Box of Frogs

My Kingdom for a horse

2012-02-08T15:40:00.001Z

My Kingdom for a horse, a photo by Paul Hodgson @ Box of Frogs on Flickr.

Isla - the toddler

2012-01-15T19:02:00.001Z

Isla - the toddler, a photo by Paul Hodgson @ Box of Frogs on Flickr.

Do a little dance

2011-12-20T12:14:00.000Z

An Asian wedding in Cheshire

2011-11-23T14:26:00.001Z

More after the jump

square - Well oblong actually...

2011-09-20T17:54:00.001+01:00

square, a photo by Paul Hodgson @ Box of Frogs on Flickr.

but the post crop has made the picture square.

Saw these old books at my Father-in-Laws house and loved the colours. A beautiful vibrant blue coaxed after a little post saturation added.

Panorama

2011-06-30T07:56:00.001+01:00

b&w_pano, a photo by Paul Hodgson @ Box of Frogs on Flickr.

What do you get whilst walking around Huddersfield and decide to take 12 photographs?

Well, if you're at St Georges Square you get the image you see here. Hope you like it.

Huddersfield Photographer comes to the rescue - I mean me, no us!

2011-06-20T17:13:00.001+01:00

Huddersfield Photographer comes to the rescue - I mean me, no us!

Bovine-a-saurus - photography around Huddersfield

2011-06-06T15:58:00.003+01:00

Click here for the full story.

More ballet

2011-03-31T00:36:00.002+01:00

More ballet, a photo by Paul Hodgson @ Box of Frogs on Flickr.

Take one ballet dancer, switch the lights out then tell her to dance.www.bof.uk.com

Yorkshire Photography | Portrait retouching v2

2011-03-18T15:39:00.001Z

Yorkshire Photography | Portrait retouching v2

NX2 does Landscapes

2011-03-09T22:29:00.000Z

Continuing with my post processing tutorials, here's another showing how to correct a landscape image using NX2.

Enjoy.

Portrait post processing with NX2

2011-03-08T13:24:00.003Z

Portrait post processing with NX2

Llandudno Wedding Photography :: Heidi & David

2011-02-27T16:01:00.003Z

Some photographs taken over the past 2 years or so.

2011-02-23T19:43:00.004Z

Summer time

2011-02-23T15:57:00.002Z

Summer time

Kellie Parker :: Yorkshire Model Photography

2011-02-23T15:52:00.005Z

Kellie Parker :: Yorkshire Model Photography

Image resizing - I want it now!

2011-02-23T15:46:00.001Z

Saving your images to the internet can at first seem daunting. The urge is to make them huge, high resolution files so that every viewer can bask in the wonder of you photography. However, there are downsides...

1. No matter the size you upload if people want to steal your work they will, but high resolution files mean better quality for the thief. Make'm small!

2. If you run your own website and not something like wordpress or blogger then making your images smaller means your pages will load quicker and you'll take up less space. Less space per picture means more pictures and stories and blog posts etc., etc.

The video I've created walks through several pieces of software, some free, that will help you create much smaller images without much loss in viewer quality.

Leave me a comment if you like the video. Just click the link below and fill your boots, so to speak.

Image resizing - I want it now!

Kellie Parker :: Yorkshire Model Photography

2011-02-23T01:54:00.006Z

Kellie Parker :: Yorkshire Model Photography

Jess Johnston

2011-02-23T01:21:00.006Z

Jess Johnston

Bagden Hall Wedding

2011-02-23T01:21:00.005Z

Bagden Hall Wedding

Fine Arts, Prints, and more: Strobist Mixed with Action and Zoom

2010-02-28T23:50:00.000Z

Fine Arts, Prints, and more: Strobist Mixed with Action and Zoom

So...

2008-01-27T21:19:00.000Z

in support of yesterdays kick-off post that begins the art of image making, I plan on a 'Back-to-Basics' approach. By this I mean I make no assumptions what your level of experience is therefore will start from the beginning. No! Not the beginning of time ala Stephen Hawkins, nor from even old plate cameras but rather from a point of reference - today.

In yesterdays post I mentioned Point & Shoot cameras and SLR cameras but did not support that with an image so to rectify that here's a couple of images...first the SLR

SLR (Single Lens Reflex)

The SLR is probably the most versatile camera available made even more so with the evolution of digital imaging. The camera allows an amazing array of adjustments and of interchangeable lenses. The affords the photographer with oodles of creative potential but to start I'd suggest being reserved in your SLR buying habits and buying perhaps one SLR, one lens, a tripod, a cleaning kit for the digital sensor and learning how to use these consistently and effectively before buying more lenses.

Here you see my Nikon D200 with the addition of a battery pack mounted on the bottom. This addition turns my camera from a one battery camera to a two battery camera allowing greater periods of shooting without having to stop and charge the battery, plus I like the added benefit of having an extra shutter button when in the vertical or portrait orientation. This allows my elbows to remain close to my torso and so not have a chicken wing flailing and run the risk of possible stability problems - blurred images.

Now, here a shot of my sons Point & Shoot (P&S) camera

OK, so I have a 'thing' for Nikon gear!

Here's an 'A' typical P&S camera.

It's light, compact and resolves so pretty decent images. I has a zoom that for the most part will cover most of the angles you'll ever need. So what's the downside? For most people there isn't one but for those wanting to create THE very best images and THE most flexibility the P&S will only get you part way there. You can't get interchangeable lenses, the quality of the lens is usually good but with SLR lenses, optics can be superb. An SLR based system can grow with you as you become a more proficient photographer whereas you will find that you soon out grow the P&S as you begin to deisre more creative control over your images.

I carry one in my pocket for the odd times when the bulk of a SLR would slow me down or would be totally out of place for my location. So yes they have tremendous value but my choice every time would be an SLR.

And finally, there are many more 'for' and 'against' arguments for both but as always, research-research-research and make your own mind up.

Keep an eye out for my glossary of terms (when I figure out how to make a separate page here on Blogger).

Inaugural Photography course - 101

2008-01-24T18:25:00.000Z

OK - so here we are at last and apologies for those that have been waiting. My image making on-line course begins here and here's my philosophy...

make it interesting
make it snappy - the information that is
encourage interaction
share your images at the Box of Frogs flickr group
provide clear information
guide
this blog and the forum should not be to ridicule participants

And so I'm going to start right back at the beginning so for those individuals that are well versed in photographic techniques, this early stage may not be for you. However, stick around and help with those that are starting their journey into the world of making arresting images.

So what will you need...

a camera. What I'd suggest though is a digital camera as it is convenient, the delete key is but a button away and your feedback is immediate by looking at the lcd screen on the back of the camera. Depending on your budget digital cameras are readily available and whether you choose a SLR (Single Lens Reflex) or what is called a point and shoot camera, either a fine for my course.

Makers like Canon, Nikon, Pentax have cameras available covering all budgets. I do suggest making your way to a local reputable camera store and trying them. be sure to Hold it - how does it feel? Too small? move on...too big? move on. Only settle for a camera that has the features that you need and feels great in your hands. If in doubt simply search the web for a whole host of sites dedicated to providing free camera reviews to help you choose. DPReview is a particularly good one, but there are others.

Caveat - one item I believe your camera should have is the ability to have total manual control over the camera - again ask the store. Most if not all digital cameras come packaged with some sort of auto exposure mode (I'll go into these on another post) but briefly, the camera can be left to make all the decisions 'P' mode; 'A' mode (aperture priority) you decide which aperture you want and allow the camera to assign the correct shutter speed; or 'S' mode (shutter priority) you decide the speed that the shutter will fire and the camera sets the correct aperture.

Writing the previous paragraph highlights that I need to incorporate a glossary of terms for you to refer to otherwise you could easily get lost and forget the correct description for certain terms. So, that's been added onto my 'To-do' list.

Back to cameras - -

If you decide to use a film camera (I have a shelf full of them) then I suggest requesting that the lab which processes your film and provides you with the prints also supplies you with a cd of the images. This cd is critical for our next step.

Post processing your images. Once you've taken the images you'll likely want to 'do' something to it. Increase the colour, increase the contrast or something much more creative. This means loading that image onto a computer and finding a way of making those changes. There are whole host of software tools designed to do just that the most famous being Adobe Photoshop Be warned though, this will make a serious dint in your bank balance but it is great software.

A viable alternative is a product called GIMP which does a lot of things Photoshop can do and some it can't. Best of all GIMP is free - yes, free and totally worth the effort of downloading.

I use both for different reasons and I thoroughly recommend getting both or at the very least GIMP.

Well, in the interests of brevity I will stop here to continue another day (post actually). If you already have images you are proud to sow or questions about what went wrong, post them over at the Box of Frogs flickr group now.

In the next post I will expand on camera types and other equipment that whilst not essential for now, should be on your 'to buy' list.

Keep reading and see you soon.

Wow!

2008-01-22T19:10:00.000Z

We've been sooo busy since December that we haven't found the time to keep the blog updated. For those 126 regular return visitors I apologise here for not having started the photography/photoshop course.

We have also had a number of enquiries from folks wanting one-on-one help with photography questions, image manipulation questions and Nikki has been inundated with requests for hair and make-up help. Don't take this to mean that we don't want questions or feedback, but please bear with us - we endeavour to reply quickly but that may sometimes mean waiting a day...we hope to improve on that.

In addition we are right in the middle of creating two other businesses and a couple of other blogs. One is specifically for the new business that concentrates on Commercial/Event photography and the other a more personal blog about food. Food that is really great for diabetics but in reality, the recipes and thoughts I'll be writing will be superb for everyone - diabetic or not.

As always keep sending in your questions to

info@bof.uk.com

but above all else, leave your thoughts on our blogs - it's great to read feedback just make it more public please.

Thanks and see(read) you soon.

You're all tooled up!

2007-12-10T19:14:00.000Z

So, here you are having returned from the camera store all 'tooled up' meaning you've spent a years worth of food on a new camera toy and a filter or two. You head off upstairs trying hard not to meet the gaze of your loved one only to find that your new NikCanTaxBlad 400 gazillion pixel monster just about fits through the bedroom door frame; and your feeling like the mutts nuts.

Trouble is though is that your wardrobe's too small to hide your new stash, your dirty underwear crawling toward the corner of the room's also too small and then it dawns on you that the camera bag you bought just large enough to fit your OM10, is all you've got.

Take a look at this vid from November for a man who really has got the mutts nuts and knows how to pack a bag better than a marine knows how to assemble a rifle buried down his platoon leaders Y fronts!

Chase Jarvis is another of my favorite blog reads. not only is he obviously passionate about photography but wants everyone to push the creative envelope - yours, mine, everyone. Being different, being radical, being unique is where it's at - Yeah Baby!

So, the link takes you to his blog and in particular the series of vids he made that illustrates how he packs all his gear into his bags.

Enjoy.

John Harrington and the Nikon D3

2007-12-09T23:31:00.000Z

Earlier this year I bought THE most fabulous book by John Harrington - 'Best Business Practices for Photographers'. Yes, it is heavy going in parts but John delivers his message regarding running a successful business in an incredibly open and honest fashion. So impressed in fact that we have altered a number of our business models/practices which translates into better protection for our business, our staff AND, that's an important 'and', a greater level of security for our clients. To us that's always been important and should never be underplayed; thanks to John's book we recognised a couple of weaker areas and have plugged those small gaps.

John Harrington and specifically his blog, have become a regular go to when I switch my computer on - I continue to revel in his direct style of writing, the no BS style works well for me, there's already too much BS spin from photographers that you begin to feel you're wading deeply in treacle/molasses; a breath of fresh air, that's what he is.

Anyway, I have been following the Nikon/Canon race our the past year or so and waiting patiently for Nikon, my camera system supplier, to introduce a camera that would at least challenge the domination of Canon. I have nothing against Canon at all and for a long time their noise reduction systems in their digital cameras were superior to those offered by Nikon.

Nikon then introduce the D3. Click on the D3 link at the end of this post for a brief hands-on experience I had with the D3.

However, here's a great revue of the Nikon D3 alongside the Canon 1D III. There are a total of 12 small articles from John Harrington comparing each camera side-by-side and makes for compelling reading delivered in his inimitable style.

As always, thanks for reading.

The Nikon D3

2007-11-16T17:29:00.001Z

d3-5
Originally uploaded by hoddo1812

In a rush at the moment, we're off to see the Huddersfield Festival of Light so this is a very quick post.

Managed to spend moments with the Nikon D3 at the recent Expo event at the Velodrome in Manchester. The Nikon folks allowed your own CF cards to be inserted into the camera and here's one of a handful of shots I took at iso 10,000. Yes, your read that correctly - iso 10,000.

