Here are a few more recent images.
Thanks for viewing.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A few different pics
Here are some different images, the first self portrait is whats called a Dragan style image, it's done with different blend modes and burning and dodging in photoshop.The second is a lith style image, done using the threshold and selective colour ajustment layers in photoshop, no special software all done in photoshop.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
I'm a celebrity get me the X factor out of here
I'm a celebrity get me the X factor out of here.
Recently I have been watching these "shows" and several things have become obvious.
One you need to have NO talent to be on a talent show.
Take the X factor (please!) the one thing lacking from many of the contestants is any real ability to sing.... a disadvantage for a singer one would assume?. Some of them couldn't carry a tune if it was in a box, as for actually singing... well they are so "flat" they could stun fish.
Wagner for example is beyond a joke, I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, but lets be honest he really can't sing and is never going to be an international singing star, why they have let the poor chap get this far I can only guess, presumably it's to make the other acts look better, trouble is some half decent acts have gone for him to stay in.
Strictly come dancing is another show I have concerns about. Why is Ann Widdecombe still in it, it's called come dancing for heavens sake, Ann couldn't dance her way out of a paper bag, yet every week we are expected to believe that the viewers have voted her back in. I'm sorry I just don't believe it.
Then we come to I'm a celebrity get me out of here, well half of them are not what I'd call celebrities for a start. Then we have Gillian McKeith a nutritionist for goodness sake, and one who's absolutely terrified of bugs, so what in gods name gave her the idea she could cope in a bug infested jungle.
To me it seems someone somewhere is manipulating things to make good viewing rather than playing it properly, and that wouldn't be a problem.... except the public are encouraged to phone vote, thats money, and that smells fishy to me.
Recently I have been watching these "shows" and several things have become obvious.
One you need to have NO talent to be on a talent show.
Take the X factor (please!) the one thing lacking from many of the contestants is any real ability to sing.... a disadvantage for a singer one would assume?. Some of them couldn't carry a tune if it was in a box, as for actually singing... well they are so "flat" they could stun fish.
Wagner for example is beyond a joke, I'm sure he's a nice enough guy, but lets be honest he really can't sing and is never going to be an international singing star, why they have let the poor chap get this far I can only guess, presumably it's to make the other acts look better, trouble is some half decent acts have gone for him to stay in.
Strictly come dancing is another show I have concerns about. Why is Ann Widdecombe still in it, it's called come dancing for heavens sake, Ann couldn't dance her way out of a paper bag, yet every week we are expected to believe that the viewers have voted her back in. I'm sorry I just don't believe it.
Then we come to I'm a celebrity get me out of here, well half of them are not what I'd call celebrities for a start. Then we have Gillian McKeith a nutritionist for goodness sake, and one who's absolutely terrified of bugs, so what in gods name gave her the idea she could cope in a bug infested jungle.
To me it seems someone somewhere is manipulating things to make good viewing rather than playing it properly, and that wouldn't be a problem.... except the public are encouraged to phone vote, thats money, and that smells fishy to me.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A few beach shots
A few shots from yesterdays walk on the beach at Port Talbot, the clouds looks a bit like a massive explosion in the distance.
Enjoy. Wayne
Photokit
The people at Pixel Genius have announced Photokit sharpener 2 (due out later this year)
Now I have to admit to being a fan of the original PK Sharpener, it's designed by people who actually know about sharpening and photography, they wrote the book on sharpening (literally!) It doesn't get much better than this.
It's designed as a 3 stage sharpening work flow.
Capture sharpening, which simply replaces the softness caused by the anti alias filter on the sensor.
Creative sharpening, where you sharpen certain elements of an image, a rock in the foreground or the eyes in a portrait maybe.
Output sharpening, where the sharpening is tailored to the image size and whether it's for printing or web.
Now PG make two other products, Photokit and Photokit colour, which I have to confess I hadn't tried before. Well this week I gave them a try, and to be honest I wasn't blown away with either.
Both have a number of effects and options which will make life easier and a little quicker for the busy photographer, that said some of the effects I found far to light, the diffusion effect even on strongest had hardly any effect on my test image, some of the others like the sepia again just looked horrid. Most of the effects could be easily replicated in photoshop.
Are they worth the money? well at around £65 PK sharpner is IMHO is well worth it, it's something I use daily and it does a smashing job.
The others at £32 for Photokit and £65 for the PK colour? Probably not in my opinion, but by all means try them your self and decide then, after all it's your money your spending not mine (I hope)
Now I have to admit to being a fan of the original PK Sharpener, it's designed by people who actually know about sharpening and photography, they wrote the book on sharpening (literally!) It doesn't get much better than this.
It's designed as a 3 stage sharpening work flow.
Capture sharpening, which simply replaces the softness caused by the anti alias filter on the sensor.
Creative sharpening, where you sharpen certain elements of an image, a rock in the foreground or the eyes in a portrait maybe.
Output sharpening, where the sharpening is tailored to the image size and whether it's for printing or web.
Now PG make two other products, Photokit and Photokit colour, which I have to confess I hadn't tried before. Well this week I gave them a try, and to be honest I wasn't blown away with either.
Both have a number of effects and options which will make life easier and a little quicker for the busy photographer, that said some of the effects I found far to light, the diffusion effect even on strongest had hardly any effect on my test image, some of the others like the sepia again just looked horrid. Most of the effects could be easily replicated in photoshop.
Are they worth the money? well at around £65 PK sharpner is IMHO is well worth it, it's something I use daily and it does a smashing job.
