Websites for research

Shown below are just some of the many websites that I visit to reserch and gain Ideas to help me to improve my photography, the Internet is the biggest tutor on the planet and the lessons are endless


http://www.thedesignwork.com/magical-art-of-shadow-photography/

http://www.thedesignwork.com/portraiture-photography-by-famous-photographers/

http://www.photography-art-cafe.com/famous-portrait-photographers.html

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2011/05/top-10-wedding-photographers

Understanding Octodomes/Octo Boxes: A Lighting Tutorial

This is another really great tutorial on using soft boxes which shows the process of modifying and softening our light sources which have dramatic effects on our models/subjects

I researched this video from you tube a really great resource for phtographers to give me a greater understanding of photography techniques

Balancing Abient light with Studio flash Video

This is a really intuitive video which has helped me to understand how lighting characteristics behave when we balance 2 light sources together,one being the natural light of the sun and the other, the artificial light of studio flash

I am trying out this technique over the coming months of summer using my newly purchased portable studio flash system out on location

Evening ambient light shoot with Studio lights on location

I was asked by a local model to produce a set of images of herself modelling different clothes which she wants to use to help her to promote her business and modelling career

This was a dual purpose shoot with the model which encompassed combining fashion and product photography in one evening's work

She particularly wanted some really good promo images taking of the red dress she was wearing for use in marketing campaigns to push her business and gain awareness

These will be the last images shot on this course as I will be concentrating more on finishing off all my blogs which will include labeling,adding more content and  adding additional images I have already shot

Shown here are my latest images from the evening shoot shot locally with my model helen. This was a TFP shoot where we both benefited from the photography 

The images were shot with my new Lencarta Safari portable studio light system that I took out on location with me. This was an evening shoot and I had specifically planed this shoot at this time to capture the ambiance of the summer evening skies

The setup cost a me over a £1000 at the time and I thought am I doing the right thing spending this amount of money on a portable lighting setup. But yes I think I can safely justify the costs as I am starting to achieve some really good results which can be seen from some of the images below

The setup allows me to shoot up to 600 watts out on location and even at 200 watts the unit delivers over 2300 pops from a single charge,amazing. Having this amount of power enabled me to shoot even with bright sunny skies as I was able to counter balance the light intensity from the sun and overpower the daylight with my studio heads

I had to consider the health and safety of my model at all times. We had blankets on hand for my model to use between shots when posing as the eveing was getting a little chilly
My model was also using a step ladder in certain shots but I had a collegeue and lighting man on hand during the whole shoot who helped getting my model up and down the steps

I wanted to mix ambient light with a studio quality light out on location and this system allows me to achieve this. I shot and metered the images for the ambient light available then introduced power from the flash heads in increments until the desired effect was achieved. i wanted to use a second flash head as a rim light to light the models hair and side physique. I found I didn't need the second head as the sun did an excellent job for me which can be seen from the top image below 


I had planned this shoot for a long time and had to wait for the right day with the right weather and cloud formations to achieve the desired results. I used photoshop and Bridge to manipulate an embellish my final images chosen from about 200 shots.

The images are now being used in E-commerce and marketed on various websites,social media websites and also used in publicity materials for advertising and promotions
Shown here are some of the images from the shoot

I have slightly sharpened the images in photoshop and cloned out unwanted articles such as telegraph poles and pylons which were a distraction in the images

Shown below is an screen shot of an advert of my model Helen advertising her services on the modelling agency website Purpleport using my images

I will be using a lot of the images produced on this shoot for my own continuing marketing plan which I use to sell my services and products. These will be included on  my website,blogs and printed media to push and advertise my business to greater levels

Shown below are some of the images I used for research and ideas which were copied fron the Internet

Film Noir (Image manipulation)

I was commissioned by a friend to shoot some images of a 30th birthday party. I was given a brief to produce some old style images and the theme of the party was 20's 30's film noir night,which roughly translates to old black and white films and characters from this era.The party goers were all dressed as different characters from this era in time and I was asked to manipulate the images to possibly reflect and emulate this era in time

The images were all shot in a local hotel.The images were shot with a Canon 5D3 and a Canon 430 speedlight. The ceiling of the hotel was very low so I bounced the flash to give an even spread of light to eluminate my subjects

I mainly used photoshop for this procedure using various layers to change the images structures. I firstly desaturated the images to black and white then added a texture from my library of textured images to give the images an aged feel

