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.