Jason Batterham Photography

DSLR video work from Crash Taylor

2011-04-25T17:35:00.004+01:00

Crash Taylor has already established a name for himself as one of the UK's fastest-rising stars in wedding photography.

I'm fortunate enough to have known him for some time. One of the benefits of working for Calumet is I get to meet some amazing photographers!

Well, Crash has been making forays into film making, using his EOS 5D MKII's.

Work so far, seems to be taking quite a conceptual approach. I can see his style suiting pop videos from the likes of 'Hurts' for example.

Click here to see his latest project.

Calumet seminars site

2011-04-11T20:55:00.002+01:00

Calumet has a dedicated site for their seminars.

They've had quite an explosion in numbers of seminars that they offer.

The next seminar is at Manchester on Thursday 14th, 'Studio Lighting - the next level' with John Clements.

John is an excellent speaker, he always received much praise at my seminars - back in the days when I was branch manager of Calumet Nottingham.

I'm back

2011-04-11T20:53:00.001+01:00

Hi folks,

after an extended break, I am back, so watch for more posts coming soon.

I am now the Midlands Based rep for Calumet Photographic in the UK.

Big closing down sale: Calumet Nottingham

2010-10-26T16:32:00.002+01:00

Whilst many people are going to miss the demise of Calumet Nottingham, let's
face it, there will be some bargains to be had in their closing down sale!

I know they had a one day own brand special sale day last week, and there are rumours of something happening this week.
Plus they do have some pretty massive sale tables already set up.
Well worth a visit I reckon !

Call them on 0115 9586888 or email: not@calumetphoto.co.uk

Blog of the week: Crash Taylor.

2010-08-11T20:37:00.002+01:00

Crash Taylor is a rising star. Based in Nottingham, he has certainly set the bar high in terms of business promotion in the Web 2.0 environment.

His blog has massive numbers of followers. His seminars sell out faster than Take That reunion concert tickets!!

There seems to be no stopping the man, and why would we want to? Personally, I
love to see people do well. He's worked hard, he's motivated, and he's
talented.

I have no doubt many of you will have visited Crash's blog, however, I have no hesitation in recommending it anyway.

My recommended blog, this week, is Crash Taylor.

Recommended blog of the week: Vincent Laforet

2010-08-04T09:00:00.002+01:00

Vincent Laforet, to be fair, I suspect many of you have heard of.

I think it's only fair, that we share with anyone who hasn't heard of the mighty Vincent Laforet.

Videography on DSLRs is currently setting the photographic world ablaze with excitement.

We turn to, U.S based, Vincent for techniques and inspiration.

This week, I bring you: Vincent Laforet

Website of the week: Charlie Waite

2010-08-03T19:59:00.000+01:00

Website of the week, will be my choice, for you, of a website I consider worthy of spending your time visiting.

I have varied tastes, and will try and give you plenty of variety, inspiration, techniques, etc - all covered by my recommended websites.

Charlie Waite is my first recommendation. www.charliewaite.com

I've long admired Charlie's landscapes. I'm a lover of the square format. Many of Charlie's wonderful, serene, and inspiring images are shot or presented in the square format.

This one is one of my favourites.

Aaah, it takes me back to my Hasselblad days!

Essential accessory: WhiBal white balancing cards.

2010-07-31T22:10:00.002+01:00

We all have certain gadgets that we would consider "essential accesories".

Here's one of mine. My absolutely indispensible WhiBal cards.

They're simple, lightweight, hang around my neck, and they allow me to get spot on white balancing when I'm shooting RAW (which is pretty much all the time!).

Newer versions of the card, than mine, can also be used to balance JPEGs after the fact (plugin may be required for early versions of Photoshop).

Whenever I'm shooting anything, I have my trusty WhiBal cards hanging around my neck on the supplied lanyard. At a convenient time, I walk over to the subject location, angle the cards slightly, and get a reference shot.

Before and after shot below. The one on the right has been balanced using the WhiBal. The one on the left is as shot using auto white balance on a Nikon D3.

