Technique 

467 creative works found

• My painted with light technique explained
  by Peter Zentjens

  Because of my Nostalgia series I received a few inquiries about …

  Because of my Nostalgia series I received a few inquiries about the “Painted with light” technique. About what it is and how it works. So, I decided to write a small article about it. This way, everybody who is interest in it can read it. I will not claim to be an expert in this technique, nor will I pretend that it’s something I discovered myself. It’s an old technique in the experimental photography. Rather then writing a complete tutorial on the technique I’ll try to reconstruct the path that lead me to where I’m today in the wonderful world of “painting with light”. At the end I’ll describe my own application of this lighting method in still life photography. First things first. Like many of you I’d never heard of “Painting with light” until I bumped into the work of Emil Schildt. Emil is an experimental photographer who’s experiments go in many directions. I’d like to try more of the things he has done, but, at the moment I’m still in the painting with light phase. Although Emil’s subjects are completely different from my own (his are nude models mostly), he was a huge inspiration for me. So, before you continue, check out his work in the painted with light category. (While you’re at it, check out the rest too, it’s worth a peek!). You will see that it really has a painterly feeling. Naturally, in Emil’s case, this feeling is enhanced by his other techniques, such as his special printing methods and so on. It’s this feeling that I was after in my lighting. What really got me experimenting was Emil’s description of his used techniques. Here is his painting with light tutorial. Based on this tutorial I started to experiment. In those days I was still shooting analogue and I quickly stopped again. The reason was simple. I had little spare time for my hobbies and practicing a new technique on film, having do develop them and mostly just see that it didn’t work out, having to start over again… Let’s just say it was discouraging and I wished I had a Polaroid camera. There was something better then Polaroid though: digital. When I bought my first digital camera I pick up my experiments again. The camera wasn’t really suited for it: long exposures resulted in more noise and enough dead pixels to fill up the sky with stars. But those problems where nothing Photoshop couldn’t handle and now I could experiment freely, see the results instantly and adjust my technique according to what I saw. I don’t know if it’s because the subjects are different, or because I’m jut not Emil, but I started to disagree on a number of things in his tutorial. I started to develop my own technique, or better said, my own work flow. Thinking of it that way, which is totally different from what I was thinking when I started writing this, I’ll end up writing my own tutorial anyway as I now see the differences with Emil’s tutorial that I had already forgotten. My work flow: / - Where emil advices to use a light bubble with a reflector, I advice to go for a flashlight. I suited my purposes better. Of course I’m working on a totally different scale. If you’re a model photographer I think you will have to stick to Emil’s advice. But if your subjects are smaller, like my still lifes, well, I preferred a shielded light source which produces a beam which is easier to aim with an to concentrate on one part of the image. - I don’t think I need to say this, but to be complete: you will need a tripod. - My first active step is simple yet takes up most of my time. It’s setting everything up. I start with a quick arrangement of my subjects on a table or whatever I’m using. I’m not carefully composing yet. Just putting the items in more or less the position I want to have them. This will usually changes ten times or more, but that’s not that important now. Right now, I’m looking for the angle mostly, for how to set-up the camera on the tripod. - Once the camera is up on the tripod I start to very carefully arrange my items and to really build up the composition. Of course, while doing this, the change is big that angle and crop are slightly adjusted again. All of this has little to do with the technique we are discussing, so let’s move on. - If this is the first time you are using this technique with this combination of tools (camera and light source) you will have to set up a balance between your camera and what you want to achieve. Now I’m mostly talking about the settings and amongst those most of all about white balance. Of course if you should raw you have the ability to edit the white balance later on and then it’s not so important. I wanted a very warm feeling so I leave my white balance to auto which results in a warm, reddish glow from my flashlight. It’s that combination, light source and white balance, that will dictate the colors and general mood. If you change your light or camera, you will have to search for the right settings again so try to stick to the same equipment as much as possible. When I bought my new camera and specially when I started to shoot in raw I totally lost direction and it took me a while to get the results I wanted again. On the other hand, once you used the same combination for a while, getting the results you want will go a lot smoother as you can know what to expect. - According to the size of the subject, the distance to it and so on, you will have to decide on a diafragm setting and a shutter speed. For the ISO value I would stick to the lowest one your camera has to reduce noise to an absolute minimum. The big advantage of digital is that you can do a few trial runs to see if you set up your aperture and shutter speed correctly. If not, don’t change your aperture ! You need that to pick the DOF. The big difference here is that Emil’s shooting models that have to sit still, so you want the fastest shutter speed possible. But my still lifes aren’t going anywhere, so I adjust the shutterspeed and keep the DOF where I want it. - Now, to make the actual picture, or to do your trial runs, I said the camera on “timer”. I make the room pitch dark, which is very important as you don’t want any light source then your own interfere with your image. I use my flashlight to find the camera again, push the shutter, and wait for the timer. - It’s here that the fun starts. Trust me, you will need a whole bunch of trials before getting it right. Work out a “path” for your light source to follow. Try to get the lightning right in one smooth motion. You can also hesitate with the light source on certain points of your composition to highlight them. You can move slowly or very fast to achieve different effects. Just be creative! Remember one rule of thumb though: keep moving the light or it will burn a spot into your image. If you want to highlight something, for example, make a slow circular motion to get a soft edge. Of course, it’s totally possible that you want that burned in spot, like I said: be creative. Just think of it this way: / your flashlight is your brush, light is your paint. - Repeat this, over and over again, until you get what you want, until you have your path worked out, the way the strokes of light have to be applied just right. - You are shooting digital, don’t be afraid of Photoshop or similar programs. Photoshop is your friend, even more accurate, Photoshop is your darkroom. Not all digital cameras give good results on longer, darker exposures like I already mentioned. So it’s possible that you will need a lot of Photoshop work to correct noise and dead pixels but I use it for a little more then just that. - At this point, I have several images which I like, but you will see this happening too: picture 1 has the light just right on item 1, picture 2’s background is far better lit and picture 3 has a spot of light on this tiny detail that non of your other picks have. I’m just giving an example here. I think you can guess my next step, right? I’m going to melt those 3 images into one where I have the light exactly the way I want it, everywhere. I’ll do this using masks mostly. Hiding bits from one image, showing bits from another, until everything is just right. I already mentioned the noise work (no longer necessary for me with my K10D) and the removal of dead pixels and do some other small adjustments like a little dodging, burning, small color corrections etc. Just like I would do in my darkroom in the ol’days. That’s it! That’s all there is to it. By now you should have one beautiful painted with light image. By way of inspiration, I hope, I’ll show you one of mine again. If you want more, check out my Nostalgia series update: this tutorial continues here Now available as a calendar /

• 

  Perspective
  by Anne Staub

  All photographs and artworks in this portfolio are copyrighted and owned by the artist, Anne Staub. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, or exploitation of any of the content, for personal or commercial use, whether in whole or in part, without written permission from myself is prohibited. All rights reserved.

• 

  The Bathers
  by Kate Smith

  Pastel & Mixed techniques / framed original / SOLD The Bathers / Taking a bath is a guilty pleasure / The satisfaction we feel is without measure / There’s nothing quite like it on a cold day / To fill up the tub and soak ones troubles away / The warmth of the water / The touch on the skin / It seems like a sin / The tub filled so close to the top / Once emersed from the sides the water will sloop / No quilt do we carry for choosing this path / For the pleasures we seek / When there are four to a bath. written by Kate Smith

• DIY How To: Through the Viewfinder Photography
  by Jules Campbell

  This is a ‘how to’ do the through the viewfinder or ttv technique written for all of you that have expressed interest recently. It is…

  This is a ‘how to’ do the through the viewfinder or ttv technique written for all of you that have expressed interest recently. It is by no means a rule book because I think each person would approach it differently but this is how I manage it..and remember with ttv really there ARE NO RULES :) It will require you to use that creative imagination but this is honestly half the fun of it!! I should give you some background info firstly, it is rumored to have first been thought of by Mr E on Flickr back in 2005 but there are is no hard proof of this just speculation on my behalf. TTV is still really huge on flickr with hundreds of groups dedicated to the different styles and subjects of ttv eg nature, black&white, manipulated, ferriswheels, self-portraits, etc etc So firstly ..what you are going to need, the essentials; / 1- a twin reflex camera eg. Kodak Duaflex, Argus75, or any other camera that has a large viewfinder. NB Most can be picked up from flea markets or ebay for as little as $5. Most take 620 film that is no longer made/available so this is why they are so cheap plus they are a dime a dozen as they were mass produced in the 1950s & 60’s. / 2- a digital camera with a pretty good macro so you are able to zoom in nice and close to the viewfinder / 3- a tripod certainly helps but isn’t essential / 4- something to block out excess light from above that shines onto your viewfinder glass, this can be a specially made box, a round piece of cardboard, or anything else that will do the job that you have laying about. / 5- a good sense of humor and a healthy dose of patience!! Here’s some of my twin reflex kids / This is the argoflex 75 and the kodak duaflex / This is an ansco and not my gun shells there ..its goose shooting season here and I have included them for size comparison. I wouldn’t recommend the ansco to start with as its really fiddley!! / This is looking down at the ansco’s viewfinder. / This is zooming in as tight as possible with my macro lens. / This is the image that has been cropped and is now ready for what ever colour adjustments or processing you wish to do. / OK so this isn’t my image of choice here but you get the general idea.. / This is a random piece of cardboard tube that I now use to block out excess light reflecting on the viewfinder glass. / Here is the side view..if you insist on being really anal about it you get some ideas for building the exact fit to your camera from flickr here If you would like a really indepth tutorial I can recommend Russ Morris’s here A few other points I’d like to add….some may wonder why go to all this trouble when you can do all of this with photoshop (fake ttvs) well my answer to that is I really like being able to see what image I want to create in the field and quite frankly it is so much more fun and creative to be actually ‘out there’ doing it! Secondly I don’t think all images or concepts are suited to the ttv style so this will be a matter of trial and error to see what fits for you. Lastly -the ttv style is all about embracing age and the antique-look of an image so think carefully about your post processing. Alot of ttv actually looks wonderful all on its own and I think many would be shocked at how little I actually do to some ttvs. Please use this link if you wish to find out more about the different processes and for free photoshop downloads here / that help achieve the vintage, grungey look. A great one to start with is urban acid :) Here’s a few more … / An urban acid ttv There you go…I think thats it?? Let me know if you need to know more or perhaps I’ve left something out…and don’t forget there is a Through the Viewfinder / group for ‘real’ ttvs when you are all ready to go!! Cheers Everyone!! Jules :)

• TUTORIAL:Add a Slide show to your Redbubble Profile/Bubblesite
  by D R Moore

  Adding a slide show to redbubble Ok not really a slide show but it is very close, It’s an animated gif image. / You can see one ”...

  Adding a slide show to redbubble Ok not really a slide show but it is very close, It’s an animated gif image. / You can see one My Bubblesite These images can also be linked / Doing this will require you to have software that can make an animated gif image. / And of coarse I know of a free software program that can be used and this tutorial will explain how to do this using this free software. The free software is called / unfreeze and you can Get it here / Once downloaded and installed on your / computer we are ready to go. The first step is to get the images you want to include in your slide show, I am going to use my redbubble images set in frames for my bubblesite homepage. Sign-in to your redbubble account Click “My Bubble” then “Art” find the image you want to include and click the “show public view” Now click the “buy/preview” button / Select the product format you want to use Card, Laminated print, etc.. Then save the image to your computer. Internet Explorer users “Right Click” the image and select “Save Picture As” / Firefox users “Right Click” and select “Save image as” / And choose a location on your PC where you can find it easily. / You can use as many images as you want, but remember you want them to visit your gallery so keep the number of images to a minimum. / I’m going to use 8 images for now. / You can re size your images if you like the Unfreeze software will resize your images to fit in a 375 pixels(high) X 360 pixels(wide) box but the software will not center the image. For those that want their images centered in the box, Use your photo software to edit the images / The software program (unfreeze) that I recommended above requires the images to be in gif format. Doing this in your photo software may be different than mine. But I will open the image in my photo software “Paint.net” and then click the “Save as” option and change the format (type) to gif ( Graphics Interchange Format).They will be saved in the same folder that I put the ones I downloaded from the bubble. Once the images are in the gif format. We are ready to create the animated gif (slideshow) Open the folder where your gif images are located Start “unfreeze” a small window will appear / Drag your images into the white window Then set the delay on the right, I used 60, Make sure the “Loop animation” box is checked Now click the “Make Animated Gif” button Give it a name and Click “Save” To make the images change slower add more than one of the same file The image that I created here was made using three copies of the same image,delay set to 90 / Example: drag and drop “image1.gif”,then do it again drag and drop “image1.gif “ This one has four of the same images and delay set to 60 Now the image can be uploaded to a web site, since Redbubble does not support this file type. You can use “Dropbox” / which is a free file store, share, sync software Get it Here it allows you to have 2 gig of file storage for free. Plus when I change the slide show gif I just created dropbox will take care of the rest. / So changing my slide show is as easy as making a new one and saving it using the same location and name on my pc as the one I’m using now. / Now Insert the new image on your bubblesite or profile / Use the image location (web address,web url) with a ! before and after the image location / For more on Linking images etc. see this post How to Customize Redbubble / And your done. / You can also include these in your description boxes these have been reduced in size A great way to promote your calendars on your bubblesite remember these images can be linked to the buy page. / Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission

• TUTORIAL:Using tags on Redbubble
  by D R Moore

  There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. K…

  There are many reasons for using tags 1. Creating links to make it easier for your visitors to find what they want / 2. Knowing what images are in what group / 3. Help your visitors find what they want faster. For keeping track of what images are in what group, I’ve found that the easiest way to do this is by Tagging the image with the group name. Then making a bookmark for easy access to Group lists, This method will also show new images as long as you add the tag when you enter the image to a group. / To add tags to images Click your “art” button or Here , Then next to the image click “edit”, The tag box is below the Description box. / Tag Example: All images that I’ve submitted to the Group “Animal Kingdom” , I’ve added the following tag “animal kingdom” remember to separate the tags with a comma ( , ) / Search Example:The following will work for all users as long as you put your username, and tag in the places indicated in bold below / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Once you get the results Bookmark it, Now the next time you try to remember what images you have in a group or have I reached the group limit you can click the bookmark and see what images are in that group and how many. / Bonus: Using the links from above to organize your images for visitors, Link an Image or text with the Links you created above. / You can see some of your links using tags by clicking your username in the top right hand side of any redbubble page (this takes you to your public profile page) / then click Art, Calendar, or T-Shirts then on the next page on the left there are text links with the tags that you have added to your work. / ( if your not sure how to do this See this post Creating Links Etc…on redbubble ) EXAMPLES: / Linked text "Birds":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / Birds / Linked image / !www.imageishere.jpg!:http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / You can click the link below, It will open in redbubble it won’t give you any results but then you can then change the username in the address bar click “go” or just hit enter bookmark the result or add it to your “favorites” for future tag making . / http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname How to tag your journals / writings The above method does not work for my journls or writings / Example:I have a few How-to’s in the How to Redbubble group and I’ve tagged them with”htrb” So if i create a tag like above it would be / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/art/everything/tags/htrb / unfortunately the results give me a blank page (click the link above if you don’t believe me) / Here is how we can get the results we need (want). / See Here http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/journals / If you have a lot of writings it might be a good idea to tag these for many reasons. 1. Keeping track of what groups they are in / 2. Easy reference for other bubble members / 3. sorting by topic / 4. and many more…. I will try and explain the easiest way to do this and hopefully make it as painless as possible. / I will explain how I created the above results for my How to journals / Fist and most important tag all your work with your username / Step 1. Tag the journal I’m using “htrb” / Step2. Make a link to the list of journals with this tag / To do this we will need to use the search box / Enter your username and tag “click Search” I’m going to enter envelope150 htrb / Step 4. When you get to the results page copy the address from the address bar or bookmark it. / If your tags are fresh give it a little time for redbubble servers to catch up(up to 10-min) / Now you can use the address to make links to your journals for easy reference or group tracking. / I high lighted my username and tag below in bold, When copying the results you will have the %20 where the space is suppose to be. http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20htrb/ Click Here to see the results if you like Using the method above to create links for your images adds the ability to use more than one tag / Example: If I want to make a link to my osprey(bird) images I would use the search box and enter envelope150 bird osprey click “search” and I get this / http://www.redbubble.com/search/envelope150%20birds%20osprey only my images that include the 3 tags will show up / This method would be good for the Flower Lovers to separate their Flowers images not only by type of flower but color as well. Using tags like username flowers roses red and then searching those tags to make a link to their “My Red Roses Collection”. / Hope this tutorial helps in getting you started in fully customizing or just organizing your bubble profile. Bonus Tip To make a text box appear when someone hovers over a link add text in (these) like below "Landscapes(View my Landscape Collection)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/yourusername/art/everything/tags/tagname / See how it works below just place your mouse pointer on the link but do not click it / Landscapes / Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission

• Glamour Style Portraiture Tips
  by Jennifer Woodward

  I’ve had a few people ask how I achieved the finish to some of my portraiture works, so as promised, I’ll try and explain as best I can, ...

  I’ve had a few people ask how I achieved the finish to some of my portraiture works, so as promised, I’ll try and explain as best I can, how I acheived the image below. This is by no means a step by step guide, as I generally just mess about with an image until I’m happy with it. There are however, certain effects in photoshop I tend to favour for certain subject matters, so I can at least give you an insight into those! To start of with, if you are going to heavily edit a photo, it’s generally important you are working on perfectly focussed image in the first place, so if you are going for quality, use a tripod. The reason this is important, is because when you edit your work, you are directly affecting the pixels of your digital image, and somtimes, editing can cause pixel loss, therefore reducing the quality and sharpness of the image. Lighting is another important factor – it doesn’t have to be perfect, but make sure you don’t have any areas that are very under or over-exposed. One thing I always do when I start editing, is to duplicate the background layer twice to create three layers. I then hide the background layer, leaving two layers visable. I then tend to work on the top layer when adding effects, and once I’m happy with each effect, I merge with the second layer before duplicating the merged layer ready for the next effect. This way, you always have your untouched background layer so if you do go terribly wrong, you haven’t lost your original image. You can also use your background layer to compare your edited layer with. I find this very useful to measure how far you’ve come with your editing. If you’ve gone to far, and over edited, you can always reduce the opacity of the edited version to get some of the detail back, before merging with a duplicated copy of your background layer. To create a glamour style portrait, I generally start by tidying up the image. If it’s too grainy, I use despeckle or reduce noise, but this can cause loss of detail to important areas like the eyes or lips. Detail can be recovered by carefully using the eraser tool on these areas. This will reveal the layer beneath. These layers can then be merged and duplicated. I focus very much on the eyes and mouth of my portraiture work, and I frequently select these areas using the marquee tool or pen tool, (set to a feather strength of 100 or so) and sharpen them using the unsharp mask. Any areas that look over sharpened can always be erased with the eraser tool. I also use this method to increase contrast. The next step I might take is to set the colour palette to a very pale flesh colour and select diffuse glow. It’s always best to add each effect in a subtle way. I often repeat effects over and over adding just a hint each time. It might be more time consuming, but the final result will be much more pleasing to the eye. After you’re happy with the glow of the skin, have a play about with the layer effects in the layer palette. My favourites are “overlay” “screen” and “multiply”. To create the effect of smooth skin, I add a suitable layer effect, and then choose gaussian blur. You will have to play about with the slider here to see what strength looks best. I often reduce the opacity after each effect before merging with my second layer. I find the effects work much better adding a little each time. Remember that if you lose any detail in the eye/mouth area, you can recover it by using the eraser tool. The next step might be to add accented edges – I find this can add extra sparkle, especially to the highlights of the lips and eyes. A common setting for the highlight strength is 28 or 29, but again, have a mess about with it and see what effect it has on your image. I use a variety of methods to get the colour and tone of an image right, and I tend to begin by using the selective colour option. I’ve actually only just discovered this way of altering colour, and I find this option gives you much more control than any other method. The best advise I can give on getting the colour balance right, is to trust your instincs. If it feels right, it is. Same goes for any other editing you do. Try not to think too much about how it should look, and more on how you feel about an effect or colour you just added. Art is about expression in the most honest way. If you like it, it’s right! Other options to alter the colour and tone of an image are photo filters, colour balance and variations. I tend to use all of them at some point during my portraiture works. Another effect I frequently use is craquelure. This can work great on eyes and lips to bring out texture and highlight. Again, I will select the area I want to enhance, then after the effect, I usually either reduce the opacity of the layer, or fade the effect via the edit menu so it doesn’t look to harsh. Well, that’s pretty much the basics! I will usually run through each of these effects alternately adding a bit at a time. I often return to the eye/lip area to sharpen or add contrast. The skin can be further smoothed by reducing noise and or, despeckling repeatedly. Any detail like hair, eyes and lips, can again be recovered using the eraser tool. I hope this journal gave you a useful insight into how I go about my portraiture works. It might not be a step by step guide but I hope it will encourage you to acheive the effects you desire from photoshop. Let me know if there are any areas you are unsure about, or if there are any other questions, either leave a comment or bubblemail me. Happy editing!! Jen :-)

