Bugle Blog - maxblackphotos.

Links

9/29/2013

Part of the revamp involves putting all the links to other sites where you can buy prints, cards and file downloads Just click on this So I've rationalised a lot of the places where my images lie down and have a snooze. There will be more going up on redbubble as I will use that as my main site for people to get their prints from. I've had a few nightmares with the postal system, I think that can be someone else's problem. Having bought cards from there myself I've got to say the quality is excellent..sales pitch over.
Bought a lens from Japan which was a quite startlingly low price...and then I got the bill from UK border customs via parcelforce... which amounted to a third of the original price ...aye caramba I thought...until that is I worked out that it still was £60 cheaper than getting it EU sourced... lesson learned again??... I suppose you take a risk buying from overseas but in this case I just came out on the right side.... another new one today..another Pier....

Photowalk.

9/28/2013

This time next week we will all be joshing and jostling ready for the start of Manchester's take on the Worldwide Photowalk as I type it appears we have an opening of 1 place.... Just finding out if the model is coming along as well and we should be all sorted...I'm running through 'my bit' which will be some live demo's of some techniques some of the photographers may want to use.... You'll start seeing the fruits of everyone's labours soon afterwards....
I'm giving this place a bit of a once over with a big feather duster, some new pages on here now Piers , Salford Quays and Footbridge

I'm also putting links on to all the libraries and retail sites you can download and buy from...yes it's all getting a bit joined up. So short one today but full of stuff to have a wander through... I'll leave you with this today

Revamping

9/27/2013

Slightly modified the site so pages look a wee bit better but I'm also adding and upgrading pages as I go so worth having look at this one and maybe this one as well. Tidying things up as I go as well as putting project work under my behance site roof. Been a really good week as I seem to have come to terms with the QC bots at alamy and Getty have come calling for another batch of images. So just in time for the autumn chill it looks as though I will be sitting here keywording and uploading until despair overtakes me and a lie down in a dark room beckons..
Only one week to go until Worldwide photowalk day looks like half of you have opted to do a bit of model shooting, tomorrow I'll be testing out the 'analogue' bit of my stuff to include on the day and I'll be doing some impromptu tutorial stuff as we have a wander around, requests for WAP and ICM have been duly noted...
So sun is out and it looks like we have an Indian Summer on our hands...don't sit there reading this drivel get out there ...get snapping... oh..TFI Friday...

First shots..

9/25/2013

..with the very old Nikon 300mm..optics seem as sharp as they could be although the case and hood of this lens are properly battered..signs of a good hard working life. One of the problems with this is that the camera body and lens info don't excatly match up...so it's on as a manual with manual focus as well so..er...down to the skill of the operator to get it all working in harmony...

So when then lens aperture is set to F22 it actually shows a read out of F64 on the camera body...no bother shoot one , check the histogram and adjust, heck it's just like the old days. Stopped right down though it does show up all the fluff on your sensor...i am a very dirty boy and will rectify that with a swab swoosh later... So some shots from up in the Pennines between saddlworth and Kirklees and the Sun decided to come and say Hi and all of a sudden it was summer again and all the walking gear seemed superfluos...hot...steamy..oddly hardly any water in any of the reservoirs up here could be the first green shoots of s hosepipe ban...no surely not!!

A wander

9/24/2013

Well after that brief brush with Siberian winds last week we seem to have stumbled into a spell of Indian summeryness. So I took the new to me but battered Nikon 300mm out for a stroll along the Pennine way yesterday and then around Bilberry and Digsley reservoirs before traipsing up to Meltham...it was hot sunny, I'd gone layered up as it was grim here in Manchester but halway thorugh the walk summer returned and that lens...it weighs a lot more than a nifty fifty...anyway good walk, grappled with the 300mm and in the next few hours , will see what the depth of field and sharpness look like. Didn't try out the 2x convertor but maybe of Thursday.
if you look on my new images page you'll see the latest ones from Newcastle/Gateshead. I've given them an a apocalyptic mono tickle..so have a look. Did a montage for flickr with a dinky Sage colour as I just montaged the Sage on the gateshead side of the river...yep I know, no need to explain.... if you missed it here it is.

Things I've learnt this week

9/20/2013

That if you pay peanuts for something it dosn't necessarily mean that you have a bargain
That colour images outstrip black and whites in image library interest and sales.
That strangers sometimes share the most peculiar information by email.
That keywording is best done in American...
That even when you try to help some folk with tricky photographic problems , you sometimes wish you hadn't started.
That selling lot's of stuff on ebay is great until the invoice turns up..
That it's often better to stop think and cancel , rather than go through with some hare-brained project.
That working with 2 computers and hot swapping hard drives is something to avoid
That I love coffee but drink far too much
That next year will be life changing and quite crazy
That importing secondhand lenses from Japan can cause all kinds of nonsense happening with the UK Border Agency

all these things I've learned this week

TFI Friday....

A Bag full of Primes.

