A Tip to Stop missing Photos…

Summary

James Popsys shares insights into his photography adventures in Northwest Wales, focusing on a personal technique called the 'Five Minute Rule.' After a previous failed attempt due to rain, James returns with hopes of capturing better photos. He emphasizes the importance of taking time to observe a scene for at least five minutes to gauge potential photo opportunities. This is a way to estimate the likelihood of capturing a great shot, enhancing educated guesswork in photography. Throughout the video, James discusses his photos, the nature of light, and the challenges of capturing interesting scenes. He also shares his excitement about a new way to annotate photos using an iPad, and finishes by thanking sponsors and encouraging viewers to pre-order his book.

Highlights

• James's return to Northwest Wales for photography expedition after a rainy day fail 🌧️.
• Introduction of the 'Five Minute Rule' to nurture photo instincts ⏱️.
• Talking about the excitement of being back out with the camera and its impact on sanity 📸.
• Discussing the importance of having patience and observing scenes for better photography 🤔.
• Emphasizing how to utilize light in photography, even in harsh conditions ☀️.

Key Takeaways

• Use the 'Five Minute Rule' to assess photo opportunities 📷.
• Observing a scene for just five minutes can provide valuable insights into potential captures 👁️.
• It's important to sometimes let photos stand on their own without over-explanation 🖼️.
• Balancing human elements and nature can create intriguing photography 🌿.
• Always be prepared for unexpected photo opportunities, especially when switching locations 🚗.

Overview

In this heartfelt and insightful video, James Popsys takes us back to Northwest Wales, reminiscing a previously rained-out photography attempt. This time, he's back with a renewed spirit and shares a valuable photography tip he calls 'The Five Minute Rule.' By observing a scene for five minutes, photographers can make educated guesses about potential photo opportunities, which is crucial when dealing with the ever-changing elements of photography.

James delves into various scenes he captured during his adventure. From a favorite photo on the seawall with an intriguing mystery to boats that tell their own tales, he illustrates the balance between planned captures and serendipitous moments. He explains how harsh light can sometimes work in favor, adding depth and stories to pictures, and finds beauty in both human and natural elements in the landscape.

Amidst the photography tips and scene explanations, James talks about his new iPad use for annotating photos, which adds clarity to his workflow. He wraps up with excitement for his upcoming book and gratitude toward his audience and sponsor. This video isn’t just about photography; it's a narrative about finding joy amidst challenges and constantly exploring new horizons.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Sponsor Message The introduction chapter begins with a musical cue and includes a sponsor message from Squarespace. It mentions a special offer of 10% off a first purchase for website or domain services. Following the sponsor message, the chapter transitions to a welcoming greeting to the audience of a cricket-related content video.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Return to Wales and Photography Reflections The chapter titled 'Return to Wales and Photography Reflections' covers a revisit to Northwest Wales for photography. The narrator mentions a previous failed attempt due to rain and poor preparation but expresses excitement to spend more time taking photos this time. The narrator also humorously notes facing the wrong direction while speaking to the audience, away from a picturesque castle. The narrator reflects on the rejuvenating feeling of being out with the camera after a few weeks, emphasizing the emotion tied to the experience.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Five Minute Rule for Photography The chapter highlights the "Five Minute Rule" for photography, where the speaker expresses the need to frequently go out with a camera. This practice is not only essential for professional obligations but also for personal fulfillment and mental well-being. The speaker reflects on the origins of their passion for photography, which began many years ago, and emphasizes the joy and necessity of being outdoors to capture photographs.
• 07:30 - 08:00: Analyzing Favorite Photos This chapter, titled 'Analyzing Favorite Photos', features a transcript that begins with music. Unfortunately, no additional content has been provided to generate a more detailed summary.
• 09:30 - 10:00: Discussion on Photography Elements This chapter provides a discussion focused on the various elements of photography. The speaker reflects on spending a part of their day, which seems to be quite enjoyable, in a place referred to as Crith. It appears to be a narrative entwining personal experience with the broader topic of photography. As only a fragment of the transcript is available, specific details on the photography elements discussed are not clear. However, the tone suggests a personal and possibly anecdotal sharing of insights related to photography.
• 12:00 - 13:00: Conclusion and Final Thanks The chapter reflects on a day of exploration, starting with taking photos and enjoying good coffee, followed by lunch in a pleasant spot. The narrator then traveled a few miles down the coast to a place called Bag Guest, which seemed promising but was thwarted by the high sun and low tide conditions. They plan to revisit this location under different conditions. Returning to Crith, the narrator reflects on their instinctual desire to keep moving and exploring even when not actively shooting photos.

