A photographers Christmas wish list...

Christmas is fast approaching and it's time to start thinking about presents and I'm sure I am not the only one who finds this a really difficult task!
I started writing this post last year, but it was a bit too near to Christmas and I don't think it would have helped people as they would have already finished their shopping! So I decided to try it a little earlier this year. I wanted to make a list of presents you can buy for your photographer friends pro or amateur! Most of them are just cute little themed gifts that someone with a passion for photography would really love and your purse will love them too, because they do not break the bank!

So if you are struggling to find a good present read on...

1) The first present is this quirky camera lens mug from gettingpersonal.com
Perfect for a cup of coffee on those long days editing at your computer! It's only £14.99 to which I don't think is too bad. I have seen this for sale in other places such as John Lewis and Amazon, so you might want to look around just in case.

http://www.gettingpersonal.co.uk/gifts/camera-lens-mug.htm?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_feed&utm_campaign=froogle&gclid=CNPtreSi57oCFQjKtAodEGcA3w

2) I'm sure you all know someone who uses an iphone... lets face it, most of the world do- well if they love taking photos they probably feel a little limited by the straight forward camera, so why not buy them this 12x zoom lens which is only £18.99 from eBay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/141114676072?lpid=83&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=83&ff19=0

3) How about a present for that chocolate loving photographer? I found this chocolate bar with a cool retro camera on the front, I really love it.

It is from Amazon, so if you are not happy about buying food or drink online I wouldn't recommend this, but the reviews of this product are really good and apparently the chocolate tastes great! £12.50 - you can't go far wrong!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camera-Belgian-Chocolate-picture-perfect/dp/B006ZZOXS4/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1384535728&sr=8-9&keywords=gifts+for+photographers

4) If you're looking for something a little more personal why not use one of your own photos to create a gift, or maybe you could pick your favourite image that your friend has taken and put this on a gift. Either way it shows thought and you could give them a really useful and creative gift!
Places like http://www.photobox.co.uk can print your photos on cushions, jigsaws, magnets, canvases and so much more! There are so many photo  printing websites and they all do something a little different and for different costs, why not have a browse and see what you can find :)

5) Something I like personally is photography inspired jewellery, and I have quite a lot of this as I have received it for gifts which is always nice. I have two really pretty camera necklaces, one is a Nikon and one is just a vintage camera, they are very pretty and original. You can purchase similar items online...

I like this one which is a bargain at £5.99 from http://www.seasonsonline.co.uk/crystal-camera-necklace-p6653/?gclid=CNCL_d-n57oCFcTLtAodeBEAOQ

6) Is your friend saving for some new equipment? This might just be the present for them. At £8.05 this camera money box is a really cool bargain present! 

You can buy it from http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sil-Antique-Camera-Money-Box/dp/B00A4EQED4/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1384536420&sr=8-24&keywords=gifts+for+photographers

7) My final idea is something again, I really like! It is a photo album in the shape of camera negatives.  It is £9.99 and a really unique way for them to store their favourite photographs.

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/film-strip-photo-album-frame.html?gclid=CJX1jp6o57oCFQXHtAod7mUAUQ#utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=free&utm_term=Film+Strip+Photo+Album+Frame

Obviously I wasn't sponsored or anything buy the companies that make these products. 

I hope you like these suggestions and find them useful.

Happy Christmas shopping

Bye for now

Becky

Brighton II

After an early rise and a traffic filled journey, we arrived at the beach of sunny Brighton. It was freezing cold don't get me wrong, but sunny- and nobody cares about the temperatures I have to endure when they are looking at my photos, haha! I was very glad I took a pair of gloves because my fingers were numb after a few seconds of photographing!

We stood on a high level, looking out across the beach and while standing there a seagull perched on the railing. The seagulls local to where I live don't want to have anything to do with me, but this one seemed to love the attention of being photographed, so I took my time varying my angles and settings to frame him nicely.

I chose this image because the seagull was facing the right way and his features were nice and sharp, I like the fact that you can see the wheel and pier behind him, which illustrates the surroundings perfectly. The sky is lovely and blue so it looks like the height of summer.. and not mid november! I didn't edit this photo much, I simply cropped it to give it a panoramic feel which emphasises the length of the pier, and I balanced the brightness and contrast to enhance the image.

After the seagull flew away, we walked down to the lower beach level and walked along to the pier. I photographed the wheel, fascinated by the abstract images I was capturing as I altered my angles and positioning around the base. This photo is probably my favourite as it looks quite surreal and abstract. I once again increased the brightness and contrast to really highlight the linear elements of the image.  The sky interests me as well with it's subtle gradient and stark blue, which is quite different to the appearance of the sky in the previous image.

The pier was shut, which was a shame but as I was so desperate to photograph it, that meant that we had to come back later which was actually much better as the light in the early evening was so fantastic (but I didn't know that at this point ).

The whole point of going to Brighton was to visit the university so of course we had to fit that in between the photographing!  Sadly the course wasn't for me, though if you are interested in the university I certainly wouldn't dismiss it as it looked like a good course, just not the perfect one for me. We left earlier than expected for this reason, so we had plenty of time to wander around and take more photos.

This was probably my favourite photo of the day, which I just caught as we were wandering past the end of the road looking for a nice coffee shop...

Later on in the day as the sun was starting to set and the town was filled with a pretty orange glow. I took this opportunity to photography the horizon, focusing on the dramatic clouds and sunbeams. I altered my settings to make the subjects in the foreground appear shadowy and silhouetted against the light.

 I would really like this photo, as I personally think the composition is quite interesting but I didn't realise when taking the photo that my lens was set to manual focus, so the burnt pier is not quite as sharp as I would have liked. 

I think the sky in this photo is beautiful and I really like the silhouette of the couple and the bird, they give a really beautiful touch to this image.

Finally I spotted this puddle which was reflecting the buildings across the road perfectly, so I took my  opportunity to take these reflection shots.

 

I really hope you like these images

Bye for now

Becky 

Brighton

Hi everyone!!

I have a new job at next, which I'm sure most of you have heard of but if you're not from England maybe not. It's a huge chain of shops that sells clothing and homeware etc. I'm really enjoying it, but it's taking up a lot of my time and I am realising that weeks are going by when I haven't managed to get out and take any photos. So as I travel to Brighton today to look at a possible university choice, I am making an effort to take my camera with me, with the hope of taking some good snaps. It's not that I have lost my interest in photography at all, I am still as passionate as ever, but with two part time jobs alongside university applications I am struggling to find the time to blog, vlog, and photograph as much as I would love to. I am hoping to do a review of my new lens ASAP, which is a 50mm 1:14 lens, which I purchased after trying out my friend's 50mm lens and completely falling in love with it! This is the lens I am going to take with me to Brighton today and tomorrow along with my trust worthy 18-105mm!  

I am also hopefully going to have some Brighton photographs for you in the next few days, though I do have a few shifts at work coming up, but I will try my best because I really am missing blogging regularly. Sorry it has taken me such a long time to update, I hope you understand that it's a busy period in my life and manage to stick with me, because I really do love writing these blogs and producing photos! 

Bye for now, and thank you!

Becky x

Brighton courtesy of google. I'm hoping the weather will stay nice enough for me to get some sunny shots! 

 Ready to go!