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Wedding Photography Albums Bristol
0 Comments Published by Albert Palmer on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 11:57 PM.
When I started full time in the wedding photography business over a year ago one of the many things I wasn’t prepared for were wedding albums. I have done a fair bit of second shooting but never used this time to find out about wedding albums. I have a fairly solid print background so design and layout is something I enjoy. In fact I’d go so far as to say that I’m actually pretty good at it. But when I started getting enquiries about wedding albums I wasn’t quite sure who I could find in Bristol to print them. I was not interested in the cheap photo books that you can buy for £30 on the high street or online. I know I’m a budget photographer but this is due to my lack of experience, not the quality of my work. So I wanted to offer high quality albums that would last generations, not two years.
After a few days of calling around and making enquiries I couldn’t find a local Bristol firm who offered this service. I wasn’t able to find one! This was a bit of a shock as I had assumed with the wealth of creative people in this city I would easily come across a few companies who I could build a relationship with. I decided to inquire among my fellow photographers and after a bit of research decided to order a sample album from Loxley Colour. I was really impressed with the quality and decided to buy an album and fill it with examples of my own work.
I decided to order a brown, leather bound flush mount album with a printed cover. It arrived two days later wrapped like nothing I have unwrapped before! I have been using it to show my work to potential clients and also as an example of what my wedding albums look like. I’ve been thrilled about the positive feedback and also that my clients like my work.
Since using Loxley and offering wedding albums to clients I have been lucky enough to see my work in glorious print almost every month. The colours really stand out and the turning the thick pages is a real joy.
That said, if anyone knows of a company that prints wedding photography albums in or around Bristol then please leave a comment. I’d really like to be able to work with a local company.
Labels: Bristol, Guide, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography
Efficient Wedding Photography for Modern Wedding Formals
0 Comments Published by Albert Palmer on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 4:08 AM.
I recently stumbled over a great tip from wedding photographer extraordinaire Jasmine Star. I thought I would share it with anyone reading this blog as it's a real scorcher. Granted, not a resident in Bristol, but she writes a great blog and regularly shares her inspiring work. I’m always after tips to improve the efficiency of photographing weddings, especially the formals. Formal shots can be fun to shoot and Bristol has some great traditional wedding locations. When you mix this with my modern style of photography the results are always great to look and make long lasting memories that I am proud of.
That said formal shots aren't traditionally a fun thing for the bride and groom or the guests. Understandably they would rather be spending time together rather than looking at me behind a black box! The one thing that slows the process down is the organisation of people. Up until now I have always started with the Bride and then worked my way up to the whole wedding party. This has worked well and I can get the whole thing done in about 30-40 minutes. My assistant ticks off the shots as we go and lets me know which shot comes next.
Jasmine recommends you do the opposite. Start with a big group. Pose them well and then strip away the guests, friends and then the family with each shot. This saves people hanging around who are not needed until the end. It also saves a lot of reposing with every shot taken. My next wedding has an unusually large number of formal shots. There are about 25 as the bride has a large number of relatives coming from overseas. It’s going to take a long time whatever method I use but I'm hoping this method will shave a few minutes off what will be a long session.
Doing new things is sometimes a bit scary but I'm relatively confident this will work wonders.
That said formal shots aren't traditionally a fun thing for the bride and groom or the guests. Understandably they would rather be spending time together rather than looking at me behind a black box! The one thing that slows the process down is the organisation of people. Up until now I have always started with the Bride and then worked my way up to the whole wedding party. This has worked well and I can get the whole thing done in about 30-40 minutes. My assistant ticks off the shots as we go and lets me know which shot comes next.
Jasmine recommends you do the opposite. Start with a big group. Pose them well and then strip away the guests, friends and then the family with each shot. This saves people hanging around who are not needed until the end. It also saves a lot of reposing with every shot taken. My next wedding has an unusually large number of formal shots. There are about 25 as the bride has a large number of relatives coming from overseas. It’s going to take a long time whatever method I use but I'm hoping this method will shave a few minutes off what will be a long session.
