SteelOrchid Photography

Tag: portrait

  • Haslington Hall Wedding Venue

    Haslington Hall, a beautiful Tudor mansion near Crewe, makes a really romantic wedding venue in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. We were asked to provide photographic services for a wedding and product shoot by Wedding Organiser Tracey Allen.  In spite of inclement February weather and temperatures close to freezing, our ten “models for the day” braved the cold and did a fantastic job all day.

    Mike and I were on our feet from 9 am to 5 pm and very tired by the end of the day, but sheer enthusiasm kept everyone going.  I was aided and abbetted by friend and photographic artist Joan Blease, who became dress fluffer extraordinaire as well as ably assisting with reflectors and models. I could really get used to having an assistant photographer and Joan’s knowledge of working with models was most helpful. Thanks Joan.

    Dresses were provided by Cheshire Bridal Wear. The full skirted and floating designer dresses were so gorgeous and the models all looked fantastic in them.

    Jan of Acer Flowers provided bouquets and table flowers, with a showstopper of a centrepiece displayed in an enormous and amazing candelabrum provided by Munique Designs.

    Helen of Scrumptillious brought a black and white cake to compliment the black and white themed wedding stationery by Rattytatty Designs. Gold and “oranges and lemon” themes were played out in the stationery and in cakes and cupcakes by Karin of Mummy’s Yummys. The delicious smell of these cakes sent us wild all day…it was so difficult not to pinch one!

    Formal wedding attire for the men was provded by Colin of L&J Formal Attire . He was so pleasant and easy to work with.

    Total Pamper and Vicky Quinn worked so hard all day with hair and make-up and coping with the many changes of clothing.

    Malcolm of Smooch Rings provided a stunning array of bride and groom rings in beautiful and unusual designs.

    For something really unique and different, Sarah of Tiny Gems provided us with a fantastic heirloom bouquet, which could be used at period weddings and would be treasured forever.

    The models loved wearing Tanith’s fabulous Venetian Masks from the  Mask Boutique, which were a talking point right up to the end of the day…everyone wanted to try them on!

    Thank you Tracey for arranging all this.

    More on Tracey’s Blog

  • Baby Bump Photography

    Baby bump or maternity photography has become more fashionable over the years and can be seen as the first of a two part event…the second half being photographing the newly born and parents. The best time to photograph the bump is towards full term, but it’s always wise to plan for an earlier shoot “just in case”. Natural window light always works well and provides a very pleasing result. I ask the mother to bring a variety of outfits so we can ring the changes. Bumps can be photographed successfully as both high or low key…but I must admit I like the dark backgrounds and subtle detail, as in the shots below.

    As part of our personal service we can use our editing techniques to smooth out your skin, hide stretch marks and disguise any unwanted blemishes. Not all expectant mothers want to undress for the shoot but we offer both options…also the option to include partner and any other children in the shoot.

  • Family Shoot

    Following on from the high and low key options, here are some different ways to present family portraiture, in duo or triple frames.

    Achieving a balance is the key to success and choosing images from the shoot that work together and help to tell the story of the day.

    Colour and monochrome images in the same frame can look good together, especially where the colour is kept soft without too much saturation.

  • Low key portraits

    This is a very informal “low-key” photograph of John…and he just loved having his photograph taken. The secret of good portrait photography is to capture the essence of your model – whether posed or unposed, to bring out their character in the fraction of a second that it takes for the sensor to record the image.

    My previous Blog of baby Georgia shows what is known as a  “High Key” effect. The predominant tones are light coloured, tending to white, making the result more dramatic,  but keeping a light, airy, happy, clean interpretation.

    Both High Key images and Low Key images make an intensive use of contrast, but in a very different way, in order to interpret the image. Everyone has a camera these days and even camera phones are capable of good quality results, but it’s the ability to interpret the resulting images that makes dedicated professionals that little bit different.

    When making decisions about the processing of my portrait of John, I knew that I wanted to bring out his dark characterful face in the best way I could. I examined the raw colour file and decided that colour was definitely out – this had to be low key and it had to be monochrome. The decision about post processing is about finding the best way to interpret the mood that the picture will ultimately convey to the viewer. Low key portraits are full of drama with dark rich tones. Although the photo of John is essentially a happy one, low key can also be used to great effect to introduce a dark and brooding atmosphere to suitable subjects. Low key images, although predominantly dark, do need some areas of bright highlight to contrast strongly with the black tones and it was essential here to ensure that the sparkle in John’s eyes wasn’t lost.

  • Baby photography

    Georgia

    We just love photographing babies…from their tiny hands and feet, to delicate skin tones, fine eyelashes and huge innocent eyes. Every baby shows his or her own character, and we do our utmost to bring that out at your photo session. Our high resolution photos can be enlarged to fill wall sized canvas or we can supply single or multi-aperture framed prints of timeless elegant design…and how about a modern approach by sandwiching the photo between two layers of glass to have prode of place on your mantlepiece? Lifestyle shoots with baby provide lots of real-life photographs of happy unposed moments shared with your family and photobooks from the session have become very affordable. Just ask for our price list.

    Post-processing

    We have advanced editing capabilities and can interpret the original image in a variety of ways, like the very modern high-key version below…and you might even consider timeless black and white or toned sepia…we have the skill to produce any of these effects – just ask!

    Georgia – high key