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Stay up-to-date with the latest news, events and guidance
10 Hot Hints – Add Impact To Club Competition Photos
How To Add impact to competition photos. You are a camera club photographer and you have put your best picture into the latest competition. Your latest entry gives you high hopes of an award. Judging night comes and the judges’ comments are not as expected. As a judge...
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Try This Escape Route To First-Rate Photography
Your escape route If you are seeking an escape route from your current way of making photographs here are a few thoughts to help you successfully move forward. I will not try to pacify you by saying that the journey to first-rate photography is quick, simple or easy...
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Easy Digital Pinhole Photography
The reason why - perfection is not all its cracked up to be I am not convinced that straight photography as promoted by Alfred Steichen and Edward Weston of the f64 Group fame in 1932 is the only true faith. Their raison detre was that the main difference between...
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Try These Tips For Planning A Landscape Shoot
Blaen y Glyn Uchaf - Bannau Brycheiniog May 2018 Try these tips for planning a landscape shoot Landscape photography is a classic subject of the photographic genre with much written online and in books. In this post, I’m going to concentrate on how to plan a...
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Cameras do not make photographs’
Cameras do not make photographs’ In this post, I will be briefly looking at the truth behind the statement "cameras do not make photographs’." Your highly expensive camera does not know you or love you. You can accurately think for your camera but it can only guess at...
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The Secrets of Shadows
The Deep Secret of Shadows The Feature Picture Above Here on the right is the starting point for the picture of the harbour walls at Porthgain in Pembrokeshire "It is not where you start that is important, but where you finish". This shot was taken on the residential...
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Behind the shot 1 – Legacy Lenses
Behind the shot – Legacy Lenses This ancient looking picture of the Bristol Tobacco Bond A Warehouse was taken last Sunday. The idea behind the picture was to marry the foreground and background together. The foreground is two of the struts on the Ashton Avenue Bridge...
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Fujifilm UK featured photographer of the week
Fujifilm featured photographer of the week I am delighted to announce Fujifilm has selected my work to promote their brand and values across all social media platforms for the week commencing 23 April 2018. There will be a daily post for the week spotlighting a...
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When do you need film or digital capture?
When do you need film or digital capture? Depending on your photographic vision and intent there may be the opportunity to consider the artistic value of film capture. This post looks at some of the artistic and craft reason why digital may not entirely satisfy you....
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Try These Tips For Selecting Pictures – Part 2
Try These Tips For Selecting Pictures - Part 2 Photography is the art of communication. To extend that thought a photograph is a direct act of communication, you the photographer are the viewer's eyes. See part one of this series “How to select pictures for your blog...
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How to create the perception of depth in your prints
The Perception of Depth Here is a technique that is suitable for both colour and black and white pictures. In this post, we will be looking at how to create the perception of depth in a picture firstly by choosing images that are suitable for the treatment and...
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Read My Thoughts From West Sussex
Last week I spent a few days down in West Sussex around Chichester. The great attraction for me in the area is Chichester Harbour with all its creeks and inlets. The most famous of all these locations is the village of Bosham with its iconic church spire. The previous...
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The Final Act Of Photography Is The Print
A print in the hand is worth two on the screen I greatly value the sponsorship I have received from Fotospeed over the past 11 years. Fotospeed has a philosophy of continuous product development and customer service that is unrivalled. The whole team at Fotospeed are...
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Alert New Fujifilm X-H1 Camera Body
New Fujifilm X-H1 Camera Alert I have taken the plunge and now have the Fujifilm X-H1 body mainly for its In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS) capability. As many Fujifilm camera users will know, Fujifilm does not build OIS into prime lenses, only some zooms. Just...
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See Like A Professional Try These Cool Tips – Part 2
Sea swimming Pool Cliftonville February 2018 - Frame 2 of 14 This is the second of two posts in the "See Like A Professional" series. In the first post we looked at the following topics: Bad pictures are good, Shoot fewer frames of more subjects or shoot more frames...
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How To Insert Motivational Hints In Lightroom
Cuckmere River - late winter afternoon 2014 How to insert motivational hints in Lightroom Note in the Screen Grab below the Identity Plate Editor has been used to change the text from "Lightroom Classic" to "What the is the highest potential - Is this the best you...
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The Craft of Photographic Seeing
The Craft of Photographic Seeing Workshop Only 2 places available Andalucia – Ronda, Seville & Cadiz 4 – 11 February 2018 Benefits Learn and embed the craft of photographic seeing Feel valued in a small group tailored to meet your specific needs Rapid progression...
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Preparing to Wave Adobe Goodbye 5
Porthgain - Pembrokeshire February 2017 - taken during the Photo Seeing Workshop. Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye 5 For those of you interested in the potential of the On 1 Photo Raw software to replace Lightroom Classic in the future here is a link to the On1 blog....
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The Art of Photographic Composition Workshop
The Art of Photographic Composition Workshop How well do you understand and use Composition techniques? The Infographic below sets out the progressive knowledge and skill base of an expert photographer. Would like help to make your compositions more dynamic? Try The...
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Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye 4
Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye 4 Preparing to wave goodbye to Adobe 4 This is an update to Preparing to wave goodbye to Adobe 3. Adobe has issued its last update for the standalone product Lightroom 6. For anybody wishing to purchase this last version of Lightroom...
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Merry Christmas From Andy Beel
A Merry Messy Christmas From Andy Beel You may also like these Encouraging Articles... A Understanding the reason for taking a picture and sharing it B Any picture will either sings or sag depending on the background Breaking the imaginary link between the file and...
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How To Make A Digital Lith Print
How To Make A Digital Lith Print Inspiration Inspiration in photography can come from a variety of different sources. The inspiration for today's blog feature picture was gained from the last post I put on Instagram. A picture taken earlier this year in southern Spain...
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Visit the Spike Island Exhibition
Picture (C) Peter Brisley ARPS Spike Island - Bristol A photographic essay by Peter Brisley, Tony Copper and Gordon James at The Create Centre until Friday 5th January. Create Centre, Smeaton Road, Spike Island, Bristol BS1 6XN You may also like these...
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Get New Insights With These Photography Workshops
Get New Insights With These Photography Workshops The Art of Photographic Composition Workshop £799.00 St Davids – Pembrokeshire Mon 29 Jan – Fri 2 Feb 2018 Highlights Open a door to expressive seeing and composition Gain fresh new insights Excellent for both colour...
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Normal Service has been resumed
Normal Service has been resumed Apologies to those of you who tried to view the website over the weekend the technical glitch has been fixed. Being a bear of very little brain it would overtax my brain cell to explain what went wrong and why. Normal service has been...
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Try 10 Easy ABC of CameraWork Photo Selection Tips
Try 10 Easy ABC of CameraWork Photo Selection Tips In a world where we all take far more pictures than we ever did five years ago, we have so many choices to make when it comes to selecting pictures to edit. In his blog post, I will be looking at the criteria for...
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What’s new in the XT-2 Firmware 3.00 update?
XT-2 Firmware Update Version 3.00 - Easy Overexposure Warnings The new highlight overexposure features in this firmware update caught my eye. For the first time for the XT-2 you can see which pixels have reached 100% brightness before committing to the shot. Also,...
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What Is An Aspiring Photographers Problem?
Q. What Is An Aspiring Photographers Problem? A. Not enough time in The Learning Zone High-risk performance zones We spend much of our lives in a high-risk performance zone, we are doing what we normally do to make a picture. In order to improve any photographic...
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No More Duplicate Emails
No More Duplicate Emails No more multiple blog post notification emails Hopefully, this is the last of my blog posts where some email subscribers receive multiple emails containing the same post. The New Process The Wordpress and Mailchimp databases will be...
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Shadows are the soul of a black and white print
Castle Combe Golf Course 2014 Shadows are the soul of a black and white print Photography is not about photography as a subject matter.Black and white photography is not about taking pretty colour out. Black and white photography is principally about directional...
