Photographic Assistance

Whichever camera I use from those acquired over the last 10 years, and no matter how careful I am at setting up, all images need a little tweeking in an image editor. The industry standard is PhotoShop but it is expensive and really aimed at Art Editors/Picture Editors preparing images ready for magazine printing. It also has a steep learning curve. So here's a link to a review of 10 free ones. Free Image Editors

Those shops should have been left at the Hill Street end.

I have now tried one of the image editors mentioned in the link above. I chose to try PhotoBuilder because the reviewer suggested it was a no-nonsense type of editor. I usually want to merely tweak the image not reconstruct it. It is frugal on the space it takes up on the hard drive - just 8MB. It'll fit on most laptops. I'll eventually install on the carer's and her girls computers.

My younger daughter has got herself a part-time job: a part-time activity organiser in an old people's home in Hastings. How does photography come into that? Well, some of the residents rarely get out. I've suggested that Ann goes out and take pictures of streets and details in the environment to bring it in to the residents on her laptop fed into a large-screen TV. I suggested she also take them on a window-shopping tour using the same method. Digital photography has made all these things possible. It is no longer a case of telling a friend "OOO! I saw this lovely pair of shoes in the Dolcis' window." Take the picture and show her! That is the heart of photography to me - showing others what you have seen. It doesn't need a fantastic camera. In fact, a camera that you carry around with you is much more useful than one that can take technically perfect pictures but is so heavy that it is only taken out when you have a 'photographic jaunt'. It is the image that counts - not the camera it was taken on. But that also takes me on to another idea and question. How much do you really 'see'? If you look and don't 'see' then there are rarely photographic opportunities. I doubt that any two people 'see' in the same way. A photographer friend, whom I've known for almost 40 years, and I can stand side by side with the same model camera and we come up with different pictures. Every time! When we photograph something all our past experiences come into play – and that is what makes the difference. Both our photographic and personal backgrounds are entirely different. One thing we do have in common is that we never treat the thing we are photographing as an object. We are trying to capture our interpretation of what is in front of the lens. Photographing with my friend is fun because it's a bit of a competition – we're only too happy to show the other what they've missed. Then we try to take the same picture that the other did – and we have never achieved matching pictures yet. We couldn't exchange our ideas so simply in the days of film cameras, so we are more at home with digital. Don't think that either of us achieve immediate success with one squeeze of the shutter. If the image isn't quite what we had in mind then we make minor adjustments and try again. Sometimes it is again and again! There have been times when I have made 20 or 30 exposures before I capture the image I have in my mind. I almost know what readers are going to say to my suggestion of 'making minor adjustments'. It's along the lines of me having the knowledge to be able to make those minor adjustments. It comes with experience. My answer of course is that you will never gain that experience if you don't take lots of pictures. The adjustment may a matter of taking a step back and zooming in to achieve the same size image. That way you change the perspective within the picture.

I have photographs of a family member which were taken at Cine Portraits Co., Coventry. Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine where/when these were taken or where the company was located in Coventry. Do any of your members have information regarding this company.

Pixrobin, it would work and the people would love it. dougie, I enjoyed Walk round Coventry, some weeks ago, I have just watched Mill fields and the Fox, 'twice' and liked even more. Thank you, Kaga. I love all the photo's on this forum and thank you all, the older you get, the more you appreciate what you can't get out to see.

The above image is part of an experiment I tried yesterday. It's about seeing things through other peoples' eyes. We do it every day. Any time other people show us a picture we are seeing what they see, be it pictures in a magazine or newspaper, their holidays snaps, or the pictures put into this forum. But this was slightly different. It was others taking pictures of our communal garden, a place where I have taken hundreds of pictures over the last few months. I wanted a fresh view on things. On Wednesdays we have 3 students come from the local Academy as part of their work experience. I handed each one of my cameras and suggested they go out into the garden and take some pictures. My only instruction was "Just take what you think make good pictures - and don't be afraid to experiment." All the images allowed me to see what they saw. Some of the views I had seen myself but this particular one I would probably have never seen without their guidance.

A late response to this one: Unfortunately there is no such name registered at Companies House either amongst the current or dissolved companies.