2 Comments

Port Talbot Steelworks Photo Shoot

I am going to take a few snaps of Port Talbot Steelworks on Friday 2nd Jan 2015. The conditions have potential – cold and cloudy. The featured picture was taken from the same vantage point as we will be using this time but back in September 2010. If you would like to come email me info@andybeelfrps.co.uk (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2014 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
2 Comments

Evening Flight

The day at Slimbridge started out with good intentions – to take sharp pictures of birds in flight. A first for me. I found lots of ways of doing it wrong. This is a shot from the end of the day when the light had almost gone around 4.30pm. 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens + 1.4x Converter. Shutter speed 1/3 sec handheld, f 4.0, ISO 200, ICM (intentional camera movement – a new acronym on me, thank you, Elizabeth). The pointRead more
1 Comment

The How To See (Photographically) Workshop

I am pleased to announce a second date for the How To See (photographically) workshop in the Sierra Nevada – Spain. The date is the 16th – 21st November 2015. The autumn workshop offers different photographic opportunities for the participants than on the Spring workshop. The dates for the April workshop are the 22nd – 27th April 2015. Key Workshop features – The ABC of CameraWork Method of Seeing – Expert guidance on technical, composition, exposure, lens choices – FirstRead more
1 Comment

New Mono Courses & Workshops in South Wales

I am pleased to announce new courses and workshops in South Wales next year. Participants who have booked already for dates next Spring are coming from all over the country, so book early to avoid disappointment. See my website http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk for course and workshop details. ABC of CameraWork one day course in Cardiff. You will discover what your picture will look like artistically and technically BEFORE you press the shutter release. Great for all levels of experience working in colour orRead more
2 Comments

Avon Valley Salon is open for entries

The new Avon Valley Salon of Photography is open for entries. http://www.avonvalley.photography/salon.html This is the FIRST salon to have an international Triptych Section – your previous acceptances can be entered again as part of a triptych panel and receive a new acceptance for the panel. Why not have a go if you have not entered a salon before? The featured picture is from the penultimate shoot with Canon gear in Painswick Churchyard in Gloucestershire. I had forgotten I had takenRead more
2 Comments

Newport Photographic Club

I am off to Newport to do a print only talk tonight called “Marvelous Monochrome”. For those of you who look at this picture full size which I recommend, you are not looking at camera noise but film grain put in to the mid tones and shadows with Silver Efex Pro 2. To the trained eye the two are totally different. The downside of this added feature to the picture is you need Photoshop to do the masking of whereRead more
2 Comments

Courses availablity update

Places on the Courses and Workshops in Bridgend are going fast so if you are thinking of coming along next spring don’t hesitate to book now. See the following events on my website New one day courses in South Wales next year – An ABC of CameraWork Course in Cardiff. – A Lightroom for Beginners Course. – A Monochrome Photography Masterclass – a few places left. – A Monochrome Printing Masterclass – selling fast. It’s been a strange sort ofRead more
1 Comment

Beach Huts

This weeks talk “The Digital Monochrome Print” is for the Worcester Camera Club Digital Group. See http://www.worcestershirecameraclub.co.uk/ they meet on Thursday evenings. The featured picture is another from sunny Budleigh Salterton taken last week funnily enough called “Beach Huts”. Digital Lith Processing in Lightroom 5. I was mentioned in a post by FatMan about photographic composition a few days ago. See wordpress.com/read/blog/id/22503289/ Here the composition of the shadows of the beach huts is tending towards minimal – hopefully the viewerRead more
2 Comments

The pictures are rubbish but the stories are all mostly true!

This weeks talks are at Devizes CC in Wiltshire tonight with a presentation commonly known as “Every picture tells a story”. The pictures are rubbish but the stories are all mostly true! A catch up of some of the locations I have photographed in the last two years. Then tomorrow evening I am down in Dorset at Sidmouth PG on the Jurassic coast doing “The Digital Monochrome Print”. This is a teaching presentation explaining with prints and a laptop demonstrationRead more
9 Comments

A lighter camera bag – 5

Any new camera takes a little getting used to. This is certainly been true with the Fujifilm X-T1, I did say in my last post I was thinking of sending the camera back because I was unhappy with the way which it did or did not do things. I’m still amazed at how well it can do things and conversely I’m still incredulous at how badly it does things. For example this shot taken in the crypt of Winchester CathedralRead more

A lighter camera bag – 3

I like the composition of this picture taken the other evening down in Bristol docks. I am still getting to grips with the vagaries of the X-T1. Fuji claim world beating focus speed for this camera – how true that is I can not comment. I did find however that the accuracy of focusing will be improved if the focus area is made as small as possible (50% smaller than default) and the focus assist button (zooms to 100% atRead more
2 Comments

Architectural abstract

I have updated my website with new photography courses commencing next year. An ABC of CameraWork Course in South Wales. A Lightroom 5 for Beginners Course in South Wales. A Photography Masterclass in South Wales. A Monochrome Printing Masterclass in South Wales. Also there are a few places on the FOTO ALPUJARRAS Workshop – six days in the authentic Spain 17th – 22nd Nov 2014.  Book now to avoid disappointment. All very reasonably priced see website for details.   ArchitecturalRead more

The digital monochrome print talk – again

I am off to hopefully sunny north Devon to give a talk at Barnstable CC this evening. This is a highly interactive talk as all mine are. I gave the same presentation at Bridgwater PS on Tuesday evening the audience asked a lot of interesting questions. I ended up only showing about half of the prints I had taken to show in the first half because the Q&A was going so well. The second half of the talk is aRead more
10 Comments

New Photo Society and Salon

I am one of the four founding members of a newly formed Photographic Society. The Avon Valley Photographic Society is an active learning society and promotes the development of photographic skills, experience, knowledge and participation. At an appropriate time I will post how you can get involved where ever you are in the world. AVPS has also introduced a new digital salon of photography opening for entries on the 1st of December 2014. It is the first International salon toRead more
2 Comments

A photographers heart

If you are a musician first base is playing all the right notes in the right order. Second base is playing all the right notes in the right order and putting a personal interpretation on the piece. Camera operators get correct exposure and focus and record the scene. Photographers record the scene with an personal interpretation that’s individual to them. Interpretation reveals perceived significance and the heart and soul of the photographer. A big hello to all the new followersRead more
5 Comments

The art of repetition

Click on the picture, Hit F11 and then Cont + scroll your mouse wheel so the picture fills the monitor. Getting on for nearly a year ago I did a post called “Allowing perception to mature” that was very well received, see it at andybeelfrps.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/allowing-perception-to-mature/ Here is another example of forgetting an interesting picture taken in an art gallery in The Hague last autumn. The point about leaving pictures for a while (months or years) to mature before they areRead more
2 Comments

Old audio

Vinyl  the audio technology before – digital, DVD, Mini-disk, CD and cassette tape. Did you buy CD’s of the same albums you had on Vinyl? I certainly did. Just a close-up with a 150mm Macro lens at f2.8. For those of you who wonder, is anywhere in this picture sharp – yes at a reasonable size you can see the machining marks on the record spindle. For me in this picture there is a good balance of suggestion and definition.Read more
2 Comments

I get by with a little help from my friends

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”  — Aristotle I am indebted to two friends for assistance with this post Rod Wainwright ARPS and Les Loosemore ARPS. Rod sent me the Aristotle quote and Les wrote to me about “the lens appropriately focussed on your next masterpiece”. When I thanked Rod for the quote I said I would have to think about an appropriate picture to go with the words. ThisRead more

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

9999 Frames

Remember when DSlr’s were very slow to boot up and focus? This shot was taken in 2004 with my then new Canon 20D. The first digital camera I had that worked semi-like it was supposed to. So who are Anna and Jack in the picture on the right, are they a real couple, are they still together, why are their names carved in to the stone paving in Millennium Square in Bristol? In the ten years since I have hadRead more
2 Comments

New Fotospeed Platinum Etching Paper

My Sponsors Fotospeed have four new papers in the current product guide. I thought I would highlight the Fine Art Ink jet paper Platinum ETCHING 285 today. This matte paper is a newly developed fine art media made from 25% cotton and 75% Alpha Cellulose. With a state of the art inkjet coating and velvety texture, it gives the user sharpness, colour gamut and density second to none. Compatible with dye and pigmented inks. See http://www.fotospeed.com The picture above isRead more
6 Comments

The two in one

To quote the AA* (not the Automobile Association) there is always two people described in a portrait. The sitter and the photographer. So when a photographer takes a selfie, the contemporary self portrait – is that still the same scenario? Answers on a postcard. Was I just being a sad old git with no one to take my portrait or was I trying out a new second hand tripod head? *AA – Ansel Adams. (c) Andy Beel FRPS 2014 http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more