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
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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... 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. 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... 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'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........ Hidden in plain sight in your top toolbar in CC or CS6 is Window...now then one of the sub menus is Adobe Exchange if you click on it you'll get wafted over to here http://adobe.ly/1cX7NGU . Now most of it in there is self explanatary. Try out some of the free stuff, once you've downloaded any of the free stuff then it'll probably ask you to restart your system. Then you'll have access to them...now once you click on a texture or edge border Photoshop takes over automatically and applies the effect to the image that is open. Try Yale..gives you Holga and Lomo effects plus borders and film types..here's one I did with a simple click Just part of an anti pasta i was having up in Newcastle..extended the white from the plate and then used Yale from Adobe Exchange to add the border, black and white layer at about 40% to hold back some colour ,....flatten and there you have it.
Can I just ask that if you use any of the techniques I go through ,could you add a link back to the page where you found the technique on...just so everyone can have a go and you spread the word..this is all free remeber, no adverts no agents will call, lets just spread the knowledge base out there together. So if you saw this image posted on the internet you'd probably assume that it's either a Lensbaby, smeared vaseline over a UV filter or a bit of Photoshop faffery or even now with LR5 some work with radial filters...well it's not.
This is shot with a standard 50mm f1.8...the difference being that the lens is not attached to the camera...that's right...removed and held in front of the gaping hole in the centre of your SLR. This image was shot at the Dig It festival in Manchester and at this point I found out just how tricky this technique is if you don't use a tripod and using the tripod free's up a hand to do the all important exposure work with the camera. Now I've been working in Manual...setting the aperture at f2.8 ..here's a trick to keep your lens set at the aperture you want to use. In the Nikon in your Set up menu if you scroll through you will have in your Set Up menu a Non CPU lens menu item, don't forget you are disconecting your lens so your camera has no idea what f stop your are using..... set up a variety of F stop settings in this menu. Now this only works if you have Nikon lenses that you can physically alter the f stop ring. So set the aperture on your lens..say F8 go into your non CPU lens menu and set F8 and all you have to do then is use the shutter speed and EV dial to get the exposure correct, Now there will be light leakedge which adds to how these images will look so compensating with your shutter speed, ISO and EV dial and leaving the chosen aperture alone. This really is where sitting your camera on a tripod comes in, you need one hand for holding the Lens and another for adjusting your camera settings..or an assistant or a 3rd hand.... Now you can go a bit more extreme with this and start using non standard lenses..I've used the 80mm off my Bronica S2a to great effect, just like above you can set the aperture and then use the non cpu lens menu and make sure your only variables are going to be shutter and maybe a bit of EV... give it a try. Okay, dear reader, I know you are now wondering why there isn't a big dollop of free lensing images appearing..but something else from left field... well with the bustle and hustle jiggling a lens and camera whilst trying to compose a shot on the streets of Manchester was a bit more tricky than I first envisaged...tripod needed , free's up one hand for other camera tickling whilst other hand jiggles lens...so out with a tripod next time...it actually does make more sense....so...I've brought forward something else I had a mind to do and that was in camera multiple exposures..... Yes..lets go all a bit wibbly wobblly timey whimey and go back to the good old days when a double exposure on my Leicaflex just meant holding the film release button on the baseplate whilst forwarding the lever to cock the shutter again for another exposure on the same frame... piece of thingy... now though it's a delve into the menu system and on the D700 and a lot of other Nikons it's right there in the shooting menu...multiple exposure but...here we go again...it defaults back to normal shooting once you've done the exposure ..so you have to go back in again...blah de blah...boring!!! But, those dear folk at Nikon have the 'My Menu section' where you can add you're most loved functions and menu items....just go to dd to my menu go back into the shooting bank add it and well...hey presto, easy to use, just take the shot and then hit the OK button with the item highlighted and off you go again.....I knew this old menu stuff would be handy...alright I also have the commander menu in there as well but that's for another time..... so... here's a few shots from a quickish toddle around Cottonopolis this afternoon..downloaded into LR5 for a quick waft and then on here..no layer work or Photoshop tomfoolery, straight out of the camera (if you ignore the LR5 bit) and onto here..... So all 'In Camera' with the merest whiff of Lightroom..you can be off and having a look at things differently...this is only a small selection I'll be putting up a full blown gallery in the Galleries section at some point but these will do for now....any questions???? Get stuck in then.....
Okay, time for more. experimental photography, or faffing as it is known. This involves taking your lens off of the front of your camera and holding it in a kind of 'Christ...I hope I don't drop it' manner in front of the gaping hole . Early days...early days and as the heavens have opened I wont be toddling into Manchester to do any of this. I'm using an 80mm Nikkor off my Bronica S2a as the lens, if I drop it, well, it will just crack the pavement..I'm sure after a bit of tugging and pulling I'll be getting some waccy results but here are a few from the back garden before 'rain stopped play' So.....it looks like you've had a play in LR/Pshops blur filter thingys but actually it's only a question of holding the lens and moving it about by small degrees to get this, well almost titl shift look to your image files, All have just had an 'Auto' button waft in LR5 and that's it....I think there are some legs in this and , on behalf of all of you,I will faff away with it until the wheels fall off..
