Archive for October, 2006
The greatest photo holiday
Back when I was still working as a photographer, I had a Vespa. Arguably, it was one of the best travel photography tools I ever owned: It is slow, so you have time to take in the scenery around you. It is open-topped, so you have plenty of good views. You can stop at any time to take photos, and be on your way again within seconds. When I heard about the Rickshaw Run, nostalgia enveloped me. 2,000 miles in a rickshaw through India? Think about all the possibilities...
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Photographing rally racing
A lot of people are into autocross and rally racing, and even more are into photography. This article fuses the both of them, into a fantastic guest article written by my good friend Alecu. If the thought of hanging out in a cloud of dust and flying pebbles, as hundreds of horsepower blast past you, you don't wanna miss this article...
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Spending money to make money
A couple of days ago, I did an article on making money via stock photography, and one of my eagle-eyed readers pointed out that you had to pay for the service I recommended. I had a bit of a think, and was trying to make up my mind if I should write something more about the topic, 'if it is worth investing money into trying to make money off photography'. Obviously, in most business, you are dependent on making an investment in order to start earning anything, but can the same be said to be true for photography?
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OMG everything looks weird!
Don't be alarmed, we haven't been hacked, I've just finally gotten around to getting a decent design on the Photocritic site! It takes a tiny little bit of getting used to, but I'm sure you'll figure it all out soon enough - nothing has changed too drastically, the main difference is that the site doesn't look nearly as crap as it used to :) {democracy:7}
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The Holga and avoiding it
From the same people that brought you the Lomo, the Holga is pretty much the same thing, but this time in medium format! According to the Holga web site the camera is designed and engineered in 1982 in China. The name is derived from Cantonese; Ho Gwong, which supposedly means "Very Bright". There are two models of the Holga; The Holga 120 S features an extremely dark lens (f8), fairly wide angle (60mm) and that's it. The Holga 120 SF is identical, but has a flash.
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Digital Colorsplash
Lomography has been covered at length before, but people keep giving me fantastic tips about lomo photos, so I just can't help but going back to the topic again and again. This time, I got a tip about someone who's made a digital version of the Lomo Coloursplash - essentially a cheap camera with a coloured gel in front of the flashgun. What a brilliant idea!
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Panorama cameras
Panoramas are an excellent way of seeing the world around you, but it's not always easy to get them right. Stitching photos together is nearly impossible without decent software, and most decent software costs a metric crapload of money. There are decent 'real' panorama cameras out there, of course, but cameras like the Hasselblad X-pan will set you back as much as a small car. Luckily, there are other products out there...
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New Scientist Photo Competition
Peeling the plastic of the issue of New Scientist magazine I just received in the mail, I dropped the mag on the ground. It fell page-open on page 51, which happened to be a photography competition. Now I'm not supersticious, particularly, but I definitely felt it was a sign to share it with you lot! Competition entries can be viewed here, and you can add your own entries at the same URL. Get your submissions in, you can win a Canon EOS 400D!
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Making money off your photos
To most photographers, Photography is - and always will be - a keen hobby. Some of us, however, are burning to take the hobby to the next level, and want to start making some cash from it. Perhaps not enough to buy a Ferrari, or even enough to pay the electricity bill, but at least enough to be able to buy a couple of photography toys along the way. I worked as a photographer full-time for a couple of years, and ended up deciding that the lifestyle wasn't for me. Even though I jacked in my career as a photographer, I'm still making money off my photos. How? Well...
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Introduction to Photoshop Techniques
Adobe Photoshop is going to be your best buddy in the whole wide world, if you are working with photography to any degree. In its simplest guise, Photoshop is great for doing simple things, such as correcting colours, cropping images, rotating them slightly, and adjusting contrast. From here on, you can do just about anything you can dream of with photos: Advanced image manipulation etc. Because Photoshop is such an incredibly powerful package, it can also be downright scary, however...
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My day job, if it can be called that, is being a writer. I've got one book out there so far and it's awesome, so go ahead and buy a copy! It's available from 
In front of you, five hyperactive men with guitars, drums, and microphones. Behind you, five thousand fans. In your hands, a camera... You're going to need more than just a little bit of good luck to pull this one off. That's where this book comes in.
Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
