In a world full of blogs I always welcome the folk who spend the time to bob in , have a look around and leave muttering and shaking their collective heads.. and with the tools available I can always see where folk are bobbing in from and it's usually a fair old mix, lot from China, all the western european states and USA with regular callers from Nigeria and the middle east and then... all of a sudden there are visits from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Romania, all from referring website and also with an increase in  3 letter acronyms  in the search results now it could be nothing, I've contacted my website provider to see what they say but there is also the possibility of crypto currency mining.
​Now here is a link to Quartz about how to spot anything happening in the dusty bowels of your computer...I'm off to have a play with Task manager... be safe out there folks, you may never know who is creeping in unannounced through your back door!!

I was at Pont Aven shooting some video clips and this strong winter light was causing all kinds of exposure problems, 1/50th at 25fps even at the lowest video iso of 100 meant I was still over exposing fully stopped down...so a quick rummage in the crusty bits of the camera bag to find the ND10x filters which meant some work was done although it's an almighty faff with screw in NDs to focus, screw them back on and get filming ( I know get some Lee ones) anyhow after filming I took a trip to Trevignon and as the tide was out did some rock clambering to get a bit of seascape clips and then thought meh...why not some Long exposures...and here they are, well just a few..I've probably bored you to tears with all this previous waffle ..may your visit from the beast from the east be brief but full of Photo opps...

There are so many photography apps out there and I do admit to downloading far too many in my search for something that I could find useful...don't get me started about light meters though..I've got  a full screen of those little blighters..anyhow I've used this one before a few times it's LogExPro   
Now all the next images are done with this...I'm using either 2 or 8 seconds for the exposures and as they are on the iphone I've given them a tweak in Lightroom Mobile or whatever they've named it now..puled them off the icloud and walloped them on here...the trick is getting the movement you want matched to the time that you are using..now there are tools in LongExPro that enable you to wind back time and I'm sure if you wanted to you could combine various 'saved' states of the images and bring them together in Photoshop or whatever flavour of imaging software you partake of..
​Now all these images are from a coastal walk I did at Carantec over looking the Chateaux de Taureaux yesterday so a lot of bare trees and picket fences in this strong winter light we are having at the moment...here are some more.

2 things got me working on this...the awful weather..okay easily combated with the right clothes but it's been so cold and so wet...we've had a tanker here to pump out lying water..the wells are all full and there is nowhere else for it to go...and the reception that  Retrograde  got...many hits from all over the place. So I've reworked and standardised a clump of mono images but with hardly any thematic discourse...just stuff I've done over the years and to be honest...mainly with my hard working and totally reliable Nikon 20mm F2.8 and all these conversions have been done in Photoshop CC...sometimes the 20mm had an ND110 screwed on and sometimes not so if the weather is grim with you I hope looking at these may pass a bit of time..

...the animation  of...or cinemagraphs or never ending looped thingy.... I seem to have cracked it but to what purpose??  Could always boost my Instagram profile (!) once you have the formula though chopping up short clips into seamless rolling images is quite mesmerising here are some mind altering images from Armand Djicks that could be classed as eyeball popping and something to fill those long winter months faffing around on your computer trying to get something close ....not quite seamless but amazing work... they do end up as large files though so please excuse the 'squashed pixel nature' of the files I'm posting  I'll leave you with another one

Nothing like sitting around waiting for that new piece of kit to be delivered, tracking it online , seeing it's out for delivery and then giving a shrug as the online tracking page shows it's back in the depot...a story played out many hundreds of times over the Christmas period....oh Happy New Year peeps...so I've had a bit of a look back on the Manchester years...all the images above are from there and so, I thought why not whack a few together whilst I'm waiting for the pack to arrive, it's a fluid Pan Tilt system so that should open up a few more video possibilities...anyway these are from a period of 4 years or so...now here's the thing I used to do talks to Camera Clubs  usually with a sackful of this type of thing to show, it sometimes felt as though I was in my pants eviscerating hamsters by some of the reaction, but there again I didn't set out to please all of the people all of the time just try and get the images out of my head..happy daze.....and who is not to say I may run back to this once I get all the videoing out of my system....(260 now online at getty if you want to snatch a look) right back to forlornly looking out of the window wishing my parcel would arrive...maybe tomorrow.

