Creative Light - Issue 19 by Guild of Photographers

Nightscape Photography - Luca Concas Observational Photography - Richard p. Walton Photoshop Look-Up Tables - Glyn Dewis Drone Photography for your Business - Tim Wilde

Price when sold ÂŁ5.00 Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

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Contents features 12 28 34 44 50

Richard P. Walton Photographer

62 66 76

Rob Hill Backup Planning

Glyn Dewis Photoshop Tips

Laura Hampton Digital Marketing Gold Awards February Luca Concas Italian Landscape Photographer

©Tim Wilde

Tim Wilde Drone Photography Gold Awards March

Front Cover “

This was taken in Holguin, Cuba. I was there recently to present some workshops for Photo Training Overseas. The original shot I had seen would have showed more of the guy but as soon as I pulled the camera up to my eye he quickly jumped back and disappeared behind the door, I kept my composition, pre-focused the camera, yelled ‘yo amigo’ and this was the result.

richiard p. walton

Cuba is a fantastic country and I would highly recommend it if you’ve never been”.

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STEVE & LESLEY THIRSK The Guild of Photographers It’s hard to believe the Photography Show at the NEC is now weeks behind us! It was a fantastic few days and the Guild of Photographer’s Stand was as busy as ever. We were delighted to welcome over 100 new members to the Guild and it was wonderful to catch-up with many existing members who popped over to say ‘Hi’ to each other, the Panel and our Team. It was also the perfect opportunity to launch our latest benefit for members who are in business – the opportunity to offer their customers Interest Free Credit with the photographer getting their income paid upfront and the customer spreading the cost and paying back a Finance House at 0% interest! Many of the major High Street retailers offer this service because they know it can increase turnover and profits massively (statistics suggest as much as 60% plus). Photographers can’t usually offer this service through a Finance House as it’s usually only a facility offered to companies turning over £100,000’s but we have brokered this unique deal where this need not be the case! The main question we get asked at events like the Photography Show is “Why should I join you rather than one of the other associations?”. We like to be upfront about this and say that photographers should compare them as the benefits, value and support can be very different. In the Guild’s case we know that the discounts can more than exceed the membership fee. All our ‘Pro’ members get a business support package that’s worth more than double the membership costs so an instant saving is been made. Add to that significant savings at places like the Apple Store and off Crashplan’s Back-Up service, as well as discounts off insurance packages and training opportunities it’s easy to see how members can save literally £100’s each year! Of course, the Guild’s membership is not just about saving money – far from it. All members can access to great training opportunities and an incredible 121 mentoring and critique programme which is run online, so is fully interactive. The mentoring can be used purely to assist with personal learning or to help prepare to gain accreditation for our different Membership levels (or qualifications). As we are a Guild, our accreditation is linked to the history of the Guilds and exceptional Craft, hence we have levels such as ‘Qualified’ and ‘Craftsman’, which have the added advantage of being titles that the public understand! On similar lines to the mentoring we also offer direct feedback opportunities on entries made to our incredibly popular Image of the Month competition. Not only does this have monthly awards and winners but points are gathered each month and those with the highest scores at the end of the year get recognition as one of the Guild’s Photographers of the Year. A further spin-off is the Image of the Year competition where highly respected Judges choose the strongest images of the Year in multiple genres! This is a fascinating and passionate monthly event which drives standards! For those in business we offer what we believe is an unequalled ‘Pro’ support package. This includes 24/7 direct access to a legal helpline, Tax Investigation protection and many other services such as contract dispute cover and a debt recovery service. Our legal teams pursue cases such as these for members at no additional cost to the member whatsoever! We firmly believe that all those in business should have support like this! This offers great reassurance and can prove to be as valuable as PL and PI insurance should a situation where you need legal support occur! As we said above, last, but not least are the networking opportunities. We are very proud that the Guild of Photographers seems to attract incredible like-minded members - Photographers who want to learn, give and share! On the back of that we have some amazing regional and interest based social groups run by members themselves, as well as very active Guild run private Facebook pages. Hope you enjoy reading this edition of the Guild’s magazine! Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

Editor Ian Knaggs image of the Spitfire is my Editors Choice for this edition of Creative Light. Ian entered this picture into January’s Image of the Month Competition. What a great piece of creativity. The staircase of the hotel I was staying at in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was so fabulous I had to capture it. When I leant over the balustrade to capture the image below, I honestly felt sick as I suffer from vertigo, but so glad I did it! Don’t forget to keep sending suggestions on photographers you would like to see featured in forthcoming editions, and they do not have to be members of The Guild of Photographers! Have a great month and don’t forget that it is Fathers Day in June! Get your campaigns out now!

julie oswin

- Julie x

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editors choice Ian Knaggs Awarded Silver - IOM January 2017

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Jenny Johnson

Marketing Manager at 3XM and Photovalue Jenny Johnson is the marketing manager at 3XM. You can see her talk all things social media at various events throughout this year. For more information - [click here]

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SPRING FORWARD Statistically, most entrepreneurs and business leaders start to burn out in March / April. While this might seem strange to us in the photography industry since the first quarter is generally the least busy, the fact remains. The theory goes that the first quarter is generally spent making plans for the year ahead. When you add to that the constant push to improve & grow your business coupled with relatively few holidays at this time of year, the result can be burn-out for some people. So how do you avoid burn-out whilst growing & exceeding your own targets?

REVIEW First things first, now that Spring is here (yay!) and you’re into the second quarter of the year it’s important to assess your performance for the first quarter. Are things on track? Do you have to alter course or amend your approach? Did things work brilliantly? Before continuing on towards the second half of the year with gusto, take time to reflect and review what’s worked and what hasn’t worked. During this review process, start to highlight the things that most greatly contributed to your success. Are a small number of activities contributing to your best results? Think about the specific activities that have been driving your business forward and how you might be able to do more of these. If things aren’t working brilliantly & you’re not getting as many bookings as you might like, try to objectively ask yourself, why. Why are people not booking you? Are they even aware of your business / how are you reaching them? As the phrase goes, if you continue to do the same things you will continue to get the same results. Should you be trying something new or different? Is there something that you think you can do that would dramatically improve your business.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Social media: How much time are you spending on social media and what return are you getting? Social media can be an amazing marketing tool for your business BUT if you’re spending all day every day on social media and seeing no return then you’re wasting your time. It’s important to set goals for your social media channels. You might want to increase brand awareness, reach or engagement or perhaps you want something much more measurable like conversions i.e. bookings / sales. Whatever you’re hoping to achieve, make sure you measure it & do well targeted posts & content across all of your social media channels. Custom audiences: Sometimes the most valuable audience is the one you already have a connection to. Learn to make your data work harder for you by using custom audiences. Once you create custom audiences you can then take it a step further and create Lookalike Audiences. Personalised marketing, even at scale: You can create automated personalised advertising campaigns on social media so that even as your business grows and your campaigns get bigger, your clients still feel like they’re receiving personalised messages. By setting up dynamic adverts for re-targeting, you can deliver automated personalised messages to people. Referrals: Do you ask for referrals from existing clients? This could be a sure fire way of dramatically increasing your bookings. Give clients incentives to give you a referral – it’s a super cheap way for you to find potential leads; win win! Up- sell: When you work so hard to get a customer it’s important to use every opportunity to maximise the sale. Make it easy for your customers to upgrade at any stage during the sales cycle. Even if they book your cheapest package, offer them upgrades right the way through. E-marketing: You might think that email marketing is dead but you if you’re not doing it at the moment you might be pleasantly surprised at the results. Email marketing is super cheap and can work really well to deliver great ROI for your business. By mirroring your social media campaigns into email campaigns you can quickly & easily reach a wider audience across multiple touch points.

