Hi all, creativeLIVE.com is a world wide creative classroom that has only been around a couple of months but by the looks of the site and its content it’s going to be a real winner amongst creative types like us. There are a host courses covering a fairly wide cross section for photographers, from beginner type introductory courses to something more specific like aperture3 or writing java applications.
Each live presentation/webinar is FREE! Yes FREE, you just have to enroll prior to the start time and watch them live, you can even ask questions at Q&A time. The only time you pay for the online course is if you miss it live and you want to watch the recording.
Take a look around yourself, be sure to check out this very cool Photoshop CS5 video, it introduces us to some cool new features and in addition you get a feel of how the classes are run.
Last week Daniel and I attended a talk on social media put on by the people at the ACMP. One of the speakers was Keith Loutit, a Sydney based photographer and filmmaker. His recent bathtub series of short films using tilt-shift / time-lapse techniques have attracted a huge amount of interest over the internet, especially on vimeo and youtube where the films have attached 1000’s of viewers. Take a look at some of his videos, I’m sure they’ll blow you away as they did to us!
Keith is holding an exhibition of his work at Customs House Circular Quay in Sydney. Details are below.
Small Worlds: Stills & film from the ‘Bathtub’ &’Small Worlds’ series of short films by Keith Loutit.
Location: Media wall, ground floor customs house & level two library, Customs House 31 Alfred St Sydney NSW 2000
I’m very excited about working with Steven from InkedupTV on the creation of a new promo clip for SPW so keep an eye out, it’s coming soon.Without doubt Steven is one creative dude!
Browsing through some of his most recent work I came across this clip which he had just completed. Enjoy!!
NEW EDGAR “OSOK” HOILL VIDEO!!! Steven catches up with leading photographer of Lowrider Magazine! Without a doubt Edgar Hoill has a natural talent of capturing the raw essence of his subjects. “All my stuff is street, so all my stuff is real. And everything that I shoot is either people I know real close or that I work close with or just stuff I see on the streets.”He also has a sick ass collection of tattoos done by some of the best around the world. Jack Rudy, Horiyoshi III, Ben Grillo, Tattoo Tony just to name a few
Hot on the heels of the PX3 contest winners, and off-course our world renowned Foto Priority Top 30 …………, Photo District News Magazine (PDN) has announced their Top 30 New and Emerging Photographers To Watch in 2010.
If their portfolios alone don’t blow your socks off, then make sure you read the interviews. Now that’s dedication!
Hi all, ok time for some inspiration (said in a heavy French accent) I was recently sent a link to The “Prix de la Photographie, Paris” (Px3) and was very impressed by the images submitted by both professional and amature photographers.
A little about the competition -
The “Prix de la Photographie, Paris” (Px3) strives to promote the appreciation of photography, to discover emerging talent, and to introduce photographers from around the world to the artistic community of Paris. Winning photographs from this competition are exhibited in a high-profile gallery in Paris and published in the high-quality, full-color Px3Annual Book.
Check out the Px3 website for all the latest winners from each category. I especially love the series that came second titled “Aftermath of War in Lebanon”
I’ve been searching for a decent tool to create flash websites for a long time now, I am pretty sure I have finally found one! WIX.COM. I had been tossing up the idea of paying a web designer $1000’s of dollars until I discovered WIX.( I can now use that money to buy myself a new lens!)
For photographers who want to create awesome flash online portfolios this might be just the thing for you. WIX is a free website builder that’s really easy tool to use, lots of dragging and dropping with the ability to add your own content, pictures, videos, text, animations, effects and widgets. One of the biggest selling points for me was I no longer have to learn or understand any type of programming or code, which is a huge bonus!
The free version of WIX is suitable for just about anyone however you have the choice to upgrade to Premium for features such as –
- Use your own domain
- Remove Wix ads
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Extra storage
- Google Analytics site stats
- Unlimited pages
- Professional hosting
- Premium support
Take a look at some of the example photographers sites that have been created with WIX, they also have a blog to keep you up to date with latest news and announcements etc.
If you are currently using WIX let us know what you think? Or, if you are using something similar tell us about it using the comments section below.
Here’s a short video I found on youtube on how to build a website in 2mins using WIX
Hey Jose, thanks for the great info! I wish I had known about this service 18 months ago while I was setting up my site.
Let us know once yours is up an running and perhaps share your experiences with using this service.
I, like many others I have spoken to, am yet to master the HD video on my canon 5d mk2 or Canon 7d, so something like this seems to be out of my reach for now. “The story beyond the still” is a HD video contest put on by Canon where photographers have a chance to show off their skills as filmmakers.
Last month the contest kicked off when Canon asked photographer, Vincent Laforet, to interpret a still by telling the story that lived beyond it using the Canon EOS 7D. It was the first chapter of seven, ending with a still photograph of its own for the Vimeo community to then interpret. After 112 entries, Josh Thacker was chosen as the very first winner, the below winning entry was shot using a Canon 7D and 5D Mark II.
