http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Wivelrod&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Wivelrod en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:06:01 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28955581/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28955581/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:15:07 PST
The company I work for went into Administration this week, and lots of my colleagues were made redundent as a result. Some how, I managed to dodge that particular bullet, though I do wonder who is better off, them or me.

The situation is complex (and I can't say too much), but there is a rescue plan for the part of the business I'm invovled in. Assuming it goes ahead, we have a month or two to consolidate and move our servers and applications from one data centre to another. This may mean I have to forgo my planned christmas leave, though I'm hoping I can still get a reasonable amount of down time.

Naturally, it's a stressful time for me. So I might not be keeping up with dA as much as I have this past few weeks. I was doing so well too!

http://wivelrod.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://www.adibrown.co.uk

]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28839504/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28839504/ Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:28:33 PST [link]

A Quote:

Message circulated by Andy Trotter, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, to police forces in England and Wales.

"Officers and PCSOs are reminded that we should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos.

"There are very clear rules around how stop-and-search powers can be used. However, there are no powers prohibiting the taking of photographs, film or digital images in a public place. Therefore members of the public and press should not be prevented from doing so.

"We need to co-operate with the media and amateur photographers. They play a vital role as their images help us identify criminals.

"We must acknowledge that citizen journalism is a feature of modern life and police officers are now photographed and filmed more than ever.

"However, unnecessarily restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional is unacceptable and worse still, it undermines public confidence in the police service."

http://wivelrod.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://www.adibrown.co.uk

]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28664025/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/28664025/ Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:12:24 PST
Well, I'm one month behind on the dev watches at the moment!

I've been building a new PC, which has taken my mind away from the actual photography, despite that one of the reasons I'm building it is to have a better experiance when editing and storing my shots (and I was running out of disk space now I have a 20+ mega pixel camera!).

As yet I've not transfered photoshop to it, I've been waiting for the machine to bed in and not have any problems before I attempt to mess about with deactivating it on the old pc. I'm hoping to sort that this week, I still have lots of shots from the holiday in September I'd like to process, and some from a re-enactment battle!

I've also got a new monitor. A HP LP2475W, which is a "Wide Gamut" display. And I also got a Sypder 3 Pro to calibrate it...but boy have I been having issues with doing that! Quite often after calibration, the reds will be blown (which can be seen on Gamma testing images, showing the red channel up at 2.4). After much stress I "think" I've managed to get a good calibration (using "ColorEyes Display Pro" instead of the bundles Spyder sfotware).

It strikes me that you need confidence in your calibration tool, other wise how can you be sure what your seeing is accurate?

http://wivelrod.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://www.adibrown.co.uk

]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/27193931/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/27193931/ Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:28:42 PDT Taking it easy

Heya!

Got back from Cornwall yesterday, and whilst I had a good time, I fear I didn't get the best shots I could have gotten. Weather conditions played a part, with strong winds blowing waves onto rocks covering filters with spray within a few seconds, rain, and even a couple of totally cloudless (and boring) sunsets. Together with a large number of tourists, and indeed other photographers all trying to get in the best spots, getting clean people-less landscapes wasn't easy. Lack of local knowledge also didn't help .

But I do think I've got a couple of usable landscapes, and some nice touristy shots from St.Ives and around the Lizard. And there was a lovely afternoon for Macro shots which I took advantage of .

You just can't help wishing you could have gotten more! And besides, I had a nice break from the daily grind, and wishing I didn't have to go to work in the morning!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/26939233/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/26939233/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:13:38 PDT Taking it easy

I've been a bit slack this past week, and haven't gotten round to checking and commenting on stuff in my inbox. They'll have to wait a little longer unfortunately, as I'm off to Cornwall tomorrow with the camera for a 2 week break. I hope I get some good shots to bring back!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/26517323/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/26517323/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:52:16 PDT Taking it easy

Yup, at the time of writing I am about 30 pageviews from 10,000!

To be honest though I am under whelmed. Perhaps it is because how long it has taken to get this far, and how hard it seems to get decent feedback on my work. Feedback has always been my driving force for posting my work on a site like this. If I just wished to publish my work I would just post to my own photo gallery website. Unfortunately i am a single voice in the crowd, and I just cannot shout loud enough

Thanks to those of you that have had the time to be able to help me by posting thoughtful comments. I do understand it is hard to comment on everything you view, as I am sure you inboxes are at least as busy as mine. I am not blaming or accusing, just lamenting the way things are, I am sure I am not alone. Hehe.

You have no doubt noticed a number of uploads over the past few days, all from exmoor which is on the north coast of the UKs south west penninsula. It was a great trip, involving on day were we caught a sunrise and a sunset in a single day. It was a tiring exeriance! It was really only my 2nd chance ever to catch the sunrise and I have alot to learn still. I must find some more locations, perhaps closer by, where I can catch the sun coming up more regulary.

Thanks for taking the time to read the ramblings of my confused little brain

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/25997987/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/25997987/ Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:50:00 PDT Taking it easy



The British Journal of Photography has launch a campaign to counter the growing feeling that the UK has become "anti-photographer".

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/25332720/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/25332720/ Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:51:17 PDT Taking it easy

I like it.

Probably useless for Macro (still experimenting, but most likely will use my 40d for that still). But other wise, the detail I've been getting on my recent Reenactment gigs is awesome.

Speaking of which I have uploaded a good many images to my personal website (with just a selection of them posted here). If your interested, go have a look: [link]

Would be really interested in what you think about them

I'm trying to look at all the Deviations people are posting, though I might not have the time to comment on many. Hope things are well with you.


....you know...I must do a skin for this journal lark....

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22796536/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22796536/ Sun, 25 Jan 2009 06:15:02 PST Taking it easy

A friend and I took a trip yesterday to the area near Hamble-le-Rice, which is on the East side of Southampton Water. It was quite a nice day for going out with the cameras, the sun was shining, but the light wasn't harsh, and we got a good sunset too!

I'm still mastering the art of using grad filters on landscape (or waterscape) pictures, and I know I need to get some "hard" grads as all I have at the present are soft. I also need to get a non grad ND filter to allow me to "stop down" to get longer exposures. Netherless I think I got some good shots of the sunset, including what I think is a quite nice HDR image.

Whilst we were out, my new Canon 5d Mark II arrived at home (with the 24-105mm lens). Looking forward to trying that out, it supposed to be rather good at landscapes!

I've uploaded the pics from Hamble to my website, along with a few pics of Graffiti taken on the same outting, find them at: [link]

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22350983/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22350983/ Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:03:46 PST Taking it easy

I spent some time over the Christmas break putting together my very own Photography Website:

[link]

What do you think?

I'll still be posting the better shots here of course

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22237582/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/22237582/ Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:30:37 PST Taking it easy

I've just uploaded a few examples of photography from a reenactment event on the Watercress Line in the UK. This event attempts to recreate the atmosphere of a small railway station at Christmas During world war two.

If you are interested, you can find all my shots from the day here: http://www.wivelrodstower.com/Gallery/XmasLeave2008.

Friends may have noticed I'm not that active on dA at present. To be honest, I find dA a diffulcult place being you often only get comments or faves in exchange for the same in return. I don't have the time, or inclination, to use this site like a arty version of facebook. I just want to post pictures and hope for some decent feedback with no strings attached. Thus my activities here will be limited to uploading the odd photograph and commenting occasionally on work I like.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/19365051/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/19365051/ Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:52:45 PDT Easy on the Spine

Been rather apathetic recently.

Anyhow, finally managed to get some "get up and go" yesterday and visted Mr Bogbrush. After a rather fantastic Indian meal, he took me a to a meadow he's discovered a short distance from his house. The resultant picture you can find in my gallery. The clouds were rolling in, the sun obscured, and there was an intermitent breeze to contend with, but we managed to get some nice shots before those dark clouds finally made it too gloomy to continue.

I haven't done much Macro/Close-up this season, so I've not really had a chance to try out the Live View mode that I have on the 40d in this regard. I have to say though, Live View for close up work is a great evolution in the Digital SLR world.

First of all I'm not having to bend over double so much to get an eye to the view finder. Even with an angle finder I found it back breaking sometimes. The large bright LCD on the 40d really helps here, allowing me to take a for much more natural stance when focusing on the little beastie I have in my sights. Though how great it will be in very bright sunlight I'm not sure - I guess I could find a way to shade it if necessary.

Secondly, and most importantly, Live View has a magnification mode. This allows you to zoom in 5x or 10x, and then navigate round the view using the cameras little joystick. This is awesome for helping me focus, I can frame the shot, use the joystick to move the zoom center point over the feature I wish to focus on (eg say the eyes of a butterfly), and zoom in. I can then fine tune my focus using this zoomed in mode and be alot more accurate about it than when squinting through the view finder.

Thirdly, being a spectacle wearer, my eyes aren't perfect, and sometimes with macro photography I find myself spending a long time looking with one eye through the view finder. This can sometimes give me a headache. Using live view I'm using both eyes, and not squinting, making the whole process a lot less painfull for me.

Hope you enjoy the pics.