Time to spring-clean your marketing! The moat talented photographers in the world often times don’t have the best business. Why? One word; marketing. In order to run a successful photography business (or any business for that matter) it’s important to get a handle on marketing to drive sales. An integrated approach will always work better than using one advertising channel in isolation and of course it’s better to do something than nothing. Just get started! - Jenny Johnson Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

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“

I have been taking photographs professionally for around twelve years.

I’ve always had a passion for creating original pictures that come from my visions and ideas. I want to push my limits as a photographer and push my client’s limits, giving them an experience they will never forget while making them feel good about themselves. Over the years I have worked in various genres of photography, I started working for a High Street Photography Studio while I was in college. It was while I was working at the studio I learnt a lot about photographing weddings and family portraiture, which led me to open up my own studio which I ran for six years. I’m currently working from an office in my wife’s tattoo studio, concentrating on more commercial photography projects and commissions. I have been fortunate to travel the world taking photographs and also sharing my knowledge by teaching other photographers. I want to help people understand that it is OK to be an individual in this world and you don’t have to follow all the trends and current gimmicks. Photography gives me a reason, a purpose and a great excuse to do the things I want to do in life. And, taken me to some amazing places and introduced me to some wonderful people. The limitless nature of photography drives me, like a drug, it is an addiction I can’t quit, it’s endless possibilities mean I can never get bored or never reach the top, it’s always evolving and opening my mind”. - Richard P. Walton

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“

The limitless nature of photography drives me, like a drug, it is an addiction I can’t quit!”

Please can you share with the readers of Creative Light your thought processes behind your successful photography? There are two types of photography for me, observational and planned photography, my winning travel photograph was purely observational and was taken while crossing a road in Valletta, Malta after I had just presented a lecture for the MPS (Malta Photographic Society). Throughout the year I entered over 160 photographs into the SWPP monthly competition, I was also fortunate to win studio photographer of the year and collected the most gold awards. I probably had the most ‘no awards’ too.

Are Portraits your mainstay of your photography business? My business isn’t like most photography businesses. I don’t focus on one area which I am not sure if this is good or bad. Probably bad. I could make a lot more money if I put all my eggs in one basket with something like wedding photography, but I don’t like doing the same thing too much. Weddings lack variety, and I can only now shoot a handful each year. Portraiture is probably my strongest area of photography, and I prefer to take photographs with at least one human being in the shot. Making a living isn’t that easy for a photographer who is allergic to work, the moment something feels like work I hate it, that’s not saying I don’t work hard, but I can only do so if I’m enjoying what I’m doing. I now realise that the photograph is purely a byproduct of an experience and if the experience isn’t any good, then the photographs are pointless!

Camera equipment? What’s in your camera bag?

Good photography comes from the mind and imagination. No one piece of kit or technology can compete with our brain. Creating something that you’ve never seen before is a good thing. Cameras can take images, but they are unable to create beautiful pieces of art. We all have the ability to be able to think for ourselves, and as image makers, we have the potential to show other people our visions on paper. We do not need the latest expensive kit to do this. I don’t need much gear to shoot the way I shoot, and I can fit everything into a regular sized camera bag. At the end of the day, the equipment is only a small part of the equation when it comes to taking good photographs, and it’s important to remember that. I shot with Canon for twelve years, but I have now moved over to Fuji, and I’m currently using the XT2. I have never really been that into gear, the whole Canon vs. Nikon is just stupid. Looking back in the earlier years of my photography career I thought it was all about the gear; I thought there was a magic camera and that the lens would just take ‘nice’ photographs for you. I soon realised that the camera is nothing without the photographer, whatever model or brand it is. To take good photographs, the ISO, aperture and shutter speed can and should be operated manually. However I had an opportunity to test out a pre-production Fuji and fell in love with it, the mirrorless system is so good now. I love the ‘live view” digital viewfinder, silent shooting mode and the Wifi to iPad/iPhone is just brilliant. The Fuji continued...

ÂŠ Richard P. Walton

ÂŠ Richard P. Walton Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

ÂŠ Richard P. Walton

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camera has completely changed the way I can work, and it has also changed what I can offer my clients. In today’s society, people want photography instantly, especially at events, with this camera and my iPad I am able to make that possible. When it comes to artificial lighting I use the Elinchrom Quadra kit, everything about this system is brilliant, from the lightweight heads and battery packs to the power they boast.

How do you relax?

I struggle to sit still for long; I like chilling with my wife whenever I get the chance, and I also like skateboarding. My main passion is travel; I love to get out in new places and shoot, observational photography is my favourite kind of photography. I would love to be able to make a living from just travelling and taking photographs, but I’ve yet to figure it out yet. I think I need an online business so I can start making money in my sleep, then I could relax. It is hard to relax hard when you have to constantly think about making money. Having to make money stifles things. I feel most relaxed when I have a camera in my hand, and something cool to photograph and the bonus is if I’m also getting paid for it! Then I’m very relaxed.

What do you find the most difficult with being selfemployed? Not knowing where your next pay-cheque is coming from at times and having to gather paperwork and take it to an accountant. Apart from that, it’s the best thing in the world, and I would never work for anyone ever again. Being your own ‘boss’ is just the way it was meant to be in my eyes. I had some pretty terrible jobs before I discovered photography.

What has helped you succeed in Photography where others have failed? It does depend on what we are talking about when we use the word succeed? Success is measured differently by everyone, if you class not working for a living and enjoying what you do most days, then yes I am successful. If you consider lots of numbers in a bank account as being successful, then I am an absolute failure. There is an old saying ‘art is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration; this is something that may take a while to sink in and fully appreciate, but the fact is there aren’t many prodigies out there who take amazing photos from the minute they pick up a camera. It took me a long time to discover that the only real way to improve and get better at taking photos was repetition (practice and lots of it). For creative ideas to flow effortlessly from our minds through our cameras we must have the technical side nailed; the trick is to free your mind from any technical issues that get in the way so you can concentrate on the idea of the image in your head. I studied Wing Chun (a style of kung fu) for a while when I was younger; here, and in any martial arts, the training is repetitive and ritualistic. Another good example is a musician, they play scales and practice chords over and over again, in both cases the reason is not so they can be really good at practising martial arts or playing chords, it is

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so that when the time comes to fight or play they will do so automatically without consciously having to decide what to do. If a martial artist had to think about what punch block he had to throw next he wouldn’t block the punch coming towards him; it is the result of muscle memory that lets him block punches effortlessly. The same goes for photography; we must take the same images over and over again until our muscles respond to our imaginations without having to go through the brain to do it. In my earlier years of taking photos, I wanted to learn how to use the flash off the camera. Every time I tried, the background in the image would be dark almost pitch black. When I changed something the flash would totally blow out the subject, what I saw in my head didn’t look anything like the rubbish I was capturing on the back of the camera. I looked for short-cuts, tricks, books, online tutorials and nowhere could I find anything that put it in a way I could understand. I gave up for a while; I thought I didn’t have what it took. Then one quiet day in the future I thought I would try again; to no great amazement I was still rubbish, I still couldn’t figure it out. This time was different though, I kept trying, and the more I tried, the more the images on my camera were starting to look like the images in my head. There is an old saying that ‘practice makes perfect’ and many of us simply give up the first time. I used to believe that any artist was born with the ability to take great photographs and understand the technical side of things easily. But, that really isn’t true. We have all got to where we now are thanks to repetition and practice. If you really want to get good at a particular lighting set-up, Photoshop technique or anything else, then the real secret is to simply keep going over and over it again until you are sick to death of it and then start seeing it in your sleep.

Three words that describe your work?

Good, average or bad

Q: One fact about you? I once climbed somewhere so stupid I had to get airlifted by a helicopter.

Q: What’s your proudest moment? Making a living from something I enjoy doing.

Your thoughts on the photographic industry?

current state of the

The state of the industry should not affect you and your business. I’m sick and tired of hearing about how bad the industry is, people constantly telling me that other photographers are cheapening the trade making it hard for us to make any decent money any more. The state of the industry cannot be responsible for the state of our businesses. I know lots of photographers who are financially doing better than ever before and why is this? Because they know their marketplace and they know how to market themselves for it. IIf you have competition around you then you need to start thinking how you can be different, then you no longer have competition. Is Ford in competition with Porsche? Of course not, because they are two different companies with two completely different markets and selling two completely different products.

© Richard P. Walton However, they are still selling cars just like we are selling photographs. Place yourself in a position where you are looked at as an individual artist, offering something unique which separates you from photographers that people have clichés about. Photography is easier than ever now, and it’s the skeleton key to life, whatever you like in life you can photograph, and probably make money doing so. You can create the life you’ve always thought about by being a photographer. Try to concentrate on that idea and avoid all the pointless stuff that this industry tries to sell you to make you feel like a more worthy photographer. You can go to these huge shows and spend thousands of pounds on equipment you simply do not need. Avoid those kind of shows like the plague. Remember, all you need is a lens, light, passion for learning and you will be OK.

Q: Favourite place in the world?

I love the west coast of America, California mainly, Venice, Cuba and my home, Wales. But there isn’t a place I’ve been that I didn’t like, everywhere has experiences to offer. I want to see every country in the world.

What next?

Aliens will invade and change everything, society will wake up and realise that most of what we are doing is stupid and pointless and mainly just feed our vanity and egos. We are lost in a world full of lunatics driven by money; I have recently just started planning a new project to highlight it. I want to make people stop and think, and photography is the best way to achieve this...

Richard. P. Walton - www.richardpwalton.co.uk Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

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ÂŠ Richard P. Walton

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‘If I am honest, I don’t really want to promote AsukaBook because I don’t want all my contemporaries using this brand’ - - David Rucker

Bespoke lakeside wedding shoots; Sahara marathons, Iceland yomps and an 874 mile bike ride - say hello to an ‘outdoors obsessed’ wedding photographer

hree years ago, outdoor sports fanatic and Lake District-based wedding photographer David Rucker hopped on his bike at John O’Groats armed with only a toothbrush and a credit card and pedalled down to Land’s End in seven days.

Just because he could. Oh, and he’s yomped his way across Iceland (because it seemed like fun), spends as much time as he can in a kayak or on a mountain bike…. and seems to have an uncanny knack of attracting clients who share his love of adventure and fresh air. He says: “Last week I talked a couple into walking halfway up a very wet Skiddaw – England’s fourth highest mountain – for their pre-wedding shoot. I just thought it might be a bit different.” Former teacher David has lived and worked in New Zealand, Malaysia, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and has fulfilled a host of international wedding commissions in his fifteen years as a professional photographer. He returned to the UK with his wife and children last summer and now finds himself driven to become the ‘go-to’ wedding photographer in the Lake District – the UK’s most popular national park. “It’s just such a stunning location for wedding photography’ he notes ‘but I don’t see too many other photographers in the area exploiting it in quite the same way as I do – perhaps that’s just because I am an outdoor fanatic.” He adds: “My clients quickly get to realise that I am up for pretty much anything at their shoots. I also carry a couple of

umbrellas, as everyone here knows we can get three or four season’s worth of weather in a single day.”

Although wedding photography is perceived by many professionals as the toughest photo-discipline, David – a meticulous planner – relishes every shoot.

“First, I have to really get to know the bride and groom over a coffee or a glass of wine. To me it’s not about shooting one wedding three hundred times in my life, it’s about shooting three hundred completely individual weddings. It’s vital to keep fresh and inspired and I am constantly challenging myself to do that. I don’t like ‘good’ – that’s just mediocre to me. I prefer to under-promise and over-deliver, and I always want to be better next week than I have been this week.” He adds: “I always offer my clients shots from the pre-wedding session to use on their wedding invitations – it is a very

useful ‘bonding’ mechanism.”

‘Style is knowing who you are’ – Orson Welles David has developed his own distinctive shooting style. “I am not a clone of anyone else but I don’t live in a vacuum either’ he states. “I take a keen interest in who’s winning photo-awards across the globe but I have my own ideas for getting the

best out of my clients. I have strategies for teasing out emotions when it’s necessary to do so. But I’m also transparent – each wedding is unique and bespoke and I want the pictures I take to still be treasured decades after the wedding itself. I’m trying to create documentaries but naturally, organically and creatively. I’m not interested in simply zapping away.” 22 : Creative Light Magazine - Issue 19

Tools of the wedding shooter’s trade: When it comes to equipment, David captures with Sony and Elinchrom and presents with AsukaBook. “I am always impressed by exceptional customer service and when we came back to the UK last year I wanted to link with a brand that matched my own values. I scoured what is undoubtedly a competitive marketplace until I could discover something that just stood out from the pack. I found it in Andrew Moorcroft and AsukaBook products. Andrew is just the best. He is so personable and can’t do enough to help. I ring him just feel nothing is ever too much trouble. When you find a product that is world-class you also want the person behind it to be in the same league.” He adds: “I love the NeoClassic range in particular. The pictures that come back are just so brilliantly vivid - and the

colour management and printing are formidable. The software too is easy to embrace.

This year my brides have all been clamouring for these products. Some want three or even four albums to distribute to close family members. They love the layflat hard board pages that show no gutter loss. These pages come in matte or glossy hard cover or a cushioned hard cover. They are classy albums that will last a very long time.” But there is a paradox. Says David: “The thing is that if I am honest, I don’t really want to promotr AsukaBook because I don’t want all my

contemporaries using this brand. It’s like when a photographer finds a really great shooting location – he/she needs to keep it a secret. I feel like that about AsukaBook!” David aims to shoot an optimum of thirty weddings a year – enabling him to also focus on his landscape, portraiture and commercial work. And what’s next on the sports front for David Rucker? “Well I’d love to compete in the Sahara marathon…. dubbed the toughest footrace on Earth, once I’ve fully recovered from a knee operation that has now become somewhat overdue,’ he confesses.