I used a third party piece of software which has some in built filters to shift the focal point of the image of centre to another part of the image and also added a blurred vignette to the edges of the images

Shown here are the finished images which I think portray the 1920's-30's era that my client requested

Shown below are the original images shot on the night before manipulation

I have also included some screen grabs of the meta data taken from the images which shows aperture, shutter speeds and other data that my camera was using at the time when the images were shot

Shown here are some more screen grabs of the techniques that I used to desaturate and blend layers together in Photoshop to give my images a sort of old/worn appearance, I think the technique works quite well

Shown below here is a screen grab taken from Bridge of some of my textures that I use to add to my images. I have a library of textures which I collect and add to and it's amazing how many different textures there are out there if you just open your eyes and look for them

The texture I used in the images above here was taken from a very old tree which had some interesting patterns,shadows and grooves,which when desaturated produces the ideal layer to give my images an old /worn look

Shown below are some of the images I used for ideas and inspiration for this project.These were general images taken from the Internet which gave me posing ideas, information on hairstyles and ideas to create the ambiance of the images

The final images were sent to print at an online print processor named Loxley Colour one of the best online photo printers in the business. The prints were requested in various sizes and printed on an extreme matt paper which gave the images an authentic look and feel which the client was really please with. The images were then mounted in a photographic album of the clients choice and presented to my client as the finished article

Copyright

Copyright and Photography

©


We are now photographing many weddings and we have to be conversant with the law of copyright and it's implications. We are publishing a lot of our images onto the internet which leaves our photography wide open to to theft, copying and infringement of copyright

We protect our published images images by using a watermark built into the images. We also have our names and image creation dates attached to every image we create through  our camera's meta data which is embedded into all the files we produce

We have a few paragraphs built into into our website's terms and conditions stating our copyright policies

This is a link that demonstrates how I watermark/copyright my images using the software photoshop:

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/copyright/


I have researched the laws on copyright on the Internet,shown below are some of its guidelines,uses and limitations:

Introduction   Copyright law originated in the United Kingdom from a concept of common law; the Statute of Anne 1709. It became statutory with the passing of the Copyright Act 1911. The current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Rights covered The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used. The rights cover; broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work. International conventions give protection in most countries, subject to national laws. Types of work protected Literary   song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters & articles etc. Dramatic   plays, dance, etc. Musical   recordings and score. Artistic   photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos. Typographical arrangement of published editions magazines, periodicals, etc. Sound recording may be recordings of other copyright works, e.g. musical and literary. Film   video footage, films, broadcasts and cable programmes. The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 extended the rules covering literary works to include computer programs. When rights occur Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour, skill or judgement. Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so. Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be. In short, work that expresses an idea may be protected, but not the idea behind it. Who owns a piece of work Normally the individual or collective who authored the work will exclusively own the work and is referred to as the ‘first owner of copyright’ under the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. However, if a work is produced as part of employment then the first owner will normally be the company that is the employer of the individual who created the work. Freelance or commissioned work will usually belong to the author of the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary, (i.e. in a contract for service). Just like any other asset, copyright may be transferred or sold by the copyright owner to another party. Rights cannot be claimed for any part of a work which is a copy taken from a previous work. For example, in a piece of music featuring samples from a previous work, the copyright of the samples would still remain with the original author. Only the owner, or his exclusive licensee can bring proceedings in the courts. Duration of copyright The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states the duration of copyright as; For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies. If the author is unknown, copyright will last for 70 years from end of the calendar year in which the work was created, although if it is made available to the public during that time, (by publication, authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc.), then the duration will be 70 years from the end of the year that the work was first made available. Sound Recordings and broadcasts 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created, or, if the work is released within that time: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first released. Films   70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies. If the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made available. Typographical arrangement of published editions 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published. Broadcasts and cable programmes 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made. Crown Copyright Crown copyright will exist in works made by an officer of the Crown, this includes items such as legislation and documents and reports produced by government bodies. Crown Copyright will last for a period of 125 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made. If the work was commercially published within 75 years of the end of the calendar year in which it was made, Crown copyright will last for 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it was published. Parliamentary Copyright Parliamentary Copyright will apply to work that is made by or under the direction or control of the House of Commons or the House of Lords and will last until 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made. Restricted acts It is an offence to perform any of the following acts without the consent of the owner: Copy the work. Rent, lend or issue copies of the work to the public. Perform, broadcast or show the work in public. Adapt the work. The author of a work, or a director of a film may also have certain moral rights: The right to be identified as the author. Right to object to derogatory treatment. Acts that are allowed Fair dealing is a term used to describe acts which are permitted to a certain degree without infringing the work, these acts are: Private and research study purposes. Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes. Criticism and news reporting. Incidental inclusion. Copies and lending by librarians. Acts for the purposes of royal commissions, statutory enquiries, judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes. Recording of broadcasts for the purposes of listening to or viewing at a more convenient time, this is known as time shifting. Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program. Playing sound recording for a non profit making organisation, club or society. (Profit making organisations and individuals should obtain a license from PRS for Music.)

