UKC Forums - NEW ARTICLE: Light Work - Make Your Photography Stand Out

NEW ARTICLE: Light Work - Make Your Photography Stand Out

This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.

UKC Articles 25 Mar 2009

[Zoe Ogden, British Lead Climbing Championships, Blackpool, 3 kb]

We like to call Alex Messenger 'One of the World's best climbing photographers'. It makes him all embarrassed... but it's true - Alex is very handy with a lens and in this article he picks ten of his favourite photographs and explains how and why he took them.

"...here are ten shots that work because of the light or composition, not necessarily the climbing action..."

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1764

Adam Lincoln 25 Mar 2009

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article Alex! Some useful tips.

alex 25 Mar 2009

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

Cheers Adam. I wasn't sure whether to feature pure climbing action or go for something more general on light and composition. It's a little different anyway, hope it helps.

Yanis Nayu 25 Mar 2009

In reply to UKC Articles: Really superb photos. Inspirational stuff.

tom.ireson 25 Mar 2009

In reply to UKC Articles: Excellent little tutorial, great pictures coupled with helpful tips. Nice one!

Jack Geldard 26 Mar 2009

In reply to UKC Articles: Thanks for this Alex,

Really helpful. Some good short tips, nice and simple - just how I like it!

Photos are amazing.

Jack

JonRoger 26 Mar 2009

In reply to UKC Articles: Nice work Alex - love the reflector idea (use too much flash myself).

alex 26 Mar 2009

In reply to JonRoger:

Yep, they're totally the way forward. Plus, best of all, you can use them with any camera. Unlike remote flash, which can soon start to get pricy.

Niall Grimes 26 Mar 2009

In reply to alex: Good pics. The reflector works very well. Like you say, with effects it's important not to overdo them. A lot of people now seem to won remote flashes, and what you get is images of remote flash. I've always liked the idea in anything creative, if you notice the effect, then it's not worked. There seem to be more remote flashes than people who know how to use them.

I've always thought than in photography there's a distinction between taking a photograph of something, or creating an image. Would you say you create images?

Sam Mayfield 26 Mar 2009

In reply to Niall Grimes:

See Alex, your facebook message worked!

;oP Sam Orange

Michael Ryan 26 Mar 2009

In reply to Niall Grimes:

Try this creative image (and words) for size...

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1718

The sharp end 28 Mar 2009

In reply to alex:

Awesome and inspirational!

Fraser 31 Mar 2009

In reply to alex:

Great shots and very useful tips too, thanks for both.

One question though: on shot 3 - 'Reflect on it' with Jacky Moore on Dragonfly, her left arm is a bit bleached due to Hueco's strong reflected light no doubt. In my photos though, particularly the bouldering shots where I'm usually nearer the subject, I quite often get a similar problem. Is there any way of avoiding this? I realise it's about striking the right exposure balance between the very heavy shadow on the rhs in that shot and the left side which is more brightly lit, but I often get the over-exposed arm or head/face in shots which are reasonably evenly lit.

Here's an example:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.php?id=57425&updated=8302

ginger_lord 31 Mar 2009

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Someone reads Digital Photo magazine They had lots of tutorials for that effect the other month.

alex 01 Apr 2009

In reply to Fraser:

Cheers, glad you found them useful.

Yep, you're right. Bleaching out of climber's hands and arms is quite common - especially amongst us pasty-skinned Brits, covered in chalk. There's not a whole heap you can do about it sometimes - a tan is usually the best solution. Just try and under-expose a bit - in Photoshop it's easier to bring out shadows then it is to rescue highlights.

I think Jacky did have a tan though. But I suspect the person who I bribed to hold the reflector onto her was using the silver side, not the gold one. A gold relector gives a much warmer look and cures this problem.

Fraser 03 Apr 2009

In reply to alex:

Thanks for that - I didn't realise those reflectors has different coloured sides. I'll try the deliberate underexposing....and invest in some coloured chalk too!

I also tried a digiSLR and comparing identical shots with my compact, and there's a noticable difference in the amount of bleaching from mine. Those were architectural shots rather than climbing ones, but I imagine the same principle applies. (To give it a monitor analogy, it's almost like on mine I'm getting thousands of colours but the SLR is capturing millions).