Top Cash Back = Free Money

Although I normally keep my posts on the topic of photography, I thought I would share an awesome site with you all. If you have not heard about the site, its called Top Cash Back.

 

So What is it?

It's simple, you register on the website for free, and buy stuff online via the website, and for every purchase you make you get paid. There is everything from Argos to Holidays, TV to tech. Each and every time you buy via the website you earn money back, just the same way you would using your credit card.

So What is so Great about it? 

The thing that is great about top cash back is that you even earn money when signing up for service that offer free trials, or introductory offers, for example at the moment Now TV has an offer on its entertainment bundle at £4.99 per month. Top Cash back will give you £5.25 for signing up, this means that you are actually being paid for signing up with Now TV. Awesome or what.

 So How Do I Sign Up? 

 To sign up its easy

1. Just visit the Top Cash Back Website and register for free
2. Search the Top cash back site for an offer that interests you i.,e Search Now TV
3. Click the link to go the merchants website and just sign up there or buy there as normal. 

Simple, Top Cash Back will take care of all the rest and you get some free money.

So what are you waiting for go check out the Top Cash Back website now

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How to Create Light Trails in Photos aka Light Painting.

You may have seen photos with streaks of light in the frame, such as car tail light trails, star trails, light drawings, etc. This is a form of long exposure photography known as Light Painting or Painting by Light.

So I thought I would write a simple tutorial on how you can achieve this with your camera, and whilst the actual shots look cool the technique is not really all that difficult to do.

What is Light Painting?

You may or may not have heard of the term 'Light Painting' or 'Paint by Light' but it is the technical or posh term for doing long exposure photography that causes light trails or light streaks in photos.

Something like the ones below are done using Light Paint techniques

 

As you can see the effect you get from light painting is the light stays in the frame longer which create a light trail or star, depending on the light source.

So how do you do this?

Prerequisites

There are several things you need to check as prerequisites to your light painting before you can starts, these are

1. Camera - although you don't strictly need a DSLR to start your light painting journey, you do need a camera that has some manual adjustment on it, this normally takes the form of a dial on the top of the camera with settings such as M, TV and AV not to mention others. 
2. Tripod - Although you can do light painting by placing you camera on a stable surface, a tripod makes your life a whole lot easier, and it doesn't have to be a carbon fibre all singing all dancing one, even a small mini tripod will do the trick, as long as it holds the camera at the right height and still it will do the trick.
3. Torch or other light source - this is something to play around with, but for this tutorial you just need some form of light you can move in front of the camera.

Setting your camera up for Light Painting / Long Exposure

Ok assuming you have checked your camera has the necessary settings here is what you need to do to get ready for your light painting.

Note: we are going to do this the easier way possible, as it is possible to use Full Manual mode but we will stick to using a semi auto mode for this tutorial,

1. Turn your camera Dial and select TV mode (although you can select M if you are happy to use full manual)
   
2. Turn the rear dial on the camera until you see 1"0 somewhere on the rear screen, normally at the bottom of the screen. You can do this by turning the dial on the back of your camera, if you look at the rear screen of your camera and turn this dial you will see the numbers on the screen change. They will read something like 1"0 or 1/80. If you don't know the number shown is seconds so the number 1"0 is 1 second and 1/80 is 1 80th of a second, this is the time that the shutter on the camera will remain open after pressing the shutter release button. Basically anything showing lower than about 1/80 such as 1/60 or 1"00 means that the camera should really be on a tripod, but this depends on how steady you can hold the camera. 
3. Set your camera to Auto Focus
4. Put your camera on a tripod or other stable none moving surface such as a wall.

OK thats it you are all set to do some light painting

How to do Light Painting?

The main secret to light painting is to keep the camera still and move the light source, this way most of the frame will be in focus whilst the light appears to move through the frame. So how do you do the actual light painting? I am going to tell you a few simple steps to get you on your way and test your setup and light painting.

1. Set your camera up on the tripod, making sure to allow enough room in front of the camera for you to move the torch around without knocking over the camera.
2. Press the shutter release button on your camera and quickly run in front of your camera into the frame of the shot and swing the torch around in the direction of the camera, of course the torch needs to be switched on. Something like this
   

As you can see the light streaks in the frame, and that my friends is how to light paint.

