Apr 30 2010

It’s Twitter #FF (Follow Friday) time…

Posted in Twitter #FF

Blimey Friday already; time is certainly flying by these days.
Well as promised here’s my next instalment of Twitter Follow Friday or to it put another way, people I recommended that you follow:)

  • @terrylwhite: Adobe Worldwide Creative Suite Design Evangelist, Technology Guy, iPhone addict, Best Selling Author and all round good guy Terry is definitely a person to have on your ‘follow’ list. A regular ‘tweeter’ Terry also runs two web sites that are on my daily ‘must read’; www.bestappsite.com and www.terrywhite.com/techblog
  • @aboutrc: Florida based Photographer RC Concepcion works as a ‘Photoshop Guy’ for the Kelby Media Group. What RC doesn’t know about the Adobe Creative Suite just isn’t worth knowing. RC is an incredible Photographer & Instructor with a way of teaching that has the ‘Ah, now I get it’ factor. RC is also a writer for Layers Magazine and Photoshop User Magazine, as well as being the co-host of Layers TV-The How to Podcast for everything Adobe.
  • @jnack: John Nack is the Principal Production Manager at Adobe for Adobe Photoshop. Trust me if you want to be ‘kept in the loop’ in the world of Photoshop & get to know the latest straight from the ‘Mother Ship’ then John is the guy to ‘Follow’:)John’s Blog is also one of my daily ‘must reads’ and you can find it over at http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/
  • @NAPP_news: The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (led by Scott Kelby), the leading world-wide resource for Photoshop training to whom I’ve been a member of for a number of years now and owe a heck of alot to. Incredible team who’s priority is to deliver the highest quality training in all manner of areas from Photography to Web Design and then some… And boy, do they deliver!
  • @kelleylphoto: Kelley Carrison Simpson; US based Photographer and regular tweeter with a wonderful blog packed full of images and text that comes straight from the heart. Forever encouraging and positive.
  • @rhedpixel: Richard Harrington who in his own words describes himself as an Author, Consultant, Digital Dude, Geek, Photographer, Husband and Father. If you’re interested in creating video using your Digital SLR then you ‘need’ to be following Rich. An incredible ‘teacher’ who has a real knack of making the seemingly impossible, possible. Knows a thing or two about Photoshop as well:)
  • @pauljpratt: San Francisco based Photographer, Paul is a regular contributor to Twitter. Definitely keep an eye on this guy. A talented photographer with a site packed full of superb images, Paul is forever passing on his own or others’ knowledge through his ‘tweets’.
  • @joemcnallyphoto: Well what can I say about Joe other than him being ‘The Guy’ that Pro Photographers around the World look to. I could go on and on about how Joe and his teaching has helped and motivated me and an untold number of other Photographers to learn more about this craft. Definitely check out his blog too; a great mix of humour and teaching.
  • @justinseeley: I first met Justin at Photoshop World in Las Vegas when he completely blew a packed hall of people away with a technique for making a photograph look like a pencil sketch. Extremely knowledgeable in the use of Photoshop and Social Media Justin is without question, someone to be added to your ‘Follow’ list.

So there you have it, my Twitter Follow Friday (#FF) for this week; be sure to go check them out and add them to you ‘Follow’ list.

Have a great weekend and I’ll catch you soon:)

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May 1, 2010 - 9:57 pm

Glyn - @Noel…Rain? What rain? Ah you mean the river that is currently falling from the sky; geez where’s it all coming from??? :(

May 1, 2010 - 8:36 pm

Noel - Glyn,
great list to follow, thanks mate..
enjoying the rain…?
catch up soon,

all the best
Noel

April 30, 2010 - 8:18 pm

Glyn - Hi David.
Great to hear that you’re already following some of the guys I’ve recommended; goes to show that they’re definitely worth following. Totally agree with you about Joe’s blog beingpacked full of incredible images & walk throughs along with generous servings of humour.

Ditto, have a great weekend; fingers crossed the liquid sunshine doesn’t show itself too much.
Cheers, Glyn :)

April 30, 2010 - 11:41 am

David Kelly - Morning Glynn. I know you’ve made some really good recommendations there as I already follow several of these individuals’ blogs. I’ve only recently started reading Joe McNally’s blog but I have to say it’s an ace one to follow; as well as being able to take great photographs, the guy also seems to have a way with words to.

