For photographers who rely on glasses for corrected vision, things can get a bit tricky on occasion. Of course, for taking basic photos glasses don’t really get in the way – you can either take them off and put your eye up close to your camera when shooting a photo, or simply wear your glasses and stay back an inch from the eyepiece. But if your’e truly focusing on your photography and would like to take carefully planned, thoroughly focused, high quality pictures, you might want to figure out a way to do so without relying heavily on your prescription eyeglasses.

For some photographers, the simplest way to go about this problem is to look into securing a prescription for Acuvue brand contact lenses. Contacts of course can provide you with perfect vision, and eliminate the potential physical issue of not being able to put your eye directly against your camera’s eyepiece. However, for some photographers – those who are uncomfortable in contact lenses, or those who prefer glasses for other reasons – contacts may be a bit of a dramatic solution to this common problem. Fortunately, there is another way to compensate for the issue of glasses on photographers: take advantage of the dioptric adjustment featured on many DSLR cameras.

Many people – even experienced photographers – don’t even notice the small dial often located just to the right of the eyepiece on many digital cameras. This dial is the dioptric adjustment, and it controls a lens that can alter the way in which a photographer sees an image through the eyepiece, according to corrective vision needs. It is important to note that the dioptric adjustment won’t change the way in which a camera picks up an image – only the way in which you view and focus on said image through the camera’s eyepiece.

Basically, if you have ever been to an eye doctor to have your vision checked, you will understand the basic function of the dioptric adjustment. It works in the same way as the dials an eye doctor cycles through to determine which you see through most clearly. The best way to focus your dioptric adjustment is to set your camera on a flat surface and focus it on a line of text (perhaps on a poster across the room). You can then look through your eyepiece at the text, essentially simulating an eye exam until you find a position on the adjustment that is clearest for you.

Once you figure out how to use and focus your dioptric adjustment, you will have another option when it comes to taking photos while relying on glasses, as your eyepiece will provide some level of corrected vision on its own. For some professionals this is a fairly basic concept and method – but for those unaware of the adjustment and its purpose, using the dioptric adjustment can offer a great solution.

If you are a keen photographer, then you are sure to enjoy going on photography themed vacations with other creative and artistic people. There are so many places across the world which boast stunning landscapes, from the ancient Great Wall of China to the vibrant marine life of the Great Barrier Reef. However, not many people think about visiting Sweden for photography.

Sweden is an incredible country but it is often left out by those who only venture about Southern, Central or Eastern Europe. Sweden not only has spectacular cityscapes, but you will also find pastoral landscapes which boast dense green forests, as well as cosy cottages scattered across the Stockholm Archipelago. So before you start planning your trip, why not brush up on your photography skills by practising a few techniques at home?

Begin with the shutter speed. You can practise using various shutter speeds by photographing moving objects around your house or going outside and capturing the movement of cars outside. alternatively, stay indoors and use a family member as your subject, or if you are a fan of poker and often play at partypoker se then get your poker chips out and try this technique:

Set your camera up on a tripod and flip a poker chip in front of the lens – lower the shutter speed so you end up with a photo which captures the chip’s twists and turns as it flies through the air. You can use this technique when you are in The Swedish Royal Capital and you want to capture the busy and bustling atmosphere of the city. The Swedish Royal Capital is known for its remarkable modernity, progressiveness and trend sensitivity, so you might even be able to get some fashion-inspired photography shots there too.

Sweden is also known for its pastoral countryside filled with ancient Viking burial grounds, as well as vibrant flowers and wildlife. To capture the detail in a flower, it is best you use a fixed lens like a 25mm lens. This will help you capture immense detail on the subject whilst blurring out the background, You could practise this style of photography by taking close-up shots of flowers in your garden, or even your poker chip or a fake flower if it’s a rainy day outside. Remember to widen your aperture so you can get as much light and detail into your frame.

