Mark Anderson photography has a contemporary approach to black and white and colour photography which has gained us a reputation for delivering distinctive and highly imaginative photography.

We have developed a unique studio providing a highly personalised service offering commercial architectural and landscape photography, portrait and wedding photography, children and baby photography, and party and special event photography.

Please enjoy our blog site which provides regular updates on what we are doing - or look over our main website www.photoarte.co.uk for our full range.

We were busy again this weekend photographing special events.

Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa has been in Europe for the last month travelling around with an enormous entourage pressing the flesh and visiting various European dignitaries including the Queen, and by all accounts he has had a very successful tour. A dinner at the Ritz Hotel in London was arranged by a friend of President Zuma’s and he booked us to cover the event. It was a fundraising dinner and there were a number of high profile guests in attendance.

On Saturday night I went to Lords Cricket Ground to photograph a retirement dinner. This was a black tie event to celebrate the retirement of Robin Butchard, the Practice Director of the law firm Zenith Chambers in Leeds.
Zenith Chambers have written this piece on Robs retirement:

Zenith Celebrates Rob’s Retirment in Style!!
(07-03-2010)

Those that know Rob know that he is an avid cricket fan: when he gave up playing the sport, he took up umpiring. Until 2009 he umpired for the Mid Yorkshire league, but on retiring will be heading south to be near to his family.He tells me he already has 45 umpiring fixtures in the diary for 2010, covering matches for the MCC and Cricket Society, as well as many schools both mid week and at weekends. There clearly couldn’t have been a more fitting setting for his retirement dinner!!!

An auspicious venue for an equally auspicious event with some very auspicious guests that included two of Rob’s former heads of chambers Alan Tyrrell QC and HHJ Patricia Deeley; as well as HH Trevor Kent Jones; HHJ Jeff Lewis; HHJ Angela Finnerty; DJ Simon Hickey; James Clappison MP; Andrew Campbell QC; Julian Goose QC; Clive Heaton QC; James Corbett QC; Timothy Lyons QC as well as most members of chambers and staff and their partners. Chambers also invited Rob’s two sons Matthew (1st Junior at Carmelite Chambers in London), their partners, other family members and quite a few close friends, including those whom Rob has met during his years as a clerk.

There was a buzz of excitement amongst the guests throughout the evening, and the meal was delicious. There was a reluctance to leave at the end, and guests were being shooed out of the door by the staff at Lords!!!

A night to remember for all who attended, especially those who are avid cricket fans, and most importantly Rob himself!

The key to understanding how a camera works is to understand the relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

One metaphor often used is to imagine your camera is like a window with shutters that open and close. Aperture is the size of the window. If it’s bigger more light gets through and the room is brighter. Shutter Speed is the amount of time that the shutters of the window are open. The longer you leave them open the more that comes in.
Now imagine that you’re inside the room and are wearing sunglasses, your eyes become desensitized to the light that comes in (it’s like a low ISO).There are a number of ways of increasing the amount of light in the room, or at least how much it seems that there is. You could increase the time that the shutters are open (decrease shutter speed), you could increase the size of the window (increase aperture) or you could take off your sunglasses (make the ISO larger).

How does your camera know what the perfect exposure is? Your camera is pre programmed by the manufacturer to let an exact amount of light in for the perfect exposure, which is 18% of the light reflected form a grey surface.

Shutter Speed:
Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).
In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.
If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).

Shutter speeds available to you on your camera will usually double (approximately) with each setting. As a result you’ll usually have the options for the following shutter speeds – 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8 etc. This ‘doubling’ is handy to keep in mind as aperture settings also double the amount of light that is let in – as a result increasing shutter speed by one stop and decreasing aperture by one stop should give you similar exposure levels.

Some cameras also give you the option for very slow shutter speeds that are not fractions of seconds but are measured in seconds (for example 1 second, 10 seconds, 30 seconds etc). These are used in very low light situations, when you’re going after special effects and/or when you’re trying to capture a lot of movement in a shot). Some cameras also give you the option to shoot in ‘B’ (or ‘Bulb’) mode. Bulb mode lets you keep the shutter open for as long as you hold it down.

