Seeing the light through Serge Ramelli’s Institute of Photography
Taking pictures on holiday has been with me for at least 40 years now as I glance through the hundreds if not thousands of “happy snappies” taken on an Olympus Trip film camera. Knowing now what I didn’t know then, the odd one or two are OK but the rest are for file 42, aka the trash can. It is so easy to see why; composition and light! Holidays are a time that the camera should not come out of its bag. More often than not, people you travel with will have little patience waiting for you whilst you research the area to get THE picture, and who have little intention in getting up close to golden hour! Then came the opportunity to photograph the Northern Lights on a Norwegian Cruise in 2018. It even had a money-back guarantee that if the aurora Borealis were not seen, then one would get our money back. I invested in my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 50D, along with an expensive wide-angle lens. The Lights did indeed show but my exposure time, composition and focus were all wrong; utterly crest-fallen! This prompted me to join the local photographic club, but the pics still didn’t pop out…until I subscribed to Serge Ramelli’s on-line classes, catering for people who, like me who had just started, to the professional end of the market. It was transformational in every sense. I had been using canon software to edit the RAW pics but I hadn’t a clue how to find my way around the software. I quickly ditched this in favour of Lightroom, and have never looked back. Using Serge’s presets sped up processing time significantly, with pictures I finally had confidence in showing to other people. This was, and still is, well supported by Serge’s continued weekly sessions on critiquing members’ pictures. Don’t procrastinate. Sign up and experience the ride as you progress through the craft of becoming a successful photographer! I’m sure I have!