UPDATE: Website (re)development: Complete!

Finally, the finished update of the site http://www.theblend.co.uk/ and is now live!



The new interface is much cleaner and as a result, navigation is quicker. You can now see more collections and projects with less scrolling.

The main updates are in the galleries for the photography and graphic design pages which have been completely revised. You will be able to see thumbnails for up to 12 collections/projects, each which now has it’s own page where you can there see thumbnails for each image in that collection.

Three new collections have been added to the photography page here: www.theblend.co.uk/photography.html

The shop is currently being developed using a third-party company which will handle the printing and dispatch of the products. It will initially continue with t-shirts moving into prints, canvases in the future. The shop will be live in the next week or two.

There are further developments to come which will be implemented when the time is right, in the meantime, check out the newly updated site.

If anyone is wondering about the coffee cup on the front page www.theblend.co.uk it relates back to the first version of the site in 2006.



Simon @ theblend

Location:Barcelona

UPDATE: Website (re)development

It has been a week or so since I have posted anything here, but far from taking some time off, I’ve been hard at work on the redesign of www.theblend.co.uk.

I decided that with all the projects I´m planning to add over the coming months I had to make it more future proof. So (as I write this) it is still in a major redevelopment and refresh stage, and I hope to have it completed by the end of this week (27 March 2011).

The main task has been to improve the navigation of the site. Previously, taking the photography page as an example , all the galleries were accessed through one long page, which was not providing a good browsing experience. It has now been designed so that thumbnails of up to twelve ‘collections’ can be viewed on a single screen without any scrolling required. Clicking the thumbnail cleanly opens into a new window showing thumbnails for each image in that collection and providing further info.

Also updated are all the menu bars. They have been replaced with a much cleaner method and font. The goal was to be able to access any page/collection/project with no more than three clicks and little to no scrolling. I believe this redevelopment will achieve this.

PLEASE NOTE that until I post the next update on this page, it is the OLD VERSION of the site which is available, so you can do a before and after comparison!

Cheers!



Simon @ theblend

- Posted using BlogPress

Location:Barcelona

PHOTO SHOOT: Stop Motion

This week I finally managed to get out and shoot this 'stop motion' idea I've wanted to do for a while. Previously stopped by weather and the position of the sun, everything worked out last week. :)

This is a simple example taken from a batch I'm currently processing, I will display the other examples on my site here soon.

The essential piece of 'outdoor' equipment to achieve this is the tripod, used to keep the camera in precisely the same composition during multiple exposures.

Camera settings used were as follows:

- ISO --> 320
- Shutter speed --> 1000th/s
- Aperture --> F8
- Focal length --> 18mm
- White balance --> Sunny




Once captured in camera, the multiple shots (many times 10+) are imported into Photoshop (or equivalent) into a single document, all layered on top of each other, then it's a case of removing the parts of each image that you don't want until you end up with something like above.

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On a side note, I've realised that I haven't been updating my Flickr stream recently, so whoever's reading this, you've all had the same repetitive images to look at, sorry about that, will sorted from now on! ;)




Simon @ theblend
www.theblend.co.uk

- Posted using BlogPress

Location:Barcelona,Spain

TECHNIQUE: Changes in composition when using a zoom lens.

In this post, I want to demonstrate the dramatic differences in composition that can be achieved when using a zoom lens. As you can see, you can use this technique to create very different feels for an image.

The lens I'm using to demonstrate this is a Nikon 18-200mm. To show additional changes to the effect, I have shot with the aperture both opened and closed to the max.

The subject (the sticker on the lamppost) has been framed to be more or less the same size in each of the images below but the differences in the backgrounds are huge.

The SHORTER the focal length = LOOSE / WIDE view of the background.

The LONGER focal length (note the subject is still the same size) = TIGHT / NARROW view of the background.

There is no better or worse version, they are just different effects. Can you think of some compositions that would work better shot at a short focal length? Which better shot long? Which style would work better with portraits?

When understood, this is another technique that can be applied and controlled to help create the desired feeling. One 'style' will probably work better with one subject and location than another. Experiment!


Simon @ theblend
http://www.theblend.co.uk/

- Posted using BlogPress

Location:Barcelona,Spain