Exploring techniques old and new

I am in the process of examining different photographer's work's and styles. I particularly like the fantasy art style of portrait images shown below which show a combination of art and photography

Shown here are some images of various photographers taken of the website "Master Photographers Association" This is a particular style that I like and will be experimenting with over the next couple of months Portraits are bended together with different textures using various layers using the sosftware Photoshop

These images mainly consist of portraits that are blended together with various textures which are then darkened using a various vignetting layers

I will be shooting some new portraits shortly and will be blending them with various textures I have photographed over the last couple of months. Shown below are some of my textures that I may be using , I photogrphed lot of these textures on recent phtogrphy trips to Lacock Abbey near Bath and Tutbury castle some local historic ruins situated about 6 miles from Burton

I have always been an avid lover of Photoshop and have played around with textures and blending modes for years. Shown below are some of my  manipulated images which show show various blends and textures using different layers that I have created in Photoshop   

This image has 3 elements applied to it, a base image which I have de-saturated, various softening layers applied and a soft Grunge texture added to give an old dirty type of effect 

This image shows a simple blend of a recent seascape I took on holiday combined with a stone wall "grunge"texture taken from an image from a wall at Tutbury Castle a local historical ruin that I visited in the summer

I blended the image above of a friend of mine together with a texture of ice photographed on my car windscreen using various layers,blends and masks

Shown here is a base image with just one texture added, I blended the images together using layers, masks and blending in Photoshop. I find the possibilities are endless of what can be achieved it's all down creativity and being inspired by other photographers work's

This image has mutiple layers blended together to produce a soft focus type of feel

I hope to take blending with textures to a higher level over the next few months a technique that I find very fascinating and which I am passionate about. This technique requires creativity along with a good knowledge of using Photoshop which I feel I posses but would now like to take these elements to the next level

(Yervant) wedding and fashion photographer

Under construction

Yervant (wedding and fashion photographer)

I have heard of this famous wedding and fashion photographer before and also seen some of his photography on the net but never really payed much attention to his work

Wow! what have I been missing? it doesn't get much better than this

He was one of the first photographers to shoot his photography using digital cameras

with not a film camera in site

This is the gear that Yervant uses:

Cameras: Canon EOS 5D; Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II; Sony HDV Video Camera

Canon Lenses: 15mm fisheye; 24mm f/1.4L; 16-35mm f/2.8L; 24-70mm f/2.8L; 70-200mm f/2.8L IS; 85mm f/1.2L
Flash Gear: Canon Speedlite 580EX; Quantum Qflash; Lowel i-light video light; Bescor video light; Metz 45 flash

Yervant was born in Ethiopia, he is the son of royal photographer Hagop Zanazanian.  Yervant followed his father's footsteps in photography, mastered dark room techniques at a young age of 9, won his first award of excellence with a landscape image at the age of 11 

I know that photography is all about light and composition......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Being one of the world's top phtographers I will find it difficult to emulate this kind if phtography,the majority of his shots I would assume have been set up with proper models and lighting......................................................................

Yervant studied at Mourat Raffael College in Venice Italy from the age of 13 to 17 where he was inspired by fine art and photography.

The Zanazanian family emigrated to Australia in 1975 and Yervant joined soon after and enrolled at The Photography College in Melbourne.  Yervant proclaimed he wanted to be a WEDDING photographer during his college years and he was told by his tutors to quit there and then as Wedding photography never required a college education. 

Nonetheless, Yervant graduated and set himself up as a 'Professional Wedding Photographer' Today Yervant's name is synonymous with the most influential photographers of our time.

y.