Hope all is well with you.

Today I’ve a couple of new pictures to share with you that are actually some of my results from my Dynamic Duo Photography & Photoshop Workshop last Saturday.

Our model for the day was Photographer Glenn Richardson whom you’ll recognise from my Wolverine and Skinfull pictures.

Composite
The day was split into two sections with the first half of the day being Photography but also talking through how to plan and prepare for a successful photo shoot.

With regards to the photography side of things we covered lighting for composites as in this picture below called Tough Guy:

One of things I love about planning a photo shoot is how doing so really helps when it comes to setting up the lighting you want during the actual shoot. Some people may think that it’s always a 3 light set up when in reality that certainly isn’t the case. For example…if I was going to place somebody in a scene where they may be stood near a street light at night then I would only really think of using 2 lights i.e. one to represent the light coming from the street light and then another to act as a fill light and put and bring out a little more detail in the shadow areas. Basically, lights are place in certain places in order to replicate the light that will be in the the picture eg sun light, moon light, street light and so on…

Low Key / Limited Light
I also touched on using limited light which is a style I love to use when photographing physique athletes and also for adding mood / atmosphere into a picture:

HUGE thanks to Glenn for modelling and also to everyone who came along and made it such a great day followed of course by the obligatory curry and social.

I’ll be announcing new workshop dates very soon so if you’d like to come along be sure to keep an eye both here and over on my Facebook page.

Right, that’s all from me for today so whatever you’re up to, have a good one and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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How’s it going?

Ok so if you’re a regular reader of this site you’ll have heard me mention about a photography technique I call the Invisible Black Background.

It’s basically a technique that shows how you can use your camera to create pictures with black backgrounds and a flash to just light your subject; giving the impression of being in a studio but being able to achieve it anywhere…indoors or out.

It’s been great to see that the written walk through I originally posted has proved to be so popular and even grabbed the attention of the New York Times in 2012 [Link]

For today though I’ve a video for you where I’ve recorded a short tutorial showing how to do the technique; recorded during the lunch break at my recent Dynamic Duo Workshop.

Hope you like it…

A Couple of Points to Note

• You don’t need PocketWizards…Any way to trigger the off camera flash will do i.e. Infra Red, Pop Up Flash as Commander etc…
• You need a modifier that directs the light such as a closed down umbrella, a softbox, grid etc… and that also gives the lighting effect you’re after (soft, hard)

Examples Photos
Here’s some example photographs taken using the Invisible Black Background technique where on some I’ve used 1, 2 or more lights…

Links:

• Be sure to check out my original Invisible Black Background post where I wrote down all the steps [Link]
• And, check out the follow up Questions and Answers post [Link]

Right that’s all from me for today so have fun giving this a try and as always if you have any questions / comments then feel free to make use of the comments section below and please feel free to share this with folks you think would like to see it too.

Have a great day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.
Enjoy,
Glyn

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How was your weekend?

Here it was a weekend consisting of a workshop on one day and a photo shoot with Ironman the next.

Dynamic Duo Workshop
On Saturday I held the latest of my Dynamic Duo Workshops in Wokingham, Berkshire.

We had a great turnout of folks with Glenn Richardson returning as our model for the day with the first half of the day going through lighting for composite images and limited lighting techniques. I’ll post more of a look at what we got up to plus some retouched images from the day later in the week but just to let you know, I also recorded a video of my Invisible Black Background technique that I’ll post online tomorrow.

Ironman Photo Shoot
On Sunday I drove up to the North of England to catch up with friend, Photographer and Lighting Wizard Kieron Nevison as we’d organised a photo shoot with the one and only…Ironman

I tell you I’ve been like an excited kid at Christmas this past week in anticipation of the shoot and having done it, it was so worth the 8 hours of driving.

Later this week I’ll also post more of a look at what we got up to on the day and needless to say I’ll be working on the images now I’m back home and will show them as soon as they’re ready.

