A Quick Pic

This is a quick picture of Amy and I from our recent photoshoot together!

Part 1 of the shoot was inside, we just experimented with a few ideas but we were in a cramped space so they didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, but for the second half we ventured outside and got some great shots!

I'll be sharing those with you shortly!

remember you can catch up on Facebook

My First Attempt at Dodging and Burning

So recently I've been looking at different techniques in photoshop, and one technique in particular has caught my eye, it's called Dodging and Burning.

Dodging and Burning was originally a technique film photographers used to brighten and darken parts of the images in an attempt to bring back detail from blown out areas or areas which were just black.

It is highly used by fashion retouchers when retouching images of models, I decided to try it out on this picture as a way to learn more and also prove to myself that I can do it.

So this is my first attempt at Dodging and Burning, please let me know what you think?

if I've over done it, or haven't done enough, please let me know!

Til Next Time, See Ya Later!

LPSA 2012

I've been searching through all my hard drives (I have 12 in total and range from 320GB to 2TB in memory,) looking for this set of pictures, I've wanted to share with you all since I've started this blog.

These are the pictures from my very first Paid Event, I'd been photographing events for free to gain experience since 2009, but as this was the first time I was getting paid it was like a test, to see how well I could perform with people I didn't know, in a location I was unfamiliar with.

I remember I was a little bit nervous as I arrived, but at the reception I was kindly greeted by Gurgeet, one of the pharmacy students at De Montfort University on the Pharmacy Ball Committee, she was very helpful and accommodating, she directed me to the main hall to set up.      

As soon as I set up my camera, lens and flash gun I started approaching people, I was feeling better since Gurgeet had greeted me and now I was ready. 

The group of people in the picture are the first group of people I approached for pictures, I snapped off a couple of frames and reviewed to check my focus and lighting (especially for shadows) and was horrified to see they pitch black, I checked my settings and they were all correct, I then looked up and my jaw dropped. The ceiling I was bouncing my flash off was atleast 20 ft high! no wonder the pictures  were coming out so dark, I asked them for a few more images and changed the direction of my flash and clicked!

This is the image I produced, I'm really happy with it, that was my first test. 

I'm glad that was the first problem I met that night as it made me aware of my ceilings.

I noticed as people started arriving they were stopping on the staircase just before the Ballroom, so I waited there and captured some more pictures,. This time my ceiling was very low making it very easy to light the ladies. 

In the main Ballroom, the ceiling was about 10 ft tall, I tried fiddling around with my flash gun to bounce as much light into my subjects, I'm really pleased that it worked and that the images came out bright and colourful.

Here are some more of the memories I captured on that night.

Overall, I had a great night, it was so much fun, 

I met so many new people and it was an amazing experience.  

The Pharmacy Committee loved the pictures so much they invited me back to photograph their 2013 Ball!

You can see the pictures from the 2013 Ball here.

White Product Photography (part 2)

I've been researching a few different techniques to try out for selecting refined edges when isolating parts of my images and I've come across a technique utilising Colour Range and Refine Edges


Here is a short video I created using this technique!

5 Months!!

Today marks the 5 month anniversary of My Blog!!


In the past I have had a couple of different blogs, but I haven't really found them to be very useful, however with this blog, I've been inspired to update it at least once a week, and the feedback I am receiving from the blog has been highly beneficial to me in seeing what people like to see from my blog, what really works with the blog and what doesn't work with the blog.


Within the last 5 months, I've successfully updated atleast once a week, racking up a total of 3552 views on my blog, 65 blog posts and 6 comments.

Hopes for the next 5 months:

I'd like to reach 5 digits in views, that would be an amazing accomplishment,
also to reach 100 blog posts and to keep going strong with the blog and finally, I'd like for more interactions with my audience using the blog, that way we can both work towards the blog becoming more helpful for my audience.

anyways, to all reading, thank you for sticking with me for the last 5 months and I hope you've found reading my blog interesting,

please leave some feedback in the comment section!!


cya l8r!

Spiders' Webs!!

I guess I've always had an interest in Nature, going camping in the Summer, riding bikes or just exploring the wilderness, this year has been no exception, but I've been taking my camera out more often.

Over the last few years I've always tried taking pictures of spiders' webs but to no success, now I realise how my technique was wrong, I was trying to shoot the spiders' web and get a black background, instead I now realise that it is very important to include the background in the images!

Here are a few examples of the images I've captured recently1

Shot with 60mm f2.8 Macro

Shot with 60mm F2.8 Macro

Shot at 60mm f2.8 Macro

Shot with 70-200mm f4

White Product Photography (part 1)

I've I am currently working with a client to photograph some products for her business, she owns a hair accessories business and we are currently working together to produce these pictures to help promote her business in magazines and on her website.

Here is my first video in which I attempt to create a clean white background in photoshop!

This is only part 1, in part 2 I will be trying a different technique and experimenting to see which one will give me the best results!!

Mum's Orchid

Last week my Dad bought some orchids for my Mum, they look lovely so I thought I'd bring them into the studio and take a few pictures and see what I got,

I set up my lights, using a 3 light set up and took a few images, then thought about putting in a fourth light on the background to add some dimension to the orchid.

 Here is the flower with the 3 light set up.

and here it is with the four light set up.

Which picture do you prefer?

Comment below!