Behind the Scenes Video: A Sneak Peek:

And there’s more:
Text added thanks to my Designer Buddy Dave Clayton; I don’t feel so bad making him dress up like that now

That’s all for now so have a great day and I’ll catch you later,
Enjoy

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Character Portrait Retouch
Last year I was asked to speak at a few camera clubs around the country giving an insight into what I do and how I started plus I would talk through the story behind a few of my pictures…most of which when I was talking about shooting on location ended up in me saying “…and then it started raining” or more of than not “…and I rolled right over it”…if you know what I mean.

Plus I’d also give a quick photography and retouch demonstration to give folks a look into how I go about putting some of my images together. I’m really excited that already this year I’ve been booked to talk at several more clubs and so because of that I thought I’d put together a few videos to add in; I got the idea from having read a great book recently recommended by my buddy Calvin Hollywood (more of that in another post)

Anyway here’s one of the videos I’ve put together to use at a talk later this week; a speed retouch showing what I do in Photoshop to make a Character Portrait; originally about a 15 minute edit but in the video down to 1 minute and 40 seconds…

Focus on Imaging – NEC
The yearly Focus on Imaging Expo at Birmingham’s NEC this year runs from Sunday 4th through to Wednesday 7th of March and it looks like there’s some fantastic exhibitors set to be there. It’s always great to take a look around and to get a ‘hands on’ with some of the latest and greatest kit to hit the market. Word of warning thought The Force is strong so coming out at the end of the day without having purchased atleast one item you never knew you needed is quite a challenge .

Focus is also a great social event and a great place to catch up with folks you maybe haven’t seen for a while. I’ll be heading there on the Tuesday 6th and I know that my Buddy Dave Clayton (N.A.P.P. UK Evangelist) is heading along that day too, so if you’re going to be there let’s meet up for a coffee.

Audible.com
Finally I just want to quickly mention about Audible. NowI love to read but I think I’d stand a pretty good chance of winning the ‘Worlds Slowest Reader’ Competition so I’ve started now listening to audiobooks when I’m on the move.

There’s lots of places to get audiobooks but I was put onto Audible the other day and I have to say not only do they have an incredible amount of audio books available but their pricing is superb at £3.99 ($7.49) each month which includes a book download of your choice and a discount on another.

You can check them out here [Link]

Ok that’s all for now so as always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to make use of the comments section below but in the mean time,
Enjoy

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Grunge in 8 Simple Steps
Just incase you’re new to the blog and hadn’t seen this post, back in 2010 I did a speed retouch and walk-through of a portrait I shot whilst down in Brighton and here it is.

You can catch the walk through which covers all the steps you see in the video here [Link]

Social Event in Brighton
Talking of Brighton I’m looking at planning a photo walk type of event down there in the next few weeks; maybe second week in February or around then. Anyway it’ll be open to anyone and everyone with a camera to come along have some fun and take some photos. Hey we may even have some competitions and prizes on the day so if at this stage this is something that might interest you then just leave a message in the comments section below or send me a message via email, Facebook, Twitter etc…

Right that’s all from me so have a great weekend and I’ll catch you back here in a couple of days,
Enjoy

•     •     •

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If there’s a video you want to watch on YouTube but just don’t have the time you can always add it to you Watch Later folder and here’s how to do it…

Step 1
Underneath the video player you’ll see a section titled Add to. If you click on this you’ll see the option to Watch Later

Step 2
Then to view that very same video later on just go to your Channel and you’ll see the Watch Later folder there amongst others such as Favourites, History and so on…

Ok so maybe not earth shattering but just a nifty little utility I’ve found myself using quite a bit lately, oh and if you’ve not seen it yet be sure to check out my own YouTube page here [Link]
Enjoy

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In the video I go through a couple of my ‘Quick and Easy’ techniques for brightening and colouring eyes adapted from ones I learned from my Buddy and Photoshop Legend Calvin Hollywood.

As always if you have any questions or comments then please feel free to make use of the comments section below but in the mean time,
Enjoy

•     •     •

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Anyway I thought I’d kick the week off by letting you know that my 1st Webinar “From Photo to Composite” is now available ‘On Demand‘ so you can download and watch the whole process from start to finish in your own time…

The recording lasts around one hour and takes you through everything from the original ‘out of camera’ image through to the final complete image so you’ll see techniques for enhancing details, dodging & burning, body shaping, extracting & adding in new backgrounds, using Photoshop Blend Modes to create composites, vignettes and much more…

The price of the download is $24 (approximately £15) and you can get your copy of the webinar by clicking on the following link, oh and also included are the image files I worked on so you can follow along exactly the same to practice the techniques.