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/17193977/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/17193977/ Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:47:10 PST Learning more about HDR

I've been messing about with HDR on and off for a while now. I decided this week to see how HDR techniques could improve shots that I've long forgotten about, so I decided to start a little project and revisit some shot I took whilst on holiday in Iceland a few years back.

I selected some shots and then opened them in Adobe Camera Raw and made some adjustments to get a nice looking shot but whilst leaving the Exposure Value as "0". I then save out 5 TIFF's at -2, -1, 0, +1 and +1 Exposure Value. These I imported into Photomatix to create a HDR image, which was tonemapped and then saved back out as a TIFF. Photoshop CS3 was then used to balance the final image.

I'm not happy with all of the resultant images, but I've posted them all in hope for some feedback as to what you think. So stop reading this and go make a comment or two and let me know








Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/15573103/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/15573103/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:28:05 PST Folders!

I'm getting more and more into looking for shots that will work in Black and White. For some reason I'm drawn to Black and Whtie images more than Colour. I spent last night trying various different ways of converting some woodland shots into Black and White, with various degrees of success.

I'm thinking about having "black and white" days, and limiting myself to a 50mm and/or the 10-22mm (maybe on on the 20d and one on my new 40d!).

dA recently introduced a "folder" system (might still be Beta) where you can sub divide your gallery into different folders. It's a neat bit of web code. I've put all my Black and White images (excluding the re-enactment shots) into their own folder.

[link]

I need to do get some more shots to add to that collection!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/15378960/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/15378960/ Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:25:34 PST PC Back from the shop

My PC packed up again 3 weeks ago, and it had to be returned. Seems the motherboard voltages were set a little high and fried one stick of memory and corrupted the BIOS. The company I bought from (Vadim in the UK), repaired it under warrenty and kept it a while to test properly. It was returned yesterday, on a SUNDAY, by one of their engineers - who was on crutches!

Now that's customer service!

So anyway, during the time the PC was away, I decided to have a break from dA - being all my software was installed on the PC, and tbh, I didn't feel like merely looking at everyones elses work when I have 2 memory cards full of shots I was unable to process easily and with no frustrations.

So there's a long slog of deviations and journals to catch up on, and lots of my own photos for me to work on and see if their any good!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14450916/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14450916/ Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:14:59 PDT NEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE

It's been a busy few weeks for me, or at least a few weeks with distractions that meant I didn't check dA for some time. This of course is always a bad move, it means that when I do sit down and open dA I end up with 200+ deviations and 50+ journals in my message centre. I simply can't comment on all that work, so regrettably I only comment on the ones that catch my eye. Apologies to my dA friends for not paying more attention!!

One of those distractions was having to sell my car. My current contract has me commuting 60 miles a day, which in my lovely RX8 was costing me a fair deal considering the MPG for the journey was about 22 MPG! With British fuel taxes, that's a hefty sum to be shelling out every month. I didn't want to sell it, but with having been made redundent and having a short term contract with no guarantee's I won't have to find another one with very little notice, I need transport that won't cost me the earth, but is still fun to drive. In the end, I followed the example of 2 of my friends and purchased a Smart Roadster (Brabus version). It's not as fast as the RX8, but it returns 46-50 MPG and is so fun to drive it's putting a big grin on my face.

Last weekend was Military Odyssey 2007, an annual event held in Kent (UK) that attracts re-enactors of all periods of history from all over Europe. I went with the Royal Norfolks as their event Photographer and managed to get onto the "battlefield" for some interesting combat photography. All though it's merely a form of acting, it does give me some idea what being a unit combat photographer must have been like. Scary stuff indeed!

I've got a lot more than the pics I've posted on dA if you're interested, please visit [link] and have a browse. Any feed back on them is always appreciated!

Cheers everyone

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14074439/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14074439/ Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:58:21 PDT NOT REDUNDANT

As you may have gathered from my dA Gallery, this weekend I was at another ww2 re-enactment event here in the UK. This time it was in the lovely grounds of Kentwell Hall ( [link] ) which is in Suffolk. It was a lovely sunny weekend, and while the light was very bright and harsh, by using RAW and Black and White I think I got some good shots. I'm especially pleased with some of the Patrol and Battle shots and they are similar to images I've seen taken in the war itself.

I've got an awful lot of good images from the event which I need to share with the re-enactment group I'm involved with (as one of their photographers). I've only posted a few of the shots in my gallery here, the rest may be found at this [link] . Have a look and let me know what you think about them as I value the input of you all

UPDATE - for those interested, Bogbrush has uploaded a Video to You Tube showing what we are often photographing! Find it at this [link]

Kentwell also has a lovely garden, almost over grown in places, so I was able to get some Macro shots as well...including a FLYING HOVER FLY!!! Wheeee!!



