Presets, Presets, Presets!

Presets, Presets, Presets! Finding Your Personal Style: Why Bipolar Management Is Like a Lightroom Preset We talk a lot about “finding our style,” whether it’s in the clothes we wear, the way we edit our photos, or how we navigate the world. But when you’re living with bipolar disorder, “style” takes on a different meaning. It isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about finding a sustainable way to exist. I’ve realized there’s a massive parallel between the way we use digital presets to find an artistic voice and the way we use clinical frameworks to find personal stability. The Baseline: The “One-Click” Starting Point When you first start editing photos, you usually reach for a preset. It’s a shortcut to a “good” result. You apply it because the raw image feels unrefined—maybe even overwhelming. In the world of bipolar disorder, this is your clinical foundation. It’s the medication, the basic routine, and the advice from doctors. It’s a “clinical preset” designed to keep the colors from becoming too garish (mania) or the exposure from dropping into total darkness (depression). Let me be super candid, the medication changed my life for the better, but it’s not the be-all-and-end-all, you’ve still got to dial in other areas of your life, just like editing your images.  It’s necessary, but it’s just the beginning. BeforeAfter The Trap of the Default Setting If you apply the same preset to every photo without looking, you get a mess. Some images come out overblown; others have the shadows “crushed” until all detail is lost. The danger is the same in life. If we rely only on the default settings provided by others, we lose our nuance. The “Clinical” Trap: Expecting a single strategy to work for every mood. The “Style” Trap: Letting a filter do the work instead of your own eye. Take this image of the woodland scene (left) – my Golden Hour woodland preset is great for pulling colour through, but in this image it still needs some desaturation to give it that natural look. To truly find your style, you have to move past the one-click solution. Fine-Tuning: Moving the Sliders The magic happens when you stop clicking and start sliding. Finding your personal style is the art of deliberate adjustment. Saturation vs. Vibrance: In photo editing, I might drop the saturation but boost the vibrance. It keeps the “image” of my life lively without letting it get “loud” or manic. Texture and Shadows: We’re often told to eliminate the “lows.” But in editing, shadows provide depth. The goal isn’t to erase the dark parts of our experience, but to make sure those shadows have texture and detail rather than being a black void of depression. How to Reverse-Engineer Your “Why” Eventually, you stop asking what preset to use and start asking why you like a certain look. That’s when your photos (and life) can really take off in my opinion. Do you like high contrast because you crave intensity? Do you like soft tones because you need calm? By understanding the “why” behind your sliders—whether it’s your social rhythm, your work-life balance, or your creative output—you learn to recreate your “style” even when the environment changes. The Bottom Line: You Are the Editor A preset is a map, not the territory. Whether you’re tweaking a photo or managing a mood disorder, the goal is the same: use the tools to bring out the most honest version of yourself. You aren’t forcing your life to fit a “clinical preset”; you are using those tools to find the settings that make you feel most like you. Shop the Print Collection Back to Blog Posts Subscribe for new posts and exclusive prints! * indicates required First Name Last Name Email Address * /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Re-Woodworking: Revisiting My Practice

Re-Woodworking: Revisiting Fundamental Practice Re-Woodworking: A Terrible Pun for a Great Practice Growing up, I had some key sporting hobbies and was actually quite good at them. As part of those sports, practicing and refining the fundamentals was a vital part of improving. Interestingly, photography is no different, and neither is mental health and wellbeing. Fundamental Practice is key to survival! So, last week I revisited some older woodland photographs that I took earlier in the year. It was a bit of “Re-Woodworking,” if you will excuse my terrible attempt at a pun! These are all shots of ordinary, local places that have grown in meaning for me over the past few years. From Snapshots to Intentional Art When I originally processed these images, they were well and truly “taken.” However, I now consider them “made.” My goal is to invite the viewer to travel into the frame rather than bouncing around trying to find what to look at. These are no longer just snapshots; instead, they have a clear intention. As I’ve mentioned before, art is subjective and our creative paths are unique. Even so, I take this intentionality as a sign that my technical skills have improved compared to even six months ago. An example might be this shot of a woodland path winding gently through dense pine trees. I walk this path almost every day, and especially when it’s nice weather! It has become unremarkable to me because of my near-daily visits, but objectively it is a beautiful spot. I tried here, to use the path as a sort of leading line into the photograph, through the bridge and off to the horizon line. I intentionally framed the picture so the end of the path can’t be seen to inject a little bit of mystery!   Technical Specs: Shot on Canon EOS R8 14-35mm F4 USM L 1/400 sec at f9.0 and ISO 1600 The Parallel of Wellbeing In the context of mental health, revisiting and sharpening your fundamentals can be life-changing. For instance, getting your grounding practices well-drilled or having a routine to stimulate the senses provides a necessary safety net. I feel a deep parallel between my mental wellbeing and these images. The glass-pooled reflections of Waggoners Wells remind me of times when my mood slips away, and I can’t tell which way is up. My original edit (which I am too embarrassed to show here…) was HIGHLY saturated and the colours looked unnatural – far too orange and the green – yuck. Looked like alien vomit. Now we can hopefully agree that the colours are far more natural, and actually compared to a reference image taken on my phone at the time, the colours are closely representative of what I actually saw on the day.  Other processes were simplified in the edit too – far less local masking to achieve subtle but impactful points of interest in the image. For example, the dehazing of the bottom edge foreground so you can see into the well, and the hazing at the top edge to remove distracting sky elements. Overall, pretty pleased with this one as I felt I really went back to my fundamental practice of keeping things simple!    Technical Specs: Shot on Canon EOS R8 28-70mm F2.8 IS STM 1/160 sec at F5.0 and ISO 2500  Similarly, the ominous tree feels like a point of no return, directing me to go back the way I came. Thankfully, the pathways bathed in light represent the way through the trees to normality. This is sometimes what it feels like living with Bipolar 2 – an abrupt stopping when you hit the low (and high) point and start to bounce back!   Technical Specs: Shot on Canon EOS R8 14-35mm F4 USM L 1/320 sec at f8.0 and ISO 1250 Final Thoughts Much like the waters of the well, photography can be deeply reflective if you give it a chance – especially when you revisit and don’t stray too far from your fundamental practice. Unfortunately, this is a skill many are losing thanks to smartphones and instant media. My brain, my self-esteem, and I are so grateful for this craft. It has been truly transformative for my wellbeing, and I hope it is for you too. Much love, The Bipolar Photographer x P.S. if you like any of the photos in this post, why don’t you check out my Fine Art Print Shop. You can even browse other blog posts for more inspiration! Subscribe for new posts and exclusive prints! * indicates required First Name Last Name Email Address * /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */

Ashford Hangers National Nature Reserve

Ashford Hangers National Nature Reserve Join me on a short ramble across the sunrise-drenched Ashford Hangers NNR! A Sunrise Waterfall Walk for Wellbeing I don’t know about you, but sometimes I like to wake up early on a sunny weekend morning. Something about getting up early on the weekend feels naughty – like you shouldn’t be rising and instead should be lounging in bed. After all, you can’t do that during the week when you’re working right? Well what about if your body just wakes up even earlier than early?  I had planned on this particular weekend to wake up early and go to the Ashford Hangers National Nature Reserve to take some photographs of a the largest local “waterfall” (which turned out to be a chute of water coming out of a wall on private property), but sadly that wasn’t meant to be. Despite my suspicions as I tucked myself into bed the night before, knowing that the “waterfall” look like a disappointment, I snuggled on down with my cat Gary and went to bed filled with thoughts of the epic photos I could make in the morning… Roll on 5am and my body wakes me up – more specifically my brain. I heard a bang coming from somewhere in my house, only to feel too much guilt for not checking it out, so I got up and hazily walked around my house, figuring that if I was being robbed, I may as well get murdered too because I was asleep and nothing was going to wake me up at this time! That said, I was greeted by the pitter-patter of Gary’s feet and he guided me back to the bed for an early morning snuggle. By this point though, I was well and truly awake, so after a quick bit of companionship, I rose and got ready (EXTRA EARLY) to head off to Ashford Hangers National Nature Reserve near Petersfield, Hampshire – not too far from where I live. Climbing Down Into The Valley… That naughty feeling hit me again as I pulled into a layby at the top of the reserve, peering over the edge of a sheer drop on the other edge of some catkin-laden shrubs. The sun was blazing through the valley below, illuminating everything in its path all the way up the banks of gnarled trees barely touched by people in places. As I scrambled across the road and up an embankment to get a better view, I turned around and once again got that naughty feeling – I felt like the only person in the world seeing this view right now, and it felt exhilarating! I spent some time faffing, some time making the pictures you see above, and then some more faffing. I gradually made my way down from the top of the nature reserve until I came upon this old church – no idea of the name of the village; there didn’t seem to be anything here but the church, a farm out-building, and a small brick cottage farmhouse. The light felt drinkable it was that smooth! Photographing churches seems to be an accident that keeps happening to me – funny for a man who isn’t the slightest bit Christian! In fact, I often feel like I’d more likely be struck down if I entered a church on account of my tendency to believe more in nature than the supernatural. In a way, I suppose that’s the contrast I didn’t know I needed from this little ramble out. Often when my mental health is struggling, it’s next to impossible to get out and about to do things like exercise, or anything goal-related really. Since getting my diagnosis though, I’ve been imbued with that little bit of motivation to get started, and really that’s exactly what I needed to get up and make the most of the opportunities that Ashford Hangers afforded me that day. And since then, doing this trip has motivated me to do all sorts, including learning how to build this site! So i think that’s the message – take a couple of steps at a time; baby steps if you need it, then just aim to go a little further next time… Until next time, The Bipolar Photographer! P.S. I may have a few prints in my Fine Art Print Shop, if you’ve spotted any images that you like here! https://youtu.be/E34R8bvG4CU Scroll To Top Subscribe for new posts and exclusive prints! * indicates required First Name Last Name Email Address * /* real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups */