Photography News 76 WEB

Technique Stay home – dophotography Photo ideas, tips and advice to keep you busy during the great lockdown. Some will keep you busy for a 15minutes or a few hours, others several days and even longer. For some, you need to spend somemoney and get in extra items like food colouring – some you can do right nowwith what’s in your home. Of course, we are assuming that the lockdown is still in force by the time you read this, but if in the unlikely event that it isn’t, thenmight we politely suggest you get yourself outside with your camera

1. Set up a website With somany social media channels available, many people don’t bother with a website, but having your own does means it is all about you, you, you. Amazing Internet offers three levels of package: bronze, silver and gold, starting from£5 a month. A free 30-day trial is available and sign-up is quick and easy – no credit card needed for the trial period. A range of attractive, photographer-friendly templates is on offer in the Portfolio series and the site is easy to populate with words and pictures amazinginternet.com

4. Pet project Our pets are part of the family, whether it’s a guinea pig, rabbit, cat or dog, so don’t overlook themwith your camera. With a dog, take your camera out when you are enjoying your short time outdoors, or just get the flashgun on the camera and shoot indoors. The light from your flashgun will be much improved if you use a bounce modifier for consistent results andmeans you don’t have to rely on the colour of your ceiling or walls. Modifiers like those offered by Magmod, Rogue and Honl give good bounce andmost work well with TTL flashmetering, too. As with human portraits, shooting from the same height as your animal subject is a good thing. That’s easier with larger pets, so for smaller ones it’s time for the camera’s tilting monitor and shoot low. If your camera has it, touchAF is handy, too. Honl: flaghead.co.uk Magmod: essentialphoto.co.uk Rogue: xpdistribution.com

3. Photograph your valuables Like it or not, bad things happen.You canmake the insurance claimor police report easier by shooting serial numbers, jewellery, your camera kit and other valuables. One tip: write the serial number with some key details if you have them on a sheet of paper and shoot it next to the item. You can use your smartphone so shots are automatically backed up. If you shoot with the camera, put the shots somewhere secure and memorable, such as your cloud. If you shoot Raws, process themand save a in future-proof format, such as JPEGs or DNGs. Speaking of insurance, Best Insurance Provider in the PN 2019Awards wasAaduki. aaduki.com

2. Try a new software Serif’sAffinity Photo won the Photography News 2019Award for Best Image Editing Software – and a very powerful and impressive piece of imaging kit it is, too. It is available as an outright purchase rather than amonthly subscription and has all the features such editing tools, selection tools and layers that most photographers find essential, as well as nice extras like focusmerge to deal with your focus bracketed images. Affinity Photo usually costs £48.99 for an outright purchase, so it is great value for money given its power and feature set, but if you want to try it first, download the demo version for Mac,Windows or iPad (£19.99). affinity.serif.com

5. Sell your unwanted kit It’s the opportunity to have a clear-out of things you don’t need or use any more, and time to cash in on unwanted kit. MPB is a used kit specialist andmakes trading in kit a simple process. Go to the website, fill in the details of what you have and its condition, and get an instant quote. If you like the sound of the offer, say yes and box it up ready for an insured collection. Once the gear is received by MPB, it’s checked over and you get a confirmed final offer. If you’re happy, it’s just a matter of supplying your bank details for payment. mpb.com

12 Photography News | Issue 76

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