Slde Show or Slider? That was the question and a slide show on the front page of the website just didn't have the wow factor.
The container it sat in was always too large resulting in wasted space above and below and tweaking the CSS did not resolve the problem.

Weebly offer a slider with their Pro account and give you the tools to put one on you site but what they don't tell you is free users can have one as well, you just do not get the tools to do it so have to figure out the HTML and CSS yourself.
Well the good news for me is I figured it out and have changed my slide show to a 1020 x 400px full page width slider. What a difference it makes the wasted space above and below is gone resulting in a much cleaner look with the website logo and the slider filling the screen.
It is not all good news though, the slide show allowed you to link every photograph to another page on the website my buy now page for example. The slider does not appear to have that option available or maybe you know a way of doing this?

For now I am happy and have learn't a bit more about CSS and HTML which not so long ago was like an alien language but is now starting to make some sense, it is lucky that I always think "if there is a will there is always a way" to do these these things.

Providing a sitemap to Google has been another big tick in the box so they can better index My website. This was another feature that is not plainly obvious in Weebly, reading on Google Webmaster Tools about how I should provide one but having no idea how to do this it sat on the backburner not forgotten but in the pile labelled "How the He... do I do this".
Luckily whilst researching the slider I happened to find a page telling me that every Weebly site has a sitemap and you just have to know the magic words to get it. If you want to know those words you had better send me a message.

If you read this and visits My website, please let me know by way of a comment to this post how long the front page takes to load, with my slow connection it is hard to judge the speed.

ManateeVoyager.
April 2013

A discussion in a forum got me thinking about style, what it is, how it evolves and what shapes its development to the point that other people can recognise your work from the style of the photograph. There is a guy over on Fine Art America (FAA) who takes photos of old barber shops, chemists and lately firemen and hand paints over them to the extent that when you see a picture you just know it is his work, it is so unique. It is his style and his alone his name is Mike Savad. Then there is Betty Larue the lady who started the thread at Photo4me on style, she works with textures and again has a well defined style to her work soft tones and expertly blended textures makes her work stand out from the crowd.

What defines your style? I guess today in the digital age there are many factors that can and do shape your style. Maybe it starts with the type of camera you use, your favourite lens the one you always seem to have on the camera not the bag load you always carry with you but never seem to use. The big wide angle or long telephoto instantly defines the photograph with either an endless or a very narrow depth of field and field of vision. The type of photographs you take, people pictures, nature, landscape, action, macro etc and how you process them all define who you are and your style.

It is in most cases a subconscious thing done without thinking, fine tuned over many years without you even realising you are doing it. I say most cases because there are occasions when a certain style is how you may want to be recognised for, so there is a conscious effort to do things a certain ways to achieve a desired result, is this wrong of course not, it is your chosen style.

For those who say they do not have a style, well maybe it just has not developed enough yet to be recognisable but don't worry it is there just waiting to emerge like a flower in the springtime it just needs a bit more time to develop but it will emerge eventually.

Yesterday I decided to have an afternoon off from building my Website and do a piece of photo editing,
The lifeboat station is a great subject and I have been looking for an image to give a 3D look to for a while, but nothing in my portfolio really looked right.

First I created a duplicate layer and converted it to black and white to give it a more dramatic look. Next by the use of a layer mask I revealed the colour beneath in areas of the photo by painting the mask on at various opacity settings from 100% for the building itself down to 12% when working on the piles. Next  I applied a radial blur to the black and white layer to give the zoom effect and make the building itself seem to pop out the front of the photo.

Lastly I added a layer mask to the radial blur adjustment layer to decrease the effect around a few of the piles to give the building something to stand on so to speak.

Click on either photo to view a larger photo.

All comments appreciated good or bad, thanks for taking the time to look

ManateeVoyager
April 20134

New Gallery Added    Architecture Photography

Architecture you will either love it or hate it because it is art in its most visible form. In some parts of the world they build boxes which are ugly to the eye but serve a purpose within their walls, Others embrace the style of the architect and build things of beauty.
The World is full of impressive architecture some old with blocks of stone chiseled by hand, others are modern and have facades of steel and glass in each there is beauty the curve of the arch, the detail, the reflective qualities, the textures, the strong lines.
The impressive detailing of the blocks of stone and the reflective beauty of the modern glass facades.live side by side both in the real world and in my photography gallery of architectural photographs. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have creating these photographs

The work continues with major changes to the look and feel of the website. I have designed a new pattern which I have used to create a textured background which has given the website a more classy look.
Each top level page has also been redesigned with a different header photograph for each page.

I'm still working hard on my new website it is now turning into a labour of love and taking a lot of time. But I think it is coming together now,

I have introduced a page for PS tutorials and some PS Actions to download. More to come as and when I get the time.

I now have a guestbook so if you drop by be sure to leave an entry so I know you have been and if you could like the site that would be great as well

ManateeVoyager
4/8/2013

There are days you stand in the cockpit of the boat and look at the sky and know that bad weather is on its way. The first sign of a weather front moving in is the arrival of the Cirrus cloud, those wispy high level clouds made of ice crystals which tells you that in the next 12 - 24 hours there will be a change in the weather usually for the worse at this time of year. But on the plus side those wispy clouds are a photographers dream.

So the bag was packed and we were on the train down the coast 4 stops to the little fishing town of Fuzeta, Algarve, Portugal. A place I have passed many times and wondered what might be there, but the train station does not inspire one to get off the train. Our 5 year old Rough Guide to Portugal says it is a small village on a river with a even smaller port, a little beach on the Ria Formosa, a campsite and a ferry service to Ilha Armona. A place frequented by backbackers in the summer months, with little acommodation for tourists. A place the Tourist explosion on the Algarve has all but passed by.

What You will find is a delightful unspoiled by modern development little fishing town, with enough photo opportunities to keep a keen photographer very happy and today we had those clouds as a backdrop to every photograph. The photo with this post is the lifeboat station at low tide, standing on concrete piers it is a building showing the economic plight in this part of europe with years of neglect. Hopefully the lifeboat inside is in better condition.

The photographs from the Fuzeta shoot will be posted over the coming days and believe me there are some stunning landscapes.  Fuzeta Gallery

So a big thankyou to the cloud gods for making it such a great day and yes the weather did change the rain arrived during the night....

ManateeVoyager
April 3rd 2013