When considering what shutter speed to use in an image you should always ask yourself whether anything in your scene is moving and how you’d like to capture that movement. If there is movement in your scene you have the choice of either freezing the movement (so it looks still) or letting the moving object intentionally blur (giving it a sense of movement).

To freeze movement in an image you’ll want to choose a fast shutter speed and to let the movement blur you’ll want to choose a slower shutter speed. The actual speeds you should choose will vary depending upon the speed of the subject in your shot and how much you want it to be blurred.

Use motion to your advantage. For example when you’re taking a photo of a waterfall and want to show how fast the water is flowing, or when you’re taking a shot of a racing car and want to give it a feeling of speed, or when you’re taking a shot of a star scape and want to show how the stars move over a longer period of time etc. In all of these instances choose a longer shutter speed. However in all of these cases you need to use a tripod or you’ll run the risk of ruining the shots by adding camera movement.
Focal Length and Shutter Speed – another thing to consider when choosing shutter speed is the focal length of the lens you’re using. Longer focal lengths will accentuate the amount of camera shake you have and so you’ll need to choose a faster shutter speed (unless you have image stabilization in your lens or camera). The ‘rule’ of thumb to use with focal length in non image stabilized situations is to choose a shutter speed with a denominator that is larger than the focal length of the lens. For example if you have a lens that is 50mm 1/60th is probably ok but if you have a 200mm lens you’ll probably want to shoot at around 1/250.

What is Aperture?
Put most simply – Aperture is ‘the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken.’
When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light.

Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’ for example f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,f/8,f/22 etc. Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the size of the amount of opening in your lens (and the amount of light getting through). Keep in mind that a change in shutter speed from one stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light that gets in also – this means if you increase one and decrease the other you let the same amount of light in – very handy to keep in mind).
One thing that causes a lot of new photographers confusion is that large apertures (where lots of light gets through) are given f/stop smaller numbers and smaller apertures (where less light gets through) have larger f-stop numbers. So f/2.8 is in fact a much larger aperture than f/22. It seems the wrong way around but you’ll get the hang of it.

Depth of Field and Aperture
Depth of Field (DOF) is that amount of your shot that will be in focus. Large depth of field means that most of your image will be in focus whether it’s close to your camera or far away.
Small (or shallow) depth of field means that only part of the image will be in focus and the rest will be fuzzy. Aperture has a big impact upon depth of field. Large aperture (remember it’s a smaller number) will decrease depth of field while small aperture (larger numbers) will give you larger depth of field.
It can be a little confusing at first but the way I remember it is that small numbers mean small DOF and large numbers mean large DOF.

The best way to get your head around aperture is to take lots of photos and experiment. Set up a shot outside and place some items near the camera as well as far away and take a series of shots with different aperture settings from the smallest setting to the largest. You’ll quickly see the impact that it can have and the usefulness of being able to control aperture.

“Get Uncle Dave to take the photos, he’s a really good photographer and he’s got a really nice camera. He’ll take your wedding photos and you’ll save yourself loads of money”

I have a DVD sitting on my desk with 1000 photographs taken by a real uncle Dave at a wedding on December 12th last year. The couple whose wedding uncle Dave attended came to see me last July to talk about their wedding photography. They were on a tight budget which all couples have to grapple with and they were looking to make savings wherever they could.
They came to see me again last Friday with their set of photographs that uncle Dave had taken and they said that would would ‘pay whatever it cost’ to rescue their wedding photos. Having thought they would make a saving they will, in the end, pay about the same price as they would have for a professional photographer. They’ll be reminded of this everytime they look at their set of retouched rescued uncle Dave’s pics.

