Our sporting Hero's 1 - Ellie

Ellie is a Queensland representative football player, having won a national championship with the Queensland Under 12 girls earlier this year. She also plays touch and Oz Tag, and is hoping to gain Queensland selection in both these sports later in the year and early next year. She comes from an incredibly talented family with other family members featuring on this blog in future editions. We sat down with Ellie and had a chat about her dreams and goals for the future.

ls: What sports do you play?
eh: Soccer, Oz Tag and Touch.
ls: What clubs do you play for?
eh: Annandale Falcons and now the North Queensland Fury.
ls: What position do you play?
eh: Midfield and full back.
ls: How long have you been playing?
eh: 8 years.
ls: Who is your sporting hero?
eh: Lionel Messe from Argentina and Barcelona.

ls: What representative honours have you achieved?
eh: Townsville Football, Townsville Primary School Football, North Queensland Schools Football, QLD Schools Football, Townsville Schools Touch, North Queensland Schools Touch & Townsville Oz Tag.
ls: How much time is involved?
eh: All of our time.
ls: What is the best part of playing sports?
eh: All of it.
ls: What is the worst part of playing sport?
eh: Not being able to play.
ls: What was your favourite event?
eh: Playing for QLD at the Football Nationals in Brisbane earlier this year.
ls: Why did you choose these sports?
eh: I try to get to as many sports as I can and these were the ones we had time for.
ls: What is your biggest accomplishment in your sport?
eh: Making  the QLD State side in Football
ls:What one or two things do you currently do in your training that are keys to your success?
eh: Juggling and shooting skills.
ls: What would be your ultimate achievement?
eh: Playing for Australia.
ls: How do you set your goals?
eh: I set my goals based on what I need to improve.
ls: What is the best advise you were ever given?
eh: It's not over until it is over.
ls: Do you have a saying or motto that you live your life by?
eh: Do your best and you can achieve your best.
ls: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
eh: Lionel Messe, coaches and my parents.
ls: What do you do in your spare time away from the sport?
eh: Train.
ls: Do you have a pre-match routine?
eh: No, only a warm up
ls: Anything else you would like to share?
eh: no, I love sport.
ls: Thanks for your time Ellie, good luck in the future with you goals and ambitions.

Leiden Studios would like to thank Matt and Tracey for their time and allowing us to do the shoot with Ellie. I hope she enjoyed the experience, we had a lot of fun doing the shoot and interview. We wish her all the luck in the future pursuing her dreams.

This is the first in a weekly series of sporting stars to be profiled by Leiden studios. Leiden Studios has the pleasure of working with a large number of sporting clubs and organisations both in Townsville and in Queensland and through this association we have come across a range of fantastically talented sports stars. Our aim is to profile some of these personalities and hopefully give both the athlete and the associations a bit of exposure.

We have stars lined up for the next few weeks but are always looking for more willing to do a bit of a photo shoot and give us a bit of an insight into what it takes to be a sports star. I have plans already in place for a sprinter and swimmer/ water polo. Considering we covered QLD Water Polo for 5 years I actually do not know any in Townsville.Please give us a call if you are interested in participating. There is no cost associated with the shoot.

Christmas is Close

Christmas is Looming.

Did you know it is only 120 days or so until Christmas? Where has yet another year gone? So how have you gone with your plans and goals for the year? At this time of the year, it is a great time to assess how you are going and put plans in place for the rest of the year. Did you notice how much the kids have grown? So when was the last time you had some family portraits done?

Baby Portraits.

So are you stuck for a Christmas idea? What are you going to give your family? What about parents, grandparents and the rest of your family? Always a great idea is to get your family photographed by a professional photographer. An annual trip to a professional photographer will allow you to document your family as time goes by. There is nothing like today to get it done.

Studio Portraits.

Family photography can be done in a number of ways. The quickest, but not always the easiest is to use a studios with studios lighting. While some studios may be set up to utilise natural light, most will rely on studio flash. Studios shoots can be very creative because of the ability to control light and at various times of the day may be the best option. Daylight can be very harsh and while it is possible to do portrait shoots at midday, it is easier to do these in the studio.

Themed Portraits.

Location photography can bring a different dynamic to your shoot as you can customise the shoot to your family. Props like chairs, balloons, picnic set, even family pets can be used. Once captured, these images will last forever. Procrastination is the worst thing when it get to family portraits and as everyone knows, time passes so quickly.

Senior Portraits.

As we get closer to the end of the year, our grade 12 students are getting ready to leave school and enter society. A great memento for both the parents and the student is a senior's portrait shoot. The students schooling life can be incorporated into the shoot to give a pictorial history of the last year at school.

Summer Portrait Offer.

Our summer special just in time for Christmas is the family mini session. Thirty minutes along the river or in the studio and we will provide up to 20 digital images for you to select from. Places are limited so phone in to book your place. The offer is valid until the end of September.

Thanks to everyone who has used our services during 2013. We have had wonderful couples, family's and a couple of new sports clubs over the years as well as our regular clubs. We love doing your photographs and are looking forward to working with you next year. 

Over the next few posts we will provide a few tips on how to get the best out of your portrait session. Stay tuned.

Finding Your Wedding Photographer

Previously, I wrote about the process of finding you wedding photographer. It is a very difficult decision, made harder by the sheer number of people calling themselves a professional photographer. There is a wide range of abilities and price differences between the photographers and I have to say, like all professions, you get what you paid for, Generally.

There is a lot more to wedding photography than being able to compose a photograph in camera. Most people that get into wedding photography, start with an interest in photography and then get asked by friends to cover a wedding. All very well, except there is a big difference to taking photos for fun and the expectation of a wedding shoot. Suddenly, if you stuff it up, there is no come back. No real way to go back and re shoot the event. Even if you had the resources, the photos are never the same.

