Surrounded in Mist

This is my first attempt at some Fine Art landscape photography. Its based on the theme of "beauty" and even though the image is not stereotypically beautiful, I think the minimal and gentle elements that the mist has lent to the image give it a beauty that is entirely its own.

I've been looking at quite a few artistic movements for inspiration and the ones that I believe have influenced this image the most include Romanticism, Postmodernism and a touch of Surrealism. If you have any thoughts about the photo above then please do let me know! It would be great to add some comments to my project journal!

Wordless Wednesday

My Photo Series for The Big Spring Beach Clean

As part of my photography degree we were assigned a project where we had to create a series of documentary photographs that looked at the theme of Social Concern. As I am a member of the environmental charity, Surfers Against Sewage, I thought it would be the best idea to photograph one of their campaigns because the issues they battle against are very concerning for myself. After researching through their campaigns and events I found out that they would be hosting a beach clean local to me, so I got in touch and asked to photograph the event. They gave me the all-clear and these are the images that I got!

It was such a cold and windy day so it was amazing to see so many people come out to help when they could've been tucked up inside with a cuppa! It was great fun, and I'm glad we were able to clean up the beach so much! 

Happy Easter Colour Palette

Blowing eggs for Easter makes me feel like a big kid, its so nostalgic for me since my mum used to sit my little sister and I down just before Easter with an egg each for us to blow and then decorate. Nowadays I don't use masses of paint or stickers to decorate my eggs, I use Sharpies and paint markers instead since it makes the decorating process so much quicker since there is no drying time. I really liked my handiwork this year so I decided that I wanted to show you guys, but when I saw the photograph I didn't "see" the eggs, what caught my eye was the subtle colour palette. And then one thing lead to another, so my Easter egg display became a Easter colour palette instead, haha. I love when little things like this happen! It feels so organic to do something with a vague idea or plan, but then become inspired to create something completely different.

Hope you all have a fabulous Easter! 

My Thoughts On Watermarking + a Giveaway!

I am very particular with watermarking, I tread a very fine line of loving and hating it but that of course depends on the circumstances surrounding an image. Most of the time I believe that (in my case) I am taking a photo to express myself and it is part of my art, so it can be spoilt if you overlay a huge garish watermark over the top of a once beautiful image.. seriously, sometimes it makes me so angry! But at the same time I realise that if you're trying to make a living from photography, it is vital to watermark your images as a way of self promotion. Just imagine, a couple are scouring the internet for wedding photographers when all of a sudden they see your image and know they want to work with you!..but the image is posted somewhere without any details about the photographer.. well, with a watermark of your name or business stamped somewhere on the image the couple can search the web for your website and get in contact with you! Without that watermark, you would've lost a potential client and in today's economic climate, most businesses cannot afford to do that.

I have a real hatred for large ugly watermarks so in my opinion I think the best way to watermark your images is by making it very small and faint. That way it doesn't take over the image but it is still there to promote yourself. Here's an example:

However if while at your photography business a client asks to see their proof images, this style of watermarking may not be suitable. Instead you may decide you need something repeatedly imprinted on the image to prevent clients from saving the proof images and using them for free. In this case you may need something similar to this:

[image courtesy of Visual Watermark]

It all depends on the target audience and purpose of the image! 

The main issue that I used to have with watermarking was that there was no real easy way of watermarking your images. Every image you wanted to use would have to be opened up in photoshop and then you would create the watermark on the layer above the image.. try to do this more than 10 times and you will probably lose your marbles and give up! That is unless you have a tool to do it for you such as Visual Watermark.

Visual Watermark allows you to imprint the same watermark(s) on 100s of images in just 1 minute through batch processing. It is extremely easy and versatile to use, and just unbelievably fast! I was able to watermark all my recent blog photos in quite literally a second! It has a stunning interface to work with and my favourite feature is that the software taps into your computer's fonts so if you use a custom font on your website, you can use the same font as part of your watermark. Makes keeping a consistent brand identity so much easier!

And one of you guys will be able to win a copy of Visual Watermark by entering this giveaway! To enter the giveaway you just need to login in the widget below and fill out whatever entries you like, good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fairy Houses

Tulips are ridiculously pretty, really makes me think of spring! I'm on my Easter Holidays now so I have a lot more time to catch up on photography projects and blog work so expect to see some interesting things over the next two weeks, its going to be fun! 

