Ryder Cup Celebration at Deeside Golf Club

After the great success of last year’s event at Deeside Golf Club to raise funds for the Maggie’s appeal, the event was staged again at the beautiful setting of Deeside Golf Club. To find out about this very worthy cause, see the blog post from last year by clicking here.

The event kicked off with the clinics at the driving range where Colin’s relaxed style and interesting anecdotes make it a very popular part of the day. Even I picked up a few useful tips. We were very lucky to have a beautiful day, probably one of the best days of sunshine this year.

Colin brought the Ryder Cup with him this year so not only did the teams get photographed with Colin, they also got to handle the famous trophy. For most teams, the individual players also got taken with the trophy. It was not there for the start of the event so unfortunately the first few teams at the 14th tee did not get the Ryder cup in their photographs. The strong sunshine meant I had to use a lot of flash and i was very grateful to have my Quantum lighting with me. I drained 3 high capacity batteries with the amount of flash required (for those interested in photography, the exposure was 250s at f10 – f18 so it was mainly full power flash.

The only disappointing thing for me was that I was feeling very ill and the day after was at the Doctor, and then was in hospital so it was a challenge working all day and then at the dinner at Stewart Milne’s house at night.

All the photographs taken during the day can be viewed here and the shots from the dinner and prize presentation here (separate blog post to follow)

Sponsorship of AECC by Internet for Business

Internet for Business, Managing Director, Graeme Gordon (I photographed Graeme and Susan’s wedding many years ago) contacted me to take photographs of the tower at the AECC to show their branding and logo. I took a range of shots, some of which can be seen below, or the complete set can be see by clicking here. The lighting was reasonable and most of the shots only needed minor adjustment in Photoshop but one or two of the images were created using several exposures so that I could get a beautiful sky but still keep detail in the building.

Karly and Ally at the Holiday inn, Westhill

The last wedding I photographed before being off ill was Karly and Ally’s. I photographed Karly’s Mum and Dad’s wedding over 24 years ago when Karly was three and cried the whole day. This time round Karly looked beautiful and was very easy to photograph. We took the photographs at the park across from the hotel and were fortunate that the weather forecast was so accurate. The forecast was for rain at 4.00pm which was when we had scheduled to complete the photography outside. We had just finished and were back under the canopy (for the confetti photograph) at 4.00pm when the rain started.

The park at Westhill does not have a lot of features but we got some nice shots. May favourite shot of the day was the walking shot above. I set Karly and Ally up on a path with and asked them to walk towards me and had them looking towards me and at each other. The 70-200 lens and a shallow depth of field work well but it is the great expressions that make this my favourite.

As we were booked to stay until the dancing, I also photographed Karly and Ally at dusk as  they had seen dusk shots, I had taken of the hotel for their website which we designed and produced for them (click here to see the website). They had Chinese Lanterns for this which you can see in the shots above.

While waiting to do this shot, I prepared a small selection of shots as a slideshow on my laptop which I showed to the top table and some of the guests. You can view all my images from the wedding here, and the link to David’s set here.

I got very nice emails from Karly and both Mum’s – see below

"Hi Neil
Huge thank you to both you & David for the fantastic photos to both took (formal & informal) and also for putting every one at ease. It will be really hard to choose, there is not one bad one.
Yes!!!! Neil bet you never thought 24 years after you took our wedding photos you would be taking our daughter Karly,s. That says something in its self.
Thanks again. Fiona & Graham King"

"Hi Neil,
I am Allys mum Janis from the Holiday Inn on Sat, the pictures are amazing, is it possible to have an album made up for myself? …..
Many thanks, Janis

"Hi Neil
Just catching up on all my emails now as back from our honeymoon.
The picture all look great, we are really pleased with them. We both had a fantastic day and couldn’t have wished for a better day.
Kind regards, Karly"

Terry White – a Photoshop Guru and Evangelist teaching at a big Adobe CS 5.5 event.

19th of May 2011 was a special day to me (Lukas). Adobe hosted an event in Warsaw, Poland, promoting the new Creative Suite 5.5.

To do that  they have invited one of the greatest Evangelists and Teachers of all Adobe programs – Terry White !

Warsaw was one of the stops at the Adobe Evolution Tour CS 5.5. The event happened in a cinema, with a huge crowd of people, all hungry for the knowledge that Adobe Evangelists have to spread.

Who is Terry ?

Terry White – Worldwide Creative Suite Design Evangelist for Adobe Systems, Inc. Terry has been with Adobe for over a decade and has extensive knowledge of Adobe’s Creative Professional product line. To read more about Terry, please visit his blog: Terry White Blog.

Terry is one of my Photoshop idols, a man who knows how to use it well – after all, he participated in its creation. He showed many cool things about Photoshop, and In-design. I knew all the features he presented ( after all I am a Adobe Certified Expert ),but it was nice to see how he runs the show, and how in a very short time he was able to present all the fantastic features of the Adobe Suite. His enthusiasm and knowledge made the presentation very enjoyable.

Adobe Evolution Tour CS 5.5.

The show was about the new features in the refreshed Creative Suite. It was not another product show where people tell you how good it is. At this Event the software was shown live, with examples. Everything was done in a relaxing and funny way – almost like a rock concert.

Terry showed how to use iPad apps alongside Photoshop. He took his iPad, lunched Adobe Eazel app, and created a basic "artistic" background in a very intuitive multi touch interface. Then he wirelessly transferred the image to Photoshop, and used it to change the background of a photograph of a model. Terry’s demo  has encouraged me to use the iPad alongside my iMac when using Photoshop. I can have all my favourite tools on the iPad and only the image on the 27inch screen, which is a very good way to work.

I was able to see how a Flash app on an Android phone could control 3 devices at the same time, then Motorola Xoom, and Black Berry tablet. A simple game was presented. Paul Trani was playing canoe game, where a canoeist was swimming from one screen to another – the canoe was disappearing from the screen of one device, and was seamlessly appearing on the screen of a second device. The canoe was swimming from screen to screen.

I was really impressed about all the cool things that can be done in Flash CS 5.5. I see a lot of potential in using it.

The part about video editing was also interesting. I didn’t know that such movie magic can be done on a home computer. After Effects program looks very difficult, but results out of it are very professional and almost Hollywood. I learned that one whole season of House was completely recorded wth DSLR cameras, and then edited fully on Adobe software.

My impression about Terry White.

It was really nice to see Terry live, after so many ears following him on his blog, and watching his video classes. On a coffee break, I got a chance to approach Terry to be photographed with him, and talked to him a little bit – what a great and humble guy he is.

At one point he gave me his own Nikon D7000 camera, and asked me to take a photograph  of him and one other evangelist, Michael O’Neil. I was very happy to see the photograph I had taken for Terry on his blog ! He used it on his post about the whole event.

I was also happy, when Terry asked me to take a photograph of him with a big Adobe logo in behind on a cinema screen. He asked me to send it to his e-mail address – so I did, hoping that he will get it.

Also Terry was kind enough to sign my iPad in the  Adobe Ideas app:

Summarising.

It was a great day for a Photoshop geek like me. It was the best show I have been at for years. Meeting Terry White will stay in my memory for ever, hoping that one day I will be as good in Photoshop as he is !

More…

To see more photographs I taken from this event, please visit our Facebook gallery: Terry White – Adobe Guru & Evangelist in Warsaw, 19th May 2011

To read a short reportage from that day, tweeted live at the event, please visit my Twitter account: @morbiusz

To check out how Terry White described the event, please visit his post about the event on his blog.

You can also follow Terry White on Twitter, and Facebook.

One last thing…

During the Question and Answer session, one of the attendants asked Terry White, why iPad doesn’t support Flash. His reply was instant and very short: "Ask Steve Jobs".

Beautiful food at The Milton

Last week, I was photographing food from the new menu at the highly regarded Milton Restaurant.  These shots will be used in their new website. The food looked great, and having dined there several times, I am sure it will taste as good as it looked.

