Photography Blog Interview-an honour
26 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in photography Tags: art, camera, competitions, imagery, photograph, photography, Photoshop, picture
Many thanks to Ed of Exhibitions Without Walls fame! I’m honoured to say he asked me to do a guest interview with them. This was not an easy interview, asking some searching questions, but I enjoyed the challenge. If you would like to read it, and see the photographs chosen to accompany it, you can find me here. You’ll need to click read more at the end of the visible part of my interview to see it in full.
sempervivum
Exhibitions without walls is a website devoted to photographers and digital artists, holding competitions six times a year. It’s worth checking out if you fancy a challenge, as the quality of images is very high. It’s also worth getting your camera out and having a go! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. They have a blog too, which is where they showcase digital artists and photographers, and where you’ll find me. Thanks again, Ed, for the opportunity.
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Macro Versatility and Creativity plus Website Updated
02 Apr 2011 8 Comments
in business, image, imagery, musings, nature, photo, photography, photography technique, Uncategorized Tags: art, camera, flowers, gardens, image, macro photography, nature, Nikon D90, passions, photo, photography, photography equipment, picture, prints, random, thoughts
How can I ignore the fantastic shapes and forms of flowers? They are beautiful, fascinating and better than anything humans could design!
Hellebore, seed pods forming
Hellebore, flower fertilised
Hellebore, freshly opened flower
Hellebore just opening
These last shots are as close as I can get with my equipment, and give you an idea about the creative us of macro. It doesn’t matter if the entire shot is not in focus. Throw some of the image out of focus and use it to create a softer, more artistic picture.
Hellebore macro creative 1
Hellebore macro creative 2
Who can resist such diversity on one plant? I think some of my friends believe I’m a bit strange as I wander around in my macro world. They miss it, busy getting to the next point (eg the car or the shop). What fantastic stuff they walk past and never see! It’s all there for free and beats a lot of entertainment you pay an arm and a leg for.
What can you see in your garden? Do you have a magnifying glass? Take it with you. Or get the camera out and have a closer look. There’s a miniature world waiting for you to discover it. Be careful, though. You might just find yourself buying extension tubes or macro lenses. Then you know you’re hooked.
PS I’ve cracked it! Sorted my website out, put lots of new images up, organised my prices and sizes and actually got PayPal to work so that my customers can get the image they want with minimum hassle to them. Whew! As a photographer and not a web designer, this was no mean feat, despite using a great web hosting service. I’m just not cut out to understand the logic of the silicon chip! It’s abstract and can’t be composed in a frame. You’re welcome to visit and let me know what you think!
Of course, there are some macro shots on there now, soon to be joined by more. I haven’t just been playing with raindrops. As you know, flowers attract my eye more than anything else usually.
Photographer Filtering out Distractions
18 Mar 2011 10 Comments
in photo, photography, photography technique, thoughts, Uncategorized Tags: art, floral, flowers, images, nature, people, photo, photography, Photoshop, picture, random, thoughts
Rubbish
I had a bit of an accident yesterday and scalded my wrist. This pretty much knocked me for six and all my plans from thereon in were scuppered. We had to spend nearly two hours at the Walk-in Centre but they soon sorted me out. So my partner lost two hours work, I ended up further behind than I should have been and really should just have slowed down. It would have saved pain AND time. Time I really needed to get on with photo processing and new images.
Primrose
It made me think, though, about filtering out distractions. The scald was done in the first place because I was trying to do too many things at once, reached over the kettle and caught the blast of steam on my wrist. I’m old enough to know better, but was NOT filtering out distractions. I seem to be much better at that with a camera in my hand. Filters on cameras, of course, can filter out unwanted flare etc, framing filters out unwanted objects that might distract the viewer and Photoshop filters can be used to remove distracting elements either by calming their colours or blending them into the composition better.
My neighbour's front garden
In life, we are constantly distracted. Advertising, yet another human catastrophe, noisy neighbours, a TV show, phone calls. What stops you concentrating? My pet problems are
1/ Noise-unfortunately I live in quite a noisy area. People shout when they could walk and talk, their dogs bark incessantly, their children scream.