A great place where you can put these skills to practise is in Skåne. It is a photographer’s paradise since you can indulge in fantastic views and exciting natural phenomena as well photograph in complete silence and tranquillity. It’s the perfect place for photographing flowers, exploring the forests and capturing sunsets.

Now for sale, my 2013 Photo Calendar featuring some of my favourite landscape and travel photos with a different theme or location each month. The calendar is A3 spiral bound with high quality colourful printing on glossy laminated 250gsm premium card.

£15 each plus £2.50 UK postage and packaging. Use the button below to order yours via paypal now.

UPDATE: 1st print run completely sold out, thanks! If there is enough demand I will get some more produced

UPDATE 2: I have had some more copies produced and they are now available again

Here’s some photos from a recent job for Kwik Fit Wednesbury via PR agency Citigate Dewe Rogerson. My contemporary style benefits businesses that want to stand out with their imagery. I always shoot a variety of angles and compositions so editors can be flexible with their layouts, and make sure to include all the necessary corporate branding in as many shots as possible. Most PR photography jobs I undertake only take 30-60 minutes on-site so are really cost-effective for the client. With time-sensitive events and news I always make an effort to edit and deliver images the same day so they can go straight to print.

I set up different shots around the show home with different products and a variety of different cats & kittens. I used a large softbox balanced with ambient to give natural lighting, and used some of the same compositions for video clips. I set up a mobile studio for the on-white shots.

“Egner photography visually provided us an excellent portrayal of our products both in use and as stock items. Working with Cats for the first time we were delighted with the shots and suggestions Ian came up with and our portfolio is now being used worldwide.
Without doubt we would highly recommend Egner photography.” – Samantha Marsh, Tigga Towers

Shirt - George, Jeans - South, Boots - Chix

Dress - South, Belt - New Look

Models: Sam Joesbury & Kim Joesbury
Makeup Artist: Emily Beevers
Styling: Sam Joesbury
Assistant: Andrew @ Timelock

Jumper - New Look, Jeans - South, Shoes - F+F

We wanted to start with a fresh clean skin and achieved this by cleansing the skin with Vichy Cleansing Water followed by Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentre to moisturise the skin, leaving it feeling clear, soft and extremely smooth. Estée Lauder Doublewear Foundation applied very gradually with a combination of a foundation brush & makeup sponge gave us a fresh faced natural base for the look. We gave the eye area an instant radiance boost with YSL Touché Éclat to keep them invigorated.

For the cheeks we used a soft peachy shade of MAC Powder Blush to add a warm glow to the skin. The deep mysterious eyes paired with the nude lips balanced out the look making it powerful yet still well suited to the rustic surroundings. – Emily, Makeup Artist

Top - Love Label, Jeans - South, Boots - Chix

Featured in En Vie Magazine June 2012 Issue – Available for download here

Hat - George, Earrings - George, Jumper - South

Top - Peacocks

Dress - Teatro

M40 Motorway, Oxfordshire

Over the past year or so I’ve been working on a series of long-exposure photos of a variety of motorways and roads throughout the UK and Europe. In theory the technique is simple but I’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the location scouting, exposure and camera settings, composition, weather and post-processing that’s gone into these photos. In the future I’ll be sharing a how-to video with some new and unique tips!

M25/A2 Dartford Junction

M6 Traffic Jam nr. Stafford

M40 Chinnor Gap

Peak District nr. Barbers Booth

R-73 Stockholm

M5 Roadworks nr. Birmingham

M40 nr. Thame

Uraniastrasse Zurich

M6 nr. Stoke-on-Trent

I’m delighted to announce that I was recently signed by the world’s leading independent travel photography specialist; Robert Harding World Imagery, and my photos now represented by them. I’ll be submitting all my new travel & landscape photography here where it will be available for commercial and editorial use under rights managed license. Check out my growing collection here.

What you’ll need

• Any digital camera with a clock
• A smartphone (I use iPhone but most should be fine)
• A gps tracking app for your phone that can great gpx files
  • iPhone – Tracks (Free)
  • Android – Geotag Photos ($2.99 or free version)
  • Palm, Nokia etc – There’s lots of options available, just make sure it can export a .gpx file of your track.
• Lightroom 4 – An amazing piece of software for mac or windows and well worth buying anyway! You can get a 30 day free trial here

Step by step guide

Click the thumbnails for instructions

Summary

It might seem like a lot of extra work at first, but if you get in the habit of doing this with every trip, and make it a part of your workflow, it will help you build up a rich geographic library of your images!

Francesco Group is one of the largest, award winning hairdressing companies in the UK and their Eccleshall, Staffordshire Salon needed some new photos for marketing and competition entries. I was given the brief “stylish, beautiful and luxurious” and aimed to capture the hair stylists’ cuts and colours in the best possible light. To achieve the look I set up a full-size strobist studio in the Salon, complete with iMac for instant wireless proofing.

“The overall quality of the photos was so good it made the final selection very difficult. We were very impressed by the bespoke photographic style and retouching. Thanks for a great shoot!” – Kev & The Team @ FG Eccleshall

“We hired Ian to create a portolio of photographs that we could use on our website, printed materials and event slideshows. Ian helped us to choose the right conditions, and travelled with us to Shropshire and the West Midlands to find timeless locations. Ian involved us at every stage of the shoot: this is because Ian gave us his iPad upon which we could view the pictures as he took them. This helped us to change aspects of our Daimler and helped us all to get that ‘perfect shot’. Ian assisted us with the photographs from the planning to the poster creation and engaging with our printers: this holistic approach was fundamental in our choice to use Ian, as total solutions and continuity offer us not only value for money, but a seamless quality marketing approach.” – Terry Jenkins, Darwin Classic Cars

Andy Peters is an amateur bodybuilder and needed some new photos for an adonis body transformation competition. Strict competition rules meant that the photos couldn’t be edited, and had to be submitted immediately after the shoot, so I had to get everything right in camera and decided to shoot on a white background with cross and rim lighting to bring out muscle definition.

“I wholeheartedly recommend you get your photos taken by Ian Egner. He was friendly, welcoming, and knows how to make you look your best. He put me at ease, captured my best features and I was really impressed to see photos in high res as they were being taken, on the studio monitor. A definite recommendation” – Andrew Peters

The Lastolite Tri-Flash is a bracket designed to mount 3 hotshoe flashes (speedlites) onto one lightstand. Tripling your flash is really useful when you want to get extra power, or combining low powered output for faster flash recycle times. The bracket also has an umbrella holder which can be used for shoot-through or reflective brollies. I always use an umbrella to diffuse the triflash otherwise there can be problems with multiple shadows.

There are 4 versions of the triflash. The standard model (pictured above) is the one I own. The Triflash Shoe-Lock has screw locks for each hotshoe, but all my flashes have their own hotshoe lock. The Triflash Sync has a built in sync system, but all my flashes are wirelessly linked to my transmitter. Lastly the Joe McNally Triflash has rotating hotshoes, but all my flashes have tilt/rotate heads anyway so again this extra feature is redundant. If you use any of the canon ex speedlites or nikon sb-xxx speedlights with wireless triggers I’d recommend just getting the basic Triflash.

The one criticism I have of the triflash is that you can’t use it with a softbox, however lastolite have since introduced the quad bracket and ezybox. The triflash has become an essential part of my outdoor lighting kit. Whenever I’m competing with ambient light I find the extra power useful, and even if light isn’t as much of an issue the faster recycling makes shooting much easier.

Models: Rosie Burke, Vicki Cartwright & Lucy Carney. Makeup Artist: Harpreet Kaur. Hair Stylist: Bożena Starzewska

Bonus: Special offer – 15% off all products in the gallery before christmas with voucher code: 4F2C41