Garrett John - Complete photography projects : learn the professional secrets behind the perfect photo

I dedicate my part of this book to my Laurence and thank her for all the support and inspiration. She was with me when I made many of the pictures. She was my muse.

John

I dedicate the book to my wife Margaret for being a long-time helpful companion. She is the main inspiration for most of my photo projects without her I would be wanting.

Graeme

In our first book together, Collins Complete Photography Course, we tackled the complexities of modern digital and film cameras, taking an in-depth look at their controls and the techniques needed in order to start producing great pictures. The next logical step, it seemed to us, was to apply the knowledge learned in the first book to the great themes of photography in this second book.

While it would benefit you to study our earlier book if youre a novice, Complete Photography Projects stands alone, with a concise technical section to bring you up to speed. For those of you still using film, this book is equally valid, showing you how to deal with the many subjects you may want to shoot. Each chapter is devoted to a different genre, with most of the photographs shot especially for the book.

The book is written with a view to the facts of real life. We know that you may have to pack much of your photography into the odd weekend and annual holiday. We have travelled the world with small children and know how frustrating it can be to miss a great shot because the kids are hungry or tired, but we are also grateful that we did have that wonderful photographic subject on hand the children. Finding ourselves in the right place at the wrong time has always been a dilemma too, perhaps bedevilled by awful weather or scaffolding on the great cathedral wed been waiting a long time to shoot, and so on. We could probably make a list of problems that would fill a page.

However, our aim is to help you to turn those negatives into positives. The first section of the book will help you get to grips with that amazingly sophisticated machine that you bought. Its basically a computer, so anyone familiar with those will not have much of a problem navigating around its menus. The job of this section is to make you become master of your machine rather than, as is often the case, the camera intimidating the photographer and blocking the creative process. This book is not for equipment geeks, but we must all get to know our cameras so well that we can just concentrate on the subject rather than struggling with our equipment. We discuss technique as related to creativity, for there is not a single technical decision that is not in fact a creative one.

When one starts out in photography the problem is not just how to take pictures, but what pictures to take. This issue delays the learning process for many novices, because to progress you need to shoot, shoot, shoot. We offer lots of themes to help you find inspiration and our photographs will show the process involved in the making of an image. So, with your new-found confidence, we hope youll soon be raring to get up and go under your own steam.

GABRIELLA

You dont need a lot of equipment to take a professional-looking shot. I just used the available back light and a gold reflector to create this publicity portrait of singer Gabriella Cilmi. 1/1000 second at f5.6, 150mm, 200 ISO. JG

LOBSTER

I found this lobster outside a restaurant in Copenhagen, where the bright overcast light really made the red zing out against the cool blue ice. I stopped the aperture down to f11 to make sure the lobster was sharp from front to back and placed him right in the centre of the viewfinder to make a symmetrical composition. 1/125 second at f11, 30mm, 400 ISO. JG

Whether your camera is old or new, you will only take really good photographs if you know how to create strong images the saying cameras dont take photographs, photographers do is right. You should certainly not get hung up on needing the latest camera on the market, especially in these digital days, when there will be an even newer one out next week.

We feel that the push for more megapixels and ever-bigger sensors is largely driven by the industrys need to sell us more gear. All this technology is not going to make your pictures any more creative; many of our favourite pictures those that inspired us to take up photography ourselves were made on far less sophisticated cameras than even the average point and shoot camera that you can buy today. To quote the American photographer Chase Jarvis, The best camera is the one you have with you.

You will no doubt have read through your camera manual; if you had trouble understanding it, this chapter will help to make it clearer. If you still feel in need of more detail, you will find it in our first book, Collins Complete Photography Course (HarperCollins, 2008).

Although this book is more about pictures than equipment, it is essential that we photographers get to know our cameras like a best friend. Our aim is to show you how to take better pictures no matter what your camera may be, just using it as a tool with which to transform your creative ideas into exciting images.

QUICK TIP

Your camera manual is vital if you are to understand the controls and functions of your camera. Dont be embarrassed about carrying it around with you todays cameras are so complicated that few people can remember everything they do.

HOW JOHN CHOSE HIS NEW CAMERA

Just before writing this book I bought a new camera because I was feeling the need to simplify my travel photography and lighten my load. I wrote a priority list of features that I regarded as essential in a new all-round camera and spent a great deal of time finding exactly the right camera for me. This list might be helpful to you when you are choosing your next camera.

• Size and weight: small enough to fit in a coat pocket, light enough to carry all day without causing fatigue.
• Instant focus without shutter delay, for people and action.
• A viewfinder I dont like trying to compose pictures on the LCD screen as I often cant see the image when the light is bright.
• Improved performance at high ISO speeds.
• An articulated screen I find it very useful for shooting above my head or from ground level, or for shooting people surreptitiously.
• Interchangeable lenses to give me more choices, with the addition of an adaptor ring so that I can use my beautiful analogue Nikon lenses, which are creatively interesting.
• The feel and balance of the camera I need to regard it as a part of me and I want to enjoy shooting with it.
• A menu system that makes sense to me.

CAMERA

After weighing up all the pros and cons I decided on this interchangeable-lens lightweight mirrorless camera. It has a large APS-C sensor and an electronic viewfinder, making it easier to use than trying to compose on the screen. It will fit comfortably in my coat pocket and accompany me wherever I go. JG