Welcome

I am Rod Wynne-Powell, and this is my way to pass on snippets either of a technical nature, or related to what I am currently doing or hope to be doing in the near future.

A third-person description follows:
Professional photographer, Lightroom and Photoshop Workflow trainer, Consultant, digital image retoucher, author, and tech-editor for Martin Evening's many 'Photoshop for Photographers' books.

For over twenty years, Rod has had a client list of large and small companies, which reads like the ‘who’s who’ of the imaging, advertising and software industries. He has a background in Commercial/Industrial Photography, was Sales Manager for a leading London-based colour laboratory and has trained many digital photographers on a one-to-one basis, in the UK and Europe.
Still a pre-release tester for Adobe in the US, for Photoshop, he is also very much involved in the taking of a wide range of photographs, as can be seen in the galleries.

See his broad range of training and creative services, available NOW. Take advantage of them and ensure an unfair advantage over your competitors…


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Friday 31 December 2010

Harpenden Development Christmas Break

Bad weather stopped play before Christmas and a visit just before New year shows that not only is all quiet, it is also tidy. The normal hive of activity lies still, ready to burst into life again after the holiday break. Much of the groundfloor concrete is now complete, and hopefully my next visit will show concrete where shuttering was earlier.

Let us hope the weather is kinder, so work can proceed at full speed.

Christmas Birds at Burnham, Buckinghamshire

Inside wood logs burning in the grate provide warmth and a friendly glow, whilst outside the kitchen window it is cold, yet somehow inviting. To humans inside it is a pretty picture, but for birds it is a time of hardship, but fortunately thoughtful humans have provided food for them in the form of nuts and apples. The range of birds was wide, there were great tits, coal tits, blue tits, chaffinches, nuthatches, robins, green parakeets, jays, collar doves, pigeons and wood pigeons, all in the space of less than an hour. Crows flew overhead, but kept their distance.

For the most part I kept very still inside and tried simply to capture them as they fed, but when I went and sat equally still on the window ledge outside it took only a few minutes before most of the birds returned – the need for sustenance overcoming their fear of me. Oddly the pigeons were the most wary, the blue tits were the first to return, even before the robins.

Walking the lanes it was far quieter, so human kindness was definitely having an effect – the birds were very reliant on the food we provided when so much else was covered in a thick blanket of snow.

Friday 10 December 2010

Aftermath of Freezing Fog, and the Sun Shines

Peter Carr, a Harpenden Product Designer, and were due to meet up with Mike Benjamin at his studio in Watford, where he was going to give three of us an introduction to using Freeway for a day. For that reason we were up early and so was the sun for a change, and the temptation to stop and capture images of the frost-rimed trees was irresistible.

I phoned Peter as I was leaving and from his suggestion not to hurry, I realised that even before meeting him there was time to stop and capture some of the scenery. After we had met up Peter was hoping that I might get some shots of his Bamville Cricket team’s pavillion by the Harpenden Golf Course, so a few more opportunities arose! Fortunately the traffic to Watford was light, so not much time was lost.

After the Frosts, Concrete Pouring in Harpenden

Thursday was scheduled for the pouring of the concrete for the ground floor at the Jarvis Development in Harpenden, after the hiatus caused by recent unseasonably cold and frosty weather. I made myself known to James Blackie the site Manager and the Project Manager for the sub-contractor.
I arrived too late to catch the first mixer arriving, but not so late as to miss the pouring. There were many more trades on the site this time, and Sean Mooney, the Project Manager for Toureen Mangan (currently the main subcontractor on site) took me to see the extra step he was taking to ensure they could pour with impunity, he had sealed the area beneath with frost blankets and installed Calor gas Space heaters!

It was interesting to see a trident-style mini flame thrower being used to clear some of the snow that had accumulated in some parts of the shuttering, as well as some workmen using magnets to collect stray steel wiring from the same recesses.

The crane was also active transporting beams from their storage area to the next section to be shuttered, and all around were small groups intent on sawing timber, creating new shuttering and vibrating or smoothing out the concrete.

