On my way back to the car whilst shooting French sunflower fields, I came across this unusual angle of the ‘Tour’, which we normally dont see from the road beneath, I’d already had my Lensbaby Optic 80 on the camera, so this is what I used! In processing I first zapped up the colours […]
Jul 22, 2012 | Categories: Blog | Tags: Flypaper Taster Pack, France, Languedoc, Lensbaby Edge 80, med, Paul Grand, Ruin, Russell Brown Adobe Texture Panel, tower | Comments Off on Montaday Tour aka The Saracens Tower
A big thanks to Ellen for her kind texture feature on dpreview and a warm welcome to their visiting fans! Once again its the time of year for my favorite misty, foggy mornings in the Mediterranean! As soon as I open my shutters and spy mist outside, I need to work fast, as the sun […]
Dec 06, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Adobe Camera Raw, Autumn Painterly Pack, Brushed Rose, canal, France, French, Getty, Languedoc, leaf peak, Mediterranean, mist, moody, Nik, painterly, Pantheon Stone, Paul Grand, photoshop, Russell Brown Adobe Texture Panel, Spring Painterly Pack, trees | 10 Comments »
Its always nice to wake up and find another one of your babies gracing a published book cover! Here’s today’s, an American thriller, heavily textured with our flypaper painterly textures. Its just a preview copy as its not yet out, so I expect their colours will hopefully not be as muddled as this one with […]
Nov 29, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: action, Beziers, bookcover, city, drama, figures, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, lensbaby, medieval streets, Mediterranean, moody, movement, novel, Opal, Paul Grand, photoshop, published, Spring Painterly Pack, Summer Painterly Pack, Swans Way, Tempest Sea, thriller, woman | 7 Comments »
A freezing walk on our local French beach with friends and their dogs over the weekend, produced this simple image. The glow of the cold mid-winter sun warmed by applying several flypaper textures and this time, no colour tweaks!I’m typing this whilst looking out over gently falling snow flakes,Europe and this, our northern Mediterranean coastline […]
Jan 08, 2010 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, Caramel soft, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Languedoc, Mediterranean, mid-winter, Muscatel.cold, Necropolis, Paul Grand, Raw Linen, sand, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | 1 Comment »
I was emailed a few weeks ago, asking how to create a mist effectwith textures. My tardy answer is now shown here (sorry Bob!) This image was captured on the mountains last January.I’d not used these particular images because although I shot them in raw, It still had blown out areas.However, with our new textures […]
Jan 03, 2010 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, bright, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, Leaden Hall, Mediterranean, mist, moody, morning, mountain, Necropolis, Paul Grand, pines, sun, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2 | 1 Comment »
From Jill and I we’d like to wish you all a gilded Bonne année!Its funny how the best shots are never planned!Yesterday, as it was sunny, I went for a drive in search of fresh images.Its continually maddening that all the best views are from our motorways and they are impossible to access without doing […]
Dec 31, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Caramel soft, Colosseum Sienna, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, lost void, Mediterranean, mid, moody, moon, Muscatel, Necropolis, painterly, Paul Grand, telephoto lens, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, tree, trees, vacation, winter | 1 Comment »
I’ve kept this one back a few months because it was a first try-out with the as then unpublished; Lost Void & Lime Plaster textures.Its just a shot of Geraniums & ivy on our north facing window ledge.They caught the sunlight glancing off the stone house windows opposite.I liked the way this texture combination gives […]
Dec 29, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Geraniums, glass effect, Green, ivy, Languedoc, lime plaster, lost void, Mediterranean, Necropolis, Paul Grand, photoshop, Still Life, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, window box | 1 Comment »
Just like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and viewers and wish everybody from both of us – Happy Holidays!:-)Here’s an oldie but a Goldie, taken with a 75-300m zoom lens in the summer at a small lavender farm at Barjac in the Gard area of the south of France. Processed first […]
Dec 26, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Barjac, butterfly, flowers, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Gard, Getty, Languedoc, lavender farm, Mediterranean, Paul Grand, Phosphorescence, Photomatrix, photoshop, published, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | Comments Off on Butterfly Bliss
On Sunday afternoon just to curb the midwinter ‘Cabin fever’ we drove up towards the mountains. The light was clear and the air was crisp, but this time I diverted, hung a left and drove to ‘Lake Salagou’.Normally its a tourist nightmare, being the biggest and most famous lake in our area of the languedoc, […]
