Photography Training experience with Riverggin Photography.
Being in a creative industry you’re always learning and trying to create better images and developing new skills. On Monday I had the pleasure of travelling down to Hampshire for a photography session with James from Riverggin Photography. James is a fantastic photographer and has produced some fantastic images, specialising in Gundog and sporting photography, something quite different from what I’m used to photographing. As you know, I’m a huge fan of gundogs owning 2 labradors myself so this day is something more personal to me, to help me create better pictures of my dogs when out and about.
James started by introducing me to the dogs- his six labradors! It’s important to meet the dogs first as some are quite young so we didn’t want them to feel nervous around me or the camera. We let them have a play in the field while James talked me through camera settings.
The technical stuff!
After a few minutes comparing equipment, James is a Nikon shooter whereas I am a Canon girl! I opted for my Canon miii with my 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens and Sigma 35mm. The Telephoto Lens would give me the little bit of freedom however a 300mm would have been more suited.
James explained that the different dogs require different settings, his younger dogs were much quicker and required a faster shutter speed compared to his older dogs. He talked me through the best focusing and AF modes to use. We also had the debate about back button focus! James uses BBF for all his work. For myself and likewise with other fellow portrait photographers I have used it a bit but always tend to revert back. For this session, I made myself use the back button focus for the whole day and I can definitely see why this is better for action photography.
We used various surroundings for the photos, photographing each dog individually, then in groups and in the truck. We then headed into the woodland, that gave us a different look to the pictures before going down to the pond for some water pictures that the dogs loved!
Anyone who is wanting to improve or learn about pet/sporting photography then please contact James. I had a fantastic day and learned so much. I can’t wait to get out my with my dogs and practice what I have learnt.
www.rivergginsphotography.co.uk
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Jo x


























