Design work - Baratheon

Hello!

I created the deer from this tutorial. I love the style.

Design work: Oh My Glob! LSP

Oh my glob you guys!
So, no tutorial on this one, which makes me just a touch proud of this.
The fists look a little weird, but I've noticed they look a little Joe Cartoonesque.

Design work: Direction

Random design I worked on today during down-time. I love using a paper texture at the end of a design to give that muted feel.

Design work: Cuboid graphic

I'm quite happy with this. Although I did add the icons afterwards as an afterthought, so they're a little meaningless.
Tutorial is here, I added the paper texture afterwards in Photoshop.

Week 25 - Summer Rain

Yet another shot where I was playing around with my 100mm instead of anything really pre-planned.

Design work: Down the rabbit hole

Original work. Had some downtime, and my favourite book and film from my childhood was Alice in Wonderland. I used my photo from Week 24, highly blurred as the background, with an added layer for minor film grain.

Design work: Playing with Photoshop

Playing with Photoshop today as Illustrator is being a little glitchy.
Followed this tutorial.

Week 24 - Summer begins..

Taken using the new 100mm lens.
I love this shot I just wish I'd been a little lower down when taking it, to getting more of the daisies in.
The bokeh in the picture was formed by big blizzards of fluffy 'cotton wool' like seeds coming down from some trees near by. It was like slow-motion snow.

Week 23 - I found my marbles..

This was one of the test shots I took using my new 100mm macro lens. Taken in very low light, so a high iso.

Pfft.. that’s ‘shopped.

Is post-processing considered cheating? If it is, it has certainly been going on for longer than the existence of Photoshop.

Post-processing also occurs in the darkroom on film., you can enhance your images using enlargers and chemicals etc… If you have a Digital camera then you use post processing software that can also be referred to as the ‘digital darkroom’. My preference is Lightroom.

I post-process my photographs. But what I do is tweak. I don’t change the overall look of the photo. It is certainly recognisable as the shot I took.
I’ll tweak the contrast, hues, the curves and balance. It’s why I shoot in Raw. I work on creating the shot I envisioned when I took the shot. It all goes together to make the final product.
If I take a terrible photo, no amount of post-processing can fix that, and it’s destined for the Recycle Bin.
My favourite quote that supports post-processing is by Ansel Adams. He was trained as a classical musician in his youth, but when on to become one of the greats amongst the photography community.

“The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.” – Ansel Adams

When is Post-processing not okay?
Journalism. Apart from minor White balance tweaks, Photojournalists are prohibited from post-processing their photographs. And this is because they are shooting the raw truth. They’re not out there to create a piece of art, they’re there to create a report. If they happen to create art at the same time, then great, but the original intention of that shot comes first.

And then there's my two-cents.
I don't think post-processing should be allowed in magazines. Post-processing alone has caused untold amount of damage to young men and women who are provided with unrealistic ideals of how they should look, and how their role models look.

These images tell us that you're not meant to get spots, you're not meant to get wrinkles, you're not meant to have an off day, or a bad haircut, because if these guys can look 'perfect' then so can we.

Week 22 - To the point & 100mm f/2.8 Macro review

I went out with  frienad recently, who told me to bring my camera along. The reason, was so that I could try out a couple of his lenses.
I instantly fell head over heels in love with the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro.
I managed to find it second hand for £199 here: http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/used-equipment/used-lenses/
I have to say, my experience of their site and service has been great!
They clearly listed out the damage on the lens (The button for changing the focus limitation has gone, and is stuck on Full, which I wouldn't have moved it from anyway).
It ordered it on Bank holiday Monday, and it arrived on Wednesday. Which is really next day delivery.
It was packaged very securely. It works perfectly.
I haven't had a chance to test it out properly, so I tool some low-level light shots in my living room.

Being so used to keeping the 'nifty-fifty' on my camera, it will take a while to get used to the weight and length of the 100mm, but I can't see me swapping it off my camera any time soon.

Week 21 - night-time portrait

Opportunistic shot taken after a nice evening out in Central.

Design Work - Slow and Steady...

This is my favourite of my illustrations so far. The patching on the shell could use tighter work though.

Week 20 - Squirrel in the wild...