And on Saturday a client brought me some black and white prints that he had printed by ‘a well known high street photo shop’ from an image that I had taken and supplied to him on disc. They were badly cropped, printed on colour paper so it had a green colourcast, there were also some watermarks on the paper which indicate sloppy printing. I have offered to reprint them myself free of charge despite the fact he offered to pay me to print them properly. I have to prove to my client that the product I have provided him was as high as he had expected. My high standards have been debased by another supplier in my industry. Uncle Dave is also employed by well known high street shops because professional image makers are expensive to employ.

My point in this blog is that in the last couple of years there seems to have been a significant shift towards cost playing a much larger part in the decision making process even if the risk is poor quality, poor service, and bland, dull, lacklustre work. The recession has a lot to with this and I suspect many industries other than photographers have found cost basis decision making a problem too.

I have never been busier and I know other photographers who are busy too, but there are now many in our industry, particularly in weddings, who have positioned themselves in order to take advantage of the unwary who are looking for photography done cheaply. For uncle Dave this is excellent news. He can join the mass of ‘weekend warriors’ shooting weddings without having to give up the day job. With his new gear, and little experience he can make some easy money taking advantage of couples on a tight budget.

And then yesterday I read an article in ‘The Professional photographer’ written by a fellow photographer, Allister Freeman. Allister is an established wedding photographer with a good reputation. The article talks about his opinons on the current state of wedding photography. He quotes ” ……An age where Joe Public beleives he can do a better job than you, poor perceptions, fuelled by a mass of similar styles and monotonous imagery already saturating the market have a deleterious effect on an already beleagured industry”. A lot of the mystery of photography has been taken away by digital and it’s understandable that Joe Public thinks that he could do a better job with his new gear, but a camera has always been a box with a hole in the front of it and it takes just as much skill and experience to make a good photograph as it always did.

Several years ago it was quite clear who knew what they were doing and who didn’t just by looking at their website, now it is possible to make a slick presentation online for little cost and pitch yourself against those who are good at what they do. At least established photographers can rely on their reputation and on word of mouth, but this is becoming a real problem for photographers who are just starting out and want to offer their customers good quality. And for the client it’s almost impossible to make an informed decision particulary in these days where price is very important.

When the recession has been and gone we’ll look back on ‘the uncle Dave days’ and perhaps simply put it all down to cost driven behaviour. There are uncle Daves in all industries but in this perfect storm where the importance of price meets rapid technology change a new breed of operator has emerged who is satisfying a new demand for cheap at all costs.

For some time now compact cameras have come fitted with zoom lenses, and zoom lenses are often bundled with SLR cameras. Because of the technology involved modern zoom lenses in digital cameras are often even stronger.

So when and why should you use the zoom lens on your camera?
One of the most important rules with portrait photography is “get close”. Unfortunately, for most family snaps, that rule is rarely applied. Uncluttered, closely cropped shots make the best family snaps and natural portrait photographs, and a zoom lens is the ideal way to get close in and get the cropping right.

What does using a zoom do for your photograph?
A zoom lens will get you physically closer to the action, and the content of your photograph will be much stronger if you are be able to isolate parts of the action.
Depth of field can also be used to your advantage when using a zoom lens particularly in portraits. Keep the aperture at around f5.6 and focus on the subject, when the lens is wide open you’ll get the subject in focus and the foreground and background out of focus giving you much stronger emphasis on the subject.
A mid range zoom lens is also ideal for travelling. My wife has banned me from taking a tripod and sets of lenses on holiday so I take a 24mm-105mm lens which can deal with most situations. If you can get away with taking another zoom with you take a 70mm-200mm or something up to 300mm or 400mm. Photographing the locals without attracting attention to yourself is much easier with a longer zoom lens.

Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom?
If you are about to buy a camera, perhaps even step into the world of digital, buy a camera with the strongest optical zoom you can afford. Some of the digital cameras available today have zoom lenses that are 10x or even stronger! The higher the number represented in the optical zoom the closer you can get to the action and the more dynamic your pictures can be. 
As for digital zoom, well…that is another thing altogether. Digital zooms are available in many digital cameras and work on a similar principle to cropping in on a negative. Digital zoom crops in on the digital image and uses only the central pixels in the picture. Then, using inbuilt software, the image is enhanced and built into a file that can be printed. However, the sharpness of your pictures suffers and should only be used if your desperate, if at all. Don’t factor the digital zoom into your purchasing decision.