Right, that’s all for today so have a good one and I’ll catch up with you in the week,
Enjoy

Download “From Photo to Composite”: Link

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Have you ever found yourself on a photo shoot with very little time to get the ‘must have’ shots and so have maybe opted to use less lights or maybe a different lighting set up to what you would had done? How about finding yourself on a photo shoot and you don’t have enough lights? or simply wishing you’d used an extra light here and there?

Well one such shoot found me in a situation just like that because of time and space restrictions, however going into the shoot I knew I had some lights I could add in during the editing stage…

Of course using the real thing out on a photo shoot is the best option but there will always be those times when you just can’t use them or indeed, you don’t have them or you wish you’d used them. With this simple technique though time and space are irrelevant and you can add as many lights as you like because after all this is  ”The Never Ending Lighting Rig”

Enjoy

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Those of you who follow me on Facebook and Twitter may have seen a few ‘comments’ over the past few days about the Holiday Inn Hotel, Wokingham and you may have been wondering what it was all in aid of.

Well, as you may also know I’ve spent the last 4 days with Calvin Hollywood [Link] and his assistant Gabor Richter during their time here in the UK and yeah I’ll definitely be doing a write up about what we got up to. As well as the most incredible jaw dropping workshop we had so much fun during the evenings going out for food, bowling and generally just hanging out which is why it’s a real shame to have to report about the poor Customer Service Calvin and Gabor received by the hotel they were staying in; the Holiday Inn, Winnersh, UK (Near Wokingham).

So, as is the norm these days, experiences both good and bad are published online for the world to see and well, this is where we’re at now…

The Full Story
Check out the video below which starts with Calvin explaining the whole story (in English) and be sure to keep an eye on Gabor in the background and watch out for some of the outtakes too…

And there’s more…
Here too are a few words (ok maybe a little more than a few words) that I wrote for Calvin’s English blog [Link] …

Hi Folks,
My name’s Glyn Dewis and I’m a Photographer, Retoucher and Workshop Instructor over in the UK, and I helped to co-ordinate Calvin’s recent trip to the UK to deliver his 2 Day Workshop; arranging the Studio location, suitable Models and having made enquiries, recommended a couple of hotels for Calvin, his assistant Gabor Richter and also some of the Workshop attendees to stay in for the duration of their stay. 

Out of the recommended hotels, Calvin opted to stay in the Holiday Inn in Winnersh, UK which is just a short drive from the studio so ideal…or at least that’s how it first appeared…

Two rooms (one for Calvin and one for Gabor) were booked online back in May of 2011 but Calvin received no ‘Booking Confirmation’ email and so phoned the hotel direct to see what the situation was. The female receptionist told Calvin that there was indeed a reservation but for just one room and recommended that once the phone call had ended, to go back to the hotel website and again book a second room; which he promptly did.

Ok so come Friday 26th August, the day before the workshop, and both Calvin and Gabor arrive at Heathrow, I meet up with them and drive them first to the studio to check all was in order for the following day and then it was on to the hotel where on checking in, the female receptionist said that 3 rooms had been booked; however it didn’t appear to be an issue as it was something they would ‘sort out’.

Later that evening upon returning from a meal,  Calvin was informed that he would have to pay for the 3rd room for the duration of his stay…a cost of some £200 and despite explaining that only 2 rooms were required, no confirmation email was received for the 1st booking, and being advised by staff to book another room, the Front Office Manager refused to assist other than suggesting Calvin call a number from off the Hotel Website. Having only a German Mobile and Sim, Calvin asked if he could use a hotel phone to call the number but was met with a brick wall and reply from the Front Office Manager saying that “The hotel phones don’t call out”.

The following day was the first part of the workshop, the photography part so when Calvin was in full flow I left the studio and headed on back to the hotel for a meeting with the Front Office Manager to see if the situation could be satisfactorily resolved. The conversation with the Manager ended with a promise that the matter would be looked into and sorted out during the day and that I would expect a phone call back with an answer a short while later.

The phone call didn’t come so, as is the norm these days, a message was sent out on Social Media which did in fact get a response from IHG (Inter-Continental hotel Group) who oversee a number of hotel chains, asking that I email them the circumstances and they too would look into what had happened.

Later that same day I managed to again speak in person to the Front Office Manager who went on to explain that he too had now spoken to IHG and that ‘they’ had agreed the best course of action to “Help Mr Hollywood” was to give him a full reimbursement of the £200 if the hotel were to sell one of the 4 remaining available rooms to a new guest; clearly not the ideal solution but we had his ‘guarantee’ that this would not be a problem and the room would definitely sell as there was a music festival being held nearby and lots of attendees are looking for accommodation. 

