For more information about upcoming events:

whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whatson/events/
heymanchester.com

Artists:

RNCM’s Prism Quartet (String Quartet)

Jason Singh – Vocal Sculptor
jasonsinghmusic.com

Liz Green – Jazz Singer
myspace.com/lizgreenmusic

Filmed & Edited by:
TJ Jeffrey (me!)

Sound by:
Jason Singh

Technical Details:
Canon 550D, Canon 50mm 1.8, Sigma 28mm 1.8 using only available lighting. No grading, minor colour correction.

Sound recorded on Zoom H4 (interviews) & H4N (music – desk output)

Reposted here for portfolio purposes ONLY.

Credits:
—————————————-
Reporter/Producer: Peter Marshall
Camera: Martyn Souter
Edit: TJ Jeffrey

Frurt Frozen Yogurt are on Whitworth Street West in Manchester, UK. It’s a family owned and run business which despite the recession is proving really popular and already planning to expand.

Frozen Yogurt bars are very popular in Southern California and London in the UK but this is one of the first in the North West and unlike most, its the traditional South Korean style. Fat free and using natural ingredients with a big range of toppings, its absolutely delicious and a great guilt-free snack.

It was really good fun making this video (especially getting to eat the Parfait at the end), thanks to owners Syed & Shazza.

Credits:
——————————
Music: ‘Good for the Soul’ by Symphony of Specters
Source: Audiojungle.net (licensed)

Technical Details:
——————————
Camera: 5DmkII
Lenses: Canon 50mm 1.8 & Sigma 38mm 1.8
Edited & Graded in FCP

I’ve also stepped up my game with DLSR camera work and have been busy filming friends weddings and also working with local musicians, artists and venues in the North West. Below are just a few of the video’s which I’ve produced in the last 6 months as part a self improvement programme to really master the DSLR camera. For those interested, I own the domestic level Canon camera, the 550D but I’ve been working with the 7D, 60D and my personal favourite, the 5DmkII.

At around £500 (body only) the Canon 550D is an incredible bargin. The ability it gives you to control depth of field (that’s focus points to the non-camera nerds) and produce footage that has a real cinematic quality to it is frankly still astounding to me. Just a few short years ago this wasn’t something a domestic level camera could even dream of being able to do. The support kit around it is still hellishly expensive in most circumstances but a good 50mm prime lens on this camera is all you really need to go out and shoot something you can feel proud of.

Hey Manchester After Hours Event

- Whiteworth Art Gallery

‘Hey Manchester’ is hosted at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester as part of their After Hours Events.

Artists:

RNCM’s Prism Quartet (String Quartet)

Jason Singh – Vocal Sculptor
jasonsinghmusic.com

Liz Green – Jazz Singer
myspace.com/​lizgreenmusic

Filmed solo on a Canon 550D, Canon 50mm 1.8 & Sigma 28mm 1.8 lenses. Additional the music was captured via sound desk outputs to a H4N and the interview on a hand held zoom.

Don’t Stop Me Now…

- Nina & James Wedding Music Video

A fun music video filmed during my lovely friends, James & Nina’s wedding at Nurstead Court, Kent.

We managed to sneak off guests during the reception to film cameos, on top of all the usual filming of course. Thanks to everyone brave enough to take part… not that you had a choice! The video premiered at their wedding celebration on September 10th 2011, as part of a surprise during the speeches.

Filmed on 2x 550D & 5DmkII and various lenses. All our additional kit was hired from the awesome hireacamera.com Big thanks to them!

I started out in film at college, but got straight into the digital formats as soon as they arrived. I loved experimenting in the darkroom, and understanding the traditional techniques, but the joy of digital is it’s versatility. A lot of old school photographers will tell you it doesn’t have the ‘look’ of film but that’s like comparing a vinyl record to a CD. If you know what you’re doing in PhotoShop, digital photography can look like anything you want it to (even polaroid or slide film), but the advantage is you’re starting from the highest quality image in terms of clarity and resolution.

I work with digital formats and own two Canons, a DSLR (Digitial Single Lens Reflex i.e. a changeable lens camera) and an Ixus 80 (point and click) which is perfect for slipping in my pocket when I travel. Anyone will tell you it’s not the camera which counts, but the lens (when buying a DSLR its something to keep in mind, good lens are very expensive and most camera packages come with lower end kit lens).  I am however, a big believer in great photos aren’t necessarily taken on expensive cameras. Composition is the key to great photography, and an eye for spotting a potentially great capture; from cool angles, interesting foreground & background images to just being in the right place at the right time.

A few Photoshop tips:

I find digital cameras can often loose saturation and have incorrect contrast levels. With DSLR you can easily correct this when shooting in ‘RAW’ format, but that’s not an option for small, point and click style cameras and unless you’re a professional, processing ‘RAW’ images can be overly time consuming and complicated. High quality JPEGs, especially in high resolution are more then most people will ever need and the contrast issues are where PhotoShop or similar software comes in.

Many people know what contrast is, and will attempt to make an image less grey, or simply more contrasted for style or colour by using this option. However, the results tend to loose a lot of detail, especially in shadowed or dark areas. It can also introduce a lot of noise or ‘graininess’, lowering the quality of the image. Try using ‘Levels’ instead (found in the image menu of PhotoShop), to tweak highlight and shadowed areas.

Try ‘auto levels’ first; this isn’t correct 100% of the time but it’s easy to undo and quick for those less confident. If you’re feeling more adventurous, try doing it by hand. Areas to pay special attention to are the eyes, they can often be in shadow and the eyes are absolutely vital to any portrait. As they say, the ’soul’ is in the eyes, so you need to keep as much iris detail as possible, and make sure you have that little ‘pop’ of light in there too. Dark clothing can also quickly loose detail, this isn’t always vital but it can make a difference and can also indicate if the contrast levels are too high (in technical mumbo, jumbo, this is called ‘crushing the blacks’).

Another tip for improving colour/contrast is using layers. Sounds scary for the non-PhotoShoppers but it’s very simple and can make a massive difference, especially in terms ofpreserving image quality. The best tip I can offer is using ‘Overlay’ (though other options can produce interesting results). To do this, copy the main layer to create a clone of the original image (two identical versions of the image), and use the layer blending options to set it to ‘overlay’ (found at the top of the layers palette set to ‘Normal’ as default). You may find this is too strong or darkens the image beyond a suitable contrast level, but you can adjust this by changing the opacity level (top slider found on the layers palette set to 100% by default).

And the biggest tip for using PhotoShop is EXPERIMENT! Find images or photographs you like, and use them as inspiration for composition, and if treated, try to recreate the style in PhotoShop when you get home. It may seem scary at first, with lots of buttons and menus but Photoshop (or PhotoShop Elements)  is like a lot of software, there’s 3 or 4 ways to do the same thing, and even pros rarely use every option or tool. Conversely, don’t try to add every effect, text or filter you can lay your hands on and over clutter or over-treat the image. The best images are often the simplest ones.

Suggested links:

Blurb.com – for printing your images into great keepsake books. Blurb’s downloadable software is simple to use and their service is great.

Flickr.com – One of the best photography communities on the net. You can use it for feedback, to get inspiration or simply to store your photos (up to 200 free, and unlimited with pro membership).

‘Feels Like You Save Me’ by The Money.

Made in partnership with Holyk Films on location in Nottingham.

Produced & Directed by:

Michael Holyk,  Lydia Bone, TJ Jeffrey

Edited by:

TJ Jeffrey

Additional Edits & FX Treatments by:

Michael Holyk

Part 2 of BBC North West Tonight’s ‘Nature’ series, looking at the rich and varied wildlife and areas of natural beauty across the north west region. As well as the people who help to protect and main it.

This episode follows our crews exploits to track down the elusive ‘mountain hare’ during some of the most bitterly cold weather this winter.