• TUTORIALS:Bling Bling for bubbling
  by D R Moore

  Here is the Table of Contents for my How-to’s on Customizing your redbubble profile and bubblesite. / redbubble does not allow you to post…

  Here is the Table of Contents for my How-to’s on Customizing your redbubble profile and bubblesite. / redbubble does not allow you to post “HTML” (webcode) but here are ways to add things and get the custom look to make your profile stand out from the rest… Working with text [Formatting] / The basics of formatting text More…... redbubble Formatting [Text wrapping images] / Learn how to use tables to text wrap your images, align text / and more… Creating Links Etc…on redbubble / The basics of creating clickable text and images post them on your profile, in forums or on your bubblesite Adding Calendars to your bubblesite / Here is a way to add a calendar to your bubblesite with a link to the buy page Using Small Product Previews Quick (Redbubble) Search Bookmarklet Repeat post Time Saver Framed image on Bubblesite home page feedjit Live Traffic Feed Edit your Slideshow widget. Edit your Sales Widget… Using promotional image Banner Using tags on Redbubble Using a Paypal button on redbubble Add a Slide show to your Redbubble Profile/Bubblesite Visitor counter on your bubblesite or profile page Mapco visitor counter on your profile/bubblesite Redbubble toolbar / Host or Co-Host Tutorials Featuring the easy way Need more Help? / Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 Happy Bubbling (with Bling Bling) / Dan

• TUTORIAL:Adding Calendars to your bubblesite
  by D R Moore

  To add a calendar to your bubblesite is not in the bubble site set-up or the mange gallery as of yet. I look forward to when this will be…

  To add a calendar to your bubblesite is not in the bubble site set-up or the mange gallery as of yet. I look forward to when this will be incorporated into the Manage Gallery section for our bubblesites. / So the only way to advertise our Calendars is to give them a link to the right direction to view our calendars. / There are many ways to do this on redbubble / You may simply add the calendar covers to your bubblesite home page Here is one from my collection to get the image url it is the same process as used before. / If you missed it before Click Here for How-to Click “My Bubble” then “Calendars” or Click Here / Next Right click the cover image and copy the image url / Then just place the image in you description with a link to the buy/previw page To get the link without the comments etc. Right click the Buy/preview button then select (In FireFox) “copy the link location” with Internet Explorer select “Copy Shortcut” paste it right after your image location / Example for the image above I used the below / !http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/calendars/page:0/product:calendar/size:small/view:preview/1709263-5-d-r-moore.jpg!:http://www.redbubble.com/products/configure/5781572 / Pages: To select a different page change the number in bold above / Like this /page:1/ will display the first page of your calendar and so on. / Sizes: Change the size by changing size:small to size:medium Another option would be to make a slide show using your calendar images I’ve created three different sizes For my tutorial on Adding a slide show to redbubble See Here Happy Bubbling / Dan / Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission

• TUTORIAL:Creating Links Etc...on redbubble
  by D R Moore

  Creating Text Links / To make your text clickable or link to a web address / Put quotation symbols ” ” on each side of the word/sentence …

  Creating Text Links / To make your text clickable or link to a web address / Put quotation symbols ” ” on each side of the word/sentence you want to make Clickable and then a Colon : (no spaces), Now put the url (web address) of where you want the clicker to go. / EXAMPLE: "View My Gallery":http//example.redbubble.com / Will give you this View My Gallery / You can also make a Text box appear when hovering over the link by adding text in brackets / Like this "View My Gallery(Go to My Gallery)":http//example.redbubble.com / The text above in ( ) will appear in a box if someone hovers over the link / Like this ( put your mouse over the link but do not click it ) / View My Gallery / To use formatting with your text link. Add a space between the formatting symbols and the “ / EXAMPLE: "Space*View My Gallery*space":http//example.redbubble.com / will give you this / View My Gallery Using images in your descriptions ,profile page,etc / First you must know where the image is located (web address) / Example: http://www.mypicture is here.jpg / To use a framed, laminated print, card etc.. image from redbubble click the “show public view” in your “Art” section / / then click the “Buy/Preview” Button / / Set the image as you wish to use it, Card, Framed print etc…once you are done follow the instructions below to get the web address If using firefox simply right click the image and select “copy image location” Using Internet explorer right click the image then select “Properties” A Properties box will appear copy the Address(URL) High lighted in blue / “right click” the Highlighted text then choose “copy” / or once it is highlighted hold the “control(CTRL)” key and press “C” You can now paste the image location in the location where you want to use it (right click and select “paste” or hold the Control key and press “V” on your key board) Now put a ! before an after the image location like this !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg! / To make it clickable or linked add the colon : and web address after the ! / like this :http://www.your going here.com / The final entry Will look like below / !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg!:http://www.your going here.com / The text box mentioned above can be used here as well by adding your text in ( ) / Like This !http://www.mypicture is here.jpg(Have a Look)!:http://www.your going here.com / Will give you this ( Put your mouse over image but do not click to see ) / Using Just the Image / To use only the image go to you art section by clicking “My Bubble” then “art” / on you art page find the image you want to use and get the image address or URL as described above / EXAMPLE http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2903258-2-magnolia.jpg = !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2903258-2-magnolia.jpg! To change the size of the image replace the size:xsmall to one of the values shown on the right. / (Click the links for a preview of the size cropped version ) / xsmall = 60px × 60px / small = 135px × 135px / xmedium = 200px × 200px / medium = 300px × 300px / large = 550px × 550px / xlarge = 663px × 663px watermarked to use this one you need to remove the /cropped from the image URL Cropped Version / / Not Cropped / You can also remove cropped/ from the image address to maintain the shape of your image. / Note the sizes may vary depending on your image shape. / Here is a good example why you may want to remove the cropped/ from the image / Notice the cropped version cuts off the cards in his hands but doing this has changed the thumbnail size. To create a Larger preview link use some text or an image and link it to the xlarge view. / Here is an Image Example be sure to remove the /cropped from the xlarge view How it works The text I used !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/cropped/size:xsmall/view:main/2412521-3-pink-rose.jpg(View Larger image)!:http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/size:xlarge/view:main/2412521-3-pink-rose.jpg To create a large product preview add /pixelsize:875×440 as shown below / Click here to see BEFORE and AFTER EXAMPLE (laminated print) URL: http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/art/backgroundcolor:d1d1d1/border:whitewithdetail/pixelsize:875×440/product:laminated-print/size:large/view:preview/2099882-6-resting.jpg / Click Here to preview larger size / Use youtube video on your profile just use the simple code below / youtube:video url or web address of the video Create a contact link or e-mail me link / Example: "contact me":mailto:myname@myemailaddress.com / Your bubblesite has a contact option, to turn it on / Go to your profile edit page Click here / then scroll down to the e-mail section / and click the box next to / Allow people to contact me via email / Allows visitors to contact you with a form on your BubbleSite. Your email address will not be displayed After you click it you can go to your bubblesite and on the top where the links are you will see these links / Home Gallery About Contact / Clicking the Contact link will open a new window with the Contact form / If you want to use it on redbubble then use the code below. / but change the username to yours / "Contact me by E-Mail":http://username.redbubble.com/contact / Contact me by E-Mail Leave me a comment if you still need some Help or Chat with me on Skype My User Name / envelope150 To use a Skype live status link copy and paste this text and change the username in bold / Leave two blank lines before and after the code |Chat with me on Skype| / |!http://mystatus.skype.com/balloon/username.png!|My User Name / username| Once you get the hang of creating links and posting images give my other tutorial a try. More…… redbubble Formatting [Text wrapping images] Beware this one will frustrate you Happy Bubbling / Dan Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more Toolbar info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission

• TUTORIAL: More...... redbubble Formatting [Text wrapping images]
  by D R Moore

  This how-to will briefly explain a method of using tables on redbubble to Create sets, Text aligning, Text wrapping in Descriptions,Journ…

  This how-to will briefly explain a method of using tables on redbubble to Create sets, Text aligning, Text wrapping in Descriptions,Journals and profiles. There must be 2 blank lines between the table and other text (Press Enter two times before and after the table) To make a table insert a “|” (vertical bar) between the items to be contained in the cells. / The Examples provided below in BOLD can be copied and pasted. Then just replace the text with your links, images, text or whatever you wish. / For the basic text wrapped image use. / |text|image| / To put the title above the image use below / In order to keep a blank cell I will use   Text wrap an image | |Title w/ link| / |Description|Image w/ link| Preview Click Image to Preview it on my Bubblesite The Cattle Egrets is a popular bird with cattle ranchers for its perceived role as a bio control of cattle parasites such as ticks and flies. A study in Australia found that Cattle Egrets reduced the number of flies that bothered cattle by pecking them directly off the skin. It was the benefit to stock that prompted ranchers and the Hawaiian Board of Agriculture and Forestry to release the species in Hawaii Profile set w/ title or tag link / This also can be used in a Journal entry / For titles above the image use the table below / Note I used 6 size:xsmall images/ use size:small to match the ones already on your profile |”View my Set title or tag link”| |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link|Title4 w/link|Title5 w/link|Title6 w/link| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link|image4 w/link|image5 w/link|image6 w/link| It will look like below or you can change the two lines and have the titles on the bottom. |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link|image4 w/link|image5 w/link|image6 w/link| / |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link|Title4 w/link|Title5 w/link|Title6 w/link| View all images in My Bird Collection Screech Owl Missed a Spot Osprey II White Pelican My Girl Preening Flamingo Notice that several of my images have long titles that extend past the Xsmall image / One fix for this would be to press enter after the first word Example: |Title1 w/link|Preening / Flamingo| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link| Preview My Girl Preening / Flamingo or Put the second word at the bottom / In order to keep a blank cell I will use   Example: \ |Title1 w/link|Preening| / |image1 w/link|image2 w/link| / | |Flamingo| Preview My Girl Preening Flamingo Looks great on your profile |image1 w/link|image2 w/link|image3 w/link| / |Title1 w/link|Title2 w/link|Title3 w/link| / Preview Jupiter Lighthouse Free Poker Lessons Missed a Spot No go forth and create that great description that really stands out more than the rest See this description on my Profile , Bubblesite This is a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird / Which is in the bird family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. They can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their wings.Which they can do up to 53 times a second. The extremely short legs of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird prevent it from walking or hopping. The best it can do is shuffle along a perch. To scratch its head and neck it raises its foot up and over its wing. Happy Bubbling / Dan See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 © D R Moore This written work cannot be reproduced or posted on the web without my written permission /

• Mark German's fantastic photographic techniques
  by Mel Brackstone

  Mark has offered some outstanding and informative journals on photographic techniques and data …

  Mark has offered some outstanding and informative journals on photographic techniques and data care. These offer an insight into the kinds of things that you can learn by doing, over and over and over…..so having Mark put them all here for you to take in is an absolute boon! I can’t emphasise enough the need to get OUT there to practice, the ones listed here, and every other technique you’ve picked up over time. You will never take good photos if you don’t pick up that camera and use it, and use it regularly. So anyway, enough of the rant…..here are some of Mark’s words of wisdom: Candid Street Photography Casual Portraits Exposure for beginners/intermediate photographers And one that just needs to be said Your Data, Computers, and not so common sense

• 

  Tumbledown Glowing.
  by Cynthia Adams

  Original Oils on Canvas using the wet on wet technique made famous by the late Great Bob Ross.One of the Most popular images I have ever painted,and I have lost count of the amount of cards I have sold of this piece. / Enjoy.

