My New Column in the Burbage Advertiser

This year I've joined up with The Advertiser and starting from last month I'll contributing with a regular column. Here I will be providing simple tips and tricks to help the average person improve their personal photography. Topics will include Understanding Apertures (f-stops), White Balance, Improving Your Exposures (when the camera can't quite get it right) and so much more.

Here is the first tip from the March issue on finding good light for taking portraits. And by portraits this doesn't need to mean anything formal. Looking out for good light is useful even if you just want to take a couple of quick snaps of your kids playing in the garden or out at the park. This can be useful when on holiday with family or friends. All too often I see photos on Facebook that could be improved if just a little thought was taken before taking the photo.

If there is something specific you'd like to learn about then please get in touch and let me know and I will do my best to cover it in an upcoming issue.

Comments

Fine Art Portraits of a Beautiful Young Girl

So this is really becoming my thing lately. I am having so much fun working with children individually where I can direct and interact in ways that bring the best out of my subject. This has certainly become a process now of creating rather than taking photographs. And its what I have always wanted to be, a portrait artist rather than a photographer. I cannot put into words fully just how rewarding this is. For each of these shoots (as with nearly all of my shoots) we begin with a consultation where we discuss what we would like to achieve in the shoot. Here we will consider the type of clothing and any possible props. We will look at both the clients clothes and my ever growing collection so we can pick what will work best. In all circumstances we are heavily guided by what the child in the portraits wants to wear as I see this as vitally important. If he or she is uncomfortable its going to show and the portraits won't work. But most are happy to play dressups and wear a com

Family Portraits with Fine Art Flair

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vani

Portraits Even a Teenager Boy Loves

Finally I've had the opportunity to photograph a young man in my studio again. And funnily enough this was the second time that week which is absolutely superb. In both cases these young men were just as enthusiastic to be involved as I was, which is something I don't often get when I'm working with very young children, my usual subjects. With young children I find my energy in their cuteness. But with young adults I get energy from their excitement over how the portraits are working out. I get such a buzz from the experience and that can keep me going for hours, often editing the photos straight after the shoot for hours more. Shoots for teenagers is something I've been wanting to focus on for some time. Its not something that I often get asked for though unfortunately. It tends to be parents of very young children who want to capture moments that are slipping through their fingers at lightening speed. Maybe its teenage moodiness that means these moments don&

8 Unique Portrait Ideas for your Teenager

Teen portraits are becoming a thing. Much like Prom has reached this side of the water, the ever popular teenage portrait industry that has swept across North America is coming to the UK too. And why not? This is an important milestone in our children's lives. I for one want to capture this time in my child's life and I suspect I'm not alone here. They have strong personalities, they have hobbies and interests worth documenting and they might not be living at home for much longer. In this blog post I am sharing some of the teen portraits I've created in recent years to hopefully inspire families with kids of this age to come in and have some done for themselves. The possibilities with this age group are so vast I can't help get a little excited for each shoot I do. 1. Dance Lots of people are involved in dance or performing arts of some sort and for those involved, creating something that relates to their interests will provide a lasting memory and valuab

My Memorable Week with Christina by Cerys Cross

Hi, my name is Cerys and I spent the week with Christina on work experience. I am a student at John Cleveland College and we had the opportunity to work with someone to gain experience for the ‘real world’. I chose Christina, as photography really interests me and I intend developing my skills. Throughout the week I have learnt many new techniques and skills, such as, studio lighting, using natural light, how my camera works, Photoshop and more. This interested me and I was always intrigued to learn more. To begin the week, Ellie and I captured portraits of each other. These weren’t of very high quality, as we didn’t have much skill in this field. Fortunately, Christina educated us and taught us how to position different lights, reflectors and backgrounds. This opened our eyes to new ideas and we became more confident. Once we felt we had sufficient amount of photos, Ellie and I imported them all onto the computer where we chose our favourite photographs. We were lucky enough

Christina Lauder Portraits

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