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! 

The Big Spring Beach Clean

So over the weekend I had the honour of photographing an event called The Big Spring Beach Clean which was run by a charity called Surfers Against Sewage. It was so much fun to participate and it was so heart-warming to see all these different kinds of people come out to help considering it was cold and windy!

I will have approximately 8 to 12 images that will form a documentary series and I'm hoping to get the majority of them edited tomorrow so you guys will be able to see them either Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how it goes! Wish me luck with my editing haha.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, whatever the weather!

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!

Kindle Book Cover Review

I've never done a review before so please bear with me! Today I'm going to attempt to review my new Kindle cover! Its a handmade book inspired case made with traditional book binding techniques by Patsonscase from Etsy. It was handmade here, in the UK, and retails for £20 with £5 postage and packing (worldwide!) Here's how Patsonscase describes it:

Using traditional bookbindery techniques our resident professional bookbinder crafts beautiful covers to protect the Amazon Kindle. Unlike other cases, each piece of material is individually cut and each gold detail is hand tooled. We believe them to be works of art!

The case is covered with a beige book cloth and has brown faux leather wingtip corners and spine. The spine has raised bands just like an antique book and is finished with gold detailing. Inside, the case is lined with a wipeable grey natural cotton fabric.

Inside, your Kindle is gripped with a specially formed thermo - plastic sleeve which keeps the device firmly in place whilst protecting it from bumps and scrapes. Cut outs in the sleeve allow access to all ports and buttons. Patsons case will also include a free screen protector with every purchase made!

Now for the review!

When I first opened the box to this I was initially astounded by the very fine quality, I cannot stress enough how beautiful the craftsmanship of this case is.. it literally blew my mind! It was just like holding a small book in my hands, except when I opened it up there were no pages but instead a secure-looking cradle to hold my beloved kindle.

The first thing I did was to obviously slide my kindle into the case to check the fit. It slided in easy enough and was hugged safely and securely in the cradle, all buttons are still functional and not too hard to work, though they do require more force as the buttons are technically covered. There is a cut-out at the bottom of the cradle to allow you to access the charging port, which is great because the kindle can be protected and charged at the same time!

Once the kindle was inside I gave it a general look over, it adds some weight but that just makes it feel more like a good book, it is definitely not too heavy to hold one-handed for extended periods of time. It can be laid out on a table so it is flat or you can bend the front cover behind the back without harming the case, which allows you to hold it with one hand easier. It is very sturdy and robust, there is no way to bend the front or back of the case which means no broken kindle horror stories, hooray! It also doesn't scratch easily, after throwing it into my bag and taking it everywhere there were no visible scratches to be found unlike my pencil case or previous kindle case which are now pickled in scratches! 

All in all I am exceedingly impressed with this case and will undoubtedly use it for a very long time, it is just what I was looking for and wanted and I love how every case is handmade just for you so it really does feel special!

Check out the Patsonscase Shop here and his profile here.. if you want to see the listing for this case then click here!

Daffy Daffa Daffodil

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