by Bob Grylls
Reporter
WESTMEATH — The speaker’s event held January 25 at the Westmeath Hall was sponsored by the Riverview Seniors Social Club with funding from the federal government’s New Horizon for Seniors Program. Paul Stewart introduced and gave a warm gave a welcome to Phil Cottrell as today’s speaker. The topic was Basic Photography Composition.
Mr. Cottrell’s PowerPoint demonstration of taking better pictures was well-prepared, easy to follow and smoothly delivered. The slides with relevant text and photos boosted its interest and effectiveness. Some slides showed excellent photography as well as poorly taken shots for comparison reasons and still others permitted editing of them live. Some had music, fade-in fade-out and other tricks to highlight a point.
Mr. Cottrell arrived in Canada from Berkshire, England in his early 20s. It was then he first picked up a camera. Over the years his interest in photography lengthened until he had acquired a diverse knowledge of all aspects of it as well owning up-to-date equipment and peripherals. Whether he travelled abroad or lived in four provinces in Canada and visiting every corner of the remaining ones, his camera was always with him to record those precious memories. He has studied new techniques along the way as well as performing diligent research on his own. He has sold some of his pictures and has entered photography competitions. What may have begun as a hobby has evolved into a continuing skillset in the field of photography.
This extensive background made Mr. Cottrell ideally suited to present his Basic Photography Composition to a group of 29 people, who were there to take some knowledge home that they didn’t arrive with. He opened with, “Taking better pictures doesn’t require expensive equipment, but knowing your camera is a must. Keep it with you at all times.” As well, common sense and a good eye would help. Pictures record memories, damages of an accident or contents in a household and they should be carefully and safely stored.
Mr. Cottrell introduced the DSLR (Digital single-lens reflex) camera, the most complex, and accompanied with all its attachments and extra lenses and filters take very good pictures. It is a lot to lug around however, especially on vacation. Then it was the basic digital camera or camera-phone (with delayed action and accommodating a tripod) and even GoPro, all that take good pictures. Drone photography is coming into its own. Mr. Cottrell showed a picture of a drone taking his picture while he was controlling the drone. Impressive. Apple is his personal choice for all devices.
He had many suggestions. “When in doubt, click”. Know the basics of your camera, if not, use the Automatic setting. Anticipate your shot with some research beforehand. Graduate to the portrait, landscape, sports and macro modes for starters. Common composition errors can be focus ones, tilted horizons and exposure — over or under.
Some principles of composition were covered such as framing the picture when shooting, close-ups, exploiting the scale, rule of thirds (don’t centre the target), foreground, background, filling the frame, depth and keeping it simple — all good techniques to experiment with. Mr. Cottrell emphasized that during a vacation, tell a story with your camera. Later you may want to print the photos and create a collage.
Lighting is critical in good photography. One taken in the morning appears cool, in the evening, it emanates a warm effect.
Even though Mr. Cottrell engaged the audience throughout, giving instances of editing pictures on the slides brought more feedback. He showed the primary examples of intensity, cropping and straightening. “It can turn a good picture into a great one.”
A HDR (high definition range) photo was touched on, which is two or multiple photos taken at different exposure levels and then mashed together with software to create a better picture.
Mr. Cottrell concluded his session up with an overview of the camera’s ISO, shutter speed and aperture which all work together to create an exposure.
Afterwards, participant John Meadows said, “It was great. It covered a lot of material and will be helpful.”
Sheila Perras, another participant, was upbeat as well saying, “It was excellent, and covered well with a good flow and plenty of examples.”