Design options: AsukaBook Maker is free to download professional album editing software. It’s easy to use and loaded with functions including layout templates, borders, masks, drop shadows and key lines. AsukaBook InDesign Tool allows users to easily create a book layout and re-size a design. And if you prefer it all done for you by experts – Album Design by Everleaf provides bespoke design options at extremely competitive prices. www.asukabook.co.uk: www.everleaf.co.uk: 01992 631 414

EXCLUSIVE OFFER:

Exclusive o ffers: (PLUS a special off Guild memb er for ers)

FREE parent

book album . When you buy one larg e and two sm books the se alle cond smalle r album is co r free. mpletely The offer is available fo r both the Z NeoClassic en and ranges. For Z en orders, th album must e main be equal to 8 x 11 or la the NeoCla rger and ssic, any size except 8 x 8 Layflat pare . The Zen nt albums a re in sizes: 5 x 8 x 5.5H, 7 .5H and 5.5 5, 7 x 7, x8. Unmissable offer for ne w custome rs: Every new A sukaBook cl ient is entitl 50% discou ed to a nt off their first product order.

“Bekkie & Matt were on a pre-wedding shoot on Latrigg which is part way up England’s 40th highest mountain, Skiddaw. Despite it drizzling and being overcast, the couple were in many way my ideal client, as they were active outdoor types who got up early and we finished in time for breakfast in Keswick”. - David Rucker Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

congratulations Rebecca Gourtoube Qualified Professional Photographer March 2017

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congratulations Karen Riches Qualified Professional Photographer March 2017

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TIP SHEET #13 Photoshop Color Look Up Tables (LUT)

With Photoshop there are countless ways that we can colorize our pictures; be it Levels, Curves, Hue Saturation, Selective Color Adjustments Layers and so it goes on. The techniques you use, as is always the case with Photoshop, depend a lot I would suggest on what you prefer to use so there’s no right or wrong way so long as you can get the results you’re after. Personally I have two preferred ways to colorize my pictures and add that final mood/ atmosphere and that’s using a Plug In which at the time of writing happens to be Color Efex Pro 4 from the Nik Collection and then Color Look Up Tables (LUTs) in Photoshop. In this tutorial I’ll show you how I use LUTs to give my series of Home Guard pictures their distinctive look using Photoshop Color Look Up Tables (LUT) which to be honest, is my go to way for colorizing my images and adding a mood / atmosphere…

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/glyndewis

Located amongst the Adjustment Layers in Photoshop the Color Look Up Table Adjustment layer you may be tempted to simply click on each of the presets to see what the effect they give looks like, however if you combine them, vary their Opacity and maybe even change their Blend Modes the possibilities are endless.

Step 1: Color Look Up - TensionGreen Start by add a Color Look Up Adjustment Layer. In the Look Up Table properties, from the top menu labeled 3DLUT File choose TensionGreen and in the layers panel lower the opacity of this Adjustment Layer to 30%

Step 2: Color Look Up - EdgyAmber Click to 2nd Color Look Up Adjustment Layer and from the top menu again, choose EdgyAmber and lower the opacity of this Adjustment Layer in the layers panel to 20%

Step 3: Color Look Up - FoggyNight Click to add a 3rd Color Look Up Adjustment Layer and from the top menu this time choose FoggyNight and lower the opacity of this Adjustment Layer in the layers panel to 20%.

www.glyndewis.com

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Before LUT

After LUT

Coming Soon The Home Guard - Complete Retouching Workflow using Photoshop, Lightroom & Camera RAW

Digital Download containing: • • • • •

Video Tutorials RAW Files Asset Files Lighting Diagram & Video Run-Through Fully Transcribed

Newsletter Subscriber Launch Price

£5

Limited Time Offer

CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE PAGE FOR 100’S OF FREE TUTORIALS

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Gold Award Ed Burrows Image of the Month Competition - March 2017

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Leanne Du Plessis

congratulations Leanne Du Plessis Qualified Newborn & Baby Photographer April 2017

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Google and Image Content Laura is the Digital Marketing Manager for Impression. Impression are a Nottingham company with a team of 15+ digital marketers, website designers and web developers and serves clients across the UK and beyond. Their services include SEO, PPC, content marketing, digital PR and website design and development.

Rich Media in Digital Marketing:

laura hampton

The way we search the web is evolving. No longer do we seek text content alone or use the web like a book. Today’s web user is engaged with rich media too, meaning images, video, graphics, basically anything that’s not plain text.

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For photographers, this change to the way we consume web content presents a huge advantage. In a world where great imagery gets attention, photographers have the opportunity to really excel.

Google and Image Content Part of Google’s strategy to improve the search results has been to improve its own ability to parse rich content, such as images or video. In recent months, Google has made great strides in how it understands images and is starting to recognise objects in images, as well as delivering a more developed image search result, which means images themselves are becoming a much more common feature in the search results pages. Moving forward, Google is working hard on its ability to understand what’s happening in a video, so it can better index video content too.

What this means for photography websites: For photographers, the imagery used on their own websites has always been important. Ensuring your photography showcases your range of services is important, and there are a number of things you can do to help Google better understand your photos, so it can deliver those images as search results (which in turn helps you attract more visitors to your website). These things are relatively simple to implement if you manage your own website through a platform such as Wordpress, or ask your developer to do them for you:

Use image alt tags and title text The image alt tag and title text is what tells Google what the image is. It is also what is used by screen readers for accessibility purposes to read out what the image is. So it’s an important element of helping Google and other search engines to understand your image content. Both the alt tag and the title text can be the same, or very similar, for the image if you like, but each image must have its own unique alt tag and title text. If using Wordpress, you’ll see these two fields alongside the image when you upload it in the back end editing area. Choose an alt tag and image text which represents what the photo is and also what page it’s on on your website. So if your page is about wedding photography, and your image is of a bride having her hair done before the wedding, you might choose the alt tag and image text “Wedding photography example: bridal preparations”. This is in contrast to something like ‘woman doing hair’, which obviously states exactly what’s happening in the photo but doesn’t sufficiently describe the photo and what it communicates.

Name your image files appropriately: This relates to the actual file name of the image. For example, with most cameras, the file name of the image will be a set of numbers, usually representing the date. However, Google will use the file name as another method to understand what the image is, and therefore naming it in a way which describes it will benefit that understanding. So rather than ‘210815164254.jpeg’ you may choose ‘bride-preparation.jpeg’, for example. To do this, simply rename the file before uploading it to your website.

