You can produce amazing images wherever you shoot from.
Be it in your living room, kitchen, garden or studio etc, as long as the creative work has gone in beforehand so both the photographer and the model know exactly what they are trying to produce, the end results should be good.
When you take this to the next level, where you have a set designer, a makeup artist and a narrative for the image to follow, all of a sudden you are creating something much more striking.
The shots I've uploaded here are the results of months of planning. Sourcing different materials, different products, styles and props. I'm sure a lot of people have read the book 'Great Expectations' with the story of Miss Havisham. This set and design (all done by the very talented Helena Cooling from Stockton on tees) was taken from this story. The feeling of decay within the set. Miss Havisham living for years as if life has stood still. In this top image she was waiting, he is late,. alas, he has let me down, he's not coming.

To create some of the moody lighting in this set of images I was using my ELB400's from Elinchrom. By using the rear curtain mode on my D4 I was able to drag some of the ambient light into the exposure before firing my single light onto Amy's face. A single Lupo light also helped to illuminate the back mirrored wall to balance the exposure.

Having realized she has been let down, Miss Havisham is clearly devastated. This slumped look worked to emphasize this.

The makeup applied to Amy beforehand did well to age her appropriately, to Amy's disgust! :o)
We wanted to get some closeup shots of the devastated look on Miss Havisham's face having been let down so badly. Again, just a single light onto Amy's face to make the expression more prominent.

This a wide angle shot of the set and the lonely, devastated Miss Havisham. I used some smoke  to try and bring in a more murky atmospheric feel.

In post production I ran this shot through a Nik filter, which has given it a slight green cast. 
I like to try different editing styles & techniques as it often brings another dimension to some of the images. I think it also gives a cool compressed look to the shots aswell.

I thought it would be quite relevant to the story of Miss Havisham to end with a shot of a broken woman, looking into a broken mirror.

It's always a pleasure working with people who have some great ideas. If this is you and you would like to capture some amazing, eye catching images of your own, please get in touch.

Having a fantastic studio space in Middlesbrough, we can build / create anything your imagination lets you. Let me know what you're thinking, I hope to hear from you soon!
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Otherwise, why not treat someone to a creative photoshoot?
​You can do this by purchasing a shoot voucher which you can find on my photoshoot offers page above (or just click HERE to take you straight there ;o)

I look forward to working with you soon!

Thanks for dropping by.

Ian

With this entry I thought I would collate a number of images from some of my recent photoshoots. All of which benefitted from some simple creative lighting techniques.
The first image shown is from a newborn baby photoshoot where 'Seb' (the baby) was born prematurely, so was tiny!
The shot I captured was from a snap moment where Seb opened his arms wide as if to say, "I love you this much, Dad". A great moment!
This image was back lit from each side against the black backdrop to make the lighting stand out more. 

I have worked with Amy (above) on a number of occasions and she brings nothing but dedication and focus to get the image we are both looking for, to each shoot.
This being a simple but striking headshot with a piercing glance which will hold anybodies attention!
I used a blue backdrop to match her eyes which was lit with a single speed light to create a hot spot behind her head. Amy's face was lit with the awesome 100cm deep Elinchrom softbox to give a beautiful soft diffused light.

I hear great ideas for photoshoots from week to week, but this shoot was something totally different!...A client contacted me to create an image they had been considering for a while. 

"I want my partner to sit on my knee whilst I play her as if she was a Celo"!.. Fantastic!

The body artwork was done by the time I had arrived at the house, so it was simply a case of preping a dark background to shoot against whilst setting a single light up to be splashed across her body from one side.
Well, as you can see, the finished article is certainly an eye catching image!
I have darkened areas of the shot in post production to eliminate bits of the carpet and chair etc , but apart from that, it is as you see it. Its great to get your teeth into a creative shoot like this, as the results are fantastically original and definitely worth the time and effort.

