richardhobsonphotography.co.uk

I’ve come across a variety of Wedding Planners whilst working with Bride and Groom’s to photograph their Wedding Day. I like to keep up to date with all aspects of a Wedding and the Wedding business as it helps to keep an eye on current style and design and in turn that influences my photography.

One of the best resources I’ve found on the internet is The Wedding Genie. The advice is great, the articles on the site are very useful and rare an easy read.

Indeed the advice on how to find a great photographer was an interesting read and I found myself ticking off each point to check I was doing the right thing for my clients. I’m happy to say tat Richard Hobson Photography scored full marks!

I’m always looking to build up relationships with planners and event managers across South Wales so if you want to get in touch feel free to drop me a line or give me a call.

Watch out watch out there’s a rights grab about.

When something looks too good to be true it usually is.

A rights grab is when a company or publication tempts you to submit your images – usually in the form of a competition – for their use.

But watch out – the T+C’s may mean they can use and PROFIT from your image FOREVER !!

Just imagine if you submitted an image that became world famous and you received ZILCH.

Check out the blog at this link!

Great British Life

A quick excerpt……….

Recently I received an email from Great British Life asking me to "Share my best photos". Having my suspicions I checked out their website. You can upload images to their site and…
"Some photos could be printed in some of the Archant Life magazines and there is even a chance that your photograph could become a magazine front cover."
So, time to read the small print in the Terms and Conditions, and surprise, surprise:
"By submitting any material to Archant, You automatically grant Archant the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, edit, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such material (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content."

It’s one of , if no the most, important day of your life. And you’d like to remember it with some great photographs that capture the day right?

That’s what we aim to do.

There are two main types of Wedding Photography that are the most common styles around.

The first is the traditional approach of posed photographs and portraiture. The second is Reportage, sometimes called candid or natural photography. The latter style relies on capturing solely the events as they transpire. The looks on peoples faces, the emotion, the progression of the day.

I don’t know the style the photographer was going for in this articles but whatever it was, he didn’t quite pull it off and made some basic mistakes in both the taking of and the post processing of the photographs before presenting them to the client.

Here’s the link to the article.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/132280/Our-wedding-day-pictures-disaster#

What really surprises me and indicated a complete lack of customer empathy and service is the fact that this ever got to court in the first place.

If the photographer was not competent then he shouldn’t have taken on the event. If he had concerns about the sub contractor who shot the video then he should not have employed him.

Faced with the results and unhappy customers the first thing should have been to discuss how he could put things right.

Stories like this always make me take a long hard think and look at how I do things.

Would we deliver a set of images to a client like that? No. We wouldn’t even take them in the first place. They wouldn’t make the first edit.

We make sure our clients know our style, which is a mixture of traditional and candid. We always show complete Wedding albums to prospective clients so that they can see the whole collection of photographs from the wedding.

We never “sub out” a function to another photographer. We just don’t want to take the risk which could ultimately ruin our reputation.

We check out locations before hand so we know where we’ll be so we don’t miss the important shots through the day.

Above all we put the customer first.

Richard

My Memory Card Backup Unit

If you’re after peace of mind for yourself or your client then a key area to ensure you have a contingency plan is that of digital files.

My thoughts have always been to have many cards rather than a couple of massive ones. So I carry a couple of 8GB, a few 4GB, a few 2GB and a few 1GB cards.

I then break down any assignment into key stages. Taking a Wedding shoot as an example.

• Bridal Preparation
• Church before ceremony
• During Ceremony
• After Ceremony
• Reception
• Evening Party

Each separate section gets it’s own memory card. After each section has been photographed the Memory card goes straight into a portable backup unit. It’s a simple device with a CF card slot and a built in 80GB hard drive. It has a screen to show the progress of the backup.

This ensures that within half an hour or so of each section there is two copies of each section of the day. I never re-format or re-use the CF cards during an assignment. Once backed up the CF Cards go in a pocket on my person. The backup unit stays with me too.