Use the right image size for the device your website will be viewed on: This one is a little more tricky and will likely need the assistance of your web developer to implement.

more than a second or two to load can be a real disadvantage as web users are impatient and will often navigate away from a site that takes too long. You can check how quickly your site loads using Google’s page speed test - simply Google ‘page speed test’ and then put in your website’s URL to get a full report from Google on what can be improved to help your site load faster. Often, slower loading times are caused by images so it’s important to keep the dimensions to a workable size for the internet. Especially if you photograph in raw, your images will be very large. A good estimate is to try to keep images to around 800 pixels wide should be fine. This resizing should be done prior to uploading the images to the site, rather than shrinking them once on the site, which still needs the server to load the original then reduce, thus adding loading time. It’s also important to consider mobile users in this, where a large image will cost them in mobile data and likely stop them returning to your website in future. Instead, ask your developer about using CSS to serve up a different image size depending on the device on which your website is accessed. This will mean mobile users access a smaller photo than desktop users. Photographers have a distinct advantage when it comes to high-quality website imagery. But that’s not where the opportunity ends. As well as updating your own website’s imagery, consider your service offering; as rich media continues to play a bigger part in digital marketing more generally, consider how you might capitalise on that in the photo types you sell - you may find a growing demand for ‘website photography’ in the coming months. - Laura Hampton

Laura Hampton Digital Marketing Manager Impression, Nottingham www.impression.com.

Your website images can cause a number of issues in terms of how well and how quickly the website loads. Having a website which takes Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

congratulations Helen Rayner Qualified Professional Photographer April 2017

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

Best products with the best service, quality and customer support” Mark Seymour

The Print Lab for Professionals Getting to know the UK’s leading print lab.

uilding a business is never easy, but when you have a certain ethos and goal in mind, determination can take you a long way. Loxley Colour’s mantra for the past 30 years has been to create new products for professional and passionate photographers. Starting out as a small professional print lab in the city centre of Glasgow, the award-winning company has consistently expanded over the years, and their area of influence in the industry has grown significantly.

hasn’t changed their focus on the customer, however. They remain a dedicated team of staff who work with their customers to help boost their business. Using innovative techniques and state of the art equipment, the development team create products that have received industry award recognition time and again. Their drive to make sure professional photographers receive quality products to create beautiful keepsakes for their clients fuels the passion to create nothing but the best.

They have an ever-expanding collection of wall products and frames that match every style of photography too. Products are hand-crafted, hand-finished, checked and packed in-house. The impressive 72,000 sq ft production facility is run with precision, and care is taken to ensure the quality of products going to the customer is dependable and consistent. A concerted effort that has earned them the globally recognised ISO 9001 certification (certificate number FS622663).

Ian Loxley, MD of Loxley Colour, noticed a need for bespoke professional printing services, and from there the lab grew into the industry’s leading place for professional photographers. Growth and expansion 38 : Creative Light Magazine - Issue 19

Award-winning products

Leading Voices in the Industry

The Bellissimo album collection has become synonymous with quality and choice. The vast range of styles and sizes mean customers can find the perfect album

Leading names in professional photography choose Loxley Colour as their supplier because of their quality products and award-winning customer service.

to suit clients, whatever their budget.

AWARD-WINNING The varied collection of industry awards highlights how widely recognised the products and services are, with accolades from the Societies’, Pixel Trade and many more. Over the years the continuous awards recognition has further inspired Loxley Colour to expand and create. Loxley Colour’s awards haul has continued into 2017, with five awards being bestowed on them for the year so far.

Image top right: Image by Kevin Pengelly. Image bottom right: Image by Mark Seymour.

Guild member Kevin Pengelly has recently become Loxley Colour’s newest ambassador after being a customer for years: “What we love about Loxley is their customer service. Every customer matters, which helps us develop as a forward-thinking business. Plus, their skill in bringing out new quality products gives our clients high quality products to last them a lifetime.” Mark Seymour, who is an award-winning documentary wedding and creative street photographer, also chooses Loxley Colour: “I’m proud to be a Loxley Colour ambassador because they have the best products with the best service, quality and customer support.”

Lasting Relationships Loxley Colour’s willingness to listen to customers is one of the reasons they’ve become the lab of choice for professional photographers. The hard-at-work research

and development team create new, market-leading products, often inspired by customers’ recommendations. The Loxley philosophy has always been that if you have a suggestion, they want to hear it. They are always ready to help professional photographers. All product samples are available for a discounted price, meaning photographers can easily show their images on physical products to potential clients. Visitors are welcomed with open arms, with an extensive showroom open daily and the opportunity to tour the lab, to see where the magic happens. The friendly sales team work hard throughout the year to engage with existing customers and potential new clients face to face. Attending dozens of trade shows across the country to introduce visitors to new and improved products, their attendance at the UK’s numerous trade shows mean you can put a friendly face to your supplier, wherever you are.

Their knowledge and expertise on each product can help you find the perfect photography packages for clients

Loxley Colour and The Guild Loxley Colour’s partnership with The Guild has been integral for several members, helping with qualification prints and sponsoring the annual Guild awards. The ongoing support of The Guild is clear to see; members often host workshops and seminars at the Loxley Colour offices, and the partnership is set to grow in the coming months, with plans in the works to bring members even more. Visit loxleycolour.com to see their award-winning products for yourself. If you are considering how to develop your business, their sample product discounts may be the ideal opportunity to do so. markseymourphotography.co.uk pengelly-photography.co.uk

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congratulations Louise Dobson Qualified Professional Photographer April 2017

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IN 2010 A LADY CALLED RACHEL CALLED ME UP FROM ONE VISION IMAGING ASKING IF I HAD A SUPPLIER

FOR MY WEDDING ALBUMS. AT THE TIME, I WAS VERY NEW TO THE INDUSTRY AND DIDN’T HAVE MUCH CONFIDENCE IN MY WORK OR MY PRICING, IF I’M

HONEST. NEVERTHELESS, SHE DROVE FROM COVENTR

TO SEE ME IN MY LITTLE BOX OF AN OFFICE I HAD SE

UP IN MY SPARE ROOM WITH MY TINY 13” LAPTOP, AN THAT’S WHEN MY BUSINESS STARTED TO GROW.

Rachel kept in touch and spent a lot of time advising me on prices, teaching me how to drive my business forwards and helping my profit margins grow. All of this and I hadn’t spent a penny with them yet! Within a short time, my business changed dramatically. Remembering the advice One Vision had given me, I put my prices up – amazingly people were still booking and my business was growing nicely. At this point, even though I wasn’t spending much money, OVI’s customer service was second to none and even now it’s still just as good - I always say you can’t perfect perfection! Seven years on, I have my own studio and I’m already fully booked for the year. Wedding albums are a crucial part of every wedding package that I sell – there is no other product that shows off my photography so perfectly and is such a precious keepsake for my clients. Now I can save even more time and money, as OVI are offering free album design for the whole year! It’s almost no extra time for me to put an album order through, as One Vision Imaging get this spot on every time. I can spend more time shooting, or just sit back and watch the money roll in!

