Over the years I have collected photography books, websites, blogs etc, to use for inspiration. One of the most fun and creative resources has been photojojo! You can subscribe to their newsletter and get weekly projects, learn about up and coming photographers and artists, find camera related merchandise and so much more. Photojojo have released a book on all the different photographic projects that you can do and it is a must read for anyone who likes to be creative, to find out more about the book click the picture above.
They have an awesome store that you can shop in for anyone who loves anything to do with photography. Click here to visit their store, it really is amazing. <3 

(Image from Photojojo's website)

Today I photographed an engagement shoot and carried out a pre-wedding consultation with the lovely Lucy and Scott. We visited one of their favourite locations to shoot some of their pictures. We got some lovely photographs throughout the shoot both on location and at home. The strong sunlight and wind on location was interesting to work with but overall we got some carefree images with bright colours courtesy of  sunshine and the willing couple who photographed really well.

To find out more about my new wedding photography services email me at gemmiev@gemmiev.com or leave a comment on this blog post. 

When I was at University my class  took a trip to New York and we met some successful, amazing photographers. One of those photographers was Phillip Toledano - A british born portrait photographer who has now moved to the states. When chatting to Phillip we were introduced to his then newly finished book, 'days with my father' This book is a journal of Phillip's experiences with his elderly father in the last few years of his life and is a compassionate, beautiful and sincere photographic journal. This book means a lot to me as at the time of meeting Phillip my grandfather had recently passed away and I had seen him for the last time a month before when I took the only photographs I've ever taken of him in the hospital ward he was staying on. See Below:

Another reason that this book has such an important impact on me is that I have worked with the elderly in a care home for those with dementia and I completely understand and can relate to the images and the writing in 'days with my father' and understand just how upsetting it can be for family members to come to terms with their relatives condition. It is very hard to re-understand a person as their personality changes and they very often forget who you are or where they are and it can be completely devastating to witness. Working in that environment has taught me to live life to the full and to love unconditionally and make the most of the people who are important in your life, no matter how far away they live or what mistakes they may have made in life. Family should be the most important part of everyone's lives no matter how big or small. So this is a shout out and a wake up call in one post. Phone the people you love and let them know how important they are to you, they wont be around for ever.

This post is about portrait and skin editing, I have a pet hate involving photographs that have been retouched so much that the model looks plastic or the eyes are so white they look completely stuck on in an image. It's quite worrying how much these poor edits are used in media throughout all industries and also in personal images i.e, weddings and family photos. I believe if you are going to hire a professional they should be able to produce a collection you can be proud of not one you will hide at the back of your cupboard trying to forget after the expense of paying for it. The above example is a picture of me before and after post production in photoshop, I have removed blemishes, brightened the image as it was shot in natural light and the colours look better brighter, I've also sharpened and boosted the colours to give a fresh, bold look to the image. A little retouching goes a long way and keeps your images natural and of a high quality.
If you want to know what to look out for when hiring a professional then please see the bad example below. Alternatively, if you are just starting out in photography  and are experimenting with photoshop please, please avoid over brightening of eyes and smoothing skin out so much that it looks plastic, I shall post a bad example of editing below:

Ok, so before I carry on  I want to say that this blog post is in my honest opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone who may edit like this. 
The main points that I want to touch on in the edited image above are:
Eyes: a common mistake when editing the eyes is when they are brightened so much that the whites are glowing and the entire eye has been so over sharpened that they look stuck on. If you are trying to make the eyes stand out a little more it is possible to do so without making them look fake, you just have to find the right balance. Remember they need to look a part of the image and not unrealistic compared to the amount of light that is actually lighting the face. =]
Skin: I have used color efex's dynamic skin filter at full effect to get the skin like this and even then it's not as plastic as what some images out there are, but basically, skin needs to look like skin, people do have wrinkles, spots, freckles etc, and they can be edited subtly or even got rid of completely and still look good its all about experimentation and not forgetting that your lighting needs to be spot on to get the shadows and highlights where you want them. There is no point in creating a lighting effect that you are later going to mess up completely by editing the face to be all one colour with no depth because you have over photoshopped it. ( I know I ramble abit but stick with me! )
Teeth: Yes, it's great to have white teeth but over brightening them so they turn into a rectangle of glaring white is not going to do your image any justice, it can be difficult to edit teeth when they are yellow or wonky but the best method I find is using the lasso or select tool to select all the teeth and with a big brush whilst set on dodge mode do a quick sweep over the whole area but make sure your opacity is set low to avoid over brightening. If the teeth are yellow desaturate them first with the sponge tool making them grey and then lighten with the dodge tool that way there will be no yellow tinge. This takes practice but is well worth it once you get the hang of it.
One of the most common mistakes in photographs that I find is they are overexposed and the photographer seems to have used it within their editing. It does, to some extent, come down to personal preference but there is a difference between high key images, where you set the lights up to give you that extra light and being overexposed, where the highlights are so blown out that there is no detail in them and you squint when looking at the image. 
Here are some examples again edited to show the difference:

