Bugle Blog - maxblackphotos.

Camera menu mono settings

11/3/2016

Figured out how to record the menu screen on the D750 so I thought I'd mumble my way through the steps needed to get you shooting and once set up, looking at the world in Black and White through using the Live View option of your camera screen...enjoy?

Locqueric

6/20/2014

Well not really in the groove at the moment but did have a bit of time to limber up and catch some images on the beach at Locqueric on Brittany's northern coast. Tried some tripod based multi exposures but they were all fed to the recycle bin, one avenue of experimentation that I'll not pursue again. So here is a set of ICM images, just a conversion in LR 5.5, yes 5.5 the numbers keep growing, so here you go with some mono ICM shotrs, ND filter and a lot of sunlight.

Straight and Narrow.

4/4/2014

It may have come to your attention, over these last 5 months that I have been pretty busy getting my head around a lot of different shooting techniques, software and new chunks of shiny hardware and really it's all in preparation for a bit of an adventure I'll be off on in about 4 weeks time as from then on I can't see myself having a spare moment for at least the following 12 months at which point I will be hurling myself into my 7th decade..let's all bow our heads for a minutes silence here...7th decade.... aye caramba, thank heavens I've still got my good looks and nothings fallen off yet....ahem...
So, as I am getting more and more 'old stuff' faffed and tickled into some kind of retail shape I thought I'd let you know where I'm up to image wise. If you are that solitary reader who has managed to part the clouds of Guff that hang about this place like a Saharan dust storm smog, you'll remember that I always say..queue funny voice 'Always squirrel away lots of files when it's sunny so during the dross months of winter you'll have somethign to give a good old spanking to and not have to watch telly' Well as I've switched systems from the Steam powered Dell that wheezed it's way through a stack of adjustment layers to Hal, the all powerful pixel muncher..I discovered that, probably like a lot of Squirrels out there, that I'd saved any number of image files in completely random folders all over the place, workflow now is of the sensible kind but as I was switching from Lightroom to Photoshop to Bridge and back stuff was being hoicked all over the show in a multi format unfathomable morrass... after many tears things seem to be making far more sense..new Catalogue in LR5, bring in images from various hard drives..Lightroom to Photoshop then saved to Lightroom and exported via presets from Lightroom to their life on the net. (for the non photographer who may have just read that last passage, it's what we in the trade call Photoshop Bollocks..) So alamy, Getty and redbubble are getting fed on a constant conveyor of tasty jpegs 500px gets some exclusives now and then..they are licencing some of my images now as well as doing prints, downloads and canvas things. Now that Getty has given up on flickr I'll probably stick the odd image on just to let folk I've not passed on, nearly my 7th decade lets not forget...so here are some motorbikes from a stack of files I've had hanging around for a while

Working it.

1/30/2014

So I made an exec decision and I'm going mono with the shots from Spain, that include some of the multi exposure stuff as well so without further ado, oh the chest infection you ask, getting there but get your cagoule on if I start hacking.....

Salt caked.

So longish lens shooting into the sun with a 6 exposure in camera multi shot, just remember that the longer the lens the less you have to 'move' the camera during your exposure run. This one babove is 6 shots working downwards until I ended up shooting the sea, remember that the last frame you take will become the dominant part of the image...lots of ship movements around Algeciras.....

Playground

Boats again but the technique modified to achieve this result, very slight movements during the seperate exposures, this is all in camera btw, only conversion work is todo the mono. One thing you have to look out for is dirt and boulders on your sensor...6 exposure multi's means that much more spotting out later so keep your sensor cleaning regime up to the mark. The one below is Vigin Atlantic waiting on the apron which looked like it might work as a multi shot whilst I had a sandwich

Virgin Atlantic

...and to finish off one from the beach...it was 18 degrees...I thought it was hot!!! Locals didn't

Safety

Keen eyed viewers will have noticed the re-emergence of the 16 x 9 crop format on the landscape format shots, if you hadn't then ...er... you've just been told...

It's another Year...

1/1/2014

..well , dear reader, here we are 2014 and all that, don't know what you lot have planned but by early summer I'll be putting all my planning into practice..I'll be enigmatic and not mention it again...hmmmm life changing I think...
Still there's lots of images to create and lots of boulders to scrape off my sensor..I've ordered a big bottle of fluid off amazon, plenty of swabs just need to get in there and do some dislodging...
Photographically very busy towards the end of last year, lots of project based stuff and hoicking stuff up onto image library sites, check out my New Images page for all the latest, just letting Lightroom pull in a load of shots I did in Bath on monday, lets see what comes out and I may post later today, full day of footie action to listen to whilst I process and later on all the neighbours in for drinks and things and New Year cajoling. Off out again tomorrow as the BBC is saying 'sunshine' I hope they didn't have their fingers crossed behind their collective backs.... so one from Sunday to finish off with... fairly wide with the 105...