Ok so that’s all from me for today; just a quick post so have a great Monday and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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Thanks for stopping by.

Well it’s Friday which means the weekend is upon us; got much planned?

On Saturday I’ll be running my Dynamic Duo Workshop in Wokingham, Berkshire and then on Sunday I’ll be out the door early to head up the motorway for a photo shoot with a Super Hero.

I’m REALLY excited about the shoot; I mean I’ll be driving roughly 7 hours for it and it’s for a personal project.

If you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and follow me then I’ll be sure to post a sneak peek on Sunday.

Today though I want to share a new picture that I made with Dave and myself…just for fun

Behind the Scenes
And here’s a look Behind the Scenes…

Just be sure to ignore the bit at the end with the…ah you’ll see what I mean

Right that’s all from me for today so be sure to have a GREAT weekend and I’ll catch you back here in a few days.

Enjoy,
Glyn

>PS…Check out a larger version of The Workmen over on my 500px portfolio page here [Link]

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How’s it going?

Today I wanted to mention briefly about iPads and to be more precise, the iPad Mini.

Now anyone who knows me would agree that I’m a bit of an Apple fan…ok maybe more than a bit. My iPad (3rd Generation) was like another limb; I took it everywhere and used it all the time. So much so, my MacBook Pro was only ever being used in the studio when shooting tethered.

Now you may well have noticed that I’m referring to my iPad (3rd Generation) in the past tense and you wouldn’t be wrong. You see a few weeks back when I flew back from a trip to Germany I stupidly left my iPad in the back of the seat in front of me on the aircraft. Entirely my fault as I had been watching a movie and when instructed to turn the iPad off and put it away as we were soon to land, I placed it in the magazine holder on the back of the seat in front and when it came to disembarking, in my haste I completely forgot about it until it was too late.

Of course phone calls were made but alas my iPad had gone walkies (with the aid of some thieving little s***!!!) and to make matters worse I couldn’t track the iPad using the Find my iPad/iPhone App because the iPad had been put in Airplane Mode meaning no connection to the internet.

Anyway, rather than get annoyed I put it down to experience and ended up buying an iPad Mini the following day. I’d actually been thinking of selling my iPad (3rd Generation) and changing to a mini before the loss so this kind of forced the change however once I’d purchased it and started using it…I wasn’t all that keen.

It just seemed to flimsy and what’s more, I thought my eyes were playing up as the text seemed slightly blurry…well, until I remembered my old iPad had the Retina display and this Mini hadn’t. I tell you, it’s amazing how you get used to things.

So long story short, despite having all my Apps, documents etc all synced onto the iPad Mini I just wasn’t liking it. It seemed too small and no where near as robust. In fact I even started taking my MacBook Pro out with me to write on whereas before I’d have used my iPad. The new mini was beginning to gather dust; until that was I purchased an iPad mini keyboard case.

Now understand, I don’t tell you this to sell you anything but rather as a Public Service Announcement

The hard case made by Logitech has completely changed my feelings towards the iPad mini. It’s now been dusted off and is being used every day because of how good I feel the keyboard is. It looks great, only adds a small amount of size and weight to the mini and works a treat!

Sure it took some getting used to but now that I can type and have a full screen it’s made a BIG difference. Of course there’s still no Retina Display but as soon as the new one is released I’ll likely upgrade; not because it’s just a new model but because hopefully it will have the Retina Display and that can only be a good thing long term for the eye sight. Travelling with the iPad Mini is no hassle; it’s light, fits easily into my bag or even coat pocket AND fits great on the little trays on aircraft; a great travel companion indeed.

So if you’ve got an iPad Mini I’d highly recommend checking out the Logitech iPad Mini Ultra Thin Keyboard [Link]

•Currently priced around the £59.99 mark on Amazon

Needless to say my new iPad mini is never far from my side and I certainly shan’t make the mistake of leaving it on an Aircraft again that’s for sure…well, that’s the plan anyway.

