[MarkL]

Hi, My name is Mark, 47 years old from England. Looking forward to sharing my pics with you and exchanging ideas and tips. Printing out some A3 bits at the mo for an exhibition I am doing on Saturday. Panic stations as the bloomin printer is only doing BW right now as my jets are pretty clogged up (painful) so I'll have to nip out and buy another cartridge tomorrow as the cleaning function doesn't appear to be making much diff.

Its essentially an art exhibition (I am a bit of an artist), but I am also including some of my best photographs I think people might buy.

Really must knock off to bed now. Glad to meet ya's.

[nia]

Hi, My name is Mark, 47 years old from England. Looking forward to sharing my pics with you and exchanging ideas and tips. Printing out some A3 bits at the mo for an exhibition I am doing on Saturday. Panic stations as the bloomin printer is only doing BW right now as my jets are pretty clogged up (painful) so I'll have to nip out and buy another cartridge tomorrow as the cleaning function doesn't appear to be making much diff.

Its essentially an art exhibition (I am a bit of an artist), but I am also including some of my best photographs I think people might buy.

Really must knock off to bed now. Glad to meet ya's.

Nice to meet you Mark, welcome to the Shuttertalk. I am not a photographer but I try to be. Good luck for the exhibition, it would be nice to meet with a new photographer, thank you,

with my love,
nia

[Wedding Shooter]

Hi Mark - hope your exhibition goes well.

Cheers,

Chris

[Don Schaeffer]

Its a pleasure to welcome someone whose art really gets shown and even sells. Looking forward to your input.

[EnglishBob]

Welcome to Shuttertalk, where abouts in England are you?

I used to live near Nottingham before moving to California.

[MarkL]

Thanks for the welcome everyone, really appreciate it. Running around like a blue-assed fly at the moment trying to get everything ready for the weekend.
Will put some of my work up for yez all to look at and take time to comment on your work also Sunday evening. Bob, I'm in the South East of England, Essex. Got a spare room at your place in California by chance??? (Only kidding!)

Catch you later, thanks again all.

[matthew]

Welcome to Shuttertalk, and good luck with the exhibition. I'd love to see some photos of the end result.

[MarkL]

I've sold so many of this shot by sheer word of mouth and sold several today at £15 per A3 sheet (approx 16 x 12 ins).

Will explain about it on Monday and do a gallery of all of my shots for your comments and critique. Thanks guys.

[Toad]

Pretty amazing shot!

It looks a bit faux to me though - the scale, lighting and density of the tower on the right seem a bit off. .

Can you describe your processing workflow for this photo?

[MarkL]

You have a damn good eye, Toad, no chance of getting anything past you, pal! Yes it is indeed a manufactured image. The lightning sky I shot in an open field, nothing in sight for miles except some streetlights on the horizon. I always use this field during a storm as I get a good 360 view of the sky! Added the lovely Hadleigh castle ruins for a bit of interest rather than just the deserted landscape. I think it goes well, do you?

[EnglishBob]

It's a great composite, the lighting just seems a little too bright on this side of the ruins, to get that exposure and not lose the lightning would of taken something miraculous. Great image none the less

[Toad]

You have a damn good eye, Toad, no chance of getting anything past you, pal! Yes it is indeed a manufactured image. The lightning sky I shot in an open field, nothing in sight for miles except some streetlights on the horizon. I always use this field during a storm as I get a good 360 view of the sky! Added the lovely Hadleigh castle ruins for a bit of interest rather than just the deserted landscape. I think it goes well, do you?

Please don't feel offended by my calling out the manufactured nature of this shot. I am the biggest proponent of manufactured images on this site. I do it a lot and I love it!!

As for my picking it off, well they say "it takes a thief to catch a thief".

Check out these threads...

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewto...506#p54506

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/viewto...9686#59686

{edit} ...and yes, it goes very well. As I said, it is an amazing image!

[MarkL]

Thanks EnglishBob, I think it was the light that gave it away actually, but glad ya like it.

Toad, not offended at all my friend, more impressed. You'd be amazed the number of people who DO think its real so I let em carry on thinking it.

BTW just looked at your links and find myself in awe, almost imperceptibly bowing at your talent in creating these images! (no sarcasm, just friendly ass kissing)

Mine was a one-off, buddy, it takes too damn long and too much strain on the eyeball! Back to regular shots for me!

[Toad]

Thank you - I appreciate your kind words. Especially as you obviously have good skills in this area yourself.

Yes - it takes a ridiculous amount of time to do proper composites - but I find it very creatively satisfying. I can't paint or draw - but I can composite.

One side effect of doing these is that you develop a pretty good eye for what is *real* and what has been tweaked. After you have spend hundreds of hours blending light sources and adjusting object densities, it gets fairly simple. Your photo still had me on the fence - so good work!