Skip to main content

Hinckley's Barnacles Restaurant Photographed by Christina Lauder

Again, more variety for me. Now this really is different and quite a lot of fun, for a change. Its basically just me, on my own, in an empty restaurant before the lunch crowd arrives. Barnacles Restaurant Bar & Bistro is a great restaurant owned by a lovely family and located just off the A5 in Hinckley, Leicestershire. I can highly recommend it. If you want more details please check out this link.


This may look like easy work and in some ways it is. What I find most difficult is positioning the camera on a tripod so that the obvious straight lines are running either perfectly horizontal or vertical as required. When photographing a room on an angle the horizontal lines won't be level but it looks better to find a vertical line to make perfectly parralel to the edge of the image. Without one line level it can result in an image that looks unnaturally wonky. If that were the case we'd likely find our attention goes more to trying to understand what we are seeing rather than appreciating the contents of the image.


This can be made more difficult when photographing wonky old buildings with lots of things in the way preventing a tripod from being positioned where it needs to be. Luckily we have software these days that have tools that enable us to correct lense issues (wide angle lenses will cause a bowing of the image putting curves into what should be straight lines) and we can adjust angles to make these straight lines run as they should.




This restaurant has lots of lovely light which our eyes can see very well. Unfortunately our cameras don't see quiet as well as our eyes. Which is where the job of a professional photographer comes in. I'm able to employ tools and techniques that can enable my camera to record what is necessary so that back at my computer I can use software that will merge multiple images to produce an image that most resembles the vision I had from memory of the day.







In some cases I used additional lights when I felt the dark side of the room was too dark in comparison to the bright side. This is where cameras have problems. Our eyes see detail in shadows much better than our cameras do. So adding a little light helps to show details in the shadows and balance out the light and dark.



The space in this restaurant was really interesting to photograph. I loved all the rooms, the different spaces and the natural light. Its a huge place but with so many small spaces it still feels really intimate, even having multiple spaces suitable for private dining. And the smells as I worked were killing me. It made me so hungry. Actually that's probably the most difficult part of the job for me. I love to eat and smelling nice food like that really got my appetite going. I'm not sure how I'm going to cope next time when they are having me photograph the food. Maybe my hayfever will have started by then and I won't be able to smell it.


Even though I'm predominately a portrait photographer, because I have a solid understanding of light and photographic software I can apply it to a variety of subjects. So I'll finish as I started, reminding you that I love variety and this career I've chosen is perfect for it. 

Again my number is 01455 611069 if you've got some photography that needs doing. Or send me an email using our contact for here.

Comments

dark matter said…
Greatt reading your blog

Popular posts from this blog

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

  Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe

5 Reasons you Should Consider Getting a Professional Headshot

Headshots, or profile pictures are becoming a requirement of so many tools we regularly use or reference today. From Facebook to Linked In, Instagram to Twitter and often any website that represents a company for which you work or own will have a place to include a photograph that is meant to show your audience who you are. And how you present yourself there will tell your audience so much about you. 1. A profile picture is your first opportunity for your audience to see you. Its often the first impression you make and we all know you only have one chance at a first impression. A professional photographer has the skills to show you in the best, most suitable way to give a great first impression. (These headshots were created for recruitment firm  Optima UK  who asked to have their logo placed behind them. I think it makes these headshots quite eye catching and they should do their job well.) 2. Using a professional to create your headshot will convey yo

I'm a Portrait Artist and Variety is the Spice of My Life

  I often admire the work of other photographers.  I'm always having a browse or spotting something interesting on Facebook or Pinterest.  Many of them have a very consistent style and subject, as is the case with many newborn photographers especially.  This has made me wonder if perhaps I'm not developing as a portrait artist as well as I could be.  We are taught early on within the realms of the photography world that we are to develop a distinct style and this of course must be clearly evident in any upper level qualifications panels we choose to submit.  However, when I look at my own work over each passing year I fail to see the same consistency.  I don't have a particular subject in which I specialise.  I can photograph anything from newborns to teenagers, toddlers to families and even the occasional male nude.  How can you put these together in an album and form a beautiful collection that I see many other photographers displaying so well.   

My Fellowship in Child Portraiture, Baby Photographer of the Year and All Things Convention Related

Its been a very busy year for me.  Hence the reason I've not been keeping this blog up to date. That's about to change though.  I anticipate this coming year to be even busier but I plan on getting a lot more organised and keeping on top of things like this.  For now though I'd like to tell you all about last week. I keep trying to think of some words to describe this past week and I keep coming back to 'I had the time of my life' and breaking into song in my head.  Apart from when my daughter was born I haven't had a better time in my life. This week was spent at the Societies Convention where in excess of 14 thousand photographers from around the world meet to take part in print competitions, submit qualification panels and join in on various classes and events. The week began as one of the most stressful of my life.  I've never felt nerves like it.  I'd just spent the best part of a year planning and preparing my 20 image panel to present to 5

Never Work With Children or Animals

Or so the saying goes. But I have to say that working with dogs has been so lovely. They have been almost entirely a dream to work with. I say almost entirely because we have had a few moments where a dog has needed to settle. And one moment where the dog had settled but one of my cats decided to have a look through the glass door which, as you can imagine, rather quickly unsettled the dog. Still, that didn't stop us from creating incredible work. In fact it was during that shoot with the cat instance when I created two of my favourite pieces, shown below. (It was while sitting on the couch here when he noticed the cat peering through the curtain) I don't know if I've just been lucky or all dogs are just easy to work with. I photographed a french bull dog puppy and I thought that would be tough as he hadn't had time to be properly trained yet. But he did everything we wanted in no time at all. And this included the props we used here (below), which to me