R.I.P. Sam J WAlker
Shocked and Saddened to just this minute learn that Sam made the ultimate decision to escape the extreme sadness in his personal life.
We met a couple of times, both when I was photographing him and had the occasional conversation on messenger; a gentle, warm, kind, friendly guy with a wicked sense of humour.
He will be missed by many!
Damn ... this is so incredibly sad for his family and friends.
Yesterday … a great day with friends which also saw the start of our ‘Friends Portrait Project’ which, over the next couple of months is a project that will intentionally mean we get to know each other way more than we currently do.
Back Row (L to R): Ian Munro , Gerwyn ‘Gez’ Williams , Anthony Crothers
Front Row (L to R): Brian Dukes , Dave Clayton & Yours Truly
This is to be a very personal project that’s going be quite a ride with the conclusion seeing us each revealing a portrait , composite , design … whatever, that visually describes and explains who the person is, what they mean to you, and how you ‘see’ them.
What really makes that person tick? Why are they like they are? What is important to them? What is there in their past and present that makes them the person they are? Their values. Their motivations. Likes, Loves, Dislikes. Life events.
There are no rules. There’s no competition. This is a project with the sole purpose of not just knowing, but understanding each other, and an exercise that will make close friends, even closer.
Each and every part of the process is being filmed, with the final part bringing us together and revealing to each other, the pictures we’ve created.
The first part today … Who will Photograph Who?
And so it begins …
Whether you’re a photographer, an Illustrator, a Graphic Designer , Video Editor , Retoucher … in fact no matter what you do within the creative industry , you will have definitely heard of Pantone; the World’s leading authority on Professional Colour …
Well, if you own a BenQ Display OR if you buy a new BenQ Display and it’s from their SW or PD range this means as part of BenQ’s Pantone Connect Premium Campaign, you now have One Year FREE access to Pantone Connect Premium which brings benefits to your smart device without the need for cumbersome and expensive equipment like a colorimeter …
Colour is everything … from setting a mood and atmosphere all the way to a feeling and that’s in everything … a movie through to a piece of material and accurate colour and colour that is interpreted correctly.
Well basically it enables you to measure and capture colours, be they in digital format or something physical, and by simply using the app you can disvocer what the matching Pantone Colour is from the thousands in their library, discover colour harmonies (i.e. what colours work well with others), create swatches, save them and use them in software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and so on …
This makes working with colour so easy and accessible … and doing so quickly!
Pantone Premium Connect App open on my iPhone and on my BenQ SW321C Display
Imagine seeing a colour and thinking how you’d like to use the exact same colour in a design, maybe you’re looking to capture the colour grading in the Shadows, Midtones and Highlights from a movie you’re watching on your Display (BenQ of course 😃 ) OR maybe you’re restoring an old photograph and colourising clothing and skin tones. Pantone Connect Premium would enable you to very easily sample colour for the clothing and even better than that, the skin tone that you could then add in.
Easy! If you have a BenQ Display from the SW or PD range purchased in recent times OR you purchase a new one, all you need to do is to go to the link below fill in your details, BenQ display serial number and then you’ll receive a code (withing 5 days … although mine came through the same day just a short while later) and then you’re good to go 😃
Oh, also there’s some great videos on the Pantone Premium Connect APP and the Pantone Premium Connect website, there’s some grrat videos on there showing all the what, how, why etc …
Enjoy 😉
Well if you’re part of my Email Group and connected with me on social media (Intagram, Facebook etc) then you’ll likely be aware that we’ve recently relocated … as in the past couple of days.
We now live in an area that we’ve loved for many years on the Somerset / Devon / Dorset borders with places like Axminster, Lyme Regis and Bridport (West Bay) a short drive away. It’s an area we always wanted to be but Covid times were crazy times and there just wasn’t anything available at the time.
There’s a few other practical reasons for us moving looking ahead to the future and plans with family members staying with us, but on the first morning we woke up, my wife Anne said … “I feel really happy” … and that’s all I need to hear to know we made the right decision.
Anyway, with the move comes a new workspace which I’m now cracking on with …
This morning I’ve installed the Acoustic Panels on the walls and then later in the week will be installing the suspended Acoustic Panel above my desk (once it arrives). It always amazes me how effective these panels are transforming a room with echo and tinny audio into a fantastic recording space.
Better Audio = Better Video for sure 🔊
The panels I got from a company called Gik Acoustics ( LINK ) … I’m not affiliated with them whatsoever … they’re products just do as they’re intended and are really well made!
Once the broadband is connected I’ll get back to uploading content on my YouTube Channel; it’ll be 2 weeks since I was able to post and it’s driving me crazy 😜 but with the latest BIG updates in Lightroom and Photoshop for starters there’s loads to share.
Right, best I head back home and get the pain brushes out.
Catch you again soon,
Glyn
Just a quick one…
i’v recently seen that Xencelabs (makers of the Pen Tablet I use) currently have some Special Offers on some of their product range with up to 30% OFF
Valid until the 15th September 2022, the discounts are…
15% OFF the Pen Tablet Medium
30% OFF then Pen Tablet Small
15% OFF the Pen Tablet Medium Bundle SE
Thought I’d let you know 😉
Check out the *link below …
*Affiliate Link
Allow me this moment to feel a bit of personal pride…
This month, National Geographic have a full article, covering the story of the the Legendary Avro Lancaster…
A wonderful article covering the life of the Lancaster from its birth, those who designed it, those who built it, those who maintained it and those who flew it.