Happy New year one and all, greeted with howling gales, heavy rain interspersed with hail so time to sit down for a bit of a faff. So no sniggering at the back this is my first animated looping GIF as well as looking at layering video files up....meh...I really have learnt a lot from just this one image and there are plenty of how to do it things out there on the web, I'm still learning so I wouldn't be as bold as to stick something online with a 'This is how it's done' label smacked on to it...any way...I seem to have got the hang of saving...now just a jump into making them seamless, beats standing out in the wind and rain  and like yesterday..exfoliating sandstorm and wind whipped plankton up at Keremma...dedication.... ..Bonne annee, bonne fête et bisou bisou

So much rain...I know it's not snow and photogenic opportunities for rain are quite limited, especially when it's tied in with the howling gales we have here up in the hills. It's all a bit frustrating, I have all my Cyanotype negatives and paper sorted, no sunlight so they are just lying around, went out video shooting at Meneham the other day and the wind was causing the tripod to shake so that was a waste of time and although I've managed to secure a lot of DP paper for the 10 x 8 pinhole camera the complete grey fug out of light and aforementioned howling gale /driving rain combo puts that on the back boiler as well...so...looks like it might be a full session of thinking up keywords..now one of the good things...no great things about uploading clips to Getty is that they only want a maximum of 8 keywords for video clips...then they add all the rest, which I think is a good deal compared to uploading photographs which can cause intense brain ache/ despair/rsi and the even better news is that I'm almost up to date with all the video stuff I've shot, so click on the image above and it will whisk you over to Getty where you can just roll over to get an idea of the motion in the images...180 and rising......better use of time than standing on a sand dune, howling gale in your face and soggy camera equipment to pack away for a sunnier time.

I've made my eyes bleed and head hurt by watching (almost) every training tutorial on the merits of After Effects and Premiere...there are things in there that I would use if I was film making rather than clip producing...that's what I do at the moment 10 to 15 seconds of somewhere at sometime that might be of interest to someone... so Photoshop...there is a 'Motion' workspace available for one to take the bat to imagery and beat it into something desirous but as I have over...I can't believe this 25 years of acronym based image bashing in Photoshop ... how can this be as, if I don't look in the mirror, I'm only 26...so I stick with the 'Photography' workspace and add Timeline from the 'Window' drop down menu...then you can save it as a 'New Workspace' with whatever tabs , bells and whistles you like, and that is the workspace you see above...Home, comfy, somewhere to put my feet up and bask in the glow of flaming jpegs..
So I've slung together some timelapses and one bit of slo-mo (60 fps taken down to 25fps) with some more tinkling from Barryvan off of that free music archive site... cobbled up in that comfy Photoshop window that I call home.

It must be getting near Christmas around here because the barking mad stuff has started...I love what they do at Chateaux Trevarez each year..it's usually LEON which of course is NOEL backwards and that's the slant they apply to it. This year we have Alice in Wonderland, okay not really Christmas but fits in with the general celebratory ethos here...What no Boxing Day !!! you bet cha...back to work and no messing so why not adopt Alice as a Christmas theme. I've got to say it really is quite impressive as most of the exhibits are constructed from rolled up corrugated card and papier mache. So here is a selection of photo ramblings from this non festive yuletide festivity.!!!

​Tech notes..Nikon D750, 50mm f1.8 at between F2 and F3.2 1600 iso hand held a wafty Lightroom mono conversion(could have done it in camera I suppose) and cropped 16 : 9

You may have got the impression that I'm always at the seaside slip sliding, time lapsing and generally trying to not get wet feet...now that's partially true..there is so much material around this quite magnificent coastline to keep me occupied until my eyes really fade and a comfy chair and daytime TV become the mainstay of my waking hours...but there is also a great deal of undiscovered country, especially around where I live in the Parcs d'Armorique in Central Brittany. So above is a selection of my clips off of that Getty images and they all happen to be from this patch of land I have  and am grappling nature with for dominance...equal on points at the moment but getting there. So I've linked the above image to the web page and you can roll over and they'll play or click on them and just press play. 
Overhauled my new slider as there was far too much play in the auto tracking  doohickey but now everything is as tight as tight can be...whether this will blow the stepper motor I'll find out in a few minutes as I'll do a bit of testing...onwards...ever onwards

So I've spent a crazy amount of time learning as much as I need to know about Adobe Premiere and After Effects...and then....and then...I realise I can do all I need to do in Photoshop.. DOH!!!!!!
Still it may come in useful at some point...so here is a little set of clips mainly from October from up on the Northern Breton coast, the crop is  in a 24 to 9 proportion, you've got to be so careful on the mono conversion as you are dealing with teeny tiny non raw files so if it's blown it's blown but the D750 does a good job on the tonal range EV. Music is from freemusicarchive ..some mad stuff in there but if you kiss enough frogs you'll find a Prince. This is rendered out as an H264 mp4 HQ 1920 x 720 and should look okay as long as you are not trying to stick it onto a 60" monster TV
It's been, as ever, a good learning exercise...oh and TFI friday yet again everyone...see you on the other side.