Feeling assured we would manage to resolve this matter the next morning a conversation with the front office manager went confirmed that in fact 2 rooms had since been sold to new guests so you would expect this to be the end of the matter, but no! A phone call was made by the Front Office Manager who then came back saying that I had misunderstood, as had the other members of the public around me at the time, and that the agreement had been that the hotel had to be fully booked i.e. ALL rooms had to be sold before Calvin would be entitled to his money back. 

I just seemed that every time a solution presented itself the hotel had an opposing answer which meant they would not have to pat back any of the £200 for unwanted room.

To add to this a member of staff gave me a printout of the booking confirmation email which clearly showed that it had been sent on to the incorrect address; calven@calvenhollywood.com instead of calvin@calvinhollywood.com but the hotel managers answer was that this was not down to the hotel but Calvin spelling his name incorrectly. 

Why would 2 guests requiring only 2 rooms go ahead and book a 3rd room? To a layperson it just didn’t make sense but in a poor attempt at ‘thinking on his feet’ the front office manager went on to say that “only today we have a Mr Smith staying here with his wife who has booked 5 rooms for themselves so it does happen” … I mean, really? Come on…if you’re going to attempt an untruth please be a little more creative with the name…Mr Smith? I ask you?

Anyway the long and short of this is that the hotel say they only sold 3 of the remaining 4 available rooms; coincidence? Interesting though is that on the day Calvin was checking out I spoke to a member of staff on reception that I had not encountered before this point and noncholently asked if they had an vacancies to which the reply they were fully booked came back. Really? So you’re fully booked you say? but then no, the light bulb came on and a hesitant “Oh no sorry, we have 1 room available” was the response!

So there you have it, sure we had an incredible workshop as you would expect and time spent with Calvin and Gabor of the 4 days I’ll never forget for the laughs we had but it has to be said, the matter with the hotel did put a bit of a dampener on things…it was completely unnecessary and to be honest something I just couldn’t comprehend. I mean surely a gesture of good will from the hotel would have served them so much better than completely shutting down and refusing to help in any way and in fact smiling each and every time I spoke to try and help; something I did have to tell them to stop doing because it felt by them smiling they were being dismissive and showing no respect whatsoever for a clients problem.

Somehow I get the feeling when I go out to Germany to spend some time with Calvin and Gabor in the next few months, the experience will be completely different…it’s just very much disappointing that the Holiday Inn treat clients as a number, a bum on seat for want of a better phrase but my gut instinct is that this is a bit of mistake on their behalf. Let’s face it Social Media is very much out there and the norm nowadays for people to publish their experiences be they good or bad and with the large number of followers Calvin has this I’m sure will be heard and voiced by 10′s if not hundreds of thousands.

Glyn

ps> It’s also worth mentioning that on the Saturday evening whilst at the reception a female resident/guest approached the front office manager saying that the lights in her room weren’t working. A call was made at reception to maintenance but there was a complete refusal to attend the ladies room despite the front office manager almost pleading with whoever was on the end of the phone to go and check it out!

It would seem that Calvin & Gabor weren’t the only residents/guests to receive poor treatment by the Holiday Inn, Winnersh, UK.

•     •     •

So there you have it…the full story, and of course in the name of embracing technology and social media…feel free, in fact please do, share this those you know because after all ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’
Enjoy

Calvin Hollywood’s Blog [Link]

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Ok so here’s a question for you…

If you could spend 3 hours in the company of Joe McNally shooting both in the studio and on location, with one light, multiple lights, and a variety of modifiers to overcome all manner of lighting situations you’d jump at the chance right?

Reality is that for the majority this just isn’t going to happen, but without question Joe’s new DVD “The Language of Light” is the very best next thing.

But with so many instructional DVD’s out there in the market place you may at first find yourself wondering what could possibly be so different about this one, so allow me to explain…

From the Cover:
For the past 3 decades, photographer Joe McNally has been documenting our times on assignment for publications like LIFE, Time, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and many others. Highly regarded as a Master of Light, both natural and artificial, Joe continues to create stunning imagery all over the world. Much sought after as a photographer, lecturer and teacher, Joe educates and inspires shooters of all types – pros, hobbyists and beginners with The Language of Light.

In this DVD set, Joe shares almost 30 years worth of field knowledge, instruction and philosophy about using light as a powerful tool of visual communication. He fully explores and explains different lighting techniques and goes well beyond the “how” and all the way through the “why”, of using light. Small flash, hard light, soft light, light with colour, light in the studio and on location are all dissected and explained. You see and hear all about the F Stops, shutter speeds, lenses and light shaping tools, and you are taken further into the reasons why one lighting approach is better than another for certain scenes, faces or groups. All along the way, Joe offers tips, tricks and solutions than can only be gained from 30 years with a camera to your eye. Sit back, relax and enjoy as this legendary shooter takes you on a fast paced, humorous, and always informative journey about how to speak with light.

