BMW on the beach

I have been using photoshop consistently since I started by BTEC course in 2010, which was 4 years ago! My skills have grown so much throughout that course and my Foundation Degree. It's now become my strongest point when it comes to photography. Even though I know so much about photoshop now, I still love seeing how people create their images in photoshop. So i've decided to share one of my photoshopped images with you, along with print-screens and short explanation of the editing.

BMW On The Beach

Printscreens:

 1. After opening the background beach image and cloned out any unwanted marks or objects.

 2. I added the car to the beach image, then masked out the unwanted areas (selected). I also horizontally flipped the car as it worked better with the ground.

 3. As I flipped the car image it meant I needed to flip the number plate and car number back. I also added a layer where I added more shadow with a low opacity dark brush.

 4. Using a curves adjustment layer with the curve right down, I added shadow to the image. This was done by masking out the whole image, then bringing back the areas where shadow was needed.

 5. I then did the same for highlights, this time the curve goes up in the middle, to brighten the image.

 6. Lastly I added contrast and brightened the image a little with a levels adjustment layer. To add contrast I bring in the black marker and the white marker a small amount. Then I brightened the image slightly by moving the central marker to the left.

I have explained this very briefly as I know if I explained every tool and technique it would be a very long post! This is just a run down of the layers on the final image. 

Hasselblad + Digital Back Portrait Shoot

As part of my University course i had to do a portrait shoot with a Hasselblad camera and digital back within the studio. I chose my friend Liam for the shoot as i feel he has a story behind his face. Looking at the images they just look like portrait photographs. The truth is Liam actually has metal implanted into his face after being attacked with a crow bar, his whole left cheekbone has metal somewhere within or around it to keep the structure of his face (i believe).

Snow, snow and more snow

This photo pretty much sums up my day; Sat at my desk, trying to do uni work but really watching the snow fall down on my road..

Taken with my new lens i got for christmas. Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8.. it is incredible. I've done two shoots this week and after all the stress i am really happy with them. (will post when all the editing is finished) Starting to get motivated to take photos again! 

Something different, but interesting.

Neil Armstrong, the astronaut... and photographer?
At the end of the day anyone can call themselves a photographer, qualifications or not. I was amazed when i found a page in my photography book of a photograph that Neil Armstrong took of Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

It is such an incredible photograph, without even meaning to be! An astronaut took the photograph with no history in photography and without even having a viewfinder on the camera. 

'Neil shot most of the photos on the moon, having the camera attached to a fitting on his spacesuit much of the time while I was doing a variety of experiments. I didn’t have such a camera holder on my suit, so it just made sense that Neil should handle the photography. He took some fantastic photographs, too, especially when one considers that there was no viewfinder on the intricate Hasselblad camera. We were basically “pointing and shooting.” Imagine taking such historic photographs and not even being able to tell what image you were getting. Unlike the digital camera era of today, in 1969 we were shooting on film, typically looking through a small optical opening on the back of the camera that corresponded with what the camera’s lens was “seeing.” But with our large space helmets, such a viewfinder would have done little good anyhow. So, similar to cowboys shooting their sixguns from their hips, we aimed the camera in the direction of what we wanted to photograph, and squeezed the trigger. Given that ambiguity, it is even more of a credit to Neil that we brought back such stunning photographs from the moon.'

I think the conclusion of this post is that i'm a geek when it comes to photography, which i think most people already knew. At Uni I feel like i'm constantly made to plan in detail my images, before i even take them. Then i'm told to re shoot them if they aren't quite right...but why? when in real life situations you don't have time to plan or re-shoot.

Handmade Bracelets

Above is a collage i recently made, the photos were taken using my iPhone and edited on instagram. I made it because the original bracelet the charm was on broke :( so i found some thread in my mums sewing basket and googled how to make a friendship bracelet. 

After creating this bracelet i was so pleased with it i wanted to make more, so i went on a shop to find more colours of thread. As i haven't had a lot to do with myself the past few weeks i decided to make one for my boyfriend and photograph the process of me making it for this blog post. The bracelet was really easy to make just time consuming. I even found some pages from google showing you how to create an adjustable ending to the bracelet. The wonders of google. 

Photoshoot

So i did my first shoot for my Final Major Project yesterday and i am so happy with the images that i quickly edited them and got them up on Facebook and Flickr. 

I haven't created the final image or the other shoots yet but i'm sure i'll be uploading them as soon as they are done. 

The photographs are of a friend of mine Sarah and her Mk2 Golf, Gunter. There are a few images of her dolled up and a few of her looking casual with her car. This is all linked to my theme for my Final Major Project but these images basically show the different sides to her. 

The location of the shoot was a place in wooburn green, my boyfriend suggested it as its a place him and his mates sometimes go skating that's undercover. You can't see much of the location in the images but i thought it was a really cool place to photograph in, there was one or two guys wondering around but they didn't really seem to mind. 

These are just some montages i put together on my IPhone but if you want to see them properly and in better quality along with the other photographs have a look on my flickr page :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-beynon/

Event photography

I've decided not to post examples of the photos i took at the Vibrant Entertainment event on Friday 27th January (if you do want to see them they are all on there facebook page).

This time round i had figured out 2nd curtain sync for my flash and i tried it out when photographing groups of people. It took a while to get the hang of and a few times it didnt work out that well but they are getting better.

I wanted to share my favourite photograph from the night, i was trying to capture the coloured lights and their movement so i had turned the flash off and left the shutter speed on around half a second. Purely because of the timing of the lights and the settings of the camera this photograph was created, not intended but i really like it and its now the profile photo of the organisers facebook.

Vibrant entertainment

So once again i was down at Wycombe Acadamy on the 30th of December to photograph an event organised by Vibrant entertainment.

They had an awesome snow cannon which looked great in the photos. I tried out a few new settings i had researched in these photos and i think they are getting better and better with practice.

Really starting to make a name for myself photographing these events, its money in my pocket and its actually really fun!

The rest of the photographs are here if you want to have a look :D.

Curious Events

On Friday 28th October Curious Events organized a Halloween UV party at High Wycombe Academy. I was the hired photographer for the night and these are a few of the photographs from the night. It was such a good night and its really making me think more about getting into photographing events, it was extreamly tiring and ended up being a late night followed by a lot of editing the day after. I still enjoyed doing it and would definately do it again :)

The rest of the photographers are on the organizers facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Curious-Events/175035332564021

Lily's 18th

On saturday one of my best friends Lily was having a party for her 18th. I offered to photograph her party for her as i knew she would want photos of it and i wanted to try out some event photography.
I love the photos that came out of that night and so did Lily and everyone else at the party! Would definately be up for doing it again so if anyone needs a photographer for an event i would be happy to help out! all the photos from the night are on my facebook page -
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Beynon-photography/202439699826594

Photography work

I really want to become a photographer after college so i am going to use this website to advertise my photos and try and find work. I want to try and find myself some more experience and work before i finish college so that then i am prepared for working as soon as i finish college and hopefully get an idea of what area i want to focus in.

So if anyone on my blog wants any photographs taken, any portraits or events that you would like photographing i would be happy to do it. I have done a range of photographs from my college course and just from personal experience which can be seen on my flickr which i have posted on here.

alexbeynon@hotmail.co.uk

alexbeynon's photostream

alexbeynon's photostream on Flickr.