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14072859/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/14072859/ Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:51:47 PDT NOT REDUNDENT

After only 2 weeks out of work, I managed to get a 6-8 week contract with the help of a good mate. So for the short term, panic over!!

Hopefully I can do a good job and get an extension to the contract.



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/13789403/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/13789403/ Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:06:56 PDT REDUNDENT

Apologies to all for tardiness in commenting on work, replying to comments and generally posting new stuff!

Yesterday I was officially made Redundant! This has hit my morale rather, and it may take me a while to get used to.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/13064049/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/13064049/ Wed, 23 May 2007 14:18:19 PDT Feeding the Grandmother to the Lions

As you may have gathered from the recent Gallery submissions, I had a trip to Longleat Safari Park this past weekend! Those with access to British Television might know of it from the BBC series Animal Park.

We paid the extra to treat my Grandmother to a VIP tour of the Safari Park. Whilst this is expensive compared to the usual cost of entry, it's well worth the money. A keeper (in our case Mick) takes a small group of up to 6 people in a park Land Rover, meaning you don't have to risk your own car in the Monkey enclosure (they just LOVE to remove rubber and plastic Trim from your vehicle). The tour was supposed to last 2 hours, but our guide was a leisurely fellow, didn't want to be rush and it took over 3 hours instead! We even got out at one point to pat Winston the Rhino (though from behind a nice sturdy fence ). Another advantage is that the keeper can drive off road and get closer to the animals that you could normally, which makes for some great photo's

I really enjoyed the day and got some great pictures.

Thanks for the great feed back on them

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/12907590/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/12907590/ Thu, 10 May 2007 04:52:58 PDT Landscape? Macro? Military?

I've always labelled myself on dA as a "General Digital Photographer". That is to say that I'll take on any subject and if I like the result I'm likely to post it here. The vast majority of my shots have been either Landscapes and Macros. The latter has been a particular passion for me, and a huge learning experience. Because of this, my Gallery is often referred to by visitors as a "Nature" Gallery.

Over the last few months however I've been taking more and more shots at military re-enactment shows, and I've been concerned that by adding lots of shots of soldiers and such like would have a negative effect and I'd lose my audience that liked my nature shots.

I've mulled this over for a while unsure if I should continue posting all my photo's here, or create separate accounts for each discipline. I even went so far to create an entirely separate account to post the military stuff - but then I thought why? This Gallery is charting my personal journey as I learn the art of photography, and I'm interested in many different aspect of that art.

So therefore I'll be keeping the Gallery a mixed affair. Some times there will be a string of Landscapes, some times Macro's, and sometimes images grown men pretending to try and kill each other for public amusement.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/12152248/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/12152248/ Mon, 12 Mar 2007 04:54:30 PDT Wallet lightened yet again

With the weather is getting rather spring like, I'm looking forward to the Summer and hope to get some great pictures this year. Of course I don't think Photography is a Summer only affair, but my output certainly decreased through the cold months.

My goals this year is to continue to improve on my Macro and Close Up work that came on leaps and bounds last year. In addition to my trusty 180mm macro, I've also purchased the Canon MP-E 65mm lens with a Ring Flash (which is still on back order unfortunately). This beast is a very specialised bit of kit, offering magnification from 1:1 to 5:1. I'm guessing my 180mm will still be my primary lens for close ups, but I hope to get some cool results with the 65mm too.

Also this year, I'll be attending more historical re-enactment events, and may possibly become the "official photographer" for one of the smaller World War 2 British squads that a friend of mine is active in. I'm not interested in re-enactment itself, only the photographic opportunities it offers - but there may be call for me to "dress up" in a historical uniform so I can get out on the fields in mock battles for the public and get shots up close to the action. I guess we'll see where that goes, if I get some great shots then I guess the embarrassment of dressing up with my weird friends will be worth it - how we suffer for art eh?

For the most part though, I expect I'll be some distance away from the action - so I've also got hold of the Canon 100-400L IS lens. This is the lens I've been wanting to get hold of since I first got the SLR. It's an AWESOME bit of kit, and I will be using it for far more than the re-enactment events, most likely for more nature shots. I've already got a great sequence of the recent Lunar Eclipse with it, hand held using a post for stability...the Image Stabilisation in that lens is phenomenal.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the rest of this year - and I hope to be see some great pictures and poems from my dA friends as well

---

RECENT UPLOADS



RECENT FAVS



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/11599024/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/11599024/ Sun, 28 Jan 2007 11:51:40 PST New PC Acquired!