Note: if you find that you don't have enough time to get into the frame, either get someone else to press the shutter button or simply move the rear camera dial and select a longer shutter time something like 3"0.

So What Next?

Well all you need to do is remember that the secrets to light painting are as follows

1. Make sure your camera is kept still ideally on a tripod.
2. Set your shutter speed using the TV (Time Value) setting on your camera to 1"0 or longer.
3. Press the shutter button and move some light in front of the camera. This can be a torch, traffic, stars or any other light source that moves.

So just go nuts, and have a play around. If you have any questions just let me know.

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How to get published

I have had loads of people asking about how to get their work published, this has come from fellow photographers, models, make up artists, stylists and designers. So I thought I would write a post about the best ways to get your work seen and published.

I am going to split them into two areas Direct and In-Direct. Direct is you actively approaching the magazines, indirect is being found by them.

Direct

Email and Trade Fairs

One great way to get in front of magazine is to attend trade fairs, taking along a printed version of your portfolio. You never know who may be there, but just make sure that you attend the right fairs, there is no point in attending the Ideal Home Show if you do fashion photography. Also remember to take some business cards with you to give to anyone you meet.

Also as you now how to use the internet you can research magazine websites online and contact them directly, find email addresses of editors, art departments, etc and send them your work by email. This can pay off but remember large magazines get thousands of submissions everyday so dont be put off if you dont hear back.

In Person - Post (yes good old fashion post)

If you know the actual address of a magazine you could send them your printed portfolio directly either take it in person or post it to them, but remember to try to find the name of someone to direct it too so it doesnt get lost in the junk mail pile.

CT Magazine

You have probably heard of CT Magazine, its basic purpose on this planet is to publish and showcase the hidden talent in the world of fashion, everyone from photographers, models, make up artists, stylists, designers. So if you have some great shots you would like published check out the website and get in touch - http://ctmagazine.co.uk/How-to-get-published-in-CT-magazine.htm

In-Direct

Social Networks

The first thing to remember is that now thanks to the internet and social media, its easier to get your work in front of the people that matter, editors, creative directors, etc. So one think to remember is to post your shots to social media. Whether that is to FaceBook, Google+, Twitter or Flickr. The thing to remember is to post it to these sites.

now posting it onto these sites is not enough, you must then be social in your process, take part in discussions, and especially on Google+ take part in #ing events, these happen all the time and offer a great way to get your shots seen. These range widely from things such as #shoesmonday to #TreeTuesday and so on. Remember that the more people who see your shots the better.

#Hashtags

Now you will now by now what a #hashtag is, its a simple way for engines such as Twitter, Google, FaceBook to find stuff. Although its not a guarantee of being found it does help. So when ever you post a photo make sure to label it with the correct #hashtags, so what I suggest doing is post a photo to your Flickr account, then use the share options in Flickr to share your photo to twitter and then add the #hashtags for your shots, such as #fashion #outdoor or what ever your shot is about.

Twitter

Although I have mentioned social media, the benefit of twitter is that you can almost target you tweets to anyone, so as well as adding the #hashtags to your photos, make a point of finding out the magazine you would like to be published in, or and even better the person who makes the decisions for publication. For example if you would like to be feature in CT Magazine you can follow them by following them at @CT_FashionMag and if you want to get more in touch with CT Magazine you can follow the editor directly at @SeanJC you get the idea. But dont think that by simply tweeting your photo to a magazine it will get published. They need to see worth in your shots as well as creative flare.

Hard Work

But I guess the most important thing to remember is that you must put the work in, you need to keep your portfolio up to date with different shots that show your creativity, and above all else spend time actively being part of the social media world. As you now have direct links to people you never did before, but they need to see you and see that you care about what you do.

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CT Magazine Issue 1 - available in print on Magcloud

CT Magazine - Issue 1

CT Magazine brings you the latest from the world of fashion, with a unique twist, we showcase the hidden talents behind the shots. Everyone from photographers, models, make up artists, designers to writers and editors.

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Merry Christmas to all my Readers

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. Huge thanks for supporting my blog all year, cant wait til next year, loads of cool stuff. So Watch This space.

