Estate Agent Photography

Friday saw me in Kirriemuir photographing a show home for a housing developer, it was actually for one of my Graphic designer clients - probably the only job I'll be doing in the near future for the property industry.

The house was quite large and I had a pretty good brief from the designer as to what they wanted, even a few snap shots to show what was important. No outdoor shots were needed which was just as well as the weather was terrible - however, this can bring its own problems, especially when the shots include windows. It's not just that rain and dark skies can be seen through the glass, it's not even that the building site and workers vans can be seen in the road. No, it's all about balancing ambient and artificial light! To show the rooms at their best they need to be nice and bright, this needs lots of artificial light, however this normally ends up being brighter than the light outside, especially on dark days, this difference normally makes the glass look even darker than usual. On a sunny day it is better as the difference between the light in and out is less.

So, I started in the living room.

The difference between inside and out is just about right here, this window faced what sun there was - the back window was more difficult.  Just for anyone that is interested, I took 2 Bowens esprit flash lights with me, I actually own 4 of these and I wish I had taken all 4 - reasons for that later. I used the ceiling as a large softbox by bouncing the light off it, this makes it less harsh and reduces shadows. I did have softboxes with me but they are quite large and they take up a fair bit of space in the room.  The shot above had a flash bounced to the ceiling at camera right and another one on low power hidden in the opposite corner behind the settee.

Another issue with home photography is again linked to balancing light. The shot above was to show the door styles, it is taken from the living room to the hall. The living room was lit to the right level but the hallway was not so I had to flash that too. I fitted a radio trigger to the flash in the hallway and checked the levels. There is a trend towards using small camera mounted flash guns but using them off camera. I have been thinking very hard about investing in this technology and for houses like this where space is limited I wish I had bought some. This is where I wish I had brought more flash units with me, I really wanted to open the other door you can see in the hall, it goes to the kitchen and the units are clearly seen. However, I didn't have another flash gun so the kitchen would have been dark, as a result I had to keep the door closed.

 

This is the kitchen (Obviously) lit by 1 flash strobe bounced to the ceiling behind camera right. The other flash was in the dining room which is the door on the left to bring the light in that room up to the same level.

 

These 2 shots shows the difference, on the top one there was no light upstairs so the stairs seem to go to shadow, for the second shot I lit the upstairs with a flash unit, there is quite a difference. The problem is that only having 2 lights meant that I had to take one from the living room! Of course, no one would ever notice this - and why should they. People hire professionals to produce good quality shots and you'd not expect anything less, even though I spent 20 mins getting the light levels right, the client wont even notice - thats fine with me.




Again, before and after shots. I wanted to leave the door to the vestibule open but again it was too dark. My flash unit was too large to be hidden, even with the door shut the flash was obvious through the glass. I had thought of opening the front door (which is to the right hand side) and putting a flash outside shining in but the power cord had to run through the vestibule. I had a think and tried my small battery flash gun on slave, after a bit of mucking about it worked fine. I decided eventually to shut the door as I felt it looked better.

So, next time you look at a photograph of a house in a brochure have a think, it's not as easy as it looks.

Obama – Again

Photographer David Bergman compiled a nearly 1.5 gigapixel panoramic shot of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and zooming in to check out the incredible level of detail is–and we don’t say things like this lightly–almost as instantly captivating as Google Earth.

Composed of 220 images, Bergman’s finished panorama is 59,783 X 24,658, or 1,474 megapixels. He used a Canon G10 mounted on a Gigapan Epic to take the shots in a grid pattern. According to Bergman’s blog, the final TIFF file is 2 gigabytes and in pouring over it he found cellist Yo Yo Ma taking a picture on his iPhone.

Click here to check out the full-res file.

Britannia

Last week we were on holiday (well as much of a holiday you can get when you are self employed), Susan and I went to Edinburgh for the day on the Wednesday. We had planned to do Britannia in the morning then try and catch a movie in the afternoon, there is a cinema in ocean terminal so it was all in one place. We looked at the web and found that there was a special screening of The Stone of Destiny on show at 11am, sad it might be going to the cinema at 11am but we really fancied seeing the film.

We joined a queue of pensioners only to find that the film was a special screening for pensioners who get in free and get coffee and cake too, what a great idea, I can't wait to get old! We were allowed in but we had to pay full fare. It was a great movie, really interesting and very enjoyable. I'd thoroughly recommend it.

After lunch we went onto Royal Yacht Britannia, it was really good value for money, very enjoyable and we spent 3 hours there wandering around. I was amazed at how spartan it was, I had expected it to be much more ostentatious but they seemed to live a very basic life, not as basic as the sailors who slept 9 to a tiny room!

Here are some quick shots of the boat, taken on my camera phone so please excuse the quality.





 

Warehouse Express

Well, what a surprise. Today I had a call from the Sales Manager at Warehouse Express, those of you that have read previous postings will know how unhappy I have been with the service from Warehouse, so much so that I made a decision never to deal with them again. I had written to the MD in mid December but so far have not had a reply to that letter - this really annoyed me, to date I have never had an unhappy client (that I am aware of anyway) but sure as hell if I did I would never let it get to this stage. Anyway, I digress. Today the phone rang and it was a very pleasant lady called Christine who is the Sales manager - I expected her to be saying that they had finally decided to respond to my letter, but no - they apparently had read my blog and seen how unhappy I was so she got involved and was going to resolve it for me.

She asked what would make me happy, I said a replacement camera - she called back 10 mins later to say that a new camera would be sent the next day. Now, why could that not have been done months ago, never mind, it is now resolved, I dont have the camera yet but I am sure she will be honest and it is on its way. I'm very relieved that this has been dealt with and in the spirit of fairness I should post here that the matter is on its way to being resolved and I am much happier, will I remain a client? Probably but lets not get carried away.

I find it amazing that  a recorded letter to the MD and numerous phone calls make absolutely no impact but 2 postings on a blog from, lets be honest, a small fry, unknown photographer in Perthshire can have the matter resolved in 10 minutes - the power of the web, it never ceases to amaze me!

More Bookings

Another busy and good day, more enquiries in by email and in the evening I went to Forfar to meet with Sarah and Dale at Sarahs parents house to discuss the possibility of me photographing their Wedding in August. They are really nice people and I have never been so well looked after at a meeting, cheese, fruit, biscuits, cakes, coffee was all on offer - oh and a Wedding booking from it too! I'm really looking forward to working with them in the summer, I feel this will be a great Wedding. 

I had to meet with Ian Milne at Limehouse design to discuss the marketing material I need for the Wedding Fairs next month so it was in to Dundee for that meeting, Ian has designed some great stuff for me and I'm really grateful for his help. I'm using DC Thomson to print them, this is the first time I have used them for work so I'm looking forward to seeing how good they are.

 

The rest of the day was spent on paperwork, dealing with more enquiries for commercial work as well as a little selling. I also had a call from Warehouse Express which I'll deal with in another posting.

Tomorrow Susan has a day off so I'm going to take a day off too but I have to nip into Dundee to collect some things I have ordered from Jessops. 

Busy Busy Busy

It's been another good wee while, 2 more Wedding bookings in this week and more enquiries, they have dried up a bit since last week so  guess the busy period has passed. So far I'm averaging 2 bookings per week which is fantastic, even after putting my prices up very slightly I'm still getting the bookings so I have absolutely no complaints.

I've signed up to attend 2 Wedding Fairs over the next few months so if you fancy popping along to say hello, you'll find me at :

Guthrie Castle on 1st March
Discovery Point on 29th March

This is my first foray into Wedding Fairs since the disaster at Isle of Skye Hotel last year, that one was so disorganised that it was totally worthless, so much so that they didn't even bother to cash my cheque, I'd be pretty hacked off if they had as there was a grand total of 12 visitors at the whole thing. These 2 seem to be better organised, they are much more expensive but it's worth going just to find out how they do. I've organised more printed literature and a large banner to hang above my stand so hopefully I'll stand out from the crowd.

