Time for tea

I did some Macro photography this morning, I only use close up filters and was really disappointed with the results the amount of CA (Chromatic Aberration) was unreal and I ending up having to do a lot of Lightroom-ing to fix the images. It was all lit with a single speedlight on a stand to the right of the picture.

Back to the tea, I picked the tea up from the tea specialist in Fortnum and Masons the lady there is excellent and she saved me a lot of money. (I did end spending quite a bit in the process).

As you can see the tea leaves are hand rolled and it is known as Fairy Lady’s Golden RIngs. It tastes great.

My Favourite Photoshop Shortcut Key

It is stamp visible (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-E, Mac: Command-Option-Shift-E) I use this shortcut a lot, either as a precursor for a destructive filter or in order to use a blending mode on what has been worked on beneath my images stack.

You should be able to see an example of this below the stack has effective a JPG version  of itself on the top.

Try it, it will either be really useful or no use what so ever!

Anyways hope you find this useful.

Inspirational Photographers

Inspiration, sometimes this is a large word that is hard to obtain. Recently though I have found lots of sources of inspiration some so good, that I thought I would share my notice of their creative genius.

(I do not want to steal anyone’s images so I have linked to the respective photographers so you can check them out for yourself. So, there will be no photos of the mentioned photographers on the blog today.)

Steven Meisel

This is an easy one, for me he is the father of fashion photography. When I first saw his images for Italian Vogue (September 2006) titled State of Emergency showing supermodels being arrested as terrorists, I was awestruck. It was the first time I saw fashion making a statement about the wider world.

Fashionphotographyblog.com (Melissa Rodwell)

I was added as a contact on Flickr by the above site, and at the time I had never hear of it or Melissa Rodwell. But after looking through her Flickr portfolio and her website I was seriously impressed. However do not take my word for it go and have a look yourself, the blog is a resource that should not be missed for anyone that has an interest in fashion and photography.

Chris Friel

WOW, this guy inspired me to write this blog page from his creativity. I saw his photos on a one trip on Flickr explore, his images look more like a painting and I was amazed that how a so called technically “bad” (hand held long exposure) image can become a work of art. I would never have even thought to try, seriously check out this guy’s portfolio it is amazing.

My effort at a Chris Friel style image: -

Conclusion

I hope you get as much from these sources as I have.

Till the next one, much love.

Why I don’t use a light meter

Time for a really short post.

So, to answer the question above (the short version). I shoot digital, I look at the back of the screen at the aesthetics of the image. If it looks right, then that is near enough for me!

Put another way, I do not need the information overload of “this light is at f/8 and this light at f/4.” Thus I do not need to know if one light is half the power of the other etc.

How I work;

1) Test shot exposed for the ambient / max flash sync speed;

2) I put the lights on one by one individually, so that I can see what each light “does” and how those lights work together;

3) At this point I put all the lights on at minimum power and get an exposure at this point;

4) Given the exposure from point 3) I change the power of the lights to give the aperture I want creatively for the shot;

5) Final test shot and at this point I should be ready to shoot.

This process should take all of 2 minutes. This saves circa £300 on a light meter, this saving means another 1st party TTL flash unit etc.

Getting the most out of your camera, specifically the 5D Mark 2?

I for one am not. When the Canon 5D mark 2 was released in November 2008 I was one of those people that went gooey in anticipation.

The videos from Vincent Laforet were fantastic, The demo stills were breathtaking. So I happily parted with my money and did not really look back.

Reflection

Reflection is an important learning tool in our development as human beings. So on reflection was it the “right” choice?

Conclusion

The short answer is no. The long answer is that the 5D mark II is a fantastic camera but I don’t need all of its capabilities, Its RAW files are big and thus it takes longer to edit them. I shoot still and it does the job very well.

My biggest bug bear is the video feature, to quote the advert “I am a PC” and I cannot edit the video smoothly. On a Macbook it just works. I want to shoot more video but find myself shying away from the nightmare that is post production on a PC.

