Walk About with Fluff (20110729)

Ready for a shock.... Today we were up in the sunlight!

I know its something really different, but not to wast it we went into town for a walk and a little shopping. As normal I had the camera for this little walk around and there is now pics live on the site LINK below

To see more from the set click HERE

Manfrotto Price Difference!

Tonight I have been looking up Tripods.

While I have been looking the Manfrotto 190CXPRO3 kept coming up, This is a very good Carbon Fibre tripod that is extremely light weight and has professional feature that lets the centre column move 90° from a vertical to a horizontal, in other words it lets you take shots from different angles.

Anyways, While looking I found out a funny thing, 2 very different prices. On warehouseexpress.com its going for around £224.00 but on amazon.co.uk its £299.95. That over £75.00 for the same item.

I know it sounds silly but just remember to always shop around!

or maybe I should just go forthe Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod thats going for only £129.00.

When Photoshop goes Wrong/Right

Last night I was playing with 2 images from the weekend, One was a muiti shot of me(I was getting the lighting right for the girls) and the other was a composite shoot with the girls cut out & placed in a shop.

The composite shot was the one I knew how to do, It was a case of cutting the girls out and placing them on an random image I got from the internet. It took me over an hour to cut them out and look good (Between the 2 girls and the tape measurer)

After a long time with placement, putting a drop shadow in and trying to blend the 2 images together, I am still not happy with it!

The other was something different and new to me, Using a layer mask is nothing new to me but using it in the way that I would not use. hiding a layermask and keeping it on a top layer in Photoshop, After spending over an hour doing the 1st (composite of the girls) image.

this image took me all of about 3mins to do.

I must say that the settings and in camera stuff was already fine so there was very little to worry about in post (Doing it right in camera is always the best way to work in post)

The 2 images are doing (almost) the same thing but just different ways of doing it. But with the better set up and ease of post I really love the 2nd image.

Show the love, Please

After all the fun from this weekend and spending most of Monday editing the images I now have 3 new sets of photos on the site (LINK).

I have had alot of people telling me that the shots are really nice but the trouble is that while all the nice words are really sweet and really do boost my confordance but what it does not do is let more people see it. Clicking the like button on FaceBook or commenting on the photos them-self.

I know its sounding really petty and I really do love to hear the words in the "real world" on the net comments and likes help to spread the word to many more people, Your friends see them in the news feed, there friends see you liking something and then look for them selfs.

Sorry for the rant! And really hope you have enjoyed the photos.

A Weekend of Photography

This was one full weekend... 2 nights off and 2 Different shoots done. As well as 2 fully packed and fun nights with my friends!

The 1st was with JE and her massive wish-fairy dress.

Then on Sunday I shoot a Rocka Billy themed shoot with Fluff and Queenie

To see the FULL sets of both these crasy nights, and the other fun pics from Sats Games night with poi, Check my site @ Skinselliott.webs.com

Killer Queens!

I just got back in from a night up a friends, The plan was a dress up shoot with a RockaBilly/PinUp theme. I spent half my time watching telly while the girls did there bits and after a while it was shooting time.

These are the first 2 photos that I have edited and uploaded so keep your eyes peeled over the next few days and you will have more on my site, As Well as a Fairy Queen shoot I did on Saturday night.

You will find both shoot on my site soon so if your not a member, Join and you will get an Email letting you know when there live!

To see more of my work see Skinselliott.webs.com

JCVD and his Talking Nipples!

I just saw JCVA {Jean Claude Van Damme} doing an add for Cools beer.

I wanted to post it but as i was going on Youtube, I found this as well,

So I'm posting what I think is the best advert EVER!

Still amazing!

Cartoon Networks to make Live-Action Captain Planet Movie!

Who here remembers 1990?

If you do then this guy should ring a bell or 2.

For the people to young to remember, this is Captain Planet.

The original cartoon featured five kids - called the "Planeteers" - coming together to fight against pollution with magic rings imbued with the elements of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart, and given to them by Gaia, the spirit of the Earth. If the Planeteers, who came from all over the world, encountered a threat they couldn't deal with by themselves, they could combine their powers and summon Captain Planet.

Anyways the reason that I bring it up now is that I have just heard that Cartoon Network just said GO to a Live-Action Captain Planet Movie!

I dont know if its a good thing but I cant really see bring a 90s idea back to life to kids from this time who cant even hold a can of coke till they see a bin, most adults dont even know who Gaia is- then again, maybe it would help after all

More Lens or better Glass?

The Title gave it away a little but I feel like I should post this as its been running around what I laughingly call my brain for 2 days now.

I have been looking around for good deals on the Canon 7D. I found out that from digitalrev.com I could get a the body with an 16GB CF card, EF-S 18-135mm (f/3.5-5.6 IS) as well as a EF 50mm (f/1.8 MK II) for (only) £1,417.68.{LINK}

So thats 2 lens and a memory card for only around £100.00 more then the body alone...

BUT!