Later....back at base, I begin my developing workflow by locating any pictures with me in and my WhiBal. Can't miss me, you can see the glare off of my forehead from a mile off!

I'm usually developing in Lightroom, but almost any software will do. I click the white balance eyedropper on one of the grey cards, and that's it! One-click white balance in RAW!

The uses don't end there though!

The cards have a shiny black and white sticker. Use these to assist with assessing shadow and highlight clipping - if the cards appear large enough in the frame. Or at the very least, these black and white points can be useful when developing your RAWS later. Get the angle right, so that light is not shining straight off the black sticker, and you get a really useful black point for potentially dropping an eyedropper onto to determine possible black point!

I bought my WhiBal cards from http://www.rawworkflow.com/

I have no connection with the company. I am more than happy to recommend their WhiBal products though!

Let me know if you have used WhiBal, or decide to follow my recommendation.

Nikon D3100 new DSLR?

2010-07-29T19:49:00.003+01:00

The new Nikon D3100, which seems to be virtually confirmed, looks set to stimulate the entry level DSLR market!

HD video, with continuous autofocus, is bound to appeal to enthusiast photographers.Who couldn't be tempted by a 10 megapixel sensor, in a small, lightweight body, all with HD video and continuous autofocus?

Click here for further information via Petapixel.

Recommended blog of the week: Scene Photography

2010-07-28T12:37:00.003+01:00

Wednesdays are now going to see a regular feature.

I shall post a link, for you to check out my recommended "Blog Of The Week"

I work for a well known professional photo retailer, in addition to being a photographer. Therefore I get to meet, and learn from some of the best in the industry.

Scene Photography Ltd - is a Nottingham based outfit. Led by Chris and Rob, and main assistant - Ralph.

The guys get to work for some of our most famous brand names, they've taken on commissioned work for a number of blue-chip companies.

They're always looking for some new angle, or technique, that's what I like about them.

Therefore, I am delighted to say that the first in the series of "Blog Of The Week" is:
Scene Photography

Adobe Lightroom 3 review

2010-07-25T17:37:00.002+01:00

I'm posting a link to DPreview's review of Adobe Lightroom 3.

I am a major fan of Lightroom. I was an early adopter of Lightroom 1, upgraded to Lightroom 2, and have been happily using it for 95% of my work thereafter.

Lightroom 2, I felt, was a watershed. Suddenly, I found that I could stay within the Lightroom environment. Rarely did I have to go into Photoshop to do anything but the most demanding of work -such as significant cloning and object removal.

For me, the lens distortion corrections are the features I am most excited about.

There are a lot of plugins available, too, for Lightroom, and so, it is a growing family!

Personally, I have not yet upgraded to Lightroom 3.
Why?
I have a personal policy that I don't purchase any new program until it has been around a while, and has seen at least one major update - to iron out any bugs. No doubt I'm being overly cautious, but that's how I play things with software.

Click here to be taken to the beginning of DPreview's Lightroom 3 review.

Maybe you would be kind enough to leave me some comments about
your Lightroom 3 experiences!

Calumet Eye

2010-07-25T17:09:00.002+01:00

I simply have to share the Calumet Eye with you!

It's a unique way of sharing images. Really, it's difficult to describe, so I recommend you just check it out here

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition - in Brighton!

2010-07-23T13:04:00.002+01:00

I enjoyed a brief visit to Brighton, this week. I was pleasantly surprised to images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition displayed, on a large scale, along the sea front.

The exhibition was attracting a lot of interest.

Click here to see details at VisitBrighton

HDR that looks natural, at last?

2010-07-17T10:50:00.004+01:00

I have to confess, I am excited about the Beta product "Oloneo Tonemap".

I love HDR images, but most programs make it hard work to create natural looking results. Noise becomes a problem, and halo effects, around dark objects juxtaposed against bright areas, can be a real problem!

Oloneo Tonemap promises a lot! Natural looking (if you want natural) HDR merged images from multiple exposures. Noise looks well controlled, no halos, and it looks like it is super quick to use!

http://www.oloneo.com/en/page/photoengine/hdr-tonemap.html

Beta version is available for download now.