As a wedding photographer we have to shoot in some very low light which translates into, get your flash gun out and try to control the light or run the risk of leaving your flash in the bag and bracing yourself for lots of slow shutter speed, blurred shots. The D3 could broadside that thinking allowing more than acceptable images, low noise, at hand held speeds in dimly light environments.

I deliberately took this shot of the Nikon stand to see how the noise showed up in the shadows or in this case, the black of the shirt and stand - it holds up really, really well.

So in short, if you have a spare £3k (£6k) around go get yourself a Nikon D3.

Nikon Expo

2007-11-14T01:56:00.001Z

At last! Finally!

I a few hours I'm going to the Nikon Roadshow along with a trusty Compact Flash card. Why? Well, it will be my first opportunity to get hold of the new Nikon D3 flagship camera. From all accounts the image quality at high iso is astonishing and I'm eager to see what it can really do with my style of photography.

Nikon will also be showcasing their D200 replacement, the D300 . Again, Nikon's claim is that at higher iso settings, there's a marked reduction in digital camera noise

And on top of all this I really want a look at the Nikkor 14-24 - it's the one on the right and how good does that look? Rhetorical question folks.

In essence, the larger the iso number the more grain appears in the image. Higher iso settings allow for faster shutter speeds but with a trade off, being noise/grain. Usual examples are found in black and white images that do lend themselves to noise/grain - it adds depth, character, ambiance and I like it.

Anyway, keep watching, I'll have much to discuss very soon for those of you interested in the D3.

Let me know if there's anything you want me to look for, try, feel etc.

As always - good health.

November 5th

2007-11-07T17:22:00.000Z

The infamous firework night and I usually love the night. You pile round to friends or them to you, stoke up on hot food, spend far too much on fireworks and generally have a fabulous social evening. Made particularly enjoyable if there are children around - and no, it's against the law to attach a child to either a rocket or a Catherine Wheel, just say No!

Here's a gratuitous use of firework image I took on the night. Yes, for you photographers it's not the most inspiring of firework images you'll see, I was too close in an already cramped back garden (sorry Andy!).

By clicking the image you get a clearer view of the firework, the image above suffers somewhat within the blog post.

So here we are my tribe piling round to my friends tribe minus Nikki, my wife. She's staying at home to look after one of our dogs, meet...Tilly, a Greyhound crossed with goodness knows what. Judging by the size of here ribcage she's a Greyhound/Bison cross! She has THE most glorious eyes, full of soul and character.

who utterly and absolutely hates fireworks. She becomes a gibbering wreck from the first sound of a firework and stays that way until we ply her with calming drugs. Shivering, panting and more saliva than the dog from Turner and Hooch produced - it gets everywhere, not puurrrty.

We first administered her these drugs last week and the first night, about half an hour after swallowing the pill, it was like watching canine pinball as she bounced from wall to wall.

As for the firework shot, for the photographers amongst you, I had my camera tripod mounted with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens. Set the aperture to f/11 and the shutter speed on BULB - meaning I decide how long to leave the shutter open. I used a cable release to trip the shutter and then kept an eye on the lcd screen to see if the image was what I wanted. Fireworks are extremely difficult to record well; it's very easy to have the brightest part of the image over power the rest of the image and thus make it worthless. Be prepared to take lots of images and to then delete most of them. Pay attention to your lcd screen and vary the length of time you leave your shutter open.

Thanks for reading and see you soon. Any questions just leave them here.

Need some feedback from those that read this blog please...

2007-11-04T12:52:00.001Z

If you've been reading this fairly new blog since the beginning you will know that we are a business trading as Box of Frogs although we have other businesses.

As Box of Frogs we provide hair stylists, photographers and bespoke music composition for couples (gay or heterosexual) that have decided to commit to one another and get married. Our question is this...

through our website we receive many questions about the blog primarily about the articles and teachings that will soon begin. The questions cover all aspects of our services but I need to know whether we should have two blogs. One blog to cover the photography and image processing papers that we will soon be writing, and the other blog to concentrate on stylist designs, applications and make up.

Over to you please, your feedback will be invaluable.

A Vision of Students Today

2007-11-03T21:47:00.001Z

Here's a visionary at work - a perpetual state in which we find ourselves. My time in the education system has many flavours of remembrance with this video.

Of course the technology revolution was at my time not as advanced or as immediate as it is today.

