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Sunday, 25 July 2010 13:55 |
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My apologies for my absence, but its been a complicated time for me as I am just days away from launching a new website. It has taken a total of 15days to make so far, with much banging of my heads on tables as Chris and I try and make it work on all browsers. Its got many new pages including a full commercial stock library (powered by Stock Box Photo), a superb new porfolio with enhanced image sizes, as well as the start of something I thought I would never do - workshops.
More on this later on, but for now its back to the code :( Expect to see it up and running by the start of August. Then I am going to sit on a cliff for four weeks and breathe fresh air or something equally as zen. I cant imagine doing web design for a living. |
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Monday, 21 June 2010 14:37 |
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Well despite a sudden absence from this blog, in the background I have been kicking like a crazyman. Not only have I been churning through a huge glut of stock agency submissions, but I have been shooting even more stock images (hmm..), coastal cottage and villages throughout the South West of England. I have also been enjoying writing music and preparing from some fun behind the digital decks as I start some summer DJing which kicks off my debut this Friday.
This is Pentire Head in Cornwall, it's the second take on the image I posted in the seascapes gallery a week or so ago. This was taken slightly earlier in the evening, but its those excellent clouds.... I have since been back there another two times when passing, but it just can't be replicated or improved on.
Canon 1DsIII and the dubious 17-40 f4L (for the polariser) @ 21mm f16 for 1/2sec ISO100
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Saturday, 29 May 2010 23:42 |
 
Here's an unexpected take on Trevose Lighthouse in Cornwall that I am exceedingly happy with. The whole sunrise / sunset connundrum does little to give your audience a sense of versatility, so after another evening scuppered by the blanket of grey, I hardly expected this textural, dynamic shot to be within my grasp.
Processed in Lab mode, the whole image preserves subtlety -that's what LAB is all about. By working the contrast independantly and leaving the colours well alone, the image maintains colour accuracy. Your camera is very capable of recording things accurately (but don't we like to tinker)... With a six stop ND filter to give cloud drag and add the stringy effect to the sea, the lighthouse provides that all important focal point, despite its relatively small size.
Think about it next time you ponder over forum images online; look at the amount of faked up colouring that goes into skies in particular. Despite what the 'chefs' say, we are capable of enjoying other flavours than just sickly sweet.
Canon 1DsIII, 24-105 f4L @ f11 for 100secs ISO100
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Wednesday, 12 May 2010 12:42 |
Off to Jersey for a fun packed weekend - interview of BBC Radio on Friday to advertise Saturday's talk and then a workshop on Sunday. The finale is that I am judging an inter island photographic competition between Jersey and Guernsey. With the standards from both islands being excellent it has to be a close call.
Anyway, this is one of the many slipways in Jersey, taken at the close of day with a six stop ND filter to give a kick of 'fine art'. Lets hope I get such a thrilling sunset as last time (see the Seascapes > Vertical gallery for the 'Gloaming' series)
1DsIII Contax 35-70 f3.4 @ f11 6stop ND for 30secs ISO200 |
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Monday, 19 April 2010 15:43 |
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We all know about turning off Data Roaming in these modern times, the horrors of a huge bill from an internet phone left connected abroad, but after saving my good friend a whopping £147 in data roaming charges on his Apple iPhone so I thought I would alert everyone who is a frequent flyer like myself (or landlocked frequent flyer like I am at present :) ) to a big O2 / iPhone problem. These next few paragraphs may have you diving back into those holiday phone statements in disbelief.
Lis-belief
In the first four days of my Lisbon trip, I have checked my emails twice, only looking at 'headers' not looking at the actual contents unless absolutely necessary. I looked at a few important ones until I found reliable free WIFI and promptly got a text from O2 o the same day, stating I should 'watch my data roaming' as I had wracked up £22 in charges. So £3/mb for EU countries... hmm that's 7mb of data roaming..... 7mb my arse.
My friend Matt has just snuck in under the volcanic ash from LA to a desperate £234 bill which he had just reluctantly paid. In our Skype call, I suggested he ring O2 as I thought had sussed out a major issue, that O2 Data Roaming billing system was totally flawed. These are the points I told him to argue, something you can use too -
Firstly - O2's Data Roaming tally is caching the ENTIRE contents of a delivered email, unopened or not and adding that amount to your Data Roaming bill. Therefore, if the email contains an unopened 3mb attachment, you have just been charged a pound. Lets compound this problem with 5 similar and the problem is getting very serious.
