Christina Lauder Portraits

Tip #1: Remove unnecessary clutter from your background This can be done in one of two ways. First, physically remove the unwanted item from sight. This could be a bin, a pile of paper work, a sock annoyingly left by one of the children (for some reason children never want both socks on at the same time) or maybe you've left a can of furniture polish out when you got distracted by one of the million tasks that children create, as in this photo below of myself and my mother from many years ago. This is actually one of my favourite photos from my childhood but ever since I spotted the can of furniture polish on the coffee table I can't stop seeing it. I have even been tempted to Photoshop it out. At least its in the distance and a little blurred in the background. Or it may be that all you have to do is change the angle you are pointing the camera. Look at your surroundings and make a quick assessment as to whether or not you can make a cleaner and more attractive background...

  Last week Vickie returned home to visit family so we took the opportunity to have a play with the lights again. I love using this time to try out things that I wouldn't want to trial with a client. And I'm glad I did. I was able to create work similar to that which I've admired on many occasions, not really being certain how it was created. By taking what I knew about lighting and applying it in a way I suspected would give me the results I wanted I actually produced what I wanted. Imagine that. For the photographers out there, I used either 1 or 2 lights (started with one then added another) behind Vickie pointing towards her hair but positioned quite close to her so that they were nearly pointing towards the camera also. This produced a slight lens flare that gave that milky coverage that softened the light just how I wanted it. For those that don't know, this experimenting and practicing is part of running a photography business. Of course I don't hav...

Its been a while since I've entered the monthly competition. My motivation for entering the competitions has left me for a bit. But hopefully that is all about to change. And I'm kicking it off this month with my first Gold of the year. And here it is. Plans are now on the way for creating more potential winners. Coming up with new ideas is so much harder than it looks. I'm not giving up just yet though.