Photography: Adobe Lightroom 3: Presets

Adobe Lightroom is awesome software, but the built in presets are a bit uninspired. Mainly designed for JPG work-flow, they don't use the controls available enough to really pull the best out of RAW images from DSLRs and high end digital compacts. A RAW image file has a lot more dynamic range to play with; so much so, they can often look a little flat to begin with, but by applying a few tweaks and touches you can make average images look a little more special and special ones really pop out of the screen or page.

I often find myself looking at images which require similar settings to that which I've used before. So I created presets from the settings on images I liked. By selecting the right settings to save I found myself with presets I could apply to any image I'd already tweaked and get close to the result I was looking for. 

The two in the zip file, downloadable from below, are the two that I use as a starting point for most pictures.

- One is a Black and White process with a customised colour curve that I find works very well on people portraits. Some images need a bit of extra exposure dialled in after this has been applied, but like I've said these are a great starting point for an image.

- The other is a colour cross process, which I have dubbed  "Film" Look. It gives images a gold/orange highlight combined with a teal shadow. It also dials in a saturation cut and a black level boost, for a high contrast image. Some images need that Black boost to be pulled back down and the saturation boosted to compensate.

It's worth mentioning that I use a Sony a300, with Minolta, Sony and Tamron glass. Any other system might get different results.

Download (from SkyDrive)

Disclaimer: I provide any files for you to download in the knowledge that they contain no viruses or the like. By downloading and using this file you accept that I am not responsible for any harm that may come to you or your computer as a direct result of doing so.

Audio: Handy Free VST plugins

A list of free to download VST plugins that I've been finding very useful over the course of the last year, with some links to where you can get your hands on them.

The Kjaerhus Classic series - available here - The Classic Master Limiter is very useful as a quick loudness tool.

VacuumSound RIAA - vacuumsound plugins - The RIAA plugin allows you to use a line level input as an input for a raw turntable signal

SSL X-ISM - SSL free plug-in - A handy metering tool to make sure you aren't making too loud or over-compressing on the master buss.

Studio Devil BVC - StudioDevil BVC - A single amp model from their main guitar modelling plug-in. A very decent vintage sound.

Arturia Analogue Factory Demo - Arturia downloads - VST synth. 137 presets from the full version of analogue factory. Saving of presets disabled and two of the synth models have been disabled. The rest is fully functional and unlimited use.


Native Instruments Kore 2 Player - NI Kore Player - A large collection of synth modules and effects from the full version of Native Instruments Kore 2. There are also further collections available, normally when NI release a new version of any of their synth engines.

Hopefully that's a good place for most people to start their collections. If you know any excellent free plug-ins feel free to leave a comment and I'll check them out!

Making Movies: Beautiful Dangerous

Of all the films I worked on in May, this was probably the most fun.

Not sure how I'd sell it to you without any plot spoilers. So spoiler alert after the break. Followed by a selection of the images I took over the course of the two day shoot.

Making Movies

Well, short films really. Five student films, and a day on set for a low(ish) budget feature.

On night, with a few drinks, I may have suggested to a friend, who goes to Met Film School, that I would be more than happy to help him, and his fellow students, with the sound for their first proper short films. Within a week I'd had about six phone calls from people trying to book me for their 2 day shoots. I could only accept five of them due to them overlapping with real paid work.

A rundown of the gear that I used on the shoots is after the break.

Music: Archive

Another job done. The last two weekends I have been recording a band called Archive. They have been playing to sold out crowds at Ancienne Belgique (3000ish capacity) in Brussels and Le Zenith (6050 capacity) in Paris. The strange thing about this band is that barely anyone would have heard of them in the UK. This is despite the fact the all of the constituent members are from London, more specifically Brixton.

2009 Music Review

So a round-up of last years musical experience. Covering most of the positive notes from an otherwise slightly underwhelming year for music.