The Midnight Isle is where I post articles on visual artistry - primarily photography and image manipulation, but you can also expect to see more on 2d and 3d graphics in the future.
For other avenues of my creativity, please visit Sorcerer's Isle, where you will find writings on a variety of other subjects.
A few times recently I've seen pictures that are nice, but that could be made even nicer with just a few simple tweaks, and I really wanted to point out what could be done but didn't want to appear rude or unappreciative of the photos.
So it got me thinking, maybe I could do a series of tutorials on quick and easy ways to improve images. People would submit the photos that they would want to see worked on, and I would demonstrate a few simple steps that can be done to make a better picture.
And I've decided that I'll go ahead and do it. :)
Tonight my camera club had it's annual themed competition, and this year the theme was Water. Usually competitions are split into Standard and Advanced levels, however for this competition everyone competed together. Which is why I am delighted to have come in third place, with 33 out of 36 points for my three images — but better still: there was only half a point seperating the top three places, and the people who came first & second are the top two photographers in the club!
You can view the three images I entered at photos.bpsite.net/water.
From the 26th May to 2nd June I'll be in Edinburgh, exploring the city and surrounding areas, and taking plenty of photographs. At the end of the week I'll be attending Scotch on the Rocks, an annual ColdFusion developer conference.
Each day I'll be updating this entry with what I've been doing, as well as including some of the photos I've taken.
Update, Sunday 10th June: Photos Available
I've put a selection of photos into an online gallery, available at photos.bpsite.net/edinburgh
On Saturday I went up on the London Eye, and took a few photos. It wasn't that easy to get shots because the pod was over-crowded, but I still had a good time, and I've decided to put my photos into a gallery, called Views of London. Most of the images have only been quickly tweaked (exposure, white balance, cropping, etc) and could do with some extra work, but feel free to give comments about any of the images as they are.
Here's a picture looking west along the Thames:
....Transmission Intercepted.... We have obtained confirmation.. *bzzzt* ..e target will be *bzzzt* ...ission in Edinburgh in two months *bzzzzzzzzt* ...ion that the ta... *bzzt* area for the whole preceeding wee..*bzzzt*..nable to confirm the purpose *bzzt*...ngly suspect photographic reconnaisance of the target zone and surrounding are.. *bzzzzzt* ..unable to predict how the targe.. *bzzzzt* ..operation affec... *bzzt* clear which factio.. *bzzt* ..arget will alig.. *bzzzzzzzt* ..d will monitor the target's actions close... *bzzzzt* ....Transmission Ends....
Things are slowly starting to get going now, I think I'm settled on the software/tools I'm going to use, and just need to test that they'll do what I need, and then get things properly setup.
Last Updated: Tuesday 20th March 20:33 GMT
Well the exhibition has ended now, and I'm happy with the reception my images got. Whilst it wasn't undying praise, the general consensus seemed to match my own opinions of my prints, which is always a good thing. :)
Here's a photo of my panel:
I was pleased that the exhibition judge came up to me on the opening night and let me know he liked where I was going with the prints, though pointed out that the print quality needs attention (it does; I need to get some decent printing paper instead of Jessops brand stuff).
For anyone wanting to see the images properly, I have thrown together a little webpage containing my panel, entitled Spirits In The Woods.
Please feel free to post any comments you might have about the images.
I have been investigating setting up UK-based Railo CFML hosting, and to find out if it will be cost-effective, I need determine what level of interest there is, what sort of features people would want, and how much people would be willing to pay.
To this end, I have setup a quick CFML Hosting Survey where people can let me know what they want.
If you are interested please take a minute or two to let me know what you want, and if you might know anyone else who would be interested, I would appreciate it if you could forward the survey on to them.
ps: I am also considering setting up hosting specifically for photographers — if you would be interested in this, please feel free to fill in the above survey also, or simply send me an e-mail.
UPDATE: Please visit hosting.hybridchill.com if you are interested.
In just under a fortnight I will be exhibiting a panel of my pictures, as part of my photography club's annual exhibition, Photo 2007.
The event takes place from the 5th to the 10th of March, at Fairfield Halls in Croydon.
If seeing my beautiful pictures is not motivation enough for you, twenty six other club members have work on display, a total of nearly two hundred and fifty images (prints and slides) on display, covering a great range of subject areas.
If you're in any way interested in photography (or art in general) I definitely recommend you come along and have a look — it's completely free and there's certain to be some great pictures on show.
Lightroom is Adobe's photo management software, which has been available as a public beta for a while now.
Today, Adobe announced that the complete version 1.0 is available, for an introductionary price of �146.88 for the boxed version, or �151.25 to download the 64MB file. (For US users, it's $199.00 - equivalent to �100 - for either method.)
If you've been using the beta, you should know that it will expire in a weeks time.
New additions to the beta include: