Dubai family photograph shoot

I had the pleasure to meet a lovely family recently in the central of Dubai high up in a high rise with a beautiful view over Dubai.
When the mum booked she said I want to have my baby girl photographed in a basket but I have loads of baskets so thats ok you don't need to bring any. I brought all my photography props anyway to the photography shoot as I always do and that was a good thing. The new born was actually 4 weeks old already and had grown out of all the baskets the mum had thought she could fit into. Thankfully I have many baskets in different sizes so there was no problem fitting her in one of mine :)

I just love this photograph above it just shows you how children naturally are and behave! :)

Big brother is scratching his head about what his little sisters are doing, middle sister is poking the baby sister in the eye while she is screaming away! Love it! Maybe not an image to frame and give to your grandparents but definitively one to keep. It will make a very funny Christmas Card for instance. 

Don't worry I also captured some lovely ones of the three of them looking at me. But I personally like this the best it tells a story lol. 

Give me a call to book your photo shoot in. Mob. +971 55 107 89 88

Helen xx

Firework time of year again in Dubai

Happy EID everyone!
It is that time of year in Dubai where you can go out and photograph fireworks.
Tonight you can capture some cool fire work images down at the Festival Center Marina Walk. If you need some help in regards to how to photograph fireworks I have written a blog post about it earlier, you can find it here: http://shippeyphotography.blogspot.ae/2012/12/happy-new-year-dubai.html
Happy shooting everyone!
Helen xx

Dubai Baby Bump

It is almost time for me to photograph the little girl that is inside mummy’s belly. I cant wait it will be so much fun I have sourced a few extra new cool photography props that I am dying to try out. I got white feathered and butterfly wings and also gorgeous butterfly hair clips and new baskets. It will be such a fun shoot. I will let you guys know how I get on once the time has come. In the mean time here is a peek from their maternity photography shoot we did outdoors, partly on the beach, poolside and in garden. In a small space we had access to it all it was very convenient.

Here is me playing a bit with the sun :-)

Dubai baby photography session

Hi everyone,
I have just finished editing a family and baby photography shoot. I also did the maternity shoot for this family but I don’t believe I have had time to share that with you yet. Oh well here comes the ‘after’ photographs at least :-)

This family had booked my photography package that includes 2 photography shoots within 3 months of each other. It is a great way to capture both the maternity well as the newborn.
To book this package or to get more details give me a call on. +971 55 107 89 88
or email. info@shippeyphotography.com

If you are a FaceBook user please check out my Fb page for updates that happen a bit more often than the updates on this blog :-) http://www.facebook.com/shippeyphotography
Over and out for now.
Helen xx

Dubai Sport Season in full swing

For those of you that live in Dubai know that our weather is lovely at the moment for outdoor activities.   That means that a lot of non Dubai resident sportsmen come here to train or to participate in various tournaments. Last week I was busy photographing Cardiff Football Club they were here on a one weeks training taking advantage of our lovely weather. When I arrived to Al Wasl Sports Center where they were gonna practice I was greeted by some die hard Cardiff supporters which was good because that confirmed that I was at the right location. Cardiff have recently signed a new player, Fraizer Campbel so one of my tasks was to photograph him together with their Manager. Then the very exhausting practice started. Even for me watching it was tiering mainly due to that our cool weather was not that cool last Friday as well as it is heavy to hand hold a Canon 70-200 f. 2.8 IS USM after a while. One hour in and I almost had cramps in my arms :) Did you know that football is a very fast paced sport? Well I can tell you it is I had my shutter speed on 1/1000th of a second to 1/ 1250th of a second to be able to freeze the action. Here are some snaps from the Cardiff Football Clubs practice in Dubai at Al Wasl Sports Club.
More photographs on the Cardiff FC Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151281088324051.477197.108487214050&type=1
This week all of you golf fans know that the Omega Dubai Desert Classic Golf Tournaments starts. So I have a busy week ahead of me with another sport Golf. Stay tuned for images.  Enjoy!

original photograph

edited by Cardiff FC

Happy New Year Dubai!

It is that time of year again! Time for new years resolutions and of course to watch and also maybe photograph the splendid fire work displays that we have here in Dubai or wherever you are in the world. Here in Dubai we have two firework displays that usually are spectacular there are of course several fire works displays but two that are usually a bit out of the ordinary at least. It is Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the world and Atlantis The Palm Hotel. Lets hope I am not wrong and that they both are boycotting fireworks or something this year :-)
For those of you that are photographer enthusiasts I would like to give some tips on how you can capture the fireworks with your camera.
When photographing fireworks your location is very important. You do not want anyone potentially standing in front of you or that a building is blocking part of your view. So location is very important you might want to go and location scout before hand since once the fireworks have started you will not have time to move yourself and your camera gear.
A tripod is almost a must at least very recommendable. If you do not have one find something solid to put your camera on such as a table or a ledge. Because you will not be able to hand hold the camera for the long exposures that are needed no matter how steady you are. A remote trigger is very handy so that you will not get any camera shake but not a necessity. If you do not have one you need to press your shutter very gently, no sudden moves.
Then put your camera on Manual mode. There are of course several different settings that you can choose from nothing is totally right or wrong just give different effects.
But to give you somewhere to start out at you can have your DSLR on ISO 100, Aperture 11 and Shutter speed somewhere between 1 to 8 seconds. At 8 seconds you will have more firework rain (light trails) and a brighter image since your camera curtain will be open for a longer period of time. When you choose a short shutter speed such as 1 second then you will only be able to capture the short bursts of light.
The lower your ISO is the less noise will be visible in your photograph, but if you do not have a tripod you can increase your ISO to compensate that a little but you then have to be aware that you will get more noise in your photographs. Try to predict where and when the fireworks will go off to capture the colorful bursts, you do not want to press your shutter when the rocket/firework starts since it then will take it too long for the colorful bursts to appear and you will overexpose your photo a bit too much.

ISO 200, Shutter speed 4 sec. Aperture F. 14

ISO 100, Shutter speed 1Sec, Aperture F.11 

ISO 100, Shutter speed 3Sec, Aperture F.11

It can also be nice to include people into your composition to show a sense of perspective and dimension. This image below is to display that and that you should not wait till the last minute to photograph a firework display because the sky after a while will become very smoky from all the fireworks which you can see in this image so its not a great image by any means I just want to prove my point. :-)

ISO 200, Shutter speed 2 sec. Aperture F.14

Good luck tonight!  If you live in Dubai you will have a second chance at photographing fireworks during the Dubai Shopping Festival. They always have spectacular fireworks over the creek then. The above images are taken during last years shopping festival.
If all else fails you can always sign up for one of my photography workshops :-) LOL
http://shippeyphotography.blogspot.com/2012/12/happy-new-year-dubai.html

Happy New Year everyone!
Helen xx