London seeks to take back control of art market after Brexit

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

When Alison Jacques took on her new gallery in Mayfair it was an empty concrete shell with no floor and no electricity.

In October, after a total transformation, the 6,000sq ft space will open with an exhibition of work by the American artist Sheila Hicks, who at 89 is the hottest thing in textiles. The show is called Infinite Potential.

The title is a good summing up of the UK art market. Jacques is bullish: “I wouldn’t be making this move if I didn’t have total confidence in London.” Even after Brexit? “I’m almost ashamed to say it because I was a staunch Remainer,” she said. “But if I’m honest we have benefited business-wise. It has been a massive boost for us.”

Alison Jacques, a leading London art dealer, said Brexit has been a “massive boost”

Is her

Michael Buescher’s Journey with Camera And Photography

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Michael Buescher’s Journey with Camera And Photography

Michael Buescher Shares His Journey With Camera And Photography

Russia and Ukraine are still at war. Life is hard for people living in these impoverished conditions. Everyone is watching these unfortunate times of the two nations through the lens of photographers. But have you ever thought about what a photographer goes through? Or what state of mind they are in during their shoots? It can be a pure bliss or a complete chaos. Today our guest is Michael Buescher. He is a model, a professional dancer, a photographer, and an activist. Let’s hear from Michael Buescher about his journey to the Palistian through his lens!

Michael Buescher have been a photographer for over 20 years. The passion of picture making and collaborating with wonderful people has been the fuel for all this time and the journey ahead.

Michael is a proud member of NPS (Nikon Professional Services) and IATSE (International Cinematographers Union). Shooting in film and television production has been an incredible asset in developing my relationships with his business clients.

Michael tell us about yourself a bit….

I am Michael Buescher. I have been a model, professional dancer, photographer, and activist. I like to think my work has been inspired by goodness, education, inclusivity, justice, and a passion to grow and protect those who are most vulnerable. I love art and creativity and hearing about the stories of others. I can often be heard to say, ‘People are my entertainment” because I am fascinated by what we do and say and how they make their way in this world. I hope whoever reads this finds a way to connect with me so I can get to know you also.

When did you decide to be a photographer?
I think I fell in love with photography over a period of many years.

I can’t say when the penny dropped but there were so many good experiences along the way. One photograph that always stayed in my mind was a black and white print of Miles Davis playing the trumpet. His forearm was flexing so much it looked like his arm was just fused with the instrument. It was quite incredible. It didn’t occur to me in that moment how such an image could be made or that I could also become a photographer and create such shots. But years later time and circumstance conspired to create an opportunity and I jumped right in. I didn’t know how things were going to play out. Photography still seemed confusing, daunting, and expensive. But 20 years later I have a successful career and I have had a lot fun along the way.

Before all of that, I started ‘playing’ with photography as a teenager. I bought my first camera, a Pentax ME Super. Unique to the model it had shutter speed control buttons on the top near the shutter release and that seemed really sophisticated and cool for a beginner.

How was the photography during those times? Please share your experience.
I didn’t use the camera too much till I went on a cross-Europe bicycle trip from England to Israel a couple of years later. This was a time when the world looked very different.

In 1989 there was no internet, there were no cell phones, or small electronic devices to aid a world traveler. Every day is an adventure because you don’t know what you are going to find, where you are going to sleep or eat, or who you are going to meet. And that is very exciting. I loved bringing my camera out to point it at things, but the film was expensive to buy and develop. In some cases, I held onto it for months before I could get it to a lab for processing. From that wonderful travel experience, some incredible images were created.

