Tag Archives: advice

Faroe Islands; Top tips before you go

August 31, 2019 manadh Leave a comment

Here are the photos which I edited after I got back from the holiday, along side some top tips!

Getting around
We saw plenty of buses and there were plenty of bus stops, but I suspect it is most convenient to get around in a car. I’m going to be honest and say that I have no idea how frequently the buses ran, but we did see a lot of them.
Hiring a car is expensive, but you will not need a big one. We hired a Vauxhall Corsa for the week and were just fine. Most of the roads are well paved, and even the ones that aren’t (road to Muli, road to Trollfinger/Klakkur car park) weren’t that bad. Just go slow and be careful of pot holes.

The rules for driving around the islands are fairly straight forward, 50 in towns, 80 else where. Single track roads give way to someone if they are coming up hill. Single track tunnels will indicate who has the right of way before you enter.
It can be pretty tricky to judge how far away a car is when you are in a tunnel, so I would say to pull over even if you are sat waiting for a while – better to be safe than sorry, especially in the ones which don’t have lights!

Pricing / Costs
More or less everything is expensive. Our AirBnB was reasonably priced, but food and drink wasn’t cheap. You could “go cheap” by buying things from the supermarket, but everything is a lot more expensive than we are used to.
Oddly petrol was the same price as at home (UK), but that probably says more about the price of petrol in the UK than anything else.

Hiking / More Costs
All of the land in the Faroe Islands is privately owned. This means that the farmers / land owners can charge you for walking on it.
I think that due to the increase in tourists this is becoming a problem, and whilst we were there there were signs for an upcoming election where the tourist boom was apparently a hot voting point.

The hike to Draganir was really expensive (About 70Euros/£65 each) and can only be done with a guide on set days. No one can say that they “didn’t know” because you have to walk past signs everywhere declaring this.

The hike to the lake on Vagar was 200DKK (£25/30Euro) each, and as much as this is really expensive – they were at least building in a new path steps etc so you could see what your money was being spent on.

My advise would be to pay when you get there rather than booking in advance. The Faroese hiking website (hiking.fo) lists more hikes and people have paid for them only for a guide not to turn up and others have done the hike for free. I think it is something that will be sorted out better in the future.

Where to Eat
We stopped in Skala, which is about an hour from the capital. Outside of the capital restaurants are few and far between.
You will have a fairly decent range of places to eat in the capital itself, and Klaksvik also had a fair few places to eat. Everywhere else expect small cafes or maybe a restaurant.
We found that the range of what to eat in the cafes wasn’t great. A lot of places sold soft drinks or a tea/coffee and waffles for 50DKK (£6/7 Euro).
Clearly though the islands are not set up for tourism, so my advise would be to buy your food from a supermarket and take it with your for the day/lunch. This is what we did, and then ate in the capial for tea on certain days / ate in at the AirBnB for others.

Top Sights
Some of the prettiest things to see and do are on the island where the airport is situated. Some require some planning. We never made it to Mykines because the ferry had sold out too fast for us. Check what you can book in advance, and decide where to spend your cash. Things like ferrys can’t always be booked in advance, but if you can book it then do.
Like I said earlier the islands aren’t particularly set up for tourism, so expect some weird ferry times and long waits.
Everything is pretty spread out as well, so be prepared for a lot of driving.

Buttercup Routes
Buttercup routes are scenic routes that connect villages together. I think you can get a map with the buttercup routes marked on it from the tourist information centers, but we managed to do most of them just by driving around.
They are clearly marked with a bright yellow buttercup next to them.

Be Respectful
There aren’t a lot of people on the Faroe Islands, and they are not really used to the big influx of tourists. In certain places signs have been put up to point out issues the locals are having with the tourists, eg. “Don’t fly drones less than 150m away from a village”, “Take your rubbish with you”. Be respectful of the people living there.

Weather
Be prepared for every weather type! The week we were there we experienced, mild 10 degree days which we cloudy, 20 degree blue skies, persistent rain, very low handing cloud…..
Pack for everything!

Photo Opportunities
There are plenty of places to pull over and grab a quick photo – just make sure that you aren’t using the passing places on single track roads to do this.
It is pretty clear when it’s a passing place, or if you can pull in and stop for a bit. A lot of places to stop have rubbish bins and seating.

