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Filter Holders – Firecrest vs NiSi V5 Pro

I very rarely write about gear, generally I only look at new kit when I feel something specific is limiting me or making something more difficult, but I thought a few words about my latest purchase may be helpful as I tried both of the filter systems in the title, this won’t be an in depth review of either one as you can find that elsewhere, but more a specific comparison between them and why I swapped.

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Saal Alu-Dibond Print Review

Having previously received a photobook from Saal Digital to review I jumped at the chance to do the same with one of their wall decor products, hoping for a similar level of quality from this relatively new German print company.

From the range of wall decor products they do I went for the Alu-Dibond option as I’ve seen a lot of talk about aluminium prints recently, but I tend to prefer matte or lustre finishes for my normal printing which seemed to be catered for well in this product.

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Year in Review – 2016

So nearly the end of the year and time for the traditional blog based round up of how my photography has gone over the last 12 months.

In 2015 I started to try and take photography seriously and this brought my first ever publication and first ever print sale, but I didn’t actually take many photos and I took almost none of my local area. I set some resolutions at the start of the year to try and fix this, basically take more photos, experiment more, enter competitions and a more personal one to capture more family moments – I think I’ve done pretty well at all of these.

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What's The Motivation?

  • Thoughts

There’s been a lot of discussion on Twitter recently about the merits of photography competitions, in a way it’s been done to death, but having been involved in a lot this year I wanted to put my thoughts across, including my motivations for entering.

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Print Giveaway

To celebrate a year where I feel my photography has taken some big steps forward and to say thanks for all the likes, shares and comments I’m giving away two A3 prints of photos I’ve taken this year.

There’s a pinned post on both my Facebook and Twitter pages, all you have to do to enter is make sure you’re following me then like/retweet those posts before Sunday 20th November. One unique winner will be chosen at random from each post, entering on both will increase your chances of winning one!

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Why The Process Should Be Irrelevant

Recently for some reason I’ve come across more than the usual amount of comments online complaining about photos being ‘photoshopped’, often it seems to be based on a complete assumption and in reference to shots with no actual photoshop work, just basic and tasteful adjustments. One instance of it seemed fairly insulting to the photographer in question and made me rant a little bit to my wife, I’m not sure why I thought she’d be interested but I just felt like having a moan, so reckoned I’d try and write up my thoughts on why these comments and the ensuing arguments wind me up so much.

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Saal Photobook Review

I recently had the opportunity to put together a photobook from Saal Digital in return for a review of the product when it arrived, I hadn’t heard of Saal before and am always a bit cautious of these kind of offers but another photographer I follow (Matt Holland) had recently taken up this deal and been really impressed with the quality so I jumped at the chance to get some recent work printed.

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On the Doorstep

I’m on a bit of a mission of self discovery in my photography at the moment, the last 6 months or so has been a huge learning curve for me in terms of subject, style and processing. This has lead to a lot of new work which I’m happy with but also long periods of self doubt and creative block.

A well known weekly competition on Twitter has been my driving force this year to take photographs every week, I know the majority of my entries don’t stand a chance but my resolution to enter every week has forced me to get out and take something I’m not ashamed to share even when I’m feeling uninspired, which is a massive positive.

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Backing Up

I’ve seen a few posts on this subject recently, as well as some distraught people thinking they’ve lost all their data, so thought I’d note down my process which I think is fairly safe in the hope it helps someone out there.

It’s a very boring subject, but hugely important. I did this to an extent before I got serious about photography and to be honest it’s not the arty photographs I’d be most gutted to lose but my family photos. There’s also a lot of other things which aren’t sentimental but would be very annoying to lose, like the music collection in my case. I couldn’t imagine being in a situation where all my data was gone. I’m approaching this as a keen amateur though, as a professional your entire career could be based on these files and a hard drive failure without backup could mean significant loss of earnings.

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Keswick

I recently had a well earned break in Keswick in the Lake District, it was a family occasion to celebrate me turning 30 and our 8 month old daughter’s first holiday so photography wasn’t top of the agenda, but I knew I could squeeze in a couple of outings with the camera and was hoping to make the most of this to bank a few shots with the amazing scenery that we don’t have here in Nottingham.

We stopped with my parents in Yorkshire on the way there and back and on the first of these I suggested a drive to West Burton as I wanted to check out the well known waterfall there. The weather wasn’t brilliant but there was still good potential and I spent a while trying some different angles, it was also my first use of the new Manfrotto 190XPROB tripod in the field which did a great job. I’ve seen some beautiful autumnal shots of these falls so tried something different with a dark black and white take on the scene.

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