Slideshow for the iPad

I have spoken before about how useful the iPad is as a sales tool and I now have several clients using these as sales presenters. I have just created a slideshow of commercial photography to show on the iPad. I thought about grouping exteriors, interiors, etc. but eventually decided just to mix a selection of shots to give a "feel" for the type of work I do. I created it at 720p and the quality on the iPad is great. The Youtube version below does not look so good as the iPad but if you choose 720p, it will give a good idea.

I have not "blogged" much recently as I have been so busy but I have a lot of draft posts with recent work prepared so all being well there will be a new post everyday next week. I love to get feedback on any of the posts so any comments will be appreciated.

Fund raising night for Maggies at Malmaison

After being at Deeside Golf Club, Colin was going to Malmaison on Queens Road for a champagne and canapé evening to promote the Maggies appeal. The evening hosted by BBC sports commentator, Rob McLean heard Colin Montgomerie and Colin Welsh (Chairman of the appeal committee)  explain why a Maggies centre is so important for Aberdeen. Click here to see how much their centres can help suffers and their families, and click here for more information on Monty’s Maggie’s appeal.

The committee had kindly invited Sandra and I as guests. When I got my invitation, I noticed that there were 10 raffle prizes of a photograph of Colin with the Ryder cup. I accepted the invitation and emailed asking if they had arranged the photography and offered to do this free of charge, and my offer was accepted. Malmaison Set up a room for the photography and all the prize winners came up and got their photograph taken and they will get a print sent to them. The photograph above is of Colin and Andy Roger, the General Manager of Malmaison in Aberdeen. Malmaison and Andy have been great supporters of the appeal and last year Andy and a team of  Mal staff walked 164 miles covering both the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way. Click here to read more.
 

Sandra was with me, and took the opportunity to get her photograph with Colin and the Ryder cup.

Click here to see all the prize winners and shots of the famous Ryder Cup.

Colin Montgomerie forum for Deeside junior members

Last Thursday, Colin Montgomeris was back at Deeside Golf Club with the Ryder Cup. He had kindly agreed to have a question and answer session for the junior members at Deeside Golf club. Colin established a relationship with Deeside last year when there was a special tournament at Deeside with Colin to raise funds for the Maggies appeal. Click here to find out about the event and the appeal.

The junior members had some great questions and Colin is very articulate and gave them a great insight into his amazing golfing career. Doug Watson, the club captain, made a very good job of hosting the session and finished up with a rapid fire series of either or questions so all the juniors and members present could find out more about "Colin, the man, as well as the golfer"

After the Q and A session, all the children and a few of the members there lined up to have their photograph taken with Colin and the Ryder Cup. When Lucinda, his assistant saw the number in the queue, she said it would be impossible as he was on a tight schedule but we started and went very quickly and took 64 photographs in well under 10 minutes. Colin was very complementary about how quickly it was done and although I would have liked longer, at least everyone got their photograph taken. I had a background set up which was only big enough for a tight shot of 2 people so Lukas had a lot of Photoshop work to do to "add background" where required. I have already had some very positive comments about the images (see below) which we are selling on-line with 50% of the sales going to the Maggies appeal.

Click here to view all the images.

Good Morning Neil,

The photos from the Colin Montgomery Juniors session at Deeside GC are superb.
……
Would you let me know sizes and prices please? I’ll probably go for standard sizes for all of them apart from the threeshot (NWG2816) which we’d like enlarged – it’s brilliant.

Many thanks, Kirstin

Kirstin Gove, Communications & Media Training Manager
AVC Media Enterprises

Harley and Friends

David had a group of 7 girls in the studio a few weeks ago. Harley wanted a portrait of her friends before leaving for Spain. David had the music on and there was lots of laughter coming from the studio and the girls had great fun.

Our Studio is big enough for a group of 7 but on a 12 ft background, it can feel "claustrophobic" keeping a group contained to the background. Before the sitting, David and I spent some time chatting about the group shots and looked at the work of Babak, a photographer in Toronto. He had a nice group that we both liked but when we studied it, we realised that it had been created by combining individual shots. David tried this out with the girls and then combined the 7 shots using Photoshop to create a nice group with the advantage of choosing the best shot of each girl.

 Click here to read more!

Portrait of Miller Giles

Two weeks ago, David was talking to me about a portrait sitting where the little boy was not at his best so he arranged a second sitting and he got much better shots, the second time round. I did not realise until the viewing that the sitting was for Wendy and Bruce, who’s wedding I photographed in 2007. (Click here to see their album).

At the viewing there were several shots of Miller that Wendy and Bruce liked so instead of one large portrait, David suggested 3 box frames to hang together. and prepared a visual to show how this would look. Wendy and Bruce decided to go with this idea and less than a week later, the box frames were ready to collect.

They looked fantastic. The very narrow black moulding against the black background gives a very minimalistic look but the 2 inch deep moulding gives the depth and looks great without distracting from the image. As the shots were full frame, a smaller size was more appropriate but three of them together will create a very impressive wall display.