Then I saw this deal {LINK} The body with a battery grip, Extra battery and Canons EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM for £1,951.93

I know to some you would think the 2nd deal is not as good, less glass for more money. But that lens is an "L" lens (Canons best lens) with weather selling, better build and a fixed aperture of f4 all the way from 28-105mm. It is a hard lens for a tough camera and they will suit each other very well.

I know this is alot of money and to not think of this now would just be stupid, but as i'm losing all my lens to swap to a new brand having the other 2 would be easyer and cheaper but getting this L glass would be much better in the long run!

What to do, what to do......

5Dii or 7D

Its slowly coming up to new camera time... Yes for the guys that are sick of hearing about it you might wanna skip this one, But for the rest you might enjoy my rant!

Ok now that I have kill off half my readers............................

Since Jan this year I have been saving my little pennys to get a new camera. It has always been between 2 cameras, The Canon 7d and the Canon 5d mark2. Both cameras are great shooters and are in the "top end" semi-pro range.

While the Canon 5d mark2 has a full frame CMOS sensor allowing it to have higher ISO and less noise than the Canon 7d's APS-C CMOS sensor, The 7d has faster FPS (Frames per second) quicker AF{auto focus} (using its 19 cross type AF points) and something that I really like and will use alot is its Integrated Speedlite Transmitter.

You do have the crop factor to think about when getting an APS-C camera. in Canons case is a x1.6 (ie. A 50mm is really a 80mm) This is a great thing if your using tele lens but for wide angle shoots it will change a 10mm to a 16mm.

I have played with both the 5D and the 7D and there both great cameras but I am still leaning towards the 7D for 5 reasons

1. I can use both EF and EF-S glass, But I do plan on getting EF only glass. Then again I have to start my lens collection all over again (Selling all my Sony lens now)
2. Shooting 8 FPS (5D=3.4) will help in most of my work.
3. 19 cross type AF points (5D=9) Much faster AF{auto focus}
4. Speedlite Transmitter lets you controll other speedlights without anything to add on.
5. I dont think going full frame is the best thing right now, I will but not for a few years.

The best thing is as long as I get (mostly) EF glass and not the EF-S then I can use it on all the canon bodies, So later when I do go full frame, I dont have to buy loads of new lens.

I want to have both in an ideal world, as both have there strengths and weaknesses. As any wedding photography will tell you, 2 bodies all the way! and having the best of both worlds is what really will make this a great thing. But I'm talking baby steps for now.

Changes in Camera

When I 1st started doing photography I wanted to do everything in camera, not to do a thing later in post. I got some good pics but it really lacked the pro look.

Then for a short time I just shot what I liked and played in photoshop with what I had, trouble was that I wanted to do things that the jpeg just could not do. I started shooting in RAW to get as much info as I could from each image. Soon after I learned that I needed to do some extra things, like shooting with post in-mind. (i'm not talking about "fixing" later but having as much detail for post later)

While shooting I thought about bracketing and HDR as well as angles of light that would help later in post. some times taking an extra few frames really helped back at the computer. Watching clips on YouTube or reading about different ideas is a great place to start getting you artistic juice flowing.

This has been a crazy few years and my ideas of art as well as photography has changed. Doing as much as you can in camera but to remember what you could do in post really helps your work.

1/800 f5.6 ISO200 Shot at 35mm

(This image is 95% in camera with only a boost in Exposure and blanking out the models t-shirt)

For Fro!

Just posting these to send onto a form on FroKnowsPhotos.com

A New Toy (BlackRapid RS-Sport)

As I got some money today I went into town to grab my new camera strap. The plan was to go for the RS-7, but they did not have it in Jessops so I had a look and feel of the RS-Sport.

It was really nice but then it was alot more then I wanted top pay, so I had a little word with the guy and got him to take £15.00 off.

Im really looking forward to really using it as it feels great and smooth to have, plus it really sprads the waight and with the flash and 10-24 SuperWide it feels really light

Song Of the Day

This is Spirits by Jamie Woon, I got the CD off a friend last month and put it on my iPhone once I got home. Its been on repeat since.

The album is Mirrorwriting and you can find more at jamiewoon.com

10 Days In Sweden (The Photos)

And there UP!

Sorry but I have spent the last few days going through all the pics from Sweden and I have finily finished editting and uploading the cream... Well the ones I wanna post now anyways!

To see the Full set you know what to do! (and if you dont here is a Link)

Swedish Summer Holiday 2011

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I am in Sweden and as were in at the farm house there is a lack of internet... I realy need to get a lappy of my own to edit photos and blog from.

Anyways, I have had loads of adventers and seen new bit of Sweden that I had only herd about before... As I will be coming home tomorrow I shall have loads of cool and new photos to show you and some blogs to explan things with pics to show them.

So far its been really chilled and I have enjoy myself alot. Seeing the family and the cats is always so nice, I never want to leave this place as its so magical to me... I could not think of a better place to growe up as a child.

Loads more photos to follow once I get home and can start going through them all.... and there is a lot hehe!