I enjoy delivering talks, lectures and practical sessions at clubs around the Midlands, and actively invite audience participation. There are a variety of talks that I can offer that are listed below. Please feel free to ask about a talk on any other aspect of photography as I may be able to help.

Lighting & Composition

A guide to the basics of lighting a scene, with discussion of how to make the most of ambient and flash illumination. This is followed by a discussion on the basics of composition and how to make your images more interesting and powerful

Getting the most from your digital camera

In this talk I will guide you through the ins and outs of digital cameras of all types and how to get the most out of yours. This is an ideal talk for the beginning of the club season as it is enjoyed very much by new members, although more experienced photographers will also find this interesting.

Advanced techniques from a digital camera

In this talk I will show you how to further improve your skills with your equipment and hopefully take some better shots! This is the ideal lecture as a follow on to the one above.

Life at 35mm

In this presentation I demonstrate the use of prime lenses especially at the 35 mm focal length. I discuss how prime lenses can offer so much more in terms of image quality, aperture and creativity in preference to using a zoom lens.

More camera, less Photoshop!

I will show you how to do more effects and get more creative with the camera, rather than spending time  processing images on the computer later. I consider the fact that many famous photographers over the decades never did their own developing, so why is it now such a large part of modern photography?

Portraits using portable flash

With the help of my daughter acting as a model, I demonstrate how to use battery powered portable flash guns for portrait photography. This is a live demonstration on how to control remote flash units to demonstrate a variety of effects.

An introduction to Adobe Lightroom

Using a laptop and projector, I demonstrate how to input, develop and export images from a computer. I discuss why Adobe Lightroom is the software of choice for most professionals but also why amateur photographers should consider using this software instead of Photoshop. 

The 10 stage digital workflow

From taking the picture to the end product, how to think about photography right from equipment selection, through the taking stage, all the way to the final product.

Guided walks

I also offer the chance to accompany your club / society on a outing to a destination of your choice. This could be a rural or urban location (such as Birmingham city center) or a visit to a popular location such as the Blists hill Ironbridge museum.