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Free Album Design – Freeing up time We know photographers spend a considerable amount of time designing and laying out their wedding albums. From our research, this time can range from 3 hours to pretty much an entire day! This is a major issue for many, and often a reason not to offer an album at all. Imagine having your own designer take this pain away from you at absolutely no charge. Surely then offering an album service becomes a ‘no brainer’ and you’re instantly increasing your profits! Understanding this challenge, we decided to offer a FREE Design service with every wedding album order for the entire year. So, not only will you be making more money from each shoot, but you’ll have more time to focus on sales. It’s a win, win! If you’d like to find out more about how to make your wedding business more profitable, give us a call and we’ll show you how. For more details on all of our Wedding Album services please visit:

www.onevisionimaging.com/wedding-albums

Free Heart-Shaped USB

If offering a FREE Album Design service wasn’t enough, we’re also giving away a highquality USB with every album too! This 3XM USB Gift Set includes a stylish heart-shaped 8GB USB along with a presentation pouch, ivory-coloured box and matching luxury bag. To take full advantage of this ‘giveaway’ offer, you simply have to register once on our website and we’ll do the rest! For more information and to register please visit:

www.onevisionimaging.com/wedding-albums

www.onevisionimaging.com Wedding Albums

Tel. 0845 862 021743 Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

Gold Awards © Rob Hill

February 2017

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5 Reasons Every Photographer Needs a Website With so many free solutions to display your photography online these days, do you really need a website? If you’re serious about your photography, the answer is most certainly Yes. Will Nicholls, award-winning wildlife photographer and Zenfolio Ambassador, shares his top five reasons every photographer needs a website.

1. YOU’RE IN CONTROL Perhaps you’re relying solely on posting your photos to social media at the moment. Social media is great, but if that is your only method of showing your work then you’re not in control. With ever-changing algorithms, it’s increasingly difficult to get noticed on social media—not to mention the fact that many sites compress your images. It’s hardly the best place to showcase your work in all its glory. With your own website you’re in control without any interference from social media giants, who may ultimately compress your images and restrict who can see your work. 2. MAKE MORE MONEY When you host your website with Zenfolio, you can create a professional online storefront for your images in just a few clicks. I love getting an email telling me that one of my photos has been purchased by a customer, and I can relax knowing that Zenfolio will automatically take care of the fulfilment aspect through their network of high-quality integrated print labs (like One Vision Imaging in the UK). I just sit back, relax and enjoy the profits! 3. A HUB FOR YOUR CLIENTS If you already sell your photos, then you really need a website to send potential clients to. Perhaps you’re selling prints and cards at markets but don’t See Will’s beautiful website and images at willnicholls.co.uk have a way to sell other than inperson. If so, then you’re almost certainly losing out on sales. My online sales numbers always increase after I’ve been at a trade show and people have picked up my business card. Even if you’re not actively selling your work, you may be taken by surprise when a company gets in touch wanting to license one of your photos. The biggest license I ever sold came via Flickr, when an advertising company working for a mobile service provider tracked down a photo of mine. They simply searched my name online, found my website, then placed their order. To this day, it remains my most profitable sale!

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4. A SECURE ONLINE BACKUP One of the more important reasons for having a website is that keeping photos online provides an essential backup for your photos. With Zenfolio I upload my full-resolution images (up to 64MB per file), which are then resized into several smaller versions for online display, ensuring my original full-res files remain secure, and my photos will adapt to look good on any device. The high-res files are only available to you (unless you choose otherwise), so in the unfortunate case of a hard drive crash, you can always go back into your account and download the full-resolution versions. 5. THE SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT Finally, a professional website for your photography is a beautiful way to showcase your work. Being able to create a secure online showcase of your best photos gives you a resource you can truly be proud of. In addition to being an impressive destination to send clients and make sales, you can also easily share your website with family and friends to enjoyâ&#x20AC;Ś who in turn can share with their own networks to help drive more business to your site.

Websites | Marketing | Proofing | Selling

Get 30% Off Your Site Use Code GUILD zenfolio.co.uk/guild

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Luca Concas

LucasConcas Concas © Luca

orn in Sicily, 28 years ago, Luca approached photography seriously only five years ago when he decided that he needed to make ‘real’ the imaginative world that he had inside of him. Maybe this is one of the reasons he loves night photography! Luca spends his day living and breathing photography, and in his mind’s eye, a camera can unravel something that human eye can’t see.

We are delighted that Luca has taken time out of his busy schedule to share some of his landscape photographs with Creative Light Magazine.

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Travel, Photography Guide, Events is how you promote yourself as a Photographer, please share with the readers of Creative Light Magazine your thought processes behind your strong imagery? It’s a great challenge for a photographer to drive others’ emotions with his shots, touching the viewer’s soul. I think a successful photo can do this. It’s like you can loan to someone your eyes as long as he views your image.

bag?

Camera equipment? What is in your camera

My camera backpack is full of everything: I have a Canon 6D, two wide-angle lenses, a telephoto lens, a sky tracker and my beloved 35mm f/1.4. About 22lb of equipment. And there are the tripods too.

Q: How do you relax?

I rarely can relax, but in that moments I like walking through woods, smelling the resin of the trees. If I can’t do it, I like watching documentary television and film.

Are you a full-time photographer? If not, how much time do you devote to your art? I’m a full-time photographer; I live on photography 24 hours a day. continued...

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Q: Three words that describe you? • Composition; • Research;

you?

• Sacrifice.

Can you share an interesting fact about

I have many stories to tell about my last five years as a Photographer, but maybe the most significant experience is when I travelled 450 miles by bike along Sardinia’s coast. It was quite tiring but awesome at the same time, and it allows me to capture some of the most amazing nightscape photography.

What is your proudest moment?

There isn’t a precise moment that I can pinpoint, but when someone, somewhere in the world understands my emotions, my compositional choices, the shade of light I have selected to emphasise in an image makes me feel very proud.

Favourite place in the world and why?

I love Sardinia, among all the place I visited. This beautiful island has the greatest skies I’ve ever seen, and the light pollution here is minimum.

What next?

I’d like to return to the stunning island, Sardina, but without a bike! My goal is to find the most beautiful lighthouse beneath the most amazing skies! - Julie Oswin

Thank you, Luca, for contributing and sharing your landscape images with Creative Light. For more of Luca’s work, please follow the links below for 500px and Facebook. Link: 500px.com/luca_concas www.facebook.com/LucaConcasFotografie/

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Â© Luca Concas

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Lighthouse of Capo Testa “This picture is the lighthouse at the Capo Testa Peninsula was taken during my journey through Sardinia and it’s the result of many several and different exposures. Five different shots were taken to capture this image. The first was at ISO 8000, exposure at 1/4 second and an aperture of f/2.8 for the light beam of the lighthouse. One exposure for the lighthouse, one exposure for the foreground, and one exposure at ISO 5000, exposure was 25 seconds, an aperture of f/2.8 to capture the milky way. I have always dreamed of photographing a lighthouse with the Milky Way because I like to ponder and think about the relationship between humans and nature”. - Luca Concas

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Â© Luca Concas

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Locatelli Refuge, at the foot of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, in The Dolomites “This is the Locatelli Refuge, at the foot of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, in The Dolomites. The weather was variable we started our journey, and we were uncertain about the result of this “venture”. But, the night sky was very generous and gave us one of the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen. This picture is the result of two exposures! The foreground was captured using an ISO set to 800, an exposure of ten minutes, an aperture of F5.6. The setting for the sky was ISO 2000 with an exposure of 25 minutes and an aperture of F4 and the addition of an equatorial mount astrophotography (link). I purposely chose to highlight the relationship between humans and nature and to include the Locatelli Refuge in this photograph” - Luca Concas