Please give us an insight into your traveling journey and your photography.
Visiting Beersheba, Jerusalem, and Dehaisha a Palestinian refugee camp I compiled a little story about life in this small area of the Middle East. At this time it was the period of the first ‘Intifada’, the armed uprising of Palestinians to reclaim the occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For several years international news outlets showed guns being fired rocks being thrown, and people suffering and dying. Particularly young Palestinian children were becoming involved in the conflicts getting caught in the gunfire and getting killed. The world was outraged at the image of young children being killed by soldiers with guns for doing no more than throwing stones

It was against this backdrop that I visited Dehaisha. The settlement which was next to the main highway had a very high fence to protect passing vehicles from rocks. Access points to the settlement were guarded by Israeli soldiers. They did not want to allow us access to Dehaisha, nevertheless, we had done our research and we knew they could not prevent us from entering a public place. The rest of the story is largely told in pictures. We met very friendly Palestinian adults who were eager to show foreigners their homes and share tea. We also met screaming mobs of children who wanted to touch us because we wore Western clothes and looked so different. Although the language barrier was significant, we walked peacefully through Dehaisha camp under the protection of our new Palestinian friends. It was a simple journey but with a profound meaning for me. I was not a hired professional but I found something I was willing to put myself at some risk to accomplish and I believed in greatly. Although only still in its infancy the photographer in me was born this Day in Dehaisha.

Share a life-altering event that helped you in some way.
Well some eventful years passed, and I had decided after doing some modeling for a local photographer and being really intrigued by the photographic process that I would take my own photography a little more seriously. It was quite a big mental step because it would take a lot of money, which I didn’t have, just to get started. But the day when I woke up and my heart and mind were utterly set to make the leap I received a pre-approved loan for 10,500.00 in the mail from the local Credit Union I had never received a preapproved loan in my life. There was no other way to see this as anything but a message from the universe.

So away I went! I shot a lot of things over the next while and then months later another fortuitous opportunity. I was tipped off by the same colleague who I had modeled for years earlier and she mentioned that a local director needed a photographer for their short film which was going to play at that year’s Vancouver International Film Festival.

I didn’t know too much about movie sets at that time, but I got some good shots, and the experience of set life really changed me on that day. I was so impressed by the ingenuity, creativity passion, and hard work of this crew and cast. I kind of fell in love with the whole process of filmmaking. Over the next several years I worked for over 75 local directors on independent film projects, and I worked for every single film organization in this city multiple times over and always on a volunteer basis gaining valuable experience and connections. The rest you can kind of say is history. I got my first big break on a TV series out of town and things sort of flowed from there. I have now worked for every major Studio including Warner Brothers, Universal, Disney, Netflix, and Apple TV. It’s been quite a journey and a life-transforming process! Set life for a still photographer is somewhat like being an ancient Japanese Bunraku puppet theatre artist.

Few words for the readers. And I won’t say too much more about that. Go to the NFB of Canada and find out for yourself and look up the earliest recorded works of this wonderful puppet theatre – it’s much more interesting and powerful to tell this kind of story through the poetic metaphor. I think you would be delighted!!

Check out more about him here — Michael Buescher

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Lorain natives beautify community basketball court with help of West LA artist

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Native

LORAIN, Ohio — It’s an all-out effort to beautify basketball courts and breathe new life into community parks across the Lorain area.

A group of young entrepreneurs have teamed up for the project.

They say they’re just getting started, and it’s all about inspiring and encouraging the next generation of artists and creators.

For West LA-based artist Zer, each day he embraces the motto “Life is a great big canvas.”

“It’s all a blessing at the end of the day. Like, to be able to be here and spread love through your art is just great,” Zer said.

At Oakwood Park in South Lorain, it’s taken on that of a literal meaning.

“Basketball courts are the biggest canvases I can find,” Zer said.

His next masterpiece is a park centerpiece.

It has a unique blue twist.

Lorain native Reinaldo Contreras perfected the design and got the green light—or “blue light” in this case from city officials to make it happen.

“We’re putting Like an L in the middle of the court. It’s like the Lorain L. You can see it on our seal of Lorain,” Contreras said.

Contreras who owns Relic Clothing 3 partnered with the founder of non-profit the Grind League and Lorain native Darius Winborn to do something special for the kids and the community.

With a little teamwork and a whole lot of blue paint- they transformed the basketball court and took it to the next level.

“We just wanted to represent Lorain, ya know? Just basically return the pride back into this park,” Contreras said.

“I dug deep to find some very talented entrepreneurs who are also artists who have a history and a belonging,” Winborn said.

It’s been a labor of love for months.

They worked together, laying down precise measurements.

They outlined the site with chalk, poured gallons of paint, and mixed it with sand so players wouldn’t slip and fall.

“I wanted to bring people together in more positive engagements but also I wanted to welcome their families. Get motive!” Winborn said.

With each stroke of a roller and push of a brush, it’s clear how important something so simple can be for community development.

Winborn says mentor-ship means everything and this court is a critical jumping point for future generations.

It’s a safe place to think, play, and get away from the day-to-day chaos.

“We wanted it to promote community, but also what could be the flow of where this city is going which is a flow of upliftment,” Winborn said.

“I just hope it can just bring a sense of light to those kids and inspire those kids to want to do art,” Zer said.

The goal moving forward is to work on additional basketball courts across Northeast Ohio and beautify those as well.

In the meantime, a ribbon cutting ceremony and recognition of the updated court is set for the fourth annual Community Togetherness Fest “#CommToFest” on Saturday, September 2 at 12 p.m. at Oakwood Park.

For more information and ways to support community non-proft The Grind League, click here.

For more information on Relic Clothing 3, click here.

For more information on Zer’s work, click here.

TikTok viral sensation: Brothers create KLCC sculpture using recycled bottles

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — From winning fourth place in kindergarten for a sculpture of KLCC using straws, Ahmad Afiq Mohd Zailani’s latest work has gone viral on TikTok. And…

Photographer Captured Herself As A Part Of Different Families, And People’s Doppelganger (72 Pics)

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Today, we would like to introduce you to a unique photo project by the Czech photographer Dita Pepe. The series, titled ‘Self-portraits,’ began in 1999 and features the author alongside strangers within their own families, often as their doppelganger. Several years ago, we featured some photographs from this series, which showcased Dita posing with male models exclusively. However, this time, we aim to share more photos from this collection, featuring both men and women.

Scroll down to discover how Dita Pepe seamlessly integrates herself into other families and learn more about the series from the artist herself. If you would like to view more photos previously featured in our Bored Panda post, you can click here.

More info: ditapepe.cz | Instagram | Facebook | Self-Portraits

Cristóbal Palma photographs ill-famed Buenos Aires slum before redevelopment

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Before works began to transform the notorious Villa 31 slum into an official Buenos Aires “barrio”, Chilean photographer Cristóbal Palma documented its distinct architecture.

Villa 31 is the most well-known “villa miseria” in the Argentinian capital, home to more than 40,000 people including both Chilean nationals and immigrants from neighbouring countries.

Villa 31 photography by Cristóbal Palma — Villa 31 is a slum neighbourhood in Buenos Aires

Palma started visiting in 2019 when work was just starting to integrate the neighbourhood into the infrastructure of the city, with sewage systems, running water and connection to the power grid.

His photographs reveal the ad-hoc buildings and dense streetscapes that defined this unplanned part of the city.

“It was unique from other kinds of favelas because the pressure on land was so great,” Palma told Dezeen.

“It had a funny kind of metropolitan feel because it was so dense, with up to six or seven storeys of construction. I got the sense that, although it was very poor, there was a lot of pressure to have land there.”

Villa 31 has a definitive border, bounded by a highway on one side and a railway line and station on the other.

This fuelled its isolation, despite a location close to the city centre and adjacent to the affluent Recoleta neighbourhood. Since the 1930s, it had developed without any centralised planning or regulation.

As a result, the resident-built homes were built along narrow, unpaved streets. Cables hung overhead, illegally drawing electricity from nearby power lines, while rain caused the streets to fill up with polluted water.

“The whole thing was very precarious,” Palma said. “Everything felt like it was just about to collapse.”

“But it was also a kind of paradigm of what a city could be if there were no cars,” he added.

“The way people interacted with public spaces felt, in a way, very sophisticated.”

In 2016, the city government started drawing up plans to redevelop Villa 31 and improve conditions for its residents.

The project was not welcomed by all; media coverage revealed that many residents were fearful of the changes, with concerns they would be forced to leave their homes without any eventual benefit.

“It’s very politically charged,” said Palma, “because so many different people have tried to do different things there over the years”.

