My dear Man in a Green Coat.

It's all very nice for those without a photograpic eye saying nice things about your work. But please do not sit back and think for one minute that you have reached the pinnicle of your career. You must strive for perfection, and as someone who will be judging at next years Royal Photographic Awards I would like to offer you a few helpful hints.

1. Focus on the eyes. Try and capture the "red eye" effect. I have in my padded cell many photos of Matron and myself whereby I have expertly captured the lovely deep colour red in our eyes. What it does my dear friend is to enhance the person's characture.

2. Watch your angles. An experience photographer will always know where to position his/herself at the right moment. If you see that a player is about to score, quickly pick up your equipment and run around the pitch so that you can capture the player, the ball, the goalkeeper and his goal in the same picture.

3. Hair and skin tone. Another tip for you to take on board could be to dive onto the pitch, micro seconds before taking a photo whereby you can quickly apply a skin application and brush the hair of the person to be pictured.

4. Lens. This tip is so simple but so many inexperienced photographers forget. Keep the lens clean. The lens can be affected by weather conditions and can become dirty. So, get in to the habit of wiping the lens with a piece of rag or handkerchief.

5. Expressions. This too is important when taking a picture. To get that perfect motion picture, just as the player is about to shoot, with a loud 'megga' phone shout over to the person in question and shout "smile".


Feel free to contact me for any advice, tips or mentoring.