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“One of the first photographs I’ve ever taken that gave me the direction that photography is like an art than can make three children on the beach create a story of adolescence, of football, of the light heartedness and many other concepts among million of scenes and dreams captured in a split second. This picture has been around the world, and it was published in a book about the football history making me very proud”. - Luca Concas

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Â© Luca Concas

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Backup Planning TWO ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO ANY BACKUP STRATEGY Photography businesses are all about data - the images that we store and sell, either as electronic files or as prints. Protecting data adequately is absolutely critical to photography businesses. Backup is clearly a ‘hot topic’ for Guild members, judging by posts in the Facebook group. Previously the discussion centred on corrupted cards, or hard drive failures, now there is regular discussion about Crashplan, upload speeds, alternate suppliers and alternate approaches. In my opinion, there is much more to backup than just buying the latest solution. Backup strategies are individual and tailored to the user, whether they are a sole trader, a small company or a multinational. However, common to every successful backup strategy are these two key elements:-

THOUGHT and DISCIPLINE Backup can be likened to insurance, in that you invest money and time in mitigating the effects or impact of something that may or may not happen. In this case you are mitigating against the loss of data which can occur for a wide variety of reasons, not just device failure. In common with insurance, you can spend too little and not be adequately protected, or you can spend too much on an ‘overkill’ approach, where all you lose is money, but your data remains safe and able to be retrieved. Before you start to scour for the best prices for external drives, NAS drives, cloud backup or any other solution, take some time to think about your data, what types of data you have and what the loss of it, or part of it would mean to your clients and your business. As photographers, much of the bulk of our data will be images. Alongside that we’ll have files for our businesses; spreadsheets, data from our marketing, our websites, financial details as well as personal files. We will also have archives, some may have little value but things like tax and financial records need to be stored securely for fixed periods of time. As you think about your data, ask yourself three questions:• What could happen to cause me to lose it? • What would be the impact if I lost it temporarily? • How soon would I need it back to be able to operate my business? Most often we think of data loss as being associated with

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hard drive failure, but there are many more ways to lose data; accidentally reformatting media, losing a memory card, theft, flooding - the list goes on. The impact of the loss will vary depending on the data that is lost. Losing images from a wedding is about as high impact as it gets as a reshoot is impossible. Even losing images that can be re-shot (staged shoots, product shoots) incurs cost and possibly loss of face with the client. Losing your shoot diary or contact list is also pretty high impact, but not irretrievable. At the other end of the spectrum, losing images from 10 years ago is unlikely to have any material impact on your business. The speed at which you need the data to be available again will again vary with the nature of the data. Assessing this correctly will allow you to implement different backup strategies for the different types of data. Projects you are due to deliver to a client will be needed rapidly, but archive files from old jobs or five-year-old tax returns (for example) are not needed for several weeks or months. Planning a backup strategy and defining your needs is essentially a risk assessment. Most of us are familiar with the basics of this; brainstorm ideas for things that could go wrong, assess the likelihood and impact on your business and then develop and implement a mitigation plan. The risk factor is multiplied by the impact to identify the most significant threats, and the biggest numbers are addressed first. To help with this, there is a simple risk assessment spreadsheet that is available for download from the member section of the Guild website. There are some basic guidelines included as well as a few examples of risks and mitigation plans. Some risks may be able to be eliminated entirely, whereas

others can only be reduced. The point is to keep working at the planning to identify new risks as well as developing and executing plans to keep reducing the risk. As with everything, it becomes a compromise or a tradeoff, the more you spend, the more that you can achieve. You have to make the right decision here for your business; how much risk can you accept? How much will you spend to protect your data? As you work through the spreadsheet, you will identify things you need to do. It may be to go and buy a new product or service, or maybe do something more regularly; or simply start doing something. This is where the discipline comes in - if you are not disciplined enough to maintain the plan you developed, your risk levels will rise again, exposing you to data loss. As businesses differ in size and scope, there is no ‘one size fits all solution’ although any effective backup strategy will almost certainly include an ‘on-the-desk’ hourly backup for the most critical files, some longer-term storage and some form of off-site backup (this could be a backup left with a friend or a cloud-based approach, or both), but as you work through your planning you will identify and address any additional needs you may have. Businesses grow and change and the plan that you’re making now may not be adequate in the future, or new technologies may become available that address existing risks much better, or more cheaply. For that reason, this is not a one-time exercise, it is something you must revisit periodically. How frequently you revisit is another cost / risk decision for you to make for your business. If there is one point to take away from this article, this is it. No matter what you decide to do for backup, test each and every backup - before its too late. Occasionally check that the latest files have been transferred to the backup drive. Equally important is to periodically restore a few files from each backup as a dummy run to be sure that backups are happening correctly and that you can get the data back should the worst happen.

“No matter how much you spend, no matter how good the latest technology is, no matter how lucky you are, without thought and discipline on your part, your data remains at risk”.

- Rob Hill

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Drones tim wilde My name is Tim Wilde, and I am the co-owner of Wilde Photography with Alison, my wife. I have been an avid photographer since 1970, owning my first camera at eight years old an Agfa 110, from which I soon progressed to a Zenit E, then my love for cameraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and photography were born and they have become one of my lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great passions. We have been professional since 2006, and we have just sold our photographic studio and camera shop based in Tywyn, Gwynedd, as we wanted to slow down a little as we head into early retirement, however, we are now busier than ever. Our current business consists of wedding photography; we shoot between five and ten land-based weddings per year and four to six aerial wedding packages per year. We have an inflatable Photo Booth which is great fun, and this brings in trade during the party season. We have been flying our drone commercially now for two years; we use it for a variety of commercial applications which includes weddings, property advertising, roof inspections and photographic commissions. My interest in drones is double edged they are new technology, and they have a camera on-board, so a perfect combination to grab my attention. I loved all of the remote controlled boats, planes and cars as a child so therefore buying a drone was always going to happen.

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Â© Tim Wilde

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Tim very quickly realised that Drones were not toys and to use one commercially he required permission to do so from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Can you explain to the readers what is involved in the Theory Course? I enrolled on a theory course through a company called Euro USC having just taken receipt of one first DJI Inspire 1 quadcopters that landed on UK shores, which I pre-ordered through a company called Quadcopters UK. I had a two-hour lesson at the point of purchase which was invaluable. Drones are quite daunting at first to understand, set up and maintain safely. Anyone in the market for a serious machine should always buy from a specialist dealer. You will need experts help at some point! Most large specialist retailers provide well organise technical support via the telephone or the internet. I went to Birmingham for my two-day ground school with the prospect on day two of an exam. Well I thought I had was prepared for what was to come (lots of preliminary reading) but how wrong I was! I felt if I was going through training to an airline pilot. The course was incredibly detailed, very complicated with lots of aviation map work to boot. I have to say it was a steep learning curve; I was up all night revising for the pending exam the next day. The exam was multiple choice with map reading questions, all timed and with a pass rate of 80%. I have to say that in retrospect it was a great two days of learning, I met some great people who were sharing the experience and only when you operate commercially can you begin to feel the real worth of the learning experience gained in training. My results came through a few weeks later. I was so happy that I achieved 95% and preparations for my flight exam began.