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The Image Circle Exhibition Chichester
The Image Circle Exhibition Chichester 14 - 19 November 2017 10.00 - 16.30 The Oxmarket Centre of Arts Chichester PO19 1YH theimagecircle.com Picture (c) Alan Frost ARPS 2017 Click here to receive my Newsletter and be the first to receive offers, advice and...
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Master Photographers Worry About Appropriate Lighting
Master Photographers Worry About Appropriate Lighting The direction and quality of lighting is everything to a master photographer You may think the light is the light because its all you have when you have your camera to hand. Time of day and year makes a huge...
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The Dark Art – A Black and White Digital Printing Workshop Manual
Platinum Blonde - Bristol Harbour 2016 The Dark Art A Black and White Digital Printing Workshop Manual Hurrah, a big box of new “The Dark Art” books arrived from the printers today. Spruce up your digital black and white printing skills in Photoshop or Lightroom. Here...
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How to See Photographically Workshop
How To See Photographically Workshop For those of you who have not booked to come on the How to See Photographically workshop in Andalucia next week the feature picture above is a typical after breakfast shot. These shots are typically taken at about 8.55 am...
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Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye3
Sheltering from the rain - Scheveningen, The Netherlands 2013 Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye 3 Now that the fury has calmed down about the direction of Lightroom, it is now possible to see the wood for the trees. In my last post on this subject, I gave a warning...
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New Pocket-able Camera
New Pocket-able Camera Love hate relationship I have always had a love-hate relationship with compact pocket-able cameras. I have tried three or four different cameras over the years and with each one I have grown to loathe them with equal contempt. The compact that...
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How To See Photographically – Extra Free Day
How To See Photographically Workshop - Extra Free Day Extra Free Day Tomorrow Tuesday 24th Oct I am doing an extra free day included in the cost of the How to See Photograph Workshop in Spain. The Learn Grow Express Workshops are based on the ABC of Camerawork...
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Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye2
Preparing to Wave Adobe Goodbye 2 The panic is over for now. The classic version of Lightroom does NOT require you to upload pictures to the cloud. Update My thanks go out to those of you who responded with comments on the first post in this series. Special thanks...
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Preparing To Wave Adobe Goodbye1
Preparing to Wave Adobe Goodbye 1 Adobe is one of the most profitable companies on the planet turning over a massive 5.8 Billion USD in 2016. The turnover in 2015 was 4.8 Billion. The companies income rose by 21% after the introduction of the Creative Cloud...
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6 Must-Have Photographer Skills
6 Must-Have Photographer Skills To be a good photographer requires you to be at one with your camera. There is a seamless connection between awareness and intuition that effortlessly allows you to set your camera to record the picture. This post focuses on the camera...
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Skogafoss Iceland – Staying dry?
Skogafoss - Iceland After returning to Iceland seven years after my first visit I was most struck by the increase in the number of tourists mainly from south-east Asia. If you are the type of photographer who does not want people in your...
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An Icelandic Trip – The Highlands and South Coast
An Icelandic Trip - The Highlands and South Coast I have just returned from a 12 day trip in the south of Iceland as those of you who follow me on Instagram will know. The trip included the spectacular Icelandic Highlands where a 4x4 vehicle is necessary to cross the...
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Wide-angle Workshop – St Fagans
Wide-angle Workshop at St Fagans The location for last week's wide-angle workshop had to be quickly amended as The Big Pit Museum was closed for the day we planned to go. The chosen new location was the St Fagans Museum just the west of Cardiff. The feature shot above...
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On Being a Photographer – a Practical Guide
On Being a Photographer - a practical guide Dear Andy, "I forgot to add the other day that the David Hurn book (On being a photographer - a practical guide) is a real discovery for me - quite the best and the most quietly inspiring book I have read on photography so...
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Please Follow Me On My New Instagram Page
My New Instagram Page To make life easier for you to see my pictures I have started an Instagram page. The page address is https://www.instagram.com/andybeelfrps/ The page is populated with pictures so it will be worth taking a look. Please follow me on Instagram,...