Today I was over at Cupar meeting Danny from Aerovision IT to discuss phase 2 of the web site, it will hopefully go live in 2-3 weeks, it's quite a substantial increase in the size of the site which I hope will help with the search engine rankings.

I've set some more Studio dates, roughly 1 every month, kicking off on 22nd Feb in Inchture for a Mothers Day special event, I'll get leaflets printed and distributed soon but of you, or any family and friends fancy a nice present for Mothers Day, why not book a session to get some great family portraits. Sessions are £30 and prints are at the usual reasonable rates. Click here to book a session  or call 01250808241.

I have a Wedding in Forfar this weekend so I popped over to meet the Bride at the Church, it's Rescobie Church, a first for me, a lovely light and airy church, even if it is chucking down then at least there will be some natural light for the shots. After the service, we're off to Piperdam for the meal.

I have a shoot with one of my College clients this Thursday and a shoot at a new housing development on Friday so it's quite a busy week.

 

I'm still having trouble with Warehouse Express, so much so I actually bought some stuff from Jessops today, I can't explain how disappointed I am with Warehouse, they are totally uninterested in solving my problem and I'm now finding the staff quite unfriendly towards me. I've been without this camera for weeks now and I'm just left in limbo, promises to chase it up then call me back are never followed up with action so I now vow never to use them again and to tell everyone that I come across the same.

What goes around comes around

I have been told this is true, I apologise if I am incorrect, it’s a nice story though

 

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make  a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog.  He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death..

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'

'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

'Is that your son?' the nobleman asked.

'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.

'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy  If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we  both will be proud of.' And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's  son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's  Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout  the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

Obama

It's all over bar the shouting, we watched the Obama inaguration with interest,, I like to see what the Press Photographers are doing, what gear they are using and where they end up. During his speech there was an old duffer wandering around in the background with a camera, it looked like a 450D, hope he did not buy it from Warehouse Express! Anyway, I digress. The Old duffer semed to be a bit confused, he is seen clearly wandering up and down the stairs behind Obama with his camera, trying to get a shot of the new President. The little flash gun is up on the top, he'll need more than a flash gun to light that stage, nothing short of a nuclear explosion would offer enough light. I wonder who he was and how he got there? I wonder how many other people watched the speech but paid more attention to this old unidentified man in the background with the beret on?

The whole thing was certainly a spectical, it will go down in the list of moments where you remember where you were when these things happened, like Kennedy being killed (I was not born obviously), Dianna being killed and 911 - strange these moments all seem to be related to people dying! At some point, can;t quite remember when, they played some song written by John Williams who wrote the music from the Deer Hunter, a movie with Robert de Niro, I remembered I had photographed him a while back when he played at the Caird Hall, Dundee. He was a really nice guy and very happy to be photographed. The shot is below if you are interested.

Business is still going along well, Wedding Bookings coming in thick and fast, 2 new Commercial Clients on board this month for jobs next week. I have to say I don't seem to be suffering during the recession, I do wonder when my luck will run out.

John Williams

This shot is of a young lad that was being taught by him, aparently he is to become some famous musician

John Williams Band, photographed using a technique called a zoom burst

Feedback

It's been a good few days lots more bookings, some more commercial work coming through which is what I had hoped for.

Aaron and Emmas web site is now up and running Click here to have a look, remember to leave a comment on the guest book.

I received a lovely email from Doranne and Graeme saying how happy they were with their photographs and what good feedback they had received regarding me from other guests, it's always great to get such good feedback, there is nothing better than happy customers. They weren't very happy the postie had cracked their disc but I'll get another one away by post on Monday. Today I met a really nice couple that are getting Married in April so we'll see if they decide to book me or not. I'm trying to have a bit of a holiday this week so not a lot planned until the end of the week.