The Great All-Rounders
Advancements in lens technologies have made some lenses possible today that just couldn’t have been considered twenty years ago. Today, you can buy one lens that lets you take wide angle landscapes and then zoom in to a person in that landscape. What’s more, these lenses are incredibly sharp! Lenses like the Tamron 18-250mm for digital SLR cameras are fantastic and you could travel the world with only this lens and hardly ever miss a shot. In fact, Tamron are packaging their 11-18mm and their 18-250mm lenses together now so that you are covered from superwide to supertelephoto in only two lenses. Most high end lenses also have an image stabilisation capability which can really help with blurred photographs resulting from camera shake.
Compact digital cameras are also including lenses that do much the same thing. The Ricoh R7 has a 7x zoom. The Canon PowerShot is similar. The SX100 IS has a 10x zoom. And there are many others like these. Included with these kinds of cameras are vibration reduction and anti shake modes that prevent your telephoto pictures from being blurred from camera shake.

How Close is ‘Close’?
If you don’t know just how close to get, try this. Compose your picture as you normally would and take it. Then, zoom in. Then, zoom in some more. Keep zooming, or moving closer until you actually begin to see only what you need to see and no more. Take another picture and compare the two. Almost invariably, your second picture will be the more interesting and dynamic of the two. 

I’ve got lots of good ideas and interesting stuff to write about in the coming months, and I hope that you’ll find my blogs interesting. For example I’ll be writing about zoom lenses over the week or two, many cameras were received as presents at Christmas and two months on it’s time to look at lenses.
This small post is a piece just to let you know that I’m now on Twitter, so if you’d like to follow my blogs go to http://twitter.com/Mark_photoarte

We had a busy weekend. We photographed three corporate events in London, a christening, four portrait sessions, and ran our stall on Northcote Road.

The corporate events were good fun. Novotel, the hotel group, hosted a fancy dress party for its staff. It was actually their Christmas party. They are so busy during December that there isn’t time to throw a party for the staff so they all dress up and have their end of year blow out in January.
My assistant, Jimmy and I set up a portrait studio in the ballroom where the party was held to photograph the guests in their fancy dress. While Jimmy photographed the guests I produced 7″x5″ prints for them which they were able to pick up shortly after the photographs were taken. This was a huge hit and is always very popular. So much so that they asked us to stay for another hour.

Producing prints on the night and staging ‘real time’ slideshows is great for the guests as they don’t have to wait to see the results. Also from the host’s point of view, particularly if is is a staff or corporate event it is a great opportuninty to give something fun away. There is also an opportunity to associate your brand or corporate image with the fun event by printing your logo discretely somewhere on the photo, all good stuff for you, your staff, and your clients.

We also photographed Stacy Solomon, the X factor contestant at an event this weekend. I have to admit I didn’t know who she was as I’ve only watched X factor a few times but my eight year old daughter thinks she’s the greatest and I managed to get an autograph for her.

We can generally produce finished photographs from an event between 24 and 48hrs which means that you can use the images to your advantage while the event is still fresh in everyone’s minds. We generally produce two sets of images supplied on DVD; a high res set for prints, and a low res set for web and email use. Go to our events and party photography page for more details.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun photographing London in the snow. Below are three new panoramic images taken in the recent snowy weather, and I’ll have them at the stall on Northcote Road this weekend to look at. You’ll find them in the London Panoramic photographs section on the Buy and Rent Prints Page. They are limited edition prints and will be available to buy in frames for £195.00 or mounted for £110.00.

Also this week I’ve added a number of new London Colour Photographs to the online gallery, you can also find these on the Buy and Rent Prints Page.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

The market in photo printers is huge and rather than suggest a particular brand or model there are a number of things to consider before handing over your money.