After several bad luck moments building my new PC, I decided to put it all down to bad experience and order a new PC from a custom build outfit (a very well respected independent company run by enthusiasts). The delivery time though was a about 3 weeks, and on top of that work has been rather demanding and taking up a lot my time. Which means all in all I've been rather inactive on dA this past month or so.

But now I have a sparkly new PC, and Photoshop is installed and activated (glad I remembered to de-activate it on the old PC ) and I'm ready to go! There are far to many deviations to comment on in my watch list though. I'll look at as many as I can, but won't be able to comment on them all .

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/11253143/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/11253143/ Sun, 31 Dec 2006 03:31:18 PST The trials and tribulations of building a new PC

What a busy month!

We was very busy at work, beavering away trying to get our project ready for a demo to the customer before Xmas. And then of course was all the Christmas shopping to take care of. I also go myself one of those nifty Nintendo Wii's (which I think my family, who rarely play video games, has stolen from me now!) which has sucked some of my time...hehe .

After a quiet Christmas I decided to build a new PC, spending far to much money in the process. In the past I've enjoyed the process of building a new machine, but this time it was rather too stressful. First of I was getting lots of paging error warnings, indicating one of the Hard disks to be faulty (thankfully not the OS drive though) - and when in the process of diagnosing that problem the power supply died. We replaced the fuse and tried to resurrect it, but it simply went BANG and smoked abit.

I've managed to get some replacement components (with a help of a good mate and some butchering of my old PC), and now I'm slowly getting the new PC installed with all the software I need - such as Photoshop . Which can't come to soon as yesterday I think I may have got some nice shots of 1940's re-enactors at a Steam Railway.

Hope you had a great Xmas, and have a awesome New Year

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10493781/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10493781/ Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:41:11 PDT Time for an early Christmas Pressie!

I've been pondering on buying a new lens recently. My choices have been to either get a longer zoom (such as the Canon 100-400 IS) or a wider angle.

Now the zoom would be awesome for the re-enacting events I go too, but being I only go to a few of those a year I think I can get away with my 70-200L F4 with a 1.4 converter for now. So wide angle it is then!

Which wide angle though? Well I was mightly impress with *Neutron2K's shots of The Great Hall last week, which he took with a Sigma 10-20mm, which is a great lens designed for Digital Cameras with some great reviews on the net. I was almost tempted by this, but Ken Rockwell's glowing review (and others) for the Canon 10-22mm swayed me back to a first party lens. Thus I've ordered the Canon with a C-Polarizer and Hood.

Now the wait for delivery commences. Hopefully it will be sooner than later - can't wait to give it a try!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10420004/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10420004/ Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:24:59 PDT
One of my online gaming buddies sent me a message the other day with some kind words regarding my gallery. He asked if I sell prints as his wife really liked my Reykjavik Longboat picture ([link]) and he was willing to buy it. Up to know I've only uploaded one photo to my Print account just so I could buy a copy at cost and see how they come out. So last night I submitted the Reykjavik Longboat pic and set the pricing this morning to cost (the UI for that could be better imho ).

It was a rather pleasant surprise to find that someone I know only via a computer game and online community wanted a print of one of my photos. Of course I don't expect many sales (if any) just because one person I know likes it, but it's still a nice confidence boost - much needed as I've not been totally happy with some of my more recent submissions . I seem to be going through a difficult phase...maybe its time to buy a new lens and reinvigorate the creative flow!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10182473/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/10182473/ Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:56:29 PDT
Listening to: War of the Worlds (5.1 Mix)
Reading: Paranoia XP Rule Book

Well we're back from hols, and even though its beena few days now my head is still having issues readjusting to the jet lag. So as yet I've not had a chance to catch up on all the posts people have made these past 2 weeks, or even look at the shots I've come back with.

We had a great time, though New York was a wash out and we had to do the drive though the mountains (Skyline Drive) twice due to bad weather, but mostly everything was fine and dandy. I even managed to take my SLR on board the plane by removing the lens and carefully wrapping/padding them and putting them in a small back pack the size of which was allowed. Hopefully I've got at least a few usable shots.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/9909430/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/9909430/ Mon, 25 Sep 2006 12:48:22 PDT
Listening to: To France - Mike Oldfield
Reading: Dragonlance Legends

As you may have gathered, *Bogbrush and I went to a re-enactment festival this past weekend. Called Military Odyssey ( [link] ), it featured Re-enactment and living history groups covering virtually all periods of history. We saw Romans, Greeks, Saxons, Normans, Samurai, Round Heads, Royalists, Medevil Knights and soldiers from the American Civil war, Neopolianic wars, WW1, WW2 and the Gulf War - too name a FEW!