This shot of the very relaxed Sophia was lit with 2 lights from each side to give a beautiful soft even look across her body. I also had a speed light pointing down from the ceiling onto the white background to freshen the area directly behind her. If I hadn't done this the background would have been a lot more grey and flat to look at.

I love this pose from Alex from our recent Glamour / Boudoir photoshoot. The lens flare was added in post production to offer discretion.
The image itself was again a 3 light setup. The first being from the left just behind Alex to splash across her face and shoulders. The second came from the right hand side to splash across her legs and body. Finally the 3rd light was again pointed down onto the backdrop to freshen the area which also created some separation from Alex at the front.

I had the pleasure of using a theatrical stage setup at a local College a short time ago.
Although this is a closely cropped shot of Lucy, you can still appreciate the rustic, arty surroundings she was posing in. This was a 1 light setup for me as the set had its own creatively positioned accent lights scattered around, so I was able to concentrate on lighting Lucy whilst soaking in some of the ambience with my exposure settings.
I used a small reflector dish with a tightly focused grid attached. This enabled me to keep total control of where my light went without any fear of contaminating the other moody lit areas of the set.

My final entry is of a simple but very popular bump shot. A single light from slightly behind in order to splash the light across her bump. The 4 hands look a great shot to look back onto in years to come and is proving to be a favorite amongst expectant mothers when they come into my studio.

Do you have a creative idea in mind?
Let me know what it is. It would be a pleasure to work with you on any ideas you may have!
I hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks for stopping by.

​Ian

It's not often you get to work with someones as talented and flexible as Hollie, shown here in the photographs.
Hollie has been doing gymnastics from the age of 3 yrs old, so when she came into my studio to capture some moves and poses, it was a pleasure to watch this lady performing at the top of her game, whilst I was snapping away to capture as much as I could.
Considering the fact that there wasn't exactly a big run up to perform some of these jumps, including the mid air splits shown above, Hollie made it all look extremely easy!

As far as my lighting went, I simply set a light up each side of the grey background, with a 3rd hanging over and onto the backdrop itself. This gave me some good separation from the background, as well as an evenly lit body once in the air.
Gymnastics photography is all about the timing with it all being over in a split second. So once Hollie launched herself into the air, I was rapidly hitting the shutter button to hopefully capture her in the midst of the action. The results, I thought, were awesome!!

The next few shots here were taken using a rapid flash, firing unto 4 times per second.
I left my shutter speed open for 2 seconds whilst Hollie did her stuff. Then it was a case of getting my timing right to capture the moves within that set time frame.
These fast moving shots do take some getting right, but once you've nailed it the results are quite spectacular!
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Again, another 2 second exposure, all captured in one shot!
How impressed I was to see Hollie take 2 steps, then launch into a full side, mid air, splits!
Unbelievable..
This photo captures the full move from start to finish. It's a great technique to have under your belt if you are taking on any of this kind of work.

We took lots of fantastic images from this shoot, but I am going to finish off with this one showing full balance and control, standing on only one leg whilst the other was extended over her head!

I used a cool blue edit in this one to give this a fresh look.

If you are a Gymnast looking for some great action shots and you like this kind of work, drop me a line to discuss what you are looking for.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks
Ian
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I recently spent another day creatively  photographing Anthony from Middlesbrough. This time the theme was 'Spock' from Star Trek.

Just like the previous visit I had from Anthony when he was giving his tribute to Gary Numan, he came very well prepared with all of the costumes, whilst Lucy Mitchell provided her excellent services for makeup.
So over the course of a few hours we went through some pre prepared ideas of posing with some of the props Anthony had brought along together with my new tall gothic like chair he was very impressed by.

