Teeth Whitening products

One of our latest projects was to photograph a range of dental products used specifically for teeth whitening. We were contacted by Pippa who was in the process of developing a website for her business and needed some 'bright, fresh, yet non-clinical' images for the site. Knowing that Rik loves a new challenge (and an opportunity to use his light tent), we took on the job.

After a few hours in the studio and some minor alterations at the post-processing stage, here are a few of the photos Pippa received.

We were delighted with the feedback from Pippa and Tim.
To view our images on their website visit Teeth Whitening Treatments at
http://www.teethwhiteningtreatments.org.uk/

Karen.

Porsche regional concours at Highcliffe Castle

At the end of June we were lucky enough to once again be invited as the official photographers for the Porsche Club of Great Britain's regional concourse. This is an event that Rik usually attends but on this occasion was unable to, leaving me to take his place.

The weather was glorious, helping the event to attract over 60 cars and many additional car enthusiasts. The event organisers wanted me to take general pictures of the event, details of the cars themselves and the prize giving. As the cars were leaving, there were also some requests from owners for their cars to be photographed positioned with Highcliffe Castle in the background. Hopefully, my photos will be published in Porsche Post magazine...watch this space.

In the meantime, here are a selection of photos from the day.

The Concours in full swing.

Some of the finer details.

A car positioned in front of the castle.

Karen.

Ladies Pamper Evening at Christchurch Infant School

Last night I went along to support Christchurch Infant School with a fundraising event aimed at raising funds for new play equipment for Year 1. We were privileged to be invited to sponsor the pamper evening and were then invited along to promote our photography services alongside many well-known and reputable local companies.

I took along a selection of albums, photographs and props, set up alongside a slideshow of pictures. I was really excited to chat to local mums and was overwhelmed by the positive feedback and interest. I really enjoyed chatting to people about what they looked for in a photographer and was keen to make them aware of our local position; emphasis on personal service and the fact that we never set time limits on shoots and always provide clients with a disc of all their pictures copyright free.

I look forward to hearing from some of the interested Mums who took our details.
Karen.

                                            A display of our photos and accessories at the Ladies Pamper evening.

What goes into a picture?

  

When you look at an image all you see is the finished result. You don't get to see the full process that went into making the picture. So here is a quick insight into some of the work......

Convert the studio into a home! As you can see in the image below we created a fake room inside our studio - complete with a fake floor, fake skirting board, and a fake backdrop against which we could take the image.

Ensure the lighting is right to produce a warm soft finish. We used 2 lights for this setup - a key light camera left with large softbox to diffuse the light and make it soft, and a fill light fired against the white ceiling to provide soft light on the baby's tummy. We kept the blind open to provide a small amount of front natural fill light. We then position the baby as per image below left (this was taken to show the wider view of the setup) and take the image as per below right to only include the parts of the 'fake' room you want the viewer to see. The image below right is the final picture after post processing - babies are notorious for needing skin flakes, milk spots, scratches etc removed to give you that perfect baby.

And finally to give you an idea of how much post-processing we are sometimes required to do take a look at the images below. The first  is a baby's tummy before processing, and then after flake removal. Under that is the finished image. The removal of the skin was done flake by flake before tidying the whole picture up to ensure the skin was smooth. Each image can take around 30-45 minutes - so a shoot can take some time to process!

Hope you've found this useful and appreciate how much work we put into each shoot :-)     Rik.

Scouting for new locations for our spring outdoor shoots

The kids were great models - don't know who they take after :-)

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?fbid=186462538064454&id=117906454920063&aid=43031

Rik

It's GREAT to see your work being used :-)

http://www.starnow.com/Casting-Calls/Models-wanted/Agencies/male_models_wanted_books_open_now.htm

The new Bizzy Adults logo from a recent post.

Rik.

Kayley (and Dad sneaking in!) Portfolio Shoot

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rik-Irons-Mclean-Photography/117906454920063#!/album.php?fbid=186230314754343&id=117906454920063&aid=42940

We rarely show more than a few images of a shoot, but thought we'd share the full set of Kayley. This was a portfolio update for Kayley who is part of the Bizzy Kidz ( http://www.bizzykidz.com/index.php  ) modelling and talent agency. As you can tell from the images, she is a lot