2/They throw rubbish around and let their kids run riot.
3/Terrible human tragedies
4/Phone calls.
5/Housework
I cope with number one by wearing headphones and playing myself music when trying to write or process images. The music depends on what I’m writing/doing. Today it’s Anastacia. I need cheering up and some extra energy.
The rubbish? I try to concentrate on the beauty around me. Today’s photos are by way of antidote, but there’s one shot of the stuff that could depress me if I allowed it to. Spring is here! Flowers, greenery, new life. We have to celebrate the positives in life or we’d truly go mad. I do my garden, make my bit of the planet as rich in wildlife as I can, grow beautiful things to surround myself with.
Tragedies? All any of us can do is sympathise, contribute to relief efforts financially and refer to our spiritual beliefs for comfort. Then go back to putting beauty and joy back into the world. How else would there be any balance and how else do we stay sane in a mad world?
Phone calls? Can’t hear them with headphones on. That helps. But if stuff has to be dealt with then do it as soon as possible then get back to work!
Housework? Do it as quickly as possible without scalding or maiming myself, and try not to let it distract me if there’s stuff left to be done.
Grape hyacinth. Small but a welcome distraction!
On the subject of filters, I’ve recently been given by my father and a friend, some new filters for my camera, and some extra ones for Photoshop. So I’ve definitely got plenty to do learning how to use them and finding out what I can make them do. I’ll keep you posted as I hopefully make progress. I’ll try to filter out the distractions that slow me down. What do you need to filter out?
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Photoshop Tutorial Resources for Photographers
22 Jan 2011 3 Comments
in art, business, image, imagery, musings, photo, photography, photography technique Tags: art, business, education, image, Nikon D90, photography, photos, Photoshop, Photoshop tutorials, pictures, random, workflow
Watermead Country Park
Hi everyone. I hope you’re having a good weekend. As promised, I’ve been investigating some resources that could be useful if you wish to learn more about Photoshop and how to manipulate your images once downloaded. I’ve found some very interesting sites. Although it would take me weeks to work through all the information available on these sites, the tutorials I’ve read and watched seem very comprehensive and fairly straightforward to follow. So I’ll pass them onto you and you browse away to your heart’s content. The images I’ve posted today are from our walk yesterday at Watermead Country Park. For those of you who are interested, I’ve used a couple of waterfall shots from yesterdays post to create new products on Zazzle. I’m having fun building my shop there. Once I’ve finished photoshopping I enjoy seeing what products some of my shots would be suitable for then going and creating them. Now I just need more people to see them and like them. If you do pop into zazzle please let me know what you think.
Watermead Country Park
OK, here are the sites for your reference and a little about what each one has to offer.
http://www.russellbrown.com lots of video tutorials including creative masking without masking, green screen removal and clone painting. An interesting site with several sections. I’ve found the most useful stuff in ‘Tips and techniques’ and ‘Dr Brown Scripts’.
http://3rdelement.com/photoshop/a-letter-from-florence/ Very easy to watch video tutorials on all sorts of stuff including extracting an object from its background, masking and applying adjustment layers.
http://www.dpbestflow.org/ Find information on here about workflow, colour space, image editing, copyright registration, metadata and more. This is a very technical site but well laid out and with explanations that are easy to read an follow.
http://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/pen/pen.htm loads of written tutorials, images are not very clear but info is good and directions easy to follow. CD/dvd tutorials available from author. Topics range from creating water drops on an image to using the pen tool.
http://designshack.co.uk/articles/css/create-seamless-web-background-textures-in-minutes written tutorials on subjects like creating seamless background textures in minutes and making reflections in Photoshop. There are weekly freebies inc free textured papers. A designers website with useful stuff for photographers. You’ll also find information about marketing and CSS. This site is well worth a look, although only some of the information relates to Photoshop and photography.
That’s it for now. If I find any more I’ll mention them in a later post. Of course, for those of you with full versions of Photoshop there is also the Adobe site itself. Happy Photoshopping! If anyone wants to add a cool resource they’ve found, please leave a comment. We’d all be more than grateful.
