New HDR Haybale Wall Print

I've been digging through my photo archive and found a haybale image which I really like, but had forgotten about! This one is an HDR image comprised of three separate photos with different exposures, blended together in the great HDR software that is Photomatix.

The picture has been on one of the leading royalty free stock photo sites for a while now and it's generated a fair amount of interest so I'll shortly be adding it to the Fotoviva landscape collection, available to purchase as wall art.

I'm not keen on the overly saturated and halo-esque hdr imagery that some photographers do. Personally I just find it a great way to turn a shot into something resembling how it looked. Hdr works especially well with high contrast scenes like sunsets, where you either end up with a blown out sun or no detail in the shadows. Subtlety is the key with Hdr processing as it can turn an image into a right mess!

Once the hdr image had been processed I moved the picture into Photoshop to tweak the finer detail and create what you see here. So what do you think? If you have an hdr photo gallery feel free to post your link in the comments, it's good to see other photographers work.

My Photography Gallery Profile Page

Finally I have got around to creating individual portfolio pages for the photographers on Fotoviva Art Prints. Mine is the first to be launched so please take a look in my Photography Portfolio Gallery

It brings in all the images I have for sale over on Fotoviva and also includes a short biography about me and my photography. Don't laugh at the photo, it will have to do until I find one better!

All my photo collection are available to buy as canvas prints which are wrapped around a chunky wooden frame and ready to hang. Also acrylic mounts are available which are a more modern alternative to canvases. These are printed on high grade artists paper and sandwiched between two sheets of acrylic panels which gives a great finish. The print is pushed away from the wall thanks to the brushed aluminium fixings in each corner.

Have a look at my images and see if there is anything that takes your fancy.

Canvas Wall Art Makeover

Fotoviva has had a makeover for the new season which many say is a vast improvement on the already stunning looking design! The new colour scheme and tweaks here and there help to create a more focussed online gallery which is clearer and easier to use to buy your canvas wall art prints from.

We have gone for a clean, green look and added a dark background that helps to draw the eye into the main content better. The individual product pages have been revamped and now list the whole print finish and sizes together rather than in a dropdown. The homepage now features more images in the centre which helps to show the wide selection of art we have available.

There is more to come in the near future as Fotoviva Art Prints expands it's range of stunning photographic art and continues to grow into the only place you need to go to buy inspiring prints as canvas wall art, acrylic mounted prints and fine-art posters.

Fotoviva get Nikon approval

Finally got some complementary calenders in the post this morning to confirm my own wildlife photograph entitled 'Rising Swan' has been used in the official Nikon calender for 2008. They had already paid me for it but until I saw it in the flesh I never really believed it! This picture has received heaps of praise since I took it in 2006 and it is my greatest photographic achievement so far!

You can see the image by clicking on this Swan Wall Art link which will take you through to the main site and a direct link to the award winning wildlife photo itself. You can buy the print online there as a poster or canvas art for your walls.

Create a soft focus effect

Here's an easy way to create the effect of a soft focus filter on your camera using Adobe Photoshop. You may have to adjust the settings to suit your photograph and the resolution but it gives you the general idea.

1. Open your photo in Photoshop.
2. Duplicate the layer by going to the LAYER menu and selecting DUPLICATE LAYER.
3. From the FILTER menu go to BLUR>GAUSSIAN BLUR and apply a setting of 15-25. This is based on a 6MP image. Use a little less for smaller images or more for 8-10MP pictures. This will apply the blur to the duplicated top layer.
4. From the layer pallete, reduce the opacity of the top blurred layer to around 10-40%. Play with the opacity until you are happy with the result. This allows the sharpness of the original layer to show through whilst creating the soft focus effect on the top layer.
5. Go to LAYER>FLATTEN IMAGE to make the photo just one layer and save.

You can play with the layer effects in the layer pallete before flattening to create some special effects. From the blurred layer select OVERLAY or SOFT LIGHT and see how it effects the image. You can create some really interesting effects by choosing how the top layer blends with the original. Play with the opacity again if you choose another blend mode.

Here's an example of the soft focus effect as seen on one of my dogs...click for larger photograph

Shoot in RAW

One of the best things I have come across to help perfect your photos is to shoot in the RAW format rather than JPG. Some photographers would disagree and say you should get the shot right first time in camera without post processing on the computer, but I disagree. With RAW you can either make minor adjustments to make it perfect or drastic changes to give your image a different 'feel'. Most of the pictures on fotoviva are taken in RAW mode.

If you have a point and click camera, chances are you won't have the RAW option, but if you have a DSLR or bridge camera you should find it under your settings. You will also need a program such as Adobe Photoshop or some other image software that supports RAW files. Photoshop is one of the best and has some great features in the program.

So what is so good about RAW?
When shooting in standard JPG format your camera takes the settings and creates a jpg with them. With RAW your camera takes the settings but does not embed them into a file. It simply says "these are the settings you used, but feel free to change them to suit before finalising to jpg.

You can change the white balance, exposure, contrast, and many more settings. It's well worth it to get that perfect result. But remember, it's always best to try and get it as near to perfect as you can in the first place, rather than relying on with RAW settings.

You can find a great tutorial by Adobe here.