I gave a talk at a camera club recently and I was asked how I created the look of some images that I shared. I explained how simple it was to do this with a couple of textures and the original image; a process using just four layers in Photoshop. A downloadable factsheet is available…
I have wanted to visit this museum for quite a while now (it’s on the bucket list!) and wasn’t going to miss the opportunity when I had to travel to London recently. The NHM is simply huge, from the outside it looks both imposing and attractive in it’s coloured brick design but you have to…
I had a few hours to kill whilst in London and took little Izzy for a walk in her pram but I needed something to do myself as we wandered around. Walking past a rather extravagant door I thought “why not create a mini photo project?” – so I did and here are some of…
I am without doubt the most reluctant dancer on this planet, however, I do seem to have a liking for photographing dance and have done for a while now. Having attended a dance photography workshop with Nicola Selby several years ago to learn the technicalities of capturing this genre of images, it dawned on me…
There has been a lot online over the last week or so regarding photographic workshops, set-up images and of course this attracts the keyboard warriors with their overbearing sense of righteousness – the modern day puritans maybe!As a photographer, I have attended workshops, visited hides and created my own ‘set-up’ shots under controlled conditions. I…
Whilst on holiday recently I was thinking that I hadn’t been out with the camera of late so started researching some possibilities. I can’t remember quite how, but I stumbled upon a shoot being planned at Woolton Hall in Liverpool organised by John Ayliffe. Woolton Hall is a Grade I listed building, originally built in…
I decided to have a look back at some images that I had taken a while back and a set with Carla took my eye. Having learned a bit more about applying textures in Photoshop I though I would try to create some soft, pastel images by applying a mixture of overlays and other techniques…
I haven’t been out with the camera for a good few weeks so thought I would have a look around my garden to see what was lurking in the shadows. The first thing I came across was a group of Scarlet Lily Beetles (Lilioceris lilii) congregating on a rapidly decaying Lily. So I put the…
Beyond doubt my favourite owl is the Little Owl (Athene noctua) and it’s been a while since I photographed one. The owls in these images are totally wild but have been encouraged to find food in a working farmyard barn. By placing two grubs a metre or so apart it is possible to shoot the…
In an age where images, photos, music all seem to abound on the World Wide Web and people are just downloading, uploading and sharing stuff I though I would write a short piece about copyright. Unfortunately, a lot (most!) people do not understand copyright or intellectual property rights and think that everything can be had…
The Cuckoo is a bird that was often heard but rarely seen, nowadays it isn’t heard that often either. As I’ve been roaming about the countryside I feel that I’ve been lucky if I hear one a year these days and until this occasion I had never actually seen one. This particular Cuckoo was photographed…
I spent a couple of afternoons in spring observing and photographing a pair of Sparrowhawks in southern Scotland. The woods were a riot of colour as the spring flowers were in bloom with the bluebells being spectacularly prevalent. The female hawk was particularly compliant and paused on several rocks and trees as it surveyed the…