Information R/evolution

2007-11-03T18:29:00.001Z

Over the last year I've listened to many about how to optimise the web for this, that or the other and then small videos like this appear and I love it. Whilst I'm in no way an expert when it comes to the interent I still like can appreciate the time, effort and skill that goes into making these videos.

Below is one of my favorites at the moment - I hope you like it to.

As always, live today like it's your last and make the most of those that are near and dear to you.

Children in Need

2007-10-30T10:39:00.000Z

Received a call from the BBC here in the UK yesterday inviting Nik to join in the Children in Need charity fund raising activities. What she's been asked to do is have her hair cut but one of 9 celebrities at a location in London this coming Sunday; an interesting concept considering that Nik is herself a successful stylist.

Her take on it is this..."it's only hair and it'll grow back" which is a fab way of looking at it. Trouble is the weeks of laughter and sniggering that'll go on whilst it's growing - but at least it's for a great cause.

And on that note, if you would like to sponsor Nik then please let us know who you are and your email address so we can register your contribution - email us at info@bof.uk.com

Thanks for reading and as always health, wealth and even more wealth!!

Internet provider - speed checker

2007-10-29T10:38:00.001Z

Just a quick heads up. Recently I posted a note about the ability to check the upload/download speed of your internet connection and provided a snazzy tool to the right of this and all posts - you can't miss it, it's the big white box; but there's a problem.

My favoured internet browser is Firefox by Mozilla

It's free and from all the reading I have done on the net, a more robust and secure browser. Whatever you do don't take my word for that, this is a statement based upon only what I have read - the rest is simply that I've used Firefox for years and have been very happy with it. So happy with Mozilla in fact that I also use their email tool called Thunderbird . We have shifted our entire business operation on to Firefox and Mozilla so all our employees now use these great tools.

I am in now way affiliated to Mozilla just simply a user of their free products.

Anyway, back to the story.

Looking at my blog through Firefox everything looked OK but through Microsoft Explorer it seems the right side of the speed connection box has been cut off. If you view our blog from within the IE platform then I suggest you find the story via my keywords, see the bottom of any of our blog pages and select either the keyword/s 'Speed Test' or 'Speed Checker' to go to the story. Alternatively, here's a link direct to it...SPEED

Once you click on the link and choose to run the basic test it will provide you with the output/input numbers and if they're significantly lower than you broadband/isdn provider claims then why not get on the phone and ask them what's happening. I haven't done this as my speed from Virgin Media is within a few bytes of where they claim it should be, but I had feedback from other saying that there's a significant drop in performance compared to what they have been told. No nmaes - to protect the guity, err sorry, the innocent!!

Anyway as always, health, wealth and pomegranates.

Time just slips on by...

2007-10-29T00:41:00.000Z

Where does the time go...I've got the outline of the Photoshop and Photography course that I'll be running through the blog but time seems to have taken over...there's just not enough.

I've been busy playing with cameras, the Canon 5D, 40D and I'm trying to get an invite to handle the new Nikon D3 but no one is listening. What I have found is that even though I'm a Nikon shooter, there are positives about both systems and I'm not brand led to the point of defending one over the other. You hear and read a lot of backbiting between system camps, my advice is understand what you want in a camera and choose your system based upon the current best performer. If that's Pentax then buy Pentax, if it's Canon then buy Canon and so on.

For years I have used Nikon and have built up a fab collection of 'gear' so the investment to swap is greater than simply staying with the current system manufacturer. In truth though I love Nikon they just seem to get the ergonomics of their cameras just right and the D200 is an awesome camera although I salivate at the thought of the D3. I want one and I want it NOW! From the pre launch info that's bleeding across the net the pictures are utterly amazing and for someone that needs excellent images at high iso settings, it seems this camera is going to deliver it in spades.

While I'm at it can someone buy me this as well please !!! no point having the camera without this baby to put on the end of it.

But I digress - we have approximately 14 days including today, to prepare for our exhibition at the Woodlands Hotel in Gildersome, Leeds. So much to do and so little time and I really want to get the 'Back to Basics' Photoshop and Photography course started on this blog.

Please bear with me it will be worth the wait I promise. So if you have a point and shoot or dSLR camera, there will be something here for you.

Here's a current favorite of mine shot very simply with available light from a window camera right. Deliberate blown highlights on the cheeks is a beautiful counterpoint to the dark left side and what stunning light going across her shoulder blades.

Again, thanks for reading and see you soon.