And now for a little Christmas treat

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

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First 3 Months as CT Magazine Editor

Well it was way back in the hazy days of summer that the idea of CT or Creative Talent magazine was born, it came about due to my work as a fashion photographer and noticing that not enough new talent is coming into the industry. So I set it my task to change this and hence CT Magazine was born. The only problem I had was how do I publish a magazine, I found a great place to start was agreat E-Book by Ned Burke called How to be an Online Magazine. daft title but this is chock full of publishing goodness.

What you have never heard of CT Magazine

OK firstly if you have never heard of CT Magazine please go and check it out www.ctmagazine.co.uk and please like and share the facebook page www.facebook.com/ctfashionmagazine

Massive Response

As the cogs in my head turned and turned about how to make this happen, I hit upon the idea of a magazine, thus I set about laying out the online magazine using a desktop publishing program, in my case I use Adobe InDesign CS6 , but you can use any program you wish.

I have a slight advantage to this whole process as as well as being a photographer which makes me creative I am also a very techy person, as I work as a Business Analyst, and have been involved for many years building web based applications, so the technical side is pretty straight forward, this meant I knew that my magazine was going to be initially an online magazine, and must work on both desktop PC's as well as tablet computers such as Apples iPad, Amazon Kindle as well as mobiles and smartphones. (this is a hint incase you missed it, your new online magazine should work with all online platforms, and that is the beauty of using www.issuu.com as it converts your pdf to work with all necessary platforms.

Now although I was now in a position to make the magazine layout, and support for my chosen platforms, I had nothing to put into the magazine, and as the whole point of CT Magazine is to promote the amazing hidden talent I did not just want to fill each issue with all my own work. This meant a lot of time contacting people to be in the first issue, I knew that as this was a new magazine, people may not be interesting in being in it.

I kept true to my vision, hit up my contact list, and after a few weeks, I was so pleased that loads of people responded and from every area of fashion, photographer, models, designers, make up artists, stylist and everyone in between.

I am so thankful to these people who were brave enough to be in the first issue, and huge thanks to Nick Danks for being the cover star.

Thanks to these people the first issue got over 30000 readers, and I think the key to this is the viral PDF and CT Magazine

Dont Under-Estimate the Workload

I knew before I started CT Magazine that anything like this would take a lot of work, and I knew that as it grew it would only require more work. So I did not go into the project likely, but I send this warning to people out there, if you wish to start your own magazine, it will take time and work. Don't think it will be an easy ride.

I had first thing I had to do to get anywhere with the magazine, well after designing the layout and finding the right magazine template was to make sure I had content, and although I got a great response I found that alot of my time was actually going through submissions and picking out the best shots for publication, this including making sure models poses were right, make up was what I was after ang photograph worked as I needed. As I kinda made my job a bit harder as each issue has a different theme, so I have to check through for every submission to make sure it fits the theme, then if it doesn't fit the theme I have to decide if it fits a future theme if it does it gets put into that pile for later use.

As you may have guessed with any magazine content is king, and with it you have no magazine, so make sure you can continue to get good content for every issue.

Once I have all the submission together I then check for them editing, and I am lucky enough that a few digital editors are taking part in this whole project, so once I have some selections then are sent on their way for photo editing.

Upon their return its time to lay out the magazine, turn into PDF and send on its way to the world wide publisher in the sky, AKA the internet.

I spent on at least 3-4 hours per day working on magazine things, and nearer publishing time I spend around 10 hours a day before it goes out.

Some Thoughts

One of the things that I love about this CT Magazine thing is that I get to work with people from all over the world, and from all areas of the creative spectrum, and I love being able to help these people get seen in the fashion world. In the process I also get to see what others are doing and it always gives me an idea for future themes of CT Magazine.

The basic items I use to create CT Magazine

Ok I thought I would share some of the things including software I use to make CT Magazine and give you an insight into your first magazine.

