Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Influences…

What started me off on my photography journey? A few words on some influences

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Ain’t that the truth!

There are some great quotations about photography and here I pick a few that I like and explain why I do like them or how they apply to me

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Again, why?

Why do I take the photos that I do? Here I show a few more and give a quick “Why?” for each. This is the second of two such posts.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Photo Books

Putting together a photo book is great fun from choosing a theme to choosing the images and then arranging them just how you want. It can also give you a mini-portfolio or even make a great gift

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Why?

Why do I take the photos that I do? Here I show a few and give a quick “Why?” for each. This is the first of two such posts.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Shooting stories - 1

The first of several shoot stories. This one is more after the shoot than during and shows what can happen when your camera bag is a bit less organised than it really should be!

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Props

These are the sorts of props I take on a shoot. Do you have a ‘go to’ set of props? What would you recommend?

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

What’s in the bag?

What do you have in your camera bag? This is what I keep in mine but how about you? What do you recommend?

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Portrait Retouching - 5

In this last part, a few tweaks in LightRoom followed by a side by side comparison: before and after.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Portrait Retouching - 4a

More blemish fixing, this time concentrating on the eyes, arguably the most important part of a portrait.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Portrait Retouching - 3

Part 3 looks at blemish fixing: pimples. acne scars, wayward mascara and eyebrow hairs.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Portrait Retouching - 2

In this part, I look at one fairly quick but efficient way of correcting skin redness eg around the eyes and cheeks.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Portrait Retouching - 1

Portrait re-touching is never easy, but here I’ll start by showing you some simple methods to start you off.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Print Mounting - Supplies & suppliers

Supplies and suppliers to cover your mounting requirements. I’m not affiliated with but I’ve used all the products shown and can recommend them

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Print mounting - custom cut-out

How to mount any aspect ratio print in a precision cut-out mount to give that professional look to your already great images.

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Mike Gardiner Mike Gardiner

Competitions kill photography

Poor judging techniques weed out the brave, the interesting and the challenging images from photographic competitions leaving the bland, the boring and the safe behind!

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