"HDR Relight" - from the same company - looks interesting, too, though the "HDR Tonemap", I feel, will be more useful.

Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2010: recent entries, 18 June 2010

2010-06-18T22:11:00.000+01:00

Click here for latest entries to Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2010.

Examples of pet photography on website

2010-06-06T12:08:00.002+01:00

Check out examples of my pet photography on my website www.jasonbatterham-photography.co.uk

Remember, FREE pet photo sessions in Notts. No catches, ends at the end of June, contact me for a free pet photo session at your home. I'll fit in as many as I humanly can, in the time allowed, that's the only catch really! You'll get to see an online gallery of the pictures, afterwards.

Dogs, cats, horses, birds, terrapins, snakes...... I've photographed most pets, over the years.

Don't delay, contact me today!

07971 900597

jason@batterhamphotography.co.uk

FREE pet photo sessions in Notts - contact me today!

2010-06-04T22:52:00.002+01:00

FREE pet photo sessions in Notts. No catches. Don't delay, contact me today. jason@batterhamphotography.co.uk

07971 900 597

Another image sold on Alamy

2010-05-31T23:21:00.002+01:00

Just sold another usage of an image on Alamy.
I know of photographers who make a decent living from stock photography alone!

Pete Jenkins is doing a talk on making money from stock photography @ Calumet Nottingham in September.

Follow me on Twitter

2010-05-31T22:08:00.003+01:00

If you're a fan of Twitter, do feel free to follow me.
"Batterhamphotog"

http://twitter.com/Batterhamphotog

New email

2010-05-31T21:17:00.001+01:00

Hi!
My new email contact is
jason@batterhamphotography.co.uk

Don't worry, the previous one will still work, but I would prefer it if you use this one !

Thanks,

Jason

Website updated

2010-05-29T21:54:00.001+01:00

My website has been updated.
Click here to view

Wedding photography with Canon - seminar @ Calumet Nottingham Tues 1st June

2010-05-27T18:32:00.002+01:00

This Canon wedding seminar is a must for any Canon owners wanting to know more about using their Canon flash with their Canon camera. Ideal for wedding & location photographers.

Calumet Nottingham, 2 Nelson St, NG1 1DR.

£40 per delegate. 10am to 12pm or 2pm to 4pm. June 1st.

Wedding photography with the Canon digital EOS camera and flash system with Canon Experience Seminars - AM
Calumet Nottingham

Wedding photography can be daunting at the best of times and as you only get one chance at the photography it is important to understand your equipment fully.Our Experience Seminars wedding photography course concentrates on the use of flash at weddings and how you can control exposures using the various options on the camera’s metering system.

Course content:

Use of highlight warning

Flash use for weddings

Common exposure problems

Assessing if errors are flash or ambient based

Main light, fill in and balanced flash

E-TTL II explained

Lenses for weddings

ISO and flash

Reflectors and diff users with flash

High speed flash sync

Modes and flash

Flash exposure lock

Compensations and overrides for flash

Video mode on digital EOS cameras

The course is based on Canon digital EOS cameras using the Canon EX speedlight flashguns.

Recommended Blog

2010-05-22T14:19:00.002+01:00

Here's a blog I'd like to recommend. Uzair (Oz) Kharawala does a lot of training on various things - software and marketing for photographers in particular.

Here's a link and he kindly gives me a mention !

Seminar: Understanding Raw workflow, Calumet Nottingham 27th May

2010-05-22T13:59:00.002+01:00

There's going to be an excellent seminar on Raw workflow - ideal for the beginner to intermediate photographer.

1.30 to 4.30pm at Calumet Nottingham, 2 Nelson St, NG1 1DR. Cost £25.

Click here for the link to more info.

Shooting at Knowsley Safari park - courtesy of Canon UK

2010-05-19T23:37:00.003+01:00

Had an amazing day, yesterday, at Knowsley Safari park -which is near Liverpool, in England.

