(1h) updating this journal including all the new month/ new year admin
(1h) updating all cameras
30th December 2024
Hours 9,353 to 9,356
(1h) shooting or attempting to shoot the “King’s Indian Defence” above; dog spectacularly uncooperative so had to reply on Photoshop
(2h) compositing the above and “Your Move Mr Bond” below (which is a reuse of my “The Dogfather” image created on the 21st March)
(1h) re-processing other images for Wednesday’s Amersham Beyond meeting
29th December 2024
Hour 9,352
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit:
“Down and DirtyRemix” with Corey Barker – mainly AI making life easer
“Masking Everywhere” with Matt Kloskowski
masks in Camera RAW
auto mask generation; sky, people, subject, object, background, etc
mask intersection
28th December 2024
Hours 9,350 to 9,351
(½h) shooting at Stanbrook Abbey – mainly images that could potentially form part of a composite
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s images
(½h) updating this journal
Left: “Stanbrook Abbey Window”
27th December 2024
Hour 9,349
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit: “Hidden Secret to Razor Sharp Photos” with Justin Laurens – creating the perception of sharpness without using the traditional sharpening tools
Perceived sharpness is a combination of:
tonal separation, particularly in the highlights and shadows
colour separation; elements are separated by colour, rather than merely bluring together
subject separation; the subject stands out from the background, generally by being brighter
Tools to achieve the above:
overall toning (detail in highlights and shadows) using the sliders:
decrease highlights and increase whites
increase shadows and decrease blacks
ensure colour temperature removes any colour casts
colour balance:
make highlights and mid-tones warmer
adjust shadows cooler
select subject lighten and apply the above; apply a vignette and/ or otherwise darken the background – particularly darken the top of the background
26th December 2024
Hour 9,348
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit: “Alpha Channels and Their Purpose” with Bert Monroy:
creating more convincing shadows:
shadows further from the object are lighter
and more stretched/ blurred – achieved using motion blur on the partially masked shadow later
using alpha channels for selections where there is a better edge definition with one colour than another, e.g., when working with a green screen
noise is often more prominent in one of the colour channels than in others and can be more effectively removed by working on just that channel
similarly, another channel may contain detail that would benefit from sharpening
25th December 2024
Hour 9,347
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit: “Combining Images in Interesting Ways” by Dave Cross – tips include:
adjust selections using – Select – Transform Selection
Option Backspace to fill with Foreground colour
Command Backspace to fill with Background colour
Displace Filter:
make image to be displace a smart object
duplicate underlying layer to a new file
Save as a PSD
experiment with the filter setting until it looks about right
24th December 2024
Hours 9,345 to 9,346
(1h) further update to “Surrealist Lunch” above remaking the selection of the man’s head with a better cutout around the hair, and selection elsewhere including the cuff and bottle
Minor Success Note:
received notification that “Surrealist Lunch” and “Insight” received print acceptances into the Belgian Flobeque salon. This means I now have enough print acceptances for an EFIAP acreditation
[The success of the original version of the above image is slight ironic given the work I have been doing improving it]
(1h) updating this journal and the associated Flickr site – most work connecting the images via hyperlinks
23th December 2024
Hours 9,343 to 9,344
(1h) updating “Surrealist Lunch” to fix a few minor lighting and photoshop errors. However, it might need reshooting
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit: “Simplifying Photoshop” by Matt Kloskowski – a few tips on creating a workspace customised to your workflow – then implementing these ideas to create Andy’s Workspace
22nd December 2024
Hours 9,339 to 9,342
(2h) finishing and publishing the “Autumn 2024” post including
(1h) creating a revised version of “Man and Woman III)” such that the woman’s head is the same size as the man’s – more or less
21st December 2024
Hour 9,338
(1h) more work on the Statement of Intent for my potential Fellowship panel and in general working on the “Autumn 2024” post
20th December 2024
Hour 9,337
(1h) working on the Statement of Intent for my potential Fellowship submission to the Royal Photographic Society and adding this to the “Autumn 2024” post
19th December 2024
Hour 9,336
(1h) adding my Top 10 images to the “Autumn 2024” post
18th December 2024
Hour 9,335
(1h) collating Top 10 images for the “Autumn 2024” post
17th December 2024
Hours 9,332 to 9,334
(2½h) editing and processing images from the Finland and Norway trip including creating the “Aurlandsfjord Triptych” below and another diptych, shot on the 30th November:
(½h) updating this journal
16th December 2024
Hours 9,329 to 9,331
(2½h) finishing and ordering the Namibia 2025 book documenting the trip this summer
(½h) writing up this journal, particularly with regard to the Boston lecture yesterday and the connection between the Grafton Gallery Exhibition of 1910-11 which features prominently in the “Crisis of Brilliance” book by David Boyd Haycock that I was lent by Laurie Turner and am currently reading, and the US equivalent: The Armory Show of 1913
15th December 2024
Hours 9,327 to 9,328
(½h) creating and ordering prints for this Wednesday
the photography of Alfred Stieglitz (married to O’Keeffe), the Stieglitz Group (inc. Edward Steichen) whose goal was to promote “straight” yet pictorial photography as an art form and the F/64 Club (Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Western, et al.)
the American Modernists (Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, et al.)
the Armory Show, New York 1913, and Grafton Gallery Exhibition, London 1910-11, which shocked their respective art worlds with the introduction of Post-impressionism from Paris
(½h) organising images for the Namibia 2025 book
14th December 2024
Hours 9,324 to 9,326
(½h) shooting at Black park with my Nephew, including the ICM image above that I’m quite pleased with
(1½h) selecting and processing images from Namibia including the following “Tree and Dun in Shadow II”
(1½h) Amersham Mono group
11th December 2024
Hours 9,318 to 9,319
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) Amersham coffee club mainly discussing the characteristics of contemporary photography, particularly the fact that it must stimulate the viewer bring their own experience to the interpretation of the image
(½h) starting a book of images from Namibia
10th December 2024
Hours 9,312 to 9,317
(2½h) editing and processing landscapes from the Finland and Norway trip
(1h) Photoshop Virtual Summit lecture: “Updates to Skin Retouching” with Kristina Sherk using AI and a low opacity quick selection along with frequency separation.
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – PDI competition, set subject “Canals and Locks” my images below:
Image
…..
Comment
“Dudley Canal” 17 Central part of the image is stunning and would be worthy of high marks The inclusion of the white car is annoying Re-crop without the actual bridge and car
“Dead Vlei – Namibia”
Held back – 19
Excellent skill and a powerful message to us all about climate change
“Mr Pirate”
17
Cropping and composition very good but he looks too nice for the title
“Insight”
Held back – 20
Disturbing but in a good way
Very high level of skill; I could see this in the Tate Modern
The fact that the subject is slightly off centre creates tension
(½h) writing up this journal, including the notes and image links re the above competition
9th December 2024
Hours 9,307 to 9,311
(1h) editing and processing images from Finland and Norway
(1h) processing “Busking on the Elizabeth Line”, left – shot on the 5th
Removing the black bar at the top edge of the tube map and looked as thought it went through his head, required the application of a number of the hair selection and masking techniques learnt from the Virtual Photoshop Summit on the 11th November and the use of a “hair” brush to add hair back in
(1h) updating this journal and in particular the associated Flickr site
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – Print competition – no skin in the game
8th December 2024
Hours 9,305 to 9,306
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) editing and processing images from Finland and Norway including:
“At the Feet of Seven Sisters”
“Hurtigruten Panorama I”
“Dawn Seascape Near Trondheim”
7th December 2024
Hours 9,301 to 9,304
(4h) editing and processing images from my recent trip to Finland and Norway including creating the “Navigation Equipment” image below which was “cleaned up” using a technique the Steve Brabner explained during the Amersham Beyond meeting last week:
open image in Photoshop Camera RAW filter
in the Detail tab, move both the Noise Reduction and Color Noise Reduction to 100%
The above simplifies the image by removing lots of detail, but does have the potential to introduce artefacts. In this case, lots of artefacts in the sky to the point where it looked like the image were shot through a window with rain drops on it. These were cloned out using the healing brush tool
6th December 2024
Hours 9,299 to 9,300
(½h) preparing prints for next week’s “Canals and Locks” set-subject competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club – weak entry in the set-subject but 3 hopeful open entries
(1h) BBC Documentary “Paul Nash: The Ghosts of War – British Art at War” where De Chirico is mentioned as an influencer of the surrealists, “admired as a pioneering of the ominous and uncanny”
(½h) editing the images from Finland and Norway
5th December 2024
Hours 9,295 to 9,298
(½h) updating this journal
A few minutes only, shooting “Busking on the Elizabeth Line”, processed on the 9th
(1h) researching Paul Nash, whose work I was introduced to yesterday – notes below
(½h) updating “Unimpressed”, left
(2h) at the Amersham Beyond Group, current challenges:
Out of this World
Toronda
Cheer up!
4th December 2024
Hours 9,291 to 9,294
(1h) updating this journal with images from my recent trip to the north of Finland and Norway
(1½h) Amersham Coffee group where the time was spent discussing my images from York (9th&10th November), Jeremy’s superb mono street work, and the surrealist artist Paul Nash after Laurie purchased a limited edition print
“Off to the City”
“Marygate Hamlet”
Desmond Morris describes Paul Nash as:
“Something of a contradiction. He was a leading light in the British Surrealist movement in 1936… yet at heart a pastoral landscape artist with a love of the pale washed-out colours typical of the politely restrained English art establishment.” Desmond Morris, The British Surrealist
His 1936, “Event on the Downs”, right is probably his most famous surrealist work
Rene Magritte said he was the “Master of the Object”
(1½h) further work updating this journal with images from Finland and Norway
3rd December 2024
Hours 9,287 to 9,290
(1h) creating the “Rock Cathedral Multiple Exposure” image below – exposures made on the 19th November
(1h) making the diptychs for the 19th and 20th November
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – second round of the Rosebowl – comments on my images as follows:
Image
…..
Comment
“Moving Clouds”
20
I’m not going to even bother holding this back – it gets 20 straight away
“Magritte Hat Pipe Flower and Cloud”
18
Not sold on the fact that it’s a rose coming out of the pipe
2nd December 2024
Hours 9,284 to 9,286
(1h) updating this journal, including new month admin
(2h) moving images from laptop to my main computer and creating the “Sibelius Monumental Multiple Exposure”, right, – exposures made on the 19th November
1st December 2024
Hours 9,281 to 9,283
(½h) shooting travel photography
(2h) Munch Museum – Oslo, right is his 1935, “Two Women on the Shore”
19th November – “Modern Gothic”, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki
(½h) Vanessa Baird – “Go Down With Me” exhibition at the Munch Museum
Baird claims to be inspired by Munch and at the same time is critical of him as a stereotypical lone male artist. She deals with the feminist issues of artist as parent and carer (for her elderly mother), the repetition of daily life and major political issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Palestine
