Beyond the obvious

A newborn baby looks up at her mother. I took this using only available light and as it was going toward evening the circumstances were a bit of a challenge. Using my 70-200L lens stopped down to f4 to ensure enough depth of field but still make the best use of the light I had to bump the ISO up to 1600. Luckily the Canon 5D produces very little noise even at high ISO's . I processed the shot out of RAW using Canon's own software, Digital Professional Photographer and then imported the image into CS2. There I converted it to monochrome via LAB colour to ensure the best grey values. Reconverted it to RGB mode and toned the image. I wanted a soft look. In the darkroom I was quite fond of doing stocking prints. You tie a piece of stocking over the enlarger lens to diffuse the light. This causes the blacks to bleed out. I love the effect. In Photoshop you can use the glow filter to achieve a similar effect, which is what I did here. I feel it contributes to the mood and atmospher...

I saw his wonderful glowing white beard and hair through the window of his shop, went in and asked if I could make a portrait. Pierre agreed immediately. He was very friendly and patient. My wife and fellow photographer, Magda, chatted to him while I made several portraits. He is a sculptor and a real craftsman with his frames. If you're in Ostend,in the Kerkstraat, pop in and visit. I prefer not to use flash if at all possible, so these were all shot at 1600 ISO. Now as promised here are some excellent websites for photographers www.photokaboom.com www.aphotoaday.org www.lightstalkers.org Photostream The big picture And my friend David Toyne's new blog Digital SLR Photography Articles Enjoy! All the best, Paul

Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, Belgium No rest for the wicked. I've been on my travels again, hence the recent silence on the blog front. The image above was taken in Ostend Belgium. The Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk is a very impressive building, which was completed in 1905. The detail and ornamentation are extraordinary. Here I attempted to balance the light inside the church, showing through the stained glass window, the light in the towers, the floodlights on the building and the ambient daylight. As you can imagine the exposure was tricky. I really like photographing in twilight, mixing artificial and natural light. There's a small time-frame when the light is beautifully balanced. The evening glow fills in details in the shadows and the sky. I used photoshop to correct the verticals and remove most of the wide-angle distortion. In the end the image is quite magical and I think it complements the architect's vision. It was quite a challenge to get this shot with people wanderi...

This swan represents the caligraphy of nature to me. Nature's designs are wonderful and photographers have always had a fascination with them. Recently I've become increasingly fascinated with using the principles design when creating images. However I hope my touch remains light and avoids the contrived. This was taken on the banks of the river Wharf in Leeds where three swans seem to have taken up temporary residence. I hope to find the time to continue my series on using design principles soon. Cheers, Paul

My Head in the Clouds - Magda Indigo My wife and fellow professional photographer, Magda Indigo, uploaded this image on a photo sharing website yesterday. In her text supporting the image she had said, in all her honesty, that I had pressed the shutter button for her. It was deleted by the owner of the site as someone complained that she had not actually taken the image. This is an interesting case and it raises questions of authorship. The rules of the site say that you can only upload images that you've taken. The narrowest interpretation of this is pictures that you took by pressing the shutter button on your camera. A wider interpretation would be images of which you are the author and copyright holder. According to the wider interpretation this image is Magda's. She had the idea. Set the composition up. Decided on the framing. She borrowed my camera and set it up on the tripod. Because of the distance involved and the precise positioning, the self timer would have been tri...

The series of articles on using design in photography will continue soon but first I wanted to make an important point about how to get emotion in your images. When you see something you've got to put the feeling in the image as you are taking it. It is a real challenge for me to try to communicate what I mean here. Perhaps a few examples would help. A photographer is commissioned to produce an image of a sports car. He looks at it and the sleek lines excite him. His challenge is to convey that feeling of excitement in the image he produces. He has to feel the excitement in order to really put what is in his mind and heart into the final image so that when the viewer sees it they also get excited. He then looks at the trim in the cockpit and admires the fine finish and quality. Now he has to find a way to show that quality to the viewer, using lighting, angles etc. Another photographer is commissioned to do a portrait of a beautiful woman. She must look at her subject and ask hers...

As promised here is the first article in the series on using design principles to improve your photography. The primary concepts you need to think about when designing an image in your mind are: Balance - symetrical or more pleasing to the eye, asymetrical. All images need to be in balance to work well Consistency - this applies across a whole range of aspects, whether working on a series of pictures or in the visual treatment of a single image Contrast - this is a wonderful element to play with and an essential part of design Proportion - the relative size of objects but also the relative importance of visual elements Proximity - this is the single most important design concept for creating meaning in an image. Two elements close together will effect each other's meaning in a fundamental way Simplicity - keep it simple. Single concepts work best. Try to say too much and all messages get lost Unity - this can apply to the overall colour tone, to the harmony in shapes ac...

