You Tube, Vimeo, Facebook - all great sources of finding step by step tips on lighting, camera operation and of course editing your photos in programs like Photoshop.
One such tutorial has been produced by our friend and customer Kim from Total Chaos Photography in Milton Keynes, using one of the shots from a recent studio day with Amber Tutton as her example to edit. This one's about skin smoothing techniques and Kim's approach to keeping a natural texture to skin tones in her edits.
Have a look for yourself.... and check out more of Kim's work on her Total Chaos Photography Facebook Page
If you've produced something that you think we need to share...drop us a line.
We may not have had much in the way of summer to speak of this year, but if you're a photographer, now's the time to start thinking about it!
The market for Christmas photographs for families to give as gifts is worth a huge amount of income each year, so it makes sense to get thinking about marketing your skills to those you know to top up up your income in the coming months.
Whether it's couples, kids or multi-generational shoots - Saracen House Studio is the perfect location for your portrait shoots - our homely location is warm and welcoming and our white background is always popular for portrait shoots, but don't forget that we also have a range of other plain backgrounds (sixteen at the last count) as well as various wallpaper backgrounds.
Not only that, we've got a plethora of portrait related props, beanbags for kids, space hoppers, colourful balls and blocks and of course a bubble machine (who doesn't smile when you blow bubbles?)
We can also advise you on products that will mean the difference between a productive shoot and a real income, as well as giving tips on how to structure your shoots to maximise your sales.
Don't forget too that we also offer gift vouchers for studio hire, events and one to one tuition - so if someone you know would love to get going with studio photography, this is the perfct gift for them!
If you'd like to discuss how to get your photographic skills earning you real money this Christmas...drop us a line.
The range of Sony Alpha cameras is growing as is their popularity. It's not surprising, you can pick up a 24 megapixel full-frame studio camera for under £2,000 right down to their entry-level A290, 14MP camera for under £300, with a lens. Some of the features built into the camera bodies (like image stabilisation) make them even more attractive to those considering the usual camera makes.
Whilst it's true that most people stick with old favourites like Nikon and Canon for their SLRs, at those prices the Sony does represent excellent value for money and the quality of the images are arguably almost as good as their more expensive counterparts.
However there are some little quirks to look out for when shooting with a Sony Alpha in the studio:
When Sony entered the DSLR market in 2006, they bought the technology of Konica Minolta, which included their AF range of lenses and the quirky (non-standard) flash hot-shoe. This makes it more difficult to use third-party speedlights or other outboard flash systems, and for the cameras in the Alpha range that don't come with a standard "PC Sync" connection, which is most of them, an adaptor is needed to convert the proprietary Sony connections to a more standard hotshoe style.
For those Sony cameras that come with an in-built flash, it would usually be possible to trigger a studio flash head from the flash on the camera. However, in practice it's difficult or impossible (Sony users, if you manage to do this, please let us know how!!) to disable to pre-flash on the camera, so before every shot, the camera fires a burst of light, which in turn triggers the studio flash.
As we've recently upgraded all of our flash heads to brand new Bowens 500PRO & 500R strobes, these are programmable to ignore pre-flash from cameras' on-board flash, but it's far easier to use an adaptor for the camera to work the regular triggers.
Sony manufacture their own adaptor which is currently selling for in the region of £120-150. It does offer some added benefits of voltage protection, however thankfully some third party manufacturers also now offer adaptors, including Interfit for a fraction of the price.
We've now picked up the Interfit Strobies adaptor, so now you can use your Sony Alpha in our studio, even if you don't have your own adaptor.
