Squashy Frog Photography

BBC - Radio 1 - Red Nose Day 2009

Kol Tregaskes — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:38:36 +0000

OK everyone if you can please donate as much as you can afford to Comic Relief. Either via the website or via text. Please visit the site above for more info.

Frost

Kol Tregaskes — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:48:52 +0000

Another shot from Millennium Wood in Edenbridge.

Wires in a field

Kol Tregaskes — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:47:31 +0000

Saturated photo.

Comments will appear on the blog and on FriendFeed.

The Tonbridge Squirrel

Kol Tregaskes — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:09:14 +0000

These chaps were so easy to photograph. As soon as I walked up to the canal near Tonbridge Castle they were everywhere. I was only there for a minute or two but got lots of photos.

I’ve given this one a comic feel with the help of a PS action.

Warm frost

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:14:33 +0000

A frosted branch in the sunrise.

Blue bell fields forever

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:14:34 +0000

The blue bells (and buttercups) have sprouted everywhere here in Edenbridge! This is the field behind our local vet. There is a small wood on the other side of a stream and this is the edge of the woods. Behind me is a field of buttercups, to the left of me is a hill leading to the railway track and to the right of me is a field full of sheep.

To me this shot looks like it’s an HDR image but I can ensure you that it’s not and most of the processing was done in Camera Raw with some tweaking in Photoshop.

Shot taken with my Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, which I’ve not used in ages!

Peony

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 14:18:29 +0000

A peony in the back garden. I’ve had a little play with the saturation.

Drops on leaf

Kol Tregaskes — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:54:23 +0000

In a continuing effort to post something, anything here (instead of just leaving it to collect dust) I’m going to try and post a pic a day from my Flickr stream. Nothing fancy, but please add your comments here and/or on Flickr. I’d love to have any feedback on this and anything I post here, on Flickr as well as FriendFeed (which I’m trying to link to this blog as much as possible). Today’s pic:

High contrast shoot of a water-covered leaf in the back garden.

Click on the image to go to the pic on Flickr. There you can see the original plus comments already posted.

Even dirtier and darker

Kol Tregaskes — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:28:29 +0000

My dog, Kaz, covered in mud one day. He stuck his whole head in a muddy pond while on a walk in the fields.

Dark and dirty (ie. the first photo) can be found here.

What is the best photography tip you could give to anyone?

Kol Tregaskes — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:34:54 +0000

I asked the question on Twitter and these were the replies. Thank you for all the kind people who replied, if you wish to add your tips please reply to the tweet here.

koltregaskes: What is the best photography tip you could give to anyone? #photog #photography #photographer #tip

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 20 20:56:14 +0000 2009

Photo_John: Learn to see what’s really in front of you. #photography #tip

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 20 20:58:51 +0000 2009

jigarchamp: Shoot More! Shoot More! and…Shoot More! #photog #photography #photographer #tip

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 20 20:59:03 +0000 2009

johncpiercy: bring your camera everywhere

about an hour ago

Fri Feb 20 21:05:36 +0000 2009

The code for the replies above was genereated using Twickie.

Dark and dirty

Kol Tregaskes — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:10:14 +0000

For some reason this shot came out really dark (no idea what I did) but I went with it and created this pic of Kaz after he stuck his head in a muddy pond.

I’ve recently been taking him to a new place behind our vet. It’s near a field of sheep but completely fenced off so he doesn’t cause them any grief. It’s a long walk to get to it and so is very quiet, though the odd train going by does break the silence. It’s also near the oh-so-lovely sewage works but I don’t really notice it.

You get a pretty good view as the field is on a hill so I hope to put up my shots from it.

Squashy Frog Photography gets a generous mention on Discovery Through eLearning

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:56:38 +0000

A quick post to say that my Squashy Frog Photography site here has had a lovely mention on Tracy Hamilton’s Discovery Through eLearning blog. Please click on the screenshot below to see the article and browse her wonderful blog.