Have a great long weekend, though unfortunately it looks like we’re in for the usual bank holiday weather with rain (or liquid sunshine, as my dad says) being on the cards :(
All the best,
David

Apr 29 2010

Photo Shoot & Technique: Using Natural & Off Camera Lighting

Posted in Technique, Workshop

I get a real kick from being able to make use of ‘Off Camera’ Lighting to create a certain look and feel to an image but that being said I do still like to make use of the natural / ambient light that surrounds us.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of using just one light but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the ‘one light’ has to be a flash. Part 2 of the recent photo shoot with Cameron saw us in a different location; this time a stairwell which leads to some flats above shops. Granted it’s not the most luxurious or interesting of locations but when it comes to the light available it’s a gift.

Getting Cameron to go inside the recess and sit down on the steps meant that the light hitting him was doing so from one direction as opposed to him standing outside in the open where light would be coming from all around. In effect the opening had turned into a giant softbox.

When I’m shooting using the natural/ambient light I generally take my camera out of it’s usual home of Manual and put it into Aperture Priority and I’ll then go for a wide aperture; something around the f/2.8 – f/4.0 mark. Once I’ve set my ISO which for this particular location ended up being around ISO 800, I’ll then make minor adjustments using + / – Exposure Compensation to get the desired look that I’m after.

Here are a couple of other examples using natural light from previous photo shoots:

For the photograph above, I also used a California Sunbounce Mini to punch a little more light onto the subjects face. These reflectors are a touch more expensive than the usual but the light quality that they reflect is superb. The back/hair light was provided by the opening at the top of the stairwell that you can see in the left hand side photograph.

This photograph of model, Danny Bartlett was taken under an archway in Windsor, again using natural light. Danny was positioned about 12ft back under the archway with his body angled slightly away from the opening. This meant that the natural light coming in didn’t hit him ‘full on’ but allowed for some shadows on his face and so adding alot more depth and dimension.

With regards to the photo shoot with Cameron, always looking to make the most of a location before moving on I did then bring out some ‘off camera’ lighting.
For this shot I used a single Nikon SB800 Speedlight fired into a 60″ Reflective Umbrella with Cameron facing directly towards it. To restrict how much light fell onto Cameron and onto the surrounding walls, I used a trusty clothes peg to hold the umbrella just slightly open. (I talk more about this ‘closed down umbrella’ technique in my ‘Invisible Black Backdrop Tutorial’)

This final image of Cameron was made using a single Nikon SB800 Speedlight positioned high up on a light stand close into the brick wall; zoomed to 105mm and fitted with a Honl Speed Grid to give more control and direction as to where the light fell.

Extra ‘dead space’ to the right of the picture was added later in the editing phase using my ‘Extending the Background of a Photography‘ technique in Photoshop.

So as a photographer what do you find yourself using the most? Off camera flash or the natural/ambient light?
Look in any photography magazine and you’ll see article after article about using 4 or even 5 lights to produce a certain look. That’s all well and good but how about promoting the use of natural light or just one ‘off camera’ light and seeing what can be done?

I’d love to hear to ‘hear’ your thoughts / comments and if there’s anything you want to ask or say about this post please feel free to use the comments section below.
Enjoy:)

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May 1, 2010 - 9:52 pm

Glyn - Hey Noel,
Thanks for looking; glad you like the shots mate.

Cheers,
Glyn

May 1, 2010 - 9:51 pm

Glyn - @Steve…Thanks for the comments mate; really appreciate it.
Great to see that you totally see the message I’m trying to push out ie ‘It ain’t about the kit’.
I get a real buzz out of taking clients to some ‘undesirable’ locations and then producing pictures that they then later respond with ‘I can’t believe that was taken there’ and yeah it doesn’t take a mass of lights to do it either.

Forcing yourself to use just the one light I really do think is one of the best things you can do; that and sticking to one modifier such as a Reflective/Shoot Thru umbrella and using it over and over again so that you know it’s limits. Then and only then start adding to your kit ie a softbox or maybe another light.

linking up in the future would be superb mate; let’s get it sorted :)
Speak soon, Glyn

May 1, 2010 - 8:30 pm

Noel - Glyn – another set of great shots… my favourite is the gridded light on the brickwork, from above. Fantastic…

thanks for sharing

take care
Noel

May 1, 2010 - 8:30 pm

Steve Porter - Hi Glyn, really good blog post, just shows how you can create stunning images from bog standard locations. You are showing people that you don’t need expensive studios you just need a bit of imagination, really inspirational. Totally agree with you on the magazines showing complicated lighting setups, most people own no more than 2 flashguns. Mastering the one light technique means less time setting up lights and more time shooting! Hope we can link up in the near future.

