Coming up on this episode of Photography Online:
we show you how understanding infinity focus can help your photography, we highlight some
of the outdoor clothing needed for being out in the elements and we take a few indoor
portraits ready to print in a fun and arty way. Welcome to part one of our November show
which is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform which will help you
build your own beautiful website or online store. More on that later though. This month we
are bringing you the show from the Glengarry Castle Hotel here in the Highlands of Scotland.
If you watched our last show where we took a photo tour around Loch Ness, that's just a stone's throw
over that way so this is a great location to stay if you're thinking of visiting the area. In fact,
if you're coming here for photography you might not even feel like leaving the grounds as there's
everything that you could want right here. A castle ruin, an old boat wreck, a lovely loch and
some amazing grounds are just some of the things which will tempt you to get your camera out and
I'll be showing you some of these over the coming 30 minutes or so. But let's get things started in
style. As you know we love to share our knowledge here at Photography Online to help you improve
your camera skills. A question which often pops up from viewers and customers is to do with infinity.
What is it and where does it start? Understanding this will certainly help your photography
so get ready to go to infinity and beyond… In previous shows we've made many
references to maximising depth of field. Understanding the principles of controlling
depth of field can be useful in almost any genre of photography so it's one of the
most important aspects to get to grips with. We've already done a detailed tutorial about
depth of field so I won't be repeating this again. Just check out this episode if you think you have
a few gaps in your understanding of the topic and you'll see me using snooker balls to
illustrate exactly what is going on when it comes to depth of field. The one thing I didn't
cover is infinity, something which is really important if we want to have maximum control over
our photography. But what is infinity and where is it? Now the answer to the first of those questions
is the easiest to deal with so let's start there. When we focus a lens we move the plane of focus
either further from or closer to the camera. The plane of focus is an invisible wall
and anything which comes into contact with this invisible wall will be sharply
focused, regardless of the aperture used. As we bring the plane of focus closer to the
lens this invisible wall becomes thinner to the point where it may only be one millimetre
or so in depth such as with this shot which we featured in our previous show. But as we move
the plane of focus further from the camera, even though we are not changing the aperture
value, the wall gets thicker and thicker as it moves further and further away. If we move
our plane of focus further into the distance, eventually we'll reach a point known as infinity.
At this point our two-dimensional invisible wall becomes a never-ending three-dimensional block and
anything covered by that block will automatically be in focus. To put it another way, infinity
is the point we reach where when we focus on a subject, everything behind that subject is
automatically in focus too, so it's impossible to focus on an object at infinity and get
another object further away out of focus. A good example would be if we had a tree on
a distant hillside, maybe half a mile away, and the moon rising behind the tree at
240,000 miles away. If this sounds familiar, this was the scenario of our first Mission:
Possible feature which we're still working on. If the tree is past the point of infinity
then it's impossible to focus on the tree and get the moon out of focus even though
the two are separated by almost a quarter of a million miles. As far as the lens is
concerned the two are at the same distance. So hopefully that explains what infinity is. So
now for the slightly more challenging question. Where does infinity start? This is dependent on
the focal length, so there is no set point where we cross some magical line. Basically the longer
the focal length the further into the distance we need to go before we reach infinity. Now there's
a very precise way of working out exactly where infinity starts for any given focal length
and then there's a rule of thumb way which is perfectly adequate for most situations. So
let's start with this one first. All you need to do is convert your focal length in millimetres
into metres, or if you're watching from America maybe try yards. This is roughly where
infinity will start. So if we are using a 24 millimetre lens then infinity will start
somewhere around 24 metres from the camera. If we are using a 200 millimetre lens then
infinity won't start until somewhere around 200 metres away. And to take things to the
extreme, if we are using a 1000 millimetre lens then we may not reach infinity until around
one kilometre or further. So that's the easy method which as I said will be perfectly suitable
for most situations. Now if you want to be more precise, either because you need to be or maybe
you just got too much time on your hands, there is another method which will tell you exactly
where infinity starts for any given focal length. The first thing we need to do is find a scene
where we have objects at various distances, including ones a very long way away. Remember that
if you're using a long focal length then infinity could be a kilometre or more away so you'll need
to be able to see something at least this far. It's important that we use manual focus for
this otherwise the camera might try to refocus during the exercise. Now what we need to do is
focus on something we know to be at infinity. Now on this 200 millimetre lens here,
I know that the cliffs in the distance are well past infinity so
that's where I'm going to focus. Now without touching the focus ring, move either
the camera or zoom around the screen to look at objects at closer distances, starting far away
and getting gradually closer. As we do this we will suddenly notice that one particular distance
is very slightly soft. This is because we have just crossed the line of infinity for our set
focal length. So now we need to go back to the previous distance which did appear sharp and
this is where infinity starts. Another way to do it but only really relevant with fixed focal
length lenses, is to find a scene where you've got a big expanse of flat ground before you.
