My favs of 2019

View from the top of Geokaun Mountain, looking out to Bengish Island (Cromwell Point Lighthouse below). Co.Kerry, Ireland. I cooked dinner and camped (car camped, post on that soon!) here. Unfortunately the clouds closed in once it got dark and heavy rain followed!

O'Brien's Tower, Cliff of Moher, Co.Clare. I was doing a housesit about 40mins away so was great to be able to get over for some post sunset shots on a lovely calm and cloudless evening.

Another car campint trip, this time to Waterford. Some lovely skies just after sunset.

I was going to spend the night here, but the tide was getting close so I retreated to the car!

I love the Skellig Islands!

A couple of great shoots last year with Leah for Cotton Threadz clothing. This was in Ebony Rose Interiors, lost of great wallpapers and couches for shots.

Bull Island is my favourite spot in Dublin, and I think this was finally the day that our Summer started!

O'Brien's Tower again, with what star constellations I couldn't tell you!

Ballydowane again. Me thinking I'm out of shot doing some light painting.

Cliff's of Insanity

Ladies bike at the gents bathing shelter.

Winter sunsets at Bull Island can be the best there are, this was a couple weeks before the Winter Solstice.

The unpoluted night skies of The Burren.

Friday evening processing

Quick sample of portrait processing...

Straight off the camera

Lightroom tweaks

1. 5x4 crop

2. Some saturation, blacks, whites and exposure tweaks

3. Some vignetting

Photoshop tweaks

1. Content aware removal of picture frame

2. Cloning out light shade

Home Made Accessories - Reflector

If you are starting to build your studio there are some great DIY alternatives you can make and use until you start getting it together properly. You can get white sheets of I think mdf for about €5 in most hardware stores, I got these in B&Q. They are light and flexible, and great for throwing light back at the model. They are about 1200mm x 600mm x 5mm.

To add a different reflection glow you can wrap them in emergency blankets, like below with the broad wrapped in a silver one. Even after I had a decent studio in place I continued to use them. 

They are also great for a mobile studio if you haven't being able to get a collapsable reflector yet, obviously they don't travel as well as the collapsable one but they do a nice job. And of course you will need a second body or two to hold and position them if you aren't in suitable location.

You can buy them here, for about €3 each.

Silver blanket ~ Gold blanket

Some samples using the reflectors:


A couple gold ones propped up in/around the tree.




A couple silver ones in the studio.

World Press Photo Exhibition - Dublin

So even though out of work and at a loose end these days, I only made it into the exhibition last Friday. Once again its in the CHQ vaults, the perfect location for it, same set-up as last year; great big prints with plenty of information, along with the app for a voice walk through of each winner. One addition this year is a small spot for three photographers based in Ireland. If you've the time drop in and get the numbers up, I'm not sure if turnout was good enough to allow it to return next year. Dublin: https://www.facebook.com/events/821286021228046

Theres only a couple days left in Dublin, then it moves on to Belfast (18 November - 23 November)for a week only - https://www.facebook.com/WorldPressPhotoBelfast.

WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2013

The 57th World Press Photo results are out. This year saw 5,754 photographers covering 132 nationalities submit 98,671 photos. 

The overall winner goes to John Stanmeyer, USA, (VII for National Geographic) showing African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night, raising their phones in an attempt to capture an inexpensive signal from neighbouring Somalia. (26th February, 2013)

Singles prizes include the typhoon in the Philippines, Bangladesh factory collapse,  Boston bombing, Nairobi mall massacre, a number of Syria shots, along with stories prizes from Gaza blackout, Central African Republic,  life in the Occupied Territories, and a very well shot (from above!) on sports in China.

My favourite is a shot from a stories winner, Jordanian, Tanya Habjouqa and her entry - Occupied Pleasures, and a rather amusing shot.

07 August 2013 After encountering gruelling traffic at the Qalandia check point, a young man enjoys a cigarette in his car as the back-up finally clears on the last evening of Ramadan. He is bringing home a sheep for the upcoming Eid celebration. 

More than four million Palestinians live in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, where the political situation regularly intrudes upon the most mundane of moments. People’s movements are circumscribed and the threat of violence often hangs overhead. This is an exploration of the small moments of pleasure where ordinary men and women demonstrate a desire to live, not just simply survive.

Head on over to the World Press Photo website to see another great year of photography. 