9/19/2013

I only use primes, well 2 mainly a 20mm f2.8 and the 50mm f1.8 and for the last 9 months or so that's all I've used mainly because that's the way I wanted to see things but things are about to change. First to arrive is a Nikon 105Micro f2.8..I had one last year and I hardly used it but now there's a lot of stuff i want to do in the macro genre...and last night I bought a Nikon 300mm and a TC 200 2x convertor because there are a lot of areas I want to explore at extreme distances that will give frame filling compression so expect my 'slightly different way of looking at things' to start rolling out next week, suppose I need a bigger bag now.
Sold all my old 120 roll film on ebay last night and I think it all went for a very fair price, stick them in the post today to those lucky bidders.
Touch wood I seem to have overcome Alamy's aversion to my kind of images and it's algorhytmic QC section...well basically I will be shovelling all the bog standard straight as a die stock images onto there from now on that is of course until the QC chickens have a good pecking at my files and give me the reject slip... they must miss out on tens of thousands of 'creative imagery' files...ah well their business so I'll keep anything overt away from them, How about a Manchester Montage to end today's drivel...

Updates and uploads

9/18/2013

If you are on the Creative Cloud or have a legit copy of Photoshop and Lightroom then you will have been notified that it's upload time again 3 updates yesterday Photoshop CC and CS6 and RAW and today Lightroom 5.2...but do I really need 819mb download to update a couple of sliders and add some new camera/lens models in.... one thing to check is your adobe folder..see how many models and versions you have of Photoshop CS and Lightroom in there and you might want to bin a lot of the old stuff to free up some valuable space on your HD.. just a bit of housekeeping to keep that drive spinning freely.
If you are in education or thinking about Post process work and want access to all that Adobe can throw ar you have a look at this
I love the creative cloud as you not only get the software but a behance pro site, 20gb of online storage and an Adobe Revel site... no, I don't work for them but it really is a bit of a no brainer...
On other matters Getty Images have come calling for more images for the 3rd time this month which is....nice... I'm watching a new lens track it's way from Japan only to see it parked up in customs at Coventry for the past 2 days, good to see it on the way but frustrating that it is so close... All the 120 film I have on ebay ends tonight and most of it will sell so I'm going to invest it back into something I have never had or used before..a stonking big telephoto with maybe a tele convertor...heck this summer I stood on beaches around Scotland looking at all manner of wildlife through Binoculars and I think it's time I gave nature snapping a try...yes....

Photowalk

9/17/2013

Not long to Photowalk time and the last couple of places left, well done everyone especially those coming back for a second helping, you were warned...
Instead of all the mini tutorials I did last year (yes I did half kill myself and took no photos either) we have the Digital projector room so we can do a bit of digital and for this year only analogue manipulation techniques...intrigued, well so am I as I havn't checked if it will all work...meh...it will I promise. let us not forget that this is also a competition and there is a socking great amount of prizes on offer as well as me giving out a Lightroom 5 ebook so a fun day and one to test your competitive streak as you jostle with 50 other togs...So I will be on hand to dish out any advice or do impromptu tutorial stuff during the session. I suggest that we all head off to Oxford road as there are some big old bars ideal for a bit of joshing and socialising
Well I'm looking forward to it..should be good.

Corruptus in Extremis..

9/13/2013

I enjoy the ability to push the boundaries in Post processing, it's a learning process, yep I could slap on the same old same old but there are so many other possibilities to explore. Now the image above started off as an ICM shot of the Lowry and as I'm a wee bit over caffeinated I went off on a Photoshop CC wander. So texture layers, inverted copies, color lookup, hue sat a bag of blend modes..were all invited to the party.One of the tricks in doing these is laying out a trail of breadcrumbs,,if you want to replicate you'll somehow have to remember what on earth you got up to so I save a full layer stack back into LR5 from PshopCC..it's there for me to go back and see what layer did what to whom and why. Now I think this is one of the best ways to learn Photoshop, get your hands in and rummage around until it hurts...but always always...if you discover something great..leave a trail of crumbs to follow, you never know when you might need to do it again.

New Images..

9/11/2013

Over in my New Images you'll find some of the shots I took 'Down on the farm'. Mixture of daylight and flash with the emphasis on wide open apertures and looking for the natural light in the subject matter.
Worldwide Photowalkers still a few spots left..we will be taking in all the delights of the Victoria Baths in Chorlton on Medlock with it's steam rooms, Victoriana and cubicles, lots of photo opps
Film buffs, especially the 120 roll variety might be intrested in the fact that I've got a lot of expired 120 roll film going up on ebay at 7 tonight..fuji, kodak, mono and pro colour, mail me and I'll send you a link if you want. Right lots to do...studio courses, selling stuff and the like , back soon.

