Creative Light - Issue 42 by Guild of Photographers

THE GUILD'S VIRTUAL AWARDS EVENING THE CALMING WRAP - CLAIRE ELLIOTT PROBLEM SOLVING - GARY HILL THE LOVE OF DOGS - JASON ALLISON MY FIRST CAMERAS - PHILIP YALE Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

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Contents 10

Guild Awards Night Online Event

For the Love of Dogs Jason Allison

This is England Dave Worthington

My Camera History Philip Yale

Gary Hill Problem Solving

76 82 86 88 96 100

Successful Qualification Panels January/February 2021

The Calming Wrap Claire Elliott Ronan Ryle What's your Plan for Weddings?

Photoshop Glynn Dewis Gold Awards January + February 2021 Make Losing Customers a Positive Rob Hill

Editor Julie Oswin What an amazing collection and celebration of photography and such a great evening it was at The Guild of Photographers 'Virtual' Awards Evening which was held during lockdown. A big shout out to all involved and 'Team Guild' for organising an inspiring evening. I must admit, I really missed not seeing everyone at Crewe Hall this year but this was a night, I am sure, we will all remember as a positive memory of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the 'lockdown' of 2020/2021 " Many, many congratulations to all the finalists and the winners! Please go to page 10 to see them! If you have a story you would like to share please get in touch > julie@photoguild.co.uk

The stunning colours of the indigenous natural plant dye used to dye the wool from the Alpaca and Sheep. Chinchero is a typical Andean village situated in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru and known as the birthplace of the rainbow.

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Editors Choice Vicky Norton Awarded Silver - January 2021

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Front Cover Colin the Crab

rob dolton

In September 2019, Mrs. D and I celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary. We had been saving our pennies and booked a holiday in the Seychelles, our dream destination. As I was relaxing in the sunshine from the comfort of my sun bed, I was fascinated by the crabs as they wandered up and down the shoreline, picking up anything they could find. It was getting late, and I kept saying to my wife that the scene would make a lovely photo, and after countless times of telling her, she told me to “... get off my backside, go to the room, get the camera and go for it!” By the time I returned, the sun was setting, and Colin made his way back towards me. As I lay down in the sand, I captured this shot of him. Little did I know how much this image would capture my heart.

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"It was great, first time for me seeing the awards and it was awesome. Well done folks for putting the awards night on and many congrats" - Nigel "Thank you for such a wonderful evening, you guys were amazing!!!" - Sharon "Awesome night, so hoping we can get to meet you all when it is safe to do so!" - Iain 10 : March | April 2021 - Issue 41

"Fabulous event - thank you! Gotta mention that Lego intro and outro - LOL! Talk about rising to the challenge - take that coronaflippingvirus!!" - Lesley C "Well done. In challenging times it was a superb event. I’m just pouring a little more celebratory wine!" - David "Thank you Team Guild! Great night. Really missing you all though!" - Emily "You did such a brilliant job, it was so wonderful watching with all the buddy group!" - Jayne "It was very impressive - not just the images - but the whole presentation and event - went off without a hitch. Loved the build-up to it as well...... not quite as good as being there in person, but not far off either. The singers Lea and Natasha were impressive too. Well done to Lesley & Steve and the Guild Team" - Rob "It was absolutely brilliant you two! You did us PROUD!!!" - Claire "It was a fantastic evening and the ONLY awards night I get to wear my PJ’s!!!" - Valerie "Thank you to the amazing team at The Guild. Creating a virtual event that has engaged the community. Well done. And thank you Steve & Lesley for hosting everyone. As a new member I wouldn’t have seen such great pictures any other way. Well done to all the winners and finalists - you inspire us all"- Mary "Steve & Lesley - you both were amazing, it was a surreal evening and nothing like all being together, but you two never disappoint. Thank you so much for all you do, it was a wonderful evening" - Sarah Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

Sharon Bolt

The Founder’s Cup Sponsored by Datacolor

The Guild of Photographers started life at the Guild of Wedding Photographers in 1988 and it’s founders were Roy Doorbar and Ian Gee. They both sadly passed away in late 2016, and the ‘Founders Cup’ is a prestigious photography award which acknowledges what they started, and their aims of supporting photographers and raising standards in the industry by encouraging personal development. Entry comprises of a 3 image themed body of work, which is initially entered digitally. Following initial judging those selected as finalists then resubmit their work in a printed format for final assessment. The competition is restricted to those who have not won a national competition before and have not attained the level of Craftsman with the Guild (or equivalent elsewhere).

WINNER: Sharon Bolt RUNNER-UP: Nikki Goodeve

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“ My Buddies and I had created our own Zoom table for Awards Night. We’d dressed up, and I was wearing a sparkly sequin top and tracksuit bottoms!. I had a glass of champagne and the awards began with The Founders Cup. I was a finalist and so there was some anticipation at our “table”. As Lesley announced that Nikki was runner up, the rest of my table erupted, such was the excitement. But then I saw that they were, each from their own seat, pointing at me. I had the sound turned down, so I turned it up. They were jumping in the air and cheering that I’d won. My screen was clearly streaming more slowly than theirs. It was a moment of sheer disbelief. By the time my attention had turned back to the screen Lesley had announced the award and moved onto the next award and so it wasn’t until I watched again the next day, that I actually heard Lesley announce my name. I had thought that I had absolutely no chance of winning Founders and so the emotion that accompanied the announcement was overwhelming. The next few minutes were just a haze to me, several of my buddies asked if I was ok. The next thing I was really aware of was the announcement of the winner of the Bird category Image of the Year. The win had meant so much to me and honestly the rest of the evening felt quite surreal." - Sharon Bolt, Winner of the Founders Cup

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Out of Camera Competition WINNERS

- Ann Aveyard, Tim Wilde and Cameron Scott

“We introduced the ‘Out of Camera’ competition during 2020. This was open to all members, where the entry had to be an image taken straight out of camera, showing considerable skill and accuracy. The standard of work was so high, that the Judges came to the decision that the 3 entrants below were all deserving of the winning title! “ - Steve & Lesley Thirsk

Cameron Scott 14

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Ann Aveyard

Tim Wilde Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

Image of the Month Top Ten Photographers 2020 OPEN CATEGORY

PETS CATEGORY

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Winner: Nick Brown Runner-Up: Ian Knaggs Sharon Bolt Lynda Haney Claire Osborne David Conway and Emily Endean Sue Dudley and Claire Norman Andrew Ford

Winner: Karen Riches Runner-Up: Nikki Goodeve Jason Allison Dawn Cotterell Emma Campbell Jessica McGovern Caroline Dell Kin So Michele Campbell Deanne Ward

PEOPLE CATEGORY

WEDDING CATEGORY

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

1. Winner: Chris Chambers 2. Runner-Up: Dave Conway 3. Ann Aveyard 4. Alice Slee 5. Nigel Hepplewhite 6. Carol Higgins, Lisa Kershaw and Sally Masson 7. 8. 9. Lynn Stanfield and Stacey Oliver 10. -

Winner: Debbie Longmore Runner-Up: Lynne Harper Lynne Williams Barrie Spence Sian Lewis Jodie Painter Nikki Goodeve Iain Poole Clare Wilson Martin Clark, Claire Osborne & Lisa Sumner

Photo: Lynda Haney

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THE NATURAL WORLD CATEGORY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Winner: Claire Norman Runner-Up: Jayne Bond Lynda Haney Molly Hollman Neil Pitchford Ann Aveyard Sharon Bolt Steve Oldfield Scott Williams Stan Maddams

MATERNITY, NEWBORN & BABY CATEGORY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Winner: Lisa Sumner Runner-Up: Debbie Longmore Natasha Ince Anneka Harden Sarah Smith Clare Perry Karen Riches Sharon Wallis Tina Stobbs Clare Wilson