World Press Photo Winners Exhibition

With about a week of its run left, I finally made it into see the World Press Photo Winners Exhibition. Firstly, the setting is fantastic, the basement of CHQ are old storage vaults, I guess you'd call them? 

Fantastic large prints with a bit of text on the scenario and a description of each photo. WPP have also created an app for the exhibition - details here - where you put in the photo ID and you can listen to the descriptions of the photos and garner extra information. I found this great and you could just take the photos in while listening to the story behind them.

Running until December 22nd, at €5 it is more than worth the visit.

World Press Photo winners exhibition coming back to Ireland

Its been a number of years since the World Press Photos have brought the winers exhibition to Ireland. I cant remember the last time it was in Dublin, but up until a few years ago it had a few runs in Galway.

This year its coming to Dublin, being shown in The CHQ building in the IFSC from November 30th to December 22nd (Sunday: 12.00 - 18.00, Monday - Friday: 10.00 - 19.00, Saturday: 10.00 - 18.00). I think its €5 entry, well worth a visit.

CHQ is located at Georges Dock Luas stop, a 3min walk from Connolly Station.

CameraBag 2.5 (RC) is out

Last month I mentioned the upcoming update from CameraBag. Well last night they released version 2.5 Release Candidate, a beta copy, before it is officially released and any last bugs are caught. If you already own CameraBag 2, this is a free update, if not you can get a free 14 day trial.

As soon as you install it you can see a few changes to the layout (like splitting the presets into Styles & Camaras) but what interested me most was the addition of being able to watermark images. Recently I haven't had much need for Lightroom except for adding a watermark and was solely using CameraBag, so was delighted to hear this was coming and even more so on how they have done it.

Its simple to create a watermark (even easier than in Lightroom!) and it is just added like any of the presets you'd normally use. The watermark is also added when you are editing the image not when you are exporting, so you can see if you need to change position/colour/size depending on the image itself.

Top New Features 

• Nested Tiles: Nest one or more tiles in your tray into a single tile that can be dragged or adjusted as a single adjustment. 

• Watermarks: Add branding to your photos with a watermark or other image that you can easily overlay anywhere on your photos. 

• Sharpen: Photos a bit blurry? No problem, sharpen them up with the new Sharpen tile. 

• Blur: Photos looking too sharp and modern? You can take care of that, too, with two new blurring tiles. Use the Circular Blur tile to simulate lens effects. 

• Custom Image Borders: Use your own image-based borders and CameraBag will automatically fill the transparent area with your image. Great for both faux-film looks and for specific website or gallery needs. 

• Updated Styles: A massive update to the library of styles included by default in CameraBag.

Another great update to a very affordable (even cheaper at the pre-release price of $15) piece of software.

From CameraBag
The CameraBag 2.5 Release Candidate is ready, and we’d like to invite our Facebook followers to try it first! Download from the links below (see bottom of post) and let us know if there are any problems with it on your system. Read more about the new features and see them in action on our website here: http://nevercenter.com/camerabag/desktop/2_5/

Note: This will replace your current version of CameraBag. If you want, you can make a backup of the old version before installing by renaming the CameraBag.app file (Mac) or the CameraBag 2 folder in Program Files (Windows).

Mac: http://nevercenter.com/cb2_5_rc_mac
Windows: http://nevercenter.com/cb2_5_rc_win

This download includes fresh 14-day trial period, so feel free to share with friends who don’t yet own CameraBag!

Tedtalks: Video & Photo Mojo

Oldish one this (2006-2011), but only coming across it now, another great series from TedTalks, this 19 time episodes from different photographers & videographers. 

• James Cameron: Before Avatar - A Curious Boy
• Deborah Scranton on Her War Tapes
• Ryan Lobo: Photographing the Hidden Story
• Beverly & Dereck Joubert: Life Lessons from Big Cats
• David Griffin on How Photography Connects Us
• Taryn Simon Photographs Secret Sites
• Jonathan Klein: Photos That Changed the World
• Ed Ulbrich: How Benjamin Button Got His Face
• Shekhar Kapur: We Are the Stories We Tell Ourselves
• Jehane Noujaim Wishes for a Global Day of Film
• Jarreth Merz: Filming Democracy in Ghana
• Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Inside a School for Suicide Bombers
• Jeff Skoll Makes Movies That Matter
• Erik Johansson: Impossible Photography
• Rob Legato: The Art of Creating Awe
• Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a Trillion Frames Per Second
• Beeban Kidron: The Shared Wonder of Film
• Becci Manson: (Re)touching Lives Through Photos
• Taryn Simon: The Stories Behind the Bloodlines

Available on YouTube & Netflix.