I wanted to create an outer space kind of feel to the shots with his starship enterprise outfit on, so decided to use a blue gel to fill the background behind him.
The addition of a little smoke added to the atmospheric quality of the image whilst some crisp lighting coming from camera left was used to light Anthony's face. I also added an additional light behind the chair facing up over to light the square holes within the chair which again I thought would add to the shot, effectively cutting the chair out, creating separation from the background whilst at the same time emphasizing the chairs original structure.
Anthony finished the image off with a great stern look away from the camera.
The main Spock look with his pointy ears which he became famous for was created and put together superbly by Lucy Mitchell. Her expertise for eye makeup with the high 'arrow like' brows was a convincing finishing touch to the look.

Keeping the Spock theme Anthony went through some different outfits throughout the afternoon to give some variation to the images. This feather shouldered Jacket went perfectly with the jet black hair piece.

As above, only this time with another original Starship Enterprise outfit.
​The contrasting colors makes for quite an eye catching image.

Another stern look at the camera.
This being one of my favorite shots from the shoot. 
I went for some very harsh moody lighting whist keeping the color on the backdrop strong. The edit I chose turned the blue more towards purple but the sharp hard light on the face created a great moody image.

This is my attempt at a creative selfie in the studio :o))
If you would like to create something different to visually catch the attention of your friends, get in touch to go through some ideas!
This was done with 2 elinchrom lights on strobe mode!..such a cool effect I'm sure you'll agree.
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Here are a couple of shots from some recent shoots completed in my studio in Middlesbrough.

​Read my feedback from these 2 shoots I've just added to my Glamour Photography page HERE

With a luxurious feel and a separate private dressing room you can be sure to feel extremely comfortable so we can concentrate on creating the images you are looking for!

Don't hesitate to book your photoshoot in soon where I will be happy to go through any ideas you may have no matter how wacky they are!

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Finishing off with a nice relaxed shot of Helen. The beautiful Italian leather recliner is a favorite within my studio for Glamour, Boudoir and Lingerie photoshoots.

I get a number of enquiries for general 'headshot' portraiture.
As we are now in the digital age, your profile photograph will no doubt be on every social media webpage, along with any business ones you may have. Because of this, I'm sure you would agree that it is extremely important you have an engaging image that will connect immediately with the viewer. One that not only portrays confidence, but also one that shows you at your very  best!
Katie here came into my studio with some ideas for some head & shoulders shots aswell as some general fashion ones and considering this was Katie's first 'proper' photoshoot, if we don't count the selfies ;o), she did amazingly well!
Lit with my ELB 400 elinchrom lights, with an additional speed light firing onto the background to give me some separation, the results, we both agreed, came out brilliantly.
We both thought that the natural glance into the camera, (rather than a smiley one) was a lot more effective.
For the 1st shot of this post, Katie wasn't sure what to do with her hands... Now we can always just drop them down out of sight with it being a head and shoulders image. On this occasion I directed Katie to hold the cuff of her jacket and curl it out towards the camera. It gave us something a little more dynamic.. and for me a greater feeling of confidence coming from her. This style is quite popular with fashionable head and shoulders images and with the addition of a little wind from a fan to make Katie's hair come alive, it completed the final look to the shot we were both looking for.

This shot is such a simple image. I think it's the relaxed stance along with Katie's glance that I really liked. A great example of a good fashion studio shot, very similar to those you would expect to see of a model in a catalogue posing with different ranges of clothes on.

Another relaxed pose from Katie. This time holding her hair up to give some nice dynamic angles to the image from her arms and legs. Again the speedlight I hung from the ceiling above Katie's head that shone onto the backdrop, provided some seperation. 

I was looking for an engaging connection to the viewer with her eyes and we certainly got that here. Of course it helps when you have great piercing blue eyes as Katie has!

The last shot of this post shows Katie with a very relaxed pose.
Instead of just standing up straight, I asked her to put a foot onto the bench she had just been sitting on. Bringing her leg up it gave her somewhere to rest her hands, providing a more overall  relaxed look to the shot.

Send me a quick message HERE if this is something you would like to create for yourself and I'll hopefully be producing some great engaging portraits with you soon!

