Landscape or Portrait ?

There are many rules taught to us with regards photography. These rules can be hugely helpful in creating visually pleasing images but we should always ask “what if ?”. What would it look like if we broke the rule ?
The word portrait has to be one of the longest established and well known rules, our printer asks if we want portrait or landscape orientation.
We have been experimenting with our dance school photography, throwing in the odd close up shot, taken in landscape format rather then traditional full length portrait format. These have been received well and have become a photologue “style”. We like the image being framed on a third giving the subject the room to look out of the image, this effect would be difficult to achieve in portrait page format.
So we tried breaking the rule and we like it and more importantly our clients like it. So that just leaves the hardest question … what do we call it ?
Is it a landscape portrait ?, a portrait in landscape ?, or even a portscape ?
Answers on a postmail !

Images on disc ?

In the past few years, images on disc have been the popular request for presenting wedding images. So much so that we now include all images on DVD as standard. Technology, however, never slows and we are already aware that DVD is slowly becoming obsolete as a media for holding files. Many laptops and especially notebooks now do not have CD / DVD readers. We now need to think about USB memory sticks, most TV’s have the capability to read these as well as laptops, netbooks, notebooks etc.
The problem we have had is finding something suitable to present as a wedding package, simply handing over a bog standard USB stick is just not good enough.
After much searching, we have found the USB stick and presentation box in the image attached to this blog and can now offer this as an alternative to our current DVD presentation boxes. Available from now, another bridal decision to be made !

First communion

Many thanks to the Patterson family and especially a very proud Gran yesterday for inviting photologue to provide images of Brogan’s first communion. The portable studio did its thing once more and a small corner of a function room became a studio for a while. Congratulations to young Brogan from photologue.

Time, a finite quantity

Cannot believe it is now over a year since our last blog ! Time seems to pass quickly these days. Time for a little catch up. About a year ago we were approached by a dance academy to provide photography at there annual show. Having been at my own daughters show and witnessed the standard of photography we accepted but had to up the game and bring a more professional approach.

Hence, over the past year or so, we have been busy putting a portable studio together and streamlining a workflow that allows us to provide studio quality images, quickly, on location.

We have also now added live editing and on site printing to allow us to support proms, black tie balls, charity dinners etc.

With the modern ethos of “Free, perfect and now” in mind, we charge no attendance fee (free), studio quality images on site (perfect) and provide a print within one minute of the image been taken (now),

We have hugely enjoyed the events we covered already and are looking forward to the many varied events to come.

We have to mention a friend and mentor at this point, Mr. Paul Rogers (PellierNoir.com) for his lighting expertise and training. If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best.

Glasstastic

One thing you cannot get away from in photography is money, no more so when lens envy takes hold. Lenses are far and away the most expensive items for the serious photographer, but once bought they will last for decades if looked after. This point is proven by todays purchase, a Nikon AF 85mm F1.8D. This lens is over ten years old but a thing of beauty, constructed solely from metal where we would normally now use plastic, rock solid and built like a tank. Let me introduce the wee chap …

Nikon 85mm F1.8D

 

 

 

Wide open

Images above taken with the Nikon modern day bargain buy, the brilliant 35mm F1.8G, plastic but tack sharp. The “new” 85mm has some obvious signs of wear on the rubber grip on the focusing ring but look at those crystal clear optics 🙂 So how does it perform …

Lovely and sharp at F4

 

Wide open at F1.8

 Just a couple of quick snaps but loving it so far. Ideal focal length to make a great portrait lens, all set for this years wedding season 🙂 The lesson here is to not overlook older, used glass. You can save some money, get a great lens and also have an investment, these old quality lenses are sought after  and never lose money. A sound investment.

 

 

 

Quality counts ?

I just got home tonight when the phone rang, long story short, an aunt is visiting tomorrow and told me in no uncertain terms that she would like some images of my daughter. No problem you are all thinking … No time to use our pro lab and embarasingly no recent images on hand, next best thing is to print myself … no ink left in printer. So, a few days before xmas, off to the shops we go to get ink, but worst case (always have a back up plan) take some images on a memory stick and use a high street photo booth (sorry Jim, I am desperate at this stage !). You guessed it, no ink and I find myself in the local high street print booth, inserting USB memory stick. First problem, two of my images are square and no square print option, no problem I think, they will just have a white border that I can cut off later. They are using a Fuji print lab, same as our pro lab, how bad can they be ? Heck, they are also way cheaper, could be on to a winner here …
After much wrestling with the touchscreen I got the order in then waited the hour for processing, paid my dues and got my images, job done ?
Of course not or I would not be typing this ! (anyone still awake ? Anyone still reading this 🙂 )
Images were terrible, “colour corrected” rendering my poor wee girls skin a nice orange, for some reason they had zoomed the image, cutting the top and bottom of the heads off and remember those two square prints – they had not been left with a border but had been stretched, warping reality ! So it will be no surprise that they are in the bin and I am making a special trip to our pro lab tomorrow. So what is the point of this rant Kev, I can hear you all say…
Well, for a trial period, we will open up our pro lab to you, our public. For our standard print costs, send us your files, we will digitally manipulate them to the best we can, resize and touch up where necessary, then order the prints and have them delivered direct to you. Are they more expensive than the high street ? Of course they are but we really do believe that you will see the difference. To that extent, we will offer you all your money back if you are not satisfied with one of our prints. There is no minimum order quantity however a £5 delivery charge will apply per order, Sample prices :-
9×6 inch – £5 each
10×8 inch – £7 each
A4 or 12×8 inch – £10 each
A choice of lustre or gloss finish is available.
Files can be emailed to us, any questions or queries can also be mailed to us, at :-
admin@photologue.co.uk
Its time to turn the tables on the high street, printing, like photography is a passion and an art, not a mass produced consumer item.
Anyway, I need my beauty sleep as I have images to get printed tomorrow 🙂
Merry xmas to everyone when it comes … do those captured moments justice !

Published

It is always great to have one of your images published. It is also often strange the image that has been selected to be published. I have had an image as the leading intro for Edinburgh Zoo for over two years now, an image I almost binned during editing. I thought the image, although conveying motion and energy, was a bit too blurred, no great eye contact and a terrible background that conveyed the captivity of the subject. But, there was something I liked enough not to delete it and this is the image that was requested. What you learn from this is that you can often be too critical. As a photographer you are used to looking for fault in each image and critiquing every aspect of the image, the vast majority of the people viewing your image do not critique but simply enjoy what is there. Take a chance and bring a few of the outtakes back to the forefront, you never know …

The image

 

Happy Birthday

photologue recently had it’s first anniversary. We would like to take time out to thank each and every person who we have met and provided images for over the year. We have had an absolute ball and look forward to growing the business over the next year and beyond. We are never complacent about our photography, it is always a privilege to turn a lifetimes hobby into a business and to meet various and varied people along the way. Many, many thanks to everyone and hopefully we will meet again in the near future.  XXX

Shoot and burn

Shoot and burn, the term given to photographers that basically bypass the post processing stage and hand images directly from the camera to their clients. Having spent two weeks solid editing, I can see how that would be advantageous ! However, it is post processing and attention to detail that can make a good image a great image, therefore it is an essential step in our workflow. It is not visible to the client so is often forgotten or dismissed, in reality for every hour shooting we spend approximately eight hours processing. We do our utmost to have images available as timely as possible but will not sacrifice quality for speed. You, our clients, deserve the best.

Post processing to the extreme !