This journal records July 2020’s contribution to my photographic apprenticeship through 10,000 hours deliberate practice.
Hours 3,897 to 4,042
31th July 2020
Hours 4,041 to 4,042
An hour processing the Som Tam images for delivery to the client. Another hour working on the “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)” post.
30th July 2020
Hours 4,032 to 4,040
Five hours finishing the Som Tam images.
Two hours at the Karl Taylor live workshop of a car shoot.
Two hours at the Amersham PIC group.
“The top photographic monographs tend to use a consistent aspect ratio. This is something that comes with experience as one gets used to composing in a particular format. However, when learning it is valuable to experiment.”
Chris Palmer FRPS
This suggests that consistency of shape is expected for the higher RPS panels.
29th July 2020
Hours 4,025 to 4,031
An hour and a half processing yesterday’s images from Som Tam Thai Restaurant; moving from Capture One to Lightroom Classic and then editing in Photoshop.
A further four hours processing the above images in photoshop; mainly compositing in the Thai art into the mirrors in the restaurant.
An hour and a half at the Amersham Colour Group.
28th July 2020
Hours 4,018 to 4,024
Half an hour updating this journal.
An hour and a half practicing shooting food, using the equipment that I will use this afternoon.
Four hours shooting at the SomTam Thai Restaurant.
An hour culling and initially processing the afternoon’s images in Capture One Pro.
27th July 2020
Hours 4,011 to 4,017
Half an hour updating this journal and the “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro” post.
Another hour working on the Tethered Workflow post.
An hour shooting and processing images for the Thames Valley Heart Beat Charity who were presenting a cheque to the Stoke Poges Parish Council.
An hour researching images for tomorrows shoot at SomTam Thai Restaurant in Shepherds Bush
An hour and a half on a Skype call with my mentor Yin Wong from the APS. Encouraged me to work more on my “Maid Sweeping” image which when converted to mono and recropped is more interesting.
Two hours with the Amersham Photographic Society – Zoom meeting – Lecture from Steve Galvin – “Judge, Jury and Executioner”:
- CACC judges are being encouraged to concentrate more on the artistic and less on the technical aspects of an image
- Scoring is getting tougher – “16 is the new 17”
- Steve has himself produced an impressive volume of work – made me feel as though I needed to get out and shoot more.
26th July 2020
Hours 4,005 to 4,010
An hour working on the “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)” post – very aware that I also need to start posts on “Initial Attempt at Restaurant Food Photography” and “Review at 4,000 Hours”.
An hour collecting my top 10 images at 4,000 hours for the following Flickr Album:
An hour writing a first draft of “First 4,000 Hours – Review at 40%” post.
Three hours re-processing the SomTam Restaurant images using Capture One’s Colour Normalisation tool which allows you to adjust exposure and white balance relative to any colour, it doesn’t have to be grey! This has given me some level of consistency across the images. Less work required in Photoshop, but still a couple of hours worth.
25th July 2020
Hours 4,001 to 4,004
An hour working on writing up this journal and working on the “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)” post.
An hour watching food photography YouTube including:
- Julian Lallo – “6 Tips for Restaurant Food Photography”
- Shoot from different angles all food from 0, 45 and 90 degrees – some dishes suit some angles better
- Sacrifice ISO for aperture – need sufficient depth of focus
- Include branding from menus
- Incorporate out-of-focus layers other dishes in a composition
- Have main dish surrounded by others – plan view – such that the supporting dishes are only partly included in the frame
- Always shoot in Landscape format
- The Bite Shot: “Improving Composition for Food Photography – Part 2”
- Create/ be aware of lines in your composition
- Horizontal line show balance
- Vertical: power
- Diagonal: energy and dynamism.
Two hours shooting practice food in the kitchen.
24th July 2020
Hours 3,997 to 4,000
An hour updating this journal and social media sites – mainly with the images from the SomTam House shoot.
An hour researching Restaurant photography.
Two hours starting the post: “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)“.
23rd July 2020
Hours 3,993 to 3,996
Further two hours working on the Som Tam images, then sending proofs to the restaurant owner. In hindsight, I needed to have a clearer idea of what I was going to do for the client. The session was experimental and good for me, maybe not so much for him.
Two hours review of the Wine Bottle shoot with Karl Taylor Education. My images was broadly criticised for being “Too Photoshopped” and specifically:
- The way the reflected stripes went completely to the bottom of the bottle on either sides was unnatural
- some of the graduated reflection, on the left of the bottle “looked burnt in”
- I suspect he noticed the slightly sloppy masking errors on the top and bottom left corners of the label
- The label was lit too evenly which was against the brief which required a left to right fall-off.