I'm going to use this 50 millimetre prime lens. Just as before, focus on infinity and then
get a friend to walk into the scene with a sign or large lettering on their clothing. As
they start, they will be clearly out of focus. But the further away they walk from the
camera the sharper they will become. At the point where they become pin
sharp is exactly where infinity starts. You can then measure that distance using a
phone app and keep a record of it so that next time you're using the same lens for a landscape
situation and need to know where infinity starts, you know exactly where it is. Now you
can't really do this for a zoom lens because you'd have to do it for every single
focal length and that's not really practical. If we now try the same exercise with the different
focal length, we'll see that infinity starts in a different place, with the shorter the
focal length, the closer we reach infinity. So this begs the most important question.
Why do we need to know where infinity starts? This is important if we want to control depth of
field. For example, if we are faced with a scene where the closest subject is 50 metres away and
the most distant subject is 5 kilometres away. We can shoot this on anything up
to 50 millimetres in focal length without having to worry about depth of field as
everything in the scene is already at infinity. Basically it's impossible for me to get
part of this scene in focus and other parts out of focus because even though I have many
different elements all at different distances, as far as the lens is concerned they're all
at the same distance. This means that I can shoot the scene at f/2.8 or f/16. It will
make no difference to the depth of field in such a situation. However, in order to maximise
sharpness and detail, we should shoot the scene using the sweet spot of the lens. We explain why
this is the case in this show so check that out if you want to know the drawbacks of shooting at
smaller apertures. If we are faced with a scene which includes foreground and background and want
to achieve maximum sharpness, then knowing where infinity begins is key to getting this right. You
might be familiar with the term, focus a third of the way into the scene, but this is misleading and
will actually give poor depth of field control. What we want to be doing is focusing a third
of the way between the closest point we want to render sharp and where infinity starts because
only this will give us the maximum depth of field. If we are using a 16 millimetre lens for this
scene here we only need to worry about getting everything from 2 metres to 16 metres sharp
as everything beyond 16 metres is already past infinity, so it will take care of itself. If we
simply focus a third of the way into the scene, this is probably somewhere around here,
which is already well past infinity so this would be totally wrong and would give
us far less depth of field than focusing a third of the way between the closest point we want to
appear sharp and the point where infinity starts. Finally, another question which pops up
very often is, why do some lenses focus past infinity? Older lenses tended not to do this so to focus them to infinity it was simply a
case of twisting the focus ring until it stopped. In terms of distance then there is nothing
beyond infinity although this guy might disagree. But modern lenses are made to focus past infinity
to allow for temperature changes which may cause the optics to expand or contract slightly.
So hopefully that explains what infinity is, where it starts and why it is so
useful. Please don't ever ask me where infinity ends because that conversation
will blow all of our minds, including his. You, my friend, are one of my favourite life
forms. Really. A Space Ranger never lies… That topic is just one of the many chapters which
will make up series two of our Essential Camera Skills manual, something that we're busy working
on and hope to make available before the end of the year so we'll keep you updated with any news
on that. And if you don't already have series one then this covers all the essential camera skills
that we covered last year so it's certainly worth grabbing a copy while they're still available.