Checking your internet speed.

2007-10-27T01:32:00.001+01:00

Found a very interesting site this evening trawling through the Royal Photographic forum. You are able to assess the performance, read speed, of your internet provider. A little geekish I know but I find stuff like this interesting. It also allows me to keep track of the claims from my broadband provider, Virgin Media.

Anyway, you can't fail to see the test section to the right...have a look at post your times.

Mine are - 10984 Download
705 Upload

Now Virgin Media come under attack a fair bit for their lack of client care and broadband capabilities but frankly I've never had an issue with them. Hope that's not a kiss of death!

As always, thanks for reading.

Photo editing without a cost

2007-10-26T16:52:00.001+01:00

I've mentioned this beauty a time or two before.

If you really want to try photo editing but haven't got the cash to splash on Adobe Photoshop then it is my opinion that GIMP is the next best thing. There are some things it can do that Photoshop doesn't, like Cubism for example, and visa versa. £for £ or $ for $ this program is worth the effort to download. It's free ware software and I believe there are versions for Mac as well.

I am in no way affiliated with the GIMP or it's development team, what I am is an avid user and ping between this and Photoshop depending upon my need.

Thanks for reading and I hope this stuff helps.

Framing

2007-10-25T12:07:00.001+01:00

It seems to have taken a lifetime to find someone who is both reasonable with costs but more importantly skilled at framing. I think I've found just such a person.

With a desire to not travel far and wide for framing I scoured the streets of West Yorkshire for a great framer and found Pam who owns Huddersfield Picture Framing

You walk into what I assume is her house, vier left and enter in the shrine of framing! Profiles/examples everywhere - a real Aladdin's cave, I was like a kid in a sweety shop.

I chose a thick profile frame made from Oak and requested that it be stained black but not so black that the grain of the wood could not be seen; collected it this morning and it's orgasmic! Well, not really but it's stunning - the picture and frame work well particularly with the off white matt that separates the frame from the image underneath.

So impressed I have left another 9 images that I want framing ready for our exhibition on November 11th at the Woodlands Hotel in Gildersome, Leeds.

If you have some time we would love to see you and discuss anything you see here, on our website or any commissions.

Thanks for reading and I am close to starting the photography course here on the blog, so keep watching and reading.

In the meantime, we wish you health, wealth and that new Bentley you've had your eye on!

Serenity

2007-10-19T20:52:00.001+01:00

Taking a walk today through a local park and found Swans swimming across the lake. How beautiful to see them gliding across the water - Nikki and I simply sat on the bank and watched as they drifted by.

If you click the picture below the same image will appear only larger.

Serenity
Originally uploaded by hoddo1812

It's when you see this that you begin to understand why the Japanese adore calming water features in homes, businesses etc.

Today was a beautiful day and if you had one too then I am glad for you. If you had a day that was anything other than wonderful, then tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to look for and experience your perfect day.

Thanks for reading.

Wedding

2007-10-13T14:19:00.001+01:00

Nik-1
Originally uploaded by hoddo1812

Here's one from our own wedding three weeks ago now. I'll keep images of me away from the blog otherwise you might never again visit!

For those interested in photography the image was shot at 1/15sec at f/5.6 at iso 320. Flash was used, a Nikon SB800 which was hand held and fired using the magnificent Nikon CLS system, essentially the hand held flash was triggered by a pulse of flash light from the pop up flash unit built into the Nikon D200.

Almost as interesting, I have since discovered that if you set your shutter speed to greater than 1/250 the pop up flash does not contribute to the overall exposure. However, as 1/15th for this image it has contributed, you can see two highlights in Nik's eyes.

If you haven't tried the CLS system I'd suggest you do it really is awesome!

Wedding Fayre

2007-10-13T13:41:00.001+01:00

We have finally decided to accept an invitation to exhibit at the Woodlands Hotel in Gildersome, close to Leeds. The Woodlands is a hotel but of exceptional style and for wedding couples you book the Woodlands you're booking the hotel exclusively for you and your guests. No other weddings to contend with and no other guests milling around that aren't your guests - beautiful.

Woodlands Hotel

Since we've done a number of ceremonies at the Woodlands there wedding co-ordinators know how we work and how we complement each others businesses, they asked us to exhibit in their marquee on

November 11th from 11am to 4pm

If you're in the area pop over and say Hi, have a chat have a cup of tea and let's get to know each other.

