Issue #1
Roving-Eye Gallery update and newsletter for April 2020

Hello!

You have received this email because you either subscribed, or have been a customer or contact in the past for Roving-Eye.com Photography.

Don't worry about getting spammed with lots of emails though if you haven't subscribed as this will just be a once-off email in that case. 

If you DO want to subscribe then that would be awesome and so easy to do and there should only be around 1 per month so you won't get overloaded that's for sure!

Check out the latest pictures below and if you're not a previous subscriber you can sign up and continue to receive these emails if you'd like at the link below too!

https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew

Now on with the April news.. it will be a bit lengthy for this very first one with a few things to talk about but should settle down after that!

April saw a massive expansion of the online portfolio from the previous 200 images to 1,300 in one fell swoop!

With expectations that this will continue to grow an enhanced website design was needed to make such a large and diverse portfolio discoverable and accessible. 

This led to the 4 "What, When, Where and Which" approach which can cater for any portfolio size and diversity. 

(1) "What" as in what subject.
Initially 40 subjects ranging from Abstract to Wildlife but this will grow!

(2) "When" as in time of day,
There are 8 defined time periods from Pre-dawn to Night.

(3) "Where" as in location or region.
Based on how many images are taken there.

(4) "Which" as in which format.
Landscape..Panoramic to fill a particular shaped area you may have in mind!

While there can only be a single time of day and location for a given image it may exist in multiple "What" categories however.

For example an image could be strong in terms of it being a "Silhouette" but also being a "Tree" and so an image can appear in 1 or more subject categories depending on the main elements of the image.

What I'm aiming for here as an outcome is that you can find something of interest as easily as possible just by diving into the first category you see that best describes the kind of thing you are looking for!

While the new website was launched the shooting still continues with every opportunity and it has been a busy and productive April post-launch with 23 new images added to the galleries covering a wide range of subjects ranging from people to wildlife!

A new gallery type has been added, "Seascapes", to better reflect the increasing number of images that aren't the traditional "landscape" as such but are based on the sea and from this month onwards any image meeting that criteria will go into this gallery making it even easier to find something to taste!

Also featuring in the "Seascape" gallery for the first time is a photographic technique to give a much enhanced look and feel when something dynamic like waves or water movement is part of the image.

This technique essentially involves taking a series of images from the same location and over a set period of time and then merging them to create a single result with a sense of what the water was doing over that time.

It lends itself well to the gentler water movement situations where perhaps a single shot of a wave may not necessarily be that interesting and can even lead to some new insights not obvious with the traditional "single shot" approach, so with a little extra time and effort so much more comes out in the final result! 

I really like how it turns out and will add this method to my "bag of tricks" from now on and be sure to make the most of wherever I happen to be!

The "Rock" category has also grown into the 2nd gallery.. whenever a gallery reaches approximately 100 images a new gallery is created to keep image counts to that size to keep web page loading times fast and reasonable!

This update also comes with an awesome drone shot of a pod of dolphins that happened by as I was hovering off Tacking Point headland.. the light was right and they were heading in a good direction for the light so I didn't need to be asked twice to tag along and see what I might be able to get and was really happy that I got a shot with them spread out to make an interesting "panoramic" look from it.

I would like to do more dolphin shots but they are incredibly opportunistic situations so it just means I need to spend more time out and about to cross paths and be ready since they can come and go quickly!

I purchased a new professional grade tripod recently to replace a *very* much worn out one that had reached the end of its life and had such a worn thread it was barely able to hold onto the camera anymore!

I was at risk more than once of having it topple onto the ground, which for me, usually means nasty sharp rock or the water, not a good place for a camera to end up in either case so high time to replace!

Being a more professional grade tripod it comes with some neat features that will really assist me in securely, consistently and more rapidly achieve different compositions and I hope to bring you the fruits of that with images that will be even sharper and larger than possible before!  It's amazing what even a single gear upgrade can do to affect and improve the final result.

Portability of equipment is paramount to the style of photography I most like to pursue so getting something that is capable, robust and yet small and light as possible usually means it isn't the cheapest option but oh so worth if it means I can get deep into the rocks or wilderness to capture something of interest and bring it back to share with you!

I would like to give you a heads up on another new technique that is still very much a "work in progress" that I have high hopes for.. it is very computer intensive to assemble so it (may) be possible to get a final result in time for the May gallery update and next newsletter with any luck.

If it all works out, and it should with a well organised and executed workflow, then this technique will make it possible to create very high resolution images which can be printed to a massive size and still show great detail, and all from a camera sensor that is pretty modest, in fact it doesn't matter what camera it is at all.. now that's what I call flexibility and getting the most from any gear no matter what size or cost it is.

I'll wrap it up here for April so I hope you found this first newsletter and gallery update interesting and worth your time in reading!

With a much larger and enhanced website and shooting on an ever wider basis, I wanted to keep you informed with this newsletter approach so come the time that you wanted to go shopping for original imagery you know exactly where to come if you remembered seeing something that appealed and if not that then hopefully a passing parade of always new images brings a smile to your day!

All this effort would come to mean nothing if it wasn't for your interest and purchases, so from the bottom of my heart **thank you** and I hope to continue to bring you a steady stream of some of the many marvellous things to be seen "out there" and from an ever widening circle.

Below the signature are links to active Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channels so you can hop on there and give a like or a follow to get an extra helping and up to the minute happenings!

..and don't forget if you've received this as a once-off and want to read future gallery update newsletters just go to https://www.roving-eye.com/whatsnew to sign up!

'Till then stay safe and enjoy life and all its blessings!