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Nature’s Imagination or is that My Imagination?
12 Jan 2011 28 Comments
in art, image, imagery, musings, nature, photo, photography, thoughts, Uncategorized, wildlife Tags: art, image, imagination, inspiration, nature, photo, photograph, photography, picture, random, trees
I’ve been collecting the images in this post for some time now. I’m often amazed at some of the forms nature takes, all by itself. I’m sure it has no idea what happens when humans look at it and see something I’m sure it never intended. But I find them entertaining, interesting and different, as you could not invent these forms. Some are only apparent in certain light. I’ll tell you what I can see. It might just be me. But if you can see it too please let me know, so I know I’m not just a batty old nature lover with an over-active imagination!
The image above is a lump of rotting wood I dragged home to place in my garden. Looking out of the window I saw a wolf. Do you?
This one we call ‘sex on a stick’. Can you see why? It’s a log I took from a pile my friend had bought for her wood burning stove in Scotland. Once the bark was removed it became an ornament that many have asked about. They wanted to buy one!
Here’s another shot from another angle of the same log.
This last one is in woodland close to where I live. The rock it’s growing against is pre-Cambrian, some of the oldest rock here in the UK. but look at the tree. I see a female form, arms above her head, posing beautifully. Do you, or am I crackers?
When I find these things I can’t help but photograph them, although they’re never going to end up on my website as saleable images, in my private collection they do create interest among friends.
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Think Abstract for Something Different in your Album
09 Jan 2011 18 Comments
in image, imagery, musings, nature, photo, photography, photography technique, thoughts, travel Tags: abstract, art, image, musings, photo, photograph, photography technique, picture, random
I fought shy of doing abstract when I first took up photography with serious intent. I wanted to record things exactly as they are. Then I realised I was missing a lot of good interesting shots that were no less valuable, either to my art form or my albums.
So I started thinking differently about my composition and what I’d be prepared to shoot. One night, while accompanying my partner on a business trip to Glasgow we sat in the hotel restaurant watching the rain. I noticed the lights outside and their distortion caused by the wet glass. One quick shot later I had this.
Here, I went to the Botanic gardens and for a moment took my eyes off the plants and flowers and looked up. 
This next one hasn’t been cropped and I grant you should be, but I wanted to show you the original effect. You can see how it could be cropped on both sides to get a more balanced. picture. I could also have turned the camera sideways, of course, but the effect was only possible if I used one hand to touch the plasma ball. Assistant please!
And the one above is a close-up of the inside of a tepee. I looked up again! Of course I have the photos of the interior and of my friends inside it, but I value these less common images. They make me smile, agencies quite like them and they do serve as reminders of the time I took them They are also a talking point when others are look through my albums. So add a little something unusual to your collection of photos. Don’t just take snapshots, but look for the abstract to get something a bit more arty.
And finally…
I’ll leave you to wonder what this is.
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Happy New Year! New Enterprise for 2011
03 Jan 2011 16 Comments
in business, image, imagery, musings, photo, photography, thoughts Tags: art, business, digital art, floral, flowers, images, musings, Nikon D90, photo, picture, products, random, thoughts
Well, the bug that blighted Christmas has finally vacated my system. While it laid me low all the holiday, I did get a chance to think long and hard about where I go from selling images from my website. As this is my only income I’ve had to think of ways to increase business. Disenchanted with agencies I spent time surfing and talking over the holiday and it has sparked me into a new form of creativity. I’ve opened a shop at Zazzle. I’m busy ‘making’ new products that can be purchased from my own store with them. They do an amazing range of items from giftware to office bits and bobs, like mousemats and mugs, so I’ve started with them. the images in today’s post have been used on the products, and I’m going to be kept very busy building up the store with new designs.
It’s all rather exciting, and I feel invigorated by having found a new outlet for my work. I’ve lots of ideas for new pictures, but need to spend time with Photoshop to get some of the effects I’ll need for my designs. Some good may have come from the isolation we’ve had this holiday. I’m even considering entering some photographic competitions, something I’ve avoided so far as I’m not really a competitive person.