Infringer who originally offered £150 forced to pay £20,000 in settlement

A music and entertainment company who offered £150 for their unlicenced and unlawful use of an exclusive image of pop stars cavorting on a sofa has agreed to pay photographer Jason Sheldon £20,000 following a Patents Court decision in May. Read More (from Editorial Photographers UK & Ireland)

This is great to see a proper settlement and will hopefully set a precedent in the UK and follow into the EU when it comes to companies using unlicensed photographs. Jason was "lucky" the offenders even made him an "offer" to begin with, in my experience and dozens more I've read contact is just ignored, but well done to him for taking it all the way. 

Jason's website - Junction10 Photography

CameraBag 2 Update

Last year I did a little review of the photo editing software CameraBag. Its a great bit of software, not a full replacement for Lightroom/Aperture, but with some of these latest updates it comes one step closer to achieving that.

The upcoming upgrade has 5 new features, I wont go into them all now, but the stand-out upgrade gives the ability to add a watermark. I would say I use CameraBag for 25% of photos without first doing some tweaking in Lightroom, but after working on them in CameraBag I need to import them into Lightroom solely to add a watermark. Its great to see I will be able to avoid this step with the next upgrade.

Well done lads, for a very well priced product this is coming closer and closer to edging the bigger ones out

Check out all the upgrades here:
http://youtu.be/xx7Em5GnIAw

Communication Tips!

I wouldn't have thought anyone would need to be told this but here are some pointers and advice based on my experiences - this goes for anyone!

Keep track of emails you send, reply to your replies!

Model Mayhem and Facebook are awful for this, I get a request from model for a shoot.

• I reply with yes, lets talk dates, location, what looks you are interested in. 
• Two weeks later I get the same model asking for a shoot, I reply with the same reply. 
• Two weeks later I get the same model asking for a shoot, her email now gets ignored.

Email etiquette 

Email received: 
do you do tfp.

What you should have said: 

Hi xxxx, 
my name is xxxxx and I'd liked to get into modeling, I've only done a few shoots (heres some samples of what I've done) and would like to do a few more. Do you do TFP? Weekends and evenings are perfect for me, but weekdays can be done with some notice.
Thanks, 
xxxxx

Hi xxxx, 
my name is xxxxx and I'd liked to get into modeling, I haven't done any shoots yet and would love to get some done. Do you do TFP? Weekends and evenings are perfect for me, but weekdays can be done with some notice.
Thanks, 
xxxx

Email received: 
Hi hun,
I love your work and style. I'd love to do a shoot with you. Here are my rates....

What you should have said: 

I think this answer is obvious!

In person etiquette

One model booked with me, date, time, location confirmed weeks in advance. As I drove to meeting place phoned to ask where we are meeting, told her, she replied with wheres that. AFTER confirming this weeks ago. Change meeting place. Phones when 30mins late to say running later, finally turns up another 45mins late, refuses to get in car to go to location I had scouted based on her location, even though she had two friends with her (I would have understood if she was on her own). Normally a model bringing two friends would have been fantastic, one to the hold the flash stand, the other to hold the reflector. These items got left in the car, and we had a shoot at the side of a very busy road.

What she should have said: 
Hi xxxx, 
I'm xxxxxx, its nice to meet you. I've very sorry I'm so late and for changing location at the last minute. I know I'm with friends but we're nervous to get in a strangers car. Do you mind if we just did the shoot over here?

The Guards: A Year Behind the Scene with the Men and Women of An Garda Siochana

Mark Condren (PPAI Photojournalist of the Year 2009, 2010) gained unprecedented access to photograph An Garda Síochána (the Irish police) for a year.

His idea began in 2007 when his son was born with Type 1 diabetes and spent alot of time in Temple Street Childrens Hospital. He decided to raise some money for the hospital and with his father, uncle and wife  in or ex Garda he thought a photo book on the Garda was a good way to go. The Garda Press Office and Superintendent John Gilligan were on board and it was set in motion.