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.

Morning

4/25/2013

It may appear that I've had 2 weeks off...I didn't realise how much post operative care the fragrant Mrs Max would be needing after her recent hip replacement, anyway my bedside manner is up there with the best now so I need to get back into the photographic groove...
Keen eyed one(s) amongst you will have noted that the learning zone is a bit delayed...(see above)..but will get stuck in this weekend. I'm also on my own learning curve as I grapple with time lapse photography and a recalcitrant video card..juddery dingbat that it is...I think it's bite the bullet time and get a desktop replacement laptop with a more up to date spec than my old 'noughties' desktop.
With the time lapse I hope to make it a bit more of a creative outing rather than the usual 'lots of traffic, buildings lighting up , sunrise sunset thing and star trail stuff that seems to hog the genre....hmmmm extra long exposures put together.....and the like, I first need to get something with a pumped up video card and uber amounts of ram to make things work. Good thing is it's all possible in CS6 and although I've done a lot of work learning how to put things together, in practice it's a bit more head scratchy..meh you can do them as a lightroom slideshow if you want something basic. So I reckon that once I get into the groove of these I'll be needing a collapsible chair and something to read....so 30 sec exposure 10 secs between exposures...means 1 second of video = 15 minutes shooting .....sheesh.... make that a big book...
Working through all my Welsh Coastal stuff as well and getting (most) of it in one place.

One of my favourite North Wales spots...Llandulas

Artisan

2/28/2013

Back on the artisan/craft fair circuit starting in April so just building up stock as the days flutter by. Got some new big Manchester multi mount images which I'll start putting on here today, they really are mega images and even I've impressed myself, not often I can say that....there will be lots of mounts and stuff as well so plenty to look at, tell you dates and times when things get closer
the keen eyed of you will have noticed that my Photodeck image library has gone off air...yep I give things 12 months and if nothing happens they get the chop, I'll be giving these framed and mounted images a bit longer as this ties in with some life changing plans I'm putting in place..I know enigmatic but nothing finalised except the determination to do something different before I get too old and my get up and go gets up and naffs off... oh and going to be a Grandad again...blimey, they are coming thick and fast now....

Filling the Tank

CS6 conversions

2/11/2013

Morning all, another week and i need to send out a bucket load of marketing emails, or maybe eat toast and drink coffee instead....hmmm anyway well into the latest batch of CS6 youtube tutorials and here is another new one.

I won't say this will change your life but it might give you an idea of how powerful CS6 is when it comes to working on your images. I'll be getting stuck into Portrait work this week so I'll keep you posted and maybe get the courses back out there seeing as we are just about getting to the back end of the really grim weather.

All the gear is here...

12/13/2012

..so now is the time to get cracking and start making all the samples up and getting prints sorted. It's all going to be in-house...so that'll be me being busy then. For the regular blog reader amongst you you may have picked up that I'm moving more towards retail and gallery stuff with my images which will be online, to galleries, at shows and through local advertising. So I've spent a bit of time getting work into coherent galleries, now all the right gear has turned up...the only thing I'm lacking is space. The equipment I've now got is on the chuffing BIG size and I reckon at some point I'm going to have to look at a workshop/studio to accommodate things...but that's the future and this new venture will have to generate it's own income to justify that....I'm already using part of the cellars but I'd have to get an industrial heater if i was to work down there on a permanent basis.
Eagle eyed ones out there will have noticed that I have a new blank gallery called 'The Picture Shop' which will start to house all the retail stuff, although of course any image on here or here is available as a print...just pop me an email [email protected] and I'll get back to you toot suite...

Sun's out..good day for ICM shots, still got a load in the can from Monday in Manchester to have a look through but may nip out again for some snapping...

Doctor ...help me...