Some of these groups did displays, the biggest of which were held in a large open space. The action came close, horses could be galloping past just 5 feet away from you. Or a line of musket firing, or a world war 2 machine gun crew (firing blanks of course!). This made for some fantastic photo ops...the vast majority of which I screwed up! Due to the poor weather the day was gloomy, and I didnt cope with that well getting some very blurry and low DOF images. Guess I'll need to look out for that next time!

Certainly the event next year will be worth going too, book it in your calendar now!

Next week we're off to the States for a well earned holiday. Due to the security restrictions on flights, I wont be able to take my SLR on the plane as carry on luggage. I dislike the idea of putting it ino the hold (well, not without investing in a decent flight case - which I'm not prepared to do this moment), so I'll only be taking the Canon S80 with me. Its a nice camera, but I really was looking forward to taking the SLR. We're off to Washington DC and New York and variours places in between. Can't wait to go!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/9539558/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/9539558/ Sun, 30 Jul 2006 03:21:23 PDT
Mood: Summer Time Joy
Listening to: Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
Reading: Dragonlance Legends
Watching: Family Guy Series 4!!

As you might have noticed, I recently went to the French City of Bordeaux. I was there as part of a small group of work colleagues celebrating the upcoming marriage of one of our number. As we spent the majority in bars and cafe's, as is traditional for "Stag Do's", there wasn't much sightseeing or photography going on, but I did manage to get out early one morning and get some good shots (glad Im not a heavy drinker ).



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8955701/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8955701/ Sat, 03 Jun 2006 01:59:59 PDT
Mood: Summer Time Joy
Listening to: Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
Reading: Dragonlance Chronicles
Watching: FF: Advent Children

So I'm starting to get the hang of the monopod now, and I'm glad I went for a light wieght easy to adjust twist lock model. Getting the hieght right for any particular moment, before the subject takes flight, was problematic to start with. But now I've got quite adept at getting the right height first time with out too much delay. The results I've been getting are very pleasing, though I still need practice of course. Onwards and upwards

Despite there still being room for improvement, I'm much happier with my macro performance now. Previously I was usually dissapointed with my results because the vast majority were very very out of focus. Because I'm getting better shots, I'm enjoying it alot more which is driving me to take more pictures. All good stuff

Last night, *Bogbrush and I drove down to Abbotstone to catch the last of the sun. Much of the pics I got we're all in shade, as the sun was beneath the tree line. With the dimming light, I found it tricky to get a decent depth of field, even after upping to ISO800. I guess I could have tried lowering the shutter speed to less than 1/100, though I dont think it would have helped a great deal. Despite that though, I think I got some nice pics.

My Jeans now need a wash. The entire area was filled with snails and slugs, and I think I managed to kneel in a few. My jeans are now covered with dried slime in addiction to the dirt and grass staines they usually end up with after an hour or two bug hunting! They look disgusting - I think I'll wear them again today and freak out the neighbours

Abbotstone pics:



PS - *pxl-8 is a git - see his deviation below for a laugh at my expense



I guess I gotta get a sharp in flight hoverfly now. Off to the garden with me!!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8764784/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8764784/ Sun, 14 May 2006 02:56:04 PDT
Mood: Springy
Listening to: Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
Reading: Dragonlance Chronicles
Watching: Pompoko

So after much encouragement by ~pxl8 I finally got myself a little Monopod. Its a Velbon Ultra 50, an extremely light and compact model with twist lock rather than clips. I got a quick release ball head to go with it. Cost me about 70 quid in total.

Money well worth spent!

I used it for the first time yesterday afternoon, rummaging about in my friends garden ( =Bogbrush ). The sun thankfully gave us an hour or two of fun, bring out the insects that had been hiding from the rain up till that point. At first I felt about clumsy, trying to hold on to the camera (not trusting the quick release head) and get the right height wasn't natural (until I worked out its easier to unclip the Quick Release and set the hieght ) and at first the Quick Release plate kept coming loose. After tightening it (using pliers as the biggest screw driver we could find just cut into the soft metal of the screw and had no effect at all), it started to click. I think todays Gallery entries speak for themselves, its alot easier getting sharper pictures. After the camera itself, and the Macro lens, this has been one of those few purchases I've made where I think every penny spent was worth it

Cant wait to give it another go

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8668162/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8668162/ Thu, 04 May 2006 03:05:33 PDT
Mood: Springy
Listening to: Mornings Eleven - The Magic Numbers
Reading: Dragonlance Chronicles
Watching: Pompoko

Well spring has sprung and all the little beasties are back out doing what little beasties do best, hide from my camera .