The scheme, funded by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, has already transformed the newly renamed Barrio 31, with more changes still to come.

As well as paved roads, sewage and power, the neighbourhood now has three schools and a bank, and is served by buses for the first time. Residents can also get mortgages to buy their homes.

Palma felt it was important to create a record of how things were before redevelopment began, offering insight into what life was like for the residents of this neighbourhood.

“In Latin America, these kinds of favelas are usually on the periphery; you don’t get to see them unless you go there. But this one was so very present,” he said.

Resident inside her home in Villa 31 photography by Cristóbal Palma — Some residents invited Palma into their homes

His photos show buildings rising up around the highway flyover, made from an assortment of different materials, while others show rooftops covered with materials, washing lines, water tanks and paddling pools.

He also captured portraits of some residents within their homes.

“From the outside, it looked very homogeneous,” he said. “But once I went in, I noticed all of these different sub-neighbourhoods, some more affluent and some more precarious.”

“It was so dramatic with the highway going through,” he continued. “Some people could actually touch the highway from their bedrooms.”

Another thing the photographer observed was the lack of nature within the neighbourhood, besides the occasional tree. “It was a big contrast with the rest of the city,” he said.

Tree in Villa 31 — This tree is one of very few traces of nature that Palma observed

Palma is one of the judges of this year’s Dezeen Awards. He has run his own photography studio, Estudio Palma, since 2008 and is one of the leading architectural photographers in Latin America.

He is currently showing four large-scale prints from the Villa 31 series in an exhibition at Galería Gallo, which is part of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago.

The exhibition Construcción Villa 31 is on show at Galería Gallo from 10 August to 4 September. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

Armenia: A Center of Printmaking in the Region. The Fourth International Print Biennale will held in Yerevan

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Printmaking

YEREVAN, AUGUST 28, ARMENPRESS. 356 prints, created in various techniques and styles by 231 artists from 53 countries, all on one platform.

‘Pornographic chic’: can Helmut Newton’s sexist nudes really be fixed by gender-switching?

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Photography

In John Berger’s highly regarded book Ways of Seeing, he closed his chapter on the nude by posing a challenge: “Choose from this book an image of a traditional nude. Transform the woman into a man. Either in your mind’s eye or by drawing on the reproduction. Then notice the violence which that transformation does. Not to the image, but to the assumptions of a likely viewer.”

It seems a simple experiment. Can we change white into black and black into white, flip the script and see it anew? It is what Berlin-based photographer Hani Hape has attempted to do in her new photographic series, Helmut Newton As Seen By Hani Hape, which features recreations of Newton’s famous – or infamous – overtly sexual photographs of female nudes, replacing them with images of men.

Talking to the German website Monopol, in an article headlined “It’s not easy to find men who drop their pants”, Hape explains that the idea came to her after she began questioning the lack of sexualised male nudes in art. “How can it be,” she says, “that the world is full of female nudity and there are hardly any pictures of erotic men? Women are likely to have a similar interest in their sexual partners as men do. Newton’s work is the prime example of the female nude photograph. He created icons with them.”

Hape is right. These “icons” no doubt stem from a culture dictated by (male) old masters, who idealised the female nude through their portrayals of Venus. Images that have negatively enforced gender roles, perpetuated an inherent heteronormativity, and emphasised how, as Berger wrote, “men act and women appear”.

Some men have voiced objections … another of Hani Hape’s parodies.

Hape plays with this idea further. Her photos have now been published in a book titled Sakura, meaning cherry blossom, which weighs 1.2kg. This is in direct contrast to Sumo, the 35kg book Newton published. In this way, Hape is questioning, literally, the cultural weight and price of a man’s art over a woman’s, given that copy No 1 of Sumo fetched a record 620,000 German-marks (about £272,000) at auction in 2000. Would a female photographer’s book go for the same price? And what does it tell us about our society if objectified images of female nudes can fetch such huge sums?

I am also fascinated by how widely accepted Newton’s images are, despite the criticism that his work is “pornographic-chic”. Although the response to Hape’s work has been predominantly positive, some objections were voiced by men. And when she asked hotels to exhibit her work, she was told, on one occasion, that it didn’t “fit the setup of the house”. This speaks volumes about the normalisation of female nudes in such spaces, where they are seen as chic (and unthreatening). Clearly, we have a long way to go before the male gaze stops being the default gaze.