A small fishing boat in need of a new coat of paint or two, casts a shadow deep into the translucent waters of Morro Jable harbour, Fuerteventura. I've not been around for a bit. You may have noticed. Anyway, yesterday I finished putting a book together of Magda and my images, and I'm exhausted. It was one of those marathon's to get it all done within production deadlines. The image above almost made it into the book but fell at the last hurdle. I chose another one of the boats instead. Still I like it and hope you do to. I've learnt a lot going through the creative process of putting the book together which will soon be available to buy on www.indigo2photography.co.uk Once we take delivery I'll be able to photograph it and then create a small flash animation to show what it looks like. Well that's my idea to market it anyway. There will be a limited number of signed copies available. I'll let you know when. In the following weeks I am planning on writing a...

Easy access to the Internet and digital photography has resulted in an ever growing number of photographers uploading their images for comments and ratings from peers. Online communities evolve and these mini-societies each have their pecking order, internal groups and communal preferences. Photographers learn from each other. On sites that have a rating system there is often pressure to conform to certain styles, techniques and even subject matter. Although I participate in numerous sites (it's great fun), I recognise the danger of becoming a herd animal and losing the edge of individual creativity. There will always be the creatives that lead the way and the imitators that can only try to follow in their footsteps. This lead me to think about classifying photographers according their inner motivation. So as a bit of fun here are a few different types: The innovator Driven to always find something new, different and creative. Wants to be leading edge. Motivated by creative satisfa...

Portrait of Magda Indigo, out enjoying the landscape in Flanders, Belgium. Yesterday I was looking through my library of photography books. Being a bit of a collector I've got quite a lot. The book that caught my attention for a relaxing browse on the sofa was Annie Leibovitz's Woman. It's a magnificent celebration of woman and includes portraits of the famous, of high achievers and of ordinary woman. The thing that all of the images have in common is an honesty and an authenticity. She uses a variety of techniques and styles; black and white, colour, grainy, smooth, candid, posed - it doesn't matter. Each image speaks to the viewer. She often breaks the photographic rule's of composition, but each image works. You never get the feeling that technical considerations get in the way of making a good image. It's all about the subject and the honesty of the photograhers eye. No wonder she is ranked as one of the world's top portrait photographers. In her tribut...

The ocean and in particular waves breaking has fascinated me as long as I can remember. I used to sit as a child on the granite boulders of Cape Town staring out at the Atlantic as it pounded the coastline. Later as a surfer I got to know the joys of harnessing the power of the ocean as I sped across the steep faces of waves just like these. So there I stood on the Southern most point of Feurteventura, enjoying the experience and longing for my surfboard. I shot gigabytes of images to add to the photographic diary of my life. Cheers, Paul

Don't get a fright. You are visiting Paul Indigo's blog. I've decided to update the look. Consistency is good but every now again you need to freshen things up. I have added labels and other new features will follow soon. I intend to write even more articles in 2007, lots of useful stuff and more strong opinion pieces too like the article I published earlier tonight. You may see a slight change in the style of my writing too. My blog is going to be short, sharp and to the point. When it comes to giving advice I am going to ensure maximum clarity. If anything is unclear then please let me know. I realise that for many readers English is not their first language. Please tell me if there is something you do not understand. Besides opinion pieces and advice, I will make this blog more interactive by sharing the thoughts of other leading photographers and the opinions of experts with you. I hope you like the new look and you will continue to visit my blog. All of the very best, ...

There are a few things that irritate the hell out of me and one of them is the overuse of airbrushing techniques to smooth out portraits. Worst of all is when this technique is used on children and young people with perfect complexions. Turning everybody into a porcelain doll is just nauseating. There are several amateur photographers who, as is often the case with people where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, seem to delight in turning everyone they photograph into a plastic effigy. I've even seen the technique used on babies. For heavens sake! A baby’s beautiful pure skin airbrushed and all those cute little wrinkles wiped out. What on earth are these photographers thinking? Look at any leading professional photographer’s work. Yes, they airbrush their models but you can still see skin texture and pores. The gradations are subtle and smooth, colours blend beautifully across cheeks but you can still see that it's skin, except in a few highly stylised images where the o...

