Simple Photography Tips - How to photograph the worlds markets

Six simple photography tips on what to do when faced with unusual opportunities- Camera and Phone-Camera

• Have a coffee and look, until the scenes unfold

• Be polite to the traders, some will refuse to let you photograph - just move on

• Awnings can be great for soft light

• If you have lens options, then experiment

• check the depth of field and shutter-speed if you're using a camera or latest model phone

• Buy some and eat some, you'll getter response from the trader

• Put some on your kitchen wall as prints

  
  

Perhaps you're on holiday, perhaps you live in a city, or near a market town. There are so many similar places in the world where you can go to the local market.

They are essentially the same, but different. I recall going with local friends to buy some supplies at a market in Southern Sudan, other friends to Herne Hill in London, with my family to numerous locations in France, different goods on sale, but the same mix of usually smiley people. Or to my local market Salisbury Market which has been trading for pushing on a thousand years.

What they all have in common is that they are one of the best places to visit, with your camera or phone-camera. You can photograph people, often with real character showing, if the light is kind there are opportunities to take really atmospheric photographs, and you can get in close and photograph food in it's rawest state.

But first, you need to spend time looking, then you will see, and then you will get the most satisfaction from your photographs.

On a recent trip to Majorca, we went to buy food and pottery, and take photographs of Inca. Arriving at Inca Market, we did our shopping, and then went to find coffee.

Image One - Eduardo prepping our coffee

Now there's this amazing guy, Eduardo by name, from Beunos Aires, who has set up his own coffee company - Cruz Coffee, roasts it himself, and sells it at some of the Majorcan Markets, and more importantly for us, makes a great cup of coffee.

So we sat and sipped, and looked at the scene, and we gradually noticed more and more things. There's a series of photographs for another blog, taken directly as a result of sitting, looking and seeing from the coffee guy's chairs.

What I want to give today, by way of simple photography tips, is some encouragement to hone in on the food you see in whatever market you visit.

I'm concentrating on fruit and veg, with a few sardines thrown in. But these are tips, mostly generic, that are applicable elsewhere in the market.

Image Two - cutting local cheese, with figs and sun-dried tomatoes

Image two, we succumbed to some wonderful cheese at a stand that was selling local fruit and vegetables. Just one type of cheese, two different ages, but we figured out it was likely to be as local and as not mass-produced as you could get.

As a whole it's an Ok shot of a market trader cutting cheese, focusing on the job, in the background are traders and punters breaking off for refreshment and a chat. As much as I loathe plastic crates (and most things plastic) they are part of the scene.

Had I been using a camera or a later version of iphone, I might have used depth of field adjustment to throw the background out of focus. But actually I feel it may add to the atmosphere.

In the foreground you can see figs and sun-dried tomatoes, One simple tip here is to compose your picture to heep the yukky packaging out of the image.

Image Three - Tomatoes

Images Three, Four & Five are a variation on a theme of tomatoes. All three have things in common, one of which is that they're fresh, and I've composed each in such a way that the main focal points sit on the 'intersecting thirds' those little places that excites the visual cortex in your brain, and help the picture 'ping'.

Image Four - Tomatoes

Image Four, I've taken at such an angle and distance that the upper tomato is just slightly out of focus, bringing the eye down to the totally sharp lower one.

Image Five - Tomatoes

Image Five; sometimes the market traders slice products to show the ripeness of the inside. This has happened here. The trilogy would make quite a fun set of wall prints for your kitchen.

Image Six - Sardines I

Image Six to Eight. Earlier on I spoke about grotty packaging, here I love it. Sardines for sale on this market stall, are packed in a way they have been for centuries, in wooden barrels. The first image is taken in a nearly empty barrel, with just a few fish still laid tight , and at the top, the stragglers, and the wood of the barrel.

Image Seven - Sardines II

Image Eight - Sardines III

Images Seven and Eight amuse me. They are very similar, same main fish, just variations on positioning, and angle. I consulted my discerningly opinionated family as to which they preferred, intending to only post the favourite.

They are both here, as the opinion was evenly split! It just shows you that images and art are a matter of personal preference. The same with photographic art.

Image Nine - Chillies I

Images Nine to Twelve. Different subjects, different angles and perspectives, and light.

With Image Nine, there was a lot of choice of chilli's, some strung, others loose. I've chosen the loose. It was quite a challenge to choose my subject, as they are so lightweight that they don't align easily, so choosing one that was a good colour and stood out was hard. But worth it.

With both this and the sun-dried tomatoes, they are under an awning, with the muted light. This can be a huge advantage with something like the these two. Their shiny skin would highlight very easily, resulting in loss of depeth of colour. Something to remember and keep and eye on.

Image Ten - Sun-dried tomatoes

Image ten was a result of choosing betwen two differently presented offerings. In Image two, at the top of this blog, they are shown with no Bay leaves. They made an interesting image, but I preferred the Bay Leaf option.

Image Eleven - Dates

The dates looked yummy, and were. Unlike the chillies they are packed in regiments, and it was a case of choosing your date by the light and the texture.

Image Twelve - Gherkins and Olives

Image Twelve, was for me, an exciting shot to take. It was a challenge to find the right balance of gherkins and olives, and so often these are shaded by the awnings. In this case they were sunlit, and in beautiful terracotta bowls.

I hope these images will change your visits to the markets of the world, and that one day there will be images of a similar ilk on your kitchen wall

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