The kind of photography I like best is normally described as ‘candid’. I love images caught on the fly, of subject matter that maybe isn’t usually considered artistic or even pretty, and yet somewhere there in the ordinary everyday, and image ‘shot from the hip’ could be more intriguing than any posed work. For example blurry city lights reflected on glass make a pretty abstract of tangled colours, or a lone battered sneaker found on an unlikely pavement suggests a narrative of how and why it got there. Or maybe you’re just trying to catch an effect of a weather condition before it passes. More often than not my camera is set on automatic, or I use a variety of automatic modes to get what I’m after. Manual photos and candid snaps can have a very different feel and effect. One often relies on happy accident for a great image, the other is quite poised and deliberate. I will illustrate this point about styles with some kitteh photographs, taken with my camera in different modes.

Here is Salem, on the fly candid style

But sometimes automatic isn’t enough, can work out well, but it can sometimes be a little too unpredicatable, especially now that I have been documenting my fabrics and other small craft items with photography. So manual photography is what I need  for these kinds of  close-ups of objects, where I want more control over the image I’m creating. So I recently signed up for some basic digital photography classes to learn a bit more about how my camera works. It’s probably nothing I couldn’t have learned from reading my manual, but some times it’s nice to have some one explain stuff to you in practical terms, and maybe mention applications for techniques that wouldn’t have occurred to you just from reading your rather dry camera instructions. It’s still the early days, and I don’t have much kit so I’ll be relying largely on natural light, but I’ve already picked up a few tips and tricks. Now it’s time to practice, practice, practice…

and this is Sam, on manual mode. Not perfect but not bad for a kitteh who doesn't sit still