What makes a workshop so different from our online courses is that we are able to provide instant feedback and answer the questions that come up about shooting in manual. In that moment when you’re feeling at a loss to figure out why the settings aren’t working you can turn to someone to bounce ideas and get answers.

And so, we spent the day, really digging into the exposure triangle and shooting in various conditions.  Those Sisters Guild bunting balls provided not only awesome decoration, but were the subject of many photographs throughout the day, as everyone got to grips with balancing highlights and shadows.

Our second session of the day was with stylist Poppy Norton on Styling in Photography allowed for some opportunities to get our creative juices flowing.

After learning about the principles of composition and styling there was an opportunity to bring together the two lessons and style a shoot using fresh flowers and props.

In the afternoon we worked on seeing natural light and creating portraits then and we took a photo walk for a chance to put the lessons into practice on the streets of Shoreditch.

Notice the killer camera straps?  They were made by the amazing Amanda from Kitschycoo and will be for sale soon via our web shop…

(We have one red spotty camera strap left for sale at £25 + P&P.  Drop us an email at enquiries[at]capturingchildhood.co.uk if you are interested).

The straps were one part of an awesome goodie bag for our course participants that also included, notebooks buttons and badges made specially for us by Tea & Ceremony and teeny tiny washi tape spools.

It was a fabulous day!  Thank you to everyone who joined us for the day – you were such an amazing group to work with. Special thanks to Amanda for being such a great assistant, model and for making the superb straps and to our supporters Sisters Guild, Tea & Ceremony and to Teapigs for the lovely herbal teas.  Check out our Flickr pool for more photos of the day (and if you were there, add your photos in).

We are in the midst of planning more workshops, so expect an announcement of further dates soon.

This May, stylist Poppy Norton will be joining us to lead a session on composition and styling. Poppy will lead a morning session on composition and styling. The session will focus on composition, sources of inspiration and easy ways to build up an image.

We’ll explore what turns and image from average to amazing and you will get a chance to put theory into practice with objects to style and photograph.

This is the perfect session to inject some creative inspiration into all of your photographs from personal to blogs and professional.

As well as Poppy’s styling session we have a day full of camera fun. We will be turning those dials to manual and working on creating the perfect exposure for your photos. In the afternoon we will be working on photographing people and creating soulful portraits. Then we’ll take to the streets to use the backdrop of East London to shoot on location.

Throughout the day there will be opportunities to put your skills into practice. Kat and Kat will be on hand to provide ideas, advice and feedback on your pictures.

The workshop is jam-packed with goodness and we are excited to bring you our very first in person event. We will be inviting all attendees to come out and celebrate the day afterwards and join us for a drink.

So much awesome and we haven’t even told you about the goody bags!

If you would like to join us the Workshop is running on Saturday May 11th at the Curtain Road Studios in London. You can find more information about the day and book tickets on the Workshop page but hurry – we’re down to our last few tickets so if you want a space you’ll need to act fast…

We are so excited today – Kat Goldin has been featured on The Simple Things Magazine’s site. It’s a joint feature about Capturing Childhood, photography and Kat’s forthcoming book, Crochet at Play.

If you’d like to read about her tips, simple things and crochet head on over to The Simple Things for the full feature.

We could be here for years waiting for the weather to do what we want. Instead, let’s look at some of the problems shooting in snow can cause and how you can get around them.

Before you head out there are a few basic good practices and principles which will help you get the picture right in camera:

• All that white is going to mess with your camera’s mind. It will ‘see’ the reflective white scene as overexposed and will compensate by underexposing your pictures. If you’ve come home with dark pictures before this could be why. How to fix: If your camera has exposure compensation (google or check your manual) set it from +1 to +2 so the camera knows what’s going on. If it doesn’t have exposure compensation check for a snow scene setting which will take care of this issue. If you have neither read on to find out how to combat.
• Even with exposure compensation your camera will have a wobble about which object to use to meter the picture. How to fix: Place the most important part of the picture in the centre of the picture – the majority of cameras will have centre-weighted metering so use this to your advantage. If you are using a DSLR switch to spot metering – check your manual to discover how this works in your camera.
• Snow is white, we see white snow in front of us, in the shade of a hill or looking into the sun but your camera sees a whole range of different shades of grey and blue. How to fix: If your camera has a snow scene setting this should be included in the programmed details to some extent. If your camera allows you to, go into your white balance settings and adjust for the conditions. If it’s sunny choose the daylight setting; if it’s cloudy choose the shade or overcast setting. Want to take it a step further? You can set a custom white balance (check you manual) or some cameras will allow you to adjust white balance by Kelvins so you can get a near match. However you do it – take some test shots and see what colour you are getting on the LCD.
• Footprints in the snow could wreck your photos. How to fix: Get out there early! Not only will you get the beautiful blanket of smooth snow but you’ll have the benefit of golden early morning light.
• Baby it’s cold out there. You need to wrap up warm but you may want to consider fingerless gloves to use while you’re shooting. It’s not just you that will be affected by the cold – your camera is going to find the cold tough too. How to fix: Let your camera get used to being out in the cold before you start taking photos. If you take it out warm it will fog up and with fog comes moisture (and DOOM) so slow yourself down and wait a few minutes. Batteries aren’t the biggest fans of low temperatures so make sure they are fully charged and carry spares (in warm places).
• Snow is frozen water. Just like rain, falling snow is going to dump a whole heap of water onto your camera. How to fix: Take your camera out in a waterproof bag. To protect it while you’re shooting either buy a waterproof cover or fashion one out of a bin-liner -yes, really.

Knowing your stuff will stand you in good stead but your camera could still do the dirty on you so let’s look at both how you can change what you’re doing in the moment or fix a photo after the fact.

All of the following examples were taken with a Canon Powershot SX110 in 2009/10 (my – haven’t they grown?). All shots in non-flash auto modes. Edits made in Picmonkey a free online editing tool.

Underexposed Snow Photo

This first example is a classic; a picture taken in overcast daylight which has underexposed due to the large amount of white in the frame. Gah!

Fear not! A quick trip over to Picmonkey will sort you out. Thankfully recovering a slightly underexposed photo isn’t tricky at all. Don’t be tempted to use ‘auto-fix‘ a couple of manual adjustments and you’re finished.

• First stop is the exposure tab: raise the exposure by moving the slider to the right until it looks natural.
• Next adjust the highlights and shadows, again, using your eye to tell you when it looks right.
• The last action in this tab is to adjust the contrast up or down depending on the style of photo you’re going for.
• If you feel the colour tones are off use the colors tab to make gentle adjustments in saturation and temperature (blue = cold, red = hot). I haven’t used it for this photo.
• Finally use the sharpen tab to sharpen and add clarity.
• Then just save back to your computer.

Another cause of an underexposed photo could be your positioning. If in doubt: find out where the sun is and point your bum at it. Getting the light behind you will have it all on your subject (although watch our for your shadow in the low sun!).

In the two photos below my only change was to move to a position with the sun (well, clouds in front of the sun) behind me.

That’s not to say that you can’t use the light in different way. Shadow and backlighting are great ways to add interest and texture to snow scenes. In the two pictures below changing our position by 180° means that the falling snow has been picked up by the light and darker backgrounds and that lovely golden light is giving a nice glow around the subjects.

Colour Casts

I mentioned that your camera gets confused about what colour it’s looking at and you can end up with photos that are blue, grey or frankly anything depending on the colour of the ambient light. The photo below is both blue-toned and underexposed but thankfully it’s easily corrected.

• Firstly open up the colors tab to correct the blue cast.
• Click the neutral picker and move your mouse over the photo. A dropper icon will appear and use this to click a neutral area of the photo – in this case I chose a piece of snow on the left of the frame.
• This will adjust the temperature of the photo. It might not get it 100% right first try but you can adjust the slider to get it how you imagined it.
• Next correct the exposure using the steps above and save to your computer.

Sometimes a colour cast can add to the mood of your picture. The photo below isn’t fixable with Picmonkey but that’s ok because it reminds me of the point when the sun went down and despite the twilight we ran up the hill for one last slide.

The snow is a great opportunity to experiment with your photos both technically and creatively.

Look for things that you wouldn’t notice without the white blanket of snow to draw your eye to it. Find areas of contrast between dark and light and see it in a different way.

Snow is so much fun and a great time capture fleeting family moments. After all, how often is the UK turned white?

We would love to see your snow shots! Why not share them in the Capturing Childhood Flickr Pool or on Facebook?

Finding Daylight indoors.

My first tip is to move close to your windows. Even on the darkest of days your best light source is natural light as it gives the best colouring. Experiment with where you place yourself in relation to the light. In the photo above the light was coming from my right, casting a shadow over the left of the picture. In the photo below the light is behind me giving even lighting to the subject with few shadows.

South facing isn’t the be-all and end-all – these two photos were taken in our North-facing playroom. Try different spaces in your home to see where you’re getting the results you want.

Artificial light isn’t the enemy.

Sometimes you have no choice but to go with the only light source you have – a man-made one. If you’re shooting indoors under normal household lighting then adjust your white balance either by setting a custom WB (check out your manual for details of how your camera does this) or by setting white balance to tungsten. This will compensate for the yellowy cast you get in this lighting.