Now as well as a lot of video clips I'm doing time lapse, all kinds of subjects, chuck them at the barn door see what sticks...now in the Nikon D750 you have the option of taking a time lapse  in the 'old' fangled way of a great run of images which you then cobble together in your favourite programme to produce your clip ...and you can sit back and be aghast at all the faults that pop up..the one above is a case in point...variance in exposures and color balance...all is not lost because there is a programme that sorts this out and I've just downloaded a trial to see how well it does it's called LRT timelapse      
I'll give it a go in that 5 minute window of nothingness that I'm still trying to find...now back to the D750...it lets you record a timelapse but as a movie, which having peeked into a few forums gets some raw munching folk a weency bit hot under the collar...but for me it's a perfect dovetail joint fit...it allows exposure smoothing, auto iso and all the other doohickey tricks that are tucked away in your D750 menu system and you can shoot in aperture or shutter priority not locking everything down in manual so here is one I made earlier, well yesterday in fact, the very one where the 2 blokes with semi automatics stopped by to say 'Bonjour'... So this was shot in Timelapse Movie mode in aperture priority, auto iso and left to do it's thing...just a waft of levels in Photoshop and ...here is the real kicker..a file size of 6mb not 450 stonking Raw files...

 Okay first batch of Digital negatives printed out.. only a couple of initial errors...invert and flip.......nitwit.....still I printed onto paper first to check...handy hint for those of you that might want to give this a go.
Negatives are printed onto Permajet Digital transfer film      
​Now I'm printing using a Canon Pixma 9500 mk 111, the printed area being 10 x 6.5 inches centered inside an A4 sheet
Now what this will do is enable me to register the negative onto a coated A4 piece of fine art watercolour paper without having to provide registration marks and use an A4 piece of glass, in or out of an A4 frame to keep the negative and paper in close proximity. Easy to scale up to A3 DNT film and do the same kind of thing but I'll stick with the A4 size first
The chemicals I'm using are from Jaquard and all the way from the US of A even though I ordered of amazon uk although it did take 12 days to arrive from order date..
So all I need is a bit of UV, I'm sure there is some outside but as it's sheeting rain I think I'll give it a miss until tomorrow... I'll post when the deed is done.

Update on the video front for those who have a passing interest. Stuff going on to Getty as I type and also have a lot of clips going on to Pond 5. Getty for the 'exclusive 'stuff and Pond 5 for the not so ....anyway. I seem to have my brain wrapped around what specifications are desirous and am jaunting around Brittany recording all the stuff I've had locked away in my head from these past 3 years.  This clip is from this morning's misty sunrise over the village shot over 15 minutes and then reduced to this little clip....Cyanotype chemicals arrived (finally) this morning but the weather looks like it's going to be grey and miserable  so codecs and keywords look more likely to be on the menu... TFI Friday out there in Photo land....

Ah dear reader you are probably thinking...' Haven't you got enough on your plate, what with the slip sliding, time lapsing video doofering about...old man...' ?? Heck no, clock change this weekend means the darkroom (downstairs loo) becomes far more usable and with the leaves a falling project Pinhole will be swept into action...Pinhole...yes the 10 x 8 stuff, Harman Titan Ilford DPP that I hornswoggled from any site that had it and now sits boxed and cool, ready for me to be standing around in bare branched woodland for possibly hours and hours...or at least until the sun sets by 4 ish... try finding some...like gold dust, DP Paper that is...
Digital Negatives, keen eyed visitors will probably have noticed that I really don't post anything to photo sharing sites anymore...let's not get into the likey sharey please love me thingy again...but most of my image making is geared towards Image lIbrary work, Video stuff has been accepted so the hundreds of clips polished and primed will be heading off to their collective new existence v.v. soon...so Digital Negatives...this time I've started so I'll finish...I'm now more interested in prints for what can best be described as 'Personal Work' and for printing that will be Cyanotypes, most likely toned with Tannic acid. Now this is where the Digital Negatives come in...as you can see from the image above I have set up a template  using guides and then created a stack using groups which can be toggled on and off...the images prior to printing on Permajet Digital Transfer film will be inverted and also coloured orange...I know colour negs onto a single tone image....it's all about the UV and as Cyanotypes mainly react to light in the UV spectrum what better way to boost the negative than hop onto the opposite side of the colourwheel to give the negative some density....you'll be the first ones to see...oh and they will be on sale exclusively through a rather upmarket gallery...time to crack on...

