To introduce myself

Hi all,

To start, let me introduce myself: My name is Nick and I have been invited by Emil. 

I am an amateur photographer with a keen interest in wildlife photography. I shoot with a dslr since August 2008. I picked up some parts here and there from Emil's courses he gives for African Impact, and I have learned loads from him. With photoshop I am a complete rookie, but hope to learn more about that in the next couple of months. 

I have included some photos for you as an introduction and to comment on.  I took them in February this year in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, and one from some Crocodile hatchlings at the St. Lucia Crocodile centre. I am keen to learn from you professionals, so don't hold back and tell me honestly what you think and where/how I should improve. I have seen many great shots at this blog from all of you, but am a bit reluctant to comment, given my amateur status and that I have not much experience with anything else than wildlife photography. So please forgive me for being somewhat silent, while still hoping that you will comment on my shots. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. 

Hoping to learn a lot from you guys, 

Nick van de Wiel

Keys Part 2

As Emil noted, these shots are aimed at Trevillion, Monsoon and Arcangel. I think Emil's third shot of the lone key is very much in the mood for these three libraries. I only shot one of these images with the Lensbaby - no guesses which one!

Key Stock

With only a slight change of topic, what do you think of these images for stock? I know Neil has a lensbaby shot of a bunch of keys which I hope he'll share with us as a comparison. My shot images were aimed at Gallo, and/or alamy usage. I think Neil's shot, with the lensbaby is aimed at something like Trevillion or ArcAngel (very different stylistic content to Gallo).

On a different note, I was reading a web posting the other day of a south African photographer who had set up an expensive shoot (the resultant images were good) specifically to send the images to shutterstock. I wanted to scream and throttle the man! Why would any sane individual go to that expense and time to post their images to a site where they will receive a fraction of the income that they would have from a library like Gallo, Alamy, or any other small library. the photographer in question is a professional and the calibre of the images was well above what is required for most libraries. Go figure. Out of interest, if you want to supply images to some libraries, Photographers direct is the key library in this case, they actually refuse to accept submissions if you supply micro's like shutterstock with imagery. Food for thought?

E

Blurred Images

Noting Emil's reference to Alain Briot's 'blurred work' I thought I would post this image for comment. Vertical camera movement during a longish exposure - a very simple technique.

Neil.

Film vs Digital article

Hi All

For anyone who is interested I have just completed an article comparing 4x5inch large format film with my digital camera (a 12mp FF Nikon). You can see it by going here: http://www.limephoto.co.za/digital_vs_film_article.html

In a nutshell, there is a definite 'wow' factor to the image size achievable with a large format camera, but it comes at a hefty price, both cash-wise and time-wise.

E

Self portraits from yesteryear!

Not being a stranger to the self portrait enterprise, I have decided to let you all oggle these self portraits done as part of a 20 image self portrait documentary in 2006. This particular task was challenging to say the least as one was not able to merely submit a collage of images but instead, aspects of the self had to be not only identified, but then somehow translated into a graphic image. So none of those cheesy "this is me.... tahdaah!" type pictures that you see on the inside of coffee table books. I won't bore you with a couch-like session on the deep personal meanings behind the images, (whew!) but I will tell you this: Only two are photoshopped. The fist image I called "Needles to say", the second I dangerously titled "Me and Mom" - I was talking more about evolution than my mother so save the wise cracks ok! :). The third image I called "Who nose". So, you might have gathered that if I get round to doing another portrait for this month's theme it probably won't be a grinning me with a camera slung over my shoulder (or wearing a giant white sombrero!)
Paul.

Zoomburst vs lensbaby

Further to my comment made yesterday regarding Neil’s Lensbaby post I thought I would put this image up taken recently on the Outeniqua Mountains from a power van. I think it has a lensbaby feel to it, achieved by using a relatively slow shutter speed (1/20th) which necessitated a rather small aperture (F/16)coupled with a zoom burst. The van was travelling at the time so this added to the effect. As far as the image goes there is no P/shopping save the usual tweaking of levels and clone stamping crap out the way! Not the greatest of images but the point is to demonstrate that 'lensbabyesque' images are achievable in other (more conventional) ways. Do you agree? Aye or Naaay?
Paul.

Lensbaby

Hi all,

Finally got out and took some shots with my new toy! My Lensbaby composer. This was shot with the plastic optic. I admit the whole idea of putting a plastic lens in front of a full frame 12mp camera is somewhat daft, but I love the effect. Lensbaby photography seems to create much debate - what do you guys feel about it?

Cheers,

Neil.