Early Mornings and Dying Flowers

Just some quick photos from my day, featuring the lovely morning light, my adorable cat unintentionally distracting me from my work, and the beautiful daffodils on my windowsill sadly coming to the end of their life.

How has your day been?

What's in my Camera Bag?

1 : CANON 60D DSLR - I bought this camera to replace my old 450D about this time last year and I'm so glad I have it! It feels heavier and bulkier than the 450D but it has a lot more features so its understandable. My two favourite features are that it can shoot HD film which is fun for little film projects and it has a screen that can be rotated so I can easily see what's happening when taking self-portraits! [buy here]

2: CANON LENS EF 50MM 1:1.8 II - This is probably my favourite lens! Its a dinky little thing but it stops all the way down to 1.8 which means its can create absolutely wonderful bokeh. I also really like having a prime lens because it makes me think more about the kind of shot that I want, and to work out the best position to take an image from. Its made of plastic instead of metal so it feels cheaper, but it still does the job the same as a more expensive lens. [buy here]

3: CANON ZOOM LENS EF-S 55-250MM 1:4-5.6 IS - In all honesty I haven't used this lens very much at all, in fact it was only recently that I rediscovered it so now its in my camera bag. Would be great for portraits and a good budget lens to get yourself started with some wildlife photography. [buy here]

4: CANON ZOOM LENS EF-S 18-55MM 1:3.5-5.6 IS - This is my oldest lens and was part of the kit I received with my 450D back in the day, haha. I still use this lens all the time though, its great for the shots that my 50mm can't take. I always take it on a shoot as a back-up lens because of it versatility, it literally can be used for anything, haha. [buy here]

5: LENSBABY COMPOSER PRO - My latest lens, which I received as a gift for my birthday last year, is more of a fun lens rather than a professional one. It allows you to creatively blur your photos but keep one part of the image in focus, the sweet spot! You can manipulate the sweet spot to anywhere in your image so it is brilliant for making creative shots just a little bit different. [buy here]

6: CANON REMOTE SHUTTER RS-60E3 - This is a lifesaver! I could not live without a remote shutter because I love doing creative self-portraits and it makes long exposures a breeze to take. This is my absolute necessity! [buy here]

7: CANON SPEEDLITE 270EX - A small, compact flash with plenty of punch to it. Really handy to have in my bag for when lighting conditions could use a gentle boost, [buy here]

8: CLOSE UP FILTERS - I bought a cheap set from eBay but there are similar set out there. Really handy for increasing the magnification of your lens for some quick and cheap macro-esque shots. [buy similar]


So that's what is in my camera bag at the moment! I do have other cameras such as various film cameras, my "everywhere-everything" camera, and a collection of vintage cameras too so if you're interested in seeing them then drop me a comment saying so :) I hope this was an interesting post!

Daffy Daffa Daffodil

A sure sign of spring, lets hope the cold weather will leave us alone now!

Wordless Wednesday

Piece of Cake!

After completing some more food photography for local business, Stacey's Cakes, I believe I am starting to get the hang of shooting on location at the client's house. Every time I visit I have a firmer idea of what I want the images to look like, what kind of lighting conditions to expect, and what the most effective equipment to bring would be. 

After shooting at her house several times now, I do believe that certain looks are being repeated as I am beginning to exhaust the different image possibilities so in order to "freshen" the images I believe I will look to adding more props and changing backdrops. She has been commissioned to bake a Hello Kitty cake and a Spiderman cake so for these, I would like to implement small children's toys to work with the playfulness of the type of cake. By placing these toys as part of the image's composition, I hope it will give it more impact and reiterate the fact that its a child's cake. For different backdrops I'm thinking of looking around for scrap wood that I could use for a surface to put food on, once it has been cleaned, painted, distressed, and finishing touches are made to it they should be ready for shoots. Ultimately, I would like three different surfaces, one painted white and distressed, another painted or stained an ash colour and distressed, and a final one stained with a dark colour and maybe distressed. This way I have different options to choose depending on the look of the cake and the ultimate mood I want the final image to have.

More Food Photography!

I've been playing around with some more compositions for food photography lately, my gosh its so fun!  The first photo is of a cozy chai latte smothered with marshmallows with a side of dunking biscuits and the second photo is somewhat of a template for me to use in future when photographing a main meal.

Next I want to either photograph a main meal of some kind or maybe some cute macaroons. 