Photo Printers use either Dye based Inks or Pigment Inks.
Epson was the first company to ship a printer based that used pigment inks, which are made up of tiny, encapsulated particles that sit on top of the paper, instead of being absorbed into a paper’s fibers, which is what happens with dyes.
The most important reasons for using pigment inks are archival print life and color stability. The dye inks used in most early inkjet printers exhibited signs of fading or shifts in color after a short period of time (as quickly as days, in some cases). As a result, the graphic art and fine art markets turned to pigment inks. Pigment inks are much more stable and can last more than 200 years on some paper types under ideal (museum-quality lighting and framing) conditions.

The Paper you use is as important as the ink in measuring print life. Glossy papers, with their slick finishes, are usually the worst offenders in terms of print life, but any paper with so-called optical brighteners—used to make a paper’s finish bright, bright white—will have some issues with either ultraviolet light or atmospheric pollutants , like ozone, which can quickly break down dye inks on unprotected prints. It’s usually best to use paper produced by the same company that manufactured the printer. Remember printer companies make their money from selling you the ink and paper rather than the printer itself. You may think the printer is cheap but you’ll be surprised how expensive running it is.


Pigment inks aren’t perfect—they’re generally more expensive than dye inks, and they don’t have the brightness and broad color range (or gamut) that dye inks have. And, most printer manufacturers continue to push the print longevity of dye inks. Many dye-based prints, kept under glass and away from direct light, can last for up to 25 or 30 years, which is more than adequate for most of us. But some tests show that some dye/paper combinations show archival life of nearly 100 years, that’s the primary reason why dye printers aren’t going away any time soon.

Another problem that some early pigment inks had was a phenomenon called metamerism, which is essentially the human eye detecting a shift in color when viewing a print under different light sources. For example, an image might look normal under fluorescent light, but exhibit a greenish color cast when viewed outside in bright daylight or under a reading lamp. Metamerism plagued the first generation of pigment inks, but Epson, who pioneered pigment inks as a mainstream technology, worked extensively to reduce this (through more chemistry than I need to know about), and companies like Canon and HP are reaping the benefits of Epson’s initial forays into this market.

Custom inks

In addition to the big three printer manufacturers, a small cottage industry composed of third-party vendors has arisen that provides custom ink sets. I’m not talking about the low-cost cartridge-refilling companies; I’m referring to companies who have created a wide range of pigment ink sets that work in commercial printers and provide even greater tonal range for specific printing needs, most commonly (but not limited to) black and white images, especially some of the split-toning methods that originated in the darkroom. Cone, for example were one of the first companies to use quadtone black inks, four black inks of varying densities that produced truly neutral (or custom-toned) monochrome prints of stunning quality.

The bottom line

When thinking about why you would want a more expensive, pigment-based printer and specialized papers, there is one compelling reason: money. If you are a photographer or an artist looking to sell your work, the stability and longevity of pigment-ink-based prints means that you can do so without worrying about a buyer coming back in a year complaining that your print has yellowed or turned green. Remember also to choose good quality paper.
I’ve used printers from all the big manufacturers over the years but having spent many years producing traditional wet process prints I have to say I’ve always been disappointed with the results from a desktop printer. I use my local pro lab for all my printing, I find that you still can’t beat a print produced in a lab or print produced using traditional wet process techniques, particularly with black and white. Short runs of colour prints (under 5) are cheaper to do at home than at your local pro lab. But I think it’s cheaper to do a run of 20 A4 prints at your local pro lab than it is to do it at home.

On Friday I spoke to Sarah Clarke-Wareham. She has written Book of 24 different poems, and it is called Common Ground Anyone? Rhyme Time for SW Mums.
The following is one of the poems about Northcote Road, and for many who are familiar with the area it will make you smile.

On Northcote Road we dote

Armies have their HQ, while gangs feel safe on their turf
Sports teams have home grounds, or home breaks if you like to surf
Old men have their locals, city men have their clubs
Cool men have Shoreditch; our men have Youngs pubs
So it’s not surprising that SW Mums have somewhere to call their own
A place that we can be confident is filled with just our clones
Sanctity when we’re feeling down, a comforting, familiar abode
I couldn’t write this book without mentioning the glorious Northcote Rd

As a gaggle of mums we head to Crumpet, vying for buggy space
Oli is back on the road somehow, but Becky has given chase
Tommy has spied the fairy cakes; Molly is stuck on the loo
Amelia is Queen of the castle, Harry needs a poo
Ruby is eating sugar cubes, Marley is under the table
Josh has built a tower with blocks, although it’s not looking too stable
But it doesn’t matter you smile to each other, because you’re behind Crumpet doors
So you drink your coffee, have a chat, and pretend that they’re not yours

Another day and you’re there with just your kids; it’s time for a haircut
Sally’s booked up for the next 3 weeks, can’t even fit you in when you tut
So you head to Trotters, but struggle to drag them away from driving that car
Unfortunately the fish tank doesn’t do the trick, so you bribe them with a chocolate bar
While you’re there you can’t help having a little mooch around
Which is why husband says “How could 2 haircuts cost one hundred and twenty pounds?!”

Finally you have a morning to yourself, so you head to Questionnaire
You sail through Whistles, and Sweaty Betty, by Kew you just don’t care
By White Stuff you’re 25, by Fat Face you’re in your teens
A mixture of Neal’s Yard and Space NK gives you the necessary means
You stop for a Starbucks takeout latte, treat yourself to a blueberry muffin
A friend tells you she can’t find a thing, but you’re sure she must be bluffing
You walk past Jigsaw, Fat Face Kids, Jo-Jo’s and Petit Bateau
Today is me-time you tell yourself, only one place to spend your doe
But then you have a glass of wine or two (well, All Bar One is just so handy)
And you can’t keep away from those cute little dresses: to the baby, like candy

Saturday morning with nothing to do, there’s no better place to head
Don’t know why Boiled Egg & Soldiers closed down, but I think they probably fled
Toddlers throwing tantrums in the street, babies scream for food
Clapham Junction singles stay at home, they don’t dare intrude
Organic fruit and veg looks amazing, and is only twice the price
Fresh bread, muffins, pastries and pies means the bread stall is sure to entice
You spend a fortune on Mark Anderson photos; does London ever look that good?
If Northcote Rd committee took over City Hall, well, perhaps it would

You’ve shopped for your children and yourself, there’s only one place left to dress
But of course Northcote Rd knows you well, and so caters with equal finesse
There’s Cath Kidson for kitchenware or Rosie’s pink bedroom theme
Oliver Bonas for funky extras or Cuisinere for utensils that gleam
There’s Doves for your Sunday roasts, Salumeria Napoli for your Italian night
Fara for kids toys, Pretty Pregnant if you get that fright
One Small Step or Trotters means your children will always have shoes
And if you’re looking to sell your house? Well, there are a few estate agents to choose

But what is this? The sun is setting and suddenly things start to change
The haven of SW family life is looking a little strange
Buggies replaced with scooter man, lattes replaced with beer
Crying tantrums replaced with pumping music, and then that thing we fear
The thing that ensures we scurry home, why did we leave it so late?
The arrival en masse of twenty-somethings, with freedom in their gait

Happy New!!!!
We had a very busy December and we were able to have some time off over Christmas and New Year.

We are back at work this week and the stall on Northcote Road will be open on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. We’ll then be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
This year every couple of weeks I will be writing a piece in my blog that I think may be of interest to you, stuff like how to take seasonal photographs, tips and tricks using your camera and flash, and some photoshop tutorials using shortcuts and tricks the pros use.

But there are also a number of other things we do which you may find interesting too. They are:

T Shirt and garment printing: http://www.excellentprint.co.uk

Photography Courses: http://www.photoarte.co.uk/phototours/index.html

Art and Photography for Offices: http://www.artforoffices.uk.com/index.html

I hope this year is good for you, and I look forward to hearing from you again or seeing you again on Northcote Road.