IT Outtage...

2007-10-13T13:33:00.001+01:00

Well, it continues but to his credit Lee, our ever talented web designer, has created a work-around until the original and better contact screen once again works.

Thanks for keeping an eye out for our posts and really this is a 'must sort it out sooner rather than later' type thing, so fingers crossed it will be.

Just planning the...

2007-10-12T01:14:00.001+01:00

articles I'm going to write about digital photography, post processing in Photoshop or GIMP and/or Lightroom. I am keen to share my experiences coming to terms with working in the digital age. This makes it sound like I'm ancient but I'm not, it just took me a long time to move across to the digital side.

What I find increasingly frustrating is the quality of the current films that you are able to buy. Recently I shot several rolls of Kodak and Fuji film, both iso 200, and found the results from both films were very overly red in hue. I thought the processing house, my long time favourite, had messed up so they checked and re-checked - sure enough, heavy on the red cast.

Fortunately these films were only for personal use and nothing of great importance but with the onset of digital it makes me wonder about the QC of the films that are being produced. I am in no way damning the film producing industry, simply an observation based upon personal experience across a dozen films recently exposed.

And so with the pending release of Spiderman 3 here's a great find at the back of my garage - my own spider, well its' web actually. If you look really close you'll see the remains of bugs that it's feasted on - whatever floats your boat !

If you click the image you should, fingers crossed, see a larger image of it. If you don't please let me know.

Thanks for reading, keep checking back for new articles, images, thoughts, encounters etc.

P

Major IT Outtage! Aaarrrggghhh!

2007-10-07T19:40:00.001+01:00

I love computers! No, I really do!

I love that they lull you into a false sense of security and I'm forever thinking about 'Tron' the early 80's film. The difference is that mostly the good people in my computers seems to get crushed on a fairly regular basis and me, the user, gets ever more frustrated. I'm a PC user - 'nough said!

We really wondered why emails from our clients and people generally interested in knowing who we are and what we charge, had all but dried up. Got the feeling that even through the internet, we must smell! Anyway, all was answered by our resident good egg and all round great IT/WEB designer Lee.

The problem has actually got to do with our website in particular the 'Contact Us' page. We encourage our prospective clients to make initial contact with us via this screen so that they can message us and explain what it is they/you want from us. That then sends an email to the team at Box of Frogs who sift through and respond quickly. Usually it's things like...

'Is XX date still available?'

'Can you provide XX and YY for our wedding day?'

'I have images I need that aren't wedding related, can you help me?

and the most often asked,

'How much do you charge?'

So all these get answered within the same working day - everyone's happy. Except that we now know that for however long, approx 10 days, the email link from the website to us has 'gone down'. In IT terms I think the technical term is - 'Something's broken better get it fixed.' Trouble is the server provider isn't open until tomorrow morning so if anyone needs to get a message across please send it to...

info@bof.uk.com

As always, thanks for reading.

So what's BoF?

2007-10-05T14:28:00.001+01:00

It's one of many questions we get asked daily...others are,

1. What's it stand for?
2. What do you do?
3. Where did that come from? (I'll explain that one in a moment)

and more.

What am I talking about? Our business name actually and so welcome to 'Box of Frogs'

OK - back to the questions...

1. Box of Frogs

2. We are destination photographers, stylists and make up artists primarily booked for weddings but we also provide editorial and glamour images. Destination meaning - a go anywhere business.

3. The wider phrase is 'Mad as a Box of Frogs', the origins of which I believe are unknown. It's a phrase Nikki (my wife) uses quite a lot and so we decided that some of the phrase was suitably different and memorable to use as our business name.

Right now I'm ferreting my way through our wedding pictures, ditching the ones that are truly dreadful and touching up (down Shep!) the ones we will keep and print and these are only the ones my Best Man and I took; we get the official images this weekend.

As always, thanks for reading.

The wedding weekend

2007-10-03T14:50:00.001+01:00

Oh my goodness what a weekend!

It only took what feels like forever to find the right person but it's happened - we're married and to each other!

We decided that as we were getting married we had to have the right venue, exclusively for us and our guests, could accommodate our dogs which only left the weather - we prayed hard and it came good.

The venue - Sychnant Pass House met every need we wanted - I'd goes as far as to say that they exceeded our expectations, thank you Bre and Graham (the owners) and Jo who kept everything running like clockwork.