Thanks for dropping by

​Ian

Black and white photography is a style I enjoy producing the most.
Over the past couple of months I have undertaken a good variation of themes and genres for my different clients and more often than not, it's always the black and white images that seem to appeal the most.
I have said it many times before on this blog that they seem to hold a timeless feel to which you never get tired of looking at.
You can hang a great black and white shot on your wall which will look just as fresh and absorbing in 20 years time! 
When I look through some of my grandparents old black and white slide images they still look amazing to me.
Look at the old world war images. They maybe more grainy and contrasty than todays super sharp images, but I still enjoy looking at shots like those for hours!
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This first shot was taken a few weeks ago when I had a great family come into my studio.
I was setting this shot up when the young lady just happen to fold her arms and look over, as if to say, "behave yourself!". "Hold it there", I shouted, and we got this.

I love this shot of 'Henny'.
Henny came in to do some boxing shots amongst various others and we were both really pleased with what we got.
The black and white versions of all of the shots taken were, in my opinion, more striking than the colour. The lighting used looked fantastic against her skin. 
​With a side light used from behind it gave a beautiful 3D effect, like she is jumping out of the shot...Great shoot!

This is a great shot taken of a very creative 'Rossi', who came to the studio with lots of cool ideas to work from.
We went through lots of artistic, fine art styled shots with a black and white edit firmly in mind.
The wooden hand chair is a favorite prop amongst my visitors which looks great in this 'Fine Art Nude' shot.

Another great example of a Black and White image that looked much better with the monochrome conversion.
A great pose was held whilst the smoke from the cigar was drifting up over her face.

This my final shot of this post was taken in my studio of 'Joseph', an up and coming Judo enthusiast who has recently been picked for the England Judo team!
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I decided to add a duplicate layer over the top of the original image which I zoomed to give a clearer, more impacting view of Josephs face.
We all really liked the result.
Again we thought the black and white version was that little bit more captivating.

Thanks for checking my latest work out and I'll try and post some of my more recent shoots very soon!

Meanwhile, if you would like to try out any ideas you may have, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Whatever genre you would like to shoot in, you can be sure that together we will get some cool eye catching shots for you to keep!

Speak to you soon

Ian

It's been difficult to post as often as I would have liked to over the last few months, but one must not complain!
Here are some various images from a few different photoshoots that I've undertaken over that period.

First of all we have Amy here for my first 4 images.

It's always a pleasure working with Amy.. not just because she looks fantastic, but she works really hard to get the shots we are looking to create.
She also arrives with bucket loads of enthusiasm and I think this comes across in the images.
Shooting mainly against a white backdrop (which isn't my favorite) I was determined to create some lighting effects that could really stand out!

As Amy is such great shape I could afford to use some 'hard light' which is really bright and crisp to light her. I wasn't interested in making the background super bright white, as you would expect from a typical 'Hi Lite' background. Rather I wanted to keep some textures around her to compliment Amy's skin tones.

This is a typical shot showing the use of hard light onto Amy's head and shoulders. 

For this I used a grid to keep the light tightly focused into the area I wanted it to be.
By using a grid it also prevented the light from spilling onto any other areas of the image where I didn't want it to be. In other words you can be in full control of where your light goes with a piece of kit like this.
Great high fashion look aswell! 

As above, I kept the grid in place and used it to get some more great looking shots.

Amy's posing, with her really strong hip position worked great here aswell.
Things like this are discussed as we shoot. If something needs a small adjustment to look that little bit better, we monitor it on the back of the camera, then make the small changes to suit our tastes. 

A slightly cheeky shot, however you must admit, very eye catching!
This is what we are looking to create.. Images that will hold the viewers attention for that little bit longer.
Just a walking along shot..
5 or 6 attempts at this to set the lighting up in the right areas and we had it in the bag.
I only wanted to skim across Amy's body, not just point the light directly at her... if I did this the image would have looked plain flat and a little less punchy in my opinion.

Shot against a 4 poster bed this was quite an edgy shot taken for a client who again wanted something to turn heads.
I think we achieved that.