Credits:

Cameras – George Tryfonidis

Editing – TJ Jeffrey

Presenting – Diane Oxberry

Guest – Ben Hall (Photographer)

Additional Photography by Ben Hall Photography

http://www.benhallphotography.com

A special features News edit, for the first in North West Tonight’s ‘Nature’ series. It takes a  look at the rich and varied wildlife and areas of natural beauty across the north west region. As well as the people who help to protect and maintain it. This episode introduces us to some of the regulars popping up over series and the places we’ll be keeping track of.

Credits

Cameras – George Tryfonidis

Editing – TJ Jeffrey

Presenting: Diane Oxberry

Guest: Ben Hall (Photographer)

Additional Photography by Ben Hall Photography
benhallphotography.com

I work with digital formats and own two Canons, a DSLR (Digitial Single Lens Reflex i.e. a changeable lens camera) and an Ixus 80 (point and click) which is perfect for slipping in my pocket when I travel. Anyone will tell you it’s not the camera which counts, but the lens (when buying a DSLR its something to keep in mind, good lens are very expensive and most camera packages come with lower end kit lens).  I am however, a big believer in great photos aren’t necessarily taken on expensive cameras. Composition is the key to great photography, and an eye for spotting a potentially great capture; from cool angles, interesting foreground & background images to just being in the right place at the right time.

A few Photoshop tips:

I find digital cameras can often loose saturation and have incorrect contrast levels. With DSLR you can easily correct this when shooting in ‘RAW’ format, but that’s not an option for small, point and click style cameras and unless you’re a professional, processing ‘RAW’ images can be overly time consuming and complicated. High quality JPEGs, especially in high resolution are more then most people will ever need and the contrast issues are where PhotoShop or similar software comes in.

Many people know what contrast is, and will attempt to make an image less grey, or simply more contrasted for style or colour by using this option. However, the results tend to loose a lot of detail, especially in shadowed or dark areas. It can also introduce a lot of noise or ‘graininess’, lowering the quality of the image. Try using ‘Levels’ instead (found in the image menu of PhotoShop), to tweak highlight and shadowed areas.

Try ‘auto levels’ first; this isn’t correct 100% of the time but it’s easy to undo and quick for those less confident. If you’re feeling more adventurous, try doing it by hand. Areas to pay special attention to are the eyes, they can often be in shadow and the eyes are absolutely vital to any portrait. As they say, the ‘soul’ is in the eyes, so you need to keep as much iris detail as possible, and make sure you have that little ‘pop’ of light in there too. Dark clothing can also quickly loose detail, this isn’t always vital but it can make a difference and can also indicate if the contrast levels are too high (in technical mumbo, jumbo, this is called ‘crushing the blacks’).

Another tip for improving colour/contrast is using layers. Sounds scary for the non-PhotoShoppers but it’s very simple and can make a massive difference, especially in terms of preserving image quality. The best tip I can offer is using ‘Overlay’ (though other options can produce interesting results). To do this, copy the main layer to create a clone of the original image (two identical versions of the image), and use the layer blending options to set it to ‘overlay’ (found at the top of the layers palette set to ‘Normal’ as default). You may find this is too strong or darkens the image beyond a suitable contrast level, but you can adjust this by changing the opacity level (top slider found on the layers palette set to 100% by default).

And the biggest tip for using PhotoShop is EXPERIMENT! Find images or photographs you like, and use them as inspiration for composition, and if treated, try to recreate the style in PhotoShop when you get home. It may seem scary at first, with lots of buttons and menus but Photoshop (or PhotoShop Elements)  is like a lot of software, there’s 3 or 4 ways to do the same thing, and even pros rarely use every option or tool. Conversely, don’t try to add every effect, text or filter you can lay your hands on and over clutter or over-treat the image. The best images are often the simplest ones.

Suggested links:

Blurb.com – for printing your images into great keepsake books. Blurb’s downloadable software is simple to use and their service is great.

Flickr.com – One of the best photography communities on the net. You can use it for feedback, to get inspiration or simply to store your photos (up to 200 free, and unlimited with pro membership).