What to Photograph on a Rainy Day.

Over the last week or so in Melbourne we have had a fair number of rainy days, plus it’s winter and the amount of daylight hours are relatively short.  All of this makes it difficult to get some photography done.  So what do you photograph when the weather will not play nice?  Well I decided to shoot the rain drops.

During the odd break in the rain I would grabbed my Pentax K7 (love the fact that it’s weather sealed) and attached my Tamron 90 mm f2.8 SP Di Macro lens and headed outside.  This first shot was taken at f22, which on a “normal” lens would give a very long depth of field, but as you can see from this shot the area behind the leaf has been rendered as out of focus.

Rain drops resting on a new Eucalyptus leaf.

This second shot was taken at f3.2 and shows a very shallow depth of field.

Rain drops clinging to a Hakea

Using a macro lens presents a unique set of challenges.  The first of which as you can see from these two examples is their extremely shallow depth of field; even when stopped down to f22.  This can present a challenge for accurate focusing so having a sturdy tripod can be a big help as it will prevent the camera from moving.  I’ll post some more detailed comments on macro photography in a future post.

Even if the weather is not on your side there is still likely to be an opportunity to do some photography.  Keep your eye on the window and when the rain stops go outside and take some photos!

Photographing Trail Bikes & Motocross

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be asked along to photograph the Australian Motorcycle Trail Riders Association (AMTRA) Family Fun Day in Daylesford, Victoria Australia.  If you have not seen one of these events before they involve people a lot braver than me, racing around the bush in the dirt and whatever else comes along at incredible speeds.  It’s a very exciting sport to both watch and photograph.  In this post I am going to briefly explain how to creatively use shutter speed to convey the excitement and speed of this popular past time.

But first a few comments about what gear you will need.  Firstly, a dSLR is a must for this type of photography because in order to pan or freeze fast-moving action you will want the shutter to fire the moment you press the shutter button.  The shutter lag you typically see on many point and shoot cameras will mean more often than not you will need to rely on luck to get a great shot.  Also, as you will often be spending a considerable amount of time in environments that are either dusty or wet you may want to think about some sort of protection for your camera equipment.  Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about this too much as the Pentax K7 I use contains around 80 seals to keep out dust and moisture.  As far as lens choice goes you can generally cover most of the shots you are likely to encounter with a couple of fast zoom lenses.  For this type of work I am currently using a Pentax DA* f2.8 16 – 50 mm lens and a Pentax DA* f2.8 50 – 135 mm lens.  At f2.8 both of these lenses are relatively fast which in turn allows for very fast shutter speeds.

These bikes typically reach speeds of up to 100 Km/hr therefore if you want to capture the action you are going to need a shutter speed of around 1/1000th or 1/2000th of a second to freeze the action taking place in front of you.  The photo below was taken at f2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second, and as you can see the rider has been captured in mid-flight; if you look closely enough the shutter speed used has even frozen the spokes in the wheels of the bike.

An alternative technique to use is panning, whereby the subject is in relatively sharp focus while the background is blurred.  They tend not to work when the background is a static colour like the sky for example.  In a panning shot you typically use a very slow shutter speed of 1/30th to 1/60th of a second and you move the camera along with the subject during the exposure.  The photograph below is an example of a panning shot that was taken at 1/30th of a second at f11, and as  you can see the rider is relatively sharp while the background has become blurred.  This type of shot is a great way to convey the sense of speed at which these riders travel.

So there you have it two very simple techniques that you can use when photographing fast-moving subjects like trail bikes.  A fast shutter speed to freeze action, and the use of a slow shutter speed and panning to convey a sense of speed.

Check out my website to see more shots from my day with the guys from AMTRA.

5 Business Books Worth Reading

As I found out when you start a business there seems to be no shortage of books and advice that are readily available.  If you search amazon.com for business books, you will be presented with a list of around 2.8 million hits!  Of course you can narrow that down considerably; for example searching for starting a business gives you only 20000 books.  Which is still a hell of a lot of books.  So, if you don’t have time to sort through them all (I seemed to have a bit of free time lately, see this post for why) the titles I have listed below were the ones that I purchased and found really worthwhile.

Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki is really for people who are starting anything from a club to a potentially international company.  It’s a very motivating read and really encourages you to get moving and get started!  As Guy says in the book “no one ever got rich by planning for gold”.  This book has a different take on starting a business than your typical business book, as you are encouraged to release a product then revise based on feedback then release a revision etc, etc.  All in all it’s a great read and will give you plenty to think about.

Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Levinson.  This book is great; it really is the bible of marketing for small business but it has one downside.  This book contains heaps of low-cost or free suggestions on marketing your business.  It takes you through developing a marketing plan how to use different types of media; everything from advertising in classified section of your local newspaper through to advertising on TV.  Make no mistake, as Jay Levinson clearly illustrates successful marketing takes commitment, perseverance and consistency.  Now to the downside, this book was revised in 2007 well before social media exploded on the internet and as a result I personally found the book to be very light-on for information on social media marketing which is where many small businesses will want to focus their attention.  This doesn’t take away from the great information in the book and it is certainly worth having on your bookshelf.

Likeable Social Media by Dave Kerpen picks up right where Guerrilla Marketing leaves off and covers everything you need to know about social media marketing.  If you have never considered using social media for marketing you are missing out on a potentially massive audience.  This book will take you through how to build an audience and generate the all important “like”, how to respond to both positive and negative comments and the importance of providing value, i.e. giving stuff for free, and how to integrate social media into your entire customer experience.  I particularly liked the sections that dealt with how to use the various search features in Facebook and Twitter so you find out what people are saying about your company.  I also enjoyed the emphasis on engaging with your customers and how to get them involved in your social media presence be it your Facebook page or Twitter account.

Start Your Own Business from the people who bring you Entrepreneur magazine.  This book is more like your traditional business start-up book and contains several / many exercises that involve self-analysis and reflection which are designed to determine if starting your own business is right for you.  With these types of questionnaires it’s very easy to say yes you are prepared to work hard and work long hours, but really you will never really know what you will do unless you give it a go.  This is a rather large book at over 750 pages and as you would expect considering it’s length includes sections planning and researching, funding you business, setting up basic systems, marketing, hiring staff and buying equipment.  It’s well written and is full of useful tips and suggestions and is worth having in your collection.

How to Write a Business Plan by Mike McKeever.  The dreaded business plan!  Is there a better way to go insane than to lock yourself away for a couple of weeks and write a business plan?  Thankfully, How to Write a Business Plan makes the task a little easier (it’s still not a whole heap of fun though).  Art of the Start mentioned above actively encourages you to avoid writing a business plan when you are first starting up, however, if you need to source funding from just about anyone you are going to need a business plan.  You can use this book to create everything from a complete well thought out business plan through to a what they call quick plan which you can put together in a day (it can make for a very long day).  Like Start Your Own Business there are many checklists and work sheets to go through but if you do them if makes you seriously consider financial viability of the business you are planning on starting.  Oh and the really good thing about this book is that it comes with a CD-ROM that contains spreadsheets and sample business plans that you can use in creating your own business plan.

So there you have it, my top 5 business books worth reading.  Are there any that you think I have missed?  What would you recommend?