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Depth of Field Workshop – Update
Depth of Field Workshop - Update A good time was had by all at the Master Depth of Field (DoF) Workshop held at Didcot Railway Centre yesterday. The weather was good not too: cold, hot, windy, bright or dull! The Workshop focused on the 4 levers that control DoF. Many...
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Fotofest 2017 Open For Bookings Now
Fotospeed are delighted to bring together 4 world-renowned photographers for a day of talks Sunday 10th September 2017 at the EDGE, University of Bath Following on from the success of 2016 Fotospeed are thrilled to host FotoFest 2017 at a new...
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Video Interview With Huntington Witherill On Composition Tips
World renowned Photographer Huntington Witherill shares his secrets of stunning composition with Marc Silber.
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Adding Film Grain In Lightroom & Photoshop
Discover the best way to add film grain to a digital picture in Lightroom or Photoshop
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Learn How To Get Fast Depth of Field Results
Learn How To Get Fast Depth of Field Results On the Mastering Depth of Field in a day workshop I will be showing you how to get fast depth of field results. The planned Mastering Depth of Field Workshop has been given a new date. I believe my clients and I made a good...
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Stunning Street Photography With These 5 Ways
Here are some ways for you to do stunning street photography in a shorter space of time. Walking around with a camera in the street and taking the odd snap is the slow way to get results. This method could be called the how not get great results guide. Picture (c) by...
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See Like A Professional Try These Cool Tips-Part 1
See Like A Professional This is the first of two posts in the see like a professional series. There are many articles about photographic seeing available on the web and in print. The idea behind this article is to set out some of the wider fundamental thinking before...
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Learning To See The Light With These Hot Hints
An intuitive response It seems that there are some photographers who intuitively look and see the light within a picture. There are others who look and do not see the light. So, how if you are in the second group, can you teach yourself to see and recognise the light?...
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Easy Steps For Setting IR Black and White Points in Lightroom
Easy Tips For Setting The IR Black & White Points In Lightroom The IR Workshop This feature shot was taken yesterday on the first of three How To Take Better IR Photos Workshops. The next workshop with places if you are interested is on the 11 September 2017 at...
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5 Easy Steps To Increase Impact With Your Tele Lens
5 Easy Steps to Increase Impact With Your Tele Lens The strength of a tele lens is it allows to fill the frame and remove visual distractions at the taking stage. Thus, increasing the overall impact of the shot. Always have in mind the saying “Use it or lose it”. My...
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Feedback from the Fuji Camera Users Workshop
A review of the Southwest Fuji Cameras Users Workshop A quick review of the Southwest Fuji Cameras Users Workshop held on Wednesday 12th July at National Trust property at Dyrham Park just north of Bristol and Bath. "Just a note to thank you for a most enjoyable...
read more FujiFilm XT-2 Firmware Upgrade History
Video with thanks to the FujiFilm The FujiFilm XT-2 Firmware Upgrade History XT-2 Firmware upgrade history update Ver.1.10 from Ver.1.00 incorporates the following issues: Tether shooting is available by USB connection. One of the application software below is...
read more Ignore the picture background at your peril
Controlling backgrounds - Malaga harbour 2016 The reasons why - controlling picture backgrounds A picture has the potential to either sing or sag with the assistance of the background. For me, the background is a real make or break issue for a cohesive and integrated...
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Wide-angle Lens Workshop at the Big Pit Museum
A very brief report A good time was had by all at the first "How to get the most from a wide-angle lens" workshop at Blaenavon. Maybe you have a wide-angle lens and are not sure how to use it effectively. Here is a wide-angle lens workshop where you can pick up hot...
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How To Scan Glass Plate Negatives With Ease
How to scan glass plate negatives with ease The subject of this post is in response to a query by a client Lynn Buckley about my last post on retouching old photos. As a postscript Lynn went on to scan the negatives she had and the pictures were used in a...
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Harness The Power Of Picture Templates
Harness the power of picture templates We all carry around in our heads a set of photo templates (pre-visualisations) that are the subjects and compositions we use to take pictures. These templates form the backbone of our photography. It is important to recognise...