Toilets (Yes, really!)
An important point to consider – if there are not really many restaurants, what is the toilet situation like??
Surprisingly good! Most of the villages have somewhere to park (Usually near the church), and then there is usually a public bathroom!
These tended to be fairly well maintained as well!

project 365, _photography

Project 365 themes

December 21, 2014 manadh 1 Comment

Sometimes it is hard to think up your own ideas for a 365, so here are some ideas to help you along…

A colour per month; red, orange, blue, white, black, purple, pink, yellow, green, grey, pink, brown
Landscapes; cityscapes, waterscapes

Portraits; strangers, family, friends, events. Take up a 100 strangers project.
Animals; pets, visit the zoo, wild animals, insects

Weather; clouds, sunny days, snow, frost, wind
Macro / close up
Still life

Seasons; winter, spring, summer, autumn. Take the same shot in the same place of the same thing at different times of the year.
Flowers; bouquet, in the garden, visit a botanical garden

Memories; significant objects, old photos, favourite places, favourite things
Food; meals out, cook something
Shooting without editing (!)

Abstract; smoke, water drops, every day objects shot from different angles
Juxtaposition
Slow shutter speeds; light trails, milky water
Every day objects; try and spice things up by taking an every day object and trying to shoot it in a more interesting way

Events; water sports, gigs, horse racing
Feelings; love, happiness, sadness
Different times of the day; sunrise, morning, midday, afternoon, sunset, night time

Shoot with only one lens
Shoot in full manual
Hobbies
All about you

Top tips:

Research – look on Google Image Search, Flickr, Pintrest for ideas if you are stuck. Always remember to give credit back where deserved if you are taking on someone else’s image.
Practice. If you have an idea then it might take a couple of times to get it right, stick with it and give it a few goes. Where possible leave a few days or ideally a week between goes as it will give you time to reflect on what went wrong.
Try to have a theme a week. Even if you only take one shot on theme per week it’s still one image where you already have an idea to start off with. If you are feeling particularly adventurous you could try to take each image on theme, but that can make your life harder trying to stick on theme every day.

_photography

How to survive… December

November 30, 2014 manadh 1 Comment

That’s it! 31 more days and then there’s a full year in the bag 🙂

Positives of December

The possibility of snow. And with that comes a snow day 😉
Christmas! Lights, presents, people – there is a lot to keep you occupied in the run up to Christmas
Sunrise and sunset. Again more achievable given the times they are at (although see negatives)
Frost and mist. mmmmm ❤ my favourites
It’s dark. Thus it is easier to do night time photography!

Negatives of December

Sunrise and sunset. Now they happen so late / early that the chances are you will be on your way to work when the sun comes up, and not leave until after it’s gone down! Bummer
It’s cold. Brrrrr, means you have to wrap up warm if you want to venture out
It’s a bit more wet. So probably pack a brolly too

How to Survive… December

Embrace the night. Car trails, star trails… All a lot easier when it’s dark by 430!
Don’t be afraid of adverse conditions. Prepare for the bad weather but get out in it. Remember that camera batters don’t last as long in the cold so pack a spare. It’s also a good idea to take a towel with you (just a small one!), just in case. Besides there is nothing like a drastic change in weather to spice up a landscape that you’ve shot 49304230 times this year 😉
Embrace the festivity. Even if you are Scruge, get out there and shoot the run up to Christmas. Christmas markets, decorations, embrace them! They will save your December if you’ve run out of ideas.
Bokeh. Bokeh is out of focus light, and given that there will be fairy lights pretty much every where, embrace the technique and come up with some interesting results.

December 2013

December 2012

December 2011

December 2010

After being mad at myself for giving up, I technically started taking a photo every day from the 18th December 2010…

project 365, _photography

How to survive… November

October 29, 2014 manadh 2 Comments

It’s been a long road but we are almost there now 🙂 Depending on how you want to think about it, November/December are either the worst months (Short days, dark a lot, poor weather, at the end of the year when you’re out of steam and ideas) or two of the best months (you’ve gotten better at photography, CHRISTMAS. Ahem.)

Positives of November

Muted colours. The colours have pretty much changed and dropped off, but for the ones still hanging on you can make a pretty good statement with them against a bleak backdrop.
Nice light. As the sun doesn’t rise as high in the sky you can get some decently lit shots at pretty much any time of the day.
Easier to do dark shots. Light trails, star trails are much easier to do when it goes darker earlier. And this ties nicely in with…
BONFIRE NIGHT. Yeah!

Negatives of November

Cold, damp and dark. Basically what the title says.
End of the year; lack of ideas and major loss of interest. My 2011 is just WOW BAD for November. I’d managed to forget just how bad but as I was going through looking for images to put at the end of the post I was perplexed how there were none which were even half good, or even a quarter good. But I got through to the end of the year, so hey ho.
Loss of interest from others. By this point most people have given up, or it’s become such a burden/so not interested that they can’t be bothered to interact with other people. Will power!

How to survive… November

Start to introduce Christmas. Yes. Seriously. I’m not saying all the time, but you can start to drip it in. Decorations in stores, lights going up in city centres…
Night time shots. As mentioned above get creative with light trails and fireworks etc
Revisit shots from the very start of the year. November and December are pretty similar to January and February. Have a look through some of the shots you did then and try to recreate them. The chances are you are a lot better at photography by now and it will be a nice comparison.
Work with lights. Invest in some studio lights or flash guns and experiment with them. This will open up a whole set of doors for you and give you more things to shoot.

November 2013

November 2012

November 2011

_photography

Composition and other ‘Rules’

October 22, 2014 manadh 2 Comments

All good rules are made to be broken, but until we master the rule and know how and when we should be breaking them… We should probably stick with them 😉
There are loads of rules, but for this post I’ll stick with the basics that can have the biggest impact to your shots.

The Rule of Thirds
The image is split into three rows and three columns. Place an object of interest (in this case the does head) along one of the crossing sections as it is these sections that the human eye is drawn to first.

Avoid horizons in the middle
Following on from the rule of thirds, you should also try to place horizons along one of the top or bottom lines instead of across the middle of the image. Decide which aspect of the shot has more importance or impact and make sure it fills most of the frame. The image below has the wall on the bottom line, and the sky on the top line.
The image of the doe also follows this rule, as the grass finishes on the bottom line, and after the top line is solid darker colour.

Keep it straight
Always, always, always make sure that your horizon lines, buildings etc are straight.

Try a different angle or position
Sometimes the difference between a good shot and a great shot is simply taking a couple of steps to one side, or crouching.
Always make sure you don’t have something like a lamp post sticking out of the top of someones head, and try to analyse the shot and where it would look best from as many different positions before pressing the shutter.
I snapped this shot from so many different angles, and found this one worked best.

Leading lines
Having lines in an image, if they are placed correctly, can draw your eye into the shot and make you spend longer exploring the shot as a whole. In the shot below the lines of the bridge reinforce the fact that you should be looking at the girl’s legs, but also exploring the bridge in front of her.

Keep it simple or fill the frame
Play with ideas of minimal shots, sometimes it helps to shift your position so that there is nothing distracting in the background or if that isn’t an option get in close and fill the frame.

Look out for…
When shooting make sure you look out for the following…

Colour
Colour can have a massive impact in your work. People tend to notice reddy colours first, so if you have a image which has something red in the background it might distract from the main object in the foreground.
Blue toned images come across as being cold, whereas orange toned images come across as being warm. How someone perceives the image due to the colours included on it can influence how they respond to it.

Black and white
By converting an image to monochrome you add a whole new dynamic to it. Removing the colour forces people to focus on the details, contrast and textures in the shot.

Light

Light is basically the essence of photography; without it there is no photo!
Playing with shadows and light and the contrast between them can make for interesting and dynamic shots.

Texture

Sometimes an image can be made out of a simple texture, or a texture within another object can become an interesting focal point.

_photography

Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO

October 19, 2014 manadh 4 Comments

Getting the settings right in camera is the first step to creating a great image. Some people think ‘oh I’ll fix it later in Photoshop’ but usually it is either more time consuming, or looks fake. It’s always a lot better to get it right in camera in the first place, then you can enhance the shot in post production.

Aperture

This is where you set how much of the shot will be in focus.
It can be a little bit backwards at first to try and get your head around it, as a smaller f number means the aperture is opened wider…

If you are working with a kit lens then the chances are your lens goes from f4 to f22 (or similar).
f4 means that the lens will let in a lot more light, but less of the shot will be in perfect focus. More light in means that you are more likely to be able to hand hold your shot.
f22 means that the lens will let in less light, but more of the shot will be in perfect focus. Less light in means that you will probably need to use a tripod to shoot your shot.

Examples

Aperture: f1.8 – The leaf is mostly in focus but not all of it is. The foreground and background are not in focus at all.

Aperture: f14 – Most of the shot is in focus, from the rocks to in the foreground to the waterfall in the background

Shutter speed

This is how quickly your shutter will be open for. The longer is is open for the more light will be let in, however the longer you leave it open for the more likely you will need to put the camera on a tripod (Unless you have really steady hands!)

A shutter speed of 1/500 will freeze motion, where as a shutter speed of 2″ (2 seconds) will capture some motion, which in camera will look blurry.

Examples

Shutter: 1/250 – The water and clouds are frozen in place.

Shutter speed: 0.6″ – The unmoving aspects of the shot (the flower pot and Danbo) are frozen in place, but the flowers which were moving in the wind are blurry

ISO

ISO is a bit more abstract to talk about, and much harder to show how it looks in my images!
The lower your ISO number the cleaner your shot will be, the higher your ISO number the more grain will be in it. It is for a lot of people the hardest of the three to understand because it can be difficult to see how it works. Ideally you need to keep your ISO as low as possible, because having grain in your image is seen as being undesirable.

So why would you want to turn your ISO up?
The higher your ISO the quicker the camera records the image, so if you are somewhere dark and you are having to hand hold your shot a higher ISO would be beneficial as you are more likely to not get any camera shake and have an image which looks more in focus. In an ideal situation you would want to keep your ISO lower, and put your camera on a tripod however that is not always possible (at a gig or concert, some places such as caves don’t allow you to set up a tripod when you are on a tour).

You can reduce grain (or noise) in post processing (Lightroom and Photoshop both have options to do this), but it’s not a perfect way of doing it, and you compromise other aspects of the shot by doing so (it might look smoother all over, so you will have a loss of detail).

Combining the three to create your shot

All image makers must choose their aperture, shutter speed and ISO for every shot. Some people (like me) use full manual mode (where you select all three of the options yourself), but most people tend to use aperture priority or shutter prioirty modes.
These modes allow you to choose the aperture, and the camera sets the shutter and ISO (aperture priority), or it allows you to choose the shutter speed, and the camera sets the aperture and ISO (shutter priority).

What’s the best way to learn about these techniques?

Get out there and shoot. Spend a day where you have to shoot in aperture priority. Take the same shot with different aperture sizes and compare them when you get home. Do the same with shutter priority.

_photography

How to… Levitation photography

October 14, 2014 manadh Leave a comment

Sadly most people can’t actually float, but with the magic of Photoshop we can pretend that we can! Levitation photography has become more popular over the past few years and it is quite easy to do.

Before you start.

Focus on your subject, then lock the focus. I shoot myself so I have to go back and fro a couple of times before I lock the focus, but as soon as you have shot the subject, turn you auto focus to manual.
Use a tripod. Make sure that the distance and height doesn’t change as you will be taking two shots, one with the subject in and one without.
Se your white balance. You don’t want the while balance to change between the two shots so take it out of auto.
Safety first. Make sure that your model is comfortable, and make sure that you don’t make them hold an uncomfortable pose for too long.
Collect sturdy objects. Chairs, ladders etc, something that your model can lay across. You will need to rub them out during post processing so the more discreet they are the easier that will be.

1. Set up the scene.
Put the objects where you want the model to be floating, and then set your camera up on the tripod. Before you introduce your model into the scene take some test shots to make sure your white balance and other settings are correct.

2. Position the model.
Make your model lay across the objects and focus on them. Try a few different positions.

3. Remove all objects and shoot a blank background.
Before you hit the shutter make sure that the auto focus is set to manual. Remove all objects from the scene and shoot a background with nothing in the foreground.

4. Add both image in Photoshop in different layers.
Put the blank background underneath the one with your model on. Then quite simply rub out the objects the model is resting on; because the layer underneath is the same image without the model/objects it will all look like it is one shot. Either use the eraser or use a layer mask if that option is available to you. Zoom in to make sure that you get clean lines.

The above shows a layer mask rubbing out the step ladders.
Using a layer mask is a must if you have the option as it is non destructive; if you’re not sure about layers or layer masks then have a look here at the Adobe help site! 🙂

project 365, _photography

How to survive… October

September 28, 2014 manadh 2 Comments

October is quite possibly my most favourite month of all. It’s where autumn comes into full swing and also there is Hallowe’en! Christmas is starting to come into swing too (which I know isn’t great for some people, but it creates more photo opportunities)

Positives of October

Hallowe’en. Props are out, people want to have their photo taken when they are dressed up, there are events towards the back end of the month… Loads of opportunities
Oranges and reds and yellows oh my. Colours are popping and all over the place!
Misty mornings and dew. Autumn brings the cooler weather, especially in the early hours. It creates some stunning photo opportunities, especially just after sunrise.

