Leiden Studios

Selecting Your Wedding Photographer.

2012-01-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

Possibly the hardest decision when preparing for a wedding is the selection of the wedding photographer. A wedding is the most expensive party you will ever throw and once it is over, all you have are your memories. Your photographs should be something quite special.

So how do you select a photographer? Generally, the best way is by personal reference from a friend or colleague who has had experience with a photographer. If you ask around, check the images that were taken, ask how it was on the day and how well the process went. Selection comes down to the style of photography, the personality of the photographer, cost and how well you get on with the photographer when talking to them. You must meet with the photographer and spend some time getting to know them. It will make it easier on the day. If no one has experience with a photographer,then a google search or yellow pages is next. Most photographer will have a web page and the best way of narrowing it down is to search through their web pages and look at the images. How do they look? Are they well composed? Is there detail in the dress? Do they look natural?

There are two distinct styles that wedding photographers fall into. The photojournalist who tries to be the fly on the wall and capture events as they happen and the traditional wedding photographer who directs and poses. Most photographer fall somewhere in between these two using a combination of photojournalism and traditional photography. It comes down to personal choice and what you like in your photography.

Consider also the impact that the photographer will have on the actual day. How long do you want them there, do you want both bride and groom getting ready images, do you want a real cake cutting and bridal waltz? All very important to the day but will impact on cost. The reception is a big part of the day but often forgotten. A new product on the market is the photo booth, a really fun way to get images of your guests from your wedding.

So what is your money paying for? A wedding photographer requires many skills. The most important is seeing light and their ability to use the light. In photography, light is everything and the way a person is positioned within the light can be the difference between an average photograph and an amazing photograph. Photographers need equipment that can handle the different lighting conditions found during a typical wedding shoot and the technical skills that allow them to photograph in all conditions. This means expensive lenses and a variety of portable lighting gear. It takes a lot of experience, training and commitment to do it well.
Further, they need the organisational skills needed to shoot family and group photos, time management skills to get it all the photos needed from the day, problem solving skills as there are always different scenarios that arise during the day. After the wedding, there is post production, editing techniques, graphic design for albums and canvas prints, and the ability to pull it all together. Print quality and album quality is everything if your memories are going to last. Wedding photographers could charge less by compromising on the quality of their products, but it would be the couple who pay for it later.

So how much should you pay for your wedding photography? The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) states at least 10% of your total wedding budget should be directed towards your photography. Photography, like everything else, comes down to “you get what you paid for”. A quality photographer costs a little bit more because they bring to the table creative experience, technical experience and spend a lot of time on your images ensuring that they are perfect. They do not compromise on quality, neither should you.

There will obviously be a huge difference in the final images and the products when comparing an $800 photographer with a $5000 photographer. This difference will be in quality, quality of the actual image, quality of the albums and prints and the quality of service. This is one of the most important days in your life, do not compromise on quality. There can be no greater disappointment then getting your photos after the events and thinking "I wish I had of gone somewhere else."

All of these factors are important, however if you do not get on with your photographer it will be a long day. You must meet with your photographer before the day and you need to get to know them. You have to trust that they know what they are doing and enjoy their company. With wedding photography, there has to be a lot of trust involved. If you do not believe in what the photographer is saying, it will show in the photos. Many photographer offer an engagement shoot as part of the package. A great way of getting to know them and see how they photograph.

Timing on the day is vital. A run down of the day should be organised before the big day, timing, locations and events. This should include any special needs you may have for the day. Locations you like, people you want photos of. This needs to be locked down before the day, it goes to quickly to make it up as you go.

Look for photographers accredited with the AIPP, these photographers are part of an education system that allows photographers to improve their skills while being mentored and taught by the best photographers in the business. There is also an accreditation system in place that you must pass to become accredited.

Wedding days should be fantastic days, select your photographer carefully and you will have photographs to treasure forever. Remember, don't let little things spoil your day. Enjoy every moment so when you look at your photos, the memories come flooding back.

Malcolm Gillham

Leiden Studios

Low Light Photograph

2012-01-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Leiden Studios first educational post.

This image was actually posted on Facebook late last year with some of the details that go with the image, but I thought it was a great way to start a discussion about how Leiden Studios goes about it's image creation.

Nicole was one of our beautiful brides from last year. The image was taken on the second floor of Cactus Saloon in Flinders Street Townsville and our thanks goes to Cactus Saloon for the use of their premises. A lot of what we do could not be done without the co-operation of the clubs and pubs around Townsville.

The basic set up has a door to the left of Nicole that goes out onto a deck and provides a natural light source coming across her from left to right. She is place next to the door with her head turned towards the light source. Having her face the other way would put her face into shadow and would need to be corrected by either filling with flash or video light or similar, or a reflector. The last option would still be difficult to get enough light into her face.

Most of our photography is done in "manual" mode with the highlight alert set to on. Weddings are all about the dress and nothing spoils a shoot more that over exposing the dress and losing detail, especially if a lot of money has been spent on the dress. We also shoot all our images in "raw" rather than jpgs as this retains all the details of the image and allows us to make decisions on the image later in post production.

So for this shot the details were ISO 3200, f2.8 @ 1/125 second. This allows you to keep the depth of field narrow and focused on Nicole. You could play with the numbers and allow more detail in the barrels to come out, but you need to keep a close eye on the shutter speed to ensure a sharp image. The ISO could go to 6400 remembering that noise will increase at this number. However I would rather a sharp image with noise than a soft image without.

So the options would be to decrease the shutter speed, maybe with an increase in aperture, this will lighten the barrels and give a bit more detail in the raw image. However our look is probably a bit more dark and moody and by shooting in raw format we can bring back detail in the shadows in post production.

It would also be difficult to photograph this image on any auto mode. The camera would read the image as dark and try to lighten it. Taking a spot reading from the dress would under expose the image. I'll post and article at a later date about why the cameras does that, but it is out of the scope of this article.

So our raw image looked like this straight out of the camera. Not a lot needed post production which is exactly what we are trying to achieve on our shoots. One of the worst things with Photoshop is the notion that "I can fix that in Photoshop". More time is wasted trying to fix technical problems with the original capture than anything else in photography. Those new to the industry commonly make that mistake, I know I did. You only make it once though, no mater what your Photoshop skills, a poorly captured image will never look as good as a well captured image, ever. Get it right in camera the first time. Take a little time with the capture, and have a look at the image on the back of the camera. In doubt, check the histogram. Still in doubt, then do a bracket exposure around your current exposure.

Looking at the raw image, all it needed was a little straightening, the door is distracting so it is removed, the image is converted to Black & White using Nik software and a slight HDR effect is added also in Nik to increase the detail in the barrels and the dress. The right side of the face was lightened a little using Shadows/highlights in Image>Adjustments and to add a little more detail into the barrels.

The image has pride of place in Phil & Nicole's wedding album. Thanks to the couple, their wedding was a wonderful event, one we will not forget and we look forward to working with them in the future.

Any comment are welcome.

David Jodi & Family

2012-01-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

Nice family shoot in their newly renovated house near the Townsville Golf Club. The house is an old Queenslander so have fantastic available light, and lot of spots to take the photos. Has to be said that the house was absolutely immaculate as well. The family has a couple of twins and a new born baby. Nearly forgot the dog.

Kelly and Mal went to this shoot, one of the great advantages of having three photographers in the business is we will always send two photographers to a shoot. It takes a bit if pressure of the first photographer and gives a different perspective to the shoot. We will continue to use two photographers at our shoots as long as it is available.

Talking about photography.

2012-01-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi all

With the advent of Facebook, yes it took us a long time to actually start using it, a lot of our actual photographs are now posted on that site instead of this blog. With this in mind we have decided to use this site more as a educational site to show what we do and more importantly, how we do it.

There are a lot of photographers out there, many are fantastic at what they do, many have an incredible eye for detail or creativity and produce some stunning results. Unfortunately there are a lot out here that start by getting one of the modern hi tech cameras and start taking photographs. Some of these take good photographs and decide it might be a good way to earn some extra money, so they turn "pro".

There is a lot more to photography than setting the camera to P and firing away, and this is the problem that is common in Professional photography. A photographer needs to have the basic technical knowledge to be able to shoot in all conditions, they need the equipment to be able to shoot in all conditions and be creative enough to work with whatever is in front of them.