Newton’s images are, fundamentally, derogatory towards women. But I don’t agree that this means we should objectify men. History, especially art history, has scraped away at women’s identities, valuing them as the object and dismissing their individuality. Although Hape mentions in the interview that her male models are “choreographers, computer scientists, psychologists”, they still don’t feel like much more than just a spectacle for my gaze.

Additionally, there is an ahistorical element to Hape’s images. The objectification of women has been bound up in shame for millennia, ever since Eve was blamed for tempting Adam in Genesis, the woman’s divine punishment being to remain forever subservient to the man. Consequently, men may not feel shame when they look at these pictures in the same way that women may when looking at Newton’s.

‘I didn’t want to do a niche project’ … Hape’s series aims to challenge viewing habits.

So what is the answer? I don’t think sexism can be solved by simply flipping something on its head. It’s about creating a fresh space, a new set of rules that benefit everyone. It doesn’t work to have one gender dominating another, nor for that to be reversed. I believe the value of Hape’s series is to spark a discussion around these complex issues. Her work also challenges Berger’s remarks. What if, rather than switching the gender of the subject, we could instead switch the gender of the creator? What would change if the creator had a similar anatomy to the subject’s, and who therefore understood its depths? It’s a potent thought, given Berger failed to reference a single artwork by a woman in his book.

Explaining why she referenced Newton, Hape says: “I didn’t want to do a niche project, but was looking for a strong reference that many people know, to challenge established viewing habits.” She is definitely on the right track here: sometimes you need a strong reference to challenge long-held assumptions. The discussion can lead to bigger and more important changes – and, ultimately, pave the way to equality.

Explore local flower market and delve into art of flower arrangement

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

Flowers possess the enchanting ability to transform any environment, infusing it with a symphony of beauty, fragrance and color. Beyond their visual allure, the delicate blooms wield the power to influence our emotions, sculpting our moods and uplifting our spirits. In this episode of “Shine Bright with Arina”, we delve into the delicate artistry of flower arrangements for your home.

Shot by Zhou Shengjie and Arina Yakupova. Edited by Arina Yakupova and Wang Xinzhou. Reported by Arina Yakupova. Subtitles by Arina Yakupova and Wang Xinzhou.

The language of volor

Color stands as a foundational expressive principle in the realm of floral design. It serves as a powerful tool, endowing each bouquet with a unique identity, perfectly aligned with its intended purpose. Notably, color holds the remarkable ability to influence our emotions, subtly shaping our mood Flowers possess the enchanting ability to transform any environment, infusing it with a symphony of beauty, fragrance and color. Beyond their visual allure, the delicate blooms wield the power to influence our emotions, sculpting our moods and uplifting our spirits. In this episode of “Shine Bright with Arina”, we delve into the delicate artistry of flower arrangements for your home – vibrant shades infuse an energizing effect, while pastels offer a serene and calming aura.

When crafting a flower arrangement, a thoughtful approach to color becomes paramount. Employing the principles of color harmony and coordination, we draw inspiration from Itten’s color circle, a timeless guide that aids us in achieving visual equilibrium. Nature, the ultimate artist, generously blends a myriad of colors for us. Our task is to honor its artistry by aligning our palette with its boundless creativity.

Itten’s color wheel helps users combine colors effectively.

Within the realm of floral design, a tapestry of color harmonies awaits our exploration:

Pastel Harmony
Harmony of Contrast
Monochromatic Harmony
Triadic Harmony
Equilateral Triangle Harmony

Then when you decide what color design you like, you need to pick the flowers. Start with your primary flowers, followed by some accent blooms, decorative elements, and, if desired, a touch of greenery.

Zhou Shengjie / SHINE

Arina selects flowers at the Hongqiao Flower Market at 718 Hongjing Road.

