Love or hate 365 days?

I'm having a bit of a love hate relationship with my 365 days project.  If you have looked at my flickr page you will see that I havn't uploaded any images for a while, I have been taking them but I just havn't had time for the edit and upload of them!  I think that on one hand 365 is a good idea because it makes you think about photography everyday and it encourages you to shoot something everyday but I think about photography all the time anyway - the only problem now is that it is focused on one particular area and not thinking up fabulous new projects to do.  I feel a bit pressured to come up with something every day and am starting to get annoyed by it, especially when the photo hasn't come out exactly as I want and i feel I am uploading not my best stuff.  I am thinking about changing the project to one amazing well though out, planned and executed photo a week, so 52 weeks not 365 days!  I don't want to give it up completely and I don't want this project to beat me but I feel it is having a negative impact on my work as I just don't have enough time to come up with meaninful images.  Saying that though, some of the photos I have taken for this project I am really really happy with so maybe it is a good thing?  I'll see how it goes, watch this space, or rather watch my flickr page!  www.flickr.com/photos/cazhancox

On a happier note - Chatel photos this weekend - woohoo!!

photoshop tricks

I wanted to share this quick little photoshop trick which gives images that lovely vintage feel.  I have been experimenting a lot with loads and loads of different techniques, spent hours researching different tools and techniques, sometimes forgetting to write down what i am doing which is not very helpful when it comes to getting that effect again!   So I thought I'd share one of my ways to get a vintage effect.  I must add that I didn't make up this particular trick entirely on my own, I have used a quite well know technique that I found instructions for on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7Tv52F5nlQ  and tweaked it a bit to get it to work for me so here goes:

Open up you image:

Then create a curves adjustment layer and on each individual channel set the curve like this:

Sometimes the curves need to be adjusted and tweaked slightly according to each individual image but this is a good starting point.  It should make the tones in the image look something like this:

As you can see from the above image it is almost there but, this is the part that I have played with for ages to get right!  I feel that just using curves makes the image lack punch somehow so I like to up the contrast a bit using levels and and sometimes add a selective colour adjustment layer and increase the blacks.  This really gives the image punch and adds some depth to it.  Once you have played with Levels and Selective colour the final result should look something like this:

I hope that you will find this tutorial useful, thanks for looking x

Chatel

This is some very very exciting news that I can't believe I havn't mentioned on my blog before but I'll do it now instead!  I have got myself a job taking photographs of a chalet in Chatel in the French Alps!!  It is so exciting, possibly my dream job, combining photography and my love of the mountains!  Couldn't be better.  The job will be some interior shots and also some exterior ones of the chalet and local area, my boyfriend is coming along too which he is incredibly happy about as he gets to play on his bike in the mountains, so it is all round excellent.  I'm not nervous either yet, just excited, I'm sure nerves will come, in face they will definatley come - probably on the plane, I'll be sitting there worrying that my bags have gone to outer mongolia and I am going to turn up in France without my tripod or something else essential! fingers crossed that won't happen.  The photos are going to be used on the chalets new and improved website, here is the current website:  www.alpinequests.com. 

I'll post the photos and updated website link when I am back from France.

Belvedere

So, I have finally got round to uploading some images from my shoot last Friday.  The shoot was in a very lovely penthouse apartment at the Belvedere Apartments in Cambridge.  The owner had completely redesigned the layout and redecorated, it was just the most beautiful apartment I have ever seen!  It was also the first time I had worked with an interior designer and it was great to work with one, it is always good to have an extra pair of eyes and someone to fluff the pillows (I must stress that she did a lot more than just fluff the pillows, she was brilliant).  The photos will be used on a website to sell the property which isn't on-line yet but as soon as it is, i'll post the link here.

For my little brother!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to Michael,

Happy Birthday to you!

Sorry I didn't upload this yesterday, but was still editing it this morning!

Folded Paper

This is my submission to the Folded Paper theme on JPG Magazine, click here to view large:

www.jpgmag.com/photos/911837

It is also day 12 in my 365 project and you can see a different edit on flickr:

www.flickr.com/photos/cazhancox/2734278071

This project is going well at the moment, I am now on day 13 (see post above for day 13's picture) and everything is ticking along well, i would really love to make it through the whole year.  It is pushing me to think of something creative to do everyday which I think, is a good thing.

Belvedere

The shoot that I did on Friday at the Belvedere went really well and I will be posting some shots from it here when I have edited them all.  

Experimenting

I have been playing about with photoshop lately to try to come up with some different techniques.  Found a great photoshop action on Flickr (www.flickr.com/groups/michelleblack/), the top one has this action applied and the 2 underneath are my own creations,  can't decide which one I like the best.  The photo is part of my 365 project.