Tuesday 12 July 2011

Love to play with Silhouettes

When it comes to silhouette photography you can have loads of fun playing with the light.
But you do need a light source. I went to this couples house the other day to scout for good locations for our photography shoot. They have a lovely hallway upstairs with a window that I thought will work great for loads of different kinds of shots I used the window as one of my light sources. On the day I woke up thinking that I can probably do some great silhouettes with this couple as well. I was inspired by the Engagement photography shoot I did the other week were the couple were standing in the car park of the Jumeriah Madiant and the light was coming in through the car park exit. (If you don't remember i have added that image below  as well) Now my problem when I saw the window again was that it was not as large as I was hoping it would be and it had a beam going across it as well blocking out the light.
But it is still doable, I want to show you that with these before and after images below. So even when you have dire surroundings that you need to work with you can still work that into your advantage and make great silhouettes. I used Photoshop to finalize these images.
You can also change the features a bit of the people in the photograph if you like. Just like they do in the glossy magazines. Can you tell the difference?
 Below are the original images that I started with to create the above finalized images.
Original image to start with.
Original image to start with.
Original image to start with.
This bottom image needed the least work due to the light conditions and location being exactly what we wanted to get the shot compared to the two first images.

Monday 11 July 2011

FREE Mother & Baby Photography in Dubai on Friday 15th July

On Friday the 15th of July, 4 Mums have the chance to win a Mother & Baby Photography with me.


All you need to do is to sign up and attend one of the Favourite Things Event that is hosted together with Mother, Baby and Child Magazine!  Remember you need to sign up for the Friday the 15th event  to be eligible to win my Mum and Baby Photography Shoot. There will be a fun show around and puppet show and more! To register CLICK HERE -http://bit.ly/lt5rW3 


Hurry! Limited spaces available and lots of raffle prizes to be given away! 


http://www.motherbabychild.me/mbc-invites/fave-things/index.html#register-here


I will be there at hand if you have any other photography questions and make portrait bookings. You can also sign up for my Photography Workshops that will start in October.


Looking forward to see you guys at Favourite Things Level 2, Dubai Marina Mall on Friday the 15th of July.
Cheers Helen


http://www.favouritethings.com/

Thursday 7 July 2011

Dubai Madinat Jumeirah Engagement shoot

I had a wonderful time at the Madinat Jumeirah last week photographing a couple that are getting married later on in the year and they wanted photographs that they could use for their wedding invitations and for the save the date cards. So with that in mind we ventured around Madiant Souk area. It was a very sandy and windy day we had picked which in a way was not too bad because that meant there would be no direct sunlight which is a good thing but it also made everything look very hazy and gave very dull colours. But thankfully we have photoshop to help us out on those days. :-)



Tuesday 5 July 2011

Family Beach Photography next to the Burj Al Arab Hotel

Beat the Heat!
Last week I photographed a Swedish family next to the Burj Al Arab Hotel. The open beach next to the hotel is very popular for photo shoots, having the 7 star hotel in the background you will definitively know where the photograph was taken. I have had 3 families asking to have their family beach shoots next to the Burj Al Arab Hotel in the last week. So it is safe to say that it is a popular location. It is also popular for tourists. Through these photo shoots I have learned that the better time to photograph on this particular beach is to start at around 17.30 yes the light is better due to that the sun is setting but also there are slightly less people on the beach compared to if you start your photography shoot at 17.00. Because between 17.00 and 17.15 you have three tourist busses arriving and the beach get over crowded by the tourists. One day there were Japanese tourists when I did this shoot the buses were full of Indian tourists. They all go out on the beach fully dressed (it must be very uncomfortably hot for them) and photograph at everything they see. The Burj Al Arab is a popular subject but our photography shoot also becomes very interesting for them. So not only are they in my view finder they are also photographing us. Maybe we look like celebrities? Or we will become celebrities??? Hum now when I think about it maybe I should deliberately start the shoot at 17.00 I might get the next red carpet invitation due to that..... Something to ponder over. :-)

Can you play air guitar and jump at the same time?


Sunday 3 July 2011

Dubai Beach Photography Shoot

The other day I was at the beach with a lovely family we met up at 17.30 so we had the sunset to play with for our shoot which is always loads of fun.
 You always get the best and relaxing smiles when you have everyone do something different and quirky when they are properly enjoying themselves. For this shot we had the dad pull everyone along running towards me. We also tried it with the kids pulling but they were not strong enough to get the proper fun pull effect for this kind of shot. The kids were loving it!