In total I have made 3 videos, 2 edited with Final Cut and Final Cut Pro (which was easy) the final video was made using a Cineform plugin to strip out the video and then added back with MP3 sound in PowerDirector. It was a hideous workflow which I have not repeated.

I have been told that Pinnacle Studio 14 is very good but have yet to try it personally.

My first attempt below: -

My second attempt: -

My third attempt: -

As you can see I need a lot more work before LaForet will be worried!

What I should have done

With the benefit of hindsight, I was very naive and thought that a camera would make me a better photographer. At the time I had no concept of how lighting, lens and better post production would have improved my photography better towards the images that I wanted to emulate more then a new camera body.

Thus at the time I wanted the definition and wide angle of a full frame body and combined with the fact that in the last year I have not used the video function, I should have bought a 5D mark 1 and then invested then remaining money in prime lens or Canon’s L series F/2.8 zooms.

If you have had any experience with editing the 5D video please post in the comments. I would love to hear a simple PC workflow for this camera.

“See”-ing Light?

When I first started reading photography books and blogs, one of the comments I noticed from the pros was you have to be able to “see” the light.

At the time I could not “see” or even think about what I was missing when looking for the light. So there I was struggling away to “see” light. After months trying to learn more from the internet, I found two great sources of information that allowed me to finally explain the concept.

The two sources that I found helpful on this were Drew Gardener's DVD (the one with the Water Buffalo in) and also a foreign technical blog (Krolop-Gerst).

In the Drew Gardner DVD he shows his lighting setup light by light this enables him to “see” what each light is doing and to build the picture from there.

see the trailer below

The foreign blog really put everything in to perspective in terms of “seeing” light as far as a two dimension picture is concerned. On the website they showed the build up a picture using multiple strobes by using a Photoshop coloured overlay to show what each light was doing e.g. below. The simplicity of this diagram really showed me what I need to be looking at as far as a two dimension portrait and what my lights were doing for my subject.

To see the Krolop-Gerst setup shoot see here 

Here is my effort on the lighting diagram with a different colour for each light (Blue as key and Yellow as the accent light): -

And the final image of Hanah-Marie: -

So now when I take an image on the back of my camera I am imaging the bad crayon drawing to see what the light is doing. Anyways that what I do, I hope this helps you in the future.

VAT online filing from 1 April 2010

From 1 April 2010 online VAT filing will be mandatory for all businesses with a VAT exclusive annual turnover (as at 31 December 2009) of over £100,000.

Also all businesses registering for VAT after this date will also have to filing online regardless of their turnover.

Benefits of online filing per HMRC’s website.

• Speed - if you're not already registered to use HMRC Online Services, going through the online registration and enrolment process takes only a few minutes. You'll be able to file your return as soon as you've registered and enrolled for VAT services.
• Security - all transactions are 100 per cent secure. You get a unique User ID and create a password to keep your details safe and allows only you - or someone you authorise - to have access to that information.
• Convenience - the service is available day and night, whenever is best for you.
• Accuracy - there are automatic checks to help reduce errors; meaning there's less chance of having your return sent back to you to be corrected or for clarification.
• Reliability - you don't have to worry about your return being lost or delayed in the post as you'll get an on-screen acknowledgment - including a unique submission receipt reference number - when you submit your return.

The Reality

Businesses will either need to plan for the online filing or will have to use a more modern piece of software which can file online automatically e.g. the latest version of Sage Instant Accounts v15.

It will also allow your accountants to file online on your behalf if registered as an agent and also to review previous returns (up to 15 months old).

All round I think this is a good thing in the long run. However it could catch a few companies and new registration out very quickly.(see below for guide to late filing penalties)

Business Link summary of VAT late filing penalties 

For further reference to help you get setup for the changes see the link below for more information.

HMRC's guide to VAT online

DISCLAIMER – This blog is providing information as a news service. As with all VAT, Taxation and Accounting points please seek professional advice for your own personal or companies situation before taking specific action.