adam < adam

…is one of those jobs that people often put off for a rainy day, or it’s never even considered. Finally your hard drive crashes, and you lose all of your work. Pretty much any career out there has its fair share of monotonous tasks, and backing up might be considered one of them. It’s boring and costs money, and seems almost pointless. That is until you lose your work, and then it is too late.

I know so many people who have done this, put off backing up their work, then losing it all. Only then do they take backing up seriously. I personally would rather be cautious. And so, the above image shows my backup setup. Not exactly a RAID System, but it does the job.

Why do I have more than one backup? Simply put, all hard drives will fail at one point. I often read that an average lifespan for an external hard drive is around 2-3 years. Some might last 10 years, others might break after a few months. This lifespan can improve depending on the brand and model you go for, although even this is not 100% certain. Solid State Drives are a lot safer than traditional Disk Drives, as they have less moving parts, so there is less to break. Solid State technology is still quite expensive, although in the next 5 years it will be considerably more commonplace.

The last few weeks I have been redesigning my website. I decided to expand upon my current design and allow for future expansion. I realised that most of my photography sites and my photography related social networking sites didn’t really feel linked. I wanted to make sure they all mimicked each other well. I thought I would write a post regarding this, partly to document the progression, but also because I understand others might be curious to know how I view various online branding techniques. Some people might think I take this too seriously, and of course the photography is the most important aspect, but a lot of people forget that photography is a business, A well marketed business can help lead to a more successful career. So I worked on the following:

Main Website

This had the most work done to it. This is the hub for all my work, and all my miscellaneous sites lead back here. It is the professional front to my photography.

To start with, I added a few new pages. As well as the current front page, the 1^st portfolio, I also added a 2^nd portfolio. This is just to allow for future expansion. I intend to add a further 3^rd and final Book in the future. I currently don’t intend to add more than that simply because I would rather have a range of my strongest work. Any new work that is stronger will simply replace older and weaker work. “Your portfolio is as strong as your weakest image”.

As well as the new portfolio, I have also added a retouching related page. This is simply intended to advertise that I am available for commissioned retouching work. It is a pretty basic design with a rollover feature so you can see before and after any retouching.

Contact Page

Just a slight update to this. The page is more simple now, but to the point. There is a Mail To link, which can either be copy-pasted or clicked on to send a message to me. I experimented briefly with a form layout, but to be honest, I find them slightly frustrating. I cannot attach files and sometimes they fail to send what I wanted to send.

Blog

This has been completely redesigned. I have felt that my blog has been the weakest aspect of my online photography life for some time now. The old design mimicked my main website design from 2010. Now I have had it updated to it fits more into my new website design.

Twitter

This was a simple redesign. There is limited control with Twitter, which is ok, so I just changed the background. This might seem like a small aspect to change, but anyone coming to this site should hopefully see the similarities, and this should strengthen the overall image that I am aiming for.

Tumblr

This is something I have recently been using. I currently tend to only repost inspirational images that I really love and appreciate. From the start, this has had a similar design to my website.

Facebook – Flickr – Model Mayhem

These sites have virtually no control over layout or appearance, so these only had the wording changed. All the sites carry similar About pages or brief descriptions, and I tried to write as clearly and as concisely exactly who I am and what I do. These might seem like trivial aspects, but in reality, if you only have a few sentences, or even one or two lines, then each word or sentence can make a big difference. There are thousands of photographers online, and every little detail should be looked into, in a bid to try and not get lost in the crowd.

When I started working with digital media, I always wondered what setup other people used when working. I thought perhaps some people might be curious to know the setup I use. Although I must point out, the equipment I use is dated and hardly high end. I think new equipment is great, but also, working with what you have is sometimes the better current option. I think using the newest technology can give you the technical edge over competitors, and also allow your creativity to flow better, but it isn’t everything after all.

1• Just an ordinary Macbook. There are 4GB of RAM in it. Nothing special really, but it does the job. I ideally would like to use a Mac Pro. It can handle psd’s comfortably up to about 500mb, but anything larger than that tends to slow down the process too much.

2• A 22inch Dell 2209WAf, a really cheap yet decent monitor. Like any screen, it needed to have it’s settings drastically changed, any new screen is often sold with the sharpness, contrast and colour completely off, so the screens look unrealistically great right out of the box.

