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.