Sponsored by Digitalab

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THE GUILD’S

ALL ROUND PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR - 2020

DEBBIE LONGMORE Sponsored by Loupedeck

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" Hi, I'm Debbie, I am a Qualified portrait and wedding photographer based in Tamworth, Staffordshire. I have always been interested in photography, which undoubtedly stems from my Dad's interest when I was growing up. I have fond memories of me being on the other side of the camera as and my Dad always made it fun, and I now have great photos of exciting times to look back on. During my school years, I undertook various photography courses but photography remained a part-time hobby for many years. It was after the birth of my first child that my passion was reignited. Having nearly lost my son at birth, I wanted to be able to capture and treasure every moment that followed as too quickly children grow, and time passes by in the blink of an eye. As most of us Mums do, I got very trigger happy snapping pictures of my son; however, most of these photos were taken on my phone, and I never printed them, only shared them on my social media. I now have two beautiful children that are my inspiration for wanting to follow my passion for photography even further. As a mum, I know how special it is to record your children growing up, but we never think of getting an image printed as a one-off piece of art hung on our walls that will last for years to come. I believe that if my children continue to have enjoyment in their photos being taken, and I do take a lot of them; then I must be doing something right! Photo sessions should be fun where kids are involved, this is not just a photography session; this is a memory for them and it should be exciting. I love being able to capture children's personalities and tailor my photography to the child and family. I love to be able to capture something different each session and give client's something unique to them. I love being able to create new styles and themes. While I love my studio sessions and get to create timeless images, I also enjoy the natural side of photography; I particularly enjoy venturing into the great unknown with my camera and models. Not only do children enjoy the sense of adventure that comes with sessions outside the confines of studio photography, it hopefully means fun and a relaxed atmosphere. I capture happy memories of a lovely day with photographs that will last a lifetime. " - Debbie Longmore

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Q: What was it like to achieve the title 'Overall

Photographer of the Year 2020" with The Guild of Photographers? It was a very surreal and unexpected experience. I watched the virtual awards at home with my children, who got to share the moment with me. It made it all the more special for them to see why mummy works so hard. It did take quite some time to sink in, not sure it has fully yet.

Q: As a photographer, have you always had an interest in photography? In my last year of high school, I undertook a six-week course at my local college (purely so I could get out of studying languages!!!). It was based all on film. I didn't expect to fall in love with photography, but I did. However, my photography took a back seat for many years as a hobby until my son was born. He was born poorly, and I didn't have many photos of him from those first few weeks, which I deeply regret. Then I became very obsessed with capturing him, as most of us mums do. It was not until after the birth of my daughter that I brought my first DSLR in March 2014 and joined the Guild nine months later to learn. All I wanted to do was take some lovely photos of my children.

Q: Are you a predominantly studio-based photographer, or do you also offer location work? I am primarily studio-based, with most of my sessions being Newborns; however, I also offer location work and photograph weddings.

Q: Working on images in post, do you use Lightroom or Photoshop? I tend to do minimal post-production on my photos and predominantly use Lightroom for the most part. I try to get as much right in-camera as I can. I do, however, use Photoshop for adding textures, colour changes, and composites.

Q: Do you shoot RAW or Jpeg? Or both? I tend to shoot only RAW.

Q: Go to lenses for your photography? I have a few lenses I use more than others. For portraits, I use an 85mm F1.4 for newborns, I use a 24-70mm (particularly if I am shooting from above for prop shots), and if outdoors, I tend to use my 70-200mm.

Q: Photoshoots on location - what is your preferred choice of lighting? I much prefer a softer light location, so if I can get to choose the time for any location I session, it would either be in the morning or later in the afternoon. This is not always possible, though, and if I am going to be shooting in the midday sun, I tend to choose locations with more coverage from the sun.

Q: What do you like most about being a member of the Guild of Photographers? It's going to sound really cheesy, but I owe all of my progress to being part of the Guild. I have made some amazing friends since joining who have helped guide me, and along with mentoring, this has pushed me to improve my skills. 42

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Q: What advice would you give to a Guild member interested in moving to a High Street Studio? I don't know as I don't have a high street studio. I work from a small studio in a little arcade that doesn't really get much in the way of footfall. Most of my clients find me through word of mouth, social media, or Google searches.

Q: Your personal preference for your photographs, colour or black & white and why? I tend to edit a lot in colour. I always offer my clients their images in both colour and black & white, so they have the choice. I love black & white images, but I find that most of my work looks better in colour.

Q: Children's/Newborn Baby Photographer whose work inspires you? Oh, this is really hard cause there are so many people whose work I love, many of them being part of the Guild. There is no one particular person who inspires me above anyone else, but more a collective of inspiration from various people.

Q: If you could give your younger self one bit of advice, what would it be? Do what you enjoy and put in every effort to achieve your goal and not focus on what other people are doing.

Q: Best buy for your camera kit for under £50? I actually brought my Nikon 50mm F1.4 lens off a friend of mine for £50, so I have to say that was my best buy!

Q: What inspired you to pick up a camera and start taking photographs? As before, photography was just a hobby for many years, and it wasn't until after I had my children I wanted to learn so I could take better photos of them. I brought my first DSLR in March 2014 and joined the Guild nine months later to learn. All I wanted to do was take some nice photos of my children.

Q: Interesting facts about you?

I'm not sure I'm that interesting, but I do find myself funny, not sure everyone else agrees, though. I lived on a boat for a few years when I was 25, which I loved, so that was pretty interesting!

Q: Do you use a tripod for your photography? And, if so, how important is it to your work? I use a tripod for certain images, particularly any concept still life photography. Some of these tend to be composites, so I need the images to mirror up in postproduction.

Q: Favourite food? Cheese. All food, really, but cheese! It is why I will never be skinny.

Q: Once the Covid-19 Pandemic is over and we come out of lockdown, where would your favourite place in the world be to visit and why? My parents live in France, I've not been able to see them during the Pandemic so it will be the first place I will be going.

Q: What advice can you share for people interested in reinventing themselves and change direction with their photography, especially in Children's Photography? The best advice is to be true to yourself and shoot what you like. Trying to reinvent yourself based on someone else's images will never look right, and you won't be happy with the results. If you shoot for yourself, what you like, and put yourself in your images, you will find your style. I always had visions that I was going to shoot beautiful FineArt images of my children; however, I have since discovered that I love shooting more story-based images, more by coincidence than choosing to follow this path.

Q: What have you found most challenging about being a photographer? Confidence! Confidence and self-belief in myself. I used to look at everyone else's images and think, "why does my work not look like that". As soon as I embraced my style, I found my confidence increased.

Q: Apart from sheer hard work and dedication, what would you say is the main ingredient to your successful images, Debbie? Mentoring and listening! Mentors are there to guide you as to where you can improve. It would be best if you were open to listening to the advice you are given. I have had some great mentoring over my time with the Guild and have learnt a lot, but I have been open to taking on board the advice and guidance I have received, and I have worked at it. No amount of mentoring is going to be helpful if you are not willing to listen.

Q: And finally, what next with your photography? I am looking forward to opening my studio again and getting back to what I love doing. It has been a very a challenging year for everyone in this industry, and I have missed working so much.

Thank you Debbie for giving us an insight into your photography and many congratulations on your success. - Julie Oswin. Editor

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" Winning the Photographer Of The Year was just amazing and a real honour given the standard within The Guild. If told I would or even could win when I joined two and a half years ago there is no way would I have believed it. Even a category alone. After the success of the architectural images in 2019 I did decide to concentrate purely on the Open category in this style. And in the main the plan was to focus on B&W architecture but I did throw in the odd colour image to test the water and a few cut flowers too. These are probably my favourites in fact. With 2020 restricting us all, and knowing I didn't have enough architectural images that I wanted to use, I turned to taking photos indoors like many and flowers were the easy subject to get hold of. It was a really fun year for me in the Image of the Month, but I'm looking forward to trying and learning new things in 2021" - Nick Brown

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THE GUILD’S PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR - 2020 NICK BROWN

SPONSORED BY EPSON https://www.epson.co.uk/

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https://bit.ly/CreativeLight-39 Creative Light Magazine [edition 39] featured an indepth interview with Nick Brown and his work itLight here:[click Issue 41- - view Creative Magazine : here] 49

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Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

For the Love of Dogs Jason Allison The Dog Photographer

“ I am a lifetime photographer, dog lover, and now a fulltime pet photographer. I am a Craftsman of the Guild of Photographers and I have achieved many awards since joining the guild in 2016; Pet Photographer of the year 2019, Image of the year 2019 and 'Classic Portraiture' Image of the year 2019.