Design Work - Birthday

Made from scratch. Very proud of myself for this.
A Happy Birthday graphic for a very special someone.

Week 19 - Connections

Design work - Mr Foxton the Fox

This is Mr Foxton the Fox.
He's freakin adorable.
Tutorial Here

Week 18 - Falling for you..

Ouch...

I'm a bit behind in my Weeks, as I've started a new job, and not had much spare time. Trying to catch up at the moment :)

Design work - Mario Toadstool

This lil guy was my first ever attempt at Mesh in Illustrator. So it's a little messy, but he's too cute not to share.
Tutorial here

Design work - Owen The Tortoise

This is Owen the Tortoise.
Originally following this Tutorial however preferred the image without the sponge effect.

Week 17 - What's your Game?

Week 16 - 1, 2, 3, 4

This is my first attempt at a Sequence shot. Pretty chuffed.
The OH and I went to Gunnersbury Park in Ealing for an afternoon walk. He is a traceur, and saw the opportunity for jumping around. I saw the opportunity for photos.

Week 15 - Waking up

OHs eye on waking up

Week 14 - Super macro!

Trying out a popular macro shot - Droplet of water + Glitter + Feather = Pretty bokeh.

Week 13 - Childhood

“I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”

Week 12 - In memory..

Douglas Adams has a beautiful grave.. so simplistic, and with a pot of pens in front, for people to give and receive.

Week 11 - The Waiting Game

Ah, by far my favourite photo to date. And the most popular so far on my Flickr gallery, earning me my first Explore status.
Due to it's popularity, I would like to post a reminder that all photographs on this site are All Rights Reserved to myself. This means that are not to be used for anything without my permission.

A candid shot, taken with pure luck, as the train approaching was the one I needed.

Week 10 - Spring has Sprung

Reaching for the sun

I noticed these shoots growing on top of the wall in my garden. Decided it was a great opportunity to get my Raynox D-250 out. They're about 10mm high.

Week 9 - Beauty still in Death

Week 9 of my 52 Project. My drying dying rose has taken on some stunning shades.

Week 8 - From the ground up

I wanted to escape the norm of holding a camera to my face, taking shots from head height.

Week 7 - Self Portrait - A Long Day

In the age of selfies, women often doll themselves up for their portrait, and then further flatter their image with over saturation. Not the true self image. I wanted an image that symbolised what it feels like to look in the mirror after a long day at the office, followed by a long commute.

Week 6 - Playing with Light

Another project that I'm not quite happy with. We just have too much light pollution where I live, and the light my OH was using wasn't bright enough.

Week 5 - Rose, Black background

Another project taken from the 52 Photography project book. It took me ages to get the shot I wanted, and even now, I'm not 100% happy. Need better lighting.

Week 4 – Backlit Kiwi fruit

I took this idea from a book I got for Christmas, 52 Photography Projects. It didn’t quite work out as it should have done, but I still liked the results. I used the wrong lens and I used a low pigmented gel. I may decide to revisit this project another time, with better gel! It was a fun project; pouring hair gel into a Pyrex dish and layering sliced kiwi over sliced lemons made me giggle.

Week 3 - As They Sleep..

This was not exactly a planned shot. I was sat on the top deck of a doubledecker bus, en route home from an appointment at about 10am. The bus went past Hanwell Graveyard, and as the light shone through from the gravestones, I gasped. You know that feeling when you see something that makes you wish you had your camera with you? Well I went home, grabbed my camera, and went straight back out, as I didn't know when I'd get another chance with such gorgeous light.

Here today, gone tomorrow

Here today... gone tomorrow.
This was intended for my Week 3 of my 52Project however the flower died a little quicker than expected..
I enjoyed setting this one up, could have done with some better lighting techniques.

Week 2 - Long Exposure - Night time

I’ve never taken a photograph like this before, and it was fun. It meant going out of my way for a shot too, which I enjoyed. Annoyingly enough, there wasn’t a great spot for my tripod, and it was too short, so it was a little challenging.

Week 1 - Black & White Portrait

This was the first shot taken in my 52 week project at the beginning of this year.
Seeing as my subject was my boyfriend, I knew it would be a particularly interesting photo. He did not disappoint. Taken in full colour, using Lightroom to tinker.