Have a great day folks and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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Thanks for stopping by.

Now, today’s post is kind of a response to a few questions I’ve had about retouching in 8 Bit or 16 Bit.

Ok so here’s the thing…

Up until the last few months I was indeed retouching images in 8 Bit and there were lots of reasons for this…one being file size, especially now shooting with a Nikon D800. Now though everything has been upgraded and anything that hasn’t been is just about to be so things have changed and I do edit in 16 Bit; but…speed isn’t THE reason for the change.

I’m certainly not going to attempt to get all technical here but in it’s simplest terms there’s much more information in a 16 Bit image or to put it another way, you can ‘push’ an image that much more.

For example let’s take this Retouching Technique commonly used in Beauty Retouching called Frequency Separation; on the left hand side you can see the 16 Bit image and on the right hand side the 8 Bit image.

Now now other retouching has been done; all that’s been done is to have prepared each image using the steps in the Frequency Separation Technique and already there’s a difference (hopefully you can see it on your screen) i.e. the 8 Bit image has banding appearing on the dark grey background whereas the 16 Bit image doesn’t.

So in it’s simplest terms…16 Bit images give us a lot more information to work with or to put it another way…they can take a lot more punishment

If you haven’t seen the Frequency Separation Technique then be sure to check out this video tutorial that I recorded:

As always if you have any questions / comments then feel free t make use of the comments section below or email me direct to glyn@glyndewis.com

In the mean time have a great day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.
Enjoy,
Glyn

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Thanks for stopping by.

Today I wanted to tell you about a talk / presentation I did last week for the Nikon Owner Group / Magazine.

The Nikon Owner magazine is a worldwide publication with the purpose of uniting Nikon owners and bringing them unique free offers that will increase their skill and interest in photography and Nikon equipment. Nikon Owner is dedicated to bringing the reader all the latest news and authoritative product reviews on Nikon equipment by renowned photographer and writer Simon Stafford. Also featured are reader portfolios and inspirational pictures from the world’s leading Nikon professionals.

For the talk I gave the group an insight into how I first became involved in the industry (which you may already know came from first of all being introduced to Photoshop) and then talked through the stories behind some of my pictures covering mistakes made, lessons learned, challenges and so on…

I also discussed the importance of planning & preparation, inspiration and something I’m a BIG believer in, and that’s giving your model / subject a role or character to play. Finally finishing the evening with a handful of quick and effective Photoshop techniques that are useful for Photographers i.e. lighting effects and retouching.

Feedback:
“Just to let you know how much I enjoyed the evening. I thought his delivery was so good. His pace was just right for me and I learned a lot of useful stuff. I am always impressed when people with such skill are so generous with imparting their knowledge. Handing on a plate, to someone like me is so refreshing, after all he must have spent many hours to work out the best and quickest way of achieving things. I don’t do any of the type of work he is involved in, but none the less the tips he gave us are very valuable tools for many other applications”.

Advanced Photoshop Seminar
Following on from the talk, on Sunday 2nd June 2013 I shall be giving a Seminar on Advanced Photoshop Techniques covering such things as: Portrait and Beauty Retouching, Compositing, Lighting Effects, Special Effects, Workflow, tip and tricks and more…

I’ll post more details about the seminar, pricing, plus how and where you can book a ticket real soon so be sure to check back so as not to miss out and also keep an eye on the Nikon Owner Magazine website here [Link].

Ok that’s all from me for today so have a good one and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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Hope you had a great weekend.

I thought I’d kick the week off showing you a couple of pictures from the Magician promo photo shoot I mentioned last week PLUS show a little of the studio set up.

First off though, I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who sent emails, texts and messaged on Facebook, Google+ sending messages of Congratulations to Anne and myself on our 14th Wedding Anniversary yesterday; you made a very special day even more so.

So, the Magician Photo Shoot…

On the day in the studio we worked on four different looks; namely portrait, levitation, card throwing and escapology.

I was really looking forward to the shoot as I’ve always been fascinated by Magic so even when it came to the shoot I kept out of the studio and stayed in the office whilst Michael set everything up.

I tell you, even when I came out to photograph the Levitation trick I was still like…”How the?!?!”  Of course now I’m kind of aware how it’s done but am sworn to secrecy

As for the lighting you can see in this short video that I used 3 lights but this time having the strip lights to the side positioned high up and angled down and there were a couple of reasons for this:

1. Michael’s arms were going to be outstretched and it prevented his hands becoming hot or overexposed ands also meant his arms would be lit evenly.
2. As Michael was wearing a shirt with high collars, having the lights high up and angled down prevented that hard shadow going across his neck.

Because this was a promotional photo for Michael Otton, we also shot some images for simple a simple portrait like the one below.

As for the lighting it was pretty much the same as for the levitation shot above all except for the strip lights weren’t high and angled down but rather in the normal position either side and behind Michael and pointing towards each other (i.e. vertical)

I’m just finishing off the card throwing and escapology images but to give you an idea of the starting point here’s the out of camera shot of card throwing and also a work in progress of the escapology; I’ll be sure to post the final versions later this week.

Right that’s all from me for today so as always if you have any questions or comments then please feel free to make use of the comments section below.

Have a great day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.
Enjoy,
Glyn

The post New Pictures and Sneak Peek Behind the Scenes: The Magician / Illusionist appeared first on Glyn Dewis.

How’s things?

Much planned for the weekend?

Sunday will be our 14th Wedding Anniversary so we’ve a few things planned; can’t wait

Today though I have some news for you…

I now have 3 spaces available for my Dynamic Duo Photography & Photoshop Workshop on Saturday 18th May 2013

Originally planned for the 11th May circumstances beyond my control meant the workshop had to be put back by 1 week which has resulted in making alternative arrangements for 3 attendees who are unable to make it.

Tickets will be available at the original Early Bird price of just £99 and sold on a first come first served basis.

Location: Wokingham, Berkshire
Time: 10am – 6pm (followed by the obligatory curry)

For more details and to BOOK your place at the discounted price CLICK HERE

Look forward to seeing you there!

Right must dash…places to go, people to see so have a fabulous weekend and I’ll see you back here in a few days.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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How’s your week going?

Today I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at a recent photo shoot with Magician Michael Otton. Regular readers may recognise the name as I photographed Michael last year for his D.J. promotional material too:

This particular shoot was for Michael’s new promotional material and one that we’d be planning for some time. Having always enjoyed magic as a kid I was really looking forward to seeing some of the props and maybe, just maybe being shown a few tricks during the day too.

As is common practice for me, in the time leading up to the shoot I’d asked Michael to send over or Pin (using Pinterest) any pictures he saw across the internet that he liked the feeling of; not so we could copy but just to give me an idea for what he liked when it came to poses and ‘feel’. It was also a good way to see what he didn’t like as this is sometimes easier to say as opposed to defining a specific look…if you know what I mean.

Anyway, here’s some of the images I got through from Michael arranged in one of my favourite iPad Apps: Moodboard

As for the photo shoot we worked on four specific sets / looks namely: 3/4 length portrait, levitation, escapologist and card throwing and with a brief to produce one image from each.

Aiming for one shot from each set is something I find helps me to focus and so produce a much better result. Instead of ending up with lots of average photos I prefer to spend time getting one exactly how we both want it and once we have the ‘one’ we can go for more but not too many as the priority then is to move onto the next set.

Here’s a screen grab from my Lightroom Catalog to give you an idea of some of the out of camera shots we came up with; of course now it’s time for the retouching so I’ll be sure to post a few of the finished images once they’re ready.

Have a great day whatever you’re up to and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow.

Enjoy,
Glyn

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