So behind me is the Glengarry Castle ruins which is just one of the photogenic subjects right
here in the grounds of the hotel. It's got a long history involving the famous Jacobite
rebellion and more than one brush with fire. You can learn all about it from the friendly
staff at the hotel. Now, if you've been out playing with your camera, your next thought will
probably be turning to sharing your photographs. But it can be frustrating depending on your
social media pages where you're at the mercy of their latest algorithm which decides for you
who gets to view them, how good the quality is, I could go on. With Squarespace though you can
take back control with a dedicated space to showcase your photography. Now their immediate
attraction in my view is the amazing choice of slick, customisable template designs that put
your photographs front and centre. But beyond that they make things simple by taking care of the
hosting, the analytics and all that other stuff that can seem so daunting. And if you
do need help they've got 24/7 support. So why not head to Squarespace.com for a free
trial and if you like what you've created, go to the link in the description and
enter code of PHOTOGRAPHYONLINE to save 10% off your first purchase. So as you can see we
are in full autumn mode now which means winter is just around the corner. If you're heading
out over the coming months to take photos, whether it be landscape, wildlife or anything
outdoors, then one of the most important pieces of equipment is what you're wearing. Here's
Harry to tell us everything we need to know… When we think of crucial equipment for
photography our minds will naturally jump to thinking about a camera lens or maybe a
tripod. However, how often do you stop to consider the clothing that you're wearing? Having the right
clothing is vitally important for staying safe and comfortable while outdoors. I'm going to approach
the topic of clothing from two points of view. Firstly as a landscape photographer
and also as a wildlife photographer. Ask any landscape photographer worth their
salt what conditions generates the best image and it's likely they'll say something
like dark moody skies, lots of rain, wind, cold, so on, so forth. The takeaway point,
if you want to get the best image possible we normally have to be out in inclement conditions,
taking the worst the weather can throw at us. Being able to see out heavy rain showers, waiting
for that brief beam of light, shrugging off any wind, sea spray and more is the absolute
minimum that us as landscape photographers demand from our clothing. Everything from our
feet up to our head and hands needs protection. Let's start at the bottom and work our way
up. To me it seems obvious that if I'm going outdoors to do some photography then I need to be
strapping on a pair of comfortable walking boots just like these ones. It never ceases to amaze
me the amount of inappropriate footwear I see while out on the hills. Firstly, they
need to be comfortable and if you're in an environment like we have here in Scotland,
absolutely waterproof. At the end of the day it doesn't matter whether they're fabric or
leather. If I know I'll be shooting something coastal then I'll probably pull on a pair
of insulated wellies just in case I end up standing in the water as hiking boots are
easily breached by even the smallest waves. Yet some people never seem to learn. Moving upwards the next item of clothing we get
to are trousers, or, if you're from North America, pants. We've basically got two main options.
Ordinary hiking trousers for everyday mooching about and waterproof trousers for when things get
wet. We get constantly asked what trousers I'm often wearing during the show. Now these ones are
from Decathlon which is a sports superstore here in Europe. I wear through my trousers pretty
quick and these are affordable and pretty comfortable. If you plan on hiking in hot weather
then having a pair with ventilation zips is great. Also a pair of insulated trousers if you like to
shoot more in cold weather. Keeping our legs warm and dry is paramount to warding off the
dangers of hypothermia on the hills. Having a pair of warm trousers if it
looks cold and something waterproof if it looks wet is the only sensible thing to
do. Waterproof trousers most commonly come in the over trouser variety. My best advice when it
comes to these is to find a pair with generous, full length zips. It makes getting them on
or off over walking boots infinitely easier. These trousers are typically lightweight
and easy to chuck in the bag. There's a whole range of price points but they all use
similar fabrics and waterproofness. Just pick something that works for you, though the more
expensive ones are likely to be more durable and last that little bit longer. Alternatively
you can opt for a pair of trousers like this. These are the Paramo Velez trousers and they're
designed as an ordinary hiking trouser that you wear next to your skin but they're totally
windproof and waterproof so there's no need to pull them on and off constantly like these over
trousers in changeable weather. Moving up the body further we get to the torso. Keeping our bodies
warm is key to keeping our enthusiasm intact, helping us wait out on location for longer for
that elusive shot particularly in the cooler climates we have here in Scotland. A mix of
jumpers, fleeces and jackets that you can take off and put on will help regulate your temperature
when you're out and about. The major piece of clothing that's worth an investment is a good
waterproof jacket. These come in endless colours, styles and brands. I favour a shorter cut to many
of my jackets, making it easier to scramble and climb around. Just like bags though, I own many,
many jackets, each with a different purpose. For days with little hiking and lots of wind and
rain, I dig out my trusty Musto sailing jacket but for days when I know I'm going to be
out scrambling and doing a lot of walking then I prefer my shorter cut Sherpa jacket. If you
like to shoot in cold weather then a down jacket is worth its weight in gold. Which is a shame as
most are very light. Even a thin packable jacket can add vital insulation on those extra nippy
days and well worth stuffing into your backpack. Choosing the right colour for your jacket isn't
just about fashion and looking cool, it's about being visible. Opting for bright colours such
as reds, oranges and yellows means that in the event of an emergency you can be seen more easily
from afar. It's also quite useful if you want to use yourself as a focal point in your landscape
images to add a sense of scale, à la Instagram. Lastly, don't forget your extremities. Most of
the heat that's generated by our bodies is lost through our head. Now I'm rarely
without a woolly covering on top but I do also like to wear a woolly hat. As photographers we rely on our hands to ply
our trade so it makes sense to make sure they're protected and warm. Finding a decent pair of
gloves has been a decade-long process for me. At the end of the day there's no glove that keeps
your fingers perfectly insulated while letting you retain use of them for a camera. The only way I
find I keep my fingers warm is by using a mitten. Now these are from Buffalo and I've done a heck
of a lot of market research and these do keep my fingers nicely warm while still letting me have
some control of the camera. Wildlife photographers have slightly different priorities when it
comes to clothing. Rather than wanting to stick out like a sore thumb in a landscape you need to
blend in. Being visually quiet so as to minimise disturbance of sensitive subjects is critical as
well as being comfortable and warm enough to stick out those long hours sitting in one place, waiting
for something to appear. All this, while just like our landscape orientated clothing, being able to
withstand the worst that nature can throw at us. Did we really have to make that point
visually again? I got my camera wet as well. My most used piece of clothing when it
comes to wildlife photography is my smock. It is the Kestrel smock from Country Innovation.
