To warp boldly where no one has warped before...so more and more tools become available in Photoshop CC 2020 and other tools are enhanced, it's an ongoing thing and sometimes hard to keep up with the rate of change. I discovered facial recognition warping the other day in Photoshop...who knew?? Anyway this is an extension of the Transform tool Ctrl or Cmd T but then right  click the menu again and it opens up a new transform menu which is split warp transform, Now there are plenty of videos on the University of Youtube, here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TrVYkJ53Dg something that has all kind of possibilities.
​So it gives you targeted transform above is a shot of the SECC in Glasgow when I walked around and tried desperately not to repeat images from 2013 when I was last here . Watch the video and have some fun getting swoopy and bendy with any of your images.

There was a recent petapixel article about the 6 different types of photographer. https://petapixel.com/2020/01/27/there-are-6-photographer-types-which-one-are-you/
Nothing quite like being pigeon holed and being squeezed into some understandable conformity
Now the image above is engineered, just 2 shots that when brought together create their own reality. To create this I used the sparkly new tools in Photoshop...which was in its most basic form..select subject...mask...errrr job done.Now I'm old skool Photoshop from the day when masking not only was very complex but also sucked the life out of you computer chips and with the added possibility of it all ending up a bit meh... But in the latest iteration of Photoshop masking, even the complexity of hair against a background becomes fizzingly quick by just following some simple actions...have a look here https://www.behance.net/live/videos/4507/Photoshop-Daily-Creative-Challenge-Selecting-Masking
So the image above..shots taken by me, put together by me with a simple click in Photoshop...but is it still a Photograph?? a graphic, a montage, photo-realism???? Maybe we need more pigeon holes, maybe we need to stop pigeon holing, labelling, categorising, ha I still smile when after one of my camera club talks my images were described as 'Quirky'....so lets add that one to the petapixel article, I'm sure there are more and I'm sure every individual who shoots in their own way will have a category they could define for themselves, you know how you see...so label it, categorise and above all pigeon hole yourself

Some fine examples of street art under the arches along the A814 running close to the Clyde in Glasgow.

Properly grim and grisly weather up in Glasgow this last weekend, so here are a few from a wander down by the Clyde. Thee are some colourful Graffiti images to come after this but it was a proper grey fug out with the light.
​Since I was last here , probably about 10 years ago, the place has become a bit tatty around the edges, well here by the Clyde at the SECC and Transport Museum....hmmm...just saying.

Okay I may not be posting a lot of photos to social media, but copious amounts of video and stills photographic work has been heading off for a new life to my online agencies where, being ignored for great chunks of time awaits them. 
So what, in these dreek grievous winter months have I been up to..the new garden has had the burden of all it's thug and bully plants removed...for the moment ...but everything needs some dryness and warmth out there so we will await for that fleeting moment to arrive .....so artwork, the making of. You may remember a blog post from last year where I used printing to push my photographic work onwards... so rather than just leave things I started to experiment and although there have been a few disasters...well at least they made good firelighters...mostly the learning curve has been of the upward sort. So the following images are combinations of acrylic, ink, chalk, oil pastel torn paper , collage and charcoal.....

Well here we are and it's 2020 and I've thought a lot about blog posting....and that's as far as it has got. There has been a lot of photographing and videoing going on but the vast majority has been for online image libraries which are often accompanied by a major 'YAWN' factor as that's what they are....library shots.
​Surprisingly large amount of wild bird/rough weather/woodland walk video clipping sometimes a combination of all 3 has been uploaded and told to go off and have a life of it's own out there in the digital netherworld..but I have squeezed a bit of wonky quirkiness in as well so here are a few.