12 Enquiries in 1 day

It has been a good day, firstly I got some great feedback on the shots I did last week for the Public School, both the School and the Graphic Designer have said how pleased they were with them. It's good to get such good feedback on the shots and I look forward to seeing many of them in the ad campaign and the new prospectus.

It's been a crazy day for Wedding Enquiries, so far, as of 8pm I have had 12 enquiries for 2010, 2 of them I can't do as I am already booked but the others I certainly can do, we'll see if my prices and work is of interest. I knew January would be busy but I had never, in my wildest dreams expected such a huge number of enquiries in 1 day.

Today, Andrews sister (of Andrew and Emily whos Wedding I photographed a while back) sent in her booking form, it's great to get referral work. Surprisingly, one of the enquiries I had was from a friend of Andrew and Emily. So, thanks Andrew and Emily!

July 25th

I've been booked for the 25th July for quite some time, in fact I have 7 Weddings booked for July and only 1 Saturday free (it's the 4th if anyone is interested). Yesterday morning I had an email from a couple asking to book me for their Wedding on the 25th, it was flattering but I had to email back and say no - sorry. Strangely that afternoon I had a phone call from another couple, they also wanted me to photograph their Wedding on - guess when, the 25th July. I dont know what that date has that is so special but I seem to be in demand. It's very frustrating that I have to turn business away, especially when other dates are free but I just can't split myself in two.

Yesterday I was photographing a public school for one of my regular commercial clients, it was a long day but very enjoyable, we got some great shots for the new prospectus and web site. I am sorry I cant put the shots here, most of them contain children and the hassles of getting permission from parents are just too great. I hope to get permission from a couple for another reason so hopefully I can post them sometime in the future.

Last night the phone rang, it was Andrew (of Andrew and Emily whos Wedding I photographed a while back) Andrews Sister is getting Married in 2010 and they want me to be their Photographer, getting bookings is always good news but recommendations are definately the best. You can see some of Andrew and Emilys shots on my web site at www.amforbes.com. Congratulations to them on the birth of their little one recently.

I am bitterly disappointed with Warehouse Express who I have been buying lots of camera gear from recently. As you might have read in past Blogs, the 450D has been underperforming and I have now sent it back twice. I also sent a recorded delivery letter to the MD asking for a replacement camera as it has now been back twice, that letter has so far gone unanswered. I called them today, they are refusing to replace it and they have sent it on to Canon for repair, it sat in their office for 2 weeks before they did anything. It's a real blow, I always used them for gear but I wont buy anything else from them again, they are not the cheapest but I liked their attitude. Now I need to find another supplier.

Tax doesn't need to be taxing - yeah RIGHT!!!!

So, we're almost at the end of the period when I need to pay my tax bill. I've been putting it off for ages and ages, I keep logging in, looking at the on line forms then logging out. Well, I did actually put my name and address in the box a few weeks ago but I forgot to save it so even that had to be done again.

Today is the day, I promised myself I'd get it done before 5pm. I awoke early, had a hearty breakfast, did my push ups, flexed my typing fingers then got stuck in. Did you believe the bit about the push ups!

It was so complicated, by pass surgery must be easier than this, it has taken me all day to do a simple return, some of the questions I didn't understand so I had to call for help, the tax office are obviously busy so I enjoyed the music while I waited for the right person to talk to me, in fairness they do try to make it simple but I am left with the overwhelming feeling that Inland Revenue (or hmrc as they now like to be called) is a huge machine that is pretty much out of control and no one quite understands it. They talk a language that is alien to me and you, designed to make us feel second class citizens.

Anyway, the good news (I think) is that the on line calculation showed that I had to pay much less tax than I expected, I was so shocked I called back and asked for someone to check it - a very helpfull lady in Bradford assured me that it was correct so I'm a bit better off than I expected. I'm not convinced, they'll eventually take it off me somehow I am sure so I am not rushing to spend it.

