I was asked by a wholesaler of wedding dresses to photograph some new creations for the 2011 season. The shoot was near Guildford and as we had previously shot the dresses on mannequins in the studio (see previous post) it was decided to use models for the shoot and to photograph outside. The brief was to add a fashion element to the imagery and produce some dynamic pictures for a major exhibition and also to provide the pictures for their brochures and publicity. Here are a couple of favourites from the session.
I was asked by Village Brides, a wedding dress and accessories business based near Reading in Berkshire to photograph their collection of dresses for the 2011 season. This is part one of the shoot which took place at their premises in Spencers Wood. We used a large empty room adjacent to the showroom to set up a a studio backdrop. It was decided to have a simple high key feel to the images so a white background was used which was deliberately underlit and under exposed to create a pale grey background to provide differentiation between it and the dresses.
Sometimes it’s impractical to visit my studio depending on the products that need photographing. It’s reassuring to know that we can visit and set up nearly every kind of photographic studio configuration on location at your business premises or other location.
The above image shows our 2/3 light setup with a 9ft Colorama background. The finished image is show below.
Business portrait photography is probably the most common type of photographic service I am asked to do. Recently I was booked by GE Energy in Bracknell, Berkshire to produce some simple shots of their staff for inclusion on the GE Energy website.
To keep a light, flexible feel to the pictures we used an off white background which can give a slightly less stark look than a pure white backdrop. It also has the advantage that white clothing doesn’t blend as much with the background and retains a little separation.
Quite often due the availability of personnel, we are working to a tight timescale. In this case we had around 45 seconds per person (!) which isn’t a lot of time to shoot a photographic portrait. One thing we always do is make sure everything is set up before the subject arrives. Lighting and camera settings are standardised so the time taken is minimised. Another little time saver is a piece of tape on the floor showing our subjects exactly where to stand.
These measures ensure that we can shoot a significant amount of headshots for your website, brochure or other marketing materials in a surprisingly short time. If you have a project in mind, please drop us a line for further details.
I was asked to photograph these cupcakes with a simple high-key setup which gives a lot of flexibility for brochures, packaging and website design. The idea behind a high-key studio lighting setup is to flood the subject with light so it appears to float in midair. Sometimes this doesn’t look quite right so another alternative is to do as I have done here and used a reflective surface to mirror the subject a little and to provide a visual ‘anchor’.
The lighting setup for this simple high key pack shot
Depending on what industry you are in, an informal studio portrait is ideal for website use. The friendly and relaxed nature of the image is ideal for creating a welcoming impression. These pictures are from Naava’s studio session. I had photographed Naava before a few years ago and her pictures were in need of updating. Naava is a birthing specialist and runs the Fertility Support Company.
A relaxed and approachable impression was essential to the feel of the pictures. Here’s a few favourite images from the portrait session.