When possible Concrete Mixer lorries were exiting the site as the next was arriving to take its place, but there did seem to be some occasions when traffic delayed their arrival, which was a shame with such a tight schedule due to the cold spell returning soon.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Mike Benjamin gives DNA members a Freeway Lesson

Here is an example of how DNA is working together for its members – Mike Benjamin invited three of us; Mark Wilkinson, Peter Carr and I to join him in his studio to give us a run through on how to use Freeway in the creation of websites without getting our hands soiled by HTML code!

We all arrived slightly later than intended due to the super early morning light on frosty trees and hedgerows due to freezing fog from the last couple of days – each one of us had images that we had stopped to capture! We soon began to get down to the business of learning from Mike, and he took us gently up the slope. Peter obsessed about getting us all to sample his mince pies, but we used our own mince-pies (‘eyes’ for those unfamiliar with Cockney rhyming slang) concentrating on what Mike was showing us as we each sampled his tea, coffee and biscuits as we followed his tutoring.

For lunch we all adjourned to a café in the nearby shopping precinct where conversation continued covering a wide range of topics in addition to Freeway. The picture above was taken on our return where Mike and I showed Mark the use of iChat and an AIM name for remote training. That we were all in coats is no reflection on the temperature in Mike’s studio, we did not remove our coats as we felt we had taken enough of Mike’s valuable time and were soon intending to leave.

The atmosphere in DNA, The Design Network Association seems very reminiscent of the early days of DIG, the Digital Imaging Group, whose last vestige is the ProDIG list, a similar self-help group.

Awesome Ausom

Writing a technical book nowadays is beset by the problem that the technology is evolving constantly, such that a statement made today is probably out of date the day after tomorrow!
This was illustrated by a warning I made after a small amount of research and placed it in the side panel of Mac OS X for Photographers. Malcolm Park in Melbourne, Australia dug deeper into the issue of bootability between PowerPC and Intel Macs around October this year; some two years after publication of the book, and closer to five years after I first started writing it.

Here is a link to what he had discovered <http://www.ausom.net.au>. It appears in the December Newsletter. Malcolm was kind enough to draw my attention to his conclusions, and I am happy to acknowledge his findings, I am pleased to note he found the purchase and reading of the book thad survived this error on my part. During our email correspondence he wrote: "I think your book is worth reading & I certainly do not regret acquiring it for my own library."

The Internet and email shows us that we can benefit from the reach it provides, and is a worthy addition to the printed word in books. I for one could not live without it.

Saturday 4 December 2010

TGB Treecare comes to Caddington – despite the Weather!


I know that TGB stands for TG Buxton, but watching from the warmth of my house, I reckon the initials should stand for either ‘Thoroughly Great Bloke’ or ‘Truly Great Bravery’! To start climbing trees in sub-zero temperatures with the snow actually falling can be considered beyond the call of duty, but here is a series of shots of the man at work. There was the obligatory tea-break midway through, but anyone begrudging a man for that should be tried for War Crimes!

The work was carried out with precision and thoughtfulness, fully justifying the terms ‘surgery’ and ‘care’, and without any unnecessary bravado. At the size the images will be viewed the sleetlike snow, falling constantly, is not apparent, but I can bear witness to that – this man earned every penny for his morning’s work.

A Merry Werry Cold Wednesday in Wendover


The Aylesbury Concert Band braved the cold weather once again to perform for the good people of Wendover alongside the High Street Christmas tree. There was a good public attendance, possibly augmented by the nearby skating rink providing an added attraction for the children. I don’t think the audience are fully aware of just how difficult it is for musicians to play when their instruments are largely metal and the air is so cold – this is a wind band, and jaws, lips and fingers all freeze; when you add the layers of clothing to the mix, freedom of movement is further reduced, yet this small band of players of all ages produces wonderful music.

I think Wendover owes the band a warm welcome on a balmy summer evening to repay them all for the discomfort they must have endured to give us such an enjoyable evening. I was humming or singing the verses I knew – repetitively! Thank you.