I hadn't heard about the book and stumbled across (not even in the photo section) it in a bookshop. A quick flick through the pages and I was walking to pay for it before seeing the price (a very nice €25) or that the proceeds would be going to the charity. The quality of the photographs and the amount of content and subjects covered really is amazing and I wouldn't have hesitated to spend twice the cost on it.

It is divided into  a number of chapters varying in size and themes, with a little introduction for each chapter, with each photograph getting a brief explanation.

Photographs include a look at training at Templemore, riots, Obamas visit. Rural & inner city Garda and their interaction with the local residents. Photographs of night patrols, checkpoints, breath tests. There are nice concise chapters for things like "The Poitín Still".

Crazy nights in Templebar ending in the wrong end of high heels in hand cuffs! Crime scenes and forensics. Topics such as "A Ballot Box" of a little photo essay of voting on the islands. A little insight into RTE's "Crimecall".

The Aqua Unit. The Immigration Unit. Ballistics. The Air Unit. The Drugs Unit. Mounted Division. Its all covered and the access Mark got and his photographs are really impressive.

If you have an interest in policing this is for you, or like me if you like photojournalism you'll love this. And at the great price of €25 for top quality and the chairty involved makes it an extra bonus.

Donate to Temple Street Children's University Hospital
Temple Street Children's Hospital Facebook

Editor: Mark Condren
Photographer: Mark Condren

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Ballpoint Press Limited (10 Nov 2011) (@BallpointPress1)
ISBN-10: 0955029872 ISBN-13: 978-0955029875

Its not on Book Depository yet, but Chapters (@chaptersbooks) on Parnell Street still have them in stock. http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Guards-Mark-Condren/9780955029875

CameraBag 2

I'm not sure how I stumbled across CameraBag, but when I did they were offering it for $19 (€15/£12) with a free upgrade to CameraBag 2 which was following in a number of weeks. 

What its not is Photoshop, but almost! What it is, is probably the best $19 I've ever spent! 

I have been using it as my final pass for a number of images after I've prepared and cleaned the photo in Lightroom. I've even by-passed Lightroom and just processed a number of photos in here. Combing this with something like GIMP is the perfect and very affordable alternative to Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture etc. 

The thing that stood out the most for me with CameraBag was how easy it was to use and get going with it straight away. The interface is clean, simple and very intuitive:

• Application menu down the right, with a sub menu for items inside each section
• Adjust menu along the bottom when an item is chosen from the application menu
• Both side and bottom menus can be hidden when required

Menus

You get adjustment options (25 of them) - subdivided into Basics, Light, Color, Photographic & Utilty. Some of these adjustments include:

• crop
• rotate
• exposure
• contrast
• saturation
• vibrance
• brightness
• shadows
• various curves
• grain
• color correction
• tint
• RGB curve
• and a lot of other options

The amount of filters (like presets in Lightroom) it comes with by default is fantastic, a great start to processing your image. You have full control over these filters to adjust them and make them your own. You can save your own and share them, and add other new ones, other people have made.

The adjustment controls are a nice size and really easy to understand and use, the slider being big enough to tweak as necessary. It has non-destructive editing, and removing an effect is as easy as just closing the control for it, no need for Cntrl-Z'ing!

Adjustments

Inline Preview gives you a preview beside your original image. You are not limited to one preset, you can layer presets, adding them one after another.

Inline Preview

Quicklooks is a nice feature which takes the Inline Preview a step further, where you get a page of thumbnails with all presets worked on your photo, see one you like click on it and adjust as necessary.

Quicklook

Another nice easy to use feature is Batch Processing, its a cinch; adjust one image, then point the software to the folder you want to run it on the rest of your images which get output with an added _cb to the orignal filename by default.

The only things I found lacking were controls such as clone/heal, dodge/burn, watermarking, but as I've already said above, I've been using this as a last pass, and as I've said, combined with the likes of GIMP this is perfect for you. And for the cost of takeaway & DVD it is more than worth it.

For what it has to offer at the price I wouldn't be expecting anything more...in fact I would have thought it had a lot less.

Camerabag 2 is currently $24 - http://nevercenter.com/camerabag/desktop

Samples:

Click here for CameraBag YouTube Videos

Chase Jarvis TECH: Complete Workflow for Photo and Video

Check out this excellent video from Chase Jarvis where he and his team go through their workflow process from taking the photo/video through to getting back to HQ, working on it, to off site backup.