The Gallery sections are still under construction but should be finished by the end of the week and updated lots. The blog has a new look too. 

Simdavis.com

This site will stop getting updates, but the new one should be easier for me to manage.

Please tell me what you think (especially if anyone gets a display quirk). 

Sim

• Alikeech
• Beckitatham
• Loz23
• Caregphotography
• Mattpycroft

Major national photography competitions are great sources for inspiration. The best photographers fight for an internationally acclaimed award. The photos in this collection are stunning and it took me a long time to whittle down the all the images on the site to a small amount to put on here.

More Pictures after the break.

More pictures at the the Natural History Museum website.

Sim

Found a local breakers yard and had fun taking close up and macro photography. 

More photos after the break.

It’s nice that is a great little website. It’s a showcase for all different styles or artists work including animation, graphic design and photography.

It’s design is a very simple but effective way of introducing all sorts of creative professionals to the world. no doubt there are some of the more finge artists on there but there is also really great stuff to be found.

More pictues after the break.

Graphic Design

Photography

See more at itsnicethat.com

Sim

What is the Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a photographic composition ’rule’ that originates from the landscape painting arty people of the 1700′s (I do my research). It is one of the most useful tips I have picked up for composition and this is why I have used it as the first technique article on the blog.

In it’s simplest form is a three by three grid over your image, due to some mathematical wizardry and the general preference of people for this type of composition, this technique seems focus peoples attention to certain parts of your images giving them more ‘impact’.

The lines identify the areas where interest in the photo should be.

Importantly where these lines cross provide a great marker for where a point of key interest should be.

In the Photo above you can see that the post the bird is sitting on (a secondary subject) is along the line while the bird’s eye (primary subject) is at one of the cross-overs.

Application 

The rule of thirds importance is known by camera manufacturers so is quite often included as a built in function of the camera. That three by three grid that people always wonder what it is for on their camera phone, the image overlay on a lot of compact camera’s and the icon’s in the view finder of higher end cameras. All are designed to help you to get better photos. 

Important

It is also crucial to remember the the ‘rule’ is not a rule at all, more of a guideline. Great images can and have been produced with other compositional techniques the thirds are by no means a be all end all. Ultimately it is down to personal preference and being happy with your images.  

Learn more about the rule of thirds Digital Camera magazine article.

Discover more about composition at this article about Leading the eye on photodoto.

Sim.

Playing about with the camera, and a new speedlight. Just playing with the settings and functions is one of the best ways for me to learn how to use the camera and reminds me of when I was a kid building with lego and figuring out exactly how it worked.

Turns out the same applies here it’s just all displayed as numbers and the results are whether the image is too dark or too light, in or out of focus and whether it’s blurry or not, I’m still learning.

More pictures after the break.

As I discovered shooting climbing indoors is hard, low light, and people with their faces to walls. These shots were from a recent competition at the local wall. Hopefully i’ll be better prepared for the next comp and will be able to get to some good positions on top of the walls

In the meantime I had to get creative. 

The reason for practice, This would have been a fun shot but at a larger size you can see that the shutter speed was just a bit too slow.

Sim.

I have long been a fan of TED and National Geographic, so when I saw that National Geographic’s photo director David Griffin spoke at this years conference, I jumped straight to it.

For those that don’t know about TED it is a organisation which as the website claims ‘brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives’. The site has hundreds of inspiring talks on everything from pyschology to design. 

David Griffin’s talk shows some amazing photos and the power images can have and it also gives something to aspire to in telling a story with the images you take.

Must see video after the break.

Check out more at TED.com

Sim

Last weekend me and some more members of my course went up to Glen Etive/ Glen Coe to go see the Red Bull Etive River Race. As paddlers do when it’s low water they pray for rain, unfortunately this time the rain came in so fast that the main event had to be moved from a amazing stretch of river that had photogenic angles at every point to a bouncy inaccessible section of river higher up. This meant that again I didn’t quite get the photos I wanted out of it but I found other things to do. Speaking with a pro photographer who was there was particularly useful as was speaking with the Red Bull organisers and the photographer from visit scotland, so really useful contacts were made. Another thing i found to do was to photo the natural beauty that was all around me but this came with the big challenge of keeping the lens dry, something that i have yet  to fully master. The only decent paddling photos I managed to get were those of the nutters that were willing to run the sections were the main race had been call off from. Two managed to run it successfully and the others had incidents including a swim over the waterfall into some rocks. 

The area is one of outstanding beauty and I wished that I could have been there longer than a weekend so that I could’ve seen some more of the Landscape and the general area with the sun on it. More Pictures After the Break.

The sun did come out eventually.

For more infomation on the event visit EtiveRiverRace.co.uk

Go and enjoy the beauty of scotland yourself VisitScotland.

Sim

As i’m starting off I keep finding myself dabbling in all sorts of media. Graphic design at the moment is one I am keeping a eye on and want to progress in. However if your like me then you have gone to a document wanting to apply a colour scheme and your faced with millions of different hues, shades and tones, all controlled by a tiny crosshair and you just don’t know where to begin. COLOURlovers is a place for help as users are able to post up their own palettes which are very well done and all tagged nicley so you can find something along the theme that you want. All the users seem passionate about colour and really do put effort into the palettes they produce. The blog and discussion forums are also well worth a look, to ensure you keep up with the latest colour trends. A great resource and a well designed site.

Pay a visit to COLOURlovers.com

Sim