The styles of Basil Pao and Martin Parr are very different and there’s absolutely no academic reason to group them together other than I’d like to draw your attention to their brilliant work. Having said that there are two similarities. Both photographers are constantly taking pictures wherever they go and whatever they’re doing. The second similarity is their visual wit. They both frequently juxtapose elements in the image in a clever and very visual literate way and for me it is one of the key strengths of both photographers. Martin has brought out a lovely book called Fashion . I think it is brilliant although very garish. Basil has been Michael Palin’s photographer on his BBC travel expeditions for the last 14 years. If you’re not aware of their work then you’re in for a treat. Get to a bookshop and take a look at their work in print. The screen just does not do it justice. Cheers, Paul

What goes through your mind when you see an image? There's an emotional and an intellectual response. Firstly, I'll try to describe the emotional response. When I see an image I really like, a feeling of pleasure rises up from inside me until it touches my lips and forms a smile. But images can evoke the full range of emotions from tears, to anger, to laughter. An image's ability to evoke an emotion is one of the measures of its strength. It's fascinating that everyone reacts differently to images. In essence the image brings 50% to the party and the viewer brings the other 50%. Appreciation is the sum of the viewer's experience and the image itself. That's why some people can look at a print and it leaves them absolutely cold while the same print can have a profound effect on another person. There are a few images which strongly affect virtually everyone because they sum up a powerful emotion or statement about the human condition in a universal way. On the oth...

You may well have already read this interesting article and in some ways even more interesting commentary. But just in case you missed it, take a look at Dan Gillmor's article The Decline (and Maybe Demise) of the Professional Photojournalist (article published under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License .) I think he's stated the obvious when it comes to on-the-spot news. However as others have pointed out, merely recording the moment does not equate to journalism. I certainly do not feel threatened by ubiquitous image recording devices as there will always be a market for a sensitively told story in pictures and words. My prediction is that we will see a polarisation between on-the-spot recording of events and high quality photojournalism. There's a market for both. Feel free to leave a comment here too. Cheers, Paul

We start of in photography wanting to own and buy everything and then as things progress we realise that we need less and less. The image and the vision takes over. I've just read a lovely book: The World's Top Photographers: Photojournalism: And the Stories Behind Their Greatest Images (World's Top Photographers) (Hardcover) by Andy Steel Their are some astonishing ommissions from these pages including many of the photojournalists I rate highest in the world, but perhaps they weren't willing to collaborate and I know it's impossible to include everyone. Anyway... Something struck me reading through the pages. The diversity of cameras and equipment they use is amazing. However, it is clear that many stick to just a few lenses, often fixed focal length. Of course journalists working for daily newspapers who need to cover every eventuality from sport to hard news will have a wide range of lenses but even then it seems that they settle on a few favourites to get variou...

A very Happy New Year to all my blog readers. Yes, I'm back from a gruelling commission in the sun on the Canary Islands. Jokes aside, I did work hard but came away with stunning images which now need to be processed and edited. I'm missing the sound of the wind in the palm trees. Now back in the cold and wet of the UK. I hope you had a good festive season wherever you are in the world. Cheers, Paul

Around this time of year a lot of camera equipment gets bought and many a photographer will find something with a lens on it under the Christmas tree. Everyone evaluates what they've got and what they need. I saw a forum thread in which a budding freelance photographer asked which camera outfit he should get for weddings and portraits. He also complained about the expense of camera gear. I wrote a reply and thought it might be a nice idea to share it with you as well, in case you're also struggling to balance wish lists and budgets. Don't get hung up on equipment, is my advice. If you're selling portraits and wedding photography then the only thing that counts is your client's opinion of your work. They don't care which camera you use whether it's an old Rolleiflex TLR, a Holga or the latest DSLR. By the way I know photographers that specialise in using the above three cameras, almost exclusively and are very successful. I used Nikon for 20 years and have no...

Christmas is upon us and 2007 is waiting in the wings. I'd like to wish all of my readers peace, happiness and good health. Hope you have a wonderful festive season and a Merry Christmas to my Christian readers. Thank you to everyone for your comments, sharing ideas, all the emails and the support, which has kept me writing. It's very much appreciated. We truly have a world-wide audience here from New Zealand, Iceland, India, the USA, South Africa, Russia, Dubai, the UK ...everywhere. If there's one wish I've got it is that there should be more kindness in the world. Wherever I've seen it, whether it is in conflict zones, relationships, businesses, families, on the street, during a natural disaster, in sports competitions - a touch of human kindness does so much to enhance people's lives. It can make all the difference and it's a great gift and as important as food and water. I am off on a photographic commission and a bit of holiday but I'll be back in...