I have the time..I have the tools...a bit of talent..so on these lovely hot days why not put it all together and have a bit of a faff around and see what I can come up with. Now I know, there are folk out there who see, in a photographic sense, Photoshop as the very spawn of the devil himself, I look on it as I would my dinky 50mm f1.8 as an essential part of my shooting kit. Okay you do have to have a level of personal constraint and not every thing I see warrants a whack around the chops with some complex software but if I go out to capture something specific I will already know what the final image will look like...and that includes some uber faffing in Adobes finest..or not. But every now and then I'll pull out an image file from the dusty vaults and give it a bit of a smack sometimes making it cry in the process. Now I've intimated that I might be on a collision course with Portraiture, it has always been my 'elephant in the room' and now it sits on my shoulder, a photographic earworm...just nibbling away. this is the part where I get to the point....but how do I want my portraits to look??? well I thought I might jump in the archives and pull out some head shots and get the old Photoshop CC warmed up and head off for a jaunt and here are some of my experiments....now these have nothing to do with any creative lighting or location or make -up or such they are the first shots in looking at how I want the final images to appear Early days and all the techniques are reproducable, all involve layer work and toys from the Photoshop cupboard. Now the trick is for me to see the final images in my head and when i pursue this and nail this head shooting. I'm looking forward to it and will make sure that procrastination is swept to one side.
Okay I have been trawling the web looking for a portable lighting system that is a bit more sophisticated than a bare flash or tungsten skin melter and I think I have found my ideals. Ice Light and F+V R-300 Yes I do think LED lighting is the future, especially portraiture so all I have to do is rustle up some cash and I'm away.... rustle up some cash...maybe I should have chosen a more finacially rewarding profession looks like a trip to my old mate Mr Ebay and recycle some gear...TFI Friday btw...lots of dashing about this weekend so catch you next week.
0 Comments
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.... So here's a link to the images I've chosen to be featured at Cepic , just follow this link http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/lightbox/?lightbox_id=17000
and you will see a set of images which are a bit more restrained than my usual fare. Had to think of the market they were being shown to...I didn't want to frighten the horses with some of the waccy baccy stuff I pump out....anyway..middle of June lets see what kind of doors open following this then. Websites....portfolios...lightboxes..there seems to be an explosion of updated , upgraded, reworked, new pricing structure web presence things out there at the moment I was glad flickr actually did something and on first look I thought ..Wow...but after a few days I find I'm actually yearning for a return to the old interface...okay I don't look at flickr on mobile devices...which , I think, was the raison d'etre to get the decorators in...it's not tempted me to fork out on a Pro account though. Now 500px has got a new 'Portfolio' thingumybob interface thing...as long as you pay.... and then I go and discover that, as I am a fully paid up and card carryying member of that there Adobe CC ...well they have given me a Behance Prosite for free...free...okay as i always tell the kids if they tell you it's free then somewhere along the line you pay...so it must be coming out of my monthly dibs to Adobe... but hey it's a freebie it looks quite nice and clean and it's somewhere else to snag some interest.... what's not to like. have a look...okay not much in at the moment.. http://maxblackphotos.prosite.com but check out Behance as well..big old mixing pot of creatives and some great 'pro' image makers to follow... 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. resumes during this week, well my kind of normality, shooting with a DSLR and getting stuck into all the projects I've had brewing over the last few months.. But first, catalogue and handouts to get together for my return to the outdoor market flogging pictures thing that I last did 28 years ago.... my regular reader will already know that I used to zip all over the country selling mounts, pictures and frames I used to make and kept doing until I opened my first shop.. but back on the streets and although I have a lot of stock and a part finished display stand, I've nothing that folk can take away ponder and maybe order from...hmmmm the website will probably have to change again , I havn't got any of the big images of Manchester that I'll have on sale So , after I've gone and picked up Di from the hospital with her shiny new porcelain hip I'll be getting stuck into handout creation...oh and the final talk of this seasons camera club chats...this one is along the lines of 'Don't just sit there....' but with a view to alternative shooting in Blackpool as ever I'm looking forward to it
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.... Yep, been working hard to develop a range of framed images that are now looking good, well I think so and my fiercest critic but finest champion , Mrs Max that'll be, quite likes them too. Start retailing at the beginning of April in Manchester, exciting times I can tell you, it's like stepping back 30 years to when I had my first stall at Styal Mill, where basically, I had no idea about anything but bags of enthusiasm...other way round now... Still I've so many images I can make up so many different styles of taste, just got to work out how to display them best...head scratchy time....
So not taking many shots at the moment but delving into my badly organised archives and pulling out stuff from days gone by...well 4 years ago and then there's all the stuff from 2007 to 2009 that had far too much Photoshop on it....ah well we all learn and grow... and the talking at Photographic clubs season starts again soon, blimey I may even put some courses back up on the website... ..I'm going through a cyclical process of man flu, colds and chesticle infections that has medical science on the back foot...still here if not in some drug addled state...still managing to sit up and put coherent sentences together like
" Yes some malt whisky in the lemsip would be nice..." Colds...what are they good for???? All stems from my trip to Spain and Gibraltar...foreign germs coming over here... So, I'm trying to get this place sorted and more retail based, almost there. We'll be saying tata to my Photodeck site as I put more stuff up on my other Image library site, you can have a browse through all the old stuff on there and buy downloads either as RM or RF licensed... So as I now have the Adobe creative cloud at my fingertips I thought I'd go through all the very old stuff that proved a challenge in CS3 and CS4...so they may not have seen the light of day but technically I'll consider them as new images and I'll be having a play with layering stuff again, yes I know not everyone's cup of tea but if I don't mash about and do it...who else will???? Here's one from the Black Mountains... Well here we go then, on the cusp of ditching buying software and flopping some cash over to Adobe to join in their Creative cloud. Why...well it does make a bit of financial sense and gives access to all of Adobes software...yes all of it. Any student nipping off to do Photography, Film or design at college should have this before they set off...I couldn't survive without having Adobe on hand to tickle things up and you are always up to date..no patching and it seems CS6 has a raft of doohickies only available to Cloud members... I will have to root them out and post some online toots. Been a bit lax on that front as I knock the retail stuff into shape but getting there. Still getting between 150-200 views a day over on Youtube so some folk appear to be learning something.
I'll be putting the outdoor tutorial stuff back on line at the end of this month and all the dates for this years class based stuff, just really need to get the prints sorted and I think it's going to take the next 3 weeks to achieve that. This place will become the home for everything from now on. So that'll be new stuff, prints , training, give away's and info..I did that crazy thing and went to 123 Reg to see what names are up for grabs with a view to more web sites...I must have been slipped a mickey and I banged my head on the keyboard and came back to my senses..so here is home..for now and forever...... ..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 maxblackphotos@gmail.com 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... 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. I'm not the one to define where the boundaries of photographic art, photo journalism and photography blur and blend, do you tell folk that you are a 'fine art photographer' or expect that any reasonably computer and photographically enabled visitor has the ability to place their own definition on your work. In many ways the explosion of images on the internet have allowed us an uninhibited and un-blinkered look at how other folk with cameras take a view of things and start an open or closed conversation using their ability to capture a moment.
Now quite surprisingly out there in the non virtual world are people who are not savvy to the plethora of hardware and software that lies behind the creation of most of today's imagery. Not that they don't care, they don't need to, but most know what they like and certainly know what they don't. In the music industry they used to be the Old Greys, knew what they liked and ....er liked it. Now as my one or two regular readers know I've owned galleries, stood there at trade shows selling images and frames, attempting to provide what is wanted without knowing what was wanted, pre guessing, imposing on the buyer what I want them to buy...and this is where I am now, on the verge of selling to non photographic literates things that I think will have a resonance, be consumer friendly, be something worth owning. And so the developmental definition of who I am in a photographic sense begins, fine art, experimental, mainstream, odd???? My own definition of how I think I'm perceived, well I'll keep that to myself, how the Old Greys will see me, well that is what I'm about to find out. Well one from the experimental bin, the photographic earworm is back gnawing away and making me veer about a bit, I can already see the next phase of this type of imagery and so on this dull grey monday I give you...layered panoramas.....add salt to taste 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..... '...biggest job I had to do Sir, did I do well...' Okay the Robert Donat version is not one for the purists but it's a film I'd gladly sit through over and over again. Tenuous connection but I think I've just taken on the biggest job and I hope I do well. Across various hard drives I reckon that I have 20,000 usable images..ones that are not personal faves but recognisable, viewable, not too hard to digestable!!!... and the trick I am about to perform is get them out to a wider market, I've already started. Templates and rough designs are already made, databases are being developed (yep very slowly though) business plans are being run up the flagpole and markets are being targeted. In fact all I'm doing is what I did 30 years ago but this time with the aid of all things digital, lets hope it involves less legwork this time but it will be taking up most of my time, clocks about to change, light becoming less; time to look through the last 6 months stuff and get tickling and faffing. Now I've relied on the internet to do the selling for me...more people are doing it and as I've mentioned before the pre crash 'Golden' days of spending really havn't returned even though 'The Recession ' is coming to an end...hmmm take a look at history first...few more years to go I think ...so less time to do other things. So time to stop spending time on non core sites, move away from social sites,unless they give me access to customers and more time on here and my library site
Nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, pedal to the metal...it's time to put my Worzel Gummidge selling head on...I hope it looks good on me Getting ready for all the new stuff that will be coming online over the next few weeks. It will be a move away from some of the more 'social' photographic areas like tweeting and facebooking and into the retailing side of things with the emphasis being on promoting away from my photographic circles. No I'm not going away just redrawing the boundaries a bit. It also means a move away from image library work. Even I can see where it is going, more images going on line every single day, prices constantly dropping, payment times increasing..... So I will be shooting less which should work out okay as fitting in the 'plonk and shoot' library stuff was beginning to wear anyway, I'm glad I was there when it was vibrant and buzzing which is only 5 years ago..the crash did a lot of damage...more people trying to make a living out of their cameras and the deluge of pretty decent DSLR equipment onto the market , image libraries and news agencies now take Phone images, so times change and if you don't evolve chances are you'll be left behind. So for me with my stock of over 10,000 usable images it's time for me to make some retail use out of them and that's certainly what I intend to do now.
|
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
All
|