Creative Table Top Photography with guest Helen Davies

There's more to Photography than shooting People and Landscapes

Some of us love to photograph beautiful landscapes, others like to shoot people... maybe in the studio or maybe capture them candidly on the street. Helen Davies does most of her photography on the kitchen table and produces stunning images.

This week's Tog-Talk takes a week off from the current series on Photography Basics to look at a very talented lady. We will return to the 'Basics' series next week as we look at tips on getting your photos correctly exposed, especially under difficult lighting situations.

But now, it's back to Helen...

Creative Table-Top Photography

I've known Helen for a few years and I have been regularly impressed by the quality of her work and her creative imagination . Working with liquids, lights and various items usually found in the kitchen, she has proved to me that photography is not just landscapes and people.

In this weeks's Tog-Talk, Helen reveals her secrets for taking great table-top shots... and along the way, we have a few giggles as well.

I've taken the step of posting additional information and examples of her work in my blog, The Photography Teacher. There's only so much information that can be shared in a podcast. With a visual medium like photography, sometimes there simply has to be a way to show off the images.

Check out the The Photography Teacher to see some of Helen's work, and while you're there, feast upon all the other tutorials that are freely available on the site, including the higly popular 30 Days of Photoshop series.

Links discussed in episode:

Splash Art Photography Kit

Captive Light Water Droplet Workshop

Improving your photography

I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to this broadcast and I hope that you have found it interesting as well as entertaining. If you're looking to imporove your photography and you live close enough to our training centre in Fleet, Hampshire, you could attend one of our workshops (or our longer courses) in both photography and photo-editing.

If you're at the beginning of your photography journey you might find this one-day introduction, just what you're looking for:

Introduction To Photography (1-day Workshop)

Run four times a year, this one-day photography workshop will equip you with the knowledge you need to move from simply being a camera-owner… to becoming a real photographer! Whether you're photographing your kids, snapping your holidays or you're hoping to progress your photography to a more creative level, you'll still need a solid grasp of the basics.

Want something more?
Alternatively, If you want a course that raises the bar, something to immerse yourself in for a whole year, you'll want to join our Photography Masterclass. Run twice a year, with intakes during Spring and Autumn, it is our core workshop.

The Photography Masterclass (one year course)

Students on the Photography Masterclass will build a solid foundation of technical and creative skills . They will learn not only how their cameras work and how to shoot with a creative eye, but there are modules on photographing people, working with flash, shooting landscapes, macro photography, as well as two modules on editing.

This is a ten-module photography course with photo-assignments between sessions. Each session lasts three hours and will include time to examine assignment images and take part in practicals (where appropriate).

Or...

Or you could simple have a go at our Photography Assessment Tool. This is a great fun way to assess just how much you you really know about photography. It will analyse your answers and let you know your areas of strengths and weakness.

Final message from Kevin

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this week's Tog-Talk. I genuinely hope you found it both interesting and entertaining.

If you did, then please click on the SUBSCRIBE button. You'll be informed everytime I post a new episode and the more subscribers I get, the more it helps the visibility to other photographers.

Finally, finally
And of course... if you really like the Tog-Talk podcast, why not leave a glowing review 😁. Reviews are extremely important to me personally and I would be very grateful.

Thanks again and keep taking those photos

Kevin

Helen Davies

Photographer

I started learning how to use a DSLR camera in 2016. I was trying to take a photo of some flowers with my husband's camera but could only take them in auto mode, so I decided I should do a course to learn how to use it properly. I really enjoyed it, so after the beginner's course, I did the improver's course and realised I was hooked.

One of the sessions we did was on fast and slow shutter speed. For the fast shutter speed I took a photo of a kitchen tap running, I found it so interesting, as it froze the water into shapes that you never see with the naked eye as it’s so fast. So I rigged up a set-up with a plastic bag with water in and a hole so the water could drip out into the water below.

It was tricky to capture the drop because it’s so fast, but I did get a few, which really got me interested. I found a workshop for water drop photography and booked a session using a Splash Art Water Photography kit, which made it a lot easier to control and capture the waterdrops at the time you wanted.

So I brought one and realised there were other liquids you could use with it as well. I used paint and coke and various liquors, as they all have different viscosity and you can get different results with each of them.

I love to do creative tabletop top photograph. My kitchen table is my studio, which is a bit annoying when I have to take everything down so we can have dinner! I like the challenge of working out how I can set up a shot and capture the photo that I have in mind.

I’ve just brought a high power flash w… Read More