Advertisements First up, was the time of the year. Winter can be fantastic due to the low position of the sun casting long shadows but often it is dull, wet and generally not very nice. I waited almost two weeks to get the ideal weather conditions. Here in Scotland, waiting two weeks for decent weather isn’t unusual! The first thing I decided to do was lower the exposure of the shot....

For a start, I think I am guilty of the very thing I am mentioning in this post, so, no need to comment about that at the bottom, plus, I also know that nothing I say here is new – but to me it’s becoming more and more prominent in my eyes. The question is this – Should you be morphing your landscape images into something you prefer over the natural lay of the land ?...

Ever done a shoot, and what you saw with your eye didn’t seem to translate to the camera? It happens a lot! You see a majestic landscape, you take a photo on your camera, but when it pops up on the screen it just doesn’t capture the beauty. The same happens with fire when you use a flash. It weakens the effect. I could always try shooting without a flash, but then I wouldn’t be able to freeze the motion....

I have a really wonderful Cognisys Slider controlled by a Stackshot 3D. The Stackshot 3D is a very easy system to set up, program and run. It has one tiny little defect, one that is common in pretty much all sliders. They are bulky, take a while to set up, and typically need two tripods to support them. You really can’t have all that in your backpack ready for that “ah-ha” moment....

People always go on about 3 point lighting setups. They’re a staple amongst photographers, cinematographers, and even CG work. Or people talk about shooting with just a single light source. The two light combo, on the other hand, is often neglected. Personally, 2 lights is the route I take most often in my own work, for both photos and video. In this two and a half minute video, Nerris from the A-Team walks us through five different lighting setups....