3• Wacom Medium graphics tablet. This completely revolutionised my retouching capabilities. Being able to retouch more smoothly helped a great deal. I personally would recommend the medium, but this is down to personal taste. I feel the larger sizes are too large and cumbersome to use (although I imagine they are great for illustration and design work). The smaller size is usable, but not as exact as I would like.

4• WD 500GB My Book External Hard Drive. I strongly believe in backing up my work to an obsessive degree. This kind of technology is changing all the time, and quickly, so regarding choosing a hard drive t back up your work, I would do a lot of your own research on this before buying anything. I will write a post regarding all of this soon.

Misc1• A cup of tea goes a long way. So saying that, many cups of tea go even further. If not tea, coffee, or anything that keeps you warm or motivated. A lot of retouchers snack a lot too. A nutrition expert might say this is bad, but they aren’t the ones sitting at a computer looking at the same image for hours at a time.

Misc2• The keyboard was added simply so the placement of the keys was in a more efficient place so I did not have to reach at an odd angle. Shortcuts are essential in making the workflow more efficient, so the use of a keyboard can be really beneficial.

Misc3• The sweat band in the picture was a present to me. It references the fact that I used to have dreadlocks (I ♥ Capt. jack Sparrow). I didn’t really wear it until I bought my graphics tablet, then I discovered it was a great way to retouch with bracelets on. The band stops them scratching the tablet, and it also allows my arm to move smoothly and freely over it.

In an ideal world, the background would have no light coming through as it effects the way the eyes perceive the colours and brightness values on the screen. Most retouching houses do not have any bright light sources, and some will even paint the walls a neutral grey allowing for the eyes to see colour in a neutral environment. The brightness of the backdrop looked brighter than it is though, it doesn’t really effect my work, especially as I am more of a nocturnal mammal.

I have been house hunting for the last few months, and I recently moved into a shiny new house with Rebecca Imogen Tun and Gestalta. One of the rooms is going to be converted into a studio for personal work. The above image is of my lovely new bedroom. The image is a quick photomerge, so you will have to excuse the wonky alignments in the image. My room isn’t really something from Alice in Wonderland.

This post isn’t just relevant to retouchers; I think it is relevant to photographers from all the different disciplines. A photographer should be able to analyse an image, and consider how to improve it. This might not necessarily be in a destructive/constructive manner in the way a retoucher is often known to do, but it can also be related to composition and exposure of various elements within the image. Breaking down an image and working out how to improve, in pre-production and in post-production, has been happening since the beginning of photography. Many fine art photographers would like to cry out that the greats from the early era never edited their images, but quite often, they did. Dodging and burning was a common technique, as was photo manipulation. Many people try and replicate Ansel Adams famous image taken in Yosemite, but they find this difficult if not impossible. Ansel Adams dodged highlights and burned in detail extensively. Fine Art photographers would have spent hours doing this for a print, or more often, they would have paid someone else to have done it.

The above image I took showcases a quick analysis of an image. The red represents the potential areas for digital manipulation. The green represents the detail I wanted dodged back in. I did a lot of dodging + burning work on the face of the images from this set, but this image just showcases an initial assessment.

This is a fashion image, so I had to make sure the clothes were well presented. Most of the circled areas in the centre of the image are areas were there are unusual shadows, or more commonly, where there are bits of dust or fluff. Some of the circled areas are where I wanted any bumps in the material to be brought in to smooth over the appearance of the clothes. The lines dictate where I wanted the edges to be smoothed down to follow a straighter line, or in the case of the skirt, to expand outwards to add more flow to the dress. The leg I considered extending to the side to make the model seem more balanced overall.

I figure this is a great way of analysing an image before hand. It can help you come to conclusions early on, before working out that you may have done unnecessary work. It can also be a method to realise the true potential of an image. If you are undecided which image to choose out of a selection, doing this analysis can help you come to a decision as to which image is the strongest. This method can also be a great way to explain to clients what will be done to an image. The client can of course also add to the image if they feel something might be necessary.

Below is an example of a completed image from the set. I felt it was a well balanced image overall, and I liked the elegance of it. I did do other edits from the set, and the image at the top of this post is set to be edited soon.