My macro shots always seem to be a mixed bag. Sometimes I get lucky and get a good shot, but mostly they've always ended up a little dark and blurred from either an unsteady hand, or just from the diffilculty in focusing.

The darkness seems to be solved. I'm now over exposing by one stop and using ISO400. That seems to give me a clearer brighter image, especially when taking pics of things on flowers on bright sunny days. But my focusing issue remains. I just dont seem to be able to hold the camera steady enough for these awkward low to the ground shots. Even when using an angle finder I'm finding I start to shake the more I concentrate on holding the camera steady and my breathing. The Macro lens I use isnt particulary light, or ergonomic, and Im not that bendy or flexible when it comes to hunching over a minute bee on a flower thats low to the ground!



After a suggestion from a fellow deviant that likes macro shots, I've just taken delivery of a small lightwieght mono pod with a ball head with a quick release. Hopeing to get a chance of using it this weekend and see if it helps steady me.

I'll also experiment with continuous shutter mode. Maybe I'll stand a better chance of getting a shot in focus if I take more shots

At least the landscapes are coming out well though



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8140650/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8140650/ Sun, 12 Mar 2006 14:48:24 PST
Mood: Glad to be alive!
Listening to: JCB - Nizpoli

FYI - I've not had a chance to get up to date on comments, deviations, messages and your journals. Had a busy last week and weekend, and I put aside this mornign to catch up, and DA was down for hours and hours

Normal service will be resumed sometime this week.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8070791/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/8070791/ Sun, 05 Mar 2006 03:06:21 PST
Mood: Glad to be alive!
Listening to: JCB - Nizpoli

Yesterday, =Bogbrush and I when for a short walk along the Harrow Way that passes close to where I live. We both took a few shots as we walked, some of mine you'll find in my Gallery (links below). This is typical of the Country side around here, rolling hills with farms and scattered woodlands. I'm sure its under appreciated by many who live here

We also found a few spots of the notorious FLY TIPPING! Why do people think its right to dump their waste (including an old Microwave!) in the hedgerows of Britain? Is it that inconvenient to use the proper facilities? - bunch of low life scum

My ND Grad filters still haven't turned up, their still waiting for the 1.4x converter to get back in stock (must chase!). I therefore relied on a Polarizer and Photoshop to get the sky and ground balanced in these shots.






Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7890319/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7890319/ Tue, 14 Feb 2006 03:05:02 PST
Mood: Glad to be alive!
Listening to: JCB - Nizpoli

Got back from Poland on Sunday evening, and we had a great 4 days over there. We didn't see any Wolves, though we did see plenty of Wolf tracks along with the tracks of Deer, Wild Boar and Foxes.

Some of the walks up in the Bieszcady National Park were a bit hard for me, but I got round them. Though I missed one due to a bad headache . I should point out that the headache wasn't brought on by booze, though that evening we invaded the local tavern for a few vodkas. Actually, I had the Polish Honey Liquer (well worth checking out), some of the others though had Cranberry Flavoured Vodka. I tried a sip, and it was very very smooth and fruity! We were told that though you can buy Cranberry Vodka in the shops, it wouldn't be anywhere near as good being that this particulary Vodka was made in the celar, and 100% illegal!

The last day was spent in Krakow, which is a lovely city with unspoiled historic buildings (fortunately it escaped destruction in world war 2). I really enjoyed the sights and sounds, and I would whole heartedly recommend a visit if ever the chance arises!

The only concerning part of the trip was the totally mad mini bus driver! We almost ran into a number of cars, and almost had at least one pedestrian (all I could see of him was his hat as he sprinted in front of the windscreen!). =Bogbrush wrote a poem dedicated to the experiance -



I got some great shots of course, so check out my gallery.

Heres a few I particulary like:



Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7826612/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7826612/ Tue, 07 Feb 2006 09:04:35 PST )

Back online Monday.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7654453/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7654453/ Fri, 20 Jan 2006 04:38:20 PST
!!!!SLACKER!!!!

Yeah....well in my defense I've been working on site for the last month. Long travel times (well at least longer for me) don't seem to agree with me, and my evenings have been spent in a tiredness induced apathetic haze. Heck, apart from the weekend last week I didnt even switch on the Computer!

I did get out for a walk over christmas with the camera though, but I wasn't really happy with the results - probably too much booze

The projects coming to an end now, and hopefully I'll be back in my normal routine. And soon BogBrush and I are off to Poland for a short break, where I hope I can get some nice shots

So anyway, heres a belated Happy New Year to you all

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7081174/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/7081174/ Fri, 18 Nov 2005 14:10:26 PST Here comes old man winter

Finally, some New NEW pics uploaded (opposed to some New OLD pics ).