This is utterly bomb proof. It's completely wind and water tight, making it the perfect outer layer
for working in changeable conditions. I'm not that careful with my equipment at all, you might have
noticed, so the fact that this has stood up to a couple of years of abuse is testament to its build
quality. The smock is made from Ventile fabric which more than anything means it's quiet. None
of that annoying rustling you get with gore-tex jackets, which makes it perfect for sneaking
up on sensitive subjects just like otters. I've never found the need for
camouflage print clothing. Instead I choose subdued colours like browns,
greys and greens to make sure I blend in. So there you have it. My breakdown of
essential clothing to help keep you warm, dry, comfortable and most importantly safe while
you're out shooting. Like the old saying goes, there's no such thing as unsuitable
weather, just unsuitable clothing. Poor Harry, I think he's only just dried out.
On the subject of clothing, remember that we've got our Photography Online branded t-shirts and
beanies in our online shop. Buying one is one of the many ways that you can help support the
channel and ensure that we're able to continue to bring you better content in the future.
So as I mentioned at the start of the show, this month we're bringing you Photography Online
from a true hidden gem in the Scottish Highlands, the Glengarry Castle Hotel. It's an ideal base
for any photography trip to the area as not only will it put you with an easy reach of places that
we featured before like Loch Ness, Ben Nevis and the Glenfinnan Viaduct, but you might find that
you don't even need to leave the hotel grounds as there's loads to shoot, especially at this time
of year when the grounds are looking so fantastic. As you can see the hotel is located right
on a picturesque loch and right next to the castle ruin is this boat wreck which will
keep any photographer happy for a while. The hotel also has a reputation for serving high
quality, locally sourced food, some of which is foraged by the head chef himself so that's where
I'm heading now. While I do that, Marcus has been busy looking at some alternative ways of
printing. We've had lots of requests from many of you to feature our star student Xiana in more
episodes so she is back, this time as our model… One of the most satisfying stages of photography
is to print your own work. Over the coming few months we'll be looking at various ways to print
your work but I thought I would start with one of the more unusual methods and one you may not
have heard much about before. Contact printing. In this case I'm going to be using
UV light. This is fun and can be done easily from home. But first things first. I
need a large enough negative to print from. So the problem with contact printing is your print
has to be the same size as your negative. Now this is the largest camera I have which is a 4x5 and
as you'll probably appreciate, that's too small really to do a print, a framed print on the wall.