Lighting left to right across the label is important as this encourages the viewer to read the brand label.
22nd July 2020
Hours 3,989 to 3,92
Four hours processing images from the SomTam Restaurant Shoot. The biggest challenge was trying to create some level of consistency between the images. These were shot in natural light (from the window at the front of the restaurant) which constantly changed as clouds moved, as did traffic in the road.
21st July 2020
Hours 3,981 to 3,988
Two hours preparing for the shoot at the Somtam Thai Restaurant in Shepherds Bush.
Four hours shooting at the restaurant. All images shot tethered to Capture One on my MacBook Pro.
Two hours transferring to my main iMac, culling and processing images in Capture One Pro.
20th July 2020
Hours 3,975 to 3,980
Three hours working on then publishing “Weirdness of and Science behind Circular Polarisers.”
Two hours prepping for tomorrow’s shoot and Somtam House Thai Restaurant.
An hour watching YouTubes including:
- Nigel Danson: “Wide Angle Trick” – shooting from multiple locations hand-held to find the best composition before placing your tripod
- PIXimperfect: “The new ‘Select Subject’ Better than Pen Tool?” – better than before, much faster than the Pen tool but there will be times when the Pen too is still needed.
19th July 2020
Hours 3,971 to 3,974
First hour planning Tuesday’s shoot at SonTam House Thai Restaurant.
Two hours watching and then writing up the Karl Taylor product retouching workshop. Tips as follows:
Using the pen tool to cut out an object:
- Select only the sharp corners
- Add extra points using <option>Click – this automatically assumes they are part of a curve
- Move the new point into position using <Command>Click
- Rather than adjusting handles, add a new point
<Command>Click a mask to load it as a selection – this is a similar trick to working with luminosity masks
Add Shine to an image:
- New Layer – blend mode = Overlay
- Soft brush with flow = 1%
- Emphasise highlights by painting white, and shadows by painting black.
One hour starting a post on the science and use of circular polarisers.
18th July 2020
Hours 3,968 to 3,970
An hour reading the following “All about Polarisers – Linear and Circular” and finally understanding:
- Linear polarisers do all the good stuff like cut out reflections, make the sky bluer, etc.
- The problem with linear polarisers is that they can mess with a camera’s metering and focusing if it uses a partially reflecting mirror
- What are called “Circular polarisers” are actually a linear polariser followed by a circular polariser. This means they do the required job, e.g. reducing the reflection on a pool of water, then the circular polariser imparts a rotational direction to the polarisation, effectively re-randomising it so that it won’t mess with the camera’s mirror.
- A circular polariser on its own would merely be an expensive ND filter
- The order of linear followed by circular is important. The wrong way round would mess with the camera’s metering without imparting any benefit.
An hour and a half watching Karl Taylor food styling and photography workshops.
Submitted Version 9 of the Wine Bottle below as my entry for Challenge #2. My reservations are:
- Scruffy Photoshopping in places around the label
- Slight greenish reflection on the left shoulder of the bottle.
Let’s see what Karl thinks!
Half an hour updating this journal.
17th July 2020
Hours 3,966 to 3,967
An hour doing a few further tweaks to the Wine Bottle version 9 before updating this journal and yesterday’s entry in particular.
An hour watching YouTubes including: “A film about Damien Lovegrove” street portrait photographer.
16th July 2020
Hours 3,960 to 3,965
Two hours further processing version 9 of the wine bottle below.
An hour and a half watching the Karl Taylor workshop “Polarising Studio Light and Why”.
There is apparently a difference between circular and linear polarisers the Khan Academy will explain this. Half an hour watching YouTubes on circular polarisation.
Two hours on a WebEx presentation by Tom Peck on “Portraiture” which was excellent.
15th July 2020
Hours 3,954 to 3,959
An hour working on the latest wine bottle image and half an hour updating this journal with the results and critique.
Critique of the above image – good points:
- Camera angle broadly OK – perhaps even a tad too low
- Colour of background and general tone matched the mood boards – however, a lot of this was achieved in post – image as shot was too yellow
Could be improved:
- Right side of soft left stripe on bottle, too hard
- Image too large in the frame – insufficient room around the bottle.
Half an hour scouting locations in Burnham Beeches and taking test shots on my iPhone.
Two hours shooting Version 9 of the Wine Bottle.
Two hours processing the images from this shoot.
14th July 2020
Hours 3,952 to 3,953
Half an hour updating this journal mainly with notes and thoughts about yesterday’s APS lecture on minimalist, black and white, seascapes.
An hour and a half processing the latest wine bottle image shot yesterday.
13th July 2020
Hours 3,946 to 3,951
Half an hour reviewing yesterday’s wine bottle image against the mood board, and updating this journal.
An hour watching the Karl Taylor workshop of Fine Dining food photography
Two and a half hours shooting another version of the wine bottle to address the issues identified yesterday.
Two hours at the Amersham Photographic Society by Zoom: Lecture by Colin Jarvis on Minimalist Seascapes.
- Low Key – High contrast Black and White
- Long exposure – 40-50 seconds
- Nearly always use both a Big Stopper (10 stop neutral density), and a 0.6 hard graduated filter.
Compositional tips:
- Concentrate more on the corners of the frame than the rule of thirds
- Shoot at high tide to avoid any foreground (look out for exceptionally high tides)
- Don’t chop off foreground rocks
- Simplify the horizon in photoshop by bringing wood the sky.
Beware of tripods moving in the sand over a long exposure.
Target venue: Loch Earn in Perthshire to shoot the Mirror Man.
*** Try doing the same at Denham.
12th July 2020
Hours 3,942 to 3,945
Half an hour writing up this journal.
An hour shooting and processing the following:
An hour and a half watching a Karl Taylor workshop on shooting a stir Fry dish, plus other food photography videos.
An hour producing the next version of the wine bottle challenge that better matches the required colouration in the mood boards.
Points of potential criticism of the above image:
- Diffuse reflection on the left is unevenly weighted towards the side of the bottle – doesn’t match the mood board
- Hard reflection on the right is too far from the edge of the bottle
- Camera angle is too high as given away by the fact that the bottom of the label is curved to the same degree as the top.
Requires a reshoot perhaps using a gelled flash to light the background to impart the yellow/ greenish tones of the mood board.
11th July 2020
Hours 3,938 to 3,941
First half hour shooting and processing the following, seen whilst making a morning cup of tea.
Two and a half hours reprocessing the wine bottle image shot yesterday as a potential finished version.
An hour watching various food photography YouTubes including:
- “How to style food for photography“
- “5 Food photography tips you must know” – including use a polariser
- “One dish – different looks“
- “Food photography for beginners.
10th July 2020
Hours 3,935 to 3,937
Half an hour updating this journal.
An hour and a half using all the new Capture One tethering technology discovered yesterday to shoot a further wine bottle, including:
- Capture One Pilot
- ChronoSync
- File naming
- Favourites and Albums
- Template “Two Shots”.
An hour processing the following wine bottle image:
9th July 2020
Hours 3,931 to 3,934
Half an hour reviewing the photography on the website of a potential client before sending an introductory email.
Half an hour updating this journal.
An hour watching “Capture One 20 Live : Know-how | Improve your tethered workflow” top tips include:
- Create a new Session with a sensible name (it will be used in file naming)
- Create Sub-folders in the Capture folder, e.g., Lighting Test, Shot 1, etc.. Copy these to Session Favourites. Select by <right click> <Set as Capture Folder> and the camera icon moves to this folder
- Automate selection of top images using Session Albums – Smart Albums (in line with my Star-based image scoring system)
- Set “Next Capture Naming”:
- “Document Name” = name of the session
- “Destination Folder Name” = Sub-folder we’re shooting to
- “4 Digit Counter” = Shot counter
- separate each with an underscore
- Capture Pilot set up on iPhone allows remote control of shooting and review – need to try this out
- Shortcuts:
- Live view button next to the main shoot button on the camera tab
- <Command>-K = shoot
- Store all of the above in a template
- Use ChronoSync to automatically such with an external hard drive which could then be used to export to main computer.
Lots to practice!
Two hours zoom with the Amersham Mono Group.
8th July 2020
Hours 3,928 to 3,930
Two hours processing version 5 of the Wine Bottle from the Karl Taylor “Working to a Brief” challenge #2.
The above required much less work in Photoshop. However, still quite a lot of tidying up.
An hour watching Karl Taylor food photography workshops in preparation for a potential client.
7th July 2020
Hours 3,924 to 3,927
An hour updating this post and associated social media. Then half an hour producing “one more” edit of the last wine bottle photo. Will try and do all this in-camera, at some point.
Half an hour watching an interesting TED talk “Optical Illusions show how we See” which primarily explains the brain’s challenge identifying the colour of objects when they are illuminated by light sources of different hues. Essentially how visual perception relies upon, and is occasionally fooled by, context. This will hopefully form the basis of another post on human perception, building upon some of the ideas and knowledge I put into my “LAB Colour” post.