I took some exterior and interior shots of this charming restaurant. You can see all the proofs by clicking here

I was commissioned by Jay Emmerson, the restaurant manager, who I had worked with at the Albyn last year when I photographed their food.

I also took a few shots of the view across the River Dee for apart from the beautiful food, part of the attraction and charm of The Milton, is the beautiful setting.

To view all the images, click here.

Liane and Andrew’s wedding

On Saturday (16th April) I photographed the wedding of Liane McRae, who I first photographed over 30 years ago (not giving away Liane’s age) in her ballet outfit in the studio with her sister, Gemma. Her Dad, Alan McRae, is a good friend and client (Alken Construction) and I was delighted when Liane asked me to photograph her wedding. David and I took over 2000 photographs and the first gallery is now on-line, and the rest will follow later today. Click here to see the first gallery. There is a short slideshow below with a small selection of images before any editing.  This was prepared on Saturday night to show the bridal party.

A few of the shots used in the slide-show are in the gallery below.

This blog post will be updated again when the finished photographs are on-line.

Re-touching

This post is to showcase what is possible with Photoshop. Julie, the Bride asked if it was possible to have a second version of the image above without de Broy. This was not particularly easy as de Broy’s head and body is in front of the fireplace and painting, both of which are very intricate. However, Lukas, our in-house Photoshop guru created exactly what was required.

To achieve this, he first cut the lady out. then found another image where you could see the fireplace and painting that the Groom was in front of. He re-sized and adjusted it in a separate layer, and then removed more of the Groom, before replacing the lady in his place and adding an arm. He also re-touched out a blue book that was on the bottom shelf creating exactly what Julie wanted.

As I have said many times, we would much rather get everything we need and get everything right "in camera" but is very useful to have Photoshop and Lukas’s considerable skills at our disposal.

We have an amazing offer on Groupon today and there is less than 8 hours to take advantage of it. For only £29, you get a full studio portrait session with changes of clothes, and backgrounds, a viewing session and either a beautiful framed 8×6 print or a really novel keepsake book with 10 images.

The framed print is a heatsealed print which is much better than using glass, and you can choose between a black or silver frame.

We are taking some amazing portrait shots and of course we hope you love the images enough to buy more prints but there is absolutely no obligation.

Do not miss this offer – it ends in less than 9 hours.

We look forward to welcoming you to the studio.

Building site to finished building with Photoshop

Earlier this week, I was asked to photograph a unit in Westhill that is close to the the end of the construction stage. It was very difficult working around the diggers, workmen, and Portacabins. My angles were very restricted but at least the lighting was good. The client needed the images now before the building was finished so we were asked to remove railings etc. Lukas has done a great job on this very tricky task.

Apart from the obvious railings being removed and grass added, if you look closely,you will see the work he has done on the windows, the sign at the far right, and some of the drums etc. in front of the warehouse. more…

Fund raising night for Maggies at Malmaison

After being at Deeside Golf Club, Colin was going to Malmaison on Queens Road for a champagne and canapé evening to promote the Maggies appeal. The evening hosted by BBC sports commentator, Rob McLean heard Colin Montgomerie and Colin Welsh (Chairman of the appeal committee)  explain why a Maggies centre is so important for Aberdeen. Click here to see how much their centres can help suffers and their families, and click here for more information on Monty’s Maggie’s appeal.

The committee had kindly invited Sandra and I as guests. When I got my invitation, I noticed that there were 10 raffle prizes of a photograph of Colin with the Ryder cup. I accepted the invitation and emailed asking if they had arranged the photography and offered to do this free of charge, and my offer was accepted. Malmaison Set up a room for the photography and all the prize winners came up and got their photograph taken and they will get a print sent to them. The photograph above is of Colin and Andy Roger, the General Manager of Malmaison in Aberdeen. Malmaison and Andy have been great supporters of the appeal and last year Andy and a team of  Mal staff walked 164 miles covering both the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way. Click here to read more.
 

Sandra was with me, and took the opportunity to get her photograph with Colin and the Ryder cup.

Click here to see all the prize winners and shots of the famous Ryder Cup.