The ability to shoot video with your Dslr is a pretty straightforward thing...switch to manual..check..turn the screen to video...check...shutter speed twice the frame rate you are shooting at... press the tiny red button instead of the shutter button...check....  spend hours on Youtube on all the tricks, tips, cheats and what nots to do whilst wading through adverts for men of a certain age losing belly fat to become irresistable to bikini clad women...check...and like when the first day of primary school is upon you..no safety net of parenting and a whole host of new experiences to survive...and with a strong tailwind and the ability to chuck the duffers into the bin you have...I have, some usable video footage...or so I thought...
Now I'm shooting Video clips for one reason...Stock Image Libraries I have still images out there on the big 3,  Getty, Adobe Stock and Alamy but  to increase my sales base (trying not to laugh too hard at that bit) I thought 'Lets give it a go...' and I have some slidy, panning, still, motion, walking clips...and then we come to codecs...as I write my head is shaking but not in a positive fashion...In this video clip world I am still young and foolish , led on by the ease in which you can 'edit clips in Lightroom and Photoshop  with the ability to Export and Render....but not into the codecs needed by my Stock libraries..here is the definition
co·dec
ˈkōdek/
noun

1. a device or program that compresses data to enable faster transmission and decompresses received data.

Now I work on a PC...no shame in that but what if your 'client ' wants your video footage in Pro res 422 or 444....hmmm no idea!!! and then you find that it's an Apple codec that is not available on PC's So I have been on various forums populated by folk who really need some anger management training, made google do back flips whilst refining my searches to even finer detail and then after trying various 'easy to use' downloads hit upon a wheeze that has eased the deep crevices in my furrowed brow...Quicktime Player Pro...you know the one we all had to bin because of 'internet safety concerns' and also the fact that Apple stopped any support for it...so now I import my clips into Quicktime Player and then export render..into Apple friendly codecs that...unbelieveably were accepted on my Libraries and are awaiting the steely eye of QC to cast it's opinions on them...now even if the dark side of the Web attempts a back door smash and grab through Quicktime I can stop breathing into a paper bag and relax knowing that this minor battle in the war to upload video clips has been won

First turn down the volume...I've not deleted the howling gale/jet engine noise that is attached to this.... so putting the technicalities into a practicality context...still juggling with soot one handed at the moment but getting there, learning more about stability and set up whilst tying in some correct framing and frame rates....ND filters definitely needed in bright sunny conditions as running at 25fps which equates to a shutter speed of 1/50th and I don't want to shut down to F22...makes sense to someone I suppose...right off out again....

The Autumn/ Winter season of  creativity is now in full swing, if you missed it the last blog post Leftfield and gallery Maison du fromage     well , they are up and running, my Video/ timelapse slider finally arrived, lithium batteries giving customs a bit of a tizzy fit apparently so played with that all day yesterday and now on to something I've put off for a while...Emulsion Lifting. There are many a fine video tutorial on that Youtube and there is a whole stack of duffers so here is what I've learnt...
I don't cut anything, just peel apart and then ease off the gluey edge surrounding the image area with the back of a brush
I use 2 trays of tepid water, first to get chemicals off the back, (dried white stuff) but using a very soft brush so not to scrape the emulsion and the second, very shallow to ease onto the paper
Finally I use an Ikea egg flipper to hold the image onto the paper when lifting out of the tray

by not cutting around the frame of the Polaroid the lovely Impossible Polaroid edge remains intact. Excuse the photo as it's an iphone in grim light. Ooofff lots to do, this image above was just for experimental reasons to see how the technique works but I quite like it...we'll see where this one goes to...TFI friday everyone   (Lawks it's nearly October)

Nothing to fear but fear itself...okay paraphrasing  FD Roosevelt is probably leaning on the 'Too Heavy' button this early on a misty autumnal weekend but like the attitude of Millwall fans 'No one likes us  we don't care' the Like or Fave or Please , please comment and share has become part of the fabric of Photo sharing on the Interweb. Okay back in the day I've got to say I was sometimes(lots of times) slightly miffed that another crowd pleaser had had been gently rolled into the recycle bin of solitary confinement...but I was younger and eager to get my way of seeing out to an audience that was wider than my cat and some close relatives..but then....
Things have changed for me, maybe age is helping as testosterone levels recede to be replaced by the need for comfier slippers and 'Something decent to watch on the Tellybox'...maybe it's because now, I really don't give a monkeys chuff about what folk think about my imageneering/photography and the only audience that really matters is , well me, me  actually creating something that I can say...'Hmmm Yep....' to So I present to you dear reader , a batch from leftfield, there is no depth, angst or wrenching going on, just a production of some new images that I quite like.....(please press as many fave /like buttons you can find on this page as I'm really really quite shallow and need the reassurance that a fave strike will give me...................)