An hour watching the writing up the first in the Karl Taylor Food Photography lecture series. Key points:
- Use back or side lighting from a window (as is on an overcast day or diffused on a sunny day) – all restaurant lights switched off
- Add light with a reflector
- Shoot tethered, so that you can see what you’re getting better
- Food is cold
- Put aluminium foil reflectors underneath glass jugs/ bottles to make them sparkle and the clear fluids look more attractive.
A further hour watching the next set of Karl Taylor Food Photography workshops using studio lighting, mainly gradient lighting using a scrim and 30x120cm softbox..
6th July 2020
Hours 3,918 to 3,923
An hour reshooting the wine bottle for the Karl Taylor “Working to a Brief” challenge #2, working to get a softer gradient light down the left hand side.
Two hours processing the above image in Photoshop.
Half an hour producing the following, improved version.
Half an hour updating this journal.
Two hours virtually with the Amersham Photographic Society with an ad hoc image review conducted by Peter Jones from APS and the Societies of Photographers (rather than the PAGB or RPS).
There is a saying in portraiture: “If it bends, bend it.” Arms and legs create more interesting shapes when bent.
Peter Jones
Also recommended
- Topas: AI Sharpen which is available as a Photoshop Plugin
- Skylum: Aurora HDR
5th July 2020
Hours 3,913 to 3,917
An hour watching YouTubes:
- Nigel Danson: “One thing Every photographers Should do” – create a photo Book.
- Sean Tucker: “My Minimalist Street Photography Setup“
An hour studying the Equus book by Tim Flack, signed copy leant to me by a friend.
An hour reshooting the wine bottle for the Karl Taylor “Working to a Brief” challenge #2. Implementing all the ideas of the 3rd.
Two hours processing the above image. Now only worried that the stripe down the left side is too hard and this is very much the key point of the whole exercise.
4th July 2020
Hours 3,911 to 3,912
First hour spent reshooting the Wine Bottle Challenge with my new Godox 4 x 1 foot softbox in place of the Octibox; and the other changes considered yesterday. Big improvement – more gentle gradient of light folding round the full length of the left of the bottle, and more even background.
An hour learning about Capture One Guides. Including watching Todd Dominey’s “12 Capture One Features You Won’t Find in Lightroom.” Guides can also be used in Live View when shooting tethered.
3rd July 2020
Hours 3,909 to 3,910
First hour reviewing work done over the last few days and planning adjustments including the following:
- Replace the octagonal umbrella soft box with the new 4 foot by 1 foot soft box that should be delivered today
- Lift the scrim by balancing it on two big boxes
- Replace the little TT350 with my more meaty TT685 to provide greater flexibility when lighting the background
- Maybe use the TT350 to generate the hard light down the right hand side of the bottle
- Cut a half circle out of the reflective wrapping paper so that it can reflect light round the bottom of the bottle, as per Karl’s video (he used acrylic mirror sheets – which I have also ordered, surprisingly cheap)
- Clean bottle
- Wet the board to make it darker
- Use a grey card for accurate white balance
- Ensure horizon and bottle straight in-camera.
An hour watching YouTubes including:
- Nigel Danson: “Composition in Lightroom“
- Ted Forbes (Art of Photography): “Great Photographers Understand This” – developing your voice involves copying other. Greatness is achieved by standing on the shoulders of giants.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Sir Issac Newton in a 1675 letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke
2nd July 2020
Hours 3,903 to 3,908
An hour updating this journal
Three hours on two Karl Taylor live webinars.
“A photo should both:
– deliver information, and
– evoke emotion.”
Karl Taylor
Two hours on the Amersham Beyond Webinar
Comment on my image above is that it is possibly too small in the frame and would benefit from a closer crop.
1st July 2020
Hours 3,897 to 3,902
An hour updating this journal, including all the new month admin and adding images to the June’s page.
Two hours preparing prints and PDIs for the mixed media Hong Kong International Salon.
Two hours reshooting the wine bottle for the Karl Taylor working to a brief challenge. And another processing; 3 files only being merged and a lot less work in Photoshop than the previous version.
| Latest Attempt | First Try | |
 |  |
The latest attempt is:
- Cleaner
- Addresses most of the issues identified yesterday.
However I don’t like the black reflection in the bottom left corner of the bottle and I prefer the overall mood of the first try image, and the label is better lit.
Have to admit that Karl’s idea about lighting the bottom of the bottle with a cutout mirror is better than my idea of replacing the board with a can of tuna. Karl’s approach leaves the bottle in exactly the same position, whereas mine requires replacing the bottle in exactly the same spot/ orientation, which is almost impossible and is always a compromise when blending in Photoshop.