By basics I mean getting the knowledge to understand f-stops, shutter speeds and ISO. How they interact and how they can be used to produce stunning images that simply do not need huge amounts of Photoshopping to get the result. How to see light and use it to it's best effect and how to work with the people being photographed.

We hope that you find our articles helpful, and if you disagree with comments by all means let us know.

The team at

Leiden Studios.

Kelly from Harmony Portraits has Joined us.

2011-10-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

I am sure that most are aware that Kelly from Harmony Portraits in Mundingburra has joined our business. This allows us to really push into the portrait market as she is a fantastic portrait photographer with a wealth of experience to fall back on. Kelly is hoping to help out at a few more weddings and we are hoping to help out at a few more portrait shoots.

I have posted a few of Kelly's baby and family photos that she took when still at Harmony. They are fantastic images that the parents will treasure forever. One of the great things about photography is that we capture of a piece of history, something that cannot be recreated. Kids grow up so fast, it is often overlooked, to get the portrait taken of your kids, but the advent of technology is still not able to capture a photo of your three year old after they have turned four. However if you bring them to us when they are three, we will capture a beautiful image that you can treasure forever.

Anyone wanting to contact Kelly can phone the studio office during office hours on 47286108, and remember we have some special deals leading up to Christmas.

Michael & Marina

2011-10-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

One of the exciting projects to come out if the year was to take our engagement shoots and go a little further with them. Thanks for this goes to Phil & Nicole who had the idea of a 50's style shoot as something different. Enter Michael and Marina, absolutely stunning couple who also came with a very different idea. Unfortunately you will have to wait until after the wedding to post those photos. However some of their photos were stunning and showed the conection that they have with each other. Thanks to Michael and Marina for their effort, again much fun was had by all. I like the idea of a theme for any shoot as it adds a bit to the look of the image and it actually helps with the process of the shoot. With kids especially if you can bring props along, being toys that the kids love or "rugy" it all helps with the relaxation and how the kids respond. Here are some of the photos from Marina & Michael. Please enjoy.

Really looking forward to your wedding, it is going to be a fantastic day. Come on November.

Would like to thank both Kellie and Kelly for their input on this shoot. Any comments welcome.

Missy shoot

2011-10-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

So we are starting to get to the end of our wedding season. Really sad because we have had some wonderful people through the studio and I will really miss not going out to the weddings every weekend. Anyway, we had a long discussion on what we can do over summer. And then Missy walked into the studio.

Thanks to Missy, we had a ball on Saturday and she was a great model.

Hailey & Clinton Portrait shoot

2011-08-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

We posted one of Hailey and Clinton's images on "Facebook" and got such a good response, we thought we would put a few more up. Hailey and Clinton wanted the shoot at the Brewery in Townsville and the Rhino Bar where Clinton is a chef. We love the Brewery, it has the best beer in Townsville and has some of the best lighting as well. Soft light is what portraiture is all about and in Townsville this is difficult as it is often very harsh, especially during the middle of the day. A lot of our portrait shoots are done later in the day, just as the sun sets for this reason.

The Rhino Bar in Palmer Street, Townsville was a new experience for us, we had not photographed in there before. A little artificial light in the form of a video light and we produced some stunning results. The back light wall produced some interesting effects and required a little fill or reflected light to fill in the shadows. Clinton & Hailey has a bit of fun and got to be models for an hour or two.

Thanks to both the Brewery and the Rhino Bar, your facilities are fantastic, we love coming to your buildings to photograph. For enquiries about portraiture or wedding photography, please give us a call during office hours.

Body Building

2011-06-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

The natural body building titles were held a couple of weeks ago and we were lucky enough to be asked to help with a shoot by Steve Duff. Great fun with some really good results. The boys had worked really hard to get their look so were happy to strike a pose to get some great results.

Thanks to Duff and the boys. I hope they did well over the weekend.

Leola & Grant

2011-05-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

These guys ended up being famous. The Photos of Grant getting the tattoo put on his finger ended up in the Bullie. I did not take those photos. These guys had a great day, wedding at the historic houses in West End and their reception at the Turf club in a marque. They also love the arty look so we spent a lot of time in Finders Street using the fronts of the buildings and Cactus Saloon as the backdrop to the shoot. Interesting that our video light choose this shoot to not work so we had to get creating with off camera flash and available light. Really like the photos, I've actually entered one of the images into the Canon Professional Photography awards and there are 2 or 3 others that could have been used.