• Inspiration: Painting with Light
  by community

  Light painting (otherwise known as light graffiti or light writing) is a photographic technique that involves slow shutter speeds, darkne…

  Light painting (otherwise known as light graffiti or light writing) is a photographic technique that involves slow shutter speeds, darkness and a little bit of practice and experimentation. And it’s not just some newfangled thing all the cool kids are doing. Check out this image of Picasso giving it a go back in 1949. Want to try it? If you’ve got the urge to scratch that creative itch or to try something new this week, why not set yourself a challenge? All you need is a camera, a tripod, a light source (flashlights, LED lights, matches and glowsticks all do the trick) and a dark location. These resources might also come in handy: Make Magazine’s Light Graffiti Tutorial Howcast’s Light Graffiti Tutorial (video) We’d love to see what you come up with so feel free to post your brand new creations in the comments below. For further inspiration, check out some of these talented light painting bubblers: / Holding Smoke by EricD / all the pieces by melidiaz / Hearts by Chris Richards / Haunted House by bensound And if you want to see more, head over to the Painting with Light Group ...

• 

  Lost World.
  by Cynthia Adams

  Original Oil on Canvas.Commended at a Local Horticultural Show here in Essex on 5/9/2009. / Ok…so this is wierd,but I painted this because I had nothing better to do,due to having no phone and no internet for 3 days and I was bored stupid and felt totally isolated from anything or anyone. / Just shows what a strange effect isolation has on me..lol.

• (Host Tutorial) Featuring the easy way
  by D R Moore

  If you are tired of rummaging through countless pages trying to feature a group member or an image that won a challenge and have so many …

  If you are tired of rummaging through countless pages trying to feature a group member or an image that won a challenge and have so many more pages to go and your mouse hand is cramped. Try this method. NOTE: This only works for groups that you Host / Co-Host / Also be careful in doing this as it will have the reverse effect on a featured image. / It will remove it from the featured section if it is already featured. / Be sure to visit the groups “overview” page to make sure your handy work has included all the images you wanted to feature. To feature Challenge Images / 1.On your groups “overview” page there is a link to your “featured work” section right click the link and select (with Firefox)”copy link location” (with internet explorer “copy shortcut”) / Now you are ready to feature some images the easy way / 2.Go to the challenge page that shows the awesome challenge winners that are about to be featured and while holding the control (CTRL) key left click the lucky images doing this will open them in new tabs in your web browser / 3.Now the fun part Clicking one of the new tabs that were opened will take you to the image page drop a comment if you like while you are there. To feature it in the address bar highlight the web address all the way to the word “art” then press and hold the control (CTRL) key press “V” to paste the address you copied in step 1 / or you can right click the Highlighted text and select ‘paste’ from the pop up menu. / Here is an example / Original address (the part in bold will be replaced) / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/art/2934496-2-egret-dock / Now the new address to feature this image would be / http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupnamehere/featured_works/2934496-2-egret-dock / 4. Now just press enter (or click GO). / 5. Click the “feature” button on the confirmation page and your done. / You can close the tab and move on to the next one. / This also works for T-shirts / Example address (the part in bold will be replaced) / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/t-shirts/2478267-4-original-mobil-phone Feature a Group Member / To feature a group member go to their public profile page and click the “send bubblemail” link and in the address bar there is a number that you will need to feature the group member. / Example: The number below in bold is my number / http://www.redbubble.com/mybubble/conversations/new?recipient_id=14964058&return_to=%2Fpeople%2FEnvelope150 / Highlight and copy the members number / Go to the featured members link on the groups page / EXAMPLE: http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupname/featured_users / and add the copied number at the end of the address in the address bar / Like this / http://www.redbubble.com/groups/groupname/featured_users/14964058 / Press enter and presto a featured member. Featuring Writings and Journals / also works by going to the members writing or journal page and clicking the work to feature and pasting the address like we did above. / Examples:replace the part in bold / Writing / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/writing/3092254-feature-me / Journal / http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/3092254-feature-me Happy Bubbling (Happy Featuring) / Dan Need More Help? / Chat with me on Skype User Name / envelope150 Get the Firefox and Internet Explorer Tool bar for Redbubble Here / See more info See all my How-to’s Here Includes “Framed image on Bubblesite home page”, “Adding Calendars to your bubblesite”, “feedjit Live Traffic Feed”, “Using tags on Redbubble”, “Add a visitor counter to your bubblesite or profile page” and More Please don’t Copy and paste this written work as that would really hurt my feelings :) / you can copy the code below and paste it if you would like to share with others on Redbubble "Featuring the easy way(Host Tutorial)":http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2948588-host-tutorial-featuring-the-easy-way / or to share on the web / <a href="http://www.redbubble.com/people/envelope150/journal/2948588-host-tutorial-featuring-the-easy-way" title="Host Tutorial">Featuring the easy way</a> / or / /

• 

  Fall In Love
  by Mariska

  / This work was inspired by the wonderful poem UMBRELLA of the very talented artist ANAISNAIS / Thank you Anna-Marie for let to share this beautiful poem here. ’’ UMBRELLA / / by Anaisnais There she stands / Centre stage for all to see / Tall and slender / Precariously she balances. I reach out for her / Draw her to me / My hand skims her body / Slowly reaches her skirt. Playful fingers find hidden areas / Delighted her legs spring forth / Displaying the very beauty / Of her delicately placed, adorned skirt. Gaily she dances around / Dizzily twisting and turning / In the brightness of day shading / She gently tends to my needs. Personal ballerina takes to toes leaping / Merrily bobbing up and down / As emotional to her performance / Clouds cry a thousand tears for her. Reaching our destination / Slightly shaken, she leans / Watches me, / Quietly drips, against the wall. Reminiscent of the day’s fulfillment / We acknowledge one another, silently / Restful knowing we shall be / One, once more. ’’ I truly appreciate all your kind comments and support. / All Origional art work can be purchased through the artist. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-——- Copyright notice: / All rights reserved. All images contained on these pages are © copyright protected by Mariska and any use of these images in any form without written permission will be considered an infringement of these copyrights.