The image on the left has some detail in the curtain behind the model and in the bedding that she is laying on. The image on the right shows no detail in the background and the model is so bright that there is no detail in her skin, she has a very pale skin tone and the bed covers are overexposed also. 
Balancing exposure can be difficult especially when shooting with lights and then having a window/curtain lit from behind but if you experiment, use a light meter and always make sure your model is exposed properly you should be fine.

 I hope this post has been informative and enjoyable for you to read. Please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions or would like some advice on your portfolio.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2010/03/actions-update-2/

This lovely lady Ree Drummond has built herself a substantial online following based on her blog in photography, cooking and her romantic story of how she met her husband - Marlboro Man. I have followed The Pioneer Woman ever since I started photography back in 2006. I regularly use her actions when editing my work and I will be forever grateful for her generousity in providing these editing tools free of charge! 

Her photoshop actions are fantastic and you can find them by following the link above. =]

Above Image: Aperture: f1.8 Shutter Speed: 1/250th  ISO: 280
Shot with a Nikon D300 and Nikon AF50mm f1.8 Lens.
I have used a wide aperture and photographed Noah straight on to keep his eyes sharp and let the depth of field fade quickly making his ears out of focus and keeping the eyes focused on his cute little face. 
This technique is good for when you have a distracting background or when you want to create a portrait focusing on a specific part of the image. Usually the eyes.

Photographing babies and children can be a tough challenge when you are just starting out. To make your shoot go smoothly, always make sure you have a few key items to hand. Wet wipes, a variety of outfits, a rattle or other attention grabbing toy and a range of different coloured backgrounds or sheets to photograph baby on. 
The most important part of setting up your photo session is making sure you get your lighting right. What kind of lighting setup do you want to work with? High key, low key, available light? Once you have your lighting set up decide what you want your aperture and shutter speed to be. (I always find that when photographing hand held or children who move quickly it is always best to use at least 1/125th as your shutter speed or higher. If you are using a flash then you only have 125th, 180th or 250th of a second to choose from before you start to get the dreaded dark shadow creep into your images as a result of the flash synchronization.) 
 Using a light meter will allow you to balance the aperture, shutter speed and ISO in different combinations at a touch of a button and are a useful tool in saving time when shooting. The down side of using a light meter is that they are expensive, alternatively you can look at your histogram when you view the images you have taken and  make sure the highlights and shadows are balanced. I shoot all of my sessions by eye but it takes a lot of experience to be able to do this properly. 
Next you need to check your ISO and Aperture. Think about your depth of field when choosing your aperture and understand that you will need to adjust your ISO when you change your aperture. The wider your aperture the narrower your depth of field will be which will give you a more arty feel to your images and allow you to let in as much light as possible. This will give you the opportunity to set your ISO to a low value therefore improving image quality and reducing noise. Again using a light meter will aid you in balancing the settings accordingly.

One to one photographic tuition days available for booking £100 per day.  
To book your photographic session with GemmieV Photography email gemmiev@gemmiev.com or find me on facebook. Thanks for reading.

Yesterday I shot a photo session with little Noah only 1 month old. He was ever so good with his posing and expressions and didn't cry very much except for the one feed! 
We got some lovely characterful images of this little man and I can't wait to photograph him again when he's a few months older. This was such a lovely session to shoot.

To enquire about a photoshoot of your little one or a family session contact me at gemmiev@gemmiev.com or find me on facebook.

My awesome new promotional tshirts have arrived today! 
Self Promotion just got easier :D Modelled by Me :P 
I have recently bought myself a lovely new compact camera, a Panasonic DMC-FS45 to be precise and it's a lovely piece of equipment to have in my bag when out and about. I can scout locations and take some decent reference pictures now without using the memory on my camera phone and the super wide angle lens means I get the most of the scene with the pictures I take. There is also an awesome panorama option on this camera which I will be experimenting with over my next couple of days off.  This little compact camera fits wonderfully into my handbag and will be a great tool to help build an idea of all the resources out and about in Devon. I'm as happy as Larry. (Well, I think I am, I've never actually met the bloke).