Negatives of October

It’s getting dark again. Those nights are drawing in, the mornings are darker when you get up. It’s getting darker again!
Damp and rainy. With the changing weather, also comes a change for the worse. It’s darker and it might be wet more often.

How to Survive… October

Get creative with Hallowe’en props. Position them and have them as still life, rope someone into dressing up, go out to your city or towns Hallowe’en event and photograph the people there. Most people wont mind as they’ll be behind masks.
Great time to practice portraits and street photography. Following on from the above, it makes for a great time to practice photographing people when they’re hidden behind the masks!
Colours, colours, colours! Get out there and shoot nature whilst it is at it’s most glorious.

October 2013

October 2012

October 2011

October 2010

I don’t think I ever made it to October this year 😦

project 365

How to Survive… September

August 28, 2014 manadh Leave a comment

September is the start of my favourite part of the year – autumn (or fall, if you’re American). Leaves start to turn and fall from trees, sunsets are at a fantastic time of the day, and the air is crisp.

Positives of September

Changing colours. There is a remarkable change which starts to happen over the next few months, starting in September. It was only last year that I noticed leaves start changing and dropping off trees in August, but it is a lot more noticeable in September
Different fruit and flora. Apples might drop down, mushrooms sprout up (Oh my god do I love mushrooms!); make sure you get out an explore what you can find!
Sunrise and sunset. Defiantly achievable, and usually quite nice at the time of year. Make sure that you don’t put it off, because there is less of an incentive to go out once winter hits.

Negatives of September

Changing weather. The weather wont be as warm, or possible as nice as it has been. Take an extra layer and make yourself get out there
Loss of interest. With the drop in temperature its easier to come up with a reason to not go out and shoot. Then with that you lose interest as you’re trying to come up with indoor shots, then you remember the start of the year, add in the fact there are 4 full months to go and you start to wonder ‘why bother’. Make the effort if September is even half nice, start to collect objects that you can use as still life later in the year – you’ll thank yourself for it once the days are short again.

How to Survive… September

Autumn colours. Revisit a scene you shot earlier in the year and document the changes as the seasons have changed.
Fallen items. Leaves, sycamore seeds, fruit.
New foliage. Autumn flowers, acorns – look out for them.

September 2013

September 2012

September 2011

September 2010
I’d taken photos at least a week into September, but I’d lost them by accidentally deleting them – don’t give up like I did! I really regretted it in hindsight, especially this close to the end of the year!

project 365, _photography

How to Survive… August

July 29, 2014 manadh 1 Comment

The end seems slightly closer now (Which means Christmas is closer too! haha ;-)). August can be a good month for photography, you just need to make sure that you make the most of it when and where you can.

Positives of August

Holidays. A lot of you will be jetting off on your travels so it makes for a great opportunity to snap different things. A holiday is also good for resting and recharging your batteries so make the most of it!
Sunset. It’s at a much more reasonable time (Thanks nature) so you should be able to make it out to shoot a few of these.
Good weather. Normally August sees some nice weather too, so when you’re out shooting those sunsets it should be warm still, and hopefully a lot of “red sky at night” 😉
Home town events. The kids are off school in August so normally there are a lot of events on in bigger cities.
Flowers. Still. Hurray!

Negatives of August

Busy! With holiday comes holiday preparation!
Sunrise. Still at an ungodly hour 😛

How to Survive… August

Street Photography (1) – go out and document all those events going off; just make sure you know the rules around what and where you can photograph
Landscapes and sunset – those acceptable hour sunsets make it ideal to photograph landscapes. Make sure you have a point of interest in the shot
Flowers – try to visit places like Botanical Gardens to shoot more exotic types
Street Photography (2) – whilst on holiday try to capture the candid feel of the place you are visiting

August 2013

August 2012

August 2011

August 2010

Manadh Photography

Tag Archives: advice

Faroe Islands; Top tips before you go

Project 365 themes

How to survive… December

How to survive… November

Composition and other ‘Rules’

Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO

How to… Levitation photography

How to survive… October

How to Survive… September

How to Survive… August

Adventures of Sami; out and about in the wild 📷

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Adventures of Sami; out and about in the wild 📷