Had a bit of rain on the night but it didn't alter the fun. Leola also did a great job with the organisation, her attention to detail is amazing.

Poster prints

2011-05-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the posters from the QLD Challenge Carnival held in Townsville over the May long weekend. The event was held at the Townsville Netball association courts. They did a fantastic job getting everything ready after the damage inflicted by Yasi.

Over the next few weeks we have some team photos for Brothers Junior Rugby League anf the State titles for Qld Netball. Very exciting and really looking forward to it.

Team photography

2011-05-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Over the past few weeks we have been flat out covering the QLD Basketball Girls under 14 & 16 Titles and the QLD Netball's challenge Carnival. I thought I'd show a few of the teams that we took over this period as our product has changed a little since last year. Thanks to all teams who utilised our services and see you next year.

We are about to photograph Brothers Junior Rugby League and Western Districts as well as a couple of soccer clubs. If your club is interested we sill have a few spots left in July and August.

Andrew & Lorenza

2011-05-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day in Home Hill & Ayr for our first wedding at the Greek Orthodox Church in Home Hill. Always fun, Greek services are fantastic with lots of rituals, symbolism and colour. We are very privileged to be not only photographing Andrew and Lorenza but also Andrew brother Neil and his fiance Kristina, as well as his best man Phil and Nicole's wedding in September.

Thanks to Andrew and Lorenza for inviting us into their day. A great time was had by all and I'm looking forward to Neil and Kristina in June.

Angela & Michael

2011-05-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday brought another wedding with Michael & Angela. Riverside Gardens for the wedding and "A Touch of Salt" for the reception. Thanks to the Exchange Hotel as quite a few of the images were taken there. Fantastic couple, helped as I had worked with Michael's mother at the hospital in a previous life.

Thanks to Michael and Angela for inviting Leiden Studios into their day. We will post a few more images over the next few weeks to catch up on the last month.

Melbourne

2011-04-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

So after 37 years of living in Australia, I've finally made it to Melbourne. The original plan was a photoshop seminar with photoshop guru and Australian Wedding photographer of the year, Rocco Ancora. The bonus was that Rocco is now with Nick and Sharifa Ghionis at Xsight Studios. Nick invited me back, so I went down again and assisted him on a wedding and backed up to do some more mentoring on the Monday. I cannot tell you how valuable this is to us. Got a few hours to wonder the streets of Melbourne so here are a few images from the trips.

Nick and Mal at Xsight Studios Melbourne.

Nick, Mal, Rocco at Xsight Studios Melbourne

Nick and Sharifa at Xsight Studios Melbourne

Kerri & Andrew

2011-03-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

A very hot day in March saw the wedding of Kerri & Andrew from the Isa. Very nice day, other than the heat, with a bridal party that where there for a good time. Always makes for great photos. Thanks to the Brewery as they provided an air conditioned, well lite venue with some great beer. South bank Convention Centre for the reception.

Combination Prints

2011-03-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

Last year we developed the combined action and team photograph. It is basically an individual photograph of the athlete with the team that they play in. The response that we got was fantastic. We found that once the original order was given out, our phones rang hot with parents wanting to order the combined photograph. we find this happens in both sporting and day care centres that we supply photography for. Once the product is out there, the response is great.

It is always hard to go to the market place with a new product or a new photography organisation. However, if the product is fantastic and the price is good, then why not give it a go. Our system used to produce these images is proven through the club photography that we have done over the last few years.

Here are a few examples from last year.

Any questions that you may have about any of our products or to book us for you club, please give us a call or send an email to us.

Our Posters

2011-03-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

Having posted our new designs for 2011, I thought I should show what we have provided in the past. We have a wide range of custom designed prints and posters all with our quality grantee. Customised posters will not be printed until you love it. It is then printed onto quality paper and either posted to your house or delivered to your sporting fields.

Here are a few of our 11 x 14" Posters from 2010.

We will continue to develop new designs and provide quality products for the sporting community. If you have any questions on how we may be of service to your club, please give us a call.