The day after the portraits had been collected, David got a nice email from Wendy and Bruce – see below

Good morning David,

Just a quick e-mail to let you know that we are delighted with the
pictures. They look amazing.

Thanks again.

Bruce & Wendy

We are currently working on a product brochure that we will give to all clients so they can see all the different presentation ideas there are – canvasses, box frames, acrylics, metal prints, beautiful frames, etc. If we can arrange it, we will photograph how our clients use our images in their homes, and possibly we will include the portraits of Miller on Bruce and Wendy’s wall.

Photography for re-branding

Last week, I had photographs to take at the Holiday Inn Express in Chapel Street after a recent re-brand from Express by Holiday Inn to Holiday Inn Express. The hotel has been upgraded with new signs, new flat screen TV’s in the bedrooms, and many other upgrades. I have photographed the hotel several times but obviously the recent changes meant new images were required.

With the Brentwood Hotel being photographed last week, and photography booked for the Bauhaus, and more shots at the Brentwood for later this week, I am spending a lot of my time in hotels.

Using Photoshop to create shots

This is an example of an everyday request. At Ted and Kathleen’s wedding on the 27th November, I took lots of requested group shots and all the ones listed by Ted and Kathleen, but not every option can always be covered. The couple who are either side of the Bride and Groom, in the larger group shot above above, wanted a shot of just themselves with Ted and Kathleen. It was relatively easy to crop the group of 4 as an upright shot and we could have just went close to the shoulders and "cloned" out anything noticeable. However by finding another similar shot where the fireplace can be seen, Lukas was able to "put back" the fireplace by combining the shot on the inset.

The end result is indistinguishable from a shot I might have taken. I often make the point that I like to do everything in the camera whenever possible but having Lukas, an exceptional Photoshop professional, as a key member of our team is a great asset. He is probably wondering why I am featuring such a "straightforward" task as he does this type of job and much more complicated ones everyday but I know this example will be useful to show clients what is involved.

The most important thing is that the client liked it – see the email received.

Thanks Neil,
That is absolutely brilliant. Be in touch after our holidays
Regards Ted & Kathy

Photography from a Helicopter

On Saturday morning, I had aerial shots to do of Dril-Quip at Stoneywood. I had arranged to hire a helicopter from HJS in Peterculter. It was David’s first time in a helicopter and with the door off and being up on a cold January morning, it will have been a memorable first flight. With the door off, it is not for anyone nervous of heights or flying. It was also very cold. David was behind a solid panel but I was facing open space where the door would be so had to wear a harness. We both had headsets and could communicate with each other and the pilot.

On the way to to Stoneywood, to set up our cameras and check exposure we took a few shots of Deeside Golf club and Stewart Milne’s very impressive house. 

Then we got to Dril-Quip which is in the flight path for the Airport which makes it difficult for photography. The light was quite good but it is almost impossible to not have any haze. However using Photoshop and increasing the blacks, contrast, and clarity, we can cut through the haze.

As we were close to the flight path, we were limited in where we could fly but we got a decent range of shots. The links to the Dril-Quip shots are here. 

aberdeenphoto.com stand

We have had a very busy two days at the wedding exhibition at the AECC and have around 60 couples who have asked for more information.

We had a draw with a prize of £500 off any wedding package and the winner was Gemma Smith who is getting married in November this year. We have decided to offer all other entrants £50 off any package if the booking is confirmed before the end of February. This combined with the fact we are holding off increasing our prices until 1st March makes our packages very good value. The price is fixed at the time of booking so if you book for next year (or even further ahead), you will paying 2009 prices in 2012!

We had a simple design for the stand which featured eight large framed prints, a display of recent testimonials, and some information about our offices and studio. Although I love black and white and some of the more "moody" images, I decided to go with shots with lots of colour and impact. I was surprised at how many people commented favourably on this style of image including two Grooms who were keen photographers and asked about my "fill flash" technique. At a wedding, there is a wide range of styles taken, particularly if it is a 2 photographer package but I used this style on the stand to hopefully give it impact.

This year the exhibition moved to the large arena at the Exhibition Centre and I think everyone agreed this was a better venue. The fashion show had seating for over 700 people. Before and after the fashion show they showed a slideshow of ours (see below) and a short film by Mark Stuart (Mark Stuart Films) which was excellent.

Wedding Exhibition this weekend

David and I have spent the last few days preparing for the wedding exhibition at the AECC this weekend. We had planned to use a single large print of 1.8m x 1m for each of our panels but the company printing them for us had a problem with their large format printer so we had to change our plans. I managed to buy 12 large 34 inch square gloss black frames with mounts and inner frames for 24×24 inch prints. We do not normally print square and I was surprised at how many images looked good cropped to a square format. I have chosen shots that have strong vibrant colours. Although I love black and white images, this is used by a lot of photographers and I want to showcase the kind of images I like which have a good balance between available light and flash.

 The exhibition at the AECC is by far the biggest and best wedding show in Aberdeen and if you are getting married it is well worth a visit. It is open from 10 – 5 on both Saturday and Sunday. We are stand A8 and I would be delighted to see you.