I exclusively used the Canon EOS 1D MKIV, and had the new Canon EF 100mm F2.8 IS macro fitted all day.

Very pleased with the quality, lens is just smashing - love the Bokeh. The results from the camera's chip are very clean ! :-)

Video shooting tips from the BBC college of journalism

2010-04-25T01:01:00.002+01:00

I know a lot of photographers are now also shooting video, with their Nikons and Canons.

Check out the series of articles from the BBC college of Journalism.

Interesting stuff.

Foto SF software for photographers

2010-04-16T20:57:00.003+01:00

I attended, yesterday, an amazing demonstration of some great software for photographers.

Called Foto SF, the software was designed by Uzair Kharawala, and it makes light work of organising your business life, as a photographer. Aimed mainly at wedding and social photographers, but I can easily see how virtually any photographer could easily recoup the modest investment.

Uzair has been doing some free talks, demonstrating the SF software, but I must stress, this was not a hard sell pitch! He spent most of his time telling us some pretty cool marketing tips. I learned more about web and email marketing in 2 hours, than I have managed to learn in the last 2 years!

Anyway, I shall be buying Foto SF, from Calumet, I strongly recommend you consider it too. Visit his website fotosf.com

Of old weddings and house fires

2010-02-10T23:39:00.002Z

Got to say, I am impressed with my photo filing and archiving system!

Got a call, today, from a distraught client. I photographed her wedding in 2004.
Subsequently, a recent house fire destroyed their wedding album :-(

As it's Valentine's Day at the weekend, she wanted me to help, and wondered if there was any way I still had copies of her photos ?
Half an hour later, I'd emailed a couple of pics across, and framed prints are being organised as soon as shops open, tomorrow.
No way this could've been done in pre digital age!

Have Your Pet Photographed !

2010-01-05T17:29:00.002Z

I have an introductory offer for 2010!

Have your pet photographed for £10 - includes a framed print !

Please contact me on 07971 900597, and you may wish to visit my website.

My Lightroom Workflow

2009-11-27T22:33:00.003Z

'Workflow' is one of the most talked about subjects in digital imaging.

Here's a brief insight to my own digital workflow, I use Lightroom 2 for virtually everything.

Import photos from cards, etc - I'm not going to linger on basics, as I'll take it most folks can cope with importing photos into Lightroom.

For most photo jobs, I skim through all of the photos, very quickly, typically viewing each image for just a second or two. This is excellent for getting a general feel for the overall quality of the batch of photos. Any truly bad images - totally out of focus, severely underexposed, etc get rated as 'rejects' (press 'X' on your keyboard to apply a reject to an image **Hot Tip** Keep CAPS LOCK on then Lightroom will auto advance to the next image). I delete all of these rejected really bad images.

A second pass of the images, this time allowing more time to assess each image. Any obvious rejects get 'rejected' (press 'X'). Any standout excellent images get rated 'pick' (Press 'P' on your keyboard). This second pass will help refine the selection. I normally end up with some images that still have no rating applied either way - neither picked nor rejected. I use the filter option to show only 'Picks' and 'no rating' this hides, but doesn't delete the 'rejects'.

I usually do a third pass, with 'rejects' hidden, and this time I am aiming to definitively assign either 'Pick' or 'Reject' to all of the images, leaving none un-rated. I will, at various points, use compare-mode or survey-mode (press 'N' to enter survey-mode from the Library module). Compare-mode and survey-mode are useful for picking out the best images from sequences of similar images. For example, at a wedding, I may shoot multiples of some set-ups, I then only want to show the one best image from each set-up.

Some photographers might wonder; why do so many passes? I like to run through the images a number of times, become familiar with them, and ensure I make the right choices.

I often work with Collections feature in Lightroom, though I'll revisit this subject in a future article.

From this point, I will normally move all of the rejects into their own separate physical folder on the hard-drive. I then drag and reorder the 'picks' into the order I want the client to see them, and then rename so that the numbers run sequentially to match the order I want the images to be seen.