Large Posters

2011-03-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

These are some of our 16 x 20" posters. Again, custom designed and printed only when you love it.

As you can see, our posters can contain any number of images. While it is not always possible to get all the team for a "coach" poster we do try our best and are developing ways that we can do really nice mock action photos for those that may be on the sidelines when our photographers are shooting the game.

Team Photography

2011-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Team photography is not as easy as you would believe. You need people management skills, organisational skills and have a good technical and artistic knowledge about what you are trying to do. Things like position of the sun, background, numbers of rows, numbers of people in each row and the actual body position of the people in the photo are all important. How are you going to place the people into the photo, how are you going to check spelling, how much post production is required are all the different problems that need to be solved to provide a great photograph. All of these factors take time to develop and if you do not know basic photography, you will never get a good photograph.

Leiden Sports Images takes over 500 team photos a years so we are good at it. We have systems in place that allow us to take, process, print and post 100 teams for the QLD State Netball Championships. Photos are taken over two and a half days and all prints are posted within 3 weeks. We have worked with QLD Water Polo, Netball, Volleyball, Australian Volleyball, Western Lions Junior Rugby League and many others. We are very happy that Brothers Junior Rugby League will be using our services this year and we are looking forward to a long association with the club.

Here are a few from last year:

If you or your organisation has any questions about our team and action photography, please give us a call or send us an email. We are happy to answer any question and advise on availability.

Leiden sporting Images

2011-03-02T17:10:00.000-08:00

As many of you are aware, Leiden Studios has a second part to it's business, sports and team photography. Up until this year, Leiden Sports Images had provided the team and action photography for QLD Water Polo, Netball and Volleyball. While we do not cover Water Polo or Volleyball any longer we still appreciate the time that we spent with those sports.

We are now branching out into club photography, providing team and action photography for a number of large clubs in Townsville. To keep up with demand we are constantly upgrading and developing new products. Last year we had a combined team and action photograph that got great reviews. This year we are happy to announce the launch of our new custom designed poster. These can be either 11x14" or 16x20" and need only one image.

If you have any questions about the services that we provide or our product range please give us a call.

Business Network International

2011-02-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hi

Leiden Studios has been a member of BNI for nearly 12 months. As a marketing tool for small business, this has been some of the best spent money that we have spent on our business. Once a week the Focus chapter meets at the Balcony in the mall. On Friday we had a hat day, with members required to bring in a hat associated with their business. These are some of the photos from the day.

Thanks to all, it was a really fun meeting and a great way to start the day.

Cyclone Yasi

2011-02-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hi All

As you know Townsville was hit by the southern tail of Cyclone Yasi. What we experienced was nowhere near as severe as what Cardwell and Tully went through, we still had up to category 3 winds for nearly 12 hours. What we woke up to was amasing. Our road was blocked both ways and along the river was a complete mess. It looked like there was surf on the river with waves travelling against the flow of the river. Still, the community came together and the street was unblocked within 4 to 5 hours, and it allowed us to meet some of out neighbour's. Good does come out of everything.

Theo & Leticia Wedding

2011-02-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Theo & Leticia where married in the Greek Orthidox Church in Touwnsville in August 2010. The wedding was stunning, great venue, great couple and bridal party. So important when you plan your wedding, the bridal party need to be on the same page as how you want the wedding to go. If everyone is there to enjoy the day and to have fun with the photographs, that is when magic happens and you get some fantastic images.

What a year

2011-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Hi and welcome to our first ever post on Leiden Studios Blog. Over the next few months we are hoping to post a variety of different ideas, lessons and images that have been taken for our clients and for ourselves. If you have any questions or would like to know more about what we do, please give us a call or send us an email.

Leiden Studios has been going for 6 years now, with last year being the first with both of us as full time photographers. We specialise in weddings, family portraits, kindy photos and sports photography. Our sports photography operates as Leiden Sports Images. We are hoping to have a blog running in the not too distant future to update everyone regarding where we are up to with that.

We have had a very busy year in what was our first as full time photographers. We met some incredible couples and would like to thank them all. Everyone brings so much into our business. So for now we will post a few of the images at various times to get everyone up to speed.