Web Design & Web Hosting

I have a Web site design and hosting business offering simple, low cost Web site design using either static html pages or dynamic pages using the Joomla! CMS (content management system). Joomla CMS provides the facility for customers to update their own site without the need for any technical knowledge or web design skills.

For the technically minded, the server is: Apache Server running on Linux with PHP and MySQL. The server itself is located in Texas where I have a business partner. We have been operating this current service for nearly six years.

I will put some links to sample sites here soon!

For further information contact me.

Image Manipulation

Creating graphics and manipulating images in Adobe PhotoShop is a skill I've developed over the past few years, partly as a hobby and partly as a business. Manipulating images can range from making minor colour adjustments, to major restructuring of an image.

Perhaps the most common use of PhotoShop is the retouching of images for the fashion and glamour industries. Almost without exception, images we encounter of models and celebrities in magazines and advertisements have been "airbrushed" in PhotoShop. Below is an example of one I have done. Place your mouse over the image to see the original...

The "touch-up" example above was a relatively quick, easy task. Other work I have done recently include some fantasy art images for a model whose hobby is taking part in the Internet-based roll-play game World of Warcraft. She asked if I could take pictures of her and turn them into fantasy art images of her portayed as the Elven (and other) characters from the game.

The image on the left has been cropped (the full image contains nudity) and resized for displaying on this page. Running your mouse over the image will reveal the original. The manipulated image is an interpretation of a "Night Elf" from the game.

This kind of image manipulation can take up to several hours as it involves the use of multiple layers and effects, while some elements of the image have to be created by drawing them or importing parts of other images and restructuring them to achieve the desired effect.

Another useful application for PhotoShop image manipulation is for use in sponsorship presentations. For example, a young driver recently asked me if I could add a company's logo to his car for exactly that purpose.

If you place your mouse on the image on the right, you'll see the original image, minus the Jewson logo on the bonnet. This image has also been resized for use on this page (the proper image is much larger) and doesn't best demonstrate the effect. In the larger version of the image the logo actually looks as though it really was on the car when the photograph was taken. To acheive this I used various effects to ensure the logo followed the contours of the car's bonnet and that highlights and shadows from the original were retained on top of the logo in the completed manipulation.

For the best results the original image should be as large as possible. It can be resized to the desired dimensions later. Each job requires pricing individually as the time it takes depends on a number of factors. As a rough guide, the three images on this page took 30 minutes, 3 hours and 45 minutes respectively (in the order they are shown) and the rate is £35 p/hour. If you are interested in having an image manipulated either call me on 07800 715450 or drop me an This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  with the details, (attaching the image up to up to approx. 3000 x 2000 pixels, 1 - 2 Mb if possible).

To find out about a recent job I've done...