It is a long time ago, well July, since I posted. The last post is connected to this as we were on our way to view a house up here on the Ayrshire side of Scotland, fell in love with it, and the village and 3 months later we moved in. Now we/I thought this would be a walk in unlike the farmhouse we took on over in France, sadly proved wrong but the 'To Do' list is getting a wee bit smaller.
Still re-adjusting to not doing double bisous or a manfully gripping handshaking, bit more reserved up here but met loads of folk and in the local vernacular 'Yawright Pal' seems to be the greeting of choice....
So , time to get used to using the Camera again and what better way than a walk to find the walks that go off into the hills and woodland around here, first up there is a Dark Skies area not more than a 20 minute walk heading east and from there lots of Forestry commission walks and pathways. 
We are just on the edge of the Galloway Forest and not far from the spectacular views across to Ailsa Craig, Arran and the Campbelltown peninsula although we've got to know Ayr quite well as it is populated with the shopping sheds of civilisation for those of us that don't have everything delivered
​
So here are some snaps , my way of removing the crusty, rusty aspect of my photography and a good counterpoint to the wedding photography that seemed to dominate this summer. 

Walberswick, never been on the Suffolk coast before...but I have now...Whistle Stop tour of all points UK including North of the Border...so much driving 2,500 Kms on what you poor folk in the UK have to put up with on a daily basis...so many jams...so many potholes. Anyhow jobs done and photos taken of weddings and upcoming weddings and bits and bobs like this little exercise.
Now nothing ground breaking here just some very straight mono shots, Lightroom Auto...Black and White Auto...so minimum fafology click click bang bang sorted.. So here is an hour spent at Walberswick on a hot summers day in the U of K. .

I know, I've left you on your lonesomes, partly because of the amount of video and timelapse clips I'm doing but also because the implosion of shutter blades inside my D750...that'll teach me to expect too much on the timelapsing front from a non mirrorless camera... I've also been splashing paint all over various sizes of paper and extracted from the barn my Ultimat Keencut mount cutter and have been tagging and bagging images until torpor and boredom collided  and forced me up to the terrace for a beer swifty and a feet up session....so there have been things happening but barely exciting enough to set this damp old blog on fire...but I've been out giving the D750 a shakedown and here are the results.

It's not all about wibbly wobbly multi layered faffology of imagery, although I've just started with Wet Cyanotypes, but more of that later. There's also the Video end of stuff that I do and most of it is online , eagerly awaiting purchasers to line up with *great sacks of cash* and hoick them off to some new form of Digital existence that I could never imagine. * (Great Sacks of Cash in a Sylvanian People scale.)*

Well surprisingly some of my video work has broken free from the online shackles of digital torpor by winking a lot and in some cases raising it's skirts in the direction of Japanese film makers and International Arms dealers...a heady mix only usually seen in a Netflix pot boiler, now if I can get the tech to work on here the clips will be loaded up below....

So the one above has gone off to seek fame at Japanese Cinema..in what I have no idea...

With the 2 above heading off to British Aerospace Weapons division,
Whiskey barrels and Distilleries have been going down a storm in Japan and China for quite a few months.... so if you want to see a small snatch of my Video clip work follow the link https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/videos/david-johnson?autocorrect=none&family=creative&framerate=25&phrase=david%20johnson&sort=best which should take you all manner of stuff online.

Well back from the land of Brexit in one piece with a hard drive chock full of stuff. Took all the gear with me but surprisingly I ended up just using the old faithful D700....a nifty fifty and a B+W ND 110 which was off and on the lens  constantly ....and that's it...bit of guesswork on focussing when the auto failed to cope with the lighting conditions and ND filter . I captured a combination of landscape and buildings using ICM and multi imaging, the in camera multiples set to 5
Now as I've been working with this technique I've noticed how my processing has altered and I'm now rejecting some image combinations in favour of a more 'softer' final image. Just a note all these images are created from only 2 image files...it may change , everything is flexible but I'm now really getting a very good understanding of how to look for then process the image files.  Will pass it on once I've let it all run it's course. Anyway some images from the most recent trip.

