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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
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Summer Orchard

This picture called “Summer Orchard” has the look of a locale somewhere warm and sunny. The viewer is very easily deceived or mislead. Who said photography never lies? I put down a borrowed Agfa umbrella I was carrying to take this picture. May Agfa rest in peace since its demise. The rain had just stopped this evening. The insurance of carrying an umbrella was not working. As I write this blog post the heating has come on in the middleRead more
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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
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Pointless falling Snow in the WordPress Reader

Are you like me, when I am trying to review pictures in the WordPress Reader – do you find the falling snow pointless and very annoying? If you get the falling snow in your blog apparently you can turn it off in the general settings Menu found on your Dashboard. We could try a campaign on the Forum to get this annoyance turned off in the WordPress Reader. What do you think? Leave a comment http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
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Positive steps in to work

Positive steps in to work? What did Richard Avedon say “My camera is always accurate but not truthful.” This guy is sheltering from the rain that does not feature much in this picture as it was taken with a Lensbaby with an IR converted body. If you open the picture his walking frame will be very evident. Processed in Light 3 as a lith Print. I have printed this as a straight and Lith print (see below), I prefer the LithRead more
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Black and white Pictures NOT Grey and white

Here is a little set of pictures to show the stages of taking a colour RAW file to an exhibition quality black and white print. This shot was taken at the Big Pit Collery Museum in South Wales UK. What interested me here was the light tone of the grasses against the darker corrugated iron sheeting. Black and white photography requires a different way of thinking and seeing. monochrome is about lighting, tone, contrast and texture it is not about colour.Read more
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Stinky smelly fingers and Hybrid Photography

I was wondering about doing a bit of hybrid photography. The combination of darkroom and digital. see http://www.dpug.org for more information on hybrid photography. I have some very old darkroom chemicals left. So I tested the effectiveness of the undiluted Fixer this should clear the silver from an old film in less than a minute so the film base is clear. I tried it to no effect. I didn’t think that Fixer could go off. I was think about buying aRead more
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Andy Beel FRPS wins trophy for the second year

Andy Beel FRPS has been announced as the winner of the Frank Thomas Trophy at the Kingswood Photographic Society, for a set of three related prints. This shot of the Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire was taken on a rainy afternoon in September 2011 with a Lensbaby Composer and a single glass lens wide open. Lith post production was completed in Lightroom 3 using custom curves. See http://www.kingswoodps.co.uk/news.html for further information. Andy Beel retains the trophy following his win last year with a setRead more
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Andy Beel’s Black & White Photography Tips and Tricks

You may be interested in the Black and White Photography Tips and Tricks page on my updated website. It may even save you money on ink and paper. http://www.andybeelfrps.co.uk Don’t forget to sign up for an irregular email newsletter from me on the website’s new Newsletter page. This shot Lost in France was taken in 2005 – it has a very post impressionistic feeling to it which I like. Just to say to those who may think it lacks contrast – there isRead more
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Deep joy and Inkjet Printer Maintenance Tips

Isn’t life great when everything just works? My deep joy comes from the fact that my A2 Epson Pro 3800 Printer is now working again. Professional Inkjet Printers like the Epson Pro 3800 have a Maintenance Tank to collect all the waste ink. My problem was that the printer would not recognise that a Maintenance Tank was installed, and because of that would not print. You didn’t think that all the ink that costs more per litre than rocket fuel actually getsRead more

Electric Pictures

I have been re-visiting old negatives from around ten years ago. I took to electric pictures around 2001 wondering if digital would catch on. I still have my darkroom as somewhere for the washing machine to live. This picture “Peaches for Sale” was taken in Ansuois in Provence, France on a hot and sunny day in July 2002. I love the lazy laid back attitude of the guy. The 35mm TMX negative was scanned at 3200 dpi giving around a 16 x 10″Read more
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Dyslexics of the world unite

I am dyslexic particularly when typing. I’m great at reading but pushing buttons to make thought public can be a bit tricky. Dyslexia comes from the Greek language meaning ‘difficulty with words’. It’s a symptom of a number of different information processing disorders in the brain. I was just re-reading the former post called “Bin bags & Baguettes” and I noticed words missing and spelling mistakes. As with all posts they are proof read usually about six times (not an exaggeration) toRead more
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Bin bags and Baguettes

Some times things don’t work out as planned. The cunning plan was to go to Devon take a few nice autumn pictures and then give a talk to Newton Abbot Photo Club in the evening. I drove to Devon in the early morning in soft sunshine thinking my luck had changed as  it wasn’t raining. I met up with a friend Paula Graham ARPS who is an excellent photographer and she drove us around Dartmoor in her Landrover. We had lunch at aRead more
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Ethiopia – Land of burnt faces

Ethiopia in greek means the “Land of burnt faces”. I will be giving a talk of the same name to the Newton Abbot Photo Club on Tues 25th Oct at 7.30pm. See the clubs programme at http://www.newtonabbot-photoclub.org.uk/ This shot was taken at a monastery on my first trip to northern Ethiopia in 2006. I was in a party of 8 travellers, and the only photographer in the group on the “Historic Route” trip. We had arrived at the monastery, got out of theRead more
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Who will be the 100th Subscriber?