12/5/2012

taking Mr's Max to get on the red eye to London this morning my mind went off wandering about image making and I had another of those light bulb moments as some more 'creative use of camera' image making techniques lodged itself in my frontal lobe...Doctor...I need help...If you can just get me to stop thinking about new ways of creating imagery and just get me to stick with one thing then I would be grateful...what...there is no easy cure...I have to carry on until I'm completely devoid of any new way of using a camera??? meh...que sera....
I know great dollops of some of the stuff I do (attempt) are of an acquired viewing taste , heck some of the things I try I'm not even a big fan of, but I'll try, sometimes some of the stuff I do inspires folk to go and have a go at some waccy baccy stuff, which is good, so until the grey matter starts it's inevitable decline it looks like I'll be stuck in creative mode....
I'm not going to go on about my efforts to re-equip my mount cutting studio suffice to say that I have a reverse impression of a keyboard on my fore head from the barriers I am crunching up against..it's all very frustrating
There will be a mount cutting, board, finishing, print section on here in the next few weeks, it should be now...grrrrr... but if the gear isn't here you can't use it
Right Chickens chipped off their perches, a few snaps of a Salmon pink sunrise and now to crack on with some work.

All Sold

11/26/2012

Well that was a particularly painless week of selling off lots of gear. Cash in the bank and new stuff on it's way...
So heading off in a slightly different direction, as I said last time I think the Image Library business is suffering from it's own success, in fact the whole digital image online look at me sharing showing off thing has got to a point where either an Armageddon moment or some other amalgamatory (?) conjoining expiration moment will descend upon us. Still wondering why Getty don't just scoop up flickr instead of all this 'Artist's Pick' tosh and make it work as a cheapo licensing operation, now as I've said before 'pinching' images off the net is so bloody easy these days and even tickling out the watermarks is now just a swish and a click, we've got the Digital Orphans bill rumbling along, good idea if you have a read of this stop43
So not only is there too many images on the net and people pinching them but if you fail to tag, watermark add metadata and generally chase down any referrers coming on you sites who are dodgy (yandex and baiduspider based searches) and of course disable any download options, make images 'small' and low jpeg quality and add on the appropriate licensing options then quite frankly it's just like leaving your front door open with a big Neon sign flashing 'Help Yourselves, the doors open' look after your images, make sure everyone knows they are yours and keep the front door shut and switch off that bloody Neon sign.....

Stuff for Sale

11/21/2012

I have some well cared for Nikon Gear for sale. A rather nice Nikon 105VR Micro f2.8 lens, boxed, nikon caps, pouch and manual for £450. A Nikon 80-200 f2,8, Nikon caps, metal hood, leather case and Cullman shoulder carrying bag over here on ebay for £295. And also , if you cut mounts or want to cut mounts a Logan 650 40" mount cutter as new, boxed with a box of Logan blades to get you started again it's on ebay. Quite welcome to come on down and have a try first, unless of course they have been snapped up.
Just clearing the decks as new gear is on the way for next years projects and I've already cleared off my SB800 kit so really need to lighten the load and get these items out to someone who may find a good use for them....
Had a minor panic yesterday as I lost loads of images...well if you put them on a portable HDD and then store them away and then forget that you put them on there to keep them safe.....don't get old, it's bloody annoying at times..anyway found and as I have a different PP process I'll be giving those a mighty slap and tickle today. I look at stuff I 'over' processed from 3 years ago and shake my head, lot of strong images hidden in a smear of outre Photoshop , that was then and this is now as '80's pop Diva's ABC once sang to us...I've also taken a bit of a fancy to square format images again...I can hear my old Bronica weeping gently in my 'Man' cupboard upstairs.
Today must have been the darkest bleakest yackiest start to a day for a long time, even the chickens couldn't be arsed to get pecking this morning, who can blame them, mind you I have a request for some 'Wet Umbrella' shots so should be good for a trip into Manchester later.

Lightroom 4.2

11/3/2012

well I must say I've had a lot of fun and also some jaw dropping moments working my way through Lightroom 4.2. Yes, I know, I'm late to the party, loved my workflow from LR 3.6 into Photoshop and back again but now things have changed......
I've embraced DNG...no loss of quality and a smaller size, there's only one winner there...saving from Photoshop and back into Lightroom for noise and cropping in a totally non destructive way..very nice especially as I have set up some Export templates...
But the greatest thing and I really mean this is it's Camera Process 2012 version...there are files that were in the 'Grr too hard to get something out of pile' that now spring to life in LR4, I'm impressed big time. I'm posting some bite sized Lightroom tips and i may even set up a Lightroom page...yes I'm that impressed especially when you consider what a dyed in the wool Photoshop diehard I am...here's a bit of bite size ...okay Youtube has just gone tit's up so you'll have to wait but just check out my Youtube tutorials...any problems ask and I'll do a quick video.....here's a LR4 processed image that was about 4 stops under and flat as a pancake

Okay Youtube is back online.......

I was trying to get things down to a minute but 2 minutes is short enough for todays generation of flitters and flighters....