• Amazing creative people - without my fellow photographers, models, make up artists, stylists, designers there would be no magazine - HUGE thanks to everyone.
• Time - this is the most important thing there is, as I must work at least 10 hours per day on CT Magazine, from talking to people, meeting with people, checking photos, and other stuff.
• Patience - Remember Rome was not built in a day, so if you want anything to work you must be patience and keep up with it, or it will go no where.
• Adobe Photoshop - Graphics program used to edit photos, and of course the stable of any fashion photographers software arsenal
• Adobe InDesign CS6 - Used to layout the magazine and convert into PDF
• issuu.com - The website that hosts the online version of CT Magazine - Check out the latest issue now

So as you can see there is some work to getting a magazine up and running, but I suggest that you take the plung and go for it. Just be aware that it will mean alot of long days and some very late nights, especially if you deal with people overseas. But I wish you luck if you decide to take the plunge, and please dont forget to check out the CT Magazine website - www.ctmagazine.co.uk

So my first 3 months as the editor in chief of CT magazine has been filled with fun and hard work, and it has been so rewarding, I am seeing work from people who otherwise would not get the chance to shine, which makes me feel great. That is the whole point of CT Magazine "showcasing the hidden talent in fashion". I love my job and I love the people I work with everyday.

So Thank you for everyone so far for being part of this awesome fashion magazine with a difference, and if you want to get involved get in touch.

www.ctmagazine.co.uk

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CT Magazine and Darlington College

As you may have noticed recently one of my current projects is a new magazine publication called CT magazine or Creative Talent Magazine, now I have started a new partnership with Darlington College and I am really excited about it.

What is CT Magazine

CT Magazine is a new magazine which is aimed at showcasing the hidden talents behind the fashion photography that we seen everyday.  The idea for the magazine came about after working on a variety of different shoots for clients and I noticed that although there is always a huge team of people involved in putting together and taking these shots, only a small amount of them ever get credit for their artistic work.

I mean have you every looked at a model in a magazine and thought I would love to work with them, but dont know who they are. Well with CT magazine the idea is to show everyone off to their full potential and give full credit for their work.

So every image published in the magazine is accompanied by full credit, including contact details and in some cases a bit of editorial about them, giving you an insight into their world and how they got where they are today.

To check out CT Magazine please go visit the website www.ctmagazine.co.uk and read the latest issue and find out more about the magazine.

Get Involved

So by now you are probably thinking that a great idea and how do I get involved. The first thing to do is to go and give the FaceBook page a like www.facebook.com/ctfashionmagazine and get in touch either via facebook or email at getinvolved@ctmagazine.co.uk

Darlington College Fashion /  Art & Design Students

As the idea behind CT magazine is to promote the hidden and unknown talent of people in the fashion industry, I thought that it would be a great idea to work with the local college to showcase the excellent work done by the students, and at the same give the students both an idea of what its like to work on a professional brief as well as helping promote their work.

I was asked by Darlinton College to come in and speak to the students about CT Magazine and the possibility of them being involved. So on Thursday I went along to Darlington College and was planning on talking to maybe a couple of students about the whole idea. "drum roll please..."

However, after talking to a senior lecturer I was asked if I would be happy to talk to all the students on the course at once, so in total I was talking to about 50 students at once. This may sound scary but I am more than happy to talk to large groups of people and the response I got was amazing. The students are all really excited about being part of CT Magazine, and although the talk was initially about the magazine, I decided to open the floor to questions and kinda opened the flood gates to all sorts of questions about what I do, and about photography in general. I have to say this was really cool, I really believe in education and think that in this digital world it is way to easy to buy a camera and call yourself a photographer, or buy a software package and call yourself a designer. So passing on advice to students and the true value of what they are doing was amazing.

So after my talk I had a further meeting with the lecturers and they came up with the idea of setting the work for CT Magazine as part of the students course work, and that way they can add it to their portfolios and help them get into uni. This to me is a great idea, as I love the thought of being able to help people get on in life, and showing students just how things work in the real world. Kinda helping them to bridge the gap between theory and practise.

I find this a really good idea as its too easy to learn something and not see it truely applied in a real world context, and get a shock when you get out into the world, but combining CT magazine and Darlington College students allows the magazine to showcase their amazing talents, as well as helping them to gain valuable industry experience they simply would not get anywhere else.

So I have managed to go back to college and come away with some homework, a thing I have not done in quite a few years. But I am so looking forward to working with Darlington College and the amazing students that go there.

If you want some more info on the work of Darlington College please check out their website http://www.darlington.ac.uk/ or follow them on twitter www.twitter.com/darlingtonfe and remember to say that I sent you.

So watch this space for exciting development with both CT magazine and Darlington College...

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