Is it wrong to edit your photos?

Is it wrong to edit your photos?

I see this question asked regularly on photography forums. Is it wrong to edit your photos? A lot of people seem to think post-production is somehow disingenuous, that you are lying to the viewer and presenting them with a false reality. Of course, sometimes that might well be the case - but I think there is a clear difference between editing photos and doctoring them. Editing is simply improving the finished result so it is a more faithful reproduction of what your eyes saw at the time, while doctoring is a deliberate attempt to deceive. Look at the two photos below - a very quick shot of a tree in my garden on a misty, frosty morning. The first is as shot. I haven't cropped it, or altered it in any way. The second is the finished image. This is how the scene looked to my eyes - it was sepia in tone, misty and dreamy, with the droplets glinting - yet the camera initially...
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It’s finally here – and what a first week!

It’s finally here – and what a first week!

So, Hull City of Culture 2017 is a week old - but it feels a lot longer. And I mean that in a good way. I'm already feeling a mixture of exhaustion, exhilaration and childish excitement after what's been going on in the past seven days, and if it keeps up at this pace, then this year is going to be simply incredible. It's been such a long time coming, and after years of hearing the same tired clichés about our downtrodden northern town, it's hard not to be bursting with pride at the way the people of our city of Hull (and a sizeable number of people not from Hull) have supported the year's first events. Well over 300,000 attended the opening Made in Hull installations, and whether that's unique visits or people coming back again and again (and there were lots of them), hardly matters; I haven't seen the city centre this full to bursting since the Hull City promotion celebration...
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Why I’m volunteering for Hull 2017

Why I’m volunteering for Hull 2017

The other day, I became 'part of the family'. In other words, I completed the core training necessary to become a Hull 2017 City of Culture volunteer. There's a lot of cynicism surrounding volunteering, and I do sometimes ask myself why I'm planning on giving up some of my precious time for free next year. How will I fit it all in? Will I be able to at all? I work for myself and have a load of extracurricular commitments, so I don't have a lot of spare time. Why on earth did I sign up to this? Well, I just wanted to be involved on some level, firstly. Next year is set to be an utterly magical year in the history of Hull, and being behind the scenes of spectacular events like Place des Anges and the Sea of Hull sounded like too good an opportunity to miss, frankly. During the training we were asked what was the lasting memory of the...
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Social media

Social media

I run social media accounts for a number of clients. These include Hull Folk & Maritime Festival, the White Horse Folk Club, H&E naturist, Beggar's Bridge, and the Green Ginger Garland Dancers. Contact me if you'd like help with your social media!...
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Photography

Photography

Here are some collections of my recent work. Images are available to purchase as prints of various sizes - simply click on the individual photo, and you will see the dropdown menu allowing you to choose the ones you want. [sell_media_all_items collection="photography"]...
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Future plans…

Future plans…

Hello all, just updating this blog as - yet again - life, the universe and everything prevents me from doing so regularly. Just a note to say that I hope to be consolidating my art and publishing websites soon, and to point out that I also offer writing and design services. I will be including a bit more of a portfolio on this site, but if you would like any work doing, please do get in touch. I write features on a range of subjects from arts to sports, and can provide logos, posters, etc. at competitive rates. Here's the latest logo I've been working on for an event in Hull in 2017. It's our City of Culture year and there will be absolutely loads going on. I'm on the Day of Dance committee and will be creating the website and doing all the publicity. Meanwhile, I've just learned I've had three paintings chosen for the Hull in Paint 2016 exhibition. Fish Gutters The...
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Two years on!

Two years on!

I just thought I'd post another entry to this blog, seeing as it's over a year since the last one. This does not mean I've been idle during this time; far from it. In fact the fact I've been so busy is the reason I don't write more blogs here. In October 2014, while on holiday in Lanzarote, I marked the two-year anniversary of taking over the publishing of H&E naturist magazine. So, two years down the line, how is it all going? Well, some people might be surprised it's still going at all, as they might have wondered how I would possibly continue to manage on my own where a company with quite a few more employees, and an accounts department, left off. Streamlining a lot of areas of the business has helped enormously; for example, outsourcing the subscriptions department to Warners has meant I'm not answering the phone every minute. I also work with Steve Tiernan, a consultant who runs...
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A year on…

A year on…

Well, it's about time I posted something on here. I haven't added to this blog for some time because, well, I've been somewhat busy doing other stuff in the past year! I've been blogging elsewhere but not on this page. Anyway, it's been about 13 months since I took over the publishing of H&E naturist magazine and things are going well. It's a lot of hard work with not much downtime, but somehow magazines still keep on being produced. It's quite tricky doing practically everything myself and still finding time for extra-curricular fun/chilling out, but I'm managing it without going mad... just. I also thought that, to mark the year, I'd write a few top hints and tips based on what I've gleaned so far. Number one is: the customer is quite often - usually, even - WRONG. The trick is, however, to swallow your pride and not tell them this outright. Let them think they are right. Sometimes, though, in cases of...
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A new publishing venture

A new publishing venture

From October 2012, Hawk Editorial took over the publishing of the leading magazine aimed at naturists, H&E naturist. This is a fantastic development and one managing director Sam, who has edited the magazine for nearly five years, is incredibly proud to be at the helm of. H&E, formerly Health and Efficiency, has a long and rich history going back more than a century, and there are many exciting challenges ahead as yet another new era beckons. For more details about H&E, take a look at the website, www.henaturist.net....
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Advertisers, take note…

Advertisers, take note…

It's something of a bugbear that, when dealing with various business who want adverts making up, a surprising number of them do not seem to know how to supply their images and text in the required formats. Many of them think that taking logos and other pictures from their websites is suitable, despite the fact that web images have often been downsized and made low-resolution. It is impossible to upsize an image once this has been done, and therefore when a small image is reproduced in print it can look pixellated. If you are supplying logos and images to a designer, please ensure that you have the originals in all cases. If you think that the images on your website are the originals, believe me, they are not, unless they were taken on an ancient camera or someone altered their digital camera's settings to the lowest resolution (and why would they do that?). If you don't have an original copy of your...
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