Dec 22, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, boat, Chlorophyll, evening, fishermen, fishing, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden hour, Green, lake, Lake Salagou, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, men, mountains, Muscatel, painterly, Paul Grand, Phosphorescence, Pompeii Stucco, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | 1 Comment »
Our Southern French countryside is dotted with these ancient stone windmill ruins. There must be hundreds but I’ve seen only a couple that have been restored. The backdrop being our black mountains, which help to protect our Mediterranean coastal plains from the worst excesses of the northern European winter cold.The field contains freshly planted vines, […]
Dec 17, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Antique Liaisons, Caramel Cream, Chlorophyll, coastal, flowers, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, heady perfume, hilltop, Labyrinth, landscape, Languedoc, lost void, Mediterranean, moody, mountains, Ordinance Map, Paul Grand, photoshop, Raw Linen, ruined windmill, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation, viners, vineyard | 1 Comment »
I’d been meaning to capture the sun set light on this building for ages, over looking our central market hall, this elegant shop/apartment building must have some very strange shaped rooms!I’ve not done much to it, the camera had its polarizor filter on, the textures were just used to bring out the golden tones I […]
Dec 14, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apartment block, Beziers, Chlorophyll, city, coastal, elegant, Flypaper Textures, France, French, golden hour, Languedoc, Mediterranean, painterly, Paul Grand, sky, stone, strange, surreal, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | 1 Comment »
A dull afternoon on the beach found me on my knees trying to get a low level shot. Overcast days are perfect to try moody, grainy textures.The idea behind this picture was ‘a Message in a bottle’, but from the bottles perspective!The Lime Plaster somehow helps give that ‘old distorted glass effect’ . Tex Pack […]
Dec 10, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, bleak, cold, concept, figure, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grainy, grunge, illustrative, landscape, Languedoc, lime plaster, man, Mediterranean, Message in a bottle, ming, old distorted glass effect, Paul Grand, pebbles, photoshop, surreal, Tex Box 2, vacation, view from a bottle, Voyageur map | 3 Comments »
We drove past this windmill many times on the way to the beach,situated on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean salt marshes.Thankfully we managed to stop a few times at sunset on route home to capture it on camera.I was lucky because it was cut down this year, it was really sad to see the top […]
Dec 07, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: big sky, coast road, derelict, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, hill top, illustrative, iron, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, moody, Necropolis, old, old time, painterly, pastel, Paul Grand, post fence, salt marches, surreal, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, trees, umbrella pine, vacation, Vendres plage, vines, vineyard, wall, water pump, windmill, wire | 2 Comments »
On the same day but taken just before the last ‘Reflected Light’ posting. This is inside our Beziers Park of the poets, decorated with many stone carved busts. Its made up of two pictures, merged in photoshop, as my Autopanopro was playing up!A more finished/textured version of this image is on my Flickr site. As […]
Nov 29, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Autopanopro, autumnal, bust, Caramel soft, Flypaper Textures, France, French, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, merged, moody, Necropolis, painterly, park of the poets, Paul Grand, photoshop, poet, Raw Linen, statue, surreal, Tex Box 1, trees, vacation | 1 Comment »
Back in early July we made a special trip to the beach at sunset just to photograph the full moon rising over the Mediterranean.The light was superbly opalescent, and I was lucky, as I captured several nice images as well as the later moonrise. This is one, a huge red container, not sure why it […]
Nov 18, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, bright, Caramel soft, concept, evening, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, gloaming, golden hour, homeward, Languedoc, Mediterranean, metal, out of context, out of place, painterly, Paul Grand, people, red box, sand, Sea, shipping container, soft, strange, surreal, Tex Box 2 | 1 Comment »
Whilst on the way to the beach yesterday, with a slight sea mist over the vineyards.I came across this derelict farmhouse in a sea of golden vines.‘Chasse Gardee’ I’m told, means strictly licensed hunters only. Apple Blush – Soft Light Opacity @ 29%Raw Linen – Overlay Opacity @ 100%Necropolis – Overlay Opacity @ 39%Caramel Soft […]
Nov 15, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Caramel soft, clouds, derelict, distance, farm house, farmers field, Flypaper Textures, France, French, golden, grunge, landscape, Languedoc, moody, Necropolis, no hunting, no shooting sign, painterly, path, pathway, Paul Grand, poles, Raw Linen, Ruin, stakes, track, trees, vacation, vineyards, warning | 1 Comment »