The full image is of course a lot more balanced with the full head and expression showing.
I liked the moody lighting we used so put it up anyway.

A typical relaxing bedroom shot.
Once I had the balance I was looking for between the ambience of the room and my flash, it was lit simply with 2 flash guns from each side of the bed.

I love moody black and white shots with lights coming in from different angles to partially light areas of the body.

This shot of Sarah is typical of that.

I love the way it skims across her face to show her expression and mood.
We decided the high heels would also give it some extra edgel, which I think certainly added to the shot visually.

It was raining on and off for this family shoot, but it didn't stop us from getting some great shots of everyone together!
I actually chose to shoot this first shot under a tree because of the rain. However it also had its benefits, as the branches hanging down from the tree framed the top part of the image nicely.
I had my Elinchrom ELB400's on the job to light them up and they did a great job doing so!

A little bit further down the path we had the beauty of Roseberry topping in the background.
We couldn't really fail to get some nice shots with such a great backdrop!
A great family photo for the wall I'm sure!

Over the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of photographing some extremely well behaved babies.
The first few shots I've added here were taken within my studio and a low key (dark background) look was the request from mum and dad.
As I've mentioned before, I find that when photographing young babies, its all about being patient.
Once the lighting is to my liking and setup in place, Its all about waiting for that look or expression to grab the shot.
When the baby suddenly turns his or her head to the camera, I have to make sure I am ready to hit the shutter button to grab the shot in time.
The first shot here I was lucky enough to do just that. The deep glance to the camera created a great shot and along with the nice lighting sweeping in from the side I thought it made for a nice black and white.

With this shot I again was simply waiting for the big eyes glance.
Mum and dad were waving a favorite toy behind which obviously helped a great deal! ;o)
One light again from the side was enough to give some great 3D dimension to the image.

I was originally more square on taking this shot but when I saw the image on the screen of my camera all I could see was the wicker chair's pointy back rest rising from the babies head.
​Its good to keep these things in mind when photographing people. Especially when photographing outside. I've seen lots of images where a lamp post is coming straight out of somebodies head, or a small tree trunk! A simple move to the side cures this.

One of my favorites.
Lit by two lights sitting behind on each side pointing across to skim across each face.

This shoot was taken at the clients home so no controlled backgrounds like the ones above.
Because of this I went in quite close to fill the frame with the newborn's features.
I got many a great expression and was simply pointing my 19inch beauty dish straight at the baby.

A popular shot I like to do with mother and baby.
A bare shoulder with the baby looking over the top, but close enough in to only get the babies head and mums side of the face (no ears). 
Even though mum didn't originally want to be in any of the shots, I was pleased to hear she really liked the ones I took.
Another shot for the mantle piece.. happy days!

Thanks for dropping by.

I have some fashion & glamour stuff to put up shortly and as ever, keep an eye out for my latest photoshoot offers which you can see by hitting the 'Photoshoot Offers" tab in the menu above.

TTFN!

Ian

Hello and best wishes for 2016!

This being my first blog post for a short while with the christmas rush taking over the majority of my time, so I hope you all had one to remember!

Within the run up to the festive period it was great to be able to work with some creative and open minded people who came to me with some cool ideas to work from.
None more than Vicky, shown here! 
The main theme from Vicky's shoot would predominantly be classy, sexy lingerie shots,  
but to add an extra twist to the images, Vicky wanted to incorporate something from the film "The Wizard of Oz".
Her idea to incorporate this into this 'pre wedding' lingerie shoot was to be as a gift for her fiancé, as they were to be married just before New Year with this iconic film being their wedding theme on the day.
I wanted to take the shots with a fresh bright feel as they were to be a wedding gift, so I shot Vicky in front of my main fixed white background in the studio. I added a few props such as the green trees in the background along with some various pieces of furniture when needed.
The posing was very simple, just the slight turn of her head or the pointing of a hip comes across in these shots very effectively. You don't really need to do anything over the top to get that eye catching look to work, as these shots show.
Some of the tones I added in post production simply added a nice bronzed glow to Vicky's skin. Not that she needed it. I just thought it gave her skin more depth.

