Are You Getting The Best Out Of Your Camera This Summer?

The summer time is a good time of year to understand how to get the best out of your camera. Especially if you feel your camera controls you. With digital cameras being so sophisticated it's worth getting back to basics, do you remember when all you had to think about was:-

1. Putting film in your camera. 2. What shutter speed should I choose. 3. Which aperture should I use. 4. Focus and shoot.

It isn't too different now, just remember to set your camera to M for manual so you can take control.

With automatic focus this is something you don't have to worry about, these few simple tips will set you on your way.

A very useful tool to use is your lightmetre, you'll see this displayed at the bottom of your view finder, it is so helpful, just make sure the arrow is around the centre 0, by adjusting your shutter speed and aperture. It will look something like the diagram above. A good starting point on a cloudy day is F8 (aperture) at 1/125 (shutter speed) with your ISO set to 400 or use auto setting for this. The picture below shows what your histogram looks like on the back of your camera, a useful tool to check your exposure, a peak similar to the below shows an evenly exposed image.

If this is all Greek to you and you think you could, or someone you know could benefit from my one to one two hour classes, just call the studio on 01883 722282 or click on this link to find out more.

Enjoy the weekend, I'll be back in two weeks time with more news. Bye for now!

Stella

Fiat Step by Step Photo Shoot

As well as photographing people and events I also get to photograph another of my passions, classic and supercars.

A couple of years ago I was commissioned to photograph a private collection of classic and supercars as a special gift to the owner from his wife, so he could see and appreciate his collection all together in one place. The result was a beautiful handcrafted, limited edition photography book.

It was important to me to make sure that we had planned where each car was to be photographed - the location, the time of day and the lighting, the rest is instinctive. There were over 20 cars in the collection and each one had it's own character I wanted to showcase.

Every location chosen had a special meaning to the owners and each came with it's own challenges, but one in particular stayed in my mind and it's this one I'd like to share with you, the Fiats - their two everyday cars, that they most probably have spent most time in.

The photographs below give a brief outline of the step by step process I went through to get to the end result.

I chose to do this shoot at the beginning of May so we could spend the afternoon setting up in preparation for when the sun went down. I had postponed this numerous times as the conditions weren't right. The first photograph above shows the cars in position.

The above photograph shows the angle I positioned my tripod with the Nikon D700 firmly attached, the lens I used was the 24-120mm. I set my Nikon SB910 speed light remotely inside the Fiat Abarth, with lighting at the front and either side of the cars. There was a flicker of light from the house and a couple of domestic outside lights too.

As the sun began to set an additional light was added in the outside seating area, with a flicker from the tea lights on the table and to the right of the house as well.

From the image above you will notice that lights have been added to the tree on the left and another garden light to match the one on the right. Many exposures were taken so I could check the lighting was just how I wanted it, my lighting technician was very patient as we balanced the lights to compliment the lighting inside the house. It was precision timing to balance this before we had lost all the natural light.

The end result below, is just as I had imagined, with some careful tweaking in Photoshop to achieve the results I wanted below.

From the image above you will notice that lights have been added to the tree on the left and another garden light to match the one on the right. Many exposures were taken so I could check the lighting was just how I wanted it, my lighting technician was very patient as we balanced the lights to compliment the lighting inside the house. It was precision timing to balance this before we had lost all the natural light.

The end result below, is just as I had imagined, with some careful tweaking in Photoshop to achieve the results I wanted below.

Exhibition

This photograph and others from the book will be featured at the RAC in Pall Mall in the Autumn, with the opportunity to buy limited edition framed photographs. A small selection will also be on display at Hever Castle for Father's Day on Sunday 21 June 2015. I'll keep you posted as we get nearer the time.

If after reading this it has inspired you to commission a shoot please do get in touch.

Thanks for reading, I'll be back in two weeks time with more news.

Happy Easter.

Stella

Fish Master Class Browns Mayfair

A Wonderful Evening

One of my passions in life is food, having been born into the restaurant industry it's in my blood. I love food markets, cooking with good quality fresh produce that I can feed my family and friends, after all it's all part of my Greek-Cypriot roots to feed and entertain en-mass.

Even more, I like to take the opportunity to combine two of my passions in life, photography and food! When I'm not photographing people or classic car collections I like to indulge in some fine dining and to capture those moments forever (give me a commission to photograph food from field to plate and I'd be one happy lady).

Brown's, Mayfair

On Wednesday 21st May I went to Rocco Forte’s Brown's Hotel in Mayfair, London's oldest luxury hotel for an entertaining evening with Mark Hix for his Fish n Hix master class. My photographs show an account of what happened next, this may inspire you to try it too.

Mark Hix

Our host Mark Hix owner of Hix Oyster & Chop House and Tramshed entertained a group of nine of us, on how to prepare and cook some of his signature dishes. Located in the plush surroundings of the Niagra room he took centre stage at the head of the table with one cooking ring armed with the appropriate knives, scissors and tweezers.

What’s For Dinner

We were wowed with the quality of produce and the attention to detail that Mark is known for. He explained where he likes to source his produce from and uses sea vegetables where possible, in particular samphire, stonecrop, sea purslane, sea beet and sea aster, which really complemented the flavours of the fish.

We were served by a group of discreet and efficient waiters who made sure our wine and water glasses were always full, and service swift and attentive.

Mark started with a demonstration on how to prepare ceviche using fresh whiting fillets, a fish often under used but very tasty and lends itself to this recipe using the acidity of the lime to ‘cook’ the fish.

Followed by smoked salmon, we had a go at slicing under Mark's guidance and watchful eye, super sharp knives guaranteed you could glide the knife diagonally through this slab of heaven. The fillet of salmon once pin boned is smoked on site at Brown's. For his restaurant in Selfridges he told us he has a shed that sits on the roof where he can smoke his salmon to perfection. The salmon was moist, not oily, very lightly smoked and served with soda bread.

The red and white wines accompanying the courses were sourced in Portugal by Mark and his friend, restaurateur, chef and food writer Mitch Tonks. They have named their wine 'Tonnix' a combination of their surnames, the labels on the bottles designed by friend Tracey Emin.

We were also shown how to fillet and bone fish with a few tricks to make this less time consuming. Take a look at the menu below to see what followed, each dish was light and flavoursome and relatively easy to prepare at home. Mark is a lover of rapeseed oil, we were encouraged to drizzle this on our fish, in particular the salt baked sea bass and chargrilled brill.

The gurnard was prepared and cooked in paper pouches and was a tasty conclusion to this gastronomic event.

Photographs

The photographs I've taken are a snapshot of the evenings events over the two hours showing Mark at his best, he was entertaining and happy to answer all our questions and share his culinary experiences. I used my Nikon body with a 24-135mm lens and a mixture of daylight and bounced flash with a high ISO.

Thanks Mark for a great evening, next on the agenda is to try your meat master class.

The Menu

• Marinated Newlyn whiting with chilli and plantain crisps

• Albemarle smoked salmon 'Hix cure' with Corrigan's soda bread

• Isle of Barra cockles with Burrow Hill cider and smoked Orkney bacon

• Salt-baked St Margaret's Bay sea bass with buttered seakale

• Chargrilled whole Start Point brill with aura potatoes and béarnaise sauce

• Paper-baked Lyme Bay gurnard with steamed coastal greens

• Strawberry jelly and fool

We left the evening feeling comfortably full with a generous goodie bag containing a signed cookery book, an apron and a bottle of rapeseed oil. Not forgetting lots of inspiration for future cooking .

I can highly recommend a Fish Master class Browns Mayfair.

Anyone for fish?

Bye for now.

Stella

Looking Back at 2013

What a year 2013 was. There was so much variety from photographing landmarks at the top of Reigate Hill to vintage cars in Naples, Florida and a beer festival here in Oxted, all very thrilling stuff. Not forgetting to mention the weddings, studio and location photo shoots and my photography masterclasses.

Last year I was delighted to receive an email to confirm my membership to the Association of Photographers  a prestigious organisation that represents a wealth of talent. To qualify I had to submit a variety of published and commissioned work that was put before a board of twelve independent judges from the world of art, media, publishing and advertising all of whom have to approve your portfolio. I am now a bona fide member and am enjoying the fruits of my labour. You can take a look at my profile here.

From the many weddings from last year I'd like to share this one taken at Penshurt Place in October, a stunning location for any event.

I'll be back with an update next week with commissions lined up for 2014.

Thanks

Stella

Night Time Photography Class Westminster London

Last night I took a small group of ladies out to my Night Time Photography Classwhere I teach how to take photographs in low lighting conditions. As you can see from the few below that Chris took, the results are brilliant, well done to her!! You too can take photographs like this, all you need is a sturdy tripod and a DSLR camera with a memory card of at least 8mb as we use predominantly RAW files. My next class is on Monday 14th October and is fully booked with more classes to follow so keep an eye out for forthcoming dates or register your interest on the website.

Pictures from my Night Time Photography Class Westminster London taken by the students.

Thanks

Stella