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Selecting pictures for your blog or website – 6 easy ways
Selecting pictures for your blog or website – Try these 6 easy ways A Newspaper Picture Editors Role Imagine you are a newspaper picture editor, your job is to make a selection from all the pictures that are uploaded from photographers on the ground. They will have...
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10 ways to get the best from your Smart Phone Camera
Photography is a combination of the technical and artistic both are needed to make a successful picture As we all know there has been a revolution in digital photography. Every new generation of mobile phones makes it easier to take pictures in more difficult...
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What’s In My Camera Bag?
What's in my camera bag? From the feature shot above I am very glad this is not a picture of my camera bag. To carry around all this gear for a day would put me in hospital with an aching back and shoulders. Who ever you are and of what age, you must be comfortable...
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Free Online Artistic Awareness Survey
Help is at hand - The Artistic Awareness Survey I have prepared a free online Artistic Awareness Survey to help you to discover and fix photography skills gaps. The survey starts out by asking you how good you are at basic camera skills. Then it progresses to pose...
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Thank you for your patience
Thank you for your patience whilst I have been trying to get the tech to work properly.
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Read How David Made a Difference To His Photography
Understanding what is the difference that makes the difference David had retired early, his children had flown the nest, with time on his hands he regained his interest in photography that had started in school forty years before. He had a problem with his camera, it...
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New Ethiopia Galleries
The feature picture above was taken in Ethiopia about ten years ago. It has been included in a gallery along with other pictures from that time not published before. Visit the Gallery Quotable Quotes "There is no passion to be found in playing small, in settling for...
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Andy Beel Adds New Website Updates
New Website Updates The new planned websites updates have finally come to fruition today. This has been a long process and will hopefully make the site easier to navigate and give viewer a better browsing experience. New: - Homepage - Portfolio - What's on - One day...
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A World First – A Multi-Aperture Pinhole Lens-update
This new crowd funded multi-aperture pinhole lens is a world first. They have reached their goal. Which means they have an updated delivery timeline for the backers who pledged for MILC and Pentax K mounts. The latest two-tier delivery timeline is as follows:...
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How Cassie Learned To Create Award Winning Digital Pictures
Cassie - a case study Cassie is a young professional living in Weybridge, Surrey. Her work takes her to the far east as a Civil Engineer. For the short periods of time when she is at home she lives with her parents. At school she had access to the school darkroom...
read more A World First – A Multi-Aperture Pinhole Lens
This new crowd funded multi-aperture pinhole lens is a world first. The project to develop this lens is fully funded after just 4 days from the launch. The lens will offer a range of apertures that will give control to the sharpness of a picture. I have made a pledge...
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The Dark Art – available while stocks last
The Dark Art - A black and white digital printing manual The Dark Art I have just received a new batch of copies of The Dark Art - a black and white digital printing manual, from the printers. How many times have you looked at a stunning black and white digital...
read more Hurrah – Blog Now With Pictures
Trees Lyn Dinas Snowdonia Apologies for the minor technical hitch over the bank holiday weekend. If you visited the website you were greeted by a site without any pictures, this has now been fixed. Normal service will be resumed later today with a post about The Dark...
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5 Fast Ways To Stunning Street Photography
(c) Picture by Dave Mason Walking around with a camera in the street and taking the odd snap is the slow way to get results. This method could be called the how not get great results guide. Here are some ways for you to get much better results in a shorter space of...
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How to get the appearance of depth in a picture
Blenheim Palace May 2017 On a very hot and sunny day against my better judgement I decided to go to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The Palace is about ten miles north of Oxford and is accessed through an imposing gateway in the village of Woodstock. As a world...
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What Accessory Makes Your Photo Life Easier?
Mind the edge - South Devon 2016 The latest photo accessory making my life easier is the Peak Design Sliding Camera Strap and the Capture Clip. With this system, I can have one body on the sliding strap and another body on the Capture Clip. The Capture Clip is...