Try something different. In the picture below Milla picked up my Kindle to light the shot in a darkened room. The cool, white light not only lit her face but provided the catchlights in her eyes.

Get friendly with your flash. The flash on your camera is far from ideal but it is a light source conveniently on hand. We’ll be creating some red-hot pop-flash tips in the next couple of weeks so make sure you’re subscribed to our blog or following us on Facebook so you don’t miss them.

No matter what the weather there is always light to be found and getting used to finding it will make you a better photographer!

Have you taken some great low-light shots recently? Why not share them in the Capturing Childhood Flickr Pool?

Both Manual Overdrive and Collect the Moments are open for registration places are filling fast but there are still some remaining – are you starting the new year with a new skill?

New Year’s Eve, The Fourth of July, Guy Fawkes Night and Diwali are nights I look forward to with child-like glee for the fireworks alone. For years my efforts with photographing fireworks fell far short of the experience itself so this year I decided to get serious and came away with some fantastic shots.

Despite having the appearance of fancy photography these photos were surprisingly easy to achieve. A little thought and prep beforehand and you will capture magical pictures.

Prep:

• Clean your lens!
• Charge batteries and carry a spare for your remote.
• Camera settings – get familiar with what your camera can and can’t do. Work out which settings will work best for you before you are out in the dark.
• Practice has to be your number one most useful tool in every situation. If you’re unfamiliar with your kit or the setting have a couple of dry runs so you know you’ll be ready on the night. Even if you don’t have time before the display remember you can adjust and experiment during the fireworks – there is normally enough time.
• Make sure you have your kit ready in advance.

Kit:

• Camera and wide-angle lens – you’ll want to capture as much sky as possible so a wide-angle (smaller mm/zoomed out) will help you achieve that.
• Tripod – in order to get sharp pictures you need a stable base and a tripod is a necessity.
• Remote control – no 100% necessary but really useful. I use a Hahnel Giga T Pro wireless remote control. If you don’t have a remote set your camera on a 2 second shutter delay to minimise the impact of movement from the camera.
• Timer – if you are using bulb mode then use a timer to keep track of the exposure length.
• Neutral Density Filter – these cut out light without changing colours meaning you can achieve the same exposure with slower shutter speeds. By increasing the amount of time you have your shutter open for you can have more explosions in one picture.
• Black cloth – or similar. If you want to take really long exposures then this will help you eliminate excess light between fireworks.
• A torch – really useful to be able to light your equipment up while your set it up in the dark.

Where to stand:

• This will have a big impact on your composition. In these pictures I was stood at the front of the crowd which gave me a clear shot but it meant I was too close to get enough space around the fireworks.

• Check the wind direction and get up-wind of the launch site or as near as possible. The smoke will catch light so you don’t want it between you and the fireworks. You can see in the bottom picture that by the end of the display there is quite a lot of smoke in the air.

• It’s not always easy to know where the fireworks are going to go off so being further back allows you to make smaller adjustments with the tripod than if you were close to the action. If you are able to talk to the organisers beforehand find out how the display will play out. For this shoot the majority of fireworks exploded in the same spot in the sky meaning I didn’t need to go over 30 seconds to capture my shots. If it had been spread out then I’d have been able to use exposures of 30 – 60 seconds.

Settings:

• To be in complete control you’ll want to use your manual settings. With a DSLR this will allow your to control the whole picture, with a point and shoot you might not be able to control settings such as ISO – check out your manual to find out what you can do.
• Aperture: you want your aperture in the mid-ranges around f/10-16. You can experiment with larger and smaller apertures but the mid ranges will give you good sharp trails.
• Shutter Speed: this is what you’ll most likely be adjusting throughout the display. The first shots will have the clearest skies as there will be little smoke so you can use longer exposures without much need for editing out smoke. The general rule of thumb is the longer you have your shutter open for the more fireworks you will capture. Want just one firework? Set your shutter for 4 – 7 seconds. If you’re looking to capture several fireworks then a shutter speed of 10 – 30 seconds or more is what you’ll need. I’ve used a neutral density filter to allow me to have my shutter open about three times as long as without the filter.
• ISO: I set mine to 200 so it was more sensitive to light but not so high that it created any noise/grain as I wanted these pictures to look sharp.
• White Balance: I left this on auto.
• Focus: Set your camera to manual focus and leave it on infinity. You do not want your camera to be trying to seek focus during the show!