Now you're probably wondering why Monoprints would be on a photographic blog but stick with me. Over winter I've been exploring different ways of making images, some success but outweighed by a bin full of failures. a good way of learning, best not to dwell on them rather learn from those that work.
  So from Linocutting to Acrylic painting to Monoprinting and besides some good images produced with Lino cutting, rank failure with normal Acrylic work and then onto Monoprinting. Well the University of Youtube provided me with some great material to learn from Dan Tirels  who through his videos showed what is possible using old shopping bags, pizza boxes and an immense amount of talent. I could muster 2 out of 3 and in my own way worked on my own style of mono printing which does involve old shopping bags , torn paper a Gelli plate and a bin full of failures.
Throughout all this artwork I've been listening to a constant stream of music not least Nickel Creek and  Punch Brothers
Now in doing this abstract layered imagery it got me to think about what could be possible with photographic images if treated in an abnormal fashion which led me on to all the recent 2019 images I've been posting on this website. So if you are out there and creativity is giving you a wide berth get those synapses pinging by trying something different and maybe that will lead you on to seeing and producing things in a different way

Never mind the trees, seaside and fluffy image content I've worked on, what about applying this technique to some architecture and why not some Mancunian stuff, rendered unrecognisable to anyone but my closest confidants although if you guessed Mancunian way student flats mashed together with that curved acrylic on Deansgate Station footbridge then...very well done.
I've started using Black and White files with color layers in various states of opacity and blend mode and masks...yes, it's snowing/ raining then snowing so no chance of getting out and about, now it's raining again.
First real shoot I want to do is Huelgoat Woods which is just down the road from me so lots of bare trees gushing streams, waterfalls and fallen leaves and then I'll be zipping around the UK collecting image files from all over, best to get across now before all the ferries are commandeered for essential lettuce/tomato/cheese/drugs and wine that post you know what, will never be available ever ever again
Anyone remember the Millenium bug that was going to wipe out the world....hmmmmm
​So some Manchester based imagery...

Next up lots of Tree based stuff.

It's that grey area where photography has a schism with image making. Above is an image created from 2 photographs and I'm not too sure if the result can be classed as a photograph, kick me hard if I mention 'Fine Art Photography' it's out there and it's a moniker applied to all manner of photographic image creation but for me it makes me raise my shoulders and give a little shake, but I suppose in this all inclusive social media mobile society we inhabit then calling, yourself and what you create absolutely anything,  fits in with our hashtag based influx of information and media #dontcallmeafineartphotographer
Now what I really wanted to show was the 2 images that were welded together in Photoshop CC, lets just pause here and say 'OMG Photoshop CC 2019...well it's the Dogs....' I've been rummaging around in Photoshop for nigh on 25 years now and this latest iteration is simply awesome...right back to the subject matter.
2 images forced together in an uneasy alliance to create something that wasn't there before, all the images created so far have had a lot of in-camera work beforehand and a minimal amount of time in the Photoshop microwave, then...bing...finished so here are the 2 images that made up the one above with the result next to them

So there you have it...create ICM and multi image files in your camera, spend an absolute age learning everything about layers in Photoshop, dive in have a go shed tears of despair at the stupidity and complexity of what you are trying to achieve...find a breakthrough then go for it...and maybe your photographs will morph into images...but what ever you do #dontcallmeafineartphotographer...

It appears to be another year...2019 and I know I left you alone for most of last year, probably the biggest reason was getting started in Linocuts, monoprinting and acrylic abstract work. One of the reasons I do photography the way I do it is because I have convinced myself over the years that my drawing and painting skills are quite honestly ...non-existent...but it appears there is more to creating art than pencils and brushes... I may start another web site to host the images I've done but it's very much baby steps time...anyhow on to what I'm doing this year
Seasoned viewers , I've put your comprehension of what is photography to the test on many a blog post or set of gallery images and now I think it's time for me to mash all the techniques I have in my quiver into one big block and pulverise my image files into something...well something that goes beyond quirky, past eye brow cocking and well into orbit around planet Good Grief Matron!! The image above is the frankenstein birth of one ICM, one in camera multi exposure and a wide aperture shot of a poppy filed..tickled with vigour in Adobes 2019 incarnation of Photoshop...and this is the way it will be this year. I could be shouting into the wind with this but I will be hitting this technique with my largest rubber mallet until I get what I want, or the mallet breaks
​So bonne chance mes amies, You may want to sit further away from your screen , you may not want to turn up at all, but it will be different, in a good or bad way but not in any shape or form will it be normal. 2019, I've started so lets see how this finishes.

The First World War Infantrymen of La Feuillee  commemorated in these life size drawings placed on the walls of the village on Armistice day as a representation of those men sent away to fight. 

 So a move away from 10 x 10 but again using the old Nikon D700 but in conjunction with a flash/strobe unit. Now there are a few technical difficulties to overcome in using this combination of Intentional Camera Movement and a flash gun....with one you are trying to add motion and movement with the other you are trying to freeze things. One of the first things is to turn the flash and camera into full manual modes, with the camera it's the lowest ISO setting with the aperture set as tight as possible and just varying the exposure using shutter speed, the flash set to the same focal length as being used on the camera, starting off at 1/64th power...so for example this image above is set to 100 Iso at F22 for 1 second with the flash on 1/64th power. Now the best way to do this is to actually give it a try, I shot these outdoors in grim grey autumnal rain so there was no need to add any ND filters to the set up, if you have banging sunshine you'll have to experiment or maybe just wait until the light fades in the evening....
​So here's a little gallery of ICM and Flash images shot outdoors in the grisling grey fug of raininess have a go, you may surprise yourself.

If you are sticking with me on this...well done.........newbies this is all about taking 10 in camera multi shots with my 10 year old D700..today it's very windy, also very autumnal and not raining and so I've strapped on the 105mm Micro Nikkor  and am about and about at one with autumnal nature.
So the thinking is and was to adopt a stationary position with the camera set for 10 multi shots, aperture priority ISO at 200 and shooting at about F 11. Processing is about +50 clarity in Lightroom with a crop ,if needed and a bit of a pull back on the shadows to counteract what happens when clarity is introduced...that's it...almost straight out of the can, 90% in camera with the minimal amount of faffey on the computer...spend time making images with your camera, not with a computer...so have a look , Don't confuse these with ICM images, I have  had a go at combining the two and it does need a bit more thinking applied to it but something for a later date..anyway until the next time. (That's ICM and in camera multi shots, I do it so you don't have to)

Continuation of my 10 x 10 images, 10 in camera multiple shots on my 10 year old D700. Out at the Abbaye du Relec and on the coast close to St Pol de Leon on a bright warm autumnal day, doing this in conjunction with landscape work shot on the D750 but more of that later.
The images are generated inside the camera with a tweak into mono and a scritch of clarity plus of course a nod back to my days shooting with a Bronica so chopped into Square format, getting to the stage where I can get a Gallery together.
More news , cracking on with the 10 x 8 DPP pinhole imaging still going through the hit or miss phase of exposure setting, also waiting for a flat grey day to see if the contrast in the image can be controlled that way...if not back to relearning how to 'pre-flash' the paper, other news and my trusty dear old friend the Canon Pixma 9500 pro mk11 has decided to fold it's arms , stamp it's feet and flash any number of amber warning lights at me, I've had a trawl of this interweb and taking out the cartridge carriage and giving it a scrub behind the ears may solve things....something else to do...
Had an experiment using an ND110 and trying to get long exposure ICM work to fit in with the 10 x 10....no....but I tried..
The weather seems set to fair for the next few weeks so out and about doing ND110 long exposure Landscape and Seascape stuff with a few video clips thrown in.

The vagaries and peculiarities of life eh....I used to upload all manner of images to Getty that had a tenuous grip on being actual photographs, taken with a camera of course but with added jiggling, flummery and a dash of artistic licence. Invariably the computer said no...the strap line most often used was 'Quality Issues'  it's supposed to look like that..anyway I ceased and desisted and plumped for mildly stretched normality and video clips of obscure things, and both parties settled into a state of mutual affection and now this happens. 
If you are a 500px member you'll have had an email outlining the proposals to sell your images through Getty off of your 500px portal as long as you agreed...well as most of the images on my 500px site were the ones previously deemed bin fodder by Gettys algorithmic shed of QC,  what had I to lose...seems they like them now so looking forward to even lower % returns once 500px have a chomp on my 20% and please be grateful commision from Getty...be safe out there children, todays bin fodder may be tomorrows fortune