Another human for our professional readers!Taken on a professional Portrait shoot with French Artist, Martine Roch a couple of years ago. This one was never used but I now like the little surreal looking figure with a bucket in the corner!It was shot in that cold, sharp April light, the shadows being so dark, it […]
Nov 12, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Artist, beach, blond, breakwater, Caramel soft, carrying, carrying on, concept, Contra jour, figure, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden, Languedoc, leaving, lone, man with buck, Martine Roch, mature, Mediterranean, moody, Necropolis, painterly, parting, Paul Grand, pink, portrait, Raw Linen, reflected light, reflector, Sea, single, strong, surreal, surrealist, Tex Box 1, uplighter, vacation, woman | Comments Off on Life goes on
Another misty ‘Canal du Midi’ shot, just west of Beziers,our famous local French Atlantic coast to the French Mediterranean sea connection. One of the main reasons for its being built was to avoid having to sail around Spain.Because just over two hundred years ago those pesky Spanish Pirates were quite a problem!This in turn brought […]
Nov 10, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Autopanopro, autumn, autumnal, barge drivers, bounty, Canal du Midi, Caramel soft, choices, concept, end, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, horses shade, joined up, Languedoc, Mediterranean, mellow fruitfulness, mist, moody, Napoleon's marching trees, painterly, path, pathway, Paul Grand, poplar trees, Raw Linen, roads, Routs, sailers, stagnant, travel, trees, vacation, wealth, wine | 4 Comments »
Nov 06, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, autumn, Beziers, boat, boats, calm, Caramel soft, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden hour, Languedoc, Mediterranean, no people, painterly, Paul Grand, Raw Linen, river bank, riverscape, sunset, Tex Box 1, tress, vacation | 1 Comment »
French surrealist artist Martine Roch is well and truly stuck on Flypaper textures! So, to coincide with her new exhibition this weekend, we thought we’d do a little Q & A feature on her.Martine is a professional artist/illustrator and Getty photographer.Her muse is her famous female Labrador ‘Boudi’. They are based in Dijon, north east […]
Nov 04, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Interviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Artist, Boudi, canvas, dog, exhibition opening, France, French, illustrator, Languedoc, Martine Roch interview, Mediterranean, Paul Grand, professional, sales, surreal, woman | 3 Comments »
I’ve been asked if I also use other ‘enhancement programs’ Both Jill and I have programs such as ‘Lucis’ but I’ve never shown a picture using it. You can use these programs on your images before following our recipes. A while ago I described how I get my painterly look before texturising. I now repeat […]
Nov 03, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: acrylic effect, beach, Beach Shack, cafe, canvas, David Hockney, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Languedoc, look, Mediterranean, modern art, no people, painterly, Paul Grand, Paul's Painterly Effect, sunny, surreal, Tex Box 2, Tutorial, vacation, Voyageur map, walkway, yellow | 9 Comments »
Another from my misty day shoot!This time along our famous Beziers ‘Canal du Midi’, built by Paul Riquet The most famous son of our city of Beziers. It connects the French Atlantic West-coast with the French Mediterranean, a huge feat of civil engineering for its time. This barge appeared out of the dark mist, looming […]
Oct 31, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, built by Paul Riquet, France, French, Getty, Languedoc, looming and silent, Mediterranean, mist, moody, Paul Grand, published, Tutorial, vacation | 3 Comments »
A rare misty day in our part of the world.These mists are so far and few I have to dash out with my camera!This picture was taken on a strange atmospheric hill that sticks out of the old sea marshes, or ‘Etang’ in French.It now rises out of a sea of golden vineyards. On top […]
Oct 30, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, archeological digs, atmospheric hill, Bruised Saffron, digs, finds, Flypaper Textures, Getty, guarding, hillside, historic, Languedoc, Mediterranean, mist, misty day, moody, now silted up, old sea marshes, Oppidum sea port, Paul Grand, pine trees, Raw Linen, road to Narbonne, Roman Museum, Roman settlement, soft, strange, Tex Box 1, thousand years, UNESSCO, vacation, world heritage site, ‘Etang’ | Comments Off on Pines in the mist
As requested, we now start to tackle live subjects!This image is from a shoot with a charming Danish Family.Its hard to believe that just a month ago we were still sea bathing! I don’t recommend standing in the sea with an expensive camera, but if that’s what it takes to get a natural shot, who […]
Oct 28, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, bather, blond, boy, calm, carefree, Danish, escape, European, France, French, fun, happy, holiday, Languedoc, life ring, Mediterranean, Orient Express, Paul Grand, pink float, Pompeii Stucco, safe, sand, Sea, secure, smile, summer time, Tex Box 1, vacation, young, youth | Comments Off on the sea bobber!
