Jan 01 2010

Goodbye 2009…Hello 2010…

Posted in Gear & Gadgets, News

Well that’s it folks…as we say goodbye to 2009 we venture into a new decade with the arrival of 2010. So, how was your year? Did you manage to fit everything in? I’ve said it before on the blog more than once but are the years going by faster or what? Or is that I’ve got less friction as ‘up top’ thins out just that little bit more??

Anyway, 2009 has been quite an eventful year in both a personal and business sense so I thought I’d take this chance to write a few lines and mention just a few things from the past 12 months:

Zack Arias – OneLight Workshop
* During November I got the opportunity to fly out to Atlanta, USA to spend time with Zack Arias on his OneLight Workshop.

Zack is an amazing ‘teacher’ who just keeps on going until you can take no more. I think we finished just before 2am on the final day having been at it from 9.30am the previous morning; a truly unforgettable experience for a whole host of reasons not least for the generosity of Zack & his wife Meghan.

Visionmongers by David DuChemin
Just had to mention this book! This is the bible of ‘how to’ when it comes to running a photography business. Seriously I could go on and on, even dedicate a entire blog entry to this book but all I will say is that if I had to throw out all the business related material I have and could only keep one…this would be it! Check it out here on Amazon.

Most memorable Photo Shoot of 2009:
Hands down this has to be the ‘Trash(ish) the Dress’ Project with Dave & Michelle Caton-Richards which ended with Michelle waist high in the River Thames wearing her Wedding Dress on a freezing, and I mean freezing cold November afternoon. If you missed it you can see some of the photos and a ‘behind the scenes’ video by clicking here.

Other Stuff:
Moving into 2010 there’s alot of ‘stuff’ in the pipleine. I’m real excited to be working with San Francisco, USA based ‘LiveBooks’ who are designing us a brand new website.

One of the big learning points for me during 2009 has been not to ‘skimp’ out when it comes to a website and to go to the professionals.Without doubt there have been a few missed opportunities during the past 12 months because of having a website that just wasn’t ‘working’ for me as it should have been. Thankfully that’s now being rectified so I’m real excited to see how the new site will be received. Talking of the ‘web’ we’ve also got a completely new blog coming in the near future, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted re the progress there.

InSight Workshop
We’re working hard behind the scenes on the new Workshop which I plan to launch this Spring.

We’ve already run a couple of testers with a number of photographers for honest feedback, and this has been incredibly useful. I’ve got another couple more testers running this month and then we’ll be working on finalising content, workbook, locations etc…

In conjunction with the Workshop I plan on getting stuck into doing more videos alternating between photography tips/techniques that I use and editing techniques using Photoshop / Lightroom. I want to keep the videos short (3 minutes-ish) so that they cover one quick tip on a regular basis. You can check out some of the videos we’ve already published on my YouTube Page by visiting http://www.youtube.com/glyndewis Oh, and we’re also looking at starting a newsletter to keep you informed on what’s going on, tips & techniques and so on, but I’ll let you know more about that at a later stage.

So we’ve plenty to be getting on with and I’m guessing there’s going to be quite a few late nights coming my way but hey what’s the worst that could happen? … lose my hair?

What have you got planned for the new decade and what are you going to be working on? Dare I ask what your ‘New Year Resolutions’ are? I’d love to hear so feel free to post a comment, drop me an email or get in touch through FaceBook or Twitter.

Happy New Year & Thankyou for your friendship and support during 2009

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Dec 29 2009

Photoshop Tutorial-The Screen and Multiply Blend Modes

Posted in Technique, Videos

I thought for the second instalment of ‘Photoshop Tutorial’ videos I’d show you a technique that I use on a day to day basis before uploading images to the web. It’s a technique that makes use of two of Photoshop’s layer blending modes, namely ‘Screen’ & Multiply’ to remove black or white in a layer, and is so quick if you blink you’ll miss it.

Anyway check out the video attached to see how I use this technique to help speed up my workflow:

To see more of my Photography & Photoshop videos you can check out my YouTube Page by clicking on this link.