So something a bit more in depth on the do's and dont's tomorrow, camera settings and stuff... ,,done the ironing, got a wash on, fed the chickens and fish and watered all the hanging baskets..which gives me some time to write some more of this drivel... There maybe movement on the Worldwide Photowalk front as I had an idea...that's right one of those once a year moments has happened..so I will be talking to a nice lady today about doing something a bit different, keep you posted as ever. Mwaaaahhh I sent the Nokia 925 back..whoever gets next use of it will have a proper little compact camera to fidle with (little is used in it's loosest sense).... If I can give a modicum of photo advice for the coming weekend that would be try shooting at your lenses max aperture F1.8 or whatever and go manual on the focussing..just bloody try it okay! Feel the force and switch off your targeting computers and ...well you should know the rest Lunchtime with Grandad...................
Well time really does seem to be flying.. I just got an email from Scott Kelby inviting me to run another Worldwide Photowalk.. http://worldwidephotowalk.com/ now then....
It really took a huge amount of effort to just get folks organised last time and there were grumblings that not everyone got on a mini tutorial...and I was completely knackered after the last one...that last mini toot...I was speaking utter garbage by then....sorry..... So I'm not sure..... I'd have to rethink and maybe limit numbers or something...meh...I'll think about it today...... Well looks like I will have to send the Nokia 925 back now...I've had the email asking for it...but it's so nice and a great 'in your pocket' snap camera...I avoided 'pont and shoot' as most camera's we carry around with us actually are that, irrespective of how much dosh you've lavished on one. One last burst of snapping with it today and then get Mr DHL to come and take it away....I'm filling up already....mind you I'm looking forward to that 41 mpix 1020 Nokia dropping through the letter box at some point http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/phones/phone/lumia1020/?cid=ncomprod-fw-src-na-uklfdevicerangelumia1020-na-google-gb-en-1todtmx1cb164 Might have a different slant on the Photowalk already...you'll be the first to know of course. Right , I'll be off to shovel some manure rather than type it in a short while..better and cheaper than going to the Gym. Some of my images are going to be used for the reprint of Richard Laymons crime thriller novels in Germany...( yep...me neither...) http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Richard_Laymon/ref=ntt_at_bio_wiki . Just nice to know every now and then where your images end up, that is the ones that are bought legit not the ones half inched off site..there is a little reverse search engine you can use to track images you may think are off on a jaunt without your knowledge http://www.tineye.com/ ....that is if the little monkeys havn't stripped out the metadat from your file... ah well Anyway oh yes, nice to get some work out there published albeit under a blanket of type, that's where I seem to be at the moment, on Ordnance survey maps and Paperback covers...I'd lke to say it's a living...no I really would but.... If you havn't made it across to my Behance site then here are the latest images of Manchester, I like this style ...well for the moment so expect more or completely ignore, we still live in a free world apparently... oh TFI Friday folks, big hello to you hundreds...yes I'm not making it up..hundreds of newbies who have dropped in this week for a look. No these arn't shot with the Nokia Lumia 925 but these are
It's summer so that means summer shows and to be more specific summr car shows, always good for photo opps especially when the sun gets in on the act and gets to work on all that chrome. Chucking it down today so chance to get stuff on ebay and gumtree, i'll post some links later.
First off..it really is a lovely piece of kit thinner than the 920 but I did like, no really like the Ferrari Red of that one. Still this has an understated feeling of quality, if it were mine I'd have to get a tough as boots case for it as it would join the rest of my kit in a 'chuck it in the bag' style that I usually adopt when out taking snaps. So lets have a look at few snaps from the dear old thing. Down on the allotment as I had a lot of manure spreading to do before this interminable sun dried it all out. Now the only thing I've found that could be a slight annoyance is focus hunting in close up macro shooting, there is a slight amount of vignetting, f2 and close up work gives a nice soft fall off, just make sure you hit that focus sweet spot..and of course they are Jpegs...... so if you blow things out ..well there really is nothing to bring back in any PP work. Even in bright sunlight the screen gives a really good image although the focus indicator can suffer a bit. Of course there are all the lens apps that come with the phone and I'll have a fiddle about with those later
Charging was straight forward and fast and image download was very speedy. If you have skydrive then you can get your images synced and the whole process is fast and easy> So first impression, fast, keep it in auto and you can snap and snap and.... clear screen even in challenging conditions, camera access even when locked, a useful bunch of tools pre loaded....hmmmm what's not to like as a point and shoot replacement...point and shoot is a disservice..it is a creative tool and I hope to show over the next few posts how you can push things and create some different and creative images...... You know that thing you do, yes you do, that thing,........ you get so excited about unboxing and getting playing with a new toy that the instructions stay in the bottom of the box unopened.... well I read them and went online and ...here's a shocker..learnt how to use the lens menus...and above you can see some of the results from some very low light level close-up work last night.
