The featured picture is “Gullfoss Waterfall – Iceland 2011” post-processed entirely in Lightroom. Lightroom is a great tool for organising and processing your digital pictures, but if it’s new to you then it can appear a little overwhelming. My new one day Lightroom 5 beginners course – “how to master Lightroom from the ground up” will be just the ticket for you. Aimed at those who are new to Lightroom or just getting to grips with it, this one day courseRead more
Posts tagged: #Iceland
My camera doesn’t understand me
Your camera does not know or understand you, what you want to say photographically, how you see, what you feel and think – it has NO visual and emotional intelligence. Sorry to say that it does not even love you. All it does is record the brightness of the light reflected on to the sensor. So perhaps some thought might be given to controlling the light recording box to enable an end result that is visually interesting and communicates withRead more
Lightroom for Black and White Photographers
This is the last call for the last remaining place on my Lightroom for black and white photographers seminar at Calumet Photographic in Bristol on Saturday the 11th May. See http://www.calumetseminars.co.uk/bristol.html to book your place. Its going to be a really useful and fun day for all the lucky delegates as we use Lightroom 4 to make pictures that have the look of a darkroom master print. See details and dates for other dedicated black and white courses and workshopsRead more
The Long Road again and again
It’s funny how winning pictures are like buses you wait for ages and then two come along all the same time. The picture “The long road” taken in Iceland has come up trumps again with the acceptances in two major exhibitions. I am always pleased to get acceptances in the London Salon of photography. See http://www.londonsalon.org/ for this years exhibition pictures and venues. The Royal Photographic Society also selected the same print to represent them at the Photo London ArtRead more
The devil in the shadow detail
Today I want to talk about something that is dear to my heart in photography that of shadow detail. Depending on the type of photographer you are, more or less detail in the shadows can be an intriguing question. I’m currently working on a project which at the moment I propose to print on a matt paper called Fotospeed Smooth Cotton 300. This is a relatively new paper introduced last year after its development with the British landscape photographer JoeRead more
Andy wins again, again
I am pleased to announce this picture “a long road” has been winning prizes again at the Royal Photographic Society. Firstly at the Digital Group Exhibition and the Western Region Exhibition both on Sunday just gone. Come and join us for the Calumet Photo Seminars I am giving in May and June. A big hello to all the new followers of my little blog this week. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2013 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
The simple secret of becoming a first class photographer
I am pleased to announce “The simple secret of becoming a first-class photographer” course. This one-day course will be held at Calumet Photographic in Bristol on Saturday 22nd June 2013 commencing at 10.30 Half of the places have been booked already before I could advertise it on my blog so book your place now to avoid disappointment. For full details of the course please look at my website on the workshops and seminars page at http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk/Workshops%20-%20Seminars The picture above isRead more
Lightroom for Black and White Photographers Seminar
I will be giving a one day seminar called “Lightroom for Black and White Photographers” in association with Calumet Photographic Stores in Bristol on Saturday 11th May 2013, commencing at 10.00. Learn how to get the best out of Lightroom for your black and white photographs. Booking is essential as places are limited. To see the seminar details and book your place see http://www.calumetseminars.co.uk/component/content/article/40-photography/1001-lightroom-for-black-and-white-photographers-bristol.html A big hello to all the new followers of my little blog this week. (c) AndyRead more
Photography – beginnings and endings
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I was reminded of a quote I read in Amateur Photographer Magazine recently by a guy called Sandy Wilson who wrote “photography begins way before we pick up our cameras and ends way after we put our cameras down”. He was writing in essence about what Henri Cartier-Bresson noted in 1952 “For me technology changes but photography stays the same”. I was taken back two years, by a questionRead more
Luminosity and Presence
To see the points made in this post, please look at the picture full size against a grey background. It could be argued that the finer points of black and white printing or post processing are Luminosity and Presence. Luminosity is the term sometimes used to describe a print that glows – it appears to have an inner light source. How is Luminosity achieved? generally it is by having a light subject against a dark background and then darkening andRead more
How to create photography project ideas
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I have been thinking about how the ideas for a potential photography project are formed in the mind. The following is a jumbled list of how the creative process works in my mind. It may not be correct or complete but it’s where I am at with my understanding of the creative process. Probably the first thing to say is – photography is not about photography, it is aboutRead more
You can’t get the staff
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. You can’t get the staff these days. I made a simple request, or so I thought. Write down a list of where we have been on our trip around Iceland. When I tried to check the list for the location of this wonderful place all I can tell from the list is that some people went swimming on the 15th of May! Where in Myvatn I took this steamRead more
Telegraph Road 2 & Lightroom 4.3 fix
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. Here is the full frame of the shot I took in Iceland and posted a square crop of last week. The difference between the two pictures is that this one has been processed in Silver Efex Pro 2 hopefully without an obvious pre-set look that is so easy to get. I have started to use SEP 2 much more but I still do my final adjustments in Lightroom 4.3Read more
Telegraph Road
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. Then came the mines, then came the ore, then there was the hard times, then there was a war, telegraph sang a song, about the world outside, Telegraph road got so deep, and so wide like a rolling river…. With thanks to Mark Knopfler one of the best. The picture above a long road one rainy lunchtime in Iceland. A big hello to all the new followers of myRead more
RPS 2013 Members Biennial Exhibition Acceptance
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I entered the RPS 2013 Members Biennial Exhibition with ten hours to go before the close of entries. I just selected ten pictures that I like but knew a lot them were not in the RPS style and uploaded them anyway not expecting to get any acceptances. Much too my surprise I see from Lesley Treloar’s page that I also had an acceptance as well as her. So congratulationsRead more
Photography is not about photography
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. If you had the choice to invite any living or dead photographer to be in a group with you, who would you invite? I would love to spend quality time with Gene Smith, Sebastiao Salgado, Andre Kertesz, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Margaret Bourke White, Brassai, Martin Munkacsi, Elliott Erwitt, Alfred Esenstaedt and Bill Brandt. Who would you invite to be in your dream team? Why do I ask –Read more
A long road
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. A Long road taken in Iceland, quad toned in Lightroom. A big hello to all the new followers of my little blog this week. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2012 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
The digital monochrome print talk – 11th Nov 10.30 am
Please look at the picture against a grey background. I will be giving a talk on Sunday morning called “The digital monochrome print” in Bath for the RPS Western Region. See http://www.rps.org/region/Western/events for details. This meeting is open to non RPS members so if you aren’t a member yet and would like to learn how to make prints from a colour file that have the look, taste and smell of a darkroom fibre based paper then you will be madeRead more
Andy Beel FRPS wins an RPS Ribbon
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I am delighted to announce I was awarded a Selectors Ribbon by Roger Reynolds FRPS at the RPS Western Region Exhibition that is on in the Bath Central Library in the Podium until the 22nd of September. Roger Reynolds FRPS commented the print “Passing Storm – Iceland” was in his opinion “an excellent quality monochrome print. The quality of the light captured and the compositional arrangement is exceptional, capturingRead more
The Digital Monochrome Print
Please look at the picture full size against a grey background. I will giving a new talk called “The Digital Monochrome Print” to the Royal Photographic Society Western Region Meeting in Gloucester. See the RPS Western Region site here. The meeting on Sunday, 16th September, will be held in the Parish Rooms of Highnam Community Centre, Newent Road, Highnam, Gloucester. GL2 8DG. Doors open at 9.30 a.m., for a 10.00 a.m. start. The talk is about how to take aRead more
After Mr WE Smith
Please look at the picture full size on a grey background. I just love this type of moody industrial shot. It very much reminds me of one of my absolute photographic hero’s W Eugene Smith’s work about the steelworks in Pittsburgh. See Smith’s utterly fantastic book Dream Street W Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh Project on Amazon.com for $250, I’m glad my copy didn’t cost that. A word about this picture taken in Iceland – the Keflavic Steam Plant. The camera wasRead more
Jokulsa 3
As promised this is the third of the Jokulsa triptych that has probably been posted a while ago. As I said in the last post I often work in panels or sets of prints. This picture forms the right hand image of this panel of three. A big hello to all the new followers of my little blog. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2012 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
Andy Beel FRPS at Cymru Monochrome
I will be giving a talk called “Marvellous Monochrome” at Cymru Monochrome in Port Talbot South Wales on Monday 21st May. See the link below. The talk demonstrates the process of making an exhibition quality monochrome print from a colour file. Note the word process, consistently good work is made easier by working to a system that does things in the right order. This is not a case of playing around with sliders hoping to find something that might lookRead more
Jokulsa 2
As promised I said I would post some of the earlier posted Iceland Pics. Not sure if this vertical shot has been posted before. I very often work in panels or sets of three or five picture sets. I do this do because its possible to tell a fuller and different story than with a single picture. So this is the middle picture of a panel used in the post called concentrate on shape – 2 posts back. A bigRead more
Concentrate on shapes
As promised I have started to look at old posts of Iceland taken last year and posted in the early days of my blog. Hopefully new followers will enjoy looking at them as and when they come up. This shot in southern Iceland was taken from the main arterial road around the island near a town called Jokulsa. What I enjoy about this picture is the leading line from the bottom left and the very purposeful tiny area of blackRead more
Andy Beel FRPS 