Doing new things is sometimes a bit scary but I'm relatively confident this will work wonders.
Labels: Bristol, Guide, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography, Wedding Photography Locations
Wedding Photography Post Processing Trends
0 Comments Published by Albert Palmer on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 1:19 PM.
I got in to an interesting discussion with a prospective client about post processing trends. We were having a wedding consultation and he commented that he liked the 'cleanness' of my photographs (thanks!) in contrast to some of the other local Bristol photographers he has met. I asked him what he meant by this just as a talking point to make sure I understood his meaning and to get some feedback. He responded that the last photographer's images were very grainy.
He put this down to the photographer's camera ability which is an astute assessment but it made me laugh because I have noticed a lot of photographers, not necessarily in Bristol but world wide adding Photoshop grain to their images in an attempt to give them a film like quality. Personally I think this can look really good when done well. I have experimented with it because I like this effect but I don't think it is for me. I see a lot of this and when it isn't done subtly looks BAD (like most post processing.) The effect seems artistic and gives the photograph a feel and quality that you don't often see in today's digital age.
This got me thinking about post processing techniques, when to use them and why. It's that compromise that exists in photography. Do you risk being creative and original with the knowledge that this may effect sales? Or do you shoot and process images to make them sell?
Grain is just one example. Textures, 70's polaroid colours, selective colouring, vintage effects and HDR are other examples I have seen which seem to go through phases of popularity.
I like to think I try and fit in the middle. Where the photograph needs a little something to make it come alive I will use a certain post processing technique. But I try and shoot in camera with my own style tailored towards what I have discussed with the bride and groom. I think it's good to be creative and do your own thing whether that's in camera or post processing (as long as it's doesn't involve selective colouring!)
He put this down to the photographer's camera ability which is an astute assessment but it made me laugh because I have noticed a lot of photographers, not necessarily in Bristol but world wide adding Photoshop grain to their images in an attempt to give them a film like quality. Personally I think this can look really good when done well. I have experimented with it because I like this effect but I don't think it is for me. I see a lot of this and when it isn't done subtly looks BAD (like most post processing.) The effect seems artistic and gives the photograph a feel and quality that you don't often see in today's digital age.
This got me thinking about post processing techniques, when to use them and why. It's that compromise that exists in photography. Do you risk being creative and original with the knowledge that this may effect sales? Or do you shoot and process images to make them sell?
Grain is just one example. Textures, 70's polaroid colours, selective colouring, vintage effects and HDR are other examples I have seen which seem to go through phases of popularity.
I like to think I try and fit in the middle. Where the photograph needs a little something to make it come alive I will use a certain post processing technique. But I try and shoot in camera with my own style tailored towards what I have discussed with the bride and groom. I think it's good to be creative and do your own thing whether that's in camera or post processing (as long as it's doesn't involve selective colouring!)
Labels: Post Processing, Techniques, Thoughts, Web, Wedding Photography
Bristol Wedding Photography Blog Back
0 Comments Published by Albert Palmer on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 10:09 AM.
Just a quick note to any readers that I have made some big changes so that the pages now load properly! I feel pretty stupid writing this but I wasn't aware that archived pages on the main blog page weren't formatting properly. Not only this, it was not possible to navigate to any of the other pages of my website. This solved the 'why isn't anyone clicking through to see my gallery etc.' mystery that that I've been wondering about for the last few months!
This all arose as I decided to delete a few photographs that weren't being used on my wedding photography website. I then decided to have a look at the broken links report to see whether I needed to re-link anything. This showed me that there were a lot more broken links than I thought so I decided to investigate.
I discovered the page error and it took two hours to figure out why it was happening (not too hard) and then think of a solution (not so easy!)
Anyway, everything is now displaying as it should. I plan on making a few more visual changes to the Bristol wedding photography blog so that archived pages look a little nicer, but at least readers can read my blog entries ee the web pages as they are supposed to be!
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