So actually I do use the unit. The part I haven’t had to use yet is transferring the files from it to the computer.

Once the CF cards are on the computer and backed up the small unit can be re-formatted. The CF cards don’t get formatted until the next job - giving plenty of time to ensure the copy and backup I have on the computer are reliable!

There are a couple of drawbacks. The device I use is quite slow - taking half an hour to backup a card is not out of the ordinary. But putting it in an inside pocket to do it’s job is fine.  Having an internal battery means it’s rechargeable but for a full days work you need to take the mains adapter. I have a 12 volt to mains converter in my van so that’s not a problem though. I must feature the converter too - it’s a great piece of kit and very useful.

More stuff I hope I don’t need soon!

Richard

www.richardhobsonphotography.co.uk

www.richardhobsoneventphotography.co.uk

Part of being a Pro photographer is ensuring you can always complete an assignment, no matter what happens to your equipment.

Imagine not being able to deliver images to a client after a photo shoot because of equipment malfunction. No amount of apology will ever make up for it. You will always be the photographer who did not deliver. A reputation can be lost overnight.

Backup equipment is essential. Do you ever see  a pro Tennis player with just one racket? No, they have a whole bag full of them.

This is one area of the business where I really do allow myself to be paranoid. I go by the adage - if it can happen it will happen. I always ask the "what if" questions.

What if my camera fails?
What if I drop a lens?
What if my batteries die?
What is the car doesn’t start?
What if the flashgun fails?
What if I break an ankle?
What if it rains?
What if the hard drive fails on my main pc?

What if …………

There’s probably another hundred or so what if’s.

Over the next few blog posts I’m going to cover off what my solution has been to ensure I’m like the the proverbial boy scout and always prepared.

I think it goes without saying that prevention is always better than cure. So I’m also going to look at preventing issues too.

In many cases I’m hoping the "backup" equipment is never used. The investment is there for peace of mind and insurance for me. Speaking of insurance - you’ll need that too. Remember if it can happen it will at some point and the bottom line is to CYA - cover your arse!

I found this fantastic video of a shoot in a swimming pool. It really does show you how lighting is key when shooting.

It’s interesting to look at the setup then look at the results.

Absolutely fantastic.

There’s also a few tips on how to achieve the result.

Check out Strobist.com - a great site on how to light.

Strobist.com link

I stumbled across this site. It has a unique way of letting you see what tutorials available. Hover over a picture to see what the tutorial is all about.

I’m actually of the beleif that in my portrait and wedding business I don’t heavily photoshop images. I’ll colour correct, adjust levels and curves and clone out the odd offending item such as litter and bright yellow manhole covers!

In my stock photography it’s often the removal of logo’s, the odd facial blemish and a levels and curves adjustment again.

Sometimes I’ll do the odd "spot colour" to really emphasise a brides bouquet or dress, but be carefull not to over do it.

Anywyas, the tutorials are fun and sometimes you can use what you learn in your everyday photography. Sometimes it’s fun to learn and implement the other stuff too.

Have fun.

A little light entertainment as it turns to December soon.

Check out our Sexy Santa video!!!

http://www.richardhobsonphotography.co.uk/movies/santa_shoot.mp4

Richard Hobson Photography

Just thought I’d share a quick video on how to light on a budget.

You’re not going to get super white backgrounds with this but the effect of it is great for the money.

http://www.photography-network.net/videos/id_46/

While you’re at it the site is also a new site for networking with fellow photographer - give it a try!

The latest ranking on http://istockcharts.multimedia.de/ have us dropping a few places this week in the istockphoto contributor charts.

I wondered whether to post this or not, but thought I’d be honest and report the lows as well as the highs!

There may be another reason for it though. The charts still don’t have every contributor and until they do the position could fall until it stabilises.

Just to keep us happy here’s a couple of shots from a recent shoot!

Many thanks to Hayley for her time and input on these images and others in the series.

Check out our portfolio of stock images at www.istockphoto.com/richhobson

www.richardhobsonphotography.co.uk

Cheers all,

Richard