The wedding reception itself went without a hitch and a special mention goes out to Ronan who at 18 years old, gave the most stunning rendition of 'You Raise Me Up' - goose bumps and shivers aren't even close.

Here he is pre-bear hug from Nikki, my gorgeous bride

I'll add more as time permits but as always, thanks for reading.

High Dynamic Range

2007-10-03T14:35:00.001+01:00

Marsden_hdr-1
Originally uploaded by hoddo1812

Earlier this year I became fascinated with HDR photography that attempts to eek out every drop of resolution from your images. Ideally you'll take three or more images bracketing each exposure by +/- 1 stop per photograph. Once done you combine all those images and the process of balancing can begin.

I happened across this software Dynamic Photo HDR

Best of all it's free and easy to use, gracious of the programmer or what? Actually the free version adds the smallest legend to the bottom left hand corner which is easy to either crop away or clone out.

Far and away the best method of understanding this product is to download it, try it and play with all the settings - there is also a very good tutorial on the website to aid newcomers to HDR.

The image you see here was created using only one RAW image then processed into three jpegs...exposure = -1 / as shot / +1

Once the process had finished I cropped to the picture you see here - easy as pie.

Hope you enjoy it.

36 hours...

2007-09-28T01:51:00.000+01:00

and counting.

This week has been utterly manic. Nikki and I get married in 36 short hours and the preparations have gone very smoothly. A friend has composed some music for the ceremony, the wedding dress has been a dream to have made for her but...isn't there always a but?

Well, in our case yes. The order of service was left for me to design and print and so after about a week I had something suitably different to reflect who we are as a couple - nothing about this event has been traditional.

So, with jpegs in hand I buy some heavy weight paper (320gsm) and off to my Epson R1800. Trouble was it was paper jam all the way; with the day looming large I got ever more stressed. Local printers couldn't help when finally I ask my Best Man if he can help - and the answer was yes.

He has an Epson 3800 and after 5 straight hours we get all the Orders of Service printed - Simon, if you're reading this then thanks - you're a star.

You can find him here Simon and a stunning photographer he is.

So, from next week I'll be posting more regularly covering topics such as basic camera functions, correct camera exposure, image processing and loads more beside.

For those of you interested in hair designs and make-up artistry, Nikki will pitch in with posts as time goes by as well.

Keep well and keep reading.

So,

2007-09-24T16:24:00.001+01:00

Holl
Originally uploaded by hoddo1812

here we have Holly.

The shot was taken inside with nothing more than one Nikon SB800 flash set to a high sync speed to darken the background. The flash was off camera, actually about 6inches north of the sync plate on the D200. Metering was in manual, camera and flash, and fired straight into the ceiling.

You can tell by looking at the minor shadow under her nose.

She's a beautiful model and this demonstrates how a simple portrait can at the same time be so powerful.

The wedding...

2007-09-21T10:14:00.000+01:00

for those that are now reading our blog regularly I offer a word of mild warning...our posts here will virtually stop until the 2nd week of October. Why? Well we're getting married and we're concentrating on this as you'd probably expect.

Check back after and more regular posts about life, photography and style will begin.

Ciao

Web site update...

2007-09-21T10:09:00.000+01:00

well, we're nearly there. Spoken to our gifted web designer and it us he's now waiting on. Our site has been deliberately designed to have few words and a simple look and feel. Personally we get very tired of seeing sites that almost scream @look how talented I am and I'm going to write War and Peace telling you this'. We're not keen on this 'ramming it down your throat' web design.

We have opted for a less is more approach with only one page of info which is about us and why we do what we do. Is it the right thing to do? Who knows but the site will go live within a couple of weeks and some feedback from you would be very useful.

Thanks for reading and see you soon.

So...

2007-09-06T02:23:00.000+01:00

here we are, our new website and a new blog - well our first blog actually.

If you're reading about us it's, we assume, because you have an interest in photography, hair design, make-up all three, some of! - well we're here to share our knowledge and experience. Hopefully we will displace any fears you hold that stops you from reaching your potential to be the photographer, make-up artist or hair designer that you've dreamt about.

Importantly, we want to dispel many myths that 'photography, hair design or make-up artistry is only for the truly talented so keep away.

That's it - this is where the journey begins. Join us, participate and let's all learn along whatever journey we choose.