How on this earth did I end up mopping dog pee up with an industrial-sized roll of 'life-saving' blue paper. Why was I sat looking at a ginormous pile of steaming German Shepherd faeces at 9:15 on a Saturday morning and trying not to vomit in every direction massively? Did that black lab just cock its leg on my antique sideboard, and how will I ever get the smell off? My arms are aching so much; I need a lighter lens! Why am I laid on my cold studio floor trying to capture the most awesomely perfect shot of 6 cute as hell puppies? Ah, a hyper springer and a sprocker in today; I may be here for a while! Oh, and the humping muscular Frenchie/ Collie/ Dachsund. [face palm] Some days I worry I've bitten off more than I can chew with this dog photography lark, and, other days, when I nail that perfect portrait or meet the most loveable puppy litter, I think I have the best job in the world. I'm Jason Allison, a dog photographer; I'm not a dog behaviourist; I'm not a crazy dog man nor am I a strobe lighting wizard, but I do love dog photography. I love it when I get it right! I also love dogs, not madly, you understand, but I do love them. In my 4th year doing this job now, three years if you remove 2020 from the calculation, short years may I add. I realise it's a lot easier now than I made it in the first two years; when I say easier, I mean the business of, the process of and dog photography as a product. How did I get here? I'll set the scene for you. Okay, I was born very creative, I loved photography, drawing, and music in my youth. My Mum is to blame. At the time of writing this she's making decoupage Christmas cards for Christmas 2021. I started with photography early, single figure age, but not in a sophisticated way, in a memory recording, storytelling way. I played with a dark room for a while in my teens. I now look back in envy when I used to fill photo albums with great pictures and stories; that's not so easy for me now; there's never enough time.

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I used an SLR in my teens and developed many a roll of film at Boots. I always had SLRs until the early 2000s and started with digital, then eventually got a DSLR in the early days of digital. Photography was always a hobby until four years ago. Editing? Yes, my second job was working for my Uncle. There were many ID cards and paper-based management systems that needed to be designed, created, and personalised. This process was initially cut and paste (manual scissors and Pritt Stick), but eventually, we scanned and created it on a PC. I started editing scanned photos during this time, like the time I edited a girlfriend into my Florida holiday snap. Pets? Imagine being 12 years old and bagging up dog food from 25Kg sacks into 1lb (454g) bags to sell in your parents' pet store and getting so good at it the scales were almost redundant. I'm still as adept at tying knots in plastic bags to this day too. Spending many a Saturday serving in my Mum and Dad's shop, seeing all of the dogs come in and, of course, our own pets, they have been in my life for a long time. Oh, and I wanted to be a vet. Now you know my makeup, let's look at some of the areas I will be covering with you over the next couple of editions. • The equipment I use: gear and setup options. • Competitions and development: Image of the month. • Keeping them happy: The dogs and the parents. • Time and patience: the shoot. • Editing and printing: The best bit.

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PART ONE As an introduction, I want to explain that my whole thinking when working with dogs is to make the entire process of capturing the picture as effortless and stressless as possible. I want the dog and the parent to have zero stress, no hassles, and leave the studio happy. This is usually at the expense of not getting it exactly perfect 'in-camera.' In an ideal world, every dog would sit, stay, pose, move, pose, and so on. We would all have a very easy job; unfortunately, this is not the case, and I would estimate less than a quarter of my clients are good sitters and trained.

I have previously used Bowen's rectangular softboxes and Bowens strobes, but those strobes have now been replaced with the amazing Pixapro CITI600 Pro/ Godox AD600BM battery-operated strobes, and I use the X1t Trigger. I use two in the studio portraits, and when shooting off-site, mini-sessions for example, I generally use just the one with a Pixapro Octa box. I've recently purchased some new Pixapro softboxes for a different look which I've just started to experiment with. Next time I'll go into some very forgiving lighting setups.

My gear choice and lighting set-ups are designed to make the session more accessible for the client, and capturing the initial raw shot, as previously mentioned, often requiring tinkering work in Lightroom and Photoshop. I'm in Photoshop anyway as the majority of my fine-art work contains overlays, so what is a few extra minutes fine-tuning. I tend to find some gear I like that works well and stick to it. The gear I've got in the studio works for me; I've had it a while, which means it must be good, and it still gets me Gold and Silver awards, so I'm happy. I'm currently using a Canon 5D MkIV; I upgraded this from a MKIII last year but ONLY because the MKIV has similar controls to use as the MkIII, and prior to the 5D's, I had a 7D. I currently have no plans to leave the Canon family. I find the file sizes of the 5DIV more than I need for all my photography needs. In addition to the studio, I do outdoor dog sessions, so it fits well there with its sporting heritage and no complaints for the commercial work either. In particular, I capture school marketing imagery in the form of prospectus and billboard banners for Academies. Lens-wise, I have an original 70-200mm f2.8 L; this is my primary lens for everything I do in the studio, outdoor and commercial. I also use a 24-70mm F4 L when I don't have space, taking photos of my own family, or being lazy; the 24-70 is very forgiving. If you're considering the 70-200, consider the distance from your subject, which can be a good thing with nervous dogs as you're a reasonable distance away but maybe not so good as you will need a lot of space in a bigger studio. I love the image you get from the lens; usually, I shoot around 90-100mm. I know people love the Bokeh from this lens, but I don't usually shoot wide open to ensure I capture all the dog's details nice and sharp in the studio. My lighting choice is designed to keep the session simple for the dog, so I use large Softboxes and feather the light on the subject from a distance.

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PART TWO LIGHTING YOUR DOGS Sometimes your dog, your model, will sit perfectly, in the exact position you want, in the exact pose you ask. You can adjust your lighting, move stuff around and get everything perfect. Your model will stand super still until you push the button and capture the image. Sometimes that is. Save these 1% rare occasions for your Image of the Month entries. So for the other 99%, you have to accommodate and prepare for the unexpected, the jumpers, runners, barkers, sniffers, and howlers, not to mention nervous or multiple dogs which, are your everyday bread and butter experiences. I learned to adapt for my own sanity as well as the dogs. I want to allow the dog to be themselves but also get a great shot.

No pressure lighting setup is required then. I mostly use a two-light setup in the studio, currently using PixaPro CITI600 with a large rectangular Softbox on each strobe. The idea is to position them to feather the light into the general area the dog could be. Remember, if you get a good dog, an awesome sitter, you can experiment more and change the lighting, but for most, this setup is the most forgiving. As shown in the next diagram, we get a nice gentle light from each strobe to the area where the dog is on the backdrop.

In this next diagram, we show in green the area of flexibility we have when it comes to dogs moving around the backdrop between the two strobes. Now I'm not saying this will give the perfect image, some adjustment may be required in Lightroom or Photoshop to your exposure, but when you're dealing with the unknown, week in, week out, this really does save you a lot of stress and hassle. And my final lighting setup, the strobe with a single Octa. I find myself shooting in very small spaces during my annual mini-session tours, generally the dog play areas within cafés. I may have a 2.5m x 1.5m space to work with. I also have to get the backdrop in there and myself the dog and its owner. I would generally position the strobe and a 1.2M Octa behind me and high to not cast any shadows on the backdrop or dog. Here's how it would look.

