Masters of Vision Exhibition 2013
- At August 17, 2013
- By John
- In Anthony Spencer, Dav Thomas, Exhibition, Joe Cornish
- 0
Photography Exhibition at Southwell Minster
Most photographic exhibitions within the UK are generally held within the nation’s capital so it comes as a much welcome change to see one housed in the shires, and especially one not far from where I live. Masters of Vision is a landscape photography exhibition currently on show within the beautiful Minster at Southwell in Nottinghamshire. The exhibition features several well know UK landscape photographers, this year headlined by Joe Cornish, and runs for just one month from 27th July to 26th August 2013. Southwell Minster may seem like a odd venue for a photography exhibition, but it has been the setting for 2 previous Masters of Vision exhibitions which featured the works of Charlie Waite in 2009 and David Noton in 2011. So what better way to idle a few hours on a rather damp drizzly Sunday afternoon.
Eyepeice Blind for EOS 5D Mark-III
- At July 23, 2013
- By John
- In Accessory, EOS 5D Mark III, Gear
- 6
As I mentioned in my article Stepping Up to the Mark-III, Canon’s third incarnation of the EOS 5D, the Mark III, still lacks a proper eyepiece blind or eyepiece shutter. This really should be standard on a professional camera in this price range and seems like a pretty serious omission. Instead Canon have provided a rather inadequate piece of rubber which comes affixed to the Canon strap. The 5D Mark-III uses the much larger EG Eyecup, as opposed to the smaller EB eyecup used on the previous models. Thus the rubber Eyepiece Shutter (Canon’s rather inappropriate terminology not mine) is much wider than it’s predecessors, yet is made of the same flimsy rubber, so is a complete waste of time. Mine won’t even slide on properly.
Read More»Acratech GV2 Ballhead
- At July 03, 2013
- By John
- In Accessory, Acratech, Gear, Tripods & Heads
- 4
Acratech GV2 Long Term Field Test
I’ve been an admirer of Acratech gear since purchasing my Ultimate II Ballhead in 2006. They are certainly different from the norm yet have a very good reputation. They are extremely light weight too, seem well made, robust, and can support quite heavy loads. I’ve owned a GV2 ballhead for over 3 years now which has become my principal ballhead, so I thought it’s high time I write a review and see if it’s lived up to that impressive reputation.
The Acratech Style
Acratech ballheads certainly don’t look like traditional ballheads but accomplish much same task albeit in a slightly different manner. They look rather skeletal in design, with almost all of the ball exposed rather than the traditional totally enclosed design that most of us are used to. This may be off-putting to some as you’d think this would expose the internal workings to dust, sand and the elements, but Acratech advise that a simple rub down with a dampened cloth or some isopropyl alcohol is all that’s required (they warn never to use oil or WD-40). Even with my Ultimate-II ballhead, in reality, dirt has never posed a problem, even when dumped in sand on the beach. I’ve just rinsed off the head with water and wiped it down with a damp cloth and it’s been fine. Remarkably the dirt just never seems to gets inside the workings.
Read More»Video Review: Advanced Guide to Lightroom 5
- At June 25, 2013
- By John
- In Lightroom 5, Lightroom News, Lightroom Tips, Video
- 0
Luminous Landscape – Advanced Guide to Lightroom 5
A new set of videos have been released by Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe providing an advance guide to the new features within Lightroom 5. Many will be familiar with previous releases from the duo which have covered every Lightroom version from LR1 beta onwards. These have proved a popular resource for those hoping to gain a deeper insight to the workings of Adobe Lightroom. This release is slightly different from the rest and a clue is in the title. It’s purely an advanced guide, so not aimed at beginners, and only covers the additions made to Lightroom in version 5, so does not, as in previous releases, include the entire package.
Read More»The Adobe Storm Clouds Continue
- At June 21, 2013
- By John
- In Creative Cloud, Photoshop, Software
- 0
If there’s one thing for certain, judging from all the comment on many online forums, it’s that the Adobe’s decision to move their software to a subscription-only model is a highly contentious issue. Some love it, others hate it. There doesn’t seem to be many fence sitters on this one. I’ve already expressed my opinion here.
If you find you’re vehemently opposed to the mandatory subscription-only model you may wish to add your name to this online petition and spread the word around. I’m not sure how much good it will do, or whether Adobe will even take note, but there are currently of 33,000+ names of disgruntled Adobe customers on the list. I for one would like to see a choice from Adobe. We can but try.
The move by Adobe however, is music to the ears of potential competitors who must be jumping for joy. Many (and that includes me) will be looking at alternatives to Photoshop from now on, so this has provided a massive opportunity for third party software developers. Adobe is going to leave a huge gap in the market that may cause many an amateur or hobbyist photographer to jump the Photoshop ship in the coming months. Already we are seeing a far more attention paid to potential comparable products, which just a few weeks ago may have struggled to gain such notoriety. One particular product rapidly gaining a good reputation is the recently released Pixelmator which reached a whopping 500,000 downloads in just a single week. This no doubt assisted by Adobe’s announcement and which lead to the following statement being issued from Pixelmator. Currently priced at just $14.99 it sounds like a bargain, so definitely one App I shall be test driving. Unfortunately for Windows users it’s MAC only.
Lightroom 5 Up To Speed by Piet Van Den Eynde
- At June 12, 2013
- By John
- In eBook, Review
- 0
New LightRoom 5 eBook from Craft & Vision
Hot off the press after the general release of Lightroom 5 from Adobe, Craft & Vision have released a 77-page eBook complete with companion videos, by Piet Van Den Eynde, claiming to provide Everything You Need to Know About the Adobe Lightroom 5 Upgrade. This seems like super quick work from Craft & Vision, but as Piet lets on within his introduction, it’s largely based on the Lightroom 5 beta version. As we know now the official pukkah release is pretty much the same as the beta version with the bugs straightened out. Priced at a very reasonable $5 (around £3.20) and cheaper than a monthly photo periodical, I thought this worth a punt to see whether I’d glean any hidden gems within Lightroom 5.
Read More»Lightroom 5 Released
- At June 11, 2013
- By John
- In Lightroom 5, Lightroom News, Software
- 0
London Photo Exhibitions: Man Ray & Sebastião Salgado
- At June 09, 2013
- By John
- In EOS 1Ds Mark III, Exhibition, Man Ray, Photographer, Sebastião Salgado
- 0
This last weekend I spent 24 hours down in the capital primarily to attend Eric Clapton’s last night at the Royal Albert Hall. Not one for spending much time browsing London shops these days, to make good use of my free time I looked to see if there were any photography exhibitions of interest. Two caught my eye: Man Ray Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, and Sebastião Salgado: Genesis at the Natural History Museum.
Read More»New Gallery Pictures
- At May 15, 2013
- By John
- In Photographic Art, Portfolio, UK Landscape
- 0
Updated UK Landscape Gallery
I’ve at long last added several more images to my UK Landscape portfolio, which I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time. I’ve recreated a complete new set of jpeg files for the whole UK Landscape Gallery, which I thought didn’t quite look their best when viewed on-screen in a web browser, and the watermark logo wasn’t rendered so hot on some either.
Read More»Storm Cloud Approaching From Adobe
- At May 12, 2013
- By John
- In Lightroom, Lightroom News, Photoshop, Software
- 2
Adobe May Upset Hordes of Photoshop Users
If you are a serious photographer then there’s also a fair chance you are a user of Adobe Photoshop too. If you are then you maybe in for a shock, as on the 6th May 2013 Adobe announced that they no longer plan to sell retail versions of this software and all future editions will be available by cloud based subscriptions only.
Read More»