A few observations on a quick 10 minute play in the newly released public beta of Lightroom 5…

1. As an owner of the Nikkor 16-35 f4 lens, this lens suffers from some hefty curvature at 16mm so the new straightening tool will be sooo useful. It did a really nice job on this attached photo which I’d all but discarded as I struggled to straighten it manually.

2. The radial filter/tool. I can see being really cool and will be used not just for creating off-centre vignetting as many (including myself) were desperate for, but maybe used more often for selective lighting. I used it here to lighten the front of the building.

3. The new spot removal is of course better now you can paint in the area you wish to heal/clone. Personally I use Photoshop for all my healing/cloning and this probably won’t change.

4. Spot highlighting tool. Yowser! Yes I knew my sensor was dirty, this really highlights that to the point of shame… I really need to sort some cleaning out! Pity this tool doesn’t just get rid of them all automatically… Spoken like a true lazy ass

5. Its a beta. That meaning there will be further refinement and hopefully a lot more economising on memory use. Editing a 12mb RAW file generated by a Nikon D700 was getting very laggy where as LR4.4 flies through the develop module.

6. Why didn’t it want to play with my latest catalog?! I have catalogs set up for each quarter of the year. It would read my Jan – March 2013 catalog but not my current April – June 2013 catalog… weird. (It would also read catalogs from previous years, the latest was the only one unreadable).

So yes, I’m looking forward to the full release but in the meantime I will be sticking to LR 4.4 unless I have a building to straighten.

Larger versions of the edited and unedited images…

Whats your views so far?

A really good breakdown by Scott Kelby & Matt K of the new features can be found here - http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom5

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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Today Google announced the “NIK Collection by Google”, basically the 6 separate photographic processing plugins made originally NIK Software repackaged as one and given a much more affordable price point – $149 (down from $500 for the same full collection previously).

Firstly this means I can finally afford the whole collection! and importantly stop using the trial version of the brilliant Silver Efex Pro 2 which is the best black and white processing plugin out there (even though onOne Software’s Perfect B/W was highly recommended). Now that they are all together and in my price range I will happily and proudly pass over my very hard earned money to use such great tools.

Obviously I know the power and love Silver Efex Pro 2, but I look forward to reacquainting myself with the extremely powerful Viveza 2, brilliant with its U-Point technology for local adjustments, its been a few years since I last used it.

The whole collection comprises:

Dfine 2 – One of the top noise reduction plugins

Color Efex Pro 4 – A range of effects and tools to give creative freedom with your photography

HDR Efex Pro 2 – NIK’s version of HDR processing algorithms.

Sharpener Pro 3 – A great sharpening tool.

Viveza 2 – Great for local colour and tonal adjustments.

Silver Efex Pro 2 – Do B/W? Then you need this! No arguments.

So with this announcement professional photographers the world over breathe a sigh of relief as many doubted Google’s intentions for their loved tools when they bought the long established company in 2012 and worryingly moved some engineers onto other Google projects. But will this relief be fleeting? Yes, they have repackaged the software into one single entity, but will we see new versions of these amazing programs in the future? Or is this the final gift to us photographers “Here have these programs for one low fee, but we won’t be providing updates”. I sincerely hope not and believe Google will provide for us Pro’s a little while longer at least.

So with this new lower price of $149 will onOne be a little nervous? I’ve trialled NIK products much more than onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite which is now the pricier option at $299 (I recently gave the latest version (7) a try, some parts are cool, some just don’t fit with my workflow though).

For the full time pro both packages will be part of their workflow already, for the serious hobbyist/part timer then an amazing tool has now been made much more available! These are indeed exciting times in the digital creativity world with much more high-end software being made affordable with subscription models (Adobe’s Creative Cloud) or previously expensive programs now being made affordable to many more creatives who many are on the lower scale of earnings with the current difficult and efficiency driven times we are living in.

Also coming out of Google towers today is the upgraded version of its iOS and Android Google+ app, which like many other social sharing sites incorporates some photo editing capability (like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr’s mobile apps). Google, as part of the NIK buyout acquired Snapseed, maybe the most powerful but least used of mobile photo editing app. Google has in the new Google+ app included a vastly stripped down version as its in-app editing. For full editing you can still go to the recently made free Snapseed.

Right I’m off to buy the NIK Collection by Google!