Haggling

I had a strange phone call today, it went something like this:

Hello, Angus Forbes

Hi, is that Angus

Yes

I'm wondering if you are free to photograph my Wedding on April ??

Hang on, let me check. Yes I am free then, can I send a price list to you by email?

No, it's ok, I have a copy from your web site, it's just your price seems a little high to me, another photographer based in the Carse of Gowrie is £100 less than you.

Ok, sorry, thats my price I dont haggle

It's just that I dont like his work very much, I'd much prefer to have you photograph my Wedding

Well sorry, my prices are fixed and I dont haggle - if you want to get it for less you better go with the guy whos work is not as good as mine.

Ok then I'll chat to my partner and call you back

I'm pretty sure I'll never hear from her again but it got me thinking, I can't moan about her haggling, I haggled in the past for various things, never very succesfully though, there is memory of me haggling over a hotel room, in the end I realised that I was haggling over £3 - hardly worth it.

Maybe when the date comes and goes and I dont have a booking I'll regret not taking her offer but I don't think so, I'd be much more unhappy if I took the offer then turned away another booking for the same date. Where does it end, photographers need to make a living and there are expenses of running a business, equipment, car, salary, insurance etc. Anyone can be busy if they are cheap, I was glad that she said my work was better, I do feel I charge a fair price for what I offer and it is good that people compare me to others and say my work is better, even if they dont book me.

Wedding Digital Album

When my redesigned site goes live at the end of the month it will contain a small slideshow of wedding photographs set to music. I wanted to test this working on a web site so I've posted it here. I need to see if it opens quickly and plays with no stutters.

I'd welcome comments on the show and in particular the music, I really struggled choosing this track and I'm still not sure it works, so any comments or criticisms are welcome.

This is what is referred to as a digital album on my price list and any of my clients can have one for £150. Have a look at http://www.amforbes.com/wedding/weddingphotography.php

Spring is in the air www.amforbes.com

Took the dogs for a walk today, it was a lovely pleasant day and I noticed that some of the trees had quite substantial buds on them, a sure sign that we've broken the back of Winter, and Spring really is in the air. To celebrate I thought I'd share with you some shots I took last year in Spain - just to keep you going for the last few months.

On both these shots I have pushed the contrast and saturation a little to bring the sky colours out and emphasise the blue of the sky. The camera I was using was a compact and it is not possible to put a Polarising filter on it so this has to be done in photoshop. Photographers amongst you will know that it is difficult to recreate the effect of a polarising filter on screen so this is as close as is possible.  


This is a poppy field right next to the main road that runs round Ronda, it's a haven of peace and tranquility. I'm going back in May which is the best time for Poppys so I'll revisit this area with a proper camera, assuming that Warehouse Express get my travel camera sorted out.

Dec web site stats

Danny at Aerovision IT sent through the latest statistics for my web site. Visitor numbers continue to hold steady, a little down on last month but considering that last month was the first month this was to be expected. Bounce rate still good which means that people that find the site are interested in what it is about. Danny tells me that I need to make more changes to the site to keep the Google rankings up so I’ve added some new pics to the Wedding Page and another new one to the Commercial Gallery and more family shots in the Family Gallery . Part of the new site will be a news page which will, to a small extent, mirror the blog but it makes Google understand that the site is changing and thus help the rankings.



You can see the same sort of spread of visitor numbers with a big emphasis on London, this is to be expected by the sheer number of people there but I do get a lot of returning visitors from London which is interesting and I can;t explain it.

90% of visitors came from the UK and 48% were new visitors – this new visitors number is very good news, although it’s good that people come back again and again I also need new visitors. Of course, what really matters is Clients and last month was another record Month for bookings, both Wedding and Commercial so THANK YOU to all new clients, I look forward to working with you in the coming months. I continue to get about 3 enquiries per week for Weddings.