Want to add a bit of atmosphere to your pictures? Then you could add a bit of smoke. One way is to hire a smoke machine but a more economical way is a simple bee-gun that bee-keepers use to get into their hives. This burns hessian rags or better still in my opinion, incense, which…
Painting and Photography
What is the difference between an illustration and a photograph? Not so well defined as it was before the digital age. I am reminded of high-school biology lesson when the question was ‘What’s the difference between an animal and a vegetable?’ Nothing like as obvious as it sounds. Nowadays Photoshop has blurred the distictions between…
Filters
Filters in the digital age. Filters are still useful. Although the effects of filters can be duplicated in Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture etc there is a strong case for creating the effect during the shoot. I use the following: Soft, neutral grey gradual, polariser, neutral density. Soft focus filter. A soft focus filter will push the…
Lightroom Presets
Time saving with Lightroom Presets Want to get that Kodak Tri X 1600 ASA* grainy look in a moment? Rather than doing all the hardwork yourself, the chances are somebody has already done it and saved it as a Lightroom Preset. You’ll find stacks of them from cross-processing to weird skin tones here: preset heaven What’s…
Blurb Books
The idea of making an illustrated book just a few years ago would have seemed absurd but now anyone can make a book for as little as €14. I use Blurb but there are others on the market: Qoop, Lulu and WeBook. For a comparison Overview. You can find out everything you need from their…
Panoramic Heads
Panoramic tripod heads In these days of miraculous stitching software is it worth investing in a geared panoramic head? Well I think so. I use a Manfrotto 438 ( €55/ £50/$75) levelling base, and a 410 geared head(€200)- plus the indispensable hot shoe spirit level (about €5 from eBay) The levelling base allows you to start and finish your…
Waxing Inkjet Prints
Waxing Prints. I’ve been thinking for some time of waxing pigment prints done on the Epson 9800 and the middle of February seemed to get around to it. There are various reasons why one should wish to wax a print – the most obvious being protection against scratches and pollution. However, there are aesthetic considerations…