Q: The Flight Test, how difficult was it?

I joined our local model flying club in Tywyn so that I could practice flying in a safe area. I obtained my insurance via the British Model Flying Association. I practised all the manoeuvres I thought I would be expected to perform in my Flight exam for fifteen hours, I then put in for my test. I receive some latitude and longitude co-ordinates, and a message to say that I would be met there at 11 am on such a date. You then have to prepare your detailed Airspace and Land Assessments for these co-ordinates. On the day the forecast was dry but a little windy, just on the cusp of safe flight for my drone so we decided to go for it. We travelled 95 miles and ended up in a field in the middle of nowhere. The excellent flight examiner made himself known to us and said well done. We then spent two hours

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going through all our Air and Land Assessments that we had done before our arrival. We were then asked to perform our onsite Assessment and set up our equipment in the best position ready for our exam. This bit was very nerve racking! My wife, Alison was my observer; she was amazing. Alison advised me of the wind speeds during the test. We had been given a height threshold that if the Drone went above, we would need to land. I had to perform all the manoeuvres that I had practised, although I had not flown the ‘Inspire Drone’ in such windy conditions for a while and flying in ATTI mode when requested, really tested me on the day as the copter drifts in the wind. After thirty minutes flight time I landed the drone and Paul shook my hand to congratulate me on achieving BNUC-S Pilot qualification. I was so chuffed. Wow, what a day! All done....no ....don’t be daft..... Operations Manual next! Our Operations Manual is a 50-page document, which details how we manage our aircraft, our aerial business and all our safety and governance arrangements. The Operations Manual took several weeks for us to complete before our first draft was sent to the EURO USC for appraisal. Our manual was then returned two weeks later. We had to make the necessary amendments that were required and then resubmit. Success! I can now fly a Drone for commercial purposes. The next and final step was to apply to the Civil Aviation Authority for permission to use my Drone

Â© Tim Wilde

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You also need the following: • Safety Equipment (see images)

for Aerial Work (PfAW) as it was then known, now it is called a Permission for Commercial Operations (PfCO). For this process, you have to detail all your flying experience, the exams you have passed, and supply your Operation Manual to support your application for permission to fly commercially. One month later I finally got my PfAW and could start to fly commercially. The whole process took eighteen months, and with the Quadcopter, I have spent well over £10,000 to get everything required legally to operate as a business. As a Commerical Operator, you need to have commercial insurance which specifically covers the type of commercial work you do. The insurance costs our company £700 per year, but this also includes Insurance for all our other photographic work. Each year you have to renew your PfCO with the Civil Aviation Authority, and this is £56. You also have to resubmit your updated Operations Manual and proof of flying hours (Log Book), Insurance Certificate and your original Pilot’s Qualification Document.

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• High visibility vests • Hard hats • Safety Signs • Fire extinguisher • Fire blanket • First Aid Kit • Cones • High visibility tape for cordons • Take off/landing area high visibility mat • Ground lighting for night flying (we have been granted extra permission for this) • Handheld lighting • Two-way Radios

Risk assessments are vital Everyone within fifty meters of the pilot we get under the control of the pilot (Crew Briefing). We will never fly over anyone! This link give good sound advice on the safe use of drones http://dronesafe.uk/drone-code/ How to fly and where not to fly your drone. Q: Where next? Bigger Quadcopter to get my Canon 5D Mk IV in the sky, to get the image quality required. It just isn’t quite there with my DJI X5 which I have to say is a 16mp micro 4/3 4k videos with a frame rate of 30fps at 1.7 Gbps and 12 stops of dynamic range. It is good but not as good as the Canon. This project is going to cost me in the region of £4,000-£6,000. Aerial Photography inspired me to get back into landscape work especially after many years as a

wedding and studio photographer. Aerial photography allows me to reach a perspective never before seen. You only have to go a few feet up or especially over water to see a perspective that you just couldn’t reach before. If you love a challenge, have deep pockets and are happy to work hard to get your Civil Aviation Authority permission for a Commercial Operation then this is for you! Aerial photography has opened up new business opportunities and certainly helped establish our business in a crowded marketplace of land-based photographers. Q: Three words that describe you? • Perfectionist; • Passionate; • Idealist; Q: Favourite food? Curry! Especially Chicken Tikka Madras! Q: Your favourite place in the world? Where I live! Which is right by the sea in a place called Tywyn. I have seascapes on tap!. I would love to visit Iceland, Kenya and China for some great shots. Hopefully, plan to do this before I retire! *** If you would like any advice or support, please get in touch with Tim via email - timjwilde@gmail.com. www.wildephotography.co.uk www.facebook.com/wildephotography1 Tim is also a member of the Drone Safe Register which is an excellent organisation for safe and legal use. Visit their website www.dronesaferegister.org.uk for information. Thank you Tim for sharing this valuable information with the readers of Creative Light Magazine. - Julie Oswin

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Â© Tim Wilde

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infocus photography Insurance

You don’t have to kiss the frog! Y

ou don’t have to kiss the frog to find our Prince and Princess Charming’s. Just give us a call on 0161 925 5051 or email us at info@infocusinsurance.co.uk

Infocus Insurance has for decades been a committed supplier of high quality insurance products and services to photographers and videographer’s. We aim to do it with a smile on our faces and to bring a smile to the faces of our customers, especially when things go wrong. As a thank you to all the wonderful members of The Guild for your continued support we are offering 12 months cover for the price of 11. Every year! What you get when you insure with us: • Interest free instalments • Worldwide cover for your photographic & technical equipment • Include Professional Indemnity cover and you’ll automatically get PR help with our ‘Crisis Containment cover’. We’re the only specialist Photography insurer to offer this cover! • Policies underwritten by Hiscox Insurance • Your own personal handler • Also Available: • Home Insurance, designed with you in mind: • Business & home contents • Client home appointments allowed • No Claims Discount up to 25% • Interest free instalments • Low excess • Home Emergency & Home-care included as standard • Pensions • Critical Illness cover • Cyber and Media

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“

I recently had to make a claim. I would just like to thank you for your help, I was not expecting such a fast turnaround. I am now able to replace my camera that I just wouldn’t have been able to do had I not been insured. I found your staff very helpful. Again, thank you so much” - James Sommerville

‘In Focus Photography Insurance’ is the trading style of The Alan Stevenson Partnership Ltd for General Insurance. The Alan Stevenson Partnership Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority no 305785. Registered Office: 34 Victoria Street, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1ET. Registered in England No 4320605

Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

Gold Awards

March 2017

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Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

Gold Awards

March 2017

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Issue 19 - Creative Light Magazine :

Gold Awards

March 2017

ÂŠ Harry Lessman

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ÂŠ Tracy Lund

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“No other photographic body offers what the Guild does... get an incredible package of business support, training and mentoring by some of the most respected names in the industry, insurance, legal protection and the rights to use our respected membership logos”.

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