So thinking outside the box what I'm going to do is we're going to do a series of portrait photos
and I'm going to basically do a whole contact sheet. So this is a medium format film and this
is my paper that we're going to print on. So we're going to shoot a whole range of different
portraits and then once we put that on the sheet like that it makes a nice size print to
frame on the wall. So, as with all ideas we've storyboarded this one and this is the
idea we've come up with. So we're going to do 12 different emotions and you're the model and
you're going to pull all of these faces, okay? See how well you can imitate all these faces. So we're
going to give you different emotions. However I have a bit of a challenge in that we're
going to be using this camera. I really rarely use this camera which is a crime because
it's a beautiful camera and I love using it. But there's a couple of problems here in that we
have to, well I have to, well you have to as well, okay it’s a team effort this, I have to take 12
photos without messing up because we're going to be laying out the contact sheet so if I mess
up shot number seven, the entire role is messed up because we'll have to shoot the whole thing
again. So not only do I have to get every single shot right but there's no chance to photoshop
any of this. So if there's anything wrong like, don't blink, I'll take care of that, but when
we’re taking the photos we can't have a blinker in there because that will ruin it. So let's
just take a quick meter reading here then. So this is black and white ISO 400 film and
the meter's telling me it's 2.8 at a 200th of a second. However, because of my, I'm going to
be focused quite closely, so I'm going to have to allow for some bellows compensation. So I'm going
to have to add half a stop so let's go 1/60th. So 1/60th at f/2.8. Right, are we
ready?Okay good. Give me a happy face. Is that as happy as you can be? We will be really
over the top with these, okay, so like look. Like this. Look how many teeth he's got. Yeah, like
that. Okay, come on. All right, there we go. And you got to sit quite still because focusing on
this is not the easiest thing in the world. Okay nice big smile, really big. There we go.
Don't leave, don't blink, don't blink. Okay good. I think we need to do confused next
because I don't want to happy next to sad. open one eye a bit more. Okay ready?
Three, don't blink, two, one. Let's do angry now. Really angry. I can see a
little smile in there, that's not angry. I think we got there after the blink. I think. But you gotta try better to not
blink okay? Right let's do sad now. Okay, let's do surprised. Bigger eyes, bigger
eyes, bigger eyes. Okay let's do blowing a kiss. Don't blink, don't blink, don't blink. Let's do puppy eyes, okay. Let's do moody, how about moody. Yeah like that.
You can do that. Do what you do with your hands, do what you do with your hands but turn
your head towards the light and then, turn your head towards the light more. That’s it.
And then put your eyes back towards the camera. Okay, how about rolling eyes as if to like… Don't blink. How about one with hair over your face, silly one. We need a brush, where's the brush? Go get a brush because you've got hair
everywhere. Go get a brush quickly. Oh no, a hairbrush you dumb bimbo.
It’s daft dimbo, not dumb bimbo… Honestly. That's it, right get your head down like that
and then just turn towards the light a bit. Okay, three, two, blink now. So what about, have you got some glasses that
you can go and get for geeky nerd? Don't blink or blink now. Okay. And finally we've got one more.
Take the glasses off. How about bored. Bored. Okay, right let's go and develop this film
now and then we'll see if you blinked or not. I think I blinked on two. You think you blinked on two? Well if you blinked
then we've got to shoot the whole thing again on another roll of film. But we're gonna go and
find out now. We'll know in about 20 minutes, okay? So while I packed up the lights, Xiana
got busy developing the film as I wanted her to be involved in every process and get a sense of
ownership for the finished work. Two, three, four. No blinks, yay! See how contrasty they are? Nice and contrasty,
that's what we want for contact printing. It was then just a case of carefully cutting
the film into four strips of three frames each, making sure the cuts were even as
these will be seen in the final print. Catch part two of that feature to see how Marcus
makes something called a cyanotype print using UV light. That'll be on our next show in a couple
of weeks. We'll be back here at the Glengarry Castle Hotel to show you around a little bit more.
Before I go though I wanted to update you on the outcome of our recent King of Detail challenge
where we pitched the Canon 5Dsr reigning champ against its latest challenger, the Nikon D850.
We couldn't split them so we asked for your help in deciding which camera should wear the crown
and while some of you said the Nikon was a clear winner just as many of you suggested the Canon was
the winner, where others agreed with us that they couldn't split the difference. So we've decided
to call it a draw with both cameras being as good as each other when it comes to capturing detail.
Keep your suggestions for other full-frame cameras which you think may be able to challenge either
of these when it comes to capturing maximum detail and we'll keep the feature going to see if
we can find a new contender to the throne. I'll be back in just a couple of weeks when we'll
be showing you a couple of novel tripods, we'll be taking a journey to a location which can only
be described as going to the edge of the world and we'll be seeing how to make arty looking
cyanotype prints from the photos that we took earlier in this show. If you're watching
this and you're not subscribed to our channel why not do it? It just means you'll be notified
every time we release a new show otherwise it's easy to forget and nobody wants that. Thank you.
Okay, well my food has arrived and I'm sure you do not want to watch me eat so until next time,
take good care but most of all…eat good food!