Flower arrangement

Before delving into the art of flower arrangement, take a deliberate and thoughtful approach to prepare your floral ensemble. Begin by filling a vase with refreshing cold water, either opting for the embrace of pristine, filtered liquid or allowing tap water to sit first, freeing any lingering chlorine vapors.

Shapes and balance of symmetry and asymmetry

In the world of floral design, the circle takes center stage – a shape that combines flatness and volume in a harmonious way. This shape is a popular choice for enhancing the atmosphere of your home. However, there are other options worth considering, including the triangle, L-shape, and the intriguing S-shape, often referred to as the “Hogarth line.” This artistic technique was first introduced in the book “The Analysis of Beauty” by British artist William Hogarth. He described the undulating, serpentine line as having a special quality of enhancing beauty.

The interplay between symmetry and asymmetry adds an interesting dynamic to floral design. Symmetrical compositions bring a sense of formality and precision, making them well-suited for grand spaces and important occasions. On the other hand, asymmetrical arrangements convey a more relaxed and natural feel, reflecting how plants grow in the wild. Asymmetrical groupings allow you to explore the composition freely with your eyes, while symmetrical designs draw your attention towards the center.

Next, direct your attention to the blooms themselves, engaging in a delicate dance of transformation. Gently sculpt the stems, adorning them with a graceful slant, and grant the gift of graceful exposure by delicately parting them from their lower leaves. With a sense of reverence, nestle these refined stems into the watery haven you have diligently readied. To ensure an enduring display of vibrancy, adopt the daily ritual of stem trimming and the periodic refreshment of water, nurturing the bouquet’s longevity.

With the prelude now complete, the artistry of arrangement unfurls. As you guide the blossoms into their harmonious alignment, leave spaces that allow each bloom to breathe and converse within their aqueous sanctuary. Harnessing the language of texture, weave a tactile tapestry that beckons both the eye and the touch.

Zhou Shengjie / SHINE

If you cut stems daily and change the water regularly, your arrangement will last longer.

The canvas of flower arranging is one of personal expression, a testament to an individual’s artistic spirit. While the shared principles stand as steadfast guides, feel emboldened to explore the realm of experimentation, shaping and coloring the tableau as your creative vision dictates. Feel free to do whatever you like to do, however you want. They are flowers, they don’t require a lot of work to look good.

Zhou Shengjie / SHINE

Lightroom tips for wildlife photographers (Part three)

Aug 28, 2023 By Admin in Photography

By Steve and Ann Toon | 28 August 2023

This is part three of a three part series on editing wildlife images. You can see part one here, and part two here.

HSL/Colour

We don’t use this a lot, but occasionally it’s handy to dampen down colours which appear unnaturally oversaturated, such as acid-yellow flowers. If you use a polarising filter, watch out for foliage turning electric-green, and adjust the hue and saturation to combat this effect.

Targeting specific colours can be an effective way of helping make your subject shine. If we’ve photographed a lion, with muted fur tones of yellow and brown, against a wet season grassy background, with verdant hues, we might drop the saturation of those greens so they are not out-competing the animal.

We might even reduce the luminance of the greens, to darken the background if the animal is a light-toned subject. As ever, subtlety is key.

Get it right in camera and most images require only a light touch in Lightroom. Here, just a touch of tonal correction, mainly to brighten the image. The blood, from a freshly killed oryx, rendered a little brown in the RAW file, so the red hue was tweaked in the HSL/Colour panel to correct this. Canon EOS 1Dx, 500mm f/4 L lens with 1.4x extender, 1/1000 sec, f/9. ISO 500

Noise and sharpness

Once we’re happy with the image in Lightroom, we’ll finish it in Photoshop. We prefer to do our dust removal in Photoshop, using a combination of soft-edged Clone stamp and Healing brush tools.

If there’s any noise reduction needed, we do this in Photoshop, using the Topaz Denoise AI plug-in. Topaz is a very powerful tool, but noise reduction should only be used on images that really need it, rather than by default.

Overuse can give a plasticky effect, soften the image, and produce random artefacts, especially around highlights. We find the auto setting in Topaz far too strong and generally set a very low level of Reduce Noise, and the minimum level of sharpening possible.

