Recent shoots @Sylviephoto

I've been blessed with a lot of joyful and fun moments lately with Vicky and Michael's wedding at the Carnegie Court Hotel in Swords, what a day full of laughters and tears (Mick was the first to shed one when he saw Vicky down the aisle, he had to look back at the wall before it would start running down his cheek).  I've been out of my comfort zone, I don't normally do weddings, I'm also not that good at knowing the "protocols" and remembering more than 5 names at a time, but I have to say, though pretty intense and challenging, it is one of the most rewarding photo gigs I've done because I really felt in the action and being shared a lot of joy with AND I get the best spot of the crowd all day long.

Same applies to doing a boudoir session with a stunning woman who just wants to have fun ! Monica spent 3-4 hours with me in the studio, she came with a suitcase and an extra bag loaded with killer shoes and sexy outfits...we had to try them all, just out of curiosity and all, hence the 4 hours of work...it's hard to express the feelings we had when we were done, I dont know if there's a middle point between sheer exhaustion and a massive amount of excitement still left from the shoot...it's a bit like a caffeine overdose, you don't know what to do with yourself !

Just a quick note on the side to say that if you happen to be looking for a wedding singer / guitarist for your ceremony, I was absolutely amazed by the one that Mick and Vicky had hired, Doug Sheridan, stunning voice and bang on timing...I've used his live songs on the video I put together for the bride and groom, don't know whether I'll publish this video online or not but have a look at his website.

Google image recognition to help against copyright infringements

A lot of people probably know this already but hey let's spread the word out to the rest of them...did you know that when you go to Google images, you can drag and drop any pictures onto the search bar and it will let you where the same or similar (if cropped) is used...

It searches for the metadata content (a reminder that it's always good to have as much info in the metadata of all pictures but especially on the ones you give to clients and you put online... I have all my details written on the pictures as soon as they are shot with the Canon 5D MkII, but also on the contrast and the tonal range of the picture.
The only drawback is that if you are using flash or someone using your picture is using flash, that cannot be detected. For instance I search my shot of Guerlain Vol de nuit bottle that is in the commercial section of my website. 

I had to take a screengrab of it because I do have a flash website and the picture is shown as not used anywhere on the net, not on my website, nowhere else. it does recognise the bottle (there was no metadata on the screengrab) and gives me similar shots.

You'd be delighted to hear that if someone steals your imagery and tweaks it further than a simple crop, if that person adds texts or another element, it will still be recognised as i've spotted yesterday...amazing FREE tool for any artist out there trying to protect their copyright. 

The other lesson I learnt is that I better hurry to launch by html5 website...nearly there, nearly there !

Adobe Creative week

I tuned into Adobe Creative week webinar yesterday (quite gutted I didn't realise it was on before that !!) and I'm amazed at the new CS6. By no mean am I going to switch back to Premiere which was the first editing software I used, I think once you've mastered (or started to..) a software, there's no need to switch to another unless it brings an awful lot more to you and your workfload. BUT it was good to see the effort was made not necessarily to make people switch to Premiere but to use other tools that could  enhance, fasten, improve your workflow as a compliment to FCP or Avid etc. Quite impressed indeed by Prelude which is sort of what Bridge is to Photoshop. Going through footage and organising everything, binning what needs to go etc, that's a big part of the editing process, I haven't tried the software yet (I believe you can try it first going here) but it looks so much faster to go through that tenious task than in FPC.

A lot of interesting discussions during this webinar, including the trends in the process of making a video (documentary, fiction...) for TV and other media, and how being able to get instant feedback from the audience thanks to youtube and the likes changed the game, improved what is being offered. Some good comments on twitter as well, check them out if you've missed yesterday's talk #CreativeWeekUK and tune in at 12 for today's talk there.

Oh and my love at first sight, aside from Prelude, was this studio...have a look at their stuff, brilliant, fun, creative...

www.sylviephotography.com

Preview of a pin up shoot ...

Oh my ! it was steamy in the studio last friday ! Monica gave us her best angles while Elaine Cahill from www.elainesbeauty.ie worked her wonders to do a modern take on the classic 1950s pin up look.

I originally wanted the shoot to be very technical and driven by this beautiful classic lighting ( I was mostly influenced by Matthew Rolston who is a genius at lighting and who's known for that retro look like Aguilera's Candyman videoclip which is so so eye candy, regardless of whether you like the song...does anyone know whether they found 2 fab lookalikes for the brunette and the red head or was it her too ??) but Monica wouldn't have none of sitting still sort of session I intended so she kept me on my toes to follow her in action !! In the end I barely changed the light throughout the different set ups and I still got some lovely lighting ! 

More to come soon, if you behave :-D

www.sylviephotography.com

Hommage to Decathlon...

Ask any of my friends, I'm not a shopper...There really aren't that many shops where I enjoy going to, I'd rather do it online. Some sort of claustrophobia / light misanthropy I guess... 

One of the few exceptions are Decathlon, one stop shop for all things outdoor-y, fun, long lasting and comfy...at crazy value. So when I heard they were finally opening a store in the Republic around Xmas, I said Hooorayyy

Coincidently, when I was doing a reci in Bull Island, Pascal was  wearing Quechua (Decathlon's own brand) wind jacket, trousers and shoes, that called for a catalogue shoot !

www.sylviephotography.com