As this is my first post of 2011 I’ll wish you all a very happy prosperous new year. Good luck with your own visions and dreams.
What would you buy if you loved the design?
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Pride of Place. The Photograph, the Memory and the Art
29 Dec 2010 16 Comments
in image, imagery, musings, photo, photography, photography technique, thoughts, travel Tags: art, event, flower, image, Nikon D90, people, photo, photography, picture, Pride, random, travel
I don’t ALWAYS take pictures of nature. Sometimes I try to capture human nature. Especially the exotic variety. So, at the end of 2010, here are some thoughts, some photos and some memories I don’t think I’ve shared until now. Back in August, I went along to Nottingham Pride where my friend Randy Wornhole always goes to promote his charity work for gay men. It’s a very colourful, friendly affair and I love it. It’s a place to find the exotic of our species. They display their colours, their feathers and their gentle nature for all to see and photograph. I thought they’d make you smile.
The real Police behind bars at Pride
Randy Wornhole, Comedian and Philanthropist
Despite all that was going on around me and all the wonderful characters, I ended up at the borders of the park attracted by the dahlia walk, which provided exotica of another kind, and resulted in a wonderful Christmas present. One of my photos on a large canvas on my lounge wall. I’m hoping to start putting these up for sale next year on my website. Here’s the photo I’m so proud of now being displayed, and it was taken at Pride!
So, if that tells you anything, it has to be don’t just go out with a closed mind to photograph one thing. If I’d done that, I’d have some great shots of Pride and some great memories but would not have several great photos of flowers I love but don’t have room to grow myself. What art would be on my wall then?
Next year, I intend to keep my mind open to any and all new possibilities for pictures that are exciting, different, beautiful, interesting…the list goes on. I’ll be happy to put 2010 behind me – it’s been a tough year. I’m now clear of responsibilities that stole my time and can now spend that time on working towards my goals. I hope you can do the same. Do more of what you’re good at and makes you happy, fellow bloggers! That’s what will work for you. And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
These are for the party…
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Uses of Backlighting in Photography
17 Dec 2010 23 Comments
in image, imagery, nature, photo, photography, photography technique, thoughts Tags: art, backlighting, image, NikonD90, photo, photography, photography equipment, photography technique, picture, random
Backlighting can be a useful tool in photography. Its use can change the whole effect of an image. For example, in the image above, I used the backlight of the sunset to silhouette the tree alone in the landscape. It required patient and careful positioning of the camera to ensure the sun didn’t cause too much glare or flares in the picture. In the next shot, the sun was very low, but placing the camera low (so shooting high) allowed me to silhouette the bird as well as the fence. I did colour this image in Photoshop, and this was easier to do without flare or clipping getting in the way because the backlight was fairly soft. If you want to try these kinds of shots, you may find a filter useful when contrasts are high. My lens for these shots just had a UV filter screwed on. I almost always have this on each lens as it protects the lens itself and helps when photographing water or shiny surfaces.
The next couple of shots involve indoor backlight. I only have a couple of small, tabletop daylight photographic lamps, but you could use a bright halogen reading lamp, as long as your camera is stable, either on a tripod or beanbag, so you can adjust your shutter speed to get enough light into the image. Experiment with the angle of the light coming through your subject. Experiment with your shutter speed. Don’t be afraid to play with white balance either. This will affect the colour cast on your final picture. I wanted natural colours in these shots, but you may be aiming for something more arty, and may find changing white balance gives you the colour cast you’re aiming for. If not, you can always play with the tones and colours once it’s back in your editing programme.
The image below was a seed pod simply placed in front of a bright light. I used my 300mm zoom macro lens to get in really close and reveal the seeds inside. I used a similar technique with the fern leaf, which has given us a great view of the spores underneath it. I like the patterns revealed doing this. Of course it doesn’t work as well with thick, leathery leaves, but can be very effective on thinner ones and petals. This flower was backlit for a series of photos as the almost translucent petals caught my eye one day when the sun shone through them. I need to get them out of the wind, so cut one or two, brought them indoors and used my tabletop lamps to achieve this effect. Talk about seeing things in a different light!