Been messing about with various blending techniques, somethings I've not tried as yet. Pretty pleased with some of the results I'm getting! Hope the 2 examples I've just uploaded go down ok

Everytime I sit at the PC and open Photoshop I seem to learn something new, and mostly from inspiration from Deviants and comments on DeviantART

I hope we all keep learning - it's more fun that way

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6856862/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6856862/ Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:33:13 PDT Looking for nuggets

I just spent a nice relaxing evening going through all my photos and picking out a few I've neglected. These are images I liked, but never worked on, and thus never posted. I should have gotten round to looking at these months ago!

Haloween soon, and my mate *Rushy has a little contest on....go find out what its all about (you got till 28th Oct!!).

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6482941/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6482941/ Mon, 12 Sep 2005 05:43:45 PDT Why can't I just win the lottery and spend all day having fun?

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket first

Holiday over, back to the old stress generator, also known as "work"

Nevermind though, it was a good fortnight of photography trips and days of just doing "sod all". Doing abolutely nothing for a few days really helps if you have a tendency to get stressed out. No work, no gaming....just crap TV and a packet of BBQ Pringles - ahhhh

Go take a look at the galleries of *NightDragonFly and *pxl-8. Both are talented macro photographers that have given me some great support . Based on some specific tips by Pxl-8 and others, I've updated a couple of my existing gallery entries (Fly Away and Daisy Daisy), giving them some well needed extra sharpness and a more natural colouring. I'll be gradually working through some of my other entries to see if I can give them a little extra polish, I've learnt so much in the past 6 or so months, mainly because of some excellent feedback from other Deviants.

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6428739/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/6428739/ Tue, 06 Sep 2005 03:32:53 PDT Am I coming...or going?

These past few weeks (months) things have been crazy. Works been tough and has been getting me down a bit, and then theres the gaming "guild" I run thats been taking more and more time to manage that its getting to the point that the gaming is not fun anymore. All in all, my photography seems to have slipped abit, and today when I checked my watch list I had nearly 300 deviations to look at! Obviously I couldnt look at them all

But more positively, Im on the second of a 2 week break. No work, and no World of Warcraft either...a total stress break - though of course I've managed to get a cold so whilst I'm stress free I feel rotten

Last week myself and =Bogbrush spent the week looking for some good photo ops. I have a ton of images to wade through now and will post my favorite ones soon. I hope you enjoy them

Now I just have to keep on top of my watch list and not let it get away from me

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5653908/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5653908/ Wed, 15 Jun 2005 08:15:26 PDT So macro!

Wow I love my macro lens! It's truely an awesome lens, and one of the best purchases I've made...ever!

Getting used to it isn't easy though. Anyone that takes macro shots will know that the extremely limited depth of field makes getting things in focus extremely hard. Manual focusing by moving the camera towards and away from the subject is the key, but even then getting the subject in a real tight shot nice and sharp is extremely hit and miss. Especially if the subject wont stay still or is swaying in the wind!

I've had some nice reactions to some of my images taken with this lens so far though. So hopefully I'm on the right track

Thanks to all thats viewed or posted a comment on my work so far

Some of my favorites I've managed to capture so far:



Cheers!!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5382168/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5382168/ Tue, 17 May 2005 11:34:19 PDT I demand more hours in the day

I've been working on site for the last week or two, and my internet was dead at the weekend! Tonight I finally managed to check in and to be greated with 70 odd deviations to look at and 20 odd journals - and I have but 30 minutes before I need to be elsewhere!!

I'll get round to checking them all eventually I suppose

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5214604/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5214604/ Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:39:17 PDT Gimme my lens!

I ordered a macro lens this week, my first dedicated lens for close up work - but its out of stock and I'm going to have to wait for delivery. Just my luck with a bank holiday weekend coming and a planned photo outing on the cards!

Member - ]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5074988/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5074988/ Wed, 13 Apr 2005 02:50:19 PDT I still blame it all on Rushy though

My Gallery is shaping up, I've signed up to oggle at Portraits and Macroes and have a bunch of people to stalk on my watch list.

Getting the hang of this place

But the my mood isn't happy....SITE VISIT!! Argghh, I hate those

]]> =Wivelrod http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5057491/ http://Wivelrod.deviantart.com/journal/5057491/ Mon, 11 Apr 2005 05:04:58 PDT I blame it all on Rushy

I've been posting at "A N Other" art site - 'boo hiss' says the crowd - Rushy , a good friend, poet, gentleman ( ), mentioned DeviantArt and suggested I try it out.

Lets see how I get on!

*Journey begins.....*

]]> =Wivelrod