Enhancing The Canvey Beat

I AM A LATE CONVERT to digital photography. Colleagues told me I was an ‘old stick-in-the-mud’ and that the new medium was coming of age. ‘Try it,’ they told me. ‘You’ll love it.’

So I did.

And it turns out I do.

At first I remained unconvinced, so, instead of investing all my hard earned cash in a top-of-the-range Nikon, I decided to opt for a special-offer D40 body with a couple of decent Nikkor lenses. Limiting myself to just 3008 x 2000 pixels, I decided, would still ensure that I could illustrate my feature articles with decent images capable of being used for a two-page spread. And I was right. But, what I didn’t like was the limits the D40 imposed upon me for stock.

To my surprise I found that the inevitable quality found in the Nikon kit could enable A2 posters to be produced. But there was absolutely no margin for error. What I missed was the ability to make a post-shot crop and shoot faster (or slower) than ISO 200 – whilst still retaining quality.

And I missed other things too. The D40 has no depth-of-field preview – and no bracketing feature; but, in all other respects, it met my initial requirements.

I have rarely used the kit for Canvey Beat coverage – mainly because I only take photographs that I know I can sell or make use of in Photoshop. If I don’t think an image has commercial potential or creative opportunities: I tend to ignore it.

These days, of course, visitors expect to find embedded video along with decent photographic coverage in the articles they read on the Web. But, unlike photographic stills, video has little resale value – which is why I have always ignored it.

Perhaps it is time to rethink my assumptions.

Moving the Canvey Beat to Google’s BlogSpot has shown me that money can be earned – quite easily. That organisation’s AdSense program is already helping to pay for my petrol expenses, and, having just provided a facility to sell photographic prints of my images online, via PhotoBox, I have now enabled a further revenue stream.

The omens are now good for making the Canvey Beat a commercial venture after all. Good enough for me to invest in a top-line Nikon body (with all the professional features I need – along with a video facility).

Sometimes, video is the only way of visually communicating the heart of a story. An instance that immediately comes to mind is Canvey’s Seaside Pool issue. Still shots of the pool, and others of its crumbling infrastructure, are suitable for illustrating a technical report; but no single image can stand on its own to bolster reader understanding on a simple Blog post. Here, video comes into its own – enabling readers to see a contextual shot of the pool and its surroundings, before being drawn into various close-ups of the areas being reported on. It still remains the case that such footage has virtually no commercial value; but placing the video on a post can attract more readers to it. And more readers provide more opportunities to have a proportion of them click on the Blog’s advertising links.

So I have decided to enhance the Canvey Beat’s coverage. Once the new Nikon arrives, and I have it calibrated, I will be venturing forth into the community to gather some local stock to illustrate future articles. And I will also be taking some candid shots of the locals going about their business.

I doubt if I will ever be able to place a feature about Castle Point; but I do intend to begin providing photo coverage of its people and places to impart a flavour of what it means to live here. And visitors will be able to purchase my stills (virtually at cost for a small album print) to help reward my time. And, for those who find themselves the subject of one of my candids, they will even be able to purchase an A2 poster print from as little as fifteen-and-a-half quid. (Just the ticket for someone’s birthday).

As a community Blog, it is my intention to keep the Canvey Beat’s photo prices as low as reasonably possible.