Makes me start to wonder why some of the DSLR big guns sell and manufacture big dobbing tubes of metal and glass (and plastic) when in a teensy weeny grouping of Carl Zeiss wonder you can get quite startling image files. Okay get up close and personal with these image files and things look a bit shakey, but that really is up and very close, say 300% viewing scale...now I'd say it's sensor resolution rather that lens so I'm pretty keen to take a look at the 'EOS Phone...the Nokia 1020 with it's 41 megapixel light harvester that , I think will probably make camera manufacturers start binning all their point and shoot cameras, or at least get their cameras to accept phone calls...no ..that would be silly...imagine having a high spec camera that also is fully connected to this old interweb universe...imagine!! Hmmmm starting to ramble..so for most of us the 925 will give you image files that in close up mode will give you a pretty decent A4 print...if anyone actually prints from their phones and of course sparkly crispy images to flaunt around the internet and send to your virtual social media buddies. I'll leave you with one shot this very morning in my front garden Well if I'm reading this DHL tracking widget correctly this Nokia 925 will be with me anytime.....now....now...okay maybe a bit later but in time to catch some of this weather. If you are my reader, yes you, then you will have noted that not too long ago I had the pleasure of having the Nokia 920 for a month to go forth and shoot 'til exhausted....both me and the battery. Now I really liked it, a very useful tool for street photography as opposed to shoving your DSLR into the great British publics faces...I know, I know there is shooting from the hip and great dobbing 200mm but I like street shots that are wide or standard in their focal length shooting and that there is some kind of engagement with your subject matter. I'm also going to be putting the 925 to the test in low light conditions, so that will be evenings in Manchester, maybe weekends and maybe with people having a good time. I hope this time I can unlock all the lens apps, seems to be some stuff in there that demands you get creative with. Follow the link above to see what it can do. So ...phones..don't think of them as 'point and shoot' look on them as a way in which you see things, if you know me you'll know that I believe it dosn't matter what you use to capture your images as long as you see things in your way....... Well it's 11 and the Nokia 925 has just been dropped off...time to charge...learn about the camera apps and twiddly bits and get out there snapping....
A very long time ago I trained as an Architectural Photographer on 5 x 4 and 10 x 8 swing tilt cameras. Now I've photographed many a building since , during the early years everything that I shot was Mono, vertically correct and sharp as a pin..that was then. Now I still love architectural shapes and how i would have loved all those years ago, was Photoshop... Because now I want to look at buildings as being part of the image not the central focal point...maybe better to show you what I'm on about...here are some images from Glasgow down on the Clyde. So the images are part architecture, a bit of texture and reworking the sharpness/blur. For me it's a question of creating an image as opposed to recording a photograph and in many ways imposing a look and maybe my own 'style' ...here's a few more In this over image saturated world that we inhabit it can be difficult to get acknowledgement for your creative talents, especially if you are shooting things that are' scenes that everyone has to shoot' So experiment, do that thing...you know...put the camera gear down and think about what you want to show people and how you want to present things. If you are working an image file then get in there and play...don't save it but keep working it until you develop a 'look' that you like....important point of course is to remeber how you got there...take notes save a layered psd, create an action and save any adjustment layers as presets...and then you are well on the way to using your photography to create images, not just take photographs
Yummy....okay not a comprehensive technical rundown of the photographic wurlitzer but....yummy. Can I just say, the techie who thought of adding camera raw to the CC filter gallery should be getting a medal, this has made the processing and Thunderbird 2 work on some 'chuck it in the bin exposures...just do it....and do it now' files such a fizzing whizz. I've got some ICM shots from late last year that were not shot in ideal ICM light and ...holy moly...there's actually an image tucked away inside there..just jumping back and forth from CC to Raw filter..... Okay not everyone's cuppa or Marmite but I can't tell you how this has appeared from the very depths of histogram hell..so I had a faff with a linear light color overlay as well....fini
So for the rest of the day I will batter away and see if this wunderkind of a programme can do things to things ,,,hmmm,yep, time to stop. Happy July btw,,, don't think I'm going to ignoring you but some, well most of the places I'm off to just don't have wi-fi and even though I've finally got my infinity BT wi-fi sorted...thank you Mina over in India and your chat based online help there appears to be not a jot of wireless or much else over on the Outer Hebrides So will load Elvis up again and banter off to Uig on friday..450 miles have a kip on the harbour hop on the ferry and zizz across to Harris...yep that simple....ha...so if wifi works at any point I'll keep you up to date in the new images section. As I've already mentioned I'm going to give bracketed exposures a big wallop...I've learnt a new trick which involves LR and CS without things going a bit Barbara Cartland Make-up HDR...I suppose I'd better have a faff in LR5 before I go just to see whats new. So if I don't post then I'm not ignoring you dear reader it's all about the wifi...
Couldn't get out to do three tutorials this week because of the accursed dribbly grey fugg weather.... June it is then when all will be billowy and sunny....yeh right.... |
What's all this then????An unyeilding torrent of Photo babbel full of unconfirmed facts and manufactured photo drivel.. take from it what you like, it won't change the world but may leave you feeling nauseous... Categories
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