​So with the Wizard of Oz in mind, Vicky brought a witches hat along with her, as well as some glittery red shoes, as worn by Dorothy in the film.
You can see this in the final image below which I turned to black and white, leaving the colour red to stand out. Her tattoos even show characters from the film adding to the image. 
So from a cool idea with an original theme we managed to create over 50 eye catching shots for Vicky to choose from.
Hopefully, Vicky's 'now' husband liked what we managed to create for him within the hour or so we spent in the studio. 

Cool bronzed skin tones in this shot with a simple, classy pose from Vicky.

A full length version of the shot above with a slight point of the hip.

With 'Dorothy like' glittering red shoes popping out of this shot along with the witches pointy black hat, this shot was all about adding the Wizard of Oz theme!

I now move from a themed photoshoot where we shoot with a narrative in mind, to a photoshoot where the most important thing to grab is a fantastic expression!
It doesn't have to be a happy smiling face all of the time (though these are all well and good).
I was looking to take a natural photograph of this lovely little lad whether it be a happy grin or, like the shot above, a one off moment which i'm sure we could all ad a great caption to!

For me, these are the kinds of shots that would be on my mantle piece, alongside the smiley ones.
I couldn't take this shot again if I wanted to. It just so happened that I was lucky enough to be pointing the camera straight at him as he was looking down the cameras lens the exact moment 'Millie' was kissing him.
Almost like he's saying, "Get this woman away from me!"...priceless!!

Another great grab shot similar to the one above.
He certainly isn't a fan of being kissed by girls! :oD

This time I managed to get the standard happy smiling expression. Always a favorite for the mantle piece.

I loved this image with his big bright eyes being the main draw.
The color version was fantastic aswell, but I'm a big fan of black and whites so preferred this one.

One of the biggest worries with glamour photography that my clients have is the fact that they would not want anyone other than their partners seeing their photographs... and rightly so!

Another concern is that if any were to accidently be left on show i.e. on a computer screen, tablet or similar, they would also definitely not want to be recognised!
I can absolutely understand this as they may sometimes be very personal images, only for the eyes of selected people!

The one way to avoid this happening is to shoot close-up!
Not only will this give your shots anonymity but it will also really enhance some of your favourite 'best bits' (as many ladies call them), as we focus only on the areas you would be proud to show off!
If you have any recognizable tattoos or moles etc I can simply erase these in the edit to leave you with a photograph that could quite easily be anyone if they fell into the wrong hands.
You could now be assured that in the very unlikely event of this happening, your blushes would be spared as there would be nothing on show to say it was you.

I have added some various images here to show what is possible in the glamour genre to show off your best bits. It may be a nice set of lingerie like the image below which you want to show off to your partner, or an edgy shot of your bum or chest? Whatever you want to show you can be assured that the rest of your body will be hidden away.

These kind of shots are becoming very popular as gifts for their partners for birthdays or christmas and if its something you have been thinking about for a while why not go and check out my latest taster shoot offer to whet your appetite. 
Take a look HERE and I hope to be working with you soon to create some cool eye catching images.
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Cheers!

​Ian

A new lingerie set?
Here we focused only on this leaving the head out of shot. Another version we did was to only shoot from her high heels upto her chin which also had a similar great look!

Her partner likes her bum so she wanted to show this off. 
We used a Union Jack flag to wrap around her body which left her bum exposed for her partner to see.
This was certainly something different providing a sexy edgy image.

Similar to the shot above showing off her bum but with high heels added to the image.
A good strong stance also gave this shot some good strong attitude like she was proud to show her bum off!

This slightly revealing shot left little to the imagination. Gently lit from the front her partner is without doubt a "boob man!"