Secondly - O2 is also caching your GMAIL and IMAP accounts (not POP3) based on your inbox contents, that's emails that have already been received. So in other words, if the first 50 emails you see in your GMAIL account contain 7mb of data, data you opened before you left home, like it did in my case, you get charged £21 just for opening your inbox! That's without reading anything.
Matt has just had his entire O2 Data Roaming bill refunded immediately, without any hint of a fight back from O2. I think they are hiding something from users, don't you? Does your electricity provider act in the same way? Matt says that 'O2 blame it on the iPhone', but Apple don't charge me for Data Roaming, O2 does that.
Volcanic Profit
I havent used O2's Data Roaming on any other phone, but just think about it; the millions and millions of pounds a day they must be making from unsuspecting volcano victims, iPhone / O2 users trying anything possible to get back into the UK during the coming week on the only form of access they have to the online world. All will pay up on arriving home feeling guilty for this urgent but necessary cost, unaware that a significant percentage of it will be from incorrect billing.
DO NOT DATA ROAM ABROAD ON O2...EVER, USE WIFI ONLY. If you used Data Roaming abroad in the past then check your bills and get onto them straight away. You may be claiming a substantial refund, relief from that post holiday sting.
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 13:29 |
Just a quick image before I leave for Lisbon later today...If like me you were under the impression that Liverpool was somewhat unphotogenic then think again. After a three day trip to this fabulous city, there is a huge potential for shooting historical and modern architecture, something I do revel in working for architectural clients and agencies.
This is the concert room inside St Georges Hall, off limits to the public except for weddings and fashion shoots, but what an incredible sight to behold. I would personally line those right side chairs up a little better if I had the time ;) It had a wonderful warmth which I have tried to accurately process rather than opting for a neutral white balance.
1DsIII, Nikon 14-24mm @18mm, f8, an Exposure Fusion of three images in Photomatix and some manual exposure blending.
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Thursday, 25 March 2010 11:35 |
 
Something I rarely do, but now I am certainly leaning towards is portraiture. After a Christmas shoot at Clive Figes Sigma Studios opened my eyes to the whole concept, enter DJ Iain McKenzie looking for promo pictures before leaving for some high profile gigs out in exotic Indonesia and beyond. Taken using floodlighting and a vertically fired flash gun, here is Iain freezing to death in a windy tunnel. Effective? I do hope so.
1DsIII, 17-40 f4L @ f5.6, 1/30th sec |
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Tuesday, 23 March 2010 19:44 |
Here's a new image from Canada, a rather lucky sunset, processed using Photomatix, a direction I am trialing. After playing with the HDR side of the software, I still lean myself towards Exposure Blending, but this time with the computers help. I am using the 'Exposure Fusion' method that the software includes.
For me, it yields far more realistic results that anything I could get from the Tone Mapping and the somewhat aggressive Details Enhancing (largely responsible for the dubious crayon drawing signature so many images portray) I was very pleased to see that realism can be retained from the EF method so I am using it more and more whilst processing the Canada trip, simply to see how I feel about it. Is it quicker than blending? Yes it is, so I can see myself using to reduce the processing time of a shoot, especially for tricky conditions like architecture and interiors.
1DsIII, Contax 35-70 f3.4 @ f11 for 1/40th sec and 1/2sec blended in Photomatix using Exposure Fusion, then worked on to build contrast. |
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Friday, 19 March 2010 08:54 |
My favourite new black and white image from my recent wanderings on the Isle of Skye. I constantly toy with the question about contrast and black and white, but in this instance, when their was no sunshine all day, it's the contrast between the water and rocks that gives the necessary boost.
1DsIII, 24mm TS-E mk2, f11 for 4secs. |
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Friday, 12 February 2010 09:58 |
Back from Berlin for 48 hours; an array of architecture and travel photography taken in the eastern 'fridge', as cold still grips central Europe. This marvellous structure is on top of the Reichstag or German Parliament Building. A Norman Foster masterpiece, designed purely as an air duct and a magnetic tourist attraction. This is shot on a 5DmkII at 14mm using the Nikon 14-24, f8 for15secs ISO 100. More new imagery from Berlin over on the main site.
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