All the best
Steve

April 29, 2010 - 5:12 pm

Glyn - @David…Couldn’t agree with you more. I’m a big fan of using ‘off camera’ lighting but it has to look natural as opposed to looking like the subject has just gone nuclear :) My own opinion is that too many people are too quick to introduce more and more lights when really they don’t know what can be done with one; very much the Zack Arias outlook and having spoken at length lately with Tim Wallace, he’s off the same mindset.

Funny you should say Cameron’s photo reminds you of a James Dean / Paul Newman image; you’re not the first to say that so thanks; that’s a great compliment!

Thanks for the suggestion about the blog post; I’ll definitely look at doing that in the near future. I am working on a post I’m calling ‘All the gear but no idea’ where I’m covering the use of a reflective umbrella, a Lastolite EzyBox and a Honl Speed Grid. The idea is to put a number of shots up on the blog and for readers to see if they can guess what modifier was used for each photo; the plan is to pull out a few surprises :)

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
See you soon,
Glyn :)

April 29, 2010 - 5:02 pm

Glyn - @DaveT…All my B&W conversions are done using the Nik Silver Efex Pro Plugin now.
Absolutely love the quality it produces and the lack of noise in the sky when converting is definitely a big plus.
Cheers, Glyn

April 29, 2010 - 5:01 pm

Glyn - @DaveT…Thanks for the comments mate; really appreciate it.
Taking the flash and holding it in one hand is something I’ve done in the past when photographing ‘paparazzi’ style; very effective technique to add that little extra to the shot but I gotta say holding a camera like a D3 with a f/2.8 24-70mm lens in one hand for a long period of time is quite challenging :)

Really ‘dig’ the Sunbounce. I have seen the extension arm you mention but haven’t bothered with it to be honest; don’t think I’d get that much use out of at the moment. That said, I certainly won’t rule it out for the future.

Cheers, Glyn

April 29, 2010 - 2:44 pm

David Kelly - Glyn, like Keith I love the girl on the stair shot – for me the catch light in the eye just gives that something extra. The top shot of Cameron is ace too. In looking at it, I was just reminded of some classic James Dean / Paul Newman photographs. For me there’s something special that just oozes from a good B/W portrait that you just don’t get from a colour shot.

I suppose at the moment I tend to use natural light with subjects but I guess that’s because I stick to what I know and can do more readily when I need to get a shot. Hopefully though your workshop will help to extend my ‘comfort zone’ ;-) . My opinion however in using extraneous light sources would be to always keep it simple – don’t overcook it. In portraiture for example you don’t need an abundance of light sources to capture the essence / character of the individual(s), and surely that’s the key thing with a good portrait shot?

Rick Wenner did a post on his blog recently where he gave some insight into the camera kit he uses. I’d love to see a post from you giving some more detail on your the flash / lighting equipment you use (such as the Speed Grid or Sunbounce mini); You could give some insight when/ why you use it, why you like it, what you couldn’t do without / what would be your desert island kit ;-) .

Regards, David

April 29, 2010 - 2:34 pm

DaveT - Glyn,

Is the black and white effect done with the Nik B&W plugin or straight Photoshop?

Dave

April 29, 2010 - 2:31 pm

DaveT - Hi Glyn,
I like the building block apporach you have taken- starting with ambient and then adding more light as necessary. I think the strength in what you have shown here is that you recognise lighting situations and have made something out of a fairly non descript location.

For years I have been using on camera flash as fill , but more recently have been trying off camera flash with just one speedlight. Sometimes I hold it it one hand with camera in the other, and if lucky I get someone else to hold it for me – sort of a voice activated lightstand. My passion is travel photography, so for me this is the best approach as I don’t have loads of kit with me.

The Sunbounce mini effect looks good – I see they have an extension arm that allows you to attach a flashgun and fire it back to the reflector – have you tried this?

Dave

April 29, 2010 - 12:01 pm

Glyn - Hi Keith.
Yeah the California Sunbounce Mini used in the ‘girl on the stairs’ shot is a fantastic piece of kit. You’d almost believe you were using off camera lighting because of the quality of light it reflects.
The final shot of Cameron is indeed taken using the ‘Invisible Black Background’ technique mate.

