Professional Photography in Cape Town

Understanding digital photo quality and file size: A ready guide for publishing - Magazine print, newsprint or digital medium.   Photo and content copyright Gareth Griffiths As an editor and professional photographer, up to 50% of the images Safrean Gareth Griffiths gets sent for publishing in print are of the wrong resolution. Here’s how you can be sure you get it right next time. Resolution Resolution means the size of the photo in pixels (very simply, these are ‘dots’ of digital information relating to colour and tone) that are expressed in a horizontal and vertical medium. When you multiply the horizontal by the vertical dimension, you get the digital resolution of the image, expressed in megapixels (what you camera ‘takes’). This should NOT be confused with print resolution, which is the dots per inch analogue equivalent of digital resolution. The trade has adopted two slang terms for the presentation of images. They are ‘high res’ and ‘low res’. Be warned that these are subje...

Last time I mentioned some of the image editing software options available to you for free download or bundled with certain digital cameras you purchase. So you’ve all installed yours on the computer, right ? Editing technique number one to know is how to crop effectively. It is the ideal fix for photos that were badly composed (shot in a hurry!) or contained unwanted distracting objects. The cropping tool in the software is normally denoted by a boxy looking icon depicting scissors. An effective photograph is like a good essay that puts across one story, or an idea. Think abou t that when you crop. Dismiss the notion that your subject needs to be at the centre of the photograph. Think about what story you are trying to tell, or what looks interesting. Consider how you would like the eye of the viewer to travel. Experiment. Remember first to save your original image from the camera, and always work on copies only. The beauty of modern high resolution cameras is that y...

I'm available to do some group or individual training on the ins and outs of digital cameras. What I had in mind would be personal training of small groups of about 3 individuals. The Basics course would consist of 3 x 1.5 hour modules over 3 days as follows: First session: Your camera - how to find the right buttons and ask your questions. (1.5 hours) Second session: Practical photography session in the field. (2 hours) Third session: Processing your images on the computer and optimising for prints. (1.5 hours) The 3 sessions would not necessarily be on consecutive days and would be arranged to fit in with everyone's schedules as best possible. Bring some cash for tea / coffee. And of course bring your cameras and your questions! More advanced training would include use of camera under difficult lighting conditions, understanding "magapixels", sizing of images for publishing or for the internet, etc. Cost: R xxx for the full set of three. Contact me via e...

A few thoughts for the digital photographer on what to do if you lose your photos stored on Compact Flash, SD or other camera memory cards. As published this week in the People's Post.