DEVELOP MODULE:

I use the colour labels function, when I'm working on my images in the Develop-Module. I use my own traffic light system. Red label = unprocessed. Orange/amber label = partly processed. I apply the green label which = fully processed, once I've thoroughly checked that I am happy to output the images as masters.

Crash Taylor seminar

2009-11-24T00:20:00.001Z

I'm really excited about the Crash Taylor wedding seminar at Calumet Nottingham, on 21st May 2010 !

My images on ALAMY.COM

2009-11-05T13:06:00.002Z

Whenever I can find a spare half hour, I have a look to see if I can find some more images to upload to www.alamy.com

Alamy is an online sales portal (stock library). Pete Jenkins has given quite a few talks, at Calumet branches, on being successful with Alamy. So I've picked up quite a few tips from him.

As Pete pointed out, it would be a good strategy to have a goal - add say 50 extra images a week, or a month, if time is tight. Steadily, you'll build up a collection that should start to earn some money.
Here's my current collection

Vignette Effects in Adobe Photoshop

2009-11-03T11:23:00.002Z

I came across this tutorial on www.dphotojournal.com and thought I would share it. I use similar methods, myself, sometimes. Although I also use the excellent vignette options in Adobe Lightroom 2.

I tend to like to see a vignette added to a lot of my images, although I tend to keep it subtle, so that it is not always obvious. Adding a vignette can help emphasise key parts of the photograph. I do feel that photographers should use areas of lights and darks to lead the eye around the image.

http://www.dphotojournal.com/vignette-effects-in-adobe-photoshop/

Wedding: Margaret & Paul

2009-10-18T23:55:00.002+01:00

Just a quick pic from Margaret & Paul's wedding. I like the quietness of this picture, and the emotion....deep in thought?

Kate & John's wedding at Thrumpton Hall, Nottinghamshire

2009-10-11T17:56:00.009+01:00

I had the pleasure of photographing Kate and John's wedding at Thrumpton Hall - which is an idyllic spot in Nottinghamshire.

Myself and an assistant covered the whole day's proceedings, from 9am to 9pm, and captured many, many images. In fact, editing them down to a manageable number for Kate and John to see, has been the hardest part.

Kate and John have already seen a rough edit of about 1300 images ! I am in the process of editing further, with the aim to come back to them with about 800 images, after receiving feedback from them as to which areas of the day they want to see the most extensive coverage.

I adore doing weddings like this one. Great venue, great looking couple, natural in front of the camera.

The shoot was done using Canon EOS 5D MK2's - by God they are amazing for low light photography. I was able to photograph, during the ceremony without flash, causing none of the disturbance that would normally be caused.

All images are being edited in Lightroom. The effects, you see here, are my own presets.

A large selection of images will be chosen to go probably into a Graphi Studio album, telling the story of the day.

Robert's portrait shoot

2009-09-05T18:49:00.004+01:00

Robert commissioned some photographs of himself, with a view to having images that have a bit of an 'edge', some mood, and maybe a little mean !

Here's a selection.

I used my favourite lens - Canon's 50mm F1.2, used wide open for all images. The best images were selected, and then processed in Adobe Lightroom.

I used my own Lightroom presets as a starting point, and then took them further, from there.

Enjoy!

Hasselblad H3D

2009-08-27T21:32:00.001+01:00

Been out, today, for a test shoot using the Hasselblad H3D. Fantastic quality images !

More portrait shoot images.

2009-07-21T00:01:00.004+01:00

Some more images from yesterday's portrait shoot for James.

I did the entire shoot using a Canon EOS 5D MK2 & 50mm F1.2 lens (hired from Calumet).

The quality of the files from the 5D MK are just fantastic, and I love the 50mm F1.2, I used it virtually wide open all of the time. The background out of focus effect is just out of this world !

Potrait session for James, Sunday 19th July

2009-07-19T18:05:00.003+01:00

Just come back from a portrait session for James. We had to keep ducking in to doorways, to avoid the intermittant rain, but overall an excellent shoot.

Here's just 2 that stand out initially.

