Cooling Off in Singapore
Spotted this Indian Myna sitting on the edge of this water feature located outside Scotts Square taking a dip in the water to cool off. Singapore climate was quite hot and humid this day and I can certainly empathise with the bird as I was feeling the same (wanting to take a dip) after having walked only about 10 minutes along the road. The Myna was not bothered by all the people walking along just couple of feet from it. The Myna would look around after every dip just to check it was still safe and then dip again. I spent 10 minutes following it and taking snaps and this was my favourite....
Must have plugins for Photoshop & Lightroom users
Wether you use Photoshop or Lightroom there are some plugins that are must have for editing your photos and giving them an extraordinary look and feel. You can own one of them or all of them but I can say for sure you won't be disappointed with either of them and nor will you find a look that you like. Personally I own both Nik Collection by Google and OnOne Perfect Suite however not Topaz (not yet). This blog post is neither paid for, nor sponsored by any of these companies. Although if you work for these companies and want to sponsor I would love to hear from you. Nik Collection by Google...
Brussels – Drug Opera
Back in October I had an opportunity to visit Brussels on the back of a work engagement and had some time to walk around the city and capture a few snaps. The weather was cold and wet but that had little effect at keeping me indoors. The Grand Place or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels which is surrounded by shops and restaurants. I came across this interesting restaurant called "Drug Opera" which is an early 20th century building with a pub atmosphere and restaurant. It has been recognised as one of the most famous restaurants in Old Brussels. The old couple sitting there...
Create Mood in Your Photographs using Photoshop
Leigh Diprose from FujiFilm Australia shows you how to create mood in your photographs using some advanced techniques in Photoshop. He shows you how to create two tones in one image, both warm and cold. You will see how to create selections, layer masks and photo filters available in Photoshop. http://youtu.be/C8u5f4WDpLI
Macro Photography with the X-T1
Shooting Macro with X-T1 Having recently purchased the FujiFilm's flagship professional camera, the "X-T1" I was keen to have a play around with capturing some macro images. I used the 18-135mm XF lens and switched to the Macro mode. It's a bit strange having used the Canon gear for so long that on Fuji its a software setting when you want to activate Macro mode. The lens then only hunts in the closest focusing distance of 0.45m to infinity rather than the full range 0.6m to infinity. I am not quite sure how it manages to focus in the shorter 0.45m when in Macro mode versus only at 0.6m when...
Preview the Premium HDR Presets for Lightroom
Our premium Ultimate HDR Presets for Lightroom just got updated and now include 20 presets that turn your images into HDR like results straight in Lightroom. No further editing in Photoshop or HDR software is needed. Check out this video where we demonstrate how you can use HDR presets on your images in Lightroom. Share with us how you create HDR Images, leave a comment or link to your favourite HDR images.
Removing Haze from your Photos in Lightroom
What is Haze? Haze is a smoggy look your photo will get when you shoot in hot weather eg. summer, shoot into the sun or shoot in an area where is bad pollution. It also appears in photos when you shoot through a window or glass as it causes the catches some light and therefore creates a haze in your photo. Here are some examples of images that suffer from this: You can try to fix them using a UV Filter or Circular Polarising Filter at the time of capture but its not a guaranteed fix. Or if you are like me you don't want additional cheap glass in front of your very expensive glass of the Lens...
Adopting a Mirrorless System – FujiFilm X-T1
I’ve been shooting with Canon gear since 2006 and a great selection of lenses from them. I’m now at a point where its not about the gear or megapixels but more about the fun and exciting of creating great images. Now over the years, travelling around with all the gear on my back or over the shoulder has been, let’s say interesting. The weight is challenging when you have to lug it around for long time and it also gets you in trouble with Airport staff as you necessarily won’t be checking in 1,000s of dollars gear. The other problem you run into is everybody sees your high end, big fat DSLR...
Lukas Gisbert-mora talks about his switch from Nikon to Fuji Mirrorless System (X-T1)
The mirrorless camera revolutions seems to be sweeping into professional photography and is not just a nice camera system used by your amateur or hobbyist. These cameras are starting to make their way into professional photographer's bags and showing great promise as a replacement to traditional heavy weight DSLRs by Canon and Nikon. Lukas Gisbert-mora is a professional wedding and portrait photographer based in England who has replaced his Nikon gear and is not using Fuji mirrorless X-T1 as his primary camera system. In this video below he does a review of the X-T1 and does a comparison...
Do you need to Colour Calibrate your Screen?
For the past 8 years, I've heard about Colour or Color (if you are in the US) Calibration of your screen to get optimised representation of the colours captured in your camera. Its something that Pros do and live by. I've resisted doing this as I don't consider myself a pro, I'm always learning things because I figured my iMac and MacBook Pro had pretty close representation of the colours. I had compared the two screens and they looked similar. The prints I've had done have not been far off from the colours I saw on the screen. The only problem I've had is that the prints are darker than...