A Bit of Change in Style

For a change, I thought I'd try my hand at writing a series of informative/tutorial type posts to help out the 3 F's: Family, Friends and Fans.

Now I haven't ventured into this style before so I hope I don't make it too painful to read, but I promise I'll try my best!

Ok. The plan is to only cover a few basic areas - exposure, lighting, composition and finally a bit generally about cameras and all those mysterious things like white balance, ISO etc with the aim of just improving your happy snaps and to make the most of your camera. For each subject I'll start out at the basics before moving through into the more advanced areas for those keen to play around and experiment (and who have the spare time to!).

So, keep an eye out for them in the coming days/weeks/months and in the mean time check out this pretty impressive digital art by Scott Black.

Blowing the Dust of the Strobes

Just a bit dusty...

With the prospect of a small job that would be greatly improved by the addition of some off-camera flash, I decided to pull the old light kit, wipe off the dust (literally!) and have a crack.

Now the frustration with this kit in the past has been the unreliability of the radio triggers; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't or sometimes the sync is out leading to a black shot or a half a curtain in the frame. So it was with some misgivings that I started to set up the lights; hoping that it would all come together and work.

Yesterday I mentioned the arrival of my captive subject, I mean my daughter and where, in the past I would search around for a hapless stuffed  animal to test the setup, there she was, on her jungle gym floor mat looking innocent and rather cute (well she always looks cute).

The first few we terrible; the lighting wasn't too bad (when it worked) but for the first 10-15 shots only two were a success; luckilly Lilly has learnt that I don't give up till I get a cracker smile so now she just about breaks one out as soon as she sees the lens!

How's that for a smile?!

For those interested in the setup, it was pretty simple: umbrella in front and to Lilly's right and a beauty dish behind her set about a stop brighter to provide a hint of rim lighting. The post processing isn't too crash hot, but in my defense I finished it whilst she was attempting to eat my Wacom tablet...

So, after a bit of fiddling, I think I've managed to solve the failed firing issue. It appears to be a problem with the contacts on the hot-shoe and the trigger. A bit of elbow grease and it is now firing three quarters of the time instead of the 1 in 10 or so before.

I'm hoping to upgrade the triggers before long anyhow. Ideally I would love to get a set of pocket wizards, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens with this next prospective job!

Wow! Just over three years since I last posted; how slack is that!

To be fair, things have been pretty busy, since September 2008 I/we have: graduated from uni, moved 400km and started new jobs, bought a house, got married and most importantly became a father with the arrival of my little girl Lillian in March this year. So you could say I was justified in laying down the camera for a while!

Lillian Grace

But, now that things have settled into a nice routine, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things with the camera in hand. Of course having your own little captive subject (in the form of Lilly) certainly helps with the motivation!

And with Spring underway here's hoping that Hughey comes to the party and gives us a good storm season for the opportunity grab some cracking shots of nature's tempest over this great country.

Lightning over Junee

So, keep an eye out for the new stuff that will hopefully grace your screens, be sure to "Like" my Facebook page and check out the prints for sale at Will Barton Photography.

Until next time...

Second Calendar and They're Available Online!

Well it's been a while coming, but Redbubble have finally made calendars available to purchase over the net. Now all one needs to do is view the calendar and hit the purchase button where you can pay by Paypal or cheque/money order.

This really reduces the time and hassle that was previously needed to get a calendar to a client and it will end up being cheaper.

And on that note, a second calendar has been created. Showcasing 13 stunning vistas from around the Blue Mountains, this A3 calendar is a piece of art in itself.

To view this new calendar, and the Seascapes calendar, have a look at http://www.redbubble.com/people/willbarton/calendars

That's it for now!

Will

New sales and gallery site

Well the good people at Red Bubble have seen the light and released a new bubblesite that provides artists with a much greater degree of control over how their artwork is displayed.

You can visit my new site at http://willbarton.redbubble.com where I'm sure you'll enjoy having a browse through the galleries.

Calendar

Well last night I received the proof for my 2009 Seascapes Calendar. The quality is superb and the bugs from last year are totally non-existant. The prints have been reproduced brilliantly and are spot on for colour and contrast.

Cost is $30 excluding postage and handling and orders can be made by contacting me at wbartonphotography@bigpond.com

Welcome

Well, this is the first time I've chanced my hand at a blog. I don't know why I've refrained, until now, from joining the hordes who have already taken part in blogging - maybe I never thought what I had to say was worth it... Nah anyone who knows me will know that isn't the truth.

The main purpose of this blog is to share with you my photos, experiences and those annoying little things in life that you just don't understand and just have to vent about.

And now I suppose I should give a little about me: I'm a 22 year old student studying civil engineering at UTS, Sydney. I work for Penrith Council as a Graduate Civil Designer and live in the Blue Mountains with my lovely girl of 6 1/2 years Nikki.

I'm a bit of a recluse, often preferring the peace and quiet of some isolated Mountains location than the hustle and bustle of urban life.

My main passion in life is photography. I just love it, creating it, mucking around with it and looking at others'. At the moment I'm primarily into landscapes, however want to expand into people and portraiture. To see my current work, you can visit it (and even buy stuff) at http://www.redbubble.com/people/willbarton

Well I'm done, not very interesting I know, but I'll leave you with some of my recent photos from the Central Coast of NSW: