Donna & Keith

Spent yesterday afternoon with the lovely Donna and Keith for a wee photoshoot in Beecraigs Country Park near Bathgate in West Lothian. The shoot was arranged as part of their wedding package for their upcoming wedding in July.

I had been getting a little concerned that we may have to move it or turn it in to a rainy shoot (I had sourced some clear brollies just in case) as I had been keeping an eye on the weather for Friday and it had initially been forecast as sunny (which was good), but as the week went on it changed to raining (not so good), then it was cloudy with sunny intervals (phew), then it was raining again (boo)! In the end the weather turned out not too bad, was a little bit overcast with a cold breeze, although the sun did come out at times, but thankfully the rain stayed away which meant the brolly stayed in the bag!

Onwards now to their wedding in July!




Ben Lomond

On Saturday I decided to venture out and attempt my first Munro, Ben Lomond. Looking at the forecast on the lead up to Saturday and it was looking cold and potential gale force gusts, but come Saturday it was a smashing day and the sun was shining.

The walk up was long, tough at times (due to my lack of fitness), and hot due to the sunshine - also having dressed for the colder temperatures that had been forecast didn't help! In the end I made it up to the summit after 3 hours of huffing and puffing, and it was well worth the trek. I was also glad of the warmer clothes I'd chosen to wear as it felt like the -5 that had been forecast, hat and gloves also made an appearance!

While up there and not too far from the summit, I had a close fly by from a sightseeing plane and almost missed it as I fumbled to get my camera!

Also, as if the walk up didn't seem hard enough a guy had carried his bike up to the summit.

So after a short stay at the top to take in the views, take some snaps, and catch my breath it was time to make the journey back down. I had contemplated going down the alternative route but in the end I opted for going back the way I came and 2 hours 10 mins later with some aching muscles I was back at the car.

Here's some more from the trip, enjoy!

Project 365 Week 2

Week 2 of my photo a day for 365 days.

Struggled a bit with some of these ones, partly due to crappy weather that we’re having, and partly due to a lack of inspiration, so not overly happy but these things happen. Just need to make sure the next lot are better!

Project 365 Week 1

Decided to do a photo a day for 365 days. So far I’ve found it quite difficult to come up with ideas at times for photos so god knows how the rest of the year will go!!

Anyway I’ve decided that rather than uploading a photo each day I’m going to upload them on a weekly basis. Photos are taken either on my iPhone, Fuji X100, or Nikon DSLR, but mainly my iPhone, and all edited using VSCO Cam.

Here’s my first week.

Enjoy!

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

Adobe Lightroom Upgrade

So last week I decided to upgrade from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 5. I had been thinking about doing this for a while but had been putting it off as I couldn’t decide between a Lightroom only outright purchase, or a Creative Cloud Photography bundle (decisions have never been my strong point). In the end I opted for the bundle!

Having been using LR 5 now for the best part of a week now, I have to say it’s waaaaaay better than LR3 - as you’d expect with it being newer and all. The level of control seems so much better and just seems to give you much more accuracy with adjustments. The adjustments also appear to be stronger, and as a result I find myself not having to move the sliders as much to get the desired result. That being said it could just be that my taste in editing has changed!

I’d highly recommend upgrading if you haven’t already.

The other upside to the Creative Cloud bundle is that it comes with Photoshop. Having looked at it a few days ago (as well as many times in the past), watched some of the tutorial videos on the Adobe website, I think I’m going to leave this one for another time as it confused the hell out of me. I think it will take some playing about with to get the hang of navigating around all the options!

If you start seeing cheesy photos being posted where there’s clearly a superimposed background (perhaps a selfie of me on the moon) then you know I’ve started using Photoshop and that I clearly think my poorly photoshopped picture is awesome!!

I’ve also started using Behance as a result of this renewed love-in with Adobe, but I’ll keep that post for another time. Quite liking the idea of it so far though.

Getting back in to the string of things!

OK so the title is a terrible pun!! :-)

Haven’t really picked up my camera in a while so decided to get my finger out and get snapping again!! Was looking for some inspiration and saw my old guitar sitting all lonely in the corner and thought that was a good place to start… perhaps next I should revisit the guitar as well!! Maybe not, think I’ll just stick with my camera for now…

image

image

GoPro Hero 3 →

Was reading articles and reviews for the GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition today, and although I have no real use for it, I want one!! Starting to think I might just have an addiction to buying cameras… Think I’ll go seek some help!

The ad they have put on YouTube for it is pretty cool though.