The others at £32 for Photokit and £65 for the PK colour? Probably not in my opinion, but by all means try them your self and decide then, after all it's your money your spending not mine (I hope)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
One for Sunday
A pic for Sunday, it's not a recent one, I haven't had much time recently to go shooting, but I have re-done a few oldies with the latest version of photoshop which seems to do a better job of aligning the images in a panorama.
This is the salthouse in Rhossilli, taken when I was camping at the beach in the site right by it a few years back. The site was pretty good and I really enjoyed my time there.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
South Wales Police
I have to say over the past few months my opinion of South Wales Police has dropped considerably. To be honest it wasn't very high to start with, they always seemed far more concerned about motoring offences that "real" crime (yes I know speeding is a crime too, but you know what I mean) Now they have reached an all time low.
A few months back a friend of mine was attacked by her ex-husband, he tried to kill here twice, there was a court injunction taken out to stop him doing anything more to my friend. Trouble is when he broke the injunction the police simply didn't want to know, if they came out it took hours (not much good if someones trying to kill you) and most of the time they didn't even bother to come out.
On one occasion she was told to "pull yourself together" by the Sargent she spoke to, very helpful.
It comes as no surprise to see people murdered by their partners with a police response like that, after all if they call the police they get no help, and by the time the police finally arrive (if they come out at all), sometimes days later it's too late.
Today I had to phone them, I spotted a child's bike abandoned on a large river bridge, now it's an odd place to dump it, most people would have thrown it over into the river, it occurred to me that a child may have fallen or jumped off the bridge.
I rang the police expecting them to take it seriously, not quite the response I got. It took two phone calls and a visit to the police station to get them interested. By then it was far too late for any child who has gone in the river.
What has happened to our police force? By and large the ordinary coppers are decent enough blokes just doing their job, but it seems anything other that shoplifting and motoring is out of bounds, and if it sounds like a domestic they don't want to know.
Bring back dear old PC Dixon of Dock Green, the good old fashioned copper, he had his head screwed on properly, he's have been straight around to check out a child's bike on a bridge, he wouldn't have been out chasing motorists for dodgy wiper blades.
A few months back a friend of mine was attacked by her ex-husband, he tried to kill here twice, there was a court injunction taken out to stop him doing anything more to my friend. Trouble is when he broke the injunction the police simply didn't want to know, if they came out it took hours (not much good if someones trying to kill you) and most of the time they didn't even bother to come out.
On one occasion she was told to "pull yourself together" by the Sargent she spoke to, very helpful.
It comes as no surprise to see people murdered by their partners with a police response like that, after all if they call the police they get no help, and by the time the police finally arrive (if they come out at all), sometimes days later it's too late.
Today I had to phone them, I spotted a child's bike abandoned on a large river bridge, now it's an odd place to dump it, most people would have thrown it over into the river, it occurred to me that a child may have fallen or jumped off the bridge.
I rang the police expecting them to take it seriously, not quite the response I got. It took two phone calls and a visit to the police station to get them interested. By then it was far too late for any child who has gone in the river.
What has happened to our police force? By and large the ordinary coppers are decent enough blokes just doing their job, but it seems anything other that shoplifting and motoring is out of bounds, and if it sounds like a domestic they don't want to know.
Bring back dear old PC Dixon of Dock Green, the good old fashioned copper, he had his head screwed on properly, he's have been straight around to check out a child's bike on a bridge, he wouldn't have been out chasing motorists for dodgy wiper blades.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Funny week.
This weeks been a bit odd if you know what I mean, the weathers been a bit sad so I haven't had much chance to get out shooting.
On Thursday last week I took part in a re-enactment of a Goon show on stage in the little theatre in Neath. The Goon shows were zany radio plays from the 1950's, starring Harry Seacombe, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, with Michael Bentine sometimes. The one we did was Robin Hood and his mirry mon (no that's the correct spelling lol)
I must admit I really enjoyed it, I remember listening to the goons on the radio as a child, and being able to take part in a re creation was for me a memorable experience.
Last week I was driving home from a friends house late-ish in the evening, and in the dark and rain passed an idiot walking along the motorway. This moron was actually walking on the carriageway, to be honest he was lucky not to have been killed, what with the dark and poor visibility, what a bloody stupid thing to do.
On the weekend we had the whole stupid daft putting the clocks back again, every year this baffles me, I simply cannot find any advantage to it (and I have looked into it) it doesn't save energy, accidents go up and it's a pain in the arse to alter everything. Why the hell do we do it???
On Thursday last week I took part in a re-enactment of a Goon show on stage in the little theatre in Neath. The Goon shows were zany radio plays from the 1950's, starring Harry Seacombe, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, with Michael Bentine sometimes. The one we did was Robin Hood and his mirry mon (no that's the correct spelling lol)
I must admit I really enjoyed it, I remember listening to the goons on the radio as a child, and being able to take part in a re creation was for me a memorable experience.
Last week I was driving home from a friends house late-ish in the evening, and in the dark and rain passed an idiot walking along the motorway. This moron was actually walking on the carriageway, to be honest he was lucky not to have been killed, what with the dark and poor visibility, what a bloody stupid thing to do.
On the weekend we had the whole stupid daft putting the clocks back again, every year this baffles me, I simply cannot find any advantage to it (and I have looked into it) it doesn't save energy, accidents go up and it's a pain in the arse to alter everything. Why the hell do we do it???
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