Freebie Friday - "Valentine Photoshop Action"

A brand new photoshop action for you all to try, just click this link and find the download button! 

Wordless Wednesday

[Test shot of some gypsophila for my Personal Best Project]

First Food Photo Shoot!

I finally got round to doing a bit of food photography thanks to a friend of mine who is starting her own home-based cake baking business! We made a deal where I could practice doing my food photography on her cakes/cupcakes, then we could both use the images and she threw in a box of cupcakes like the one above into the deal too! So here is my first shot, I stuck with very simple styling so it wouldn't distract your full attention from the cupcake and I went for a three quarters angle because then you could see all of the cupcake, the small bowl of buttons and glass of milk. I used the natural lighting coming in from the nearby window and used some white foamboard to bounce the light onto some of the harsher shadows to create a soft look. 

Any constructive criticism would be amazing, thank you!

Project "Companions" - First Shoot

Evaluation of Negatives

Upon investigation, I can see that the first shot I have composed may not work. These run from frames 1to 3. First of all, the double exposure looks a bit too messy to clean up digitally; I can't reproduce the double exposure digitally using the the two other frames because I must've accidentally cut off a section of the first frame while loading the film into the development tank, since it isn't as tall as the other frames. I now know to be more careful while unloading film.

Frames 4 to 6 seem fairly useable thankfully. The double exposure isn't too messy so it could be retouched digitally , but if it proves difficult I have two other photos to combine digitally. Next time I shoot double exposures I will borrow the tungsten lighting from the college, so I can use a higher shutter speed and reduce the amount of model movement between the frames.

Frames 7 to 9 are workable, for some reason the double exposure appears to have motion blur but I can't recall moving or bumping the camera. The two other photos are very useable and should combine easily in photoshop.

Frames 10 to 12 are also workable. The double exposure seems a little untidy but some retouching should improve it. I won't be able to combine frames 10 and 12 because the difference between the model's posture in each is drastically different.

I also shot frames 13 to 15' but these are just three different single exposures. I was taking the shots to finish my roll of film but I actually really like them, I think they show lots of character and represents the relationship between the model quite well as she was allowed to do whatever she wanted. I have scanned them and will work into them then put them into my workbook as experimentation.

Three Completed Shots from the Shoot

Projects "Companions" - Digital Experimentation

Had another play around with my camera this week, trying to look at composition, a bit of lighting and working on my professionalism with trying to maintain the cat's interest and keep her still for photos.

I quite like the composition of this image but to move forward with this project I'm deciding to step back and have somebody else interact with the cat(s) so I can get some background into the images. I used mostly natural lighting and indoor lights to light the shot but I feel it would benefit from being lit with my studio lights and playing with a bit of tungsten lighting to create a more natural looking light source. When photographing another subject with the cat(s) I will make sure that I have some cat treats on hand so the cat focuses on them rather than me and it will keep their attention very well, and may allow me to get some really candid shots!

Project "Companions" - Digital Experimentation

I'm thinking of exploring the relationship between cats and their owners so these are the first two images I have created. These photos are of my cat, Mia, getting chin-rubs from me and just looking up at me. I quite enjoyed taking photos of her and I feel like our bond has strengthened from it. In future I will implement a good light source so my images aren't so blurred from slow shutter speeds. I also want to try being in the photos with her by using a remote trigger to take the photo, I think that the visual representation of our relationship will be a lot stronger and clearer that way. I also want to start taking images of my sister and her cat and perhaps then my mum and her cat, so I can see if there are any differences in our relationships.

"Personal Best" Project - Some New Images

Some images that I took this morning where I am looking at alternative self-portraits, focusing more on emotions rather than appearances.

I think I would like to start a project to focus on the changes of my body through losing weight and trying to find the weight I will be happiest at. For example, after losing a stone in weight I have instead gained these stretch marks which I used to hate, but now I'm trying to change my opinion of them by looking at them in a different way. I think I will reshoot my stretch mark image as I want to have more detail in the image, to accomplish this I will use more lighting so I can use a f-stop of 8 or similar so all of my skin is in focus but the background blurs nicely.

Thank You Mr Postman!

Such a great guy, haha! Just look at what he delivered today, my new Mamiya M645 all ready to go to start working on my "Companions" project! She looks lovely though I could do with touching up the paint where its worn off, but I'm sure it works great and I can't wait to run a film through it. I'm so excited!