Real people, real moments, real stories; capturing life's most precious moments.Welcome to my blog - hopefully I've updated it recently. If not, it's probably because I'm too busy - sorry! What a difference the light makesLast Saturday I took some pictures of Mayella, who is in the process of building a new website for her healing business. The pictures had to be natural looking, show Mayella's spirit and sense of fun and also, of course, to make her look good! We went to Lacock as I know the good spots for background and light as I teach portrait photography there with Lacock Photography. For this first picture I got Mayella to turn her face towards the light; the shading on her cheek gives good definition and helps to narrow the face. The shade of a tree takes away light from above.
We then moved into the open and I put the sun behind Mayella. To give sparkle to her eyes I shot through a metallised reflector to light the face.
What a different shot! The light is softer and more even which is good for more mature subjects. The sun makes the hair appear white. The background is far enough way to make it appear soft and diffused. The reflector is an important part of getting the light right, but you could use anything that reflects light back into the face - even a white t-shirt on the photographer would help! For this next shot we walked down to the stream in Lacock and had a little play. Hands are often difficult to photograph well - what do you do with them?! Leaning against something helps, especially if your model also leans towards the camera which makes for a flattering picture.
On our way back to the car we walked up an alleyway at the top of the village and stopped by the gate for a picture. The light here was good, but not quite where I wanted it, so I asked Mayella to look towards the light and laugh hysterically - it sounds ridiculous, but you have to wait until a natural laugh takes over - try it! I moved Mayella around so the background bushes would frame her. The lighter background gives depth to the image.
Bath Botanical Gardens weddingLast Friday I photographed a wedding in Bath Botanical Gardens. I was really looking forward to this wedding as the location is fabulous - so luxurious, verdant and romantic! However, the day started with the rain just pouring down. With the promise of a free lunch I persuaded my sister to come along to be my umbrella holder and we arrived with 4 white golf umbrellas for the wedding party photography and 4 multi coloured umbrellas that I borrowed to try and get guests to come outside for photographs. As soon as Leilai arrived just before 1, the sun came out and it stayed out the whole time I was there - it was the most perfect afternoon!
As the weather was so beautiful the drinks were served outside and there was plenty of opportunity to get pictures of the guests enjoying themselves and the lovely surroundings.
I plan to start the group pictures shortly after everyone has had a drink, but am always ready to jump in and take any pictures that the bride wants!
I love taking the confetti throwing pictures - we organise 2 lines of guests and ask the bride and groom to walk through, with guests throwing the confetti up in the air and not, hopefully, straight at them.
I always make sure there is time to take the bride and groom away for a few relaxed, posed pictures and we were spoilt for choice in the gardens.
I love taking "walking away" pictures with the couple looking at each other. Getting movement in the dress always looks amazing and the connection between the couple is important.
Such a lovely couple and such a lovely location, especially when the weather is good! Rainy day photographyWhen it rains, most of us put our cameras away and hide from the wet weather. I know I miss many opportunities because I don't want to get the camera wet and/or I don't think pictures will look good. But everyone has pictures of lovely sunny days, blue skies and fluffy clouds - let's try and do something different! On our holiday in Denmark last recently we had the lovely sunny weather with fluffy clouds, and I took lots of pictures of family members socialising and playing.
But some of the clouds were a little darker and heavier and brought some heavy downpours and we got caught in a heavy shower; there wasn't time to get Isla out of her pushchair so Jane made sure the umbrella stayed over her and the pushchair. The older children came and hid under the umbrella because it was exciting and they were all so happy... apart maybe from Jane!
I slowed down the shutter speed to make the rain trails show up and took several pictures of the hilarity of a bit of rain! Easy natural light photographyLast weekend I was taking pictures of Kate and George and little 6 month old Jonah. With it being August the light is strong outside so to make sure that Jonah (and his parents!) were able to comfortably open their eyes, I positioned them on a chair by an open doorway, to get some lovely directional light. This was one of the resulting pictures:
Whilst the lovely warm colours of the interiors are quite friendly feeling I think they were too distracting. One way around this is to turn the picture into B&W:
I was still not happy with the distracting background; whilst I wanted an informal picture using natural light I wanted a bit more focus on the baby, so I used my white pop up background and propped it up behind Jonah and Kate:
Try to experiment with window light in your home - the light can be amazing!
Why I love this pictureGood wedding photographs are triggers for bringing back so many memories from your wedding day; this wedding was very much a DIY wedding - with the bride working so hard in the months leading up to the wedding making dresses and decorations and organising lots of games for the reception. The bride's dress was made from old tablecloths found in charity shops - it was a work of art! On the day the weather was perfect and it was such a fun, joyful wedding. I love this picture as it shows the alternative nature of the bride! Jodie and Adam love their jumping pictures, so of course we had to do one with the bridesmaids. I chose this location, with the sun behind, so that the girls could open their eyes. The dark green hedge means that their dresses show up really well. And I love the streams of sunlight coming through - perfect!
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