Studio Time

9/9/2013

So now it's official, one will be working in a studio from October 1st. I will be bringing my way of seeing things to the Portrait, stock imagery and commercial market which to most will be similar to how you perceive the merits of Marmite..
It's the stock imagery and model portfolio work I really am a wee bit excited about and I now have the facilities to do all the portraiture projects that have been rattling around in my head for the past 3 years....
Training days as well with the emphasis on 'Light it, shoot it, retouch it' and looking at Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 training. So lots for me to get stuck into and not forgetting that it will soon be Worldwide photowalk Time , there are a few places left. Just register and get involved. So expect some of the pages on here to change as I hide away inside over the winter months and put all those studio flash heads to good use. Big response to the keywording blog from the other day so I think we may have a look at metadata, templates and asociated stuff in Lightroom and Photoshop over the next few days. Must crack on...until the next time....

It should all be common sense..

9/6/2013

..really..getting folk and buyers to pop in and have a look at your amazing images....hang on a minute..how do they find them???? Well I'm going to raise the horny handed subject of keywording and do forgive me, if you are my one regular reader this will have been drawn to your attention by me already.....
How do you use Google (other search engines are available...just google to find them) well you don't shout at it ...yes..it'll come...you dont wave an image in front of your webcam...it'll be with us as well... you use good old fashioned typing like what I do with my 2 nimble digits.... so I'm going to paste in this next bit....

family of wild elephants
PHOTOGRAPHER A KEYWORDS
elephants; herd; family; wild; Africa; national; park

herd of wild elephants
PHOTOGRAPHER B KEYWORDS
elephants; herd; wild; national; park; Africa

KEYWORD COMPANY A
4; Africa; African; animal; animals; child; children; color image; color images; colour image; colour images; dad; dads; day; day time; day-time; daylight; daytime; dirt road; dirt roads; families; family; father; father and child; father and children; fatherhood; fathers; four; grassland; grasslands; herd; herds; horizontal; horizontals; mom; moms; mother; mother and child; mother and children; motherhood; mothers; mum; mums; national park; national parks; natural light; nature; nature preserve; nature preserves; nature reserve; nature reserves; no people; nobody; outdoor; outdoors; outside; outsides; parent; parenthood; parents; parents and children; park; parkland; parklands; parks; prairie; prairies; road; roads; savanna; savannah; savannahs; savannas; travel; unmade road; unmade roads; walk; walking; wild; wild animal; wild animals; wildlife; wildlife preserve; wildlife preserves; wildlife reserve; wildlife reserves; without people

KEYWORD COMPANY B
No People, Horizontal, Outdoors, Day, Elevated View, Four Animals, Animals In The Wild, Animal Themes, Nature, Wildlife, Safari Animals, Growth, Non Urban Scene, Landscape, Tree, Field, Idyllic, Tranquility, Tranquil Scene, Scenics, Beauty In Nature, Herd, Savannah, Elephant, Wilderness, Plant, Africa, Zoology, Grass, National Park

Now you may be photographer A or B but see how the pro companies do it....all bases covered... so here are some of my 'Handy Hints for Keywording' pin em back let's get stuck in

No people...people seems obvious
For black and whites...no color and no colour...
Landscape or Portrait...not the content..the format

are you getting the idea..... now if it was a location...

Don't just put down Blackpool... use ....popular seaside resort, promenade on the lancashire coast, amusement arcades, people enjoying themselves, sunny day on the coast, crumbling Victorian resort... okay you can also see that a short phrase will help as well but keep them short...just remember how you use a search engine, it applies to social photography sites as well
So aim for about 20 keyword/phrases minimum
Use more but keep the hot ones at the beginning
State the bleedin' obvious
do american spellings as well as proper english
think how you use a search engine
set up templates in Lightroom or Bridge
So this is how this image would be keyworded

Blackpool, Victorian Pier, with color, with colour, on the promenade, stretching out to sea, daylight long exposure, nd filters, neutral density filters, extended exposure time, calm sea, moving clouds, movement in a still image, the fylde coast, at the waters edge, horizon, cloud movement, using ND filters, summer, sunlight, vicotrin boardwalk, amusement arcades,....I could go on but I think that's enough.

So don't just think 'If I build it he will come' give the search engines a good old rib tickling nudge and get them to find your image...

Changes...

9/2/2013

It's Autumn...it's official...when I get up to unleash the chickens in the morning, (that isn't a euphamism) there is dew on the grass and a nip in the air so time to change things around. Training courses have been mothballed ready for release in late spring, thanks to one and all who ventured forth..
Changes as well on here, no more mount cutting or image and print sales off this site, got to say I've had a few nightmare moments with the postal system and have come to the conclusion that moving image files about the planet to clients and libraries is far less stressful and at my age a pipe and slippers approach to business dealings will win every time. I do have the remains of a lot of framed and mounted images that are going to go out for less than cost...I'll announce it here first. Maybe hang on for the Christmas market to start.
I'm also converting a lot of under used gear back into things I will definately be needing, photographically wise, again watch this space.
So as ever lots that will keep me from watching daytime TV. If you have read my last few posts I did go on about taking Photographs just for the love of taking them...don't stop if you never get comments or faves, blimey you can always hop into the 'bling ' groups and post one fave one thingies. From reading a lot of forums and blogs I get a feeling that folk are not as happy as they could be...hmmmmm..still the same image if it has 1 fave or 99+..have confidence in your self and what you take photos of........