Profiling services - scanner, monitor, and printer

2009-07-09T00:15:00.002+01:00

I've booked Replica Imaging LTD to come out and calibrate/profile my input and output devices -i.e. my scanner, monitor, and printer.

I've just moved house, and whilst it's good practice to have professional gear calibrated regularly, I felt that moving the stuff around - it was worth having it all checked.

Replica Imaging are based in Nottingham.

Facebook page

2009-07-08T18:43:00.001+01:00

I now have a page on Facebook, so if you're on Facebook, you could add me, if you wish.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Batterham/89510983673?ref=nf

Thrumpton Hall - John & Kate's pre wedding visit

2009-07-04T17:34:00.002+01:00

I paid a second visit, with John & Kate, to Thrumpton Hall.

I am photographing their wedding there very soon. Preparation is vital, so I like to visit at least once with the bride and groom, to discuss where the photographs will take place, etc.

Adobe Camera Profiles for Lightroom part.2

2009-06-26T19:18:00.004+01:00

I have a few tricky images, which I use to test out various gadgets, and software.

The images below are generated from one tricky RAW file, I've always had trouble with the reds of these red flowers.

I used the new Adobe beta Camera Profiles to revisit this RAW file, and see if I could process it better, using the new profiles.

The problems I'd experienced were, the reds just blowing out, showing no colour graduation, or the red shifted to pink or orange.

The image on the left is an unprocessed RAW using the previous old profile (ACR 4.4), and the image on the right is using one of the new Camera Profiles (camera faithful beta 2).

It is immediately apparent that the new profile is better, as the red contains detail and much more could be made of this image - given further processing.

Adobe Camera Profiles for Lightroom

2009-06-24T00:08:00.004+01:00

I'm re-posting this previous post about Adobe Lightroom Camera profiles, as I am
getting a lot of hits and a few questions about it. So far, by the way, I am
pleased with how the beta profiles are working out. JB

I've downloaded Beta versions of camera profiles for use in Adobe Lightroom. These Beta profiles are intended to manage how Lightroom interprets the Raw data into the Lightroom colour space. The profiles are intended to be more faithful to the camera manufacturers' intended 'look' for the images.

Potentially, it all sounds good in theory, and gives a good base point from which to start developing your images in Lightroom.

I'll be using these profiles in my remaster project, so I'll revisit my shots taken on a Canon EOS 10D from 2004, and see how I go !

I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Wedding Remastering Project continues

2009-06-17T17:42:00.003+01:00

I continue to make strides with my remastering of wedding photographs.

I'm taking all images from 2004 onwards, and first of all, creating new master TIFF files.

Thankfully, I had the foresight to shoot RAW files right from day one ! This has meant that, as software has become more sophisticated, I have been able to extract more detail, better colours, and overall richer images from my original RAWs.

The master TIFFs have then been treated further, with a variety of plug-ins, including a range from NIK Software.

Updated www.jasonbatterham-photography.co.uk

2009-06-16T23:29:00.000+01:00

Have just significantly updated my website.

Alamy.com

2009-06-14T21:40:00.003+01:00

Just uploaded some more images to Alamy - the online sales portal/stock library. My collection is slowly building up.
Click here to see my own images on Alamy.

Remastering Project

2009-06-14T01:31:00.005+01:00

I've been working, for ages, on remastering all of my old major photography jobs - weddings, portraits, etc.

At the moment it's still in the early, experimental stages. Software has come on a long way since I started shooting digitally in 2004. So, I've been trying out various techniques I've picked up, plus some new software packages and plug ins.

I would compare this 'remastering' to movie directors like George Lucas - just can't resist going back to continually improve on old work.

Kew Gardens - with Nikon & Heather Angel.

2009-06-14T01:12:00.005+01:00

Earlier this week, I visited Kew Gardens, courtesy of Nikon UK. I was treated to a talk by world renowned natural history photographer - Heather Angel. Then Nikon kindly loaned me a D3 and 105mm macro lens. Despite the less than ideal weather, I managed to capture some half decent images. I may have to buy a D3 from Calumet