• Revisiting On Depth of Field
  by Larry Grayam

  Depth of field (DOF) refers to that part of a photograph that appears to be in focus. It exists within a plane perpendicular to the ax…

  Depth of field (DOF) refers to that part of a photograph that appears to be in focus. It exists within a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cameras viewpoint. The photographer chooses which affect of depth of field to choose. Narrow DOF tends to separate the subject from an out of focus background, in this image notice how a line of sharpness moves through this photograph of a tray of sewing bobbins. / / While greater DOF incorporates the background as an essential element in the photo. Increasing the light allowes for a stopped down aperture and a greater depth of field. / / A photographer has three tools to manage the DOF, choice of lens, aperture and focal point. The focal length of a lens affects one element of the DOF available from that lens. Generally speaking the shorter the focal length of the lens, the greater the DOF. When set at the same aperture and focal point a longer lens will always have a shallower DOF then a wide angle lens will. A focus point 2 feet from the camera will have less DOF than a focus point of 10 or 100 feet. Aperture selection is the third tool. When a lens is stopped down to, let’s say f22 it will always have greater DOF then if shot wide open at f2.8. / An example of a depth of field chart illustrates the concepts of managing DOF. The cells give two distances the first is the closest distance to the camera that the subject will be in acceptable focus. The later number is the furthest distance from the camera that the subject will be in acceptable focus. / / Hyperfocal distance is a focus point that will give the greatest range of DOF keeping acceptable focus only to infinity but not beyond. / Example / 24mm lens aperture of f11, focused to 9’ gives a DOF of 4’4”/infinity / 200mm lens aperture of f11, focused to 550’ gives a depth of field of 282’6”/infinity / So as the chart points out if you were shooting with a 200mm lens at f11 and the main subject is 290’ from the camera focusing on infinity would put the prime subject out of focus. But focusing to 550’ moves your DOF forward so the subject and background will be sharply focused. / So have fun and happy shooting-Larry “Revisiting On Depth of Field” was featured in TUTORIALS 11/05/09

• 

  No Man's Land.
  by Cynthia Adams

  This is a painting I did a couple of years ago which has been photoshopped. NO MANS LAND / I dreamed a dream of lands far away / Where there is no night and there is no day / Floating above a lake so calm in colors bold / Beneath soft clouds in skies of purple and gold / Peace and joy surround me in this vision so true / Where dreams go on forever for me and for you.

• 

  *BEE ABSTRACT*
  by van049

  BEE ABSTRACT / Best viewed large. / / / / / / “BEE ABSTRACT” was FEATURED in the group REDFIELD PLUGINS / / I have finally created “an abstracted bee” using various filters and techniques from Redfield plugins and Photoshop. I thought it would look kind of neat on a card, in a frame, or on a canvas. / /

• “Steady that shot” how to shoot slow shutter speeds
  by Larry Grayam

  Do those available light photos sometimes come out a little fuzzy? Maybe you won’t even try a low light photo. Let’s look at some techniq…

  Do those available light photos sometimes come out a little fuzzy? Maybe you won’t even try a low light photo. Let’s look at some techniques for shooting in low light that may help. We are not discussing time exposures here just slower shutter speeds. Some of the first steps are to adjust the shutter speed/aperture combination for low light shooting. Generally speaking try to open up the aperture to allow shooting at a higher shutter speed. You can also change the EI value on the camera. If you normally shoot photos at EI200 and the camera indicates this photo will be shot at 1/15sec then increasing to EI800 will allow you to shoot at 1/60sec. And of course the higher the shutter speed the less camera movement is visible in the image. Now get a grip. Extend your hand, palm upright, with the thumb pointing away from you. Lay your camera in your hand with the thumb and forefinger wrapping around the lens. This distributes the weight of the camera down your arm. Place your other hand in the shooting position with your finger over the shutter release button. Now bring your elbows into your body and snug the camera top against your forehead. You now have a mini tripod made from your upper body. Much of the camera movement will now be absorbed by your upper body. All you have to do now is Frame+ Focus+ Hold your breath+ Squeeze the shutter release. Now lean against a wall, sign or lamppost. Spread your feet apart and slightly forward. When in this position and holding your camera as above you can shoot at 2-3 slower shutter speeds than normal. When shooting with long lenses many photographers choose to use a monopod. A long multi sectioned tube with a 1/4×20tpi stud on top that screws into the tripod mount on your camera or long lens itself. Sandbags can be placed on a wall, the ground or an open car window to cushion and stabilize your camera. Emergency sandbags can be made from a pair of socks or small plastic bag. Tripods are three legged structures with a provision for mounting the camera at the top providing a rigid but adjustable platform for stabilizing the camera and lens. Many photographers will also use a remote shutter release and some will lock up the mirror to further reduce vibrations when using a tripod. Of course, for hand holding your camera, a well toned set of muscles help. So occasionally doing some upper body strengthening exercises will also help. In a quick shooting situation you might try wrapping the camera strap around your arm to tighten up your grip on the camera. Or with the strap over your shoulder extend the camera until the strap tightens up for a little more support. Plan your stance and stand your plan Frame+ Focus+ Hold your breath+ Squeeze the shutter release. / Have fun shoot lots of pictures-Larry Grayam

• Inspiration: Automatic Techniques
  by community

  Surrealist artists are credited with developing a series of automatic techniques with the aim of freeing the imagination and removing con…

  Surrealist artists are credited with developing a series of automatic techniques with the aim of freeing the imagination and removing conscious control from at least part of their creative process. The appealing thing about these techniques is that they help you get over the problem of staring at a blank canvas or wondering where to start. When you’re absolutely stuck for ideas and creative inspiration, why not give some of these a try: Decalcomania Decalcomania is a process of spreading thick paint on a canvas then covering it with another material such as paper or tin foil. This layer is then peeled back, leaving a pattern which becomes the basis for your work of art. The technique was used by surrealist artists including Max Ernst who used sheets of glass to create patterns which became artworks such as this: / Works using decalcomania by Max Ernst Bulletism Bulletism describes the technique of shooting or throwing ink at a blank piece of paper. The artist then develops the image based on what they see. Salvador Dali used this technique in images such as the one below: / Biblia Sacra 1- Sanctus Hieronymus by Salvador Dali Basic technique (video) Cubomania Cubomania is a method of making collages in which a picture or image is cut into squares and the squares are then reassembled without regard for the image. The technique was first used by the Romanian surrealist Gherasim Luca. Parsemage Parsemage describes a technique where dust from charcoal or colored chalk is scattered on the surface of water and then skimmed off by running cardboard or heavy paper under the water’s surface. UK artist Ithell Colquhoun is credited with inventing the technique. Grattage Grattage is the act of scraping off dry pieces of paint from a canvas, resulting in random lines and shapes. The technique was used by surrealist artists including Max Ernst and Joan Miro. / The Entire City by Max Ernst / We’d like to hear about any similar automatic techniques you use in your work. Perhaps you’ve dabbled in a little paint throwing or maybe you’ve joined the photographers in Project Double X, swapping rolls of film to see what results you get. You might have even been brave enough to try camera tossing. We’d love to see some examples of work where part of your creative process has been left to chance. / / Nat Related groups: Project Double X, Surrealism, The Ressurrection of The Exquisite Corpse and The Voyage Of The Surrealists

• The NDx1000 Filter
  by Karl Williams

  As some of you know, I make considerable use of the NDx1000 filter to enable me to shoot long exposures in normal light with a view to pr…

  As some of you know, I make considerable use of the NDx1000 filter to enable me to shoot long exposures in normal light with a view to producing images like these: A number of you have asked me about this filter (what they are, where they can be purchased, how they are used etc.) so I thought it might be useful if I wrote a few details down. Most of you will be familiar with the use of neutral density filters, which are essentially “sunglasses for cameras” in that their sole purpose is to reduce the amount of light passing through the lens. The most common types are the NDx2, NDx4 and NDx8 filters which reduce the light by factors of 2 (1 stop), 4 (2 stops) and 8 (3 stops) and are readily available from camera shops and online suppliers. Although these can be used in any combination to produce a combined effect of anything up to NDx64 (6 stops), stacking is not generally recommended because of the problems of vignetting with anything approaching a standard or wide-angle focal length. Apart from anything else, a bit of common sense, and a rudimentary knowledge of optics, suggests that one layer of filtration is better than 3! The NDx1000 filter (approximately 10 stops) is, as far as I’m aware, only produced by one manufacturer (B+W) and is available as the B+W ND-110(3.0) filter. It is not generally available from high street camera shops but can be purchased online in the UK from Warehouse Express. Because of its comparative rarity, however, it tends to be (occasionally) in short supply and it is expensive. Currently, the cost of a 77mm filter (which fits the Canon 10-22mm zoom and the Sigma 10-20mm zoom) is £79.99 from Warehouse Express .. so it’s something you need to think seriously about before committing yourself. If you’re anything like me, your camera bag and computer are full of expensive gadgets and software which, at the time, you couldn’t possibly live without but which, in hindsight, you could all too easily live without! As far as the use of the filter goes, the major problem arises from the fact that it is so dark that it has all the light transmission properties of a lens cap .. you can see the sun through it, but that’s about it! Not only can you not see through it, neither can your autofocus gizmo and, given the sort of exposure times you’ll be dealing with (100+ secs), your “live view” screen will struggle as well. This means that all your composing, focussing and exposure measurement have to be done before you put the filter on the lens, and a wee bit of calculation has to be done to convert the “unfiltered” shutter speed to the “filtered” shutter speed. OK, it’s a bit of a bind but into every life a little rain must fall, as they say .. the end result is well worth it. So .. on to the nitty gritty. Here’s what to do: 1. CHECK YOUR BATTERY .. believe me, you do NOT want it going tits up in the middle of a long exposure! 2. Remove the standard UV or protection filter from the lens (if you want to avoid the possibility of vignetting when the ND filter is on), set the lens to “manual focus”, set the exposure programme to “manual” and set the camera up on the tripod. 3. Do the “composing and focussing” bit and adjust the aperture until you get “correct” exposure with a shutter speed of 1/10 sec (bear with me, there’s a reason for this); 4. Put the filter on the lens! 5. Cover up the eyepiece (some cameras come with a wee rubber eyepiece mask for this purpose) to avoid stray light leaking through the eyepiece onto the sensor. 6. Activate your “live view” facility. Yeah, I know I told you it would be virtually useless but you’ll see enough to know that light is getting through to the sensor. Apart from anything else, it locks up the mirror (at least it does on my Canon) and that’s always good practice for tripod shots. 7. Connect up your cable release, set the shutter speed to BULB and expose for 100 secs (which is 1000×1/10 .. now you can see the reason for choosing an easy “unfiltered” shutter speed). For those of you new to long exposures, the time will count off on your LCD screen .. so there’s no need for all this “1 potato, 2 potato, 3 potato ..” stuff we used to do in the old days. 8. Check the result; if it’s under-exposed (as it may well be, in my experience), increase the exposure time by half a stop (multiply by 1½ ) or a full stop (multiply by 2) as appropriate and re-shoot. Ignore the warm tone of the result .. this is something which is an inherent feature of the filter and can easily corrected at the processing stage. 9. If you’re planning to take bracketed shots for subsequent HDR processing (as was the case in both of the above shots), take further exposures at 4 times the exposure time in steps 7/8 and at ¼ that time. Do the latter one still on the BULB setting .. it’s easier than resetting the camera and a fraction of a second either way will make damn all difference. Finally, some rememberable “unfiltered/filtered” exposure conversions if the light is too bright (in step 3) to get an “unfiltered” exposure of 1/10 sec: 1/15 sec ~ 60 secs (more or less) / 1/20 sec ~ 50 secs (exactly) / 1/30 sec ~ 30 secs (more or less) GOOD LUCK! LATE AMENDMENT: I’ve added an extra step, which I’d forgotten in the original: putting the filter on the lens! “FOF (forgetful old fart) syndrome” strikes again!

• Inspiration: Etching
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  Etching is a printmaking process where images are created using a metal plate and acid. There …

  Etching is a printmaking process where images are created using a metal plate and acid. There are a number of variations but the basic technique involves the following steps. An artist begins by covering the metal plate with a waxy substance or ‘ground’ which is resistant to acid. A needle is then used to draw the design through the wax, revealing the metal underneath. Acid is applied to the plate and the acid eats into the areas of exposed metal. The wax is then cleaned off and ink is applied to the plate filling the areas where the acid has eaten away the metal. The inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, to create an imprint of the design. Related techniques include aquatint, engraving and drypoint. Not all techniques use acid to create imprints. In drypoint, for example, images are incised directly into the plate using the needle. If you’re keen to give it a try, don’t be put off by the need for particular equipment or tools. With a little imagination you can create artworks inspired by etching techniques, using the art supplies you have access to. The following artists have used etching techniques to create these wonderful artworks: / / / If you’re interested in exploring these techniques, here are some additional resources and projects ideas. There are a range of applications and techniques so it’s worth having a hunt around for tutorials on Google: Etching guide and tutorial How to easily etch images in copper Intaglio etching process (video) Copper Plating and Etching Altoids Tins If you’re interested in exploring the world of printmaking, we’d also suggest venturing over Printmakers and Printmaking group. Have you experimented with etching techniques? We’d love to hear your tips and advice and you’re welcome to share your favourite works with us too. Nat