Of those who flew it, I had the utmost pleasure of spending time with and photographing World War 2 Veteran, Rusty Waughman DFC AFC Ld’H , RAF Flight Lieutenant, 101 ‘Special Duties’ Squadron, for my 3945 Portraits Project.
Over the years I’ve been fortunate to have my images appear in articles, magazines and as front covers, but to have a portrait feature in National Geographic, feels, well…extra special.
You can check out the full article as well as Rusty’s incredible story HERE
No matter the reason you use Photoshop, the one thing that’s guaranteed is that at some point you’ll need to use Selections and Masks.
Over recent years, the enhancements in Photoshop Selection Tools combined with the introduction of Adobe’s Artificial Intelligence, Adobe Sensei, have been getting better and better on a seemingly daily basis.
Without doubt, hair can be the most challenging when it comes to making a great (and believable) selection.
Of course there are techniques we can use to fake the look of a good selection that certainly get the job done but they can involve a few steps. I’ve shown many of them myself in books I’ve written and in videos over on my YouTube Channel, such as the one below…
However, today I was notified by my Creative Cloud App of another update to Photoshop with the following message…
So with a quick update downloaded and installed I just had to take a look and decided to throw one of my recent pictures of my friend Graham Currey as The Joker in, to see how Photoshop would get on with selecting fine, dark hairs off a very dark background…
So with the image open in Photoshop, here’s the steps I took…
Choose the Object Selection Tool
From the options Bar at the top of the screen click on Select Subject
With the active selection, click to add a layer mask
Add a new layer beneath and fill with 50% Grey
Initially it can be difficult to see how good the result is when looking at it with a transparent background…
When we add a layer below the selected area and fill it with a solid colour, as I have by adding grey, the result is much easier to see…
It’s hard not to be impressed with this selection of dark hair on a dark background especially when some of the hair is out of focus due to the depth of field, and it’s all done with just one click.
Now of course I’m not saying we’ll get results like this ALL the time, but as someone who does a lot of selections and has written books about such, this is seriously good and makes the future VERY exciting.
Way to go Adobe!
At the beginning of the year, one of my priorities and things I wanted to spend more time on developing was my YouTube Channel, and over the past (almost) 6 months I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm having so much fun putting videos together the way that is 'me' and each week learning and trying something new to add to the production value.
One thing that's been missing though is a Trailer; something that in 60 seconds or less tells folks that haven't subscribed, the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN and HOW of me and what the Channel is all about, but yesterday I put some time aside and did it…
Hope you like it 😉
Recently my best mate Dave Clayton designed a new logo for me that in his own words “was more up to date with you and what you’re doing these days” … and I love it.
I wrote an article showing it HERE
I’d been meaning to get some new Contact Cards made up that also included an easy way for folks to navigate to my YouTube Channel as more and more I’m being asked about it when out and about with my main camera OR my drone, taking photographs or filming on the coast.
So, using Dave’s new design I came up with this for the front…
and this is what I have on the back…
Clean, simple and includes everything that’s needed but with the new addition of a QR code that can be very easily and quickly scanned by holding your camera phone to it and then pressing the button that automatically appears; doing so takes you straight through to my YouTube Channel.
No need to write details down, no need to take a card. Quick and Easy.
The cards I had printed by Awesome Merchandise who are the very same folks that printed ALL of the graphics, stationary, invites, badges, contact cards etc… for my first exhibition of my 39-45 Portraits Project held at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, Oxfordshire from November 2019 thru January 2020.
Highly recommended.
Over the past few years, mainly the Covid years, things have changed for me; in a good way. I’m a portrait photographer. That’s what I do. Covid though, forced me to look at other genres of photography to keep me active. Keep me creative and keep me motivated, whilst I couldn’t take portraits.
I very quickly fell in love with landscape and seascape photography. Being out in the open, having experienced a time when we were told we couldn’t be out in the open, is a gift. I’ve always loved the outdoors but maybe more now if that is possible. If I don’t get a picture, who cares. I’ve been outdoors. I’ve been exercising my mind. I’ve been creative.
Photograph by Heathcliff O’Malley
I’m doing way more video work. Mainly for my YouTube Channel. I love putting videos together gathering B-Roll using many and varied recording devices; GoPro Hero 10. DJI Pocket 2. My drone. Oh how I love my drones.
Talking of drones (because we were … right?) I’m not just using them for video. I’m using them for photography. The compositions. The angles. The location possibilities. It’s liberating. It’s exciting. Lots more of this to come.
With change in activity comes a new me; a change in how I’m seen and a big part of that is branding. My logo.
A few years ago my best mate: Graphic Designer, Author, Instructor, my brother from another mother, Dave Clayton created this for me…
It worked. It worked well in so many ways. It was totally me. The g and the d forming my shapely, smooth head, my eyes and my nose.
It was a logo that only a friendship when 2 people ‘get’ each other could have created.
Fast forward a few years. The change in activity. Much more being brought into the ‘mix’. Time for a logo update.
So many questions though.
What direction does it take?
Does it have a camera?
Does it have a drone?
Does it have a landscape?
How can it be ‘me’ ?
Actually…
Does it need a camera?
Does it need a drone?
Does it need a landscape?
“No” said Dave, “It just needs to be you. You do so much more now. Don’t let the logo limit what people ‘think’ you do. Your work and what you do speaks FOR you. Your logo speaks ABOUT you.
Remember our saying…Take what you do seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously”
This is what he did. The colours I can change depending on what the logo is on.
I bloomin’ LOVE IT!
It’s so far removed from my previous logo but it’s still so ‘Dave’ and it’s totally ‘me’
Love this Guy
© Glyn Dewis 2024