Enjoy ;o)

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December 30, 2009 - 2:52 am

KezBazandSam - Nice one mate…One for the bookmark!! Thanks for giving us all another idea to work with.

December 29, 2009 - 12:21 pm

Glyn Dewis - Cheers for that Tim & thanks for dropping by.

All the best to you and yours,
Glyn

December 29, 2009 - 10:24 am

Ambient Life - Nice tutorial, clear and at a good speed. Well done mate, enjoyed it!
Tim

December 29, 2009 - 5:03 am

Glyn Dewis - Unintentional mistake…I called Phil in the final photograph, Tom … ooppss :o ) LOL

Dec 23 2009

InSight Photography Workshop – 2nd Test Phase

Posted in Workshop

We managed to squeeze in another tester/mini InSight Workshop last Saturday; this time over in Windsor, Berkshire on what was a rather chilly day to say the least. I’m beginning to think I should publish a ‘HEALTH WARNING’ for those photographers that come along to the next one cos I seem to have an uncanny ability to pick days when it’s pouring with rain or freezing cold; still it’s character building I guess…lol

As it was so cold and really quite slippy under foot, the majority of the workshop was held in one area, but a place that gave us plenty of scope to try out all sorts of different shots. Our model for the afternoon was my good friend Danny Bartlett who for those regular readers of the blog will remember from previous photo shoots:

Once we’d spent a few hours out shooting we headed back indoors to warm up and grab a drink and just chat generally about what we’d covered and it was great to get all sorts of feedback from how the afternoon went and suggestions for what to include next time. Stan Coetzee, one of the guys who’d come along and who is very new to photography actually said that he’d never thought he’d ever be able to take photographs like he had done today; to hear that was the icing on the cake…a great end to a really enjoyable day.

I’m going to be running a couple more ‘testers’ during January 2010 in preparation of going ‘live’ with the Workshop in late February. One of the Workshops is being held down in West Wittering on the 31st January which is now full, but I’ll be publishing the other date for January very soon, so if you’d like to attend keep checking back here on the blog or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

Speak soon ;o)

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December 25, 2009 - 4:06 pm

Noel Hannan - Forgot to mention – love the 'insight' logo – fantastic!

December 25, 2009 - 4:05 pm

Noel Hannan - Hey Glyn,

Happy Christmas, and thanks for a very enjoyable and informative days shooting in Windsor. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to many more! A fantastic model; Danny was great to work with.

Thanks again!

Dec 20 2009

Corporate Photography – Imperial College, London

Posted in Misc. Photos, Technique

Last week I was at the Imperial College, London taking photographs of a Dr Patrick Naylor: Director of Postgraduate Studies at the College specialising in ‘sound’.

When we first met up to discuss the ‘shoot’ Dr Naylor did begin to explain some of the equipment that he uses to me but he must have noticed the glazed “you’ve lost me” expression that enveloped my face; still, I did ask more about the iPhone prototype he’s working on that has six speakers built into it…nice!

Having worked on the ‘must have’ corporate shots and got them ‘in the bag’ we then worked on a few fun ideas that we’d had over coffee, such as working at the laptop and one that included a composition/montage of several ‘Dr Naylor’s’ in the main lecture room:

Disclaimer: Any resemblance of Dr Naylor’s poses to those of actual students is purely coincidental…honest

Technique:

For the ‘laptop’ shot I put 2 pieces of white A4 paper over the computer screen and fired a single Nikon SB800 which was hidden out of sight onto it; this mimicked the light which would come off the computer screen. Another SB800 was placed camera left on it’s lowest power setting and aimed at the back of the computer to light it up otherwise it was too dark and just blended into the black background.

The lecture room composition was put together by fixing the camera in position on a tripod and then photographing Dr Naylor in several different positions. Dr Naylor was lit by a single bare Nikon SB800 which was moved around for each shot being careful to keep it the same distance away each time. Ending up with about 7 photographs they were then blended together in Photoshop using Layer Masks.

Enjoy ;o)

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May 12, 2011 - 2:10 pm

Glyn - @Afra…Thanks for getting in touch; I’ve emailed you direct.