Backlighting can also make a human silhouette. If you take the picture of your subject against a plain or white background you’ll make life easier for yourself. I had my volunteer stand in front of an upstairs window on a fairly dull day as I didn’t want sky detail. This of course backlit him, ensuring an easy and quick silhouette.
And finally, this one isn’t really backlighting, but an experiment shining a light INSIDE a flower. Time for you to play now, I guess.
My apologies for the delay in getting this post out and replying to some comments. Our internet connection went down a couple of days ago and we got it back at 3am last night. It’s put me behind with the website, too as I needed to work online, but I’m sure I’ll catch up soon. I spent the day doing all the stuff I’ve been neglecting to get photography work done, so the house is cleaner and tidier, which will make life easier when preparing for Christmas. I hope all your preparations are going well. It can be a hectic and stressful time, but hopefully you’re all on top of it and are going to have a great holiday. I’ll put up our tree and decorations on Friday, after my birthday, which is almost always overshadowed by Christmas, so I make the tree wait. There’s no rush now the children have left home!
Have you tried backlighting? Is it something you might have new ideas for? Please, let me know. It would be great to hear of your experiments and see the results.
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Using Backgrounds to get Arty and Have Fun
09 Dec 2010 14 Comments
in image, imagery, photo, photography, photography technique, Uncategorized Tags: art, creative, image, inspiration, photo, photo editing, photography, photography technique, Photoshop, picture, random
I’m no expert. I’m really not a techy, as I’ve said before. But with practice in Photoshop, it’s not too difficult to make some arty looking images from pictures of your friends. You might even be able to make an image of them that will make them smile. It all started when my photography magazine arrived with some free backgrounds and basic instructions on how to use layers to overlay another shot. So I thought as Christmas is coming you may want to try it and perhaps surprise a friend or two with a unique present.
You need a background images to start with. Mine in the shot above was one of the downloads offered with the magazine CD. However, since then I’ve been busily taking my own collection for future use. Scroll down to have a look at the kind of ideas you can use. I’d recommend that you take your own background shots at the same resolution and size as the image you want to overlay. This will make the layers easier to align and merge together.
background1
background2
background3
Now, below I’ve used a background I shot myself of a slab of rock on a beach (background3, above). It was a landscape image and I wanted it to be portrait to fit my image of my friend the comedian Randy Wornhole. So I rotated the image by 90 degrees.
Randy Wornhole
The combined layers merged.
Assuming you now have the images on your computer as jpg, now open the background image. You might want to play around with how light or dark this background layer is. As you’ve overlaying someones’ face, or perhaps an animals profile, you don’t want it to disappear into too dark a background. Don’t worry about this too much, however, as you can still alter it later. Try to choose an image with a very simple background so you can cut out the person’s outline using the quick selection tool. Now on the top bar of Photoshop, go to window-arrange-float in window. Using the move tool, drag the outlined image into the window of the background image and move it around until you like how it’s lined up. You now have two layers.
In the layers bar (bottom right) double-click on the top layer and you’ll see a menu come up on-screen. Now you can blend this layer with the background. Try different settings. This screen allows you to view your experiments as you play. I’ve found the blending mode the most useful, and in Randy’s image I used multiply with an opacity of 92 and in advanced blending, a fill opacity of 71. I didn’t like the effects of any of the blending options on the styles list for this image, but did use them for the picture of my son above. It all depends on your picture and background choice as to what will work for you. You may at this stage decide the background is too light or too dark. Simply click on the background layer and alter this shade either using curves or exposure.
Once you are satisfied with your results, you’ll need to close the blending window and choose layer-flatten layer to save as a jpg. Have fun with it. Be aware that I’ve tried quite a few different images before I found ones that really worked for me. This is another chance to play! The image below is one I teased a friend with. I managed to line up the bark on the background with his face and chin, and it gives him an ancient, gnarled look. He did laugh, honestly.