To add more variation to your image, you could add more light (higher power) from one strobe if you wish. I sometimes use a smaller Softbox on one strobe for a different look. This setup gives great flexibility when it comes to the dog moving around the backdrop, too. Yes, of course, things will be lit more strongly when closer to the lights, but more often than not, this will still be within acceptable limits.

There we have it, a couple of everyday set-ups to make your life easier! - Jason Allison https://jasonallison.co.uk

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Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

This is England "A photographer never retires; it’s in the blood; you can never give it up, as I found out after quitting

the social photography business some eight years ago. I had photographed more than seven hundred weddings and countless portraits during my twenty-seven years running my business, but I still had the urge to take photographs after hanging up my wedding suit. The experience gained as a wedding photographer stood me in good stead. I was well used to watching events unfolding before me and trying to capture the wedding story in my style ( classical/relaxed instead of candid/reportage). Having enjoyed the challenge of trying to get something different for each couple, I secretly longed for the opportunity to shoot something that was more my vision of the world. First of all, I had to decide what I wanted to “say” with my photographs. Being a born and bred Scouser, I had the cutting wit and fast response at my disposal, and after ‘retiring’ I had plenty of time to watch the quirky behaviour that is often unnoticed in a busy world.

“Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll rattle your jewellery.” - John Lennon, Royal Command Performance, 1963 I realised that I did have an observant eye, coloured by the quick wit and a quirky vision of the world around me. I look at this ongoing project a little like fishing; sometimes you capture something, sometimes you come home empty-handed. I always have a camera with me; selling all of my Nikon gear after I closed the business and went mirrorless with Fuji. The images I have used here for the article in Creative Light Magazine are a selection from my progress so far, and with the addition of some taken years ago. Retrieved from files during the Covid-19 Pandemic lockdown. I now realise that I must have always had an offbeat take on the world around me! I intend to broaden this out to include shots taken on trips abroad and hopefully pull them together and get a publishing deal of some sort. In the meantime, I keep my eyes open and take time to pause and watch what is going in around me, and if it’s daft enough, I will snap it without being noticed. “ - Dave Worthington 60

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“ The refuse collectors didn’t bat an eyelid ”

“ When you get the smell of fish & chips - you’ve just have to have some ”

“ Predator keeps a watchful eye on the beach activities ”

“ Not everyone likes Shakespeare “

“ Not much of a salad, where's the rest ”

“ Summer Fairs are always full of surprises “ Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

“Amazed how people can dress so provacatively”

“ Like the whole thing fell into place - Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool ”

“ And the Lord really did wash my car “

“ Just taking the donkeys for walk, won’t be long love ” 62

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“ Winwick Ukulele Club, wooden plank is tapped to make the puppet dance. Why? “

" The joy of people watching! They do the daftest things "

“Wouldn’t give much chance for him getting on a bus home “

“ They went to great lengths to set up the picnic table. Tablecloth a nice touch! ““

“ Pleased when a story comes together “

“ Tommy collected dolls and also had a pet duck which he walked on a lead ”

“Wonder what they tasted like? “

“ Health & Safety “ Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

: March | April 2021 - Issue 41

Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

My Camera History Philip Yale M

y interest in photography started early, aged six or seven. My Dad had quite a sophisticated camera for the time, and as a child himself he’d been a very keen photographer, developing and printing his own images. Since he still had all his old camera and darkroom equipment, he was able to teach me, and I was hooked. I suspect many Guild members have owned many different cameras in the past, so I thought I’d share some of mine with you to see if this evokes any feelings of nostalgia. My first ever camera was (as for many people of a certain age) a Kodak Brownie Cresta, taking 120 roll film, and with a big, imprecise shutter button, so you never quite knew when it was going to activate! Getting blur-free images wasn’t trivial. It had a built-in sliding contraption over the lens which said “Close up” when pushed one way, and “Cloud” when pushed the other (to reveal a pale yellow filter). Quite how you were supposed to judge the focus with the close-up lens in place I never discovered. Still, I used to take it on family holidays and school trips, and whilst most of the shots were wonky and of dubious interest, I always felt that I wanted to do more with the camera than simply point and shoot.

Kodak Brownie Cresta

My excitement knew no bounds one day when Dad decided that I was practised enough to move up to a better camera and gave me his Ensign Selfix 16/20. This was a fold-up bellows camera, but it was quite a sophisticated beast. Variable shutter speeds from 1/25 to 1/300 plus B & T, an f4.5 - f22 75mm lens, 16 half-frame images from 120 roll film, and all folding into a nice compact unit meant that it was a very versatile little camera indeed. The best thing about the Selfix was that you couldn’t just point and shoot. You had to get the settings right, which meant learning about what they meant. I didn’t have a light meter, so I had to guess at the exposure. After a while, guesswork became judgement, and I got very good at looking around me and thinking “1/125 at f5.6” and being right (more or less). Interestingly, that ability has almost totally left me these days which is a shame, but I suppose it’s a rather redundant skill for the most part. So, the Selfix taught me a huge amount about the fundamentals of photography. About depth of field, effects of different shutter speeds, what happens when you over or underexpose a shot. And then, because I was taking my own film into the darkroom and printing the negatives, those lessons spilled over into that phase of the imaging Ensign Selfix 16/20 process too. Happy days.

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Good though it was, the Selfix’s limitations soon became frustrating. So, gradually, Dad began to let me use his Argus C3, which was both a blessing and a curse. Let me explain … The Argus was an American camera and took 35mm roll film. This was a big advantage, because you didn’t need to change film so frequently, and the smaller containers compared to 120 film made it far easier to store both before and after exposure. The word “ergonomics” didn’t seem to be in the dictionary back then, or if it was it had escaped the attention of the camera’s designers. This was a brick. It was metal, rectangular and heavy, with sharp edges that were impossible to avoid. It had a built-in rangefinder for focusing, but the knurled wheel you turned with your index finger to rotate the lens had such jagged teeth on it that after a day’s shooting the tip of that finger was a bleeding wreck. Oh, and the shutter release was a hollow chrome tube, which also slowly bored its way into that same finger. The rangefinder, such as it was, had a tiny little window alongside the equally tiny viewfinder. Peering through it and trying to align the two images as your blood-soaked finger Argus C3 tried to turn the wheel of death was rather like peering through a minute dust-filled kaleidoscope. It was hopelessly inaccurate, and it wasn’t long before I just guessed at the distance and turned the lens manually. My index finger was very grateful. Despite all that, the Argus took some lovely photographs. I took it to the 1979 World Scout Jamboree in New Mexico, and took some wonderful slide photographs using Kodachrome 25 which was a dream to use in the very bright sun at altitude in The Rockies. Sadly, these are now lost, as far as I can tell, which is a great shame. (One little-publicised bonus of the Argus was that if you were struggling to get a view in a crowd, you could always put it on the floor and stand on it to gain a few extra inches …)

NIKON EM In 1980, my Dad very generously bought me a “proper” 35mm camera. A Nikon. Very exciting! The EM was Nikon’s first budget 35mm camera aimed at entrylevel photographers (in fact I later discovered it was designed and marketed specifically for the female market!), and it got very mixed reviews. It was an aperture-priority camera, with a 50mm f1.8 lens and manual focus. The only exposure compensation was a blue (later silver) plastic button on the front left of the body, which gave +2 stops over-exposure if held down whilst pressing the shutter. There was a single mechanical shutter speed (1/90s) which could be Nikon EM used if the battery failed, but otherwise it was fully electronic. After the Argus, this seemed like a dream. It was comfortable, light, easy to use, had a bright viewfinder and interchangeable lenses. I even acquired a few second-hand lenses to put on it: - A Mitsuki 90-230mm f4.5 - A 400mm f8 manual focus non-telephoto lens of forgotten manufacture Compared to anything I’d owned previously, all this kit was so easy to use, and produced some really nice pictures (I was still printing my own black and white at this stage). It didn’t take long, though, before the severely limited exposure control and the rather plastic feel of the body became frustrations, and I yearned for something better. continued...

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NIKON FM2 I actually can’t remember how I came to own the Nikon FE2, but it was a dream, and to this day is one of my favourite-ever cameras. It was a design masterpiece for control layout. Everything you needed to use fell under the fingers of both hands, and you could make any adjustment without ever taking your eye away from the viewfinder. • Shutter Speed: Right thumb and index finger turn knob on top plate. • Aperture: Left hand around the lens throat. • Focus: Left hand at front of the lens. • DOF preview: Middle finger of right hand (lever next to lens throat). • Exposure memory: 4th finger of right hand (push and hold the self-timer to the left).

Nikon FE2

In comparison, I find that with modern cameras so many adjustments need to be made with the right hand, and quite a few whilst looking at the rear display too, that this disrupts my readiness to take the shot. The FE2 was seriously well built, too, and just oozed quality and reliability. Optically, the 50mm Nikkor lens I bought with it was better than anything I’d owned previously, and as time went on I acquired a Vivitar 70-210mm zoom lens. This was a very good lens in most respects, but it had the infuriating design flaw of focusing in the opposite direction to every other lens I’d ever owned. Despite that, I loved my FE2 and just loved going out and photographing things for the sheer pleasure of it. Very few of those photographs survive, sadly, because the printing side of photography was still something that was very alien to me, and it was still done by high street chemists or camera stores.

AND A PAUSE … The FE2 was my last camera for many years. In my mid-20s, I lost interest in photography and sold all my equipment. I’ve no idea why, it just sort of happened after I left university. Lack of funds, and nowhere to continue processing my b&w film both played a part, as did finding new jobs in London and getting married and having children … too many distractions by far! It was only with the arrival of affordable digital photography that I became interested again, and switched codes by purchasing a refurbished Canon EOS 10D in about 2005. Since then my camera history has been a lot less-varied, and exclusively Canon, so I think I’ll leave the nostalgia-fest there for now. I hope it’s prompted some of you at least to think back fondly (or otherwise!) about the cameras you used to own in your more formative years. - Philip Yale Guild Ambassador

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Photo: Fiona Wallace QGP Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

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Problem Solving with Gary Hill

Gary has been a photographer for the last 11 years, following a career change. He is based in the North West where he specialises in bespoke portraiture for individuals and families. He is a Master Craftsman with the Guild as well as a Fellow of the Societies, and he has numerous awards to his name. Gary is a brand ambassador for Digitalab, Click Props and Backgrounds, a Friend of Graphistudio and a Sony Alpha Creator. He is however probably best known as an educator, being an exceptional trainer, especially in the areas of Lighting and Posing.

Creative Light Magazine's “PROBLEM SOLVING” page with Panel Member, Judge and Trainer, Gary Hill. If you have any questions you would like Gary to answer please get in touch with Julie Oswin, Editor via email julie@photoguild.co.uk and we will cover it in the next edition. Depending how indepth the article is to solve the problem, Gary will cover one or two questions per edition. The two questions in this edition is on the subjects of Photoshop and Lightroom and a question on alternatives to Adobe.

QUESTION: Is post-processing better done in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or both? " There are significant differences between the two but a lot of similarities. Lightroom is a great database application with fantastic RAW conversion and adjustments. The addition of the adjustment brushes went a long way to add some flexibility to it, but it cannot do what Photoshop does. The ability to tweak small areas of an image in Photoshop and then mask off the rest is what makes photoshop so powerful. While it has the excellent capability of tweaking an image overall, Lightroom's ability to subtly adjust small areas is pretty hard to do. The lack of layers and layer masks means you lose the adjustability of the changes you make. It doesn't mean Lightroom isn't a powerful editing tool, it really is, and you can do so much with Lightroom, but it also means you can't do things subtly.

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One part of Photoshop that is so much better is the ability to work with layers and layer masks. To constantly go back and forth to adjust layers and change them or parts of thereof and 'mix' up the effects makes it so much more versatile. In the example here, I used two different curves layers, one to darken a touch the highlights on the skin and the second one to darken off areas of the Blonde ladies dress as you could see the pants through it.

My workflow is to make basic adjustments in Lightroom and then use photoshop to retouch the image. Both Lightroom and Photoshop work well together as well as they do on their own " - Gary Hill 72

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QUESTION: What about the alternatives to Adobe, also would like help keywording for digital asset management (dams) and general itpc data? “ I’ll cover keywording first as, to be honest, It is not something I use a lot as I don’t sell stock or similar or press work. However, some fantastic pieces of software are out there, such as brands.photoshelter. com, Imatch, and ACDSee. These are powerful tools, some with facial recognition, etc. However, Adobe Lightroom and Bridge also have great keywording tools. Photomechanic is also brilliant to incorporate into any workflow as it is so fast at making selections from raw. Sorry, I can’t help a lot more but not my area of specialty. I have had a look at Adobe alternatives, and I already use one when shooting commercially. There are some excellent alternative raw converters out there, such as capture one ( which I use for tethering with clients commercially and while teaching as it always works), DXO, Serif Affinity, and camera manufacturers bundle their own with a camera. When it comes to post-production further, there are some more alternatives that stand alone. I have had a play with is Affinity Photo, its tremendous value at between £24 and £49. So far, I have found it very good for many things, basic editing is fine, layers work well, tools are slightly different, and things like the patch tool work very differently, but after using Photoshop for 12 years. It is undoubtedly a more substantial retouching program than Elements and does integrate with a lot of Photoshop plug-ins for the money. It has a similar facility to actions that it calls macros, which allows you to record a series of instructions like you would an action. The only downside I have found that there are only a few commercially available Macros yet, and you can’t use Photoshop actions in it. Still, great value and nice software to use.

[*Screenshots showing affinity interface – affinity and affinity 2]

Another alternative is GIMP, it’s free, customisable and has a lot of features. For me as a long time adobe user I found the interface clunky but, I think with time it would become more intuitive. It has layers, masking and the like but like I say it’s totally free so worth a download to see if it works for you. Paint.net is another one but is windows only and again free. It’s a case of trying and see what suits you. Adobe don’t have it all their own way in the image editing world nowadays “ - Gary Hill

*Screenshot Gimp to show interface*

www.artoftheportrait.co.uk Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

Peter Li is an award-winning photographer based in London. His architectural artwork received 1st place in the Architecture Category at the Epson International Pano Awards 2018 and was Commended at the Sony World Photography Awards 2018. His work has been featured in The Times, Time Out London and in various photography and art publications.

How did you get your start in photography? I started shooting with a DSLR camera back in 2013 when my first child was born. Like many dads out there, I wanted to document my growing family. Having a wife who studied art, she has a very artistic eye and I am very lucky to have someone who would give me an honest critique. In the early days, I was independently studying/self-teaching photography every day and practising on a daily basis.

What type of photography are you shooting and what motivated you to focus on that genre? In 2015, I met two aspiring photographers who shared their passion for architecture photography with me. Through their inspiration, I have learnt to be attentive in achieving symmetry and am mindful in my composition and line work. Living in London, we have all sorts of architecture; we often find a classic gem nestled amongst modern skyscrapers. I owe London for fuelling my passion for this genre.

What has been your biggest achievement or obstacle along the way? One of the biggest challenges is to photograph a space completely empty, and often it’s the hardest thing to do, so to prep for the best conditions I try to plan my visits on the days that are least busy, and getting up early to be the first person there. In London, interiors can be tricky because often they would not allow the use of tripods. But on the positive side, photographing around London I had trained myself to have a steady hand for a slow shutter exposure.

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‘Megamind’ Royal Albert Hall, London. The auditorium of London’s Royal Albert Hall during lighting preparation for an upcoming show. It is fascinating to see the hall from floor to ceiling in such flying colours. The stage spotlight cast such dramatic shadows across the seating area and transforms the space into something quite otherworldly. It is a difficult scene to photograph, but challenging conditions often make great photos.

Who and/or what inspires you most? I often look for inspiration from paintings, movies and games. I started gaming from a very young age, and I think it has impacted my photography more so than any other art form.

What is your approach? Is there anything in particular you try to achieve during a shoot (for example triggering certain feelings, etc.) or are there any specific techniques you use? My work sits between realism and fantasy. Historical buildings such as Cathedrals or music theatres are often reminiscent of our history - they are intrinsically timeless and, in many ways, otherworldly.

‘Chessboard’ St Paul’s Cathedral, London. St Paul’s Cathedral is one of London’s finest Classic architecture gem, a masterpiece from Christopher Wren’s creations. My St Paul’s series has 3 parts, each section of the Cathedral has its very own style but marries seamlessly together. The chandeliers brighten the space evenly across the Nave, while the lack of deep shadows creates a minimalistic elegant scene.

With vertical panoramic photography (Vertorama), we are able to observe a three-dimensional space in its entirety, giving us a view/perspective beyond what the eye can see. It breaks us from reality, plays with our perception of shape and form and creates a sense of another world. Through my photography, I hope to impart fragments of fantasy to the viewer and encourage them to take a momentary step out of their reality

Why is accurate color important within your workflow? I print my work regularly, colour accuracy is very important, having a screen that could accurately render the colours will make the process much easier to manage. The subtle tonal difference of an image can convey a very different mood and message.

https://amzn.to/2wDin8e

https://amzn.to/2wDin8e Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine : 75

Guild of Photographers Successful Qualified Panels January | February 2021 “An excellent reason for joining the Guild is to submit your work for assessment and progress through our membership levels. It is a way to measure and evidence your skill level, as well as show your customers that you are committed to providing them with the very best service. Whilst photography-related qualifications have always been a controversial issue, how do you judge an art form? Our ‘Qualified’ status aligned to the standards of competence that reflect a level where the customer should be ‘pleased with the results’ when employing the services of a skilled tradesman (the photographer). In other words, ‘Qualified’ indicates professional ‘competence’ to a level where the Guild is willing to recognise the photographer as an ambassador of the association, so those who achieve that level should be proud of doing so”. - Steve & Lesley Thirsk

(Please note that when joining the Guild, Qualifications from other respectable organisations are transferable at ‘Q’ or ‘L’ level. They may also be at higher levels, but this is not guaranteed as it is subject to a review of the relevant submission or members work) Ref: The Guild of Photographers - Qualifications 76

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: March | April 2021 - Issue 41

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FREE DESIGN | FREE POSTAGE

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: March | April 2021 - Issue 41

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Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

The Calming Wrap Claire Elliott has created this calming wrap sequence and video for you. For the times you feel you are going to need to postpone a session because the baby just isn't settling. As Claire says, " creating this calming wrap is the best thing I have done to relax an unsettled baby. Using this technique, I have always achieved a gallery of images for my clients and I have never had to reschedule a session again. "

https://vimeo.com/531026227

THE CALMING WRAP - IN 8 EASY STEPS STEP 1: Start with most of the wrap to one side (leave about 14" to the side of your lighting). Place your hand on that side of the cheek of the baby and hold it firmly. STEP 2: Wrap that short side over the wrist and tuck under the other armpit and under the shoulder blade to keep the fabric firmly in place. STEP 3: With your other hand on the chest, keeping it down below the wrap line, wrap around the wrist and under the baby and back out the other side. Now you have both arms contained, and the baby will typically start to calm and relax, feeling snug and warm. STEP 4: Place hand on baby's chest and pull the long wrap piece to make sure the arms are firmly in place.

02 82

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STEP 5: Fold the baby's legs up to the chest and tuck the remaining fabric at the bottom up and tuck in to hide the nappy area. STEP 6: Gently holding onto the feet to keep them in place, pull the wrap into an upwards motion before wrapping it around and over the shoulder to stop it from slipping off. STEP 7: Bring the fabric around the baby's bottom to keep the feet and legs into position and take it back up the other side, over the shoulder, and around the baby's back. STEP 8: Any remaining fabric can continue to swirl around the egg shape you have created until you run out of fabric, or feel free to change it up with a knot or a swish of fabric behind the baby on the beanbag or down the side of the prop. FINISH: Baby can be placed onto the beanbag in a back lying position with face to camera or posed into a prepared bowl or basket. Don't forget to put the baby's bottom lower than the head. Look to make sure that the eyes are both correctly lit. Thats it! Enjoy! Claire Elliott

07 Issue 41www.trainingbyclaire.co.uk - Creative Light Magazine :

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ORDER ONLINE AT SIMIMAGING.CO.UK 84

: March | April 2021 - Issue 41

info@sim2000imaging.com

+44 (0) 1707 27 37 47 Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

What’s your plan for the surge in demand for wedding photography? By Ronan Ryle

What’s your plan for the surge in demand for wedding photography? As a wedding photographer, you have had very little business for more than a year. However, the surge in demand is coming. What is your plan for it?

New Bookings What about new bookings? Well, with new bookings, the gloves are off. You can proceed immediately by implementing your new pricing strategy.

Steps in determining your Post Covid Surge In Demand Strategy

Step 1 - How much income have you lost during the lockdown? Write this figure down as you want to discover the fastest way to recoup this lost income over the next 12/36 months. The amount I want to recoup is £________________________. The number of months I want to get this back over is The challenges will be great, but with every challenge, there is a massive opportunity too. Let’s first discuss the challenges.

______________. Let’s take an example to illustrate further how this works. Example: Let’s say the gross (pre-tax) income this photographer

The main challenge is to ensure we don’t fall foul of the ‘need for business curse’ and cut our prices to get the wedding business in the door. You see, the laws of supply and demand work

wishes to recoup is £50,000, and they want to get this back over the next 12 months.

everywhere, and demand will likely outstrip supply. This is already happening in the conference arena, with venues worldwide increasing their prices significantly. In fact, recently, a Photographic conference in the USA was for the first time in their history not able to confirm dates and venue for their 2022 conference. You see, the power in negotiation has flipped due to

Step 2 - Examine the days of the week you are available for

the simple law of supply and demand. The same will happen with

weddings.

weddings for the next few years. So, let’s discuss what you should consider as a strategy.

You see, wedding venues will be offering weddings every day of the week to meet demand. They will put a premium on Friday’s, Saturday’s and Sundays. You can adopt the same strategy.

Existing Bookings Existing bookings that have been postponed will be looking to re-book you. What should you do? Do you offer to do it at 2020 or 2021 prices, or do you look for more? What will determine this is your existing contracts. So please review these before taking action with any of the following suggestions. Having looked at your legal commitments and ensuring you can adopt some of the strategies below, then it’s time to create your plan.

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Let’s start by writing down how many weddings you can do over the next number of months you wish to recoup your lost income. Over the next ____________ months (Insert your target in Step 1) I am available for __________________ Regular Weekly Weddings (Number of Day’s a week x number of weeks) and ______________ Premium Day weddings (Number of Day’s a week x number of weeks).

What’s your plan for the surge in demand for wedding photography? By Ronan Ryle

In our example, the Photographer has decided they will make

Step 4 - Let’s prepare a plan for existing weddings that have

themselves available for the three ‘Premium days’ and 2 'Midweek days'.

been deferred. Here is one way to handle the bookings you

They are planning for a 40 week year as no wedding photographer

haven’t yet confirmed availability for at previous prices and are

typically works 52 weeks of the year. They want to recoup their lost

not contractually obliged to honour prices already agreed.

income of £50,000 over the next 12 months on top of being busier due

Action 1 - Determine who you have postponed bookings for

to the surge in demand.

that have not yet re-scheduled.

Regular Weddings - Over the next 12 months, I am available and can

Action 2 - Phone the Bride to check in with them to see ‘How

book 80 Regular Midweek weddings (2 Days x 40 weeks x 1 year (12

they are’ and 'Where their plans are?'.

months))

Action 3 - If they haven’t yet got a new date, discuss the surge

Premium Weddings - Over the next 12 months, I am available and can

in demand coming and what venues are doing. Tell them you

book 120 Premium weddings (3 Days x 40 weeks x 1 year (12 months))

wanted to reach out to let them know that if they book a

Step 3 - Divide your lost income from weddings during the lockdown and divide it by the number of Premium weddings you will be available in the 12 month period post lockdown. I am dividing ___________________ (Lost Income) by ____________________ (Premium Weddings) to get an increase in price per premium wedding goal of ______________.

mid-week wedding (Mention the days) that you are happy to honour the previous price but if they book a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the new price for these days are Previous Prices PLUS the premium goal amount. In our example, the Previous Price was £1200, and the new price is £1200 plus £420, which is £1620 for the premium days.

In our example, I am dividing £50,000 (Lost Income) by 120 premium

Step 5 - For new wedding enquiries, take your past prices and

weddings to get an increase in price per premium goal of £416. Let’s

add your Premium Days prices by the calculated amount. In our

round it up to £420.

example, the increase was £420. The clever business-focussed wedding photographer will also explore how they can increase their existing mid-week prices. Why not increase these by £420, but offer a 3XM Folio Box with 20 mounted prints (Photographers Choice) as a gift for her booking a Regular day wedding with you. Your Bride feels happier about her wedding being mid-week, and she sees so much more value in your gift than if you gave a discount for your Regular wedding days. Your profit on your mid-week weddings increases by £210 approx (depending on your print costs).

Your Next Step is positioning your marketing to take advantage of the surge. What is your plan? Why not join BSA for our 30-Day FREE trial and https://learn.businesscomplete the 14-Day challenge to ensure you fill your bookings for the next 24 months. Click here to learn more.

successacademy.io/ freetrial14days

Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

TIP SHEET #10 Quick Cut Outs with Photoshop Brushes

Compositing or rather, the process of selecting and cutting out assets from one picture and realistically adding them into another is an extremely common practice in the world of Digital Photography / Digital Art. Compositing is everywhere in areas such as the Movie Industry to create elaborate and fantastic posters advertising the latest blockbuster to Photographers being asked to simple move a person from one picture to another. No matter how elaborate or not the final picture, there are essential skills that need to be mastered and none more so than making accurate selections and cut outs. Over the years Photoshop has made life considerable easier for those of us creating composites with the introduction of such tools as the Quick Selection Tool and Refine edge and more recently Select and Mask however despite these additions the skill of the retoucher is knowing how other tools can be used when others fail. In this tutorial I want to take you through a selection and cut out, but we’ll make it one that could potentially be quite challenging. I’ll show you how we can use a brush within Photoshop and how to make a few changes to it’s behavior so that we can in fact ‘fake’ the cut out and speed up the process considerably. So, let’s go through the process but first of all show you ‘why’ you would want to do this…

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Step 1: Quick Selection Tool Start with the Quick Selection Tool to make as accurate a selection of the mouse as you can, but don’t worry too much about making it perfect. You’ll likely notice that the selection process starts off well but then, when we work around areas such as the tail the selection goes off track somewhat. To bring the selection back close to the mouse and remove unwanted areas from the selection hold down the ALT/Option key whilst dragging. Step 2: Select and Mask / Refine Edge Now that we have a fairly accurate selection of our mouse, click to enter Select and Mask. Using Select and Mask though (despite being the all new singing and dancing selection method) because of the closeness in tone and contrast of the mouse to the background doesn’t produce as good a result as we’d like. Smart Radius and then the use of the Refine Edge Brush to pick up some of the fine hairs produces a cloudy, smudged effect going around the mouse. It’s times like this we can turn to other tools within Photoshop to speed up the process and actually ‘fake’ the cut out. Step 3: Layer Mask Click Cancel to exit the Refine Edge dialog box and return to the original picture of the mouse with the selection we made with the Quick Selection Tool still active. Click to add a Layer Mask and then so that we can see clearly what we are doing as we cut the mouse out, let’s add a blank layer below the mouse by holding down the Command/CTRL Key and clicking on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers panel. Then go to EDIT > FILL and choose White from the contents drop down menu and click OK.

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Step 4: Brush to Erase Click on the layer mask attached to the mouse layer and then choose a round, hard edged brush from the tool bar. Click on the brush options to ensure there are no settings applied to affect how the brush behaves. Then with this hard edged brush and a black foreground colour paint around the perimeter of the mouse so as to paint away part of the mouse’s body/fur. (Decrease the size of the brush as you go along areas such as the tail.)

Step 5: Fur Brush At the moment the cut out of the mouse doesn’t look realistic however we can now use a brush that is pre installed in Photoshop to create the look of fur. Go to the Brush Preset Picker and scroll down until you see a brush that looks like a single blade of grass (number 112). Click on this brush preset and then click to open the Brush Panel. Here at the bottom of the brush panel that appears we can see a preview of what the brush will look like if used with the presets it currently has applied. We can now make changes to these settings so that the brush behaves differently.

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Step 6: Brush Settings Brush Tip Shape we can use to change the angle that the brush is applied (this comes in very useful when painting along the contour of the mouse). Adjust Spacing so that the brush gathers tighter together as we are going to apply settings to fake fur. In the Shape Dynamics tab increase the Size Jitter to around 10% to slightly vary the size of each brush stroke that is applied. Leave Scattering at it’s default and turn off Colour Dynamics and Transfer.

Step 7: Paint back the Mouse With the brush settings in place, change the foreground colour to white and then with the fur brush we have just created, paint along the perimeter of the mouse to reveal what was previously hidden. However now that we are using this new brush, the parts of the mouse we painted away are now revealed as fur. As you paint around the mouse dive back into the Brush Panel to alter the Angle and also the size of the brush that is appropriate for the area you are brushing over. Once finished you can then use the Move Tool to drag the mouse off the original picture but bring with it the layer mask should you need to make any adjustments / refinements later.

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Step 8: Save the Brush Having taken the time to create this fake Fur Brush, you’ll most definitely want to save it as a preset so that you can quickly easily use it in the future without going through the previous steps each time. To do this click to open the Brush Panel and then click on the Create New Brush icon in the bottom right hand side. In the dialog box that appears give your brush an appropriate name an then click OK. From now on you’ll then be able to choose this brush from the Brush Preset Picker.

Note: Compositing in Grass Brushes are undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal in Photoshop; especially when it comes to creating composites. Again using a brush that comes pre-installed (134) we can apply our own settings to create the look of grass. In this composite of a Lioness, having made a selection and cut out using the exact same method in this tutorial, I’ve then used brush 134 to hide parts of the Lioness in shape of grass so that she appears to be within the grass.

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PHOTO: CAMILLA GORE FEBRUARY 2021

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JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021

ROB HOWARTH

TOM OMEROD

CLAIRE OSBORNE

DAVID KENNEDY

JACKIE EKE

: March | April 2021 - Issue 41

NATASHA INCE

ROB HOWARTH

KAREN RICHES

JOANNA BANKS

NEIL BREMNER Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

Exclusive offer for Guild Members 20% off any CEWE PHOTOBOOK and any CEWE WALL ART* Offer available on any size or format using the CEWE Creator Software. For information on how to redeem this offer, log in to The Guild website photoguild.co.uk and view the Partners and Discount section.

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CEWE are proud to be a trade partner of The Guild of Photographers We’re Europe’s leading photo printing company, known for our passion for photography and commitment to delivering outstanding print quality. Combining your creativity with our craftsmanship is the best way to share the photographs you’re most proud of.