This image of Bamburgh Castle Clock Tower processed using Silver Efex Pro is available as a print from my print store

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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My plans for a Saturday afternoon changed suddenly when I read a tweet from friend and operator of Serenity Boat Tours, Andrew Douglas. He posted this…

NEWS JUST IN…..80mtr boat has hit the rocks at Blue Caps, The Farne Islands. Not good as the birds have just arrived.

— Andrew Douglas (@thefarnes) March 16, 2013

After establishing that there was no oil involved (horrific to even contemplate… ) and seeing the sight from a few grainy phone images on twitter, I knew there was an opportunity of seeing and photographing something unique and potentially historic for our corner of the world.

I made it onto the 1pm Serenity Boat Trip, also onboard were some bemused tourists who would be treated to extra views and time around the islands than usual for deepest march, and also a reporter (Frances Read) & cameraman from ITVnews who were conducting interviews and collecting footage for the evening news bulletin. Head warden John Walton was also onboard for a look.

The MV Danio, a German owned ship carrying timber from Perth, Scotland to Antwerp in Belguim ran aground in the early hours on the 16^th of March. The blog of the Farne Island wardens was updated with the following..

“This morning at about 5am, the 80 metre (262 ft) vessel MV Danio travelling from Perth to Antwerp ran aground on the north facing edge of the Blue Caps/Little Harcar. The boat was carrying a cargo of timber, with a crew of six when it struck the island and became lodged as the tide receded.”

The regular tour started after a brief crossing. After seeing the thousands of recently returned Guillemots, an amazing sight as they flew from the rocks in huge numbers almost forming a feathered carpet just feet above the cold churning sea, we headed further out to where the action was and to continue the regular tour schedule.

There she was… well and truly stuck!

Seeing her and her location within the islands, just yards from a prominent and historic lighthouse, really makes you wonder how this happened… Was it a technical problem? Was it human error (or negligence)?

For the time being, the Farne Islands have dodged a bullet. The relief of there being no oil involved, and that it’s happened before the bird breeding season gets underway where up to 200,000 birds will be present on the islands.

Here’s a few images I took of the Danio and the scene in general.

Thanks to Andrew Douglas of Serenity Boat Tours for the trip out, check his blog out for all (man-made and wildlife) news from the Farnes. I’ll be back many times once the breeding season is underway! Hopefully the crossings will be calmer then…

I also got a few other shots of the wildlife as we toured, can’t wait for May and June when the Islands will be alive with birds!

Latest:

28th March – She’s gone! In the early hours the MV DANIO was refloated and towed away south. Well done to the salvage team. Normal service can now resume.

27th March – Efforts to tow the Danio off the rocks today were abandoned due to rough weather and heavy seas.

ITVnews – Video Report 1. http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2013-03-16/full-report-cargo-ship-runs-aground/

ITVnews – Video Report 2. Cargo ship aground off Northumberland Coast – http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2013-03-18/cargo-ship-aground-off-northumberland-coast/

Links:

Serenity Boat Tours – twitter @thefarnes – blog

Farne Islands Blog – twitter @NTsteely

National Trust: The Farne Islands

Seahouses RNLI

Marine Traffic - Check the position and identity of marine traffic throughout the world.

Wind Guru – Sea and wind conditions (search for Beadnell Bay for Farne Island conditions)

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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A project that I was around at its inception has yet again had some cool exposure in the US media after being featured on the evening news show NBC Nightly News on the 11th of March.

Virtual Photo Walks, founded by Canadian Commercial Photographer John Butterill, uses the Google Hangouts feature to enable those who cannot travel for a range of reasons to see the world thanks to volunteers all over the globe using their smartphones and 3g/4g data connections to stream live video and broadcast their views to those watching.

It was February 2012 when John, walking through the Canadian bush near his Ontario home, broadcast himself to a few friends (inc. me) photographing a Bard owl – the 1st step to the final Virtual photo Walks idea.

So you may have seen my pixelated head in the above video, I am in it, go back and watch again if you didn’t spot me – it doesn’t help that I am partially obliterated by the NBC logo though!

Find out more about Virtual Photo Walks here…

• Main Virtual Photo Walks website
• Google+ Page
• Facebook Page
• Youtube Page

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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Do you want to own an image of mine but not fancy the idea of spending £40 on a print?

Today I have the answer…

I am releasing this black and white long exposure image of Beadnell Harbour here in Northumberland, England for FREE. You can do anything you want with it!

So feel free to use it on your blog, use it as a wallpaper on your devices, print it and hang it in your living room or office, anything! (Just don’t sell it or use it to sell any commercial activities)

The image is sized for a 12×8 print at 300dpi, but you could print it larger with negligible deterioration in print quality. The colour space for those who care about such things is sRGB.

Download the full resolution image of Beadnell Harbour here (from box.com)

If you like the image and download it, please consider subscribing to my newsletter and resharing this post.

Should this go well with plenty of subscribers and shares, I may do this more often…

Thanks for stopping by!

Andy

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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This years partner is the Kilgoris Project.

Here is a video to explain it all.

Pre ordering is open for a few more days to allow ordering of limited editions, ebooks and contribute generally using Indiegogo (a Kickstarter type service for non-profits).

More information can be found at the Plus One Collection homepage.

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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Immediately there were cries of “account deletion” as news and analysis of the the new terms spread throughout photographic and social media communities.

The section of the new Instagram Terms of Service that seems to be stirring people into action are…

In these harsh economic times seeing a multi billion dollar organisation (Instagram is of course now owned by Facebook) slip something in that basically means they can sell any or all of our images, data, likeness etc etc for profit whilst we the creators still go cold and hungry, naturally rails against all that we as content creators stand for. For many of us creating imagery is our living and Instagram is/was another useful tool to spread our visions around the globe.

Personally I only recently started using instagram again after a brief tryout 2 years ago where I didn’t see the benefit of sharing on the go as I live in a data uploading blackspot meaning I always had to share from home when I could connect to a wireless broadband network, so removing 100 images is no great loss for me.

When it comes down to it though, Instagram is a business that needs to make money, Facebook paid $1 billion for it, and Facebook’s investors aren’t exactly happy that they had half their investment value disappear when Facebook went public, so things do need monetized  But is effectively turning Instagram into a stock photography site (where the creators get paid nothing) the best way to go? Surely in-app ads (and web ads), a subscription model, sell products (like instacanv.as) or indeed just pay for usage of any images used in paid advertising with a reasonable percentage going to the content creator would be a more acceptable way to monetize?..

When it comes to privacy of users and maybe the subject’s privacy (and their possible likenesses being used in possible ads) I’m not one to be taking many images of people full stop so this section doesn’t really concern me too much, but this part will probably concern many people more than the non-payment section of the terms of service as instagram is a quick and easy way to share photos to friends and family rather than use it as an artistic medium.

Then there are the professional, or serious hobbyist photographers who would share finished desktop processed images to Instagram, people like friends Boris Gorlik and Victor Bezrukov. Those guys I can definitely see abandoning instagram to protect their best imagery.

At the moment I am unsure as to whether to delete my instagram account entirely before the 16th as most images are not of artistic note and don’t feature any if many people, rendering the privacy and likeness issue irrelevant to me. Maybe I am hoping that they revoke this section and any of the other contentious sections to create some “better press” by backing down and “listening” to their customers (content creators) and using the terms that Facebook currently work to. Or maybe this is a way for Facebook to test the waters for them to update their own ToS for photographs posted to their network?… Facebook is one of those organisations I wouldn’t bet against trying something like that.

One thing is for sure, with the new app for iOS by Flickr I will be posting my mobile pics to a set I’ve set up there after editing in Google’s Snapseed app.

My Flickr presence could get a serious re-awakening!

Update: Seems as though Instagram are trying to backtrack or at least getting someone sensible to rewrite sections of their terms of service to make it apparent as to what they are intending doing with our images… http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank-you-and-were-listening

Another view point on the using images for ads… Yes they may only be used in Instagram or or Facebook, but how great would everyone feel if indeed they got paid for that use?! That would certainly make everyone much happier!

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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At the end of May I was kindly asked back by Kelso Racecourse to take atmosphere shots around the course of the public areas and those who attended in their throngs on Ladies Day, on what feels like the last sunny day we had here this summer…

The following links take you to galleries of the photographs taken that day, 27th May 2012.

• Pony Racing prior to the main feature races
• The Injured Jockeys Fund Charity Race
• Ladies Day – Some racing, lots of lovely ladies, fabulous fashions and horses needing cooled off. This gallery also includes the Pony racing and IJF Race.

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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My 1st (not so wise) words here were… Ok so I got in… Now what?

Now What?!… Wow what a ride its been!
Aside from the advancements in my work encouraged by the many many people that have supported me and given me the confidence in my work that was certainly not there a year ago. If only the confidence in real world environments were there… but I digress.
The amazing thing about G+ is the people that are part of it. I can now claim to have true friends spread throughout the world – not bad for a guy who lives in a village of 65 people and last left the country 17 years ago…

I don’t remember much detail about the initial weeks on Google+, apart from +Colby Brown was a true leader and showed us the ways to use this platform and make it a pleasant place for all.

Fast forward to December and things took off and have never been the same since. +Andy Stuart, who I knew IRL, “held my hand” as I tested Hangouts – I’ve not looked back since. After stumbling into the 1st episode of Midweek Photo Talk hosted by +André Appel and +Rogier Rood (unfortunately we haven’t done one for months now..) I was addicted to hangouts!
Working from, or stuck at home, it wasn’t long until we started hanging out daily whilst we all worked away and our little gang formed. Spending my days with “colleagues” made the long lonely days of self employment disappear. So I thank you +André Appel +helen sotiriadis +mark helm +suzanne clements +Kev Isabeth +John Butterill  and of course +Don Noll for keeping me sane and entertained since Christmas. Our gang is of course much bigger than these few names and if I went further I’d only forget someone and they’d get upset, but you all contribute so much I can’t imagine life without seeing you all at least once a week!
Being one for late-ish nights there is another group of hanger-outerers! The lovely ladies +Elizabeth Lund +Kellianne Hutchinson +Katie Wright +Mary Sass Clark my birthday buddy +Wes Lum and the always entertaining +Boris Gorelik. Thank you all for ruining my sleep pattern and keep me up waay too late!

Highlights have been mainly in giving back to the community and seeing the good will and interaction here. Many of us submitted for the +Plus One Collection which benefited KIVA, submitted images for +Lee Daniels and being there when the idea for +Virtual Photo Walks™ which helps many see what they never could have, was being born (John says my post about the impromptu walk sparked the idea) was brilliant!

Recently I took part in +Chrysta Rae‘s Scavenger Hunt (May) and it was amazing – can’t wait to do more!

One thing that would make Google+ even better… I wish there was no such thing as time zones! It feels like so much cool stuff happens at 4am my time and there are many people I’d love to hangout with that just aren’t around whilst I’m awake!

Going back to photography, Google+ has opened my eyes to many talented people I’d never heard of before (even the “big names”) who have inspired me to try shooting techniques, processing styles, subscribe to their thoughts on the art and image management, found educational resources that I had never come across etc etc. Some limited examples are…
+mark helm for getting me into macro photography.
+Joel Tjintjelaar for inspiring me to try long exposures.
+Boris Gorelik and +Vivienne Gucwa for making me want to leave the UK and see New York for myself.
+Thomas Hawk‘s images for making me realise that there is so much potential art around us, far away from the landscapes I was exclusively taking when I started out here.
+Alan Shapiro for just basically being Alan Shapiro, for the challenges he lays before us, his beautiful flowers, his willingness to give time and tips and for taking the mick out of me for being quiet in hangouts

Year One on Google+ has been astounding and has changed the way I look at so much in my life, how much will Year Two change my life? I can’t wait to find out!!

Attaching this image A Song of Fog and Castles IIbecause, whilst taking this series of images, I have simply never been as excited about photography and capturing the scene presented before me, and its all down to Google+ and the amazing people that contribute, encourage one another and have made such a difference to me and my life.

Google+: View post on Google+

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.andrewsgray.com/licensing/.

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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I don’t use Google+ to drive traffic anywhere, like my like this blog or my Online Print Shop as like I said I’m there to share, but to celebrate this number I’m offering a discount on any prints I have hosted over on my online store should anyone want a print of mine.

http://photos.andrewsgray.com

Use the coupon code GOOGLE20000 to gain 20% off any print order (exc. postage) – Also if you have seen an image in my Google+ Albums here that isn’t available drop me a line or comment below and I’ll see if I can add it.
Feel free to share this post if you think others would like to take advantage of this offer.

Offer ends 1st July 2012.

Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks (and welcome) to the new followers – I hope to see and interact with you in the coming weeks and months!

Andy Gray

Andy is a Northumberland UK based Freelance Photographer, web and print designer. Selling images from http://photos.andrewsgray.com.

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