Fellow Fab photographer and shogun of high dynamic range imaging (HDR), Pete Carr, has co-authored a brand new book on HDR Photography.  Pete’s been instrumental in helping to bring HDR into the forefront of popular photography and this latest book of his, which is already amongst the best-sellers lists, promises to be an essential read for anyone interested in creating images with HDR.

Get your copy of HDR Photography: Photo Workshop at Amazon UK.

Since moving over to Mac, I’ve been fortunate enough to come across two great software bundles - something which I’ve not seen done for Windows at least not on this scale.  First was MacHeist and now here’s the MacUpdate Promo which includes popular applications such as Parallels Desktop 4,  TechTool Pro 5 and many others.  A fantastic bargain for any Mac user!

How we expose a photograph for a given scene can make the difference between it heading for the trash and being mounted on a wall.  Modern day cameras can automate the process with a degree of success, but understanding the basic principles behind exposure can provide you with the knowledge required when it comes to trickier lighting conditions that built-in camera metering systems often can’t cope with.

When taking a photograph, there are three primary factors determining how it is exposed; aperture, shutter speed and ISO.   Aperture refers to the size of the opening through which light is transmitted through a lens, shutter speed is a misnomer referring to the length of time the digital imaging sensor in your camera is exposed to an image and ISO refers to amount of amplification applied to the light information received by the sensor.

In typical, well lit circumstances, a photograph is deemed well exposed when there’s a distribution of tones without any unintentional clipping of shadows or highlights which result in lost image detail.  This isn’t always possible to achieve especially when a scene contains a greater dynamic range than what an imaging sensor can record.

As with any rule in photography, there are exceptions as well as the bending of rules in order to achieve the final desired result, but in many cases the best exposure is one where all of the determining factors are balanced to achieve a spread of tones without any clipping.  It’s important to reiterate that this isn’t necessarily the exposure you would want for the image you wish to create, but is more of an average for averagely lit scenes.

There are three main factors under a photographer’s control which determine how a photograph is exposed; aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

An analogy for the concept of exposure is to think of taking photographs as filling a bucket.  Instead of light, our medium is water.  To substitute the lens, we have a hosepipe.  The size of the diameter of the hosepipe is our aperture and in place of the shutter, we have a tap.  Our bucket is therefore the ISO.

Rather than dealing with absolute values of litres and gallons, let’s suppose the non-clipped exposure for a given ISO is a bucket which is filled exactly to the brim without any spillage.  This is useful in that it immediately tells us that for a given size of bucket (ISO value) we require a specific amount of water (light) in order to fill it (achieve an average exposure).

One slight twist of logic is with our sizing of buckets.  The larger the bucket number, the smaller the bucket actually is.  Just as the larger the ISO value, the less light we require to achieve an average exposure.

So, exactly how much water is required to fill any particular bucket?  What diameter hosepipe do we require?  How long should we keep the tap open?  As with filling a real-life bucket, we can vary the diameter of the hosepipe as long as we vary the length of time we keep the tap open proportionally.  Likewise, we can fill a bucket by leaving the tap open for longer when we’re using a smaller diameter hosepipe or for a shorter period if we’re using a larger diameter hosepipe.

By balancing the diameter of the hosepipe with the length of time the tap remains open, we control the total volume of water that travels through it.  As long as that volume is enough to fill the bucket and no more then we will achieve our goal.

Going back to the world of photography, for a given ISO setting, the digital imaging sensor inside your camera requires a certain volume of light in order to achieve a non-clipped exposure.  In terms of exposure, it doesn’t matter whether you use a larger or smaller aperture as long as the length of time the shutter is kept open is long enough for the required volume of light to reach the sensor.  Too little light results in an underexposed image, just as too little water results in an under-filled bucket.  Too much water results in over filling, just as too much light results in overexposure.

There are considerations and consequences of using different apertures and shutter speeds, but it’s the balancing of these factors which determine exposure.  That’s why taking a photograph is just like filling a bucket.

On Saturday 23rd May 2009, I, together with about 20 other members of the Fab Collective, took our cameras to Lark Lane in the Aigburth district of Liverpool.  Our mission was loosely defined as to document Lark Lane; the people, the shops, the community.  As an added bonus, the monthly farmers market was also being held at one end of the street.

Now, Lark Lane is an interesting street in itself with a very strong community feel.  The main road is lined with cafes, bars, restaurants, beauty salons, everyday shops as well as novelty shops and even a tattoo parlour.  Looking upwards, you get a sense of Lark Lane’s history as above the present day shop signage sits an indication of what was there before.  Off the main road are a colourful mixture of residential streets most of which are terraced, but there are the occasional surprises to be found.

The type of photography for the day was clearly a mixture of documentary, street and candid portraiture.  Areas of photography that I’ve not really ventured too deeply into before.  So, the day promised to be a fresh challenge for me which is one of the reasons why I joined the Fab Collective; to challenge myself and push my photography to where it’s never been before.

The day was immensely fun.  Not only were there some very friendly, approachable people in Lark Lane who were obviously very proud of their heritage, but it was also good to get to know some of the other Fabbers a little better.

There were plenty of photo opportunities to be had, both in and out of the farmers market.  As someone who has been used to mostly landscape photography, I was used to taking my time to set up shots and waiting for moments to occur.  Often, if you miss a moment in landscape photography there’s a chance you can simply wait for it to return.  I found that this really wasn’t the case with street photography.  Those candid moments when your subject is both interesting and not aware don’t always last and aren’t always repeated.  There were plenty of times during the day when I felt rushed or frustrated because I was too late to realise that an interesting shot had just gone by.

After a good 5 hours shooting up and down the street, I decided to call it a day and head home to process my shots.  Since then, I’ve struggled somewhat with what I took.  Some photos I’ve processed and reprocessed only to result in something which - it’s hard to describe, but - just doesn’t feel right.  Perhaps, the photos I’d taken weren’t particular great to start with.  Perhaps, I don’t really know what the end goal is so processing becomes aimless.  Perhaps, I just don’t (yet) have the ‘eye’ for this type of photography.  Whatever is the reason why, I’ve come away from a great days shoot not really knowing how I feel about the results.

I’ve uploaded some of my shots and will put some forward for the Fab Collective gallery, but I feel I’m on the beginning of a learning and experience curve.  I know this is a good thing and it’s this sort of challenge that I want because, for me, starting at zero is the path to achieving satisfaction.  It’s just not a challenge if it’s too easy!

Success doesn’t come without the risk of failure.

Around the tail end of 2008, a diverse group of Merseyside-based photographers found each other through the power of Flickr and decided they wanted to work together as a collective and put on an exhibition to showcase their work and also the city which brought them together.

Through the months that followed, much discussion took place both online and in real life together.  Through a great team effort, this has resulted in the formation of the Fab Collective and the booking of St. Luke’s church for an exhibition in August 2009.

Since its birth, the Fab Colective have undertaken a number of additional projects as a means of building awareness as well as for an opportunity to take photographs and have some fun.

If you’re in the local area and it’s somewhere with photographic interest, who knows, they might come and visit you!