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*T’s and C’s apply. Offer available on any size and format CEWE PHOTOBOOK and any size or format CEWE WALL ART until 31st January 2021. Does not include p&p and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

Make losing Customers a positive experience for you and them

he customer is the most powerful entity in any business. The founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, summed it up perfectly:-

“ There is only one boss - the customer. And they can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending their money somewhere else. ” Be they a business or a consumer, customers are the lifeblood of our businesses. Some customers only purchase or use our services once, others stay with us for the long term, especially in social photography where a newborn grows up, goes to school, gets married, has children - and even grandchildren, purchasing photographic services each step of the way. In today’s highly competitive and fragmented photography industry, there is always someone else pitching his or her services to your customers. We know our best customers are the ones we already have, and it is often a better strategy to retain repeat-purchasing customers than to seek new ones. Customers leave for many reasons; often it may not be your fault, perhaps they simply moved out of the area that you serve, or their business closed down. In other cases, the customer will perceive that they have a reason to go elsewhere - whether it is better service, lower prices, more flexibility or any one of a hundred other reasons. Perception is the important point here, whether you agree with the customer or not, they believe their perception is correct and the worst thing you can do is to argue or try to put punitive roadblocks in their way to stop them leaving. If they really want to leave, they will - no matter what. Negative experiences are remembered much longer than positive ones. Once an Internet and TV provider that tried to charge me £180 as a cancellation fee when I moved out of their service area. Instead of saying “fair enough” as they could not provide the service in the new area they tried to take me to court. They never got a penny from me and, when I looked for a mortgage, even though they had the best deal, I bought elsewhere. I still refuse to fly on their aircraft. They lost far more revenue than the £180, and created someone who repeats the negative experience at every opportunity even several years later.

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However, by following a few simple steps, through gritted teeth if necessary, it is possible to gain some positives for your business, and maybe even see the customer return in the longer term. First and foremost - treat the customer with respect. Respect their decision to go elsewhere. People love to talk about negative experiences. A survey by Dimensional Research showed that 95% of people who had a bad experience shared it, and these people are 50% more likely to share it on social media than those that had a positive experience. Act fairly - if you still owe the customer something, maybe the image of their latest product, or the album from a recent wedding, make sure they receive it in good time, and with good grace. Do not try to hold a customer to ransom, like the Internet provider did to me. If you have cancellation policies that you can bring to bear, try to put the emotion aside and think about the best approach. In some cases that may be to send the invoice, in others more may be gained (or less be lost) by waiving these charges. It’s your business; make the right decision for your business. Many customers often disappear silently, they want to avoid conflict, and so they simply go elsewhere. Unless you’re close to them (which you should be), it may be months before you realise they are buying from your competition. It is always a good thing to speak with the customer if at all possible. This is a very important conversation for your business. Make it clear that you don’t intend to argue or challenge their decision, only to listen and understand why they are leaving, or have left. This is some of the most valuable feedback you will ever get, far better than talking to satisfied customers; you learn relatively little from that. Start the conversation and then shut up and listen. Make sure you do not put words into their mouth. (Remember: You have two ears and one mouth, use them proportionately). Whether you agree or not, or you think the concerns are unfounded is, again, a business judgment call for you. If you are hearing the same feedback from multiple sources, you would be a fool to ignore it. Depending on the situation, customer and conversation, now may be a good time to try to rescue the situation and the customer. Something along the lines of “I am sorry and I agree we could have done better. If we were to [insert proposed remedy here] would that solve the issue and make you feel better about us?” Whatever the outcome, thank the customer for their time and previous custom and leave the conversation on a positive note. Often customers leave because they perceive (that word again!) the service or prices are better elsewhere. Many times they are right, often they are wrong and they come back to you realising their mistake. This is why it is so important to leave things as positively as possible and, if they do come back, welcome them with open arms and avoid the temptation to ‘rub their nose in it’. In today’s tough business and ultra-connected world we need all the customers we can get and negativity from disgruntled customers travels faster than ever. Taking a deep breath, being respectful and fair as well as listening and learning during a difficult situation can be one of the best investments you will make in your business. - Rob Hill http://marketingshotz.com Rob Hill spent over 25 years in senior marketing roles within the technology industry around the world and holds a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Today he has a successful marketing consultancy business and writes for several leading technology companies. Rob is a keen photographer and is a Master Craftsman with the Guild of Photographers.

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THE GUILD’S PARTNERS + MEMBERS BENEFITS ALAMY The leading online photographic library for stock images. Guild members earn the first £500 commission free. www.alamy.com APPLESTORE Save up to 10% in store or online, as well as on refurbs and offers. www.apple.com/uk CEWE The largest European producer of photobooks is now available in the UK pro market. Guild members get an exclusive 20% off any CEWE photobook and wall art. www.cewe-photoworld.com COLORWORLD IMAGING A full product range and sample deals available, plus a special schools photography service. www.colorworldimaging.co.uk DATACOLOR SPYDER Computer display colour calibration solutions. Guild members receive 20% savings. www.spyder.datacolor.com DIGITALAB Digitalab delivers high-quality printing, frames, and presentation products. They offer Guild members 50% OFF any sample products. www.digitalab. co.uk EPSON One of the largest manufacturers of printers, projectors, and much more. www.epson.co.uk HAHNEMUHLE FINE ART One of the oldest paper companies in Europe that live and breathes paper. 10% discount for Guild members. www.hahnemuehle.com HANDEPAY Guaranteed savings for Guild members on card processing fees. Discounted quotes for Guild members. www.handepay.co.uk INFOCUS PHOTOGRAPHY INSURANCE Unique savings for Guild members with this highly respected insurance company. www.infocusinsurance.co.uk LOUPEDECK 10% discount on The Photo & Video Editing Console for photographers and videographers, for faster and more creative editing. www.loupedeck.com 104

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LOXLEY COLOUR Scottish professional imaging lab with a worldwide reputation. www.loxleycolour.com nPHOTO Special deal exclusively for Guild members of up to 60% discount. www.nphoto.co.uk ONE VISION IMAGING 30% OFF your first order. Special offers for Guild members. www.onevisionimaging.com PIXSY - ACT AGAINST COPYRIGHT Special Guild member offer worth £350 per year. www.pixsy.com PHANTOM FLIGHT DRONE SCHOOL Brilliant Guild discounts of up to 20% OFF Drone courses, lessons, and holidays. www.phantomflightdroneschool.co.uk PHOTO-SENSORY Pre-School Education Service offers five different class types. Guild members can be official photographers to Photo-Sensory. Contact Guild HQ PROFOTO LIGHTING 10% Guild discount for members from Wilkinson Cameras. www.profoto.com SIM IMAGING Guild members only discount 10% www.simlab.co.uk SHUTTERTAX The online accounting option for photographers with a 20% discount for The Guild. www.shuttertax.co.uk VISION MEDIA DESIGN UK Websites that Work for You. Guild Members discount - SAVE 10% off all Web Designs www.visionmediadesign.co.uk WILKINSON CAMERAS Large range of photographic equipment and Guild members exclusive retail offers. www.wilkinson.co.uk 3XM Guild Members receive double points on every product order. www.3XMsolutions.com

THE GUILD OF PHOTOGRAPHERS “No other photographic body offers what the Guild does... get an incredible package of business support, training and mentoring by some of the most respected names in the industry, insurance, legal protection and the rights to use our respected membership logos”

Professional Membership costs £129 and Regular Membership costs £99

www.photoguild.co.uk

Let the Guild help you with your photographic journey like it has done for many others! The Guild is suitable for those in business, contemplating a career in photography, undertaking photography related courses, or even those who simply love using their camera. EMAIL info@photoguild.co.uk CALL 01782 970323 / 07982 613985 Issue 41 - Creative Light Magazine :

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BACK PAGE BRONZE - Louise Farrell -

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