Editing:

These pictures were shot in RAW and edited with Adobe Lightroom. It gives me more flexibility on colour and range when editing. I tend to make my adjustments by eye aiming for a photo that reproduces what I saw. The adjustments I have made are global:

• Contrast +5, whites +19, blacks -10, clarity+30, vibrance +25 and saturation +10.
• For the later photographs which suffered from smoke I changed to: contrast +17, whites +38 and blacks -81

If you’re not editing RAW files but shooting in JPEG then a great piece of free software is Picmonkey where you can achieve similar adjustments with the exposure, colour and sharpen tools.

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Fireworks are such a thrilling event and getting the photography mix right will heighten the excitement. If you’re well prepared you’ll be able to create some awesome shots and no doubt be impatient for the next display to do it all over again.

If you get some awesome shots please add your links to blog/Flickr in the comments so we can check them out!

Kit: Canon 500D, 18-55mm kit lens at 18mm, 0.9 neutral density filter, tripod and remote shutter release.

Settings for all shots:  f14, 15 – 20 second shutter and ISO 200.

Rather than long letters we have set up a fun photo shoot backdrop for the children to model their goodies. We then print greeting cards or postcards with Moo (who let you use as many pictures as you have cards – perfect) and the children can add their personal thanks by hand.

Here are my top tips for making a photo shoot fun:

• Create a fun backdrop on a wall which gets good light in your home. I used a light curtain but you could use streamers, balloons or the classic of your Christmas tree to provide a colourful background.
• Get set up the night before you want to do the shoot. You don’t want to miss the best light or the window of opportunity in children’s moods by having to set up there and then.
• Ask your children for their ideas – after all, they are the ones saying thank you so they will likely want some creative input.
• Have all of the gifts to hand so you can change props quickly.
• Pick a time when the kids are well fed and have lots of energy – it will all go wrong quickly if they are in need of a nap!
• Be prepared to do it in more than one session.
• Start off by capturing a general shot of them in the scene; that way, if you run out of time/steam/patience you already have a great thank you card to send. This works well for younger children who might not want to model every gift they received.

Setting up your camera:

• Use a tripod – it will help you keep the frame consistent and ensure camera shake doesn’t ruin a good shot.
• If you have a remote these can be very handy allowing you to shoot from the other side of the camera.
• Choose a wide-angle lens or focal length to capture the whole scene.
• Give yourself plenty of space to step back from the scene to the optimum distance for your focal length.
• Practice the shot making sure your aperture is narrow enough to keep all the elements you want in focus and that it isn’t too crowded.
• Once you are happy with the set up use masking tape to mark the spot on the floor where the children should stand. Distance between them and the background for blur (bokeh) and closer to the background to have it in focus.
• Lighting: I have used a flash and reflector in these pictures as our house is too dark in Winter to use natural light. If you have the same issue, bounce the flash off the ceiling to soften the light in your scene.
• Keep your shutter speed fast: in the darker months you may find yourself leaning toward slower shutter speeds but you run the risk of blur from movement and losing the shot. Keep the shutter at about 1/100s and bump the ISO a little; grain is preferable to blur when those are your only choices.
• Keep checking your pictures (by downloading or zooming in on the LCD screen) to make sure they are in focus in the right places.

How ever you create your photo shoot, above all, have fun and make it your own!

My props are from: Make Your Own Banner, Honeycomb Paper Balls and Felt Chain Garland. Garden light curtains are widely available.

Oh my golly – we are so thrilled to be featured in the wonderful interactive Guardian Christmas Gift Guide 2012.

It is a complete honour to be alongside such enviable products and both of us have been jumping for joy. We hope that if you found your way here from The Guardian you’re making yourself at home!

Something like this doesn’t come about by accident and we want to (get soppy and) say thank you to all of the people who have believed in us and our courses this year.

To everyone who signed up for a course, tweeted, facebooked, blogged and told thier friends, our families who quietly (sometimes) put up with us working late into the night and our own friends who were always there for us we thank you.

Most of all a huge thank you to Kate Carter who chose to include us in this years guide – we think you’re aces!

We have been busy bees here at (virtual) Capturing Childhood HQ.  Not only do we have gift certificates for our courses, but we have just opened our new Capturing Childhood shop!  We have big plans, including ebooks, mini-courses and other camera-related goodness.

First up – two sets of presets for Lightroom 4!

The Black and White Collection:

The Colour Collection:

We are big fans of Lightroom – it makes editing and managing photos a breeze and presets make photo editing even easier.  These 2 collections of presets have been developed by Kat G for use in her personal and commercial photography work.  These presets are designed to transform your RAW photos into beautiful photographs that leap off the screen or page.

For today only, we are offering a Cyber Monday deal to get your preset packs for £5 each (normal price is £10).  Head to the shop to find out more!

Have we mentioned you can buy gift certificates for any of our courses? We have?  Oh, just didn’t want you to forget!!