Here is a pretty interesting little addition to your kit for all you lovers of low-fi images out there! If you don’t have a Diana plastic camera but you want to create those low saturation, soft surreal blurs, and unpredictable coloured images then you may be very interested in this Diana lens adapter for your Nikon and Canon DSLR.
All you need to do is attach the plastic lens and its adapter directly onto your SLR’s body. Your Canon or Nikon will be part Diana camera and park DSLR, a recipe for some pretty cool dreamy images!
The lens adapter is available from the US at photojojo.com and for $60 USD you get;
• Adds a soft and dreamy focus to your photos
• Adapter for Canon or Nikon SLRs and DSLRs
• Included adapter works with the entire line of Lomo’s Diana+ lenses
• Three distance settings (1-2m, 2-4m and Infinity)
• Includes Canon or Nikon adapter and 38mm Super-Wide Diana+ Lens
This years Canon Photo5 competition brought many challenges. One of those being the pair of cardboard spectacles. Andrew Foo submitted the below image to Canon and has kindly shared his insight to the creation and thought process behind it. Enjoy
Thinking up an idea that is both original and witty for a creative portrait is hard. Well, actually I lie. Neither isn’t terribly difficult, it’s executing on the idea where the hard yards are.
The inaugural competition Canon Photo5 competition came and went again this year and there’s nothing better than a good competition to bring out the best in your creative side.
The “portraiture” brief commanded the use of a supplied black spectacles made from thin piece of cardboard paper. How you used it in the shot, was open to the photographer’s interpretation. In keeping with the competition’s judging brief I wanted to create an image that would engage and probe more questions from the viewer. In “Think it’s time for a new pair…”, I played with the idea of a different kind of portrait and uniting fake with reality. Having worn the spectacles, the main subject could not see any better and proceeds to attempt to clean the cardboard spectacles with a lens cloth. This somewhat felt like a surreal moment, so I thought a ‘dreamy’ cast to the image would be a neat idea.
Having had the opportunity to attend one of SPW’s recent Shots @ The Arthouse (Flash Dance night) I felt more equipped to introduce some off-camera flash in getting a bit more creative. Shot inside one of my rooms in my house later in the day I didn’t have much ambient light to play with. I started by exposing for the ambient lighting for the room’s background. The idea was to keep the foreground pin sharp and in focus, so I dialed in a higher ISO to maintain a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second to eliminate camera shake. Using a wide aperture of f/2.8 allowed me to keep the foreground sharp and throw the background out of focus in emphasizing the action and the object in hand.
A radio remote trigger fired off a flashgun placed left of camera through an umbrella for a softer light. Needless to say I had a lot of fun doing this and comps are a great way to focus on a specific theme and get your creative juices flowing!
Camera and Lens: Canon EOS 450D, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Off-Camera Flash: Canon Speedlite 430EX II attached to stand and shot through umbrella @ ¼ power
Remote triggered by Speedlite Radio Kit
Exposure: Shot handheld at f/2.8, 1/50sec, ISO800, Flash WB
In Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) make the curves adjustment (strong contrast) and back on basic tab check for blown highlights. These shots were pretty good so no worries there.
Opened image in Photoshop, first thing I noticed was that the hem of her dress on her right thigh was a little high and showed the dark elastic at the top of her tights. Not very attractive. So I cloned the hem in to hide this.
Next I lengthened her legs a touch. Now Olivia is tall and leggy but probably my perspective was wrong. To do this I made a large selection using the rectangular marquee tool. I select a large rectangle from one side of the screen to another (starting just below hem of dress) and as far down the pic as possible whilst still leaving me a little room to crop within that bottom line later. Then I selected free transform and dragged the bottom of the box down a touch.
I then cropped the picture to my liking, cleaned up the skin (not that she need much) and take away one or two creases in the skin(around the armpit) Sharpened her eyes and mouth and saved.
Open image in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), adjust the curve to strong contrast. Back to the basic tab and adjust the temperature to ‘flash – 5500′ Then open image in Photoshop
Cropped to get the perspective I wanted.
I then cleaned the skin on the models face and leg using the clone tool. Whilst on the skin I then run a small home built action called high pass that smooths it a little.
I also used color efex pro to add a little glamour glow.
Next I cloned the background a little to added a little smoke and to hide a little more the leg of the background light.
If her eyes had been more open I sometimes run an action to increase contrast but not in this case.
Last thing I do is size and then sharpen. I only sharpen selectively on a separate layer so I can see the effect. Normally with a feather @20-40 I select eyes/eyebrow area and the mouth and then run a little action I got from the world famous ‘Manny Librodo’ If you want to build this the steps are:
…………, Photo District News Magazine (PDN) has announced their Top 30 New and Emerging Photographers To Watch in 2010.
May 5th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Excellent – the final result does give a sense of a small world. Great post Jose.