Overcast light is great for fur detail, but the RAW file can be flat and dull. Tonal adjustments, some clarity and vibrance, and a warmer white balance, bring back some appeal to the image. The tint slider was pulled left a little, to make the green background, which had a slight magenta hint, a little fresher. Canon EOS 1Dx, 500mm f/4 L lens with 1.4x extender, 1/500 sec, f/7.1. ISO 800

As a rule we don’t sharpen our images before archiving them, other than occasionally applying a little local sharpening to, for example, an animal’s eyes if the focus was a tiny bit off. Overall image sharpening should be applied according to the intended use, an image for the web will need very different settings to an image which is to be printed.

So we export our images from Lightroom as 16 bit tiffs, do any necessary work in Photoshop, then save them for archiving as uncompressed 8 bit tiffs, with no sharpening applied.

Only when we come to use individual images for specific end purposes will we apply the appropriate amount of sharpening. We have Actions set up in Photoshop to batch resize and sharpen images for various uses including Facebook, Instagram, etc.

The flehmen grimace enables the male lion to detect the scent of female hormones, to check if a nearby lioness is in season. To enhance the drama this image was manipulated much more heavily than we would usually do. The background was selected by using subject select > invert, and then darkened to make the lion ‘pop’. This was further enhanced with tone sliders. White balance temp and vibrance were increased significantly, to bring up the golden hues that were lost in the RAW file. Canon EOS 1Dx II, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L lens at 400mm, 1/400 sec, f/11. ISO 500

The final edit

When we’ve worked through a series of images and output them fully processed, we’ll do a final edit, comparing all our images and deleting any that don’t make the grade. Working as a couple allows us to give objective feedback on each other’s images and point out the shots, that if we’re truly honest with ourselves, don’t quite work.

The final task is to keyword our images to make them searchable. We keyword our images individually in Photoshop, creating templates on the fly for use with multiple images of the same subject.

It’s a laborious, painstaking process but ensures we are happy each image is thoroughly and accurately keyworded with all the relevant metadata fields filled in.

It works for us, as we edit our shoots very hard and only keep a relatively small number of images, but If you’re dealing with lots of images it makes more sense to do your keywording in Lightroom, where you can apply relevant data to multiple images at a time. You can create sets of keywords in Lightroom which you can apply regularly, for different species, locations, etc.

Keywording is essential if you wish to submit your images to photo agencies, but it’s also valuable for your own uses, especially as your image archive grows.

Be thorough but relevant with your keywords, including the obvious info such as species’ common and scientific names, location, and behaviour, but also any relevant concept words, such as ‘fierce’ or ‘cute’.

We also include photo techniques, where relevant, such as ‘high key’ or ‘monochrome’.

This is useful if we’re looking for images to illustrate specific photographic approaches, perhaps for a slideshow or article. And don’t forget to include copyright and contact details in the metadata.

Once we’ve completed keywording, we’re finally ready to archive the images. We save the tiffs and RAW files on three different hard drives, plus a fourth kept off-site and updated every couple of months.

We also convert the images to high quality JPEGs and upload them to a cloud storage service, which means we can access them when we’re away from home, so long as we have internet access.

Backlit dust in the golden hour adds bags of impact to wildlife images, as with this Kalahari meerkat. The RAW file didn’t fully do justice to the beautiful light, but that was easily corrected by increasing the white balance temp and adding some vibrance. A little lens flare adds to the mood, but also flattens the tonal range. Adjusting the whites and blacks sliders quickly sorted that. Canon Eos 1Dx II, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L lens at 200mm, 1/2000 sec, f/6.3. ISO 640

A final word

Perhaps more than most photographic genres, wildlife is unforgiving of excess in the digital darkroom.

With post-processing we’re generally aiming for a final image with a good range of tones and no clipping, natural colours, a complementary, but subdued background, and emphasis on the animal through the restrained enhancement of contrast and clarity, colour saturation and luminance, and differential focus effects.

But then sometimes we apply more radical transformations for creative effect and to push at the boundaries of the genre. Either way, there’s a balancing act to perform. The outcome should be like successful cosmetic surgery – the appearance enhanced, but no signs of the operation that produced it.

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