A list of answers to questions I am asked frequently!
• I did an HND in Photography in 2003. It took me 3 years part time.
• This is my third full wedding season.
• I use Canon 5D Mark ii.
• I use fast primes - a 50mm 1.2L, a 35mm 1.4L and an 85mm 1.2L. In my bag I also have a 16-35mm 2.8L incase I need to go wider for family portraits. I love my 45mm 2.8 Tilt and Shift lens too.
• My favourite lens of all time is probably my 50mm 1.2L.
• I don't have a studio. I don't do studio work. I work from a home office and do all my shoots on location.
• I use a Shootsac lens bag as it's great for people who shoot with primes and therefore change lenses a lot. The only thing I hate about it is how sore it makes my shoulder :(
• I shoot in Raw and I shoot manual. I tell absolutely everyone who emails me asking for advice that they need to learn to shoot manual. I taught myself by shooting household objects over and over!
• The blurry effect in the background of my photos is called bokeh. It can be achieved by using a wide aperture.
• I do all my editing in ACR - have done since I started. I've tried to get into Lightroom a couple of times but I just don't have the time to dedicate learning it. One of these days...maybe. If something needs retouched or some special treatment then I'll open it in Photoshop.
• I'm a Mac girl :) I have 4 external hard drives - two are 2TB and two are 1.5TB. I like lots of space and I back up like crazy.
• A company called Infinet Design made my blog. You can find their details by clicking on the link at the bottom of the blog.
• I don't 'Photoshop', 'airbrush', 'action' or mess with eyes! Everyone asks me this! To get nice sharp eyes with catchlights you need to find good light (north facing window, soft sunlight filtered through the clouds etc), use a good quality prime lens (50mm 1.2) opened wide. Make sure your focus is DEAD ON the eyes! This is all you should need - once the file is resized and sharpened for web the eyes will pop. Also, sometimes when I make a photo black and white the eyes will stand out even more.
• Good light is nature's airbrush! Stop with the Photoshop actions that make people look like aliens. It's just weird.
• I am obsessed with finding good light. It makes or breaks a photo. I get depressed sometimes because Northern Ireland doesn't get 'good' light very often. Knowing light will take your photography to the next level.
• My dream come true would be a summer evening's wedding - just before golden hour. Your photos would be stunning.
• My daily mantra is a Coco Chanel quote "In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different".
The end :)
P.S. I couldn't decide on a photo for this post so I decided to put on a selection from a folder I call "Where's Janine" - photos that I am in but didn't know it when I was taking it :)
|
| P.P.S - I know I don't hold my camera correctly all the time :) |
|
some holiday snaps :) |
7.16.10 |
|
|
|
| We are having a lazy morning so I thought I'd blog a few holiday snaps for you. I took all of these with my Panasonic Lumix F3 camera - the best compact camera I've ever used! I didn't bring any of my professional gear this time so I've been having fun experimenting with a point n' shoot. Check out the AMAZING pizza from our favourite pizza joint in the whole world - The Perfect Pizza in Lakewood. |
| Lilly is obsessed with glasses and sunglasses. We'd been to see Toy Story 3 that day and she *loved* the glasses! |
| Matthew's summer mohawk - it gets cooler every year! |
| The boys enjoying some evening sunshine and 'peace' from the girls :) |
| Lilly decided she wanted to be naked on this particular evening. And if Lilly wants to be naked, then Lilly will be naked :) |
| Oh - we also managed to fit in our girl's day of pedicures and starbucks. |
| And last but not least - my new shoes :) |
The walk featured:
• Some Ducklings
• A Black Cav, who decided to investigate the ducklings
• The Mother of the Ducklings who flapped at the Black Cav causing him to trip over himself with fear as he ran away
• The lake that the Black Cav fell into when he tripped
• A dog owner, who had her first swim in Craigavon lakes whilst trying to save the drowning Black Cav (who'd never swam before)
• The Ruby Cav who hadn't noticed the duck flapping, the Drowning Brother or the Owner in the lake and continued on his walk