Please also check out Tracy’s Discovery Through Photography blog.

Thank you, Tracy!

Favourite general photography sites

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:56:51 +0000

Yet another list (oh do I like lists). This one shows some of the general photography sites I really like. No blogs of photographer-specific sites here. These include online magazine, photo editing, tutorial, photo-sharing and reference sites:

1001 Noisy Cameras Universe (NetVibes)	http://www.netvibes.com/1001noisycameras#1001_Noisy_Cameras_World
Adobe Photoshop Express	http://www.photoshop.com/express/
Alltop - Photography	http://photography.alltop.com/
Aphlog	http://aphlog.com/
Aviary	http://a.viary.com/
Camerapedia.org	http://www.camerapedia.org
deviantART	http://www.deviantart.com/
Digital Camera Magazine	http://www.dcmag.co.uk/
Flickr	http://www.flickr.com/
Flickr Grab	http://www.flickrgrab.com/
flickrstr	http://flickstr.basementserver.com/
flickrvision	http://flickrvision.com/
Free Digital Photography Tutorial Site	http://www.geofflawrence.com/
image suggestions from InSuggest	http://images.insuggest.com/
iPhotoForum.com	http://iphotoforum.com/
Photo Answers	http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/
PhotographyVoter	http://photographyvoter.com/
photophblow	http://www.photophlow.com/
Photoshop Essentials	http://www.photoshopessentials.com/
PhotoshopTechniques Forum	http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum/
PictPicture	http://www.pictpicture.com/
Pixdaus	http://pixdaus.com/
Talk Photography	http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/
vi.sualize.us	http://vi.sualize.us/

Facebook Page for Squashy Frog Photography

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:38:18 +0000

I’ve generated another new page for Squashy Frog Photography, it’s a general Facebook Page. You can view it by clicking on the image below:

Everyone is more than welcome to join as a fan.

Check the article titled, “Facebook Blogs Network page for Squashy Frog Photography” for details of the other FB page.

Facebook Blogs Network page for Squashy Frog Photography

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:32:47 +0000

I’ve made 2 new pages for Squashy Frog Photography on Facebook. The first one is for Blogs Network and can be found by clicking on the image below:

Free feel to join the network!

Check the article titled, “Facebook Blogs Network page for Squashy Frog Photography” for details of the other FB page.

NetVibes page for Squashy Frog Photography

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:26:04 +0000

Continuing my additions to my social media pages, I’ve created a new NetVibes page for Squashy Frog Photography. Please click on the image below to find it:

There is lots of things here, the first page is feeds from my various social media pages, Twitter, FriendFeed (profile and room) and Flickr. Then there are several tabs including:

Photography Articles: headlines from the best photography-related blogs on the net
Photos: A collection of my favourites photos and most interesting from Flickr
Photography Blogs: list of the best photography blogs around
Photography Sites: another list, this time of the best general photography sites you’ll find
General News: a few feeds from my favourite news pages
Internet: the best feeds from a few Internet blogs
Entertainment: feeds from various entertainment sites
Sport: sports-related feeds
Misc.: and various feeds from sites that don’t fit into any of the above
Kol Tregaskes: these are feeds from my personal social media/news services

They’ll be more added all the time so please anyone is welcome to use this page.

My favourite photography blogs

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:03:13 +0000

Last of the lists this weekend and here’s a collection of my favourite blog-type photography sites. This covers photographers, tutorial sites and lots more:

A Photo Editor (Rob Haggart)	http://aphotoeditor.com/
Absolutely Nothing	http://www.absolutely-nothing.co.uk/
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips (Matt Kloskowski)	http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/
Ask the Photographer	http://askthephotographer.com/
Beyond Phototips	http://www.beyondphototips.com/
Calanan Photography (Michael Calanan)	http://calanan.com/
Chris Nixon	http://photografr.com/
chromasia.com (David J. Nightingale)	http://www.chromasia.com/iblog
Cornershots	http://www.cornershots.com/
daily dose of imagery	http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/
Daily Walks (Diane Varner)	http://www.dianevarner.com/
Digital Photography School (Darren Rowse)	http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/
Digital ProTalk (David Ziser)	http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/
DIYPhotography.net	http://www.diyphotography.net/
Epic Edits (Brian Auer)	http://blog.epicedits.com/
Flak Photo	http://flak-photo.my-expressio…
Flickr Art of Color Photography	http://flickrart.blogspot.com/
flickstr	http://flickstr.basementserver.com/
HyperPhocal	http://hyperphocal.com/
Jim M. Goldstein	http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog
Joe McNally	http://www.joemcnally.com/blog
Julien Roumagnac	http://www.j-roumagnac.net
m o o d a h o l i c (Kenny Weng)	http://www.moodaholic.com
Microstock Diaries	http://www.microstockdiaries.com/
milou	http://www.milouvision.com/
Neil Creek	http://neil.creek.name/blog/
Outstanding Shots	http://outstandingshots.blogspot.com/
p a b s t p h o t o . c o m	http://www.pabst-photo.com/
Photo Attorney	http://www.photoattorney.com/
Photo Business News & Forum	http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/
Photo HowTo	http://www.photohowto.info/
Photo Merchant	http://photomerchant.net/
Photodoto	http://photodoto.com/
photonovice.net	http://www.photonovice.net/
Photopreneur	http://blogs.photopreneur.com/
PhotoResearcher	http://www.researchphotos.com/
Photowalking.org (Trevor Carpenter)	http://www.photowalking.org/
Planet Photoshop	http://www.planetphotoshop.com/
PSDTuts	http://psdtuts.com
Scott Kelby	http://www.scottkelby.com/blog
Shoot! The Blog	http://blog.photoshelter.com/
Shutterbug Source Photography Tips	http://www.shutterbugsource.com/
Strobist (David Hobby)	http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/
Stuck in Customs	http://stuckincustoms.com/
TalkRocket	http://www.talkrocket.com/
The Big Picture	http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
The Business of Photography	http://photobusinesseducation.wordpress.com/
thephotographybiz	http://www.thephotographybiz.com/
Thinking-Picture	http://www.thinking-picture.com/
This Week In Photography	http://www.twipphoto.com
Thomas Hawk	http://www.thomashawk.com/
Tips from the top	http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/
Your Photo Tips	http://www.yourphototips.com/

FriendFeed Room for Squashy Frog Photography

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:16:06 +0000

This is for all you people out there that are into your social news/media/bookmarking stuff (like me :-)). I’ve created a new room on FriendFeed for Squashy Frog Photography and you’ll be able to find it here:

http://friendfeed.com/rooms/squashyfrogphotography

Or click on the image below:

So what does it include, well lots of things. Here’s a list of the main ones: -

New blog articles from Squashy Frog Photography
Photos from my Flickr stream
Photos of my favourites from Flickr
Tweets from Twitter
Favourite images added to the photo bookmarking site, vi.sualize.us
Photography-related articles dugg on Digg
My deviantART favourites

So please join the new room if it looks like something that is up your street. There might be some duplication from one service to the other but it’s not too bad and I hope to figure out a way to avoid it in the future.

You can also find my individual FriendFeed page here:

http://friendfeed.com/koltregaskes

I hope to see you on there.

In additional I’ve created specific Squashy Frog Photography social media users. For more information please read my article entitled ‘Squashy Frog Photography gets social‘.

Squashy Frog Photography gets social

Kol Tregaskes — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:31:10 +0000

I’m sure it’s not gone unnoticed that social media, news and bookmarking is a big ol’ thing nowadays. And me being someone not wanting to miss out on anything new on the net I’ve naturally joined in with all the fun. I’ve been slowly building profiles on tonnes of services across the web - some used more than others. If this interests you then for a complete list of my social media profiles have a read of my page titled, “My Social Media Sites“.

In addition to my individual services I’ve recently started creating profiles for Squashy Frog Photography specifically. We’ll see how useful or important they come over time but for now I’ve produced a quick rundown of the services I’m using at the moment:

You might have read already that I’ve created FriendFeed Room. If not then head over to the article “FriendFeed Room for Squashy Frog Photography“. As for an individual profile, I have created one at:

http://friendfeed.com/squashyfrog

It currently doesn’t show a whole lot but I’m add more as I go and new articles will increase over time. For the moment, though, I’m concentrating on the SF room. The profile page is basically a copy of the room anyway, so it’s just down to how you like to take your FriendFeed social news.

As with FriendFeed I used Digg A WHOLE LOT at the moment. So much so I collect photography-related diggs I’ve dugg on my individual profile and, every few days, log into my SF profile and digg them again. My profile is here:

http://digg.com/users/squashyfrog

Why a separate profile? Well I’ve been trying to get my diggs on my blog and RSS feed for a while and not really come up with a decent way of doing it. So for a little bit of effort on my part I know digg photography articles via my SF profile and set up FeedBurner to feed the diggs into my SF feed. Having digg set-up for SF and for photography-related articles only means I can add it for places such as FriendFeed, so it’s been very useful.

I love Plurk, it’s great. Saying that, even though I’ve set up a SF Plurk profile, I’ve not really used it a great deal. But I’m more than happy for people to add me and you can do that from here:

http://www.plurk.com/user/squashyfrog

Twitter is definitely a very popular service but I feel that it’s lagging behind sites like Plurk in several departments. What is going for Twitter, though, it simple that it is so popular. Lots of people use it and there are tonnes of mashups and tools for it. So find my SF profile at:

http://twitter.com/squashyfrog

I have to say that I have a ’small’ issue with this profile. I set up the feeds via Twitterfeed before Twitterfeed slightly changed their login page. Now I cannot log back into the same user that I used to create these feeds so cannot update or amend them ! I’m sure it will be a problem in the future but for the moment the feed includes blog articles from here and I’ve added new feeds such as my favs on vi.sualize.us.

Again StumbleUpon is a good serivce (though I prefer Digg and FriendFeed) and again I’m not really using this profile but please add me as a friend at:

http://squashyfrog.stumbleupon.com/

And of course I have a SF specific Flickr account. It’s been used to share my porfolio photos and the odd screenshot or two. So nothing much new here but please add me if you like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/squashyfrog

I feel these are enough (well more than enough) for Squashy Frog Photography. As stated one or two are not really used fully yet but if I add any more and find a proper use for the services mentioned I’ll be sure to post the news here.

I hope to see you at a social media site near you.

My favourite Flickr photographers

Kol Tregaskes — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:39:30 +0000

Here is my list of favourite photographers on the photo sharing site, Flickr. Some of these I might have listed on previously entries but these will be their Flickr pages.

Adam (g r e e n g a g e)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamclutterbuck/
Alan Jenkinson	http://www.flickr.com/photos/27610886@N03/
Alex James	http://www.flickr.com/photos/vulkan75/
Alonso Díaz	http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsleep/
Andreas Levers	http://www.flickr.com/photos/96dpi/
Andrew P Brooks	http://www.flickr.com/photos/92788661@N00/
Anthony (anthonyko)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthonyko/
Arnold Pouteau	http://www.flickr.com/photos/arno-4m/
Bogna Kuczerawy	http://www.flickr.com/photos/quizz/
caese	http://www.flickr.com/photos/caese/
Chip Phillips	http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillipschip/
Claudia Domenig	http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdomenig/
Colin Campbell	http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruiach1/
Cyril Montinola	http://www.flickr.com/photos/montinola/
Daniel Cheong	http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcheong/
David Baker	http://www.flickr.com/photos/milouvision/
David Constable	http://www.flickr.com/photos/davedjc/
David Queenan	http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidqueenan/
Dietrich Bojko	http://www.flickr.com/photos/webinteger/
Dougie Latham	http://www.flickr.com/photos/hunting-rabbits/
Erick Loitière	http://www.flickr.com/photos/rico973/
felixspencer2	http://www.flickr.com/photos/23327175@N06/
From 10 to 300mm	http://www.flickr.com/photos/snevs/
Gaëtan Bourque	http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesec/
Gazza or Garry (Garry’)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/garry61/
Helga Kvam	http://www.flickr.com/photos/hkvam/
Igor Laptev	http://www.flickr.com/photos/landscape/
James Neeley	http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpn/
Jay Patel	http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypatelphotography/
Jens (jens_i_r)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/jens_i_r/
John (johopo)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/johopo/
John Lehmkuhl	http://www.flickr.com/photos/realkuhl/
Jose Ramon Irusta	http://www.flickr.com/photos/joserra_irusta/
Kah Kit Yoong	http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahkityoong/
Kaj Bjurman	http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurman/
Kerstin Enderlein	http://www.flickr.com/photos/lichtmaedel/
Kevin Pieper	http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpieperphotography/
Kristen (ScarletFaerie)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristenelyse/
L Plater	http://www.flickr.com/photos/8773698@N03/
Lara Jade Coton	http://www.flickr.com/photos/larajade/
Lara Swift	http://www.flickr.com/photos/laraswift/
Larry Gerdrandt	http://flickr.com/photos/larrygerbrandt/
Lawrence (Lars/Larry) Steinke	http://www.flickr.com/photos/larspics/
Lucie Debelkova	http://www.flickr.com/photos/-lucie-/
Maciej Karcz	http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkarcz/
Marc Crumpler	http://www.flickr.com/photos/moosehead/
Marcus Claesson	http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncommon/
Mark Keelan	http://www.flickr.com/photos/27342758@N06/
Matthias (Mace2000)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/mace2000/
Michael McAreavy	http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightchaser/
Miguel Rita	http://www.flickr.com/photos/miguelrita/
Mike Stokes	http://www.flickr.com/photos/opobs/
N. A. Dybisz	http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndybisz/
navdog	http://www.flickr.com/photos/48084824@N00/
Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson	http://www.flickr.com/photos/orvaratli/
Paul (Panorama Paul)	http://www.flickr.com/photos/panorama_paul/
Paul Corica	http://www.flickr.com/photos/corica/
Paulo Lopes	http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulo_alopes/
Peter Zéglis	http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterzeglis/
Philippe Sainte-Laudy	http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilou/
Quimg	http://www.flickr.com/photos/quimgranell/
realitydream	http://www.flickr.com/photos/realitydream/
Rebecca Röske	http://www.flickr.com/people/unsterblich/
Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir	http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebba/
Richard Thompson	http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardthompson/
Robson Castro	http://www.flickr.com/photos/rippo/
Sam Javanrouh	http://www.flickr.com/photos/wvs/
Sarah Medway	http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahmedway/
Sean Bolton	http://www.flickr.com/photos/net-adept/
Steve Boote	http://www.flickr.com/photos/amblekingrat/
Steve Sawford	http://www.flickr.com/photos/steelsteve/
Stijn Coppens	http://www.flickr.com/photos/soulmurder/
Stu Worrall	http://www.flickr.com/photos/sworrall/
Tadeu Glowacki	http://www.flickr.com/photos/tglow/
Terry Roberts	http://www.flickr.com/photos/13922644@N05/
Thomas Bucher	http://www.flickr.com/photos/gogoye/
Trey Ratcliff	http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/
Varina Patel	http://www.flickr.com/photos/varina_patel/
Victoria Sims	http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetragictruth/
Zack Schnepf	http://www.flickr.com/photos/zschnepf/

And don’t forgot my Flickr photo at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koltregaskes