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Wide-Angle Photography Workshop Fully Booked
A quick update – The “how to get the best from a wide-angle lens workshop on the 5th July 2017 is FULLY BOOKED. Due to the outstanding demand for this popular workshop a second one will be run on the Wednesday 6th September 2017 again at the Big Pit Museum in South Wales.
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How Photographers Find Inspiration Videos
Just a reminder I now have a You Tube channel called Andy Beel FRPS
Here is a link to the Playlist on how photographers find inspiration with new video by Alfred Stieglitz, Vivian Maier and Joe Buissink.
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10 Reasons Why You Need An Amazing Photo Blog
A photo blog is an easy way to get on-line presence for free. A blog or website is a major outlet for your production as a photographer. There are many providers of blogging websites out there to choose from I have always used the Wordpress platform for my blog and website. One of the great advantages of a template based photo blog is you do not need to know any HTML coding or short codes. So with a small amount of computer knowledge a blog is easy to set up and maintain.
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5 Ways to Improve Your Infrared Photography
Infrared Orchard - Barrington Court, Somerset May 2017 5 Ways to Improve your Infrared Photography IR photography is fantastic for getting a look that is unlike any other within the photographic medium. In this post we will be looking at five ways for you to...
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Welcome to the Andy Beel FRPS May Newsletter
Welcome to the Andy Beel FRPS May Newsletter I hope you find something to tempt you to join in with the New One-Day Workshops coming up in July How To Get The Best From A Wide-Angle Lens - A Photography Workshop Wednesday 5 July 2017 Where - Big Pit National...
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Meet Up at Photo London 2017
Photo London billed as "The UK photography event of the year" - The Guardian Photo London was created to give London an international photography event befitting the city’s status as a global cultural capital. Now in its third edition, Photo London has established...
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Hot Hint No 2 – Review Other Photographers Printing Style
Porthmadog Station – 2012 Hot Hint No 2 – Review The Printing Style Of Other Photographers If you want to understand how and why prints work as pictures firstly look at the prints made by great photographers in detail preferably at an exhibition. This review calls...
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Every Picture Tells a Story Talk at Stourbridge PS
Dyrham Park - South Gloucestershire I am giving a talk called "Every picture tells a story" at Stourbridge PS in the west Midlands on the 18th May 2017. The Every picture tells a story talk is a mixture of A2 black and white prints and digital images from my recent...
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Bath Photographic Society Photo Competition Judging
An iconic Banksey - Park St, Bristol I will be at Bath Photographic Society on the 16th May 2017 to judge a dpi competition. This is a late request to stand-in as a judge for the booked person who unfortunately cannot make it on the night. If your club needs a...
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Me and My Eye Talk At Cheltenham Camera Club
Porth Gain - Pembrokeshire February 2017 - taken on the St Davids Peninsula tour "Me and My Eye" Talk At Cheltenham Camera Club on Thursday 11th May 2017 I will be giving a talk called "Me and my eye" to Cheltenham Camera Club. A2 size black and white prints will be...
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Photo Hot Hint No 3 – Perfection vs Expressive Value
Swaledale – North Yorkshire, November 2016 The feature shot above was taken on the Yorkshire Monochrome Masterclass. Hot Hint No 3 - Perfection vs expressive value “A technically perfect print with no soul, has no or little expressive value”. Every day of our lives...
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Photo Hot Hint No 1 – Join In
Misty Cullins – Isle of Skye March 2016 Black and white photography is about contrast or differing brightnesses of illumination. The feature picture above works because of the simplicity of the lighter tone of the snow on the peaks against a darker mountain and sky. I...
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Homage to Bill Brandt
The picture above is homage to a big influence of mine Bill Brandt who was not frightened to use solid blacks in his prints. Click here to see more of Bills wonderful work. Who influences you? Why not share a few names so we all can learn > grow and express ouirselves...
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A new home for Andy Beel FRPS’s black and white photography blog
Find out more about this innovative and systematic way of thinking and practising black and white landscape photography with an inexpensively priced taster day.
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