• A 2-hour search and rescue mission for the oblivious Ginger One
• A Man who walked past the irate and mortified Owner and said "I'd ask the dog trainer for my money back if I were you"
• The Black Car - the Black Cav, the Ginger One and the Owner were all very, very happy to be inside the Black Car and headed for home |
|
Getting Married in Northern Ireland |
5.28.10 |
|
|
|
| So excited to open my Getting Married in Northern Ireland magazine yesterday and see the smiling faces of lots of my brides and grooms :) They did a lovely wee write-up about me and Sinead and Pete's sunny seaside wedding is also a 4-page feature in their Real Life Weddings! |
| While I'm here I thought I'd also put some pictures on of one of my recent finished blog books. Every session I do gets one of these bespoke books and they are so adorable I never want to give them away! |
| All wrapped up and ready to go :) |
|
my new fav things |
4.19.10 |
|
|
|
My friend Christine is working on her final assignment for her HND in photography. On Sunday she ended up photographing 30+ people/families/dogs/babies/wotsits and all kinds of weird and wonderful things all in aid of her big final piece. We had to show up with whatever makes us happy - and she would photograph it. Me being me, I also brought my camera because I just knew she would want photos of herself in action, as part of her write-up. Turns out she didn't want that at all, but that's beside the point :)
When Christine had set us up and got what she wanted I asked her to take one with my camera. Because I am just horribly impatient and I wanted my photo NOW! She is sweet so she obliged :)
Here's some things that are currently making me happy:
• Sonny's tie and Buddy's bow tie that I bought for them in America. As you can see they love them too.
• My new shirt that I have love so much I miss it when it's in the wash.
• My bling bling Loubs that I never bring out of the dustbag, never mind the box, for fear of something happening to them. They were perfect for the shoot :)
• Markies vegetarian vegetable bake
• My dogs' smile.
• Longer evenings
• Photographing dogs. All dogs, every one of them. This makes me very happy :)
• Thinking that it's only 6 weeks till my mum and dad come home and force us to fill our house with white bread and biscuits and eat fish & chips every night.
• Bloom. Everything is in bloom and it is beautiful!
• My new 13 buck sexy wedding flats that are seeing me through until sandal weather arrives. |
And just because I can, here are some things that are making me unhappy:
• Cheap jeans with big price tags. I ordered jeans from French Connection. When they arrived I tried them on was dismayed to find that my legs looked like overstuffed sausages. I sent them back and in the 'reason for return' box I wrote "Because they do not suit my Big Fat Legs."
• Being cold. I'm still cold. Will it warm up soon, do you think?
• Volcano dust. I'm supposed to be attending the Jeff Ascough/Joe Buissink seminar in Edinburgh on Sunday. This dust doesn't bode well for my travel arrangements.
• Volcano dust. It is really affecting Sonny's allergies, he can barely open his eyes and his ears are in bad shape. Poor wee pupper :(
• Western Digital My Passport Essential. Bought one on hols, stored all my holiday photos on it, was in the middle of transferring the files to my mac pro and Buddy's tail swished it, knocked it to the ground (about 1 foot) and it has died. Apparently it cannot be fixed and my holiday photos are lost. I curse myself for not backing them up twice AND for hugging my dog in my office. Don't buy these things - they are so fragile that the slightest knock can render them useless. I knew it was bad when I googled "WD clicking noise" and it pulled up dozens of pages entitled "The Clicking Noise of Death". Oh dear :( |
|
|
montage loveliness |
4.14.10 |
|
|
|
| I took delivery of 3 new frames this week and I was so chuffed when I saw them hanging on the kitchen wall, I thought I would have to share! They are 24x24 inches each and the prints are mounted and heat sealed so there is no need for glass in the frame. I love this, it's so modern. The thing I like about montages is that you can tell your story with multiple images and if they are designed and displayed correctly the whole thing looks so clean and simple. |
|
|
RSS Feed