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After buying and being impressed with a 90cm Westcott softbox, I decided to try out a more portable version and ordered the Mini Apollo kit. These work in a similar way to the larger unit and the flash is fully contained within the softbox. Unfortunately, with any sort of hotshoe mounted trigger the flash will …

A while ago I wrote an article on how to replace a sky in photoshop. Just to prove you need to learn how to do this and of course that I am still using it myself, here is a great example I just made of a self portrait. Last night I was practising off camera …

So, I can’t decide if this should be black and white or colour….. I think it should be colour, but love the mono conversion. Added a splash of orange toning to warm the highlights a little. Lit with a cheap LED video light from the front and backlit with flash. Shot with the Sigma 50mm …

Got kids? Then you need to put a note in your diary to go to the Malpas Pumpkin Farm next year to get your Halloween pumpkins. It’s an acre of pumpkins, grown on the farm organically and accessible through a maize maze. Be warned, if you go after dark they have ghosts and ghouls in …

Just one frame. A little fun with shadows around the house and Hayden dressed up for an afternoon out. Pulling a face as normal… Shadows, symmetry and reflections catch my eye often and I have decided to incorporate them more in to my photography. So, just one frame to get started…

I just invested in another new lens – the amazing 100mm Canon L Macro. I’ve used it once in anger at a wedding and took a few shots in the garden to have a play when it arrived. The flower shots are boring and not really my thing, so I haven’t posted them…. ha! But …

We went for a wander around Chester Zoo last weekend, hoping the new Painted Dogs exhibit would be open. It’s not but will be this weekend so going back this afternoon when Hayden wakes up from her afternoon kip! She doesn’t sleep so much in the afternoon any more, but I think I wore her …

At a wedding we photographed in February at Craxton Wood Chester, I was asked if I could stay behind and capture some evening shots. As well as the usual first dance shots, I was keen to try to capture the guests dancing and give some real sense of movement and energy in the photographs. I …

Trying to define your own style seems to be an ongoing process with no particular goal and no definite end. At first you are overwhelmed with the possible options and go mad trying everything, then decide after hours of messing around that although many look good individually, overall they look crap. Hey – the first …

Chester in winter – hardly a thought that needs me to tell you how fabulous a setting that is. I have resisted the urge to do as many have done and photograph the Ferris wheel which currently adorns the city landscape. It is a photographers perfect feature though so I still may have my take …