Cheers, Glyn

April 29, 2010 - 11:44 am

Keith Hammond - love the girl on the stairs shot, really nice. Is the final shot of Cameron done using your “invisible black background” technique ?

Apr 28 2010

Coming in May: Guest Photographer Tim Wallace

Posted in Monthly Guest

In May I have the absolute pleasure of announcing Tim Wallace as being Guest Photographer here on the blog.

Tim in my opinion represents what being a ‘Great’ Photographer is all about. Totally committed to producing stunning, unique images, Tim’s work and outlook on life is nothing short of inspirational. In demand across the world by companies such as Aston Martin, Audi & Morgan to name but a few, without talking camera settings or lighting set ups you’re going to get a real, honest insight into exactly what’s needed to move your photography forward.

In the mean time you can check out some of Tim’s incredible work by visiting his main site www.ambientlife.co.uk

Be sure to check back soon:)

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May 1, 2010 - 9:46 pm

Glyn - @Noel…Tim’s post will be up next week; Monthly Guest…not 1st day of the Month Guest…lol :)
It’ll be well worth the wait, trust me.

May 1, 2010 - 8:27 pm

Noel - ambient what… where are the photographs!!!

April 29, 2010 - 11:59 am

Glyn - Ah Good Morning Mr Wallace.
Yeah be sure to check back for this one; this ‘Ambient Life’ Guy seems to know a thing or two :)

April 29, 2010 - 11:52 am

tim wallace - Morning Mr Dewis…
Nice lead in, this guy sounds brilliant mate, can’t wait to read the piece.

April 28, 2010 - 11:09 pm

Noel - Hey Glyn, Tim, really looking forward to this one!

in anticipation…

Noel

April 28, 2010 - 9:11 pm

Keith Hammond - That will be a good read, i remember Tim from the (now gone) DCMag forums.

April 28, 2010 - 8:46 pm

David Kelly - Nice coup there Glyn. Should be a great post from what I’ve previously read about Tim in an article in DSLR Photography magazine some time ago.

April 28, 2010 - 6:50 pm

Mike - Really looking forward to reading Tim’s piece as his work is just simply amazing!!!

Apr 26 2010

Cameron Part 1: Photo Shoot & Technique

Posted in Misc. Photos, Technique, Videos

The above photo is one from a recent photo shoot with a great guy by the name of Cameron Lightfoot.
I’ve been meaning to post this series for a couple of weeks now but due to what I’m going to call a ‘computer glitch’ (the less said the better) I’ve had to wait until now.

Anyway I met up with Cameron in Costa Coffee, Beaconsfield where we had a chat for around half an hour or so before heading off. Naturally before we met up I’d done my usual ‘location scouting’ looking for a number of places where we could work.

We ended up photographing in 5 different locations so for the blog what I thought I’d do is to break down the shoot into sections and show you in a bit more detail what we did and how we did it…

Technique:
 Lately I’ve gotten into placing objects between the flash and the person I’m photographing so as to cast shadows and consequently add a little more interest to the picture. When it comes to firing the flash through a wire fence as in this case though there are a couple of things you need to be aware of to get it right:

First off you need to use a hard light source which in my case was a Nikon SB800 with no diffuser attached. The reason for this is that the person being photographed is positioned very close to the fencing and to have a large light source would cause the shadow cast by the fence to be very soft indeed; so much so that it may not even show up. However, too hard a light source and the shadow cast from the fence is way too defined and just doesn’t look right.

To get just the right look that I was after I had the flash positioned approximately 1 metre back from the fence, zoomed to 50mm and with no diffuser fitted.

I’ve put together a short video showing how I edited the ‘out of camera’ image and ended up with the final version. The video runs at 2x speed so if you have any questions at all about what you see please feel free to post them in the comments section below:

To finish off here’s a couple more of the photographs taken using the same lighting set up; one of Cameron and one from an earlier shoot with Tom Colley:

Any thoughts / comments I’d love to ‘hear’ them so please feel free to make use of the comments section below.

Also if you’ve never tried this kind of thing before but now feel compelled to get out and give it a go, shout me a link if you post any of your results online; I’d love to see what you come up with.

Catch you soon for Part 2,
Enjoy:)

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May 6, 2010 - 3:33 am

Harry from Armed Images | San Francisco Photographer | Paul Pratt - [...] Next up…mean and moody is what we were going for. We were shooting at around noon, cloudless sky, direct overhead sun. We were shooting with Alien Bee’s running off a Honda Generator. Big thanks to David Hobby for the suggestion of which generator to use. We didn’t have access to the other side of the fence but still, with a tip of the hat to Glyn Dewis….. [...]

April 29, 2010 - 9:36 am

GLEN SCOLAN - very impressiv

April 28, 2010 - 2:32 pm

Glyn - @Andy…Gotta love that 85mm. i’m enjoying the exercise too having to move my a$$ to zoom in or out…lol :)

April 28, 2010 - 2:29 pm

Glyn - @DaveT…Thanks for dropping by mate. Glad the ‘location’ shot was helpful too; that’s what I love about lighting…the ability to make a location look and feel completely different.

A ‘dingle’ you say…in that case I’m gonna have to come up with my own name…how about ‘A Watchamecallit’ :)

Cheers, Glyn

April 26, 2010 - 5:03 pm

Andy Cuadra - Fantastic Glyn- as always, you keep opening up a world of possibilities. Keep working that 85mm…

//A.

April 26, 2010 - 3:55 pm

DaveT - Glyn,
Thanks for the information and diagram – it’s a real help. I also like the way that you showed the actual location as one of the images – it helps to see that even the simplist of locations can be used effectively with the right vision and knowledge.

BTW Damien Lovegrove refers to objects placed between the light source and subject- to create a pattern- as ‘dingle’.

Look forward to catching you on the 8th
Dave

April 26, 2010 - 12:52 pm

Glyn - Thanks Barbara :)

April 26, 2010 - 12:34 pm

Barbara - Lovely B&W portrait work.

April 26, 2010 - 11:01 am

Glyn - Hi David.

It’s great to hear that the posts are useful. Regarding the positioning of the light for this series of shots, after a bit of experimentation the best results and more natural ones were when the flash head was about 12″ higher than Cameron and then aimed down so that the light illuminated his face and then feathered off as it went down his chest.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks again for stopping by,
All the best to you,
Glyn :)

April 26, 2010 - 10:51 am

Glyn - Thanks for the kind words Simon; I really appreciate it.

Just a thought, but would you think covering this kind of stuff would be good during the tester workshop on the 8th? ….time permitting ofcourse.

Cheers,
Glyn

April 26, 2010 - 9:59 am

David Kelly - Hi Glynn – looks like you’re not the only one up early today from the posts here ;-)
Thanks for another informative posting – it’s certainly helping a lighting novice such a myself get some tips on things to try when I get some time. I’d be interested in knowing a bit more about the positioning of the light source. You mentioned the flash was ~1m from the fence, but how much higher was it positioned on the stand relative to Cameron?
Regards, David

April 26, 2010 - 9:23 am

Simon - Excellent informative blog as usual Glyn! Sometimes the simplest way of doing things are the best.. The fence certainly adds something to these shots…

Thanks for sharing these great ideas..

Regards

Simon

April 26, 2010 - 9:22 am

Glyn - Hi Scot,
Thanks for looking in mate. The video was uploaded in HD so should be ok. By default it plays at 320p but you should see an option on the bottom right to play at 720p…hopefully anyway :)

Have a great week mate and thanks again for taking the time to comment.

Cheers, Glyn

April 26, 2010 - 9:18 am

Glyn - Nice one Noel, thanks for that.
See you soon.

April 26, 2010 - 9:11 am

Scot Baston - Thanks Glyn… loved the ideas and details of the shoot, and yes it does remind me of Joe McNally’s shoot through the windows shots.

Really enjoyed the video footage, the speed of it forces me to wake up and concentrate. is there any chance of running it at full hd?

Cheers

Scot

April 26, 2010 - 8:40 am

Noel - Hi Glyn,
great simple and effective shot … as usual! Simple idea made into something extraordinary.

best of luck
Noel

April 26, 2010 - 8:26 am

Glyn - Thanks for that Dan and yeah definitely another vote for Silver Efex Pro. I’m not a big user of plug ins but this one is a must.

Intuos 4 tablet is what I use; in fact I use it all the time even when browsing the net etc so my mouse has become pretty much redundant. That being said, it still hasn’t improved my drawing skills…lol

Thanks for stopping by mate,
Must look at catching up in the near future.

Cheers.

April 26, 2010 - 8:21 am

Glyn - Hey Richard, great to hear from you.
Thanks for the comment mate. Using a ‘scrim’ is something I see Dave E Jackson do and of course Joe McNally snd yeah you’re right, it just adds a little more interest.

Thanks for dropping by; lovin’ your blog by the way.

Cheers, Glyn

April 26, 2010 - 8:01 am

Dan Davies - Always good to see your photoshop work, and another vote for Silver Efex Pro. Presume you’re using a tablet rather than a mouse?

Also nice to see your drawing skills progressing :-)

April 26, 2010 - 7:28 am

Richard Hales - Great collection of images Glyn, I really like the use of the “scrim” to add interest to the shots.

April 26, 2010 - 7:12 am

Glyn - Hi Kelley, thanks for that.
Hope all is well with you.

April 26, 2010 - 6:18 am

kelley - Wonderful! LOVE the fence.

Apr 23 2010

My new approach to Twitter and Follow Friday

Posted in Misc. Articles, Twitter #FF

‘Follow Friday’ (abbreviated to #FF) is the title given to a project on Twitter started by Micah Baldwin about a year or so ago to get new users introduced into social circles. Basically what happens is that Twitter users write posts (known as Tweets) on the Friday of each week including the names of other users that they recommend to follow. This list of recommendations is identified by each ‘tweet’ starting off with #FF (followed by the usernames).

Personally speaking I think the whole ‘Follow Friday’ concept is a great idea however I  do have just a couple of issues with it:

  • 1. The bigger the list of people you’re ‘following’ becomes, the more #FF posts/tweets you’ll need to write as each is limited to only 140 characters.
  • 2. I always find myself in a bit of a dilemma not wanting to leave people out.

Social Media Guru Chris Brogan (Twitter username @chrisbrogan) who runs www.chrisbrogan.com made a suggestion recently which was rather than bombard Twitter with these #FF posts why not write a blog post with your recommendations and then post a single message on Twitter directing everyone to your blog?

Chris went on to say that there are 2 benefits to doing things this way:

  • 1. It gives you more than 140 characters to talk about the people you recommend.
  • 2. It cleans up Twitter so that you don’t watch a constant stream of @someoneawesome names rushing by you all day.

“Find the good people. Find people who matter to you. Share the locals. Use public Twitter lists (if the lists aren’t judgement-based, such as ‘smart people’). promote others.” ~ Chris Brogan

So with all that being said here’s my first #FF post here on the blog:

• @zarias: Atlanta based editorial photographer and creator of the now world famous OneLight Workshop, Zack’s an incredible photographer now on the world circuit. Along with his wonderful wife Meghan, Zack has shown me incredible generosity and friendship and I was lucky enough to spend some time with them both in Atlanta last November.

•@davidejackson: I discovered Dave and his work through watching one of Zack Arias’ Critiques. Dave is an incredible Portrait / Wedding Photographer based in the United States who produces stunning, natural and artificially lit images.

• @aj_wood: I first met A.J. when I ventured over to Las Vegas for the Photoshop World Conference and Expo run by the NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals). A.J. and I immediately hit it off and I’m proud to say that we have become real good friends; regularly keeping in touch. A recognised Adobe Expert and Instructor A.J. runs Media Cats; a successful Digital Media Training company based in Dallas, Texas.

• @picsby_mike: Mike is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Galway, Ireland who definitely has an eye for making beautiful photos using natural light. I’m looking forward to spending some time with Mike when he ventures over from Ireland at the end of May when we have some shooting time together both in the studio and on location. I guess we may even manage to squeeze in the odd Guinness or two as well:)

• @scotbaston: Now based in Devon, I first met Scot a couple of years ago at the first ever Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walk that I lead in Windsor, UK and since then we have become good friends thanks to Twitter. A genuinely decent chap with a real passion behind the lens and a real nice new site and blog full of images from Landscapes to Portraits.

• @rick_wenner: Talented New York based photographer who specialises in portraits for the fashion & music industry. Rick was also a Guest Photographer here on the blog during April with a ‘killer’ article! Looking forward to finally catching up with Rick for a beer when he ventures over to London later in the year.

