need to remember this day when I’m out there… 10 minutes longer can potentially result in pure beauty.

18mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1.6sec

Getting back out to the West Coast

Hey interwebs!  So it’s been a while since I posted on here and I have decided this needs remedying!  I am going forward now and making a real effort to get more of my thoughts, ideas and general view point on things out there and try and make it a weekly occurrence starting today.  Hope you’ll come along!

Two weekends back I did something I haven’t done in a while.  I chucked the camera bag and tripod into the car and headed off to the west coast beaches - last spring/summer I spent a lot of time out at Muriwai working on my landscape photography and really enjoyed it.  Then life got hectic, open homes followed by auctions, followed by pouring over mortgage and sale documents!  Fun times, which ended in the purchase of our house.

With all that behind us and some hunkering down over winter and a holiday back to Africa my work on the west coast slipped into the back ground.  Now that spring is here and with it some more favorable weather I figured it was time to head back out there, especially seeing as we now reside in West Auckland and are that much closer to some of its’ gorgeous beaches.

With all this mind I headed to Piha, a beach I have not been to as much as I probably should have been as an Aucklander I will admit, with the plan of getting re-acquainted with the tripod and my landscape side.

Lion Rock at Piha - 18mm; ISO 100; f/22; 1/15sec 

It is amazing how quickly things come back to you once you are out there again!  This first shot I took maybe 3 paces out of the car park!  Maybe you don’t need to go half way round the world to get pictures you are happy with, sometimes 20 minutes down the road can do the trick.

It felt really good to be back out on these black sand beaches, just wondering around with an empty mind listening to the waves and taking in the scenery.  I felt really relaxed and I think that calm feeling really comes through in these pictures.  What I also found was that by taking a break my eyes came back refreshed (if that is even possible??) and this really helped me picking out, what I felt, were interesting subjects.

Piha Pool - 18mm; ISO100; f/22; 1/8sec

I feel completely re-invigorated to explore more of the different beaches around here now and see how I can capture them photographically.  I look forward to sharing the experiences and pictures with you all over the coming months!

Thanks for stopping by!