This 2 DVD set is packed, and I mean packed full of shoots & techniques but here’s where it’s different:

First off Joe’s instructional style is totally engaging; every single thing is explained..the how, the why, the why not’s…all of it is there leaving you in no doubt about what is being done.

It actually feels as though you’re there on set with Joe as he takes you through the concept of the shoot and sets up everything and explains why he’s doing something every single step of the way.

DVD 1:
The first DVD sets the tone for what’s to come as Joe explains in simple terms how to get beautiful light from just one light source and then moves on to using several lights…all of which throughout the DVD are regular hotshoe flashes but be prepared to see what those things are capable of as Joe turns small flashes into real big light sources…quickly and easily.

Taken from the official Language of Light Website [Link] here’s what DVD has in store:

• Turning one small flash into one big light – The name of the game with small flash is to make it look like big flash. Lots of strategies explained here, but if you’ve only got one speed light and a white wall, you’re in business!
• Controlling harsh natural light – One of the most important things to know as a shooter is how to use bad light well. Taking hard, nasty daylight and turning it into beautiful light is actually pretty easy. Anybody got a bed sheet and a piece of white cardboard?
• Dramatic one light portraiture – One light can be soft and beautiful, but It can also create drama through the magic and mystery of shadows. The play of light and dark on the human face is essential to explore if you want to shoot good portraits.

Now I’ll just say this…I would have brought this DVD set for this section alone!
When Joe shows how to dramatically improve your portraits by moving the light in a certain way by just 6” you’ll see exactly what I mean…Genius!

• Tour of small flash light shapers – There’s lots of stuff our there you can hang on your small flash to shape, bend, soften and tweak it. We’ll show you some terrific ones that are simple and wont break the bank.
• Light placement – Where you put the light is almost as important as where you put your camera in relation to your subject. We’ll show you how distance and direction can dramatically affect the quality of your light.

DVD 2:
This DVD picks up the pace with more studio time and more shooting out ‘on location’. What’s great here is that you get to see more of how Joe works his way through a shoot, working in a number of locations and dealing with a host of lighting challenges. The magic though is that there are always solutions and Joe shows how those solutions are really quite simple when you understand the 3 principles of  light…Colour, Quantity and Direction.

Contents:

• High speed sync – High speed flash! These (often overlooked) techniques help to tame the sun, and limit depth of field for effective portraiture. Just because the sun is out in full force, doesn’t mean you can’t use flash effectively.
• Mixing color temperatures – The “big three” of flash lighting – quality, direction, and color. Throughout the DVD, we talk about the color of light and how we mix flash with ambient and existing artificial light.
• Flash and blur – Flash moves fast! We’ll explore how to show motion in a “still” photograph.

• Athletic portraiture – Strategies for lighting the athletic human body. Drama, intensity, and excitement are key components of the world of sports, and your flash technique has to meet that challenge. We’ll show how to make the athletic body come alive.
• Lighting in a tight spot – Small spaces present big challenges. The locations photographers encounter are rarely ideal. We’ll tackle different tactics for lighting dramatically in a small space to get maximum effect.
• Group portraits – Our favorite thing! Groups! Tips and tricks for lighting the masses, large and small.
• Engaging Your Subject – Before you can photograph someone effectively, you need to establish a relationship. Get to know them, make them feel relaxed, and help them encounter the camera with confidence. All throughout both discs, we show the importance of human relations, and how to make someone feel and look good in front of the lens.

Folks I could go on and on about how good this DVD set is; seriously I would have paid alot more than the $159 (£97) price tag. Sure I’m a photographer, I do portraits, I use flash in studio and on location but there’s one thing I don’t do and that’s ‘stop learning’ and when it comes to learning I want to learn from the best.

I’ve watched both DVD’s a number of times already and each time I do I pick up more tips and techniques. But understand this…it’s not just the technical know how you’re learning here…it’s how someone regarded as being one of the best in the world assesses locations, works through lighting challenges and maybe most importantly interacts with the subjects he’s shooting.

Where to Purchase:
The DVD set is only available through Adorama [Link] and costs $159 (£97) and what’s more there’s even FREE International Shipping.

Quite simply…One of the best investments I’ve made to date! Highly Recommended!

•    •    •

http://www.joemcnally.com
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog
http://www.youtube.com/joemcnallyphoto

The video below is in ‘high speed’ so you can see how it all comes together and next week I’ll put together a ‘walk through’ post here on the blog covering each of the ’7 steps’ which are:

• Step 1: The Eyes
• Step 2: Tidying Up
• Step 3: The Skin
• Step 4: Changing the Background
• Step 5: Colour and Tone
• Step 6: Sharpening (and a little more tidying up)
• Step 7: Blur Vignette

Right, I’m off to watch some more coverage of the Royal Wedding so have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you next week,
Enjoy

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