Who will be the 100th Subscriber to my blog? Unfortunately I can’t give a prize or a voucher. I don’t agree that photographing graffiti is my art as its someone elses original work. With this shot called “Women of the east” at least I have given it my own style and presentation. The original was considerably darker than this. I tend to like the ethereal quality the Lith process has given it. What do you think? let me know post a commentRead more
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Everyone’s heard of Henri Cartier-Bresson Right 2

To quote Henri Cartier-Bresson “For me photography has not changed except in its technical aspects”. For me I take HCB to mean that there is a difference in thinking and operation between creating a photography and the techique of recording the idea with a camera. By may 2007 I had paraphrased HCB’s quote to “Photography has nothing to do with cameras and computers”. This is a follow on post from the previous post of the same name made a monthRead more
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“Let the Purists wail in disgust” – The Heretic

Here is another rant from the Heretic. I call myself a self-styled heretic because I rail against the very reason photography is different from other visual arts, namely its ability to render fine detail accurately. For me the lack of detail allows me to tell a different story to that of a picture with full anatomical detail. Here a large component of the picture is made from digital noise and shadows. Let the purists wail in disgust if they like. DetailRead more
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How slow can you go?

How slow  a shutter speed can you hand hold? The answer to that question depends on a number of factors – the purpose of the picture, equipment used, focal length of the lens, IS / VR. Hopefully by know everybody is aware of the 1/the focal length of the lens criteria for hand-held shutter speeds for lens without Image stabilisation / Vibration Reduction. Eg the slowest hand-held shutter speed for a 200mm lens would be a 1/200 of a second. With a ISRead more
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Ansel Adams revisited

I was in Oxford UK to attend an Ansel Adams exhibition in 2009. Looking back on the Ansel Adams exhibition of prints that he printed, the contrast range of many prints was less than I would have expected from seeing reproductions in books. Therefore you can’t beat seeing the actual prints for an accurate assessment of print tonality. As I am struck on wide-angle lenses, so out came the Sigma 12-24mm full frame to take a snap of the bike withRead more

Andy Beel FRPS The “Untitled” Monochrome Talk

I will be giving a brand new Black and White Photography talk called The “Untitled” Monochrome talk at Gloucester Camera Club on Tues Oct 4th 7.30pm. See  www.gloucestercameraclub.org.uk for the rest of the exciting programme of  Speakers. The “Untitled” Monochrome Talk rounds up pictures from trips from the last three years around Great Britain and across the pond to New Brunswick. The picture above is another of my wet light shots – taken in the rain, hopefully the eye is drawn toRead more
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Two Strictly Dancers

Two strictly dancers  – I adore the way the split-toning has given the dancing couple a warm ambient outer glow towards each other. Perhaps temporary feelings of joy and company in each others arms as the swirl around the dance floor. The inner world of each dancer lies behind the outer frivolity with the cool blue barrier line. They both know, the other is not their own true love and the search will continue with another. (c) Andy Beel FRPS http://www.andybeelfrps.co.ukRead more
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A Double Expresso Please

Ah a caffeine hit, my favourite is a coffee with a whisky chaser on the side, but at 11.00 am its a little early even for me. Lith is becoming a bit of style for me. Other posts I have done a while ago explain the whys and wherefore of the process. The lensbaby composer with a single glass lens wide open really helps with the glow on this print. Unusaly for me I decided to print this picture and thenRead more
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Ten Photo truths – The truth revealed

This is my take on the ten truths of photography posted last week. Have a read through and see if you agree with me. 1 More pixels and expensive technology equals the best image This is marketing spin to entice us to give money to equipment manufactures. The latest most expensive equipment won’t help in the hands and mind of someone with no ability to observe, decide what is significant and express that significance in a satisfying visual design. AsRead more
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There is no such thing as the wrong light…..

There is no such thing as the wrong light, only the wrong clothing, attitude, subject and timing. Light can be described as bright, soft, overcast, cloudy,  sunny,  dull, a week at f8 and my favourite – wet. My preference is to take pictures just after the rain has stopped and everything is still wet, not that I mind getting wet. I’m not at all bothered about using the camera in the rain or it getting wet as long as I can keep the lensRead more