Another Mosaic...

Well I've just backed all my photos up on a new USB3 hard drive... and what better way to test it than by using a mosaic program to process every image?

Full size Image here.

 I'm sure I've mentioned AndreaMosaic before - it's a cracking bit of free software I would suggest to anyone who has a lot of photos saved away. Go to www.AndreaPlanet.com for the free download.

You just give it the source photo in this case (if you're going to use a picture as white as this you need to have a lot of white pictures)

You give it a folder to process for the images, this works well if you're using Picasa and face scanner - I've made cards for people several times using mosaics using just pictures of their face... great way to scare somebody.

As promised!

Shot at F1.8 on the F1.4 50mm lens.

Finally, we have our own dog!

This is Chekhov, he's a rescue pup we've just re-homed...



There's bound to be lots of photos to follow!

Snow!

Well despite being really busy and not really photographing much recently, the snow did get me out in my boots. Out into our garden to try and track down where the foxes are getting in from, even a city dweller like me can track foxes when they leave foot prints in snow.

ANYWAY - obligatory snow picture:

That's right, it's a picture of coffee in snow - new house, same old life.

Way to busy to blog... So here is a funny link.

So we've recently moved into our new hours - so photography has sadly taken a bit of a back seat while I do the DIY/Garden.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/never-ask-the-internet-for-photoshop-help

But came across this link on Facebook today - very funny. Photoshop used for evil does make me giggle uncontrollably, it also reminds me of a poster campaign I ran at uni of my fellow housemate.

Blooming wildlife.

People are easy(ish) they can generally do as their told, if they're trying to run away out of the photo you should probably stop chasing them with a camera.

Pets are generally confined to a certain area, so just shoot a few thousand pictures and sooner or later you'll get lucky.

Wildlife on the other hand is an absolute pain, it does what it likes and typically it likes to go away and hide.

What you'll need/want:

• A very fast camera (focus + fps [shots per second])
• Animals don't stick around for long, so that's why you want a speedy camera.
• Bait
• It's best if you can set up the picture by expecting where the animal is going. I don't mean bear baiting, but placing some bird feed is pretty handy.
• Patience
•  If you're hiding in plain site you may need to stay still for a while before the bears come back.
• Luck
• A massive zoom
•  If you can't make out the detail of the animal it's a crap shot, either fill the frame or make sure it's an interesting picture with the surroundings.

Saying that, I haven't had a good week of trying...

About an inch too far right, it's also got a building in the background making it cluttered. But the timing and focus was spot on, hurrah.

 I do like the motion blur on the wings even at 1/1600

Spot the Difference

OK, this shouldn't be too hard for you.

So you really don't want to be the guy who takes a crap picture and fixes it afterwards, it's always better to try and frame your picture without clutter in the background. Sometimes it just happens, or it's unavoidable... then you can see about removing things.

It's honestly not that hard, as long as you have a small patch of the area you want you can clone it all better. Just try to keep in mind don't copy whole sections, do little bits and try to mix up the pattern.

For bits like the red tractor, cut that shape out and place it on top of the layer you're cloning.

If you do it well your eye shouldn't be drawn to it, so sometimes the less work the better... sometimes it feels like a scene from Father Ted. If that happens start with a new car, re-open the file or jump back in the history.