AR-Graphics

Is Facebook messing with your mind? As many people probably know, I'm not a huge fan of Facebook, and whilst this blog is related to that service, it's points can probably be applied to many other social media groups. I spent ages resisting, but finally I decided to join so as to explore the possible benefits it could afford my photography. There is no doubt that there are many and varied rewards to be gained, however there are also some major downsides, that unless understood can have a serious negative effect. After several years of use, I started to recognise some aspects of my using Facebook we're having a disagreeable effect on me. This realisation forced me to re evaluate and change my perception and use of social media. It is a well researched and documented fact that Facebook and other such portals can have a negative effect on people's mental well being. Gaining some objectivity has allowed me to identify how it affects not only me, but some of the o...

Presets Good or Bad? It's funny how times change. Back in the days of film, manufacturers spent fortunes on trying to develop films with accurate colour rendition, low grain, and good tonal range. At the same time us photographers would have to deal with the cool blues of Ektachrome or the vibrant greens of Fujichrome, all the time wishing Kodachrome was available at higher than 64 ISO! Today it seems all the rage to bring those "faults" back into the image, and a whole market has arisen to do just that, with a bewildering array of software, apps, plugins and presets. It's fantastic that digital gives us the ability to make such adjustments (even non destructively) to an image, and there is probably some interesting underlying psychological basis as to why we wish to add a seemingly analogue element to the sterile world of digital. However I can't help but feel that there are times when the reasons for their use are somewhat misplaced. I know of ma...

Your Photographic Helper Photographers are always looking for accessories to help their photography. However there is one item that most already have, but possibly overlook. I'm talking about the smartphones and tablets that have become part of our everyday life. Most of these have built in cameras some of which are of a high spec, but in this case we are not looking at the photographic capabilities, or the dozens of apps connected with taking and editing those photos, instead I will look at apps that can help you with your general photography. There are a wealth of apps that are specifically produced with a photographer in mind, or which can be used to help with photography. Every persons requirements are going to be different so I'd encourage you to see what apps are available, will suit you best and be most helpful. For example there are numerous apps that help calculating exposures, depth of field, flash compensation etc. Aft...

Where is that picture??? One of the most useful pieces of advice that I think can be given to someone starting out in digital photography is, "figure out how you are going to organise your picture files". I well remember sitting waiting whilst a "professional" photographer tried to find a particular picture to show me. After several minutes it became embarrassingly obvious he didn't have a clue where it was on his computer! The ease and lack of cost with which digital images can be taken means collections of pictures can grow at a very fast rate. What starts out as an easy exercise finding a picture amongst a selection of several hundred, starts to become harder when it grows to several thousand, and a major task when it becomes tens of thousands! That is unless some form of system is employed. It is therefore a good idea to spend some time early on figuring out how you are going to best store your pictures. It's a case of a little extra t...