Need some inspiration?

I find inspiration in most things but I have so many ideas buzzing around my head I sometimes don't know where to begin with them and a little direction never goes amiss!

 I had this delightful little number bought for me recently by one of my constant sources of inspiration, my other half! This book is excellent! It has lots of different ideas that anyone can have a go at and I would recommend it to everyone to have a look through, if you are 'photo crafty' minded.

I'm going to try and do one thing a month out of this book and then blog about it. Why not get yourself (or someone else to!) this book and do the same!

Photoshop Tutorial: HDR Images

I think amongst photographers, HDR is a bit like marmite, you either love it or hate it. I have seen some amazing landscape shots enhanced with the use of HDR but it's never been something that has massively appealed to me…. Until now!

HDR stands for High-Dynamic-Range imaging and to put it simply, it gives you a better range of highlights, shadows, colours than you can capture with real world scenes.

I read a couple of tutorials on it after looking at some album artwork that I thought looked really cool and that I wanted to have a go at recreating (The Amazing Snakeheads, Amphetamine Ballads to be precise).

The technical bit:

• You need to take 3 images, one a stop or two under exposed, one correctly exposed and a third image one or two stops over exposed. (In order to get a seamless free image, it's best to use a tripod, unless you want a more ethereal, dreamlike or ghostly final image.)
• Open up Photoshop and click on file, then 'automate' and 'Merge to HDR pro'

• You'll then get a pop up box with your HDR image and now the world is your oyster! Play around with the settings and see what you get!

NB If you can't see the the save or OK button if you edit on a Mac, move the toolbar to the left or right (apple -> Dock -> Position on Left/Right) and it should come up. For some reason, on mine, the bottom of the box gets cut off meaning you have to force quit and lose your lovely image!

Like I said previously, if you want a crisper image, you'll need to use a tripod, but I was so eager to try the technique out I didn't bother! Serendipity prevailed once again and I love the softer edges and the more eerie feel of the photo by not using one.

And just to add a bit more spookiness to the image, I did another edit but this time I made the eyes completely black. Thoughts?!

Goodbye Goa!

Last post about Goa so it really does feel like my holiday is over now! These last two are just some images I was playing around with but I like them! So I hope you do too. :)

This photo was my first attempt at a panoramic shot. It's made up of 5 photos stitched together and I was pretty darn proud of it! 

And this one, as you can tell, is a triptych of the same fire artist eating fire. But again, just a wee little experiment that I liked the end results of! 

Don't forget the Exhibition!

Just a gentle reminder that my night for the exhibition is fast approaching! 

'Windows' Exhibition 

Friday 1st February 2013

7pm

The Roisin Dubh (Kingsbury)

Click here for more information! Spread the word!

Some from Easter?!

 I was sat at home looking at ALL the chocolate I seemed to have accumulated for Easter. Not bad for a 20something adult, eh?!

Every day it was all sat on the table, staring at me, just willing me to gobble it all up with it's lovely bright packaging. So instead of giving in to temptation, I thought I would take photos of them. Mmmmmmmmmm it makes my mouth water just looking at this one. That cadbury's purple gets me every time!








Then I thought I'd do some experimenting. To be fair, it didn't turn out how I thought or had wanted it to but I really like them all the same! I used long exposure and was moving the camera around whilst exposing. Neat, huh?! The one on the left I actually zoomed in and out as I was exposing, rather than moving the camera itself. I like that it has a kind of 'Creme Egg halo'!

This one is my favourite, I just love how it doesn't look at all like an easter egg or chocolate and the colours look brilliant. In my opinion anyway! Hope you like them. I'm just going to go and raid the chocolate cupboard. Laters!

Protest Puppet

This is one from a collection of work I am doing called 'This is What Democracy Looks Like.'

All photography for sale! POA, email feistyfotos@hotmail.co.uk

Blessed are the Dead 'B-Side'

All photography for sale. POA, email feistyfotos@hotmail.co.uk