A Tip to Stop missing Photos… Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] a big thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this week's video if you need a website or a domain go to squarespace.com sljames for 10% off your first purchase well hello everybody and welcome back to Cricket
• 00:30 - 01:00 here in Northwest Wales and I say welcome back a few months back I came here and had a botched attempt at doing some photography rained a lot I didn't have a rain jacket so I went home after about an hour but I'm back today and we'll hopefully spend a lot more time than that taking photos and I fac you exactly the wrong way I should be facing you that way really cuz there's a a very nice Castle here but I'm very excited to be out today it's been a couple of weeks since I've been out with the camera and whenever that is the case I realize how
• 01:00 - 01:30 much I need to get out with the camera uh both for my job to pay the bills but also just for my sanity frankly which is why I started taking photos years and years and years ago in the first place so it's nice to be out [Music] [Music]
• 01:30 - 02:00 [Music]
• 02:00 - 02:30 [Music] uh well it's 5 and a half hours later is and I'm having a lovely day uh much of this morning spent here in crith walking
• 02:30 - 03:00 around taking some photos drinking good coffee found a nice spot for lunch but then I decided to drive 2 or three miles down the coast to a place called bag guest which I think could work in different conditions but uh the tide was all the way out sun was very high in the sky so I'll revisit there and now that I've come back to crith all over the place really I find that when uh well when I've not been shooting much I find my instinct is to constantly try and
• 03:00 - 03:30 switch locations I always think the grass is greener I don't know whether to stick or twist and invariably I end up twisting often it's not worth it including today see a real weakness of mine I think as a photographer particularly when I've not been shooting much I can't resist going somewhere else because I think it's going to be better that said actually locations I'm terrible for constantly switching but scenes I think I have developed quite a
• 03:30 - 04:00 good way of establishing whether I should move on from a particular scene or not you know if I'm somewhere and I'm looking for a specific photo I think I've worked out a way to judge whether I'm going to get that photo or not get that photo in a short amount of time as possible and it's something I call the five minute rule I how I call it that I've not called it anything before because it's just been me doing it it's not needed a name I'm going to call it the five minute rule so basically I should probably find an example for
• 04:00 - 04:30 this actually that yeah we'll go and find an example what what better example to use than the uh the scene that took up most of my morning this seaw wall here and let's suggest for the sake of this example that what we're waiting for is somebody who's wearing an interesting hat seems as good as anything else now the five minute Rule and this will shock you entails hanging around at your scene
• 04:30 - 05:00 and paying attention to what's happening for 5 minutes and the reason that I do this is it's quite difficult sometimes when you first rock up to a place to work out how long it's going to be before you might see the sort of subject that you're wanting to see for the kind of photo that you're wanting could be 10 minutes could be 20 minutes could be an hour could be 3 hours it's very difficult to tell if you hang around for 5 minutes though and pay attention to the kind of people that you're seeing whether you're seeing people at all this applies to things like cars Birds uh
• 05:00 - 05:30 changes in light that might occur over a period of time if you've got scattered clouds for example if you pay attention to how many things are happening within those 5 minutes then you can use that 5 minutes to extrapolate out and try and work out how long it might be before something interesting happens so for example if you to wait here for 5 minutes and you were to see about 100 people walking to and from the end of the seaw wall then you might expect that before long one of those people is going
• 05:30 - 06:00 to be interesting if however you wait 5 minutes and you don't see a single person walking where you want them to walk whether they're interesting or not you might expect it's going to be a long time before you're likely to see somebody who looks remotely interesting and so yeah 5 minutes in short is quite a short amount of time it far from guarantees you a photo but what it does do is gives you a sense of how long it might be before you see a photo opportunity and it's not an exact science and more often than not you'll walk away after five minutes and then
• 06:00 - 06:30 the exact thing you were waiting for will happen so maybe it should be six minutes but if you're anything like me and you're addicted to screens and you have the attention span of a goldfish 5 minutes of not looking at your phone not letting your mind wander and purely paying attention to what's happening in front of you feels like a long period of time and if you do that a dozen times in a day that's obviously an hour it's quite an exhausting process but fully worth it in my opinion when you're trying to gauge whether you should stay
• 06:30 - 07:00 at a scene or whether you should give up on it and it's all about probabilities there are no guarantees in this but I find it quite a useful way of turning a guess in terms of whether something's going to happen or not into a bit more of an educated guess um I am useless I think at talking through the photos that I'm taking through the course of a video some channels do it brilliantly uh they'll talk about what has caught their eye what they're hoping to photograph how they're going to do it how they're going to edit it all that kind of stuff
• 07:00 - 07:30 and I just hardly ever do that uh for a few reasons sometimes I forget uh sometimes I take so many photos that I don't really know which ones to feature and I don't know if any of them are worthy of featuring until I get home and I assess them and sometimes I do just genuinely want the photos to sort of stand on their own two feet and not have to explain them uh too much but I've recently acquired an iPad so I thought this is the the perfect way to use it and I do want to start talking a little bit more about what it is that I'm thinking when I'm out in the field in
• 07:30 - 08:00 case it's of Interest so um well one way to find out isn't there so let's start with this photo which is probably my favorite of the day I'd say from that day out uh features the seaw wall obviously as you can see and this was late morning when the light was probably at its harshest uh but it works quite well here because how do I annotate because of the light that's being reflected from this concrete here uh it makes the light fall off on the wall
• 08:00 - 08:30 really quite Pleasant I think and you get lots of detail on this seaw wall that um well you wouldn't otherwise get in such harsh conditions uh unless you had oh unless you had this uh also this couple they're looking out to see but I don't know what it is that has caught their attention uh now had there been something very obvious that they were looking at right at the edge of the frame let's say somewhere like that to be honest I probably would have considered cropping it out because I think the photo is more interesting not
• 08:30 - 09:00 knowing what it is that they're looking at than having the answer to what it is that they're looking at uh and that's one of the best photography tips I've ever had I think uh giving your audience more questions than answers because questions and curiosity is what keeps people coming back to photos so um as it stands I didn't need to crop because there was nothing obvious there to crop out anyway uh other photos I quite like this one too I don't particularly like like the light again very harsh light
• 09:00 - 09:30 yeah nothing particularly visually appealing about the light but what I do like about this photo is the boat on the right hand side is very clearly perfectly fine the boat in the background on the left is very clearly not yeah I mean I'm pretty sure there's water seeping in there and the boat in the middle is both physically in the middle but perhaps operationally in the middle as well because this guy I think was doing some kind of Maintenance work and looks to be doing some kind of Maintenance work I mean you don't typically try and get into a boat When
• 09:30 - 10:00 the tide is out and it's beached unless you're doing maintenance right um this one I quite liked I stopped for this one on the side of the road on my way back to crith from borag guest um and there's a few reasons I like this if you watch this channel regularly you'll know really why I like this it's a perfect balance of human and nature uh and I like exploring the relationship between those two things I like this foliage on both sides of the uh the barn opening that looks quite cool and this big
• 10:00 - 10:30 colorful Bush I quite like as well uh elements I don't like though and what sort of ruins the photo for me is all this stuff up here uh because if it wasn't there this hill line would I think look really quite attractive um and pleasant to look at so yeah those trees in the background I think are a bit of a shame but never mind I'm I'm still reasonably pleased that I stopped uh and then finally just a couple more examples of when I was in crith there were some shots that could have been
• 10:30 - 11:00 really good but they just didn't quite work the things in the scene that I thought were interesting just weren't quite prominent enough in the scene uh so this one I like this Crow down here I like the people on the seaw wall obviously but they're just too small and if you were to crop in you lose the castle and you lose lots of the scene that is also of Interest I think uh and then this one is kind of a similar example you got this mother and child playing on the beach and you can see the Reflections in the wet sand as well which I quite like and I took a number
• 11:00 - 11:30 of photos of this scene and one of them that I really quite like is the fact that here you got the mother pointing at Seagull in the sky and so I think there are really interesting things going on in the frame uh but I don't think they're interesting enough in and of themselves to crop into those things and when you have a wider scene I don't think they're obvious enough to make the photograph particularly interesting even though there are things within the scene that are interesting themselves I don't know if that makes sense but um yeah
• 11:30 - 12:00 that was that was a bit of a shame but very common that you end up with photographs that have interesting things in them but yeah not quite enough to um to make the photograph as a whole interesting uh anyway thank you very much for watching another video um I really appreciate it and also a huge thank you to everybody who has pre-ordered my book uh there are still a few days to go when I put this video live uh to pre-order the book and get your name in it uh you've got until the 1st of August if you like your name name in the book as a thank you for uh
• 12:00 - 12:30 ordering so early in the process I'll be receiving the books in a couple of months time um and then I'll be dispatching them immediately so uh big thank you for your support on those and also a huge thank you to Squarespace uh who are the sponsor of this video uh and Squarespace basically is at the very heart of my business uh it's obviously what I use to promote my new book it's what I've always used to sell my prints and my presets it's what I use to show my portfolio uh I use it to send newsletters I've got a bit of a Blog on my we it as well and I can do all of
• 12:30 - 13:00 that without knowing a single line of code and I think having a website is absolutely crucial to all photographers somewhere that you control exclusively outside of the social media platforms where you're basically at the Peril of algorithms and such and you can try it out for free by going to squarespace.com to start a free trial and after that if you'd like to make a purchase just go to squarespace.com James to get 10% off your first purchase and big thank you to Squarespace for their continued support of this channel and uh to you for watching next time I won't be in Wales
• 13:00 - 13:30 no I definitely won't be in Wales lots of travel coming up hopefully I'll see you then cheers