| We're always looking to add extra value and services to Milton Keynes' premier photo studio and this week we're pleased to announce that we've added an additional two Bowens 500w/s heads to our existing array of kit. This takes our current tally to eight Bowens 500w/s studio flash heads, making it possible for more complex lighting set-ups or complete redundancy of a four-head set up. |
| At the same time, we've added a second wireless flash trigger system, making it possible for two shoots to be taking place simultaneously in our two large shooting areas on two floors. So if you want to share your studio hire with a friend or another photographer you can, and you can both be shooting at the same time too! |
| On top of our two 120x30cm gridded softboxes, we've also added a genuine Bowens Softstrip 140, delivering a wonderfully even spread of light perfect for full length fashion or beauty shots in a larger 140x40cm size. |
| Come and try it all out soon, and for a full list of equipment included in your low studio hire rates, check out our equipment pages. |
| Demi Moore was the trendsetter when it came to baring all to show the beauty of pregnancy and since then plenty of other well-known names have joined her, including Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Myleene Klass and even Victoria Beckham is rumoured to be in talks with Vogue Magazine for her latest addition. | ||
| The opportunities for photographers include capturing the bump getting bigger during the ladies' pregancy, or more commonly a bump photograph in the final month of pregnancy preceeding a series of shoots of the newborn charting their growth too. | ||
| Such shoots are approached with sensitivity to the clients' needs, some ladies prefer to keep the bump undercover, some like to whip everything off for their shoot, so the importance of talking to your customer before the shoot, preferably meeting with them to put their minds at ease and answering their questions is vital. For example, many ladies will be very self conscious about stretch marks, or shape - making sure they know that skin can be softened in post-production, or shape can be controlled with careful use of directional lighting and angle of shooting will put minds at ease and ensure a more relaxed and productive shoot for everyone. | ||
| At Saracen House Studio, we understand the need for privacy during a shoot, after welcoming you and your guest, we're out of the way unless you need us for anything. Out separate and private dressing room is right next door to the main studio area. Many people like to cover up until the last minute; encourage your subject to bring a dressing gown, prepare for the shot, get the lighting and exposure right, take your test shots and she can keep the gown on until you're shooting properly. | ||
| Prepare yourself for the shoot too, there's a huge number of fabulous images on the web and loads of great ideas for lighting, posing and shooting. And whether your wanting to take photos of your own partner or a customer, we're only to happy to help you set up your shoot when you're ready, just drop us a line - we're open seven days a week! | ||
| Here's a few tips, slideshows and pointers from others to get you started on your maternity shooting.... | ||
| Here's a post from a fabulous tog called Elizabeth Halford, from Hampshire, who's got some really fresh ideas for her maternity shoots - have a look at what she created for one of her clients here Elizabeth Halford Maternity Shoot Blog Post | ||
| Here's a slideshow from Amercian photographer Colleen, and there's more lovely images on her website Images By Colleen | And here's another, this time from Australian photographers, Swish Photography | |
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| We're having a bit of a blowout here at Saracen House! Book a whole day's studio hire at Saracen House Studio and only pay for half a day - we're giving you half a day FREE! | ||
| Our offer is open to anyone booking a whole day, on any weekday, Monday to Friday during February 2011 and includes the full use of the studio as you'd expect, our full service, refreshments, use of all of the areas and equipment - the only thing we've cut back on is the price! | ||
| But this offer is only available for weekday bookings from 1st to 28th February 2011 and are subject to availability - so make sure you book soon to get the dates you want. | ||
Tell your friends, and see you soon!
| We're always looking at ways to improve Saracen House Studio, whether it's the service you get, sets and backgrounds or new equipment. | ||
| Lately we've added new kit including three brand new Bowens 500w/s heads, background scoop reflrector, sets of honeycomb grids and plenty more. | ||
| We've also added a pair of strip light softboxes with grids which are great to use as rear rim lighting but are just so flexible to use that it's a shame to leave them at the back. Have a look at this You Tube clip that shows the results you can get with such a narrow soft-box at the front too. | ||
We're bringing back the Saracen House Studio newsletter soon, which will keep you up to date with developments, features and events at Saracen House Studio.
We won't be spamming you with hundreds of messages, nor will we be passing your details to anyone else or any other company - so if you'd like to sign up for monthly updates, just fill in your email address and name in the box to the right and we'll do the rest.
The process is quick and easy, and you can unsubscribe at any time without making us cry! (OK well maybe just a bit).
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We welcome photo events specialists ImagesXposed back to the studio this weekend along with Glam It With Mac for a special models and photographers portfolio shoot day.
From vintage 40s and 50s army outfits to sailors and RAF outfits, this is a unique opportunity for new models to get some fantastic unique images for their portfolios whilst raising awareness of Armed Forces Day and raising funds for a worth cause, Help For Heroes.
There's full details on the Armed Forces Day website and from ImagesXposed.
| There's a great little price comparison website that I have been using for a while now that, in my opinion is far better than the usual price comparison sites like Google Shopping, Pricerunner, Kelkoo as it selects the retailers as being a great range of UK based suppliers and the prices quoted are actually the prices that appear on the website! |
| Whatever you're in the market for, whether it's a DSLR, compact, lenses or accessories, then it's worth heading over to Camera Price Buster to see if you can save a little extra on your next camera purchase. |
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| Also handy is the excellent price graph, which shows you how much the product has varied in high and low prices over time. |
| Let us know of any other great little photography sites like this one that we can share with our readers, and we'll post the best ones here on the Saracen House Studio Blog.
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