Adam Monk Photo Tours & Images Gallery
We make Dreams come true.
Come with us to explore the almost limitless possibilities of the world of photography. To wonder, to learn, to be inspired, to create images you have only dreamed of with Photo tours to some of the worlds most amazing places with your guide and mentor Adam Monk.
Latest Photo Tours – Come explore the world with us.
Beauty of Bhutan
Happiness really is a place.
Oct 28-Nov 11, 2025
Just 6 places left
Karijini Gorges
Landscapes like no other
03-09 June, 2025
Booking Fast
Japan Autumn Colour
More than Just Autumn Colour
Nov 19-Dec 01, 2025
Just 3 places left
Nailing the Exposure-The Histogram
I shot all my early images on large format film, with a hand held light meter, so I can tell you there are a few big things that make digital cameras such a huge leap from film. Such as…
- Instant feedback – you can see it the moment you shoot it.
- Much broader dynamic range – digital captures the extremes so much better.
- The Histogram… Why? Keep reading…
Shoot into the light? – How?
Relying on your light meter…
…Continuing on from this Previous Post
One of the main difficulties you will encounter when shooting into the light is that your light meter will almost certainly produce a dud result. Your camera’s light meter assumes a subject of mid tone grey, so to balance the tones with the intense bright light coming straight into the lens it will show your subjects as black silhouettes, usually with no detail information in the shadows.
Your image will usually turn out very dark…
Into the Light Photography
I still remember reading the exposure guide pictograms on the Kodachrome 64 box when I was young. It showed in wonderfully simple graphics how you should always shoot portraits with the sun over your left or right shoulder so that the bright sunlight shines directly onto your subject, and never with the sun in front of you shining into your camera lens… This gave us many generations of family photos of people with screwed up faces as they squinted directly into the bright sun.
Into the Light for Drama
Regardless of what the old Kodak film box says, shooting into the light can produce some stunning results if you are careful with your exposure and practise a little.
It’s not going to be right for every subject, but there are many situations when an image shot into the light can add enormous drama to a scene, especially if you can create strong shapes and take advantage of the shadows produced.
The image to the right was taken at the Mongar Tshechu, a cultural festival in the far East of Bhutan, shooting into the light, deliberately.
Look at the shadow stretching out in front of the dancer, see how it’s adding so much to the narrative and the dynamic nature of the image?
You could even say that the subject of this image is the dancers shadow rather than the dancer himself.
This shadow also gives a real 3D depth to the image, something that can be difficult to achieve with a 2D medium like photography.
Travel Insurance Traps
Travelling is back, bigger and better than ever. Well, the bills are bigger… better is all relative. Relative to not being able to travel at all it’s definitely better. Something nobody wants to think about when planning a big adventure is Travel Insurance… its expensive, and unless something actually goes wrong you never really know what you are getting.
Winter in Japan 2024 – Almost Full
My winter Japan Photo tour is back, bigger and better than ever… actually it’s smaller than ever, as I am now taking just 6 participants for 13 days of wildlife and minimalist landscapes in the beauty of Northern Japan.