Regards, Glyn

May 12, 2011 - 10:58 am

Afra - Hi Glyn. I work for Imperial College and we are looking for a photographer to take some shots. When you are available please email me and I will send you some information?

Thank You

Regards

May 11, 2010 - 10:08 am

Glyn - @Andrew…Hi Andrew, thanks for stopping by; great to hear the blog has something for you.
Re the corporate shots, they’re all done using Nikon SB800 Speedlights. The ones outdoors were all ‘bare bulb’ due to the breeze and not wanting the stand to topple over and the ones indoors were taken using a 40″ Reflective Umbrella. The ‘scene’ was set by firstly getting the environment how i wanted it ‘in camera’ and then once that was done the light was brought in. As a rule I generally use just the one light and maybe 99% of the time a refelective/shoot-thru umbrella. Some of the photos indoors were taken using my Invisible Black Backdrop Technique which you can see here.

Hope that helps but always feel free to get in touch if you want to speak more,
Cheers,
Glyn

May 11, 2010 - 2:03 am

Andrew Hart - Hi Glyn, just stumbled across this site on the web and it’s great! Heaps of content I’m wading through – good stuff. Was just wondering whether the standard corporate stuff was lit with speedlights or something with more juice? If speedlights, would love to know how?

Dec 16 2009

Adobe Community Expert Nomination – Speechless!!!

Posted in News

Update: I’ve just received notification from Adobe that I am now an Adobe Community Expert. HUGE thanks got to A.J. Wood from Media Cats for even thinking of nominating me and a big thank you to everyone that’s sent messages through Facebook and Twitter…You guys rock!

It’s not often that I’m left speechless, but this morning I gotta admit that’s how I found myself; and the reason…I’ve been nominated for the Adobe Community Expert Program 2010. Here’s a link to explain what this is all about but also, here’s a copy of the nomination sent in by A.J. Wood who runs Media Cats; a very successful Digital Media Training Centre in Dallas, Texas:

When I think of an Adobe Community Expert, I think of a group of professionals coming together to share their experiences & talents. I also think about the type of person who has the knack for relating to other people, and generally loves sharing what they know without all the pomp & circumstance. I think of Glyn.

Glyn Dewis is a gifted individual who has taken his love of photography & Adobe products and turned it into a new career. When we met at Photoshop World years ago, he was still working as a police officer. He was quite the character, excited to be at PSW, taking in all the classes, just soaking up all the information. But Glyn is not the type of person to sit idly by.

In the years that have past he has continued to excel in his craft of photography & Photoshop work. He has quite a bit to share regarding Lightroom, and publishes video commentary on his blog. A person who understands the importance of community, he has led many photowalk outings, including Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk held this past July 2009. Glyn is constantly looking to improve himself & his work, and I admire his dedication & ambitions.

I highly recommend Glyn Dewis for the Adobe Community Experts program not only for his current expertise, but the potential & experience he will share with all of us and his community.

Saying ‘thankyou’ to A.J. for this nomination just doesn’t seem enough and to be honest whether or not I’m picked is irrelevant. Of course it would be great to be successful following this nomination but to be put forward in the first place by someone I have alot of respect for not only as a person but also as a very talented and knowledgeable Instructor is a gift in itself.

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December 29, 2009 - 4:58 pm

Mike Patterson - Awesome news and couldn't happen to a nicer guy

December 17, 2009 - 12:09 pm

KezBazandSam - WOW…WELL DONE!!
We are really made up for you mate…..You really are a truely gifted man who puts his heart and soul into everything creative. You give everything to those whom you capture. You make all those around you feel special and present to them precious memories that will last an entire lifetime…..You say that you are speechless about this nomination? Well now you know what it feels like to all of us who have had photos taken by you. We have been left speechless by your gift and talent…now its time for you to get something back.
Fingers crossed…You deserve it.

December 17, 2009 - 4:47 am

Noel Hannan - Congratulations, it couldn't happen to a nicer and more knowledgeable guy! Well done, you deserve it, Glyn (we'll be expecting a lot more from you now :-) !)