So the basics of wedding photography begin with an understanding of the camera and it's settings. Modern cameras are amazing. Really, anyone can pick a camera up and take a really nice, well composed photographs. Cameras come with face recognition technology, large file size, incredible low light capability, motor drive, this list go on. What is does not come with is composition, lighting and posing. Your photographer has to be able to do that.

Where you separate yourself as a professional from the want to be, is in the use of light, positioning of those being photographed, exposure and in the end, how the image is finished using programs like Photoshop. On Photoshop, when you start is amazing. It can "fix" a range of photographic problems that the professional photographer should get right in camera. There is a limit to how long you can fix it in Photoshop before you get sick of it and go back to the basics of the original in camera capture. Get that right and the rest is easy, sort of.

One of the great ways of getting a good photographer is to check their professional association memberships. The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) or Australian Commercial & Media Photographers (ACMP) are two such associations. Membership requires an assessment by fellow professional photographers as well as a continuing education and assessment process to maintain membership. This means you constantly have to remain up to date with current technology and trends in the industry.

One of the assessments is the APPA's, the AIPP's annual professional photography competition. Four images are submitted and assessed by Masters of photography, people who have been in the industry for years and have a wealth of experience. This is the best way of learning what is required as a professional photographer. Judging can be brutal, but as a learning experience there is nothing like it. Does your photographer enter the APPA's?

Silver award 2012 APPA's

For further information please contact Malcolm during office hours.

Choose your wedding photographer

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Booking your Wedding Photographer. The selection of your wedding photographer is one of the most difficult decisions that has to be made before the big day. Depending on when the wedding is, it might have to be made months or years in advance to ensure that you get who you want.  In terms of photography, the web has a huge amount of information available. This allows you to go to the photographers and scan their images to get a sense of what they are about. Have a look at what the photographer has on their website. Are the images current? What style do you like? Are you after traditional images or more candid images? Once you find a photographer with the style that you like, you need to meet them, preferably in their studios so you can see images and product first hand. Talk to them, have a look at the images they have taken, look at their products. Look for experience, associations that they are members of, gear they use. The question is, are they serious about the photography or just someone doing it for a bit of spare cash. Big question. Will they still be here in 12 months or 2 years or 5 years if something happens to one of your products?  These questions will allow you to gauge where they are in the professional world. One of the big questions is, "do I get on with them"? You spend a lot of time with your photographer on the day. You need to trust that they can do the job you have employed them for and you need to be able to get along with them. Are they great at keeping the day moving? Can they organise a lot of people into images that look great? Do they know what to look for on the day? Can they give advice on what to look, for what you need and where to go. It is a hard decision, who will photograph your wedding, but when all is said and done, all the memories that you have of your day will be the photographs. There are a couple of wedding expos coming up. One is at the Mercure and the other at the Venue. Get along and ask questions. Good luck with your choices. Summer Wedding Offer Getting married or know of someone getting married later in the year? We have several spots open from October through to December for weddings. As a special incentive we will throw in a 16x24" print valued at $300 to your package for anyone booking a wedding during this time. Education Leiden Studios is looking to do a weekend photography course that would cover basic camera function, lighting and posing on day one, image processing on day two including Lightroom and Photoshop. The course will contain a large amount of information. Expressions of interest are welcome.

May News Letter

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Wedding Season Wedding season in Townsville is now in full swing with weddings being held every weekend. We have a couple of Fridays booked as well as the traditional days. In fact we booked a Monday wedding yesterday, so they are not limited to the traditional Saturday. Your wedding photography is one of the most important aspects of the day. After it is all over and the guests have gone home, all that will remain is your memories and images captured during the day. Don't risk it. Find an accredited photographer that you get on with. It is a long day if you do not get on with them. Occasionally you get the most amazing skies that can add drama to your wedding images. We were getting ready for Alyce and Jason to go into their reception being held at the Picnic Bay Surf Lifesaving Club. We were hoping to get a good sky, but could not dream it would be like this. Once the sky turned to these beautiful shades we had barely 10 minutes before it was gone.  To do this you need to be proficient in off-camera flash. Exposure is set for the background so that you get the beautiful colours, in fact you can under-expose a little to increase the drama. The couple are exposed using off-camera flash with a diffuser. The flash exposure is balanced to the sky's exposure. There are a couple of ways to do this, one of the easiest is simply moving the flash closer and further away, depending on the desired result. Even diffused, the flash does need to be a little distance from the couple. Here I had my assistant on the rocks and to the right. The final image can be manipulated so that more of the detail of the club can be seen. It would be an excellent final image in an album, with lots of impact and nothing really required in Photoshop except to bring out the detail in the background. This image has had a bit done in Photoshop. The original capture is taken on a 10-20mm Sigma lens that caused quite a deal of distortion. The verticals have been corrected so that the building does not look like it is going to fall over. However there is still a little horizontal distortion.  I do like some of the effects that wide angle lenses provide and often use them on my group photos. You have to be careful that you do not have the group too close to the edge of the image as that is where most of the distortion occurs. Other than that, the image has been darkened to add drama, and using a layer mask, the couple bought out so they are more obvious in the image. The sky is real so already had a bit of drama to it. This image became our most liked Facebook image at more than 140 likes at last count. Summer Wedding Offer Getting married or know of someone getting married later in the year? We have several spots open from October through to December for weddings. As a special incentive we will throw in a 16x24" print valued at $300 to your package for anyone booking a wedding during this time. Education We will be announcing the next photography course and Lightroom course in the next week. Any enquiries please call the office or send us an email.