• @bertstephani: Bert is an incredible portrait photographer from Belgium who’s work I was first introduced to purely by fluke when I was browsing YouTube a couple of years back. A superb photographer and real nice guy, Bert is definitely someone worth following.

• @noel_hannan: Great friend, great guy and with a great eye for photography. Noel is new to the Social Media scene but certainly making up for lost time; another of life’s ‘Good Guys’.

• @erikbernskiold: From Gothenburg in Sweden, Erik is always willing to share his seemingly limitless knowledge of all things web design and software related. Definitely someone for whom the word ‘Genius’ was created.

• @qhphotography: Based in Ealing, London I first became aware of ‘Huy’ after seeing a photograph he’d taken that had been posted on Twitter. Huy has since appeared as a Guest Photographer here on the blog writing a great article about how he made the photograph giving a walk through of his superb use of ‘off camera lighting’.

• @lightroomblog: Sean McCormack from Ireland…Photographer, Sound Engineer, Adobe Community Professional, Lightroom Plugin Developer, Author, Bassist…is there no end to this guys talents? A regular ‘tweeter’ happy to share his knowledge; a real nice guy and definitely someone you should add to you list of people to ‘follow’.

• @jurgenphoto: A very talented photographer based in South Africa, Jurgen has become a good friend again through the magic of Twitter. Always offering words of encouragement, support and positivity Jurgen is a great example of a good friend I’ve yet to meet.

• @cuadraphoto: Based in Houston, Texas Andy Cuadra is a Commercial/Editorial Photographer that I have got to know over the last few months. Andy produces some stunning images making great use of off camera lighting and natural light. Really nice guy that I must meet up with in the not too distant future.

• @celticcamera: Gareth, a photographer who is a regular user of Twitter is definitely someone to keep an eye on. I definitely recommend you take a look at Gareth’s profile then head over to his blog. There you’ll find some wonderful images but take my advice and look for a post titled ‘Indestructible Incident’ that contains an image I constantly head back over to look at; stunning!

• @scottkelby: Well what can I say about Scott? Where do I start? All I will say is that without what Scott along with his team have put together with the NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) there is no way I would be at the stage in my Photography career that I am now. A bigger heart and more giving person you’d struggle to find!

Through the magic of Social Networking I have managed to connect and make friends with some truly wonderful and talented people so each week I’ll be posting a new ‘Follow Friday’ here on the blog. As you can see this new approach doesn’t put a stop to my dilemma of not wanting to leave anybody out but I do have to limit how many great people I recommend in each post.

Enjoy:)

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April 29, 2010 - 7:45 am

Glyn - @Rick…No worries mate; you’re welcome :)

April 28, 2010 - 4:29 pm

Rick Wenner - Thanks for including me on this list Glyn. I thought that I already commented here to thank you but I guess it slipped through the cracks.

Rick.

April 28, 2010 - 2:32 pm

Glyn - Hey Zack,

Back at ya!!! Thanks for everything :)

Cheers, Glyn

April 28, 2010 - 2:31 pm

Glyn - Andy you’re so welcome mate; you’re a superb photographer and if this gets more people to see your work then it’s ‘mission accomplished’.

Cheers, Glyn

April 27, 2010 - 3:25 pm

Zack Arias - Thanks for the FFFFFFFFUN! :)

April 26, 2010 - 4:53 pm

Andy Cuadra - Glyn- I am honored to be mentioned on this list; very grateful, thank you.
Like others have already said here, I agree with your approach at #FF and it should serve as a template. Social Media is a great phenomenon; however, we must not forget that it is still about creating that personalized experience, giving back, and creating value that will make you grow and stand out in a sea of social media channels.

I have raised the question before about how well do you truly know your #FF list of people? What you have done here, is created value not only for your readers but also for the people on the list, by providing an opportunity to interact and network with each other.

Thank you!
Andy

April 26, 2010 - 5:49 am

Glyn - David,

Glad to hear that as a ‘no tweeter’ you got something out of the post. i definitely prefer this way of doing things however it still doesn’t solve the problem of not wanting to leave people out but then there is space now to explain why that is. i always found the original way of #FF a bit ‘non descript’; this way I can say why I follow and recommend a certain person rather than just posting a name up.

Regarding Scott Kelby, he is set to come over later this year, so definitely keep an eye on the Kelby Training / Photoshop User sites for the date when it’s announced.

Right, must crack on…up waaayyy too early today to see if I can get more hours out of the day,
All the best to you :)

April 24, 2010 - 9:24 pm

David Kelly - Thanks for the leads Glyn.
I’m not a tweeter but I’ve found the relevant blogs to add to my sites to review daily. Some of these individuals I knew of already but it’s always good to get some new blogs to read. Some awesome shots on those blogs – Gareth’s ‘Indestructible Incident’ reminded me of some of Joe Cornish’s work. And as for the iPhone, I really must get one too but I think I’ll hang on that little bit longer for the release of 4G version which Gizmodo got their hands on. Looks like it could be ‘sweet’, as Mr Kelby would say.
Talking of Scott, listening this week to the NAPP CS5 webcast it seems that Joe McNally & Scott (or someone from the PS Guys team) are coming over to these shores as part of their workshop tours. No time indicated as yet but would be nice to see these guys in action, especially for those of us who don’t get to go to PSW.

April 24, 2010 - 10:27 am

Glyn - Hey you’re welcome Mike; you’re a great bloke with a great eye & skill for photography so I hope this allows more people to see what you’re doing.

All the best to you.

April 24, 2010 - 10:23 am

Glyn - Cheers Noel and yeah I agree, there’s some great people out there that thankfully are being ‘brought together’ through such things as Twitter, FB etc…
ps> … Are you getting the subliminal messages coming through in the posts? … ‘iPhone, iPhone…must buy an iPhone’ lol :)

April 24, 2010 - 10:20 am

Glyn - Hey Keith, thanks for dropping in.
Totally agree with you about it being a good thing so long as it’s used the correct way, otherwise we might just as well say ‘follow everyone in my list’.

Cheers, Glyn

April 24, 2010 - 10:17 am

Glyn - Hi Neil, glad you like the idea of this and yeah, definitely a time saver.

Re your question, to be honest I don’t really know mate, but hopefully when I get the kind of following that pushes on into the 1000′s I’ll have some kind of idea :)

Have a good one.

April 24, 2010 - 10:14 am

Glyn - Hi Sean,

Yeah I know what you mean mate. Although I’ve always liked the idea of the #FF, I don’t really dig the endless stream of usernames coming through. I’ve got to know some great people through twitter and I really like the idea of telling others a little about them and hence why I follow them.

Have a great weekend mate.

April 24, 2010 - 12:55 am

Mike - I am overwhelmed by the mention in the post Glyn, thanks a million. I have to agree with Erik’s comments in that I have never done a #FF purely as I don’t want to offend anyone for not mentioning their names etc.

Like the new format as I think it gives a much wide scope to getting a decent following going.

April 23, 2010 - 9:09 pm

Noel - Glyn, a great idea from a great guy. I have a lot to thank you for in photography and this new social media world. I am still getting to grips with all this stuff… its great to meet all these new and inspiring people. Must get an iphone though…

A big thanks for including me…

best of luck
Noel

April 23, 2010 - 8:54 pm

Quoc Huy - Thanks mate.
The idea is really good.
I’m also reviewing my follow back strategy and should only follow people I’m interacting a lot with or I’m reading tweets from regularly. Then use Twitter lists as a way to follow the others without having their tweet flooding my main stream.

April 23, 2010 - 7:48 pm

Keith - this is a very good idea, i have only just joined Twitter having rejected all suggestions from photo friends. I can see the benefits if it’s used in the right way, hey free advertising, i’m still working out the right way to use it thought.

April 23, 2010 - 7:28 pm

Neil Holmes - Hi Glyn, I think this is the way to go, twitter to blog, it certainly saves time. I have another open-ended question, and the answer will varies enormously from person to person. How many people can you successfully follow on twitter?, mine stands at 165 but I see people who follow 1000′s!

April 23, 2010 - 7:25 pm

Sean McCormack - Thanks Glyn,
Great idea!
I actually hate #ff’s that have single names with long intros. It kinda defeats the purpose!

April 23, 2010 - 7:12 pm

Glyn - Hey Erik, you’re so very welcome. Talent like your needs to be recognised and this is just my small way of getting more people out there to see you and how you can help them.

All the best to you and speak soon :)

April 23, 2010 - 6:57 pm

Erik Bernskiold - I personally like this idea very much. One of the reasons why I have never done any follow fridays is because I too hate to leave people out.

Thanks you very much for including me Glyn and for the kind words.