The Big Picture - West Midlands

Stephen O’Loughlin’s shortlisted photo of people seen though a camera phone was an example of using depth of field as part of the picture.

Stephen has been experimenting further with the technique, here he’s taken a photo of himself holding his shortlisted image and then done the same with that print, adjusting the depth of field.

It’s a nice effect. You can try out depth of field effects if your camera allows you to control focus and aperture (SLRs will, but you can check your manual). There’s a great explanation and tutorial here.

If you’ve enjoyed seeing some of the old photos that have been part of The Big Picture, you might be interested in this website. You can upload any photo and it will make it look old and scratched (as we’ve done here).

If you’ve got a photo editing software package like photoshop you can achieve effects like this by hand, but this site is quick and the results are great.

The Internet is a great place to find advice and inspiration for your photography. Here are some links we think you might enjoy:

• 21 Ways to Shoot Better Photographs — mostly simple things to think about when composing your shot.
• Photoshop, Corel, Xara, Painter and PSP Tutorials —
  using your computer to tweak your photos can produce great results.
• Life in the Pyrénées, circa 1900 — A brilliant library of old photos.

Steve Gerrard has photographed some of the World’s biggest bands, but he’s also a wedding photographer. He blogs about his work and how he goes about it, which could be a useful read if you’ve been inspired by the Big Picture to become a professional photographer. He’s also involved with Birmingham Live! which attempts to help aspiring music photographers and writers across the region get access to gigs and gives them somewhere to show off their work.

We asked Steve a few questions about how he came to do what he does…

Tim Caddick is a professional photographer working in the West Midlands, who has been enjoying The Big Picture and has been uploading some of the pictures he’s taken over the last couple of years.

One of the things Tim enjoys doing most is taking photos for Comic Relief, and Sport Relief too, you can see some of his most recent ones in this gallery.

We talked to Tim and he agreed to share some of his experience with people, helping those who’ve got more into taking photos because of The Big Picture or who would like to improve.

So, have you got any questions you’d like to ask? Maybe you’d like to know about what to look for when buying a new camera, or you’d like to know what a term like “exposure” really means, or perhaps when to use flash. You can ask Tim anything, anything polite(!), just comment here and he’ll try his best to answer your questions.

We’ve done some investigation of all the photos that are part of The Big Picture, and here are some facts we’ve found out:

• Birmingham featured in the most photos, followed by the Black Country, then Stoke and Staffordshire.
• Stoke was home to the biggest single contributors, with one Big Picture supporter sending in 5,000 images
• The most photographed places in the Big Picture include Ironbridge and the Shropshire Hills.
• There are over twice as many cats than dogs in the Big Picture
• There are four times as many photos tagged ‘work’ than ‘home’
• The most photographed activities on the Big Picture include holidays and sport

We’ll keep looking and bring you more facts over the coming weeks.

The BBC and the Arts Council are looking for photos that say “Englishness” to the viewer. They say “It doesn’t have to be a thatched cottage. It doesn’t have to be the village green and duck pond. It doesn’t have to be a rolling landscape.”

Upload your photo to The Big Picture (you must tag the photo ‘madeinengland’), add a short description of what the scene means to you and the picture will be part of a gallery on our site.

Made in England is a new partnership between BBC English Regions and Arts Council England, and will continue for the next year.

Over the next year the hope is to fuel the nation’s creativity, encouraging projects which explore the relationship between the land and the artist. The aim is to help communities and artists come together to form new works of art which define what England is, with a celebration of that work on St George’s Day 2009.

Think of Hardy’s Dorset, Elgar’s Malvern’s, Austen’s Hampshire, and Wordsworth’s Lake District and artists have long drawn their inspiration from the landscapes that surround them. The same is true today - it’s about how art makes England and England makes art.

Made in England though is not a retrospective project, it’s a contemporary look at the England we know today - the influence of the urban; the changing and diverse population.You don’t have to be English to make something here, but there’s something about England which facilitates that creativity.

The Arts Council and BBC are the two biggest patrons of the arts in Britain and we have joined forces to deliver new cultural experiences, using different art forms and news ways of engaging local audiences.

The internet is full of guides, advice and tools for you to get more out of photos. From tips on taking better photos, editing photos like the pros do, or even just sharing them with friends.

How to shoot “light trails” is a fun tutorial. Showing you how to capture movement, like this wonderful Big Picture example by Michael JH.

Here are some more we’ve found recently:

Fun and interesting ways to photograph a party.

From removing red-eye to a photoshop nose-job - 33 tutorials.

Get close with Macro photography.

Make e-postcards at Phreetings.com

Top Midlands photographer Pogus Caesar has a new exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, and it proves that you don’t have to use expensive cameras or equipment to get wonderful results.

In the centre of the exhibition room are Pogus’ cameras (shown left) and they aren’t expensive or flash — proving that if you’re a good enough photographer you can take great pictures with anything!

That Beautiful Thing by Pogus Caesar runs from 26 April to 12 July and shows images captured in the UK and abroad, offer a fascinating view of this artist’s varied photographic career of more than 20 years.

Could photography have been invented in north Staffordshire?

“A photogenic drawing of a leaf that is currently attributed to British photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 may instead have been produced more than 30 years earlier by Thomas Wedgwood, according to photo historian Dr Larry J Schaaf. … Sotheby’s UK office has confirmed to Amateur Photographer that this story is not an April Fool.”

More info at D’log.

Arts Council West Midlands will once again support eight one-day bursaries for photographers to attend the Rhubarb Festival in 2008.

Image makers must live or work in the West Midlands area. Rhonda Wilson, Lorna Mary Webb, and Katherine Kliszat from Lighthouse will choose the winners of this year’s one-day free bursary places at the Festival. Eight places will be offered after a challenging process of evaluation.

More information and application forms on the Rhubarb Rhubarb website.

Deadline for applications has now passed.

Each photographer will now be offered a three month mentoring support scheme, assistance with choosing their reviewers, editing their folios and being prepared for showing their work at the Festival and a show at the Lighthouse, Wolverhampton during the summer of 2008.

A photo a day sounds easy doesn’t it? But, every day without fail - and keeping up the standard?

We saw some of Trav28’s photos of Birmingham on the The Big Picture and really liked them, but we then found his blog - where he has the stamina to post a photo each and every day.

We had a quick chat with Trav - also known as Chris - to find out how he keeps it up - and why!
Could you take a photo a day? Why not upload them to The Big Picture - tagging “photoaday” as you do - and we’ll be able to watch them unfold here.

Want to capture the glories of your city or town? Or perhaps make sure you take home the best view you’ve seen on your travels. Author and photographer Adam Juniper has put together some tips to help you take better photos of buildings and landscapes – you’ll be surprised just how much they will improve your photos.

Parties, holiday, or even weddings – many of the photos we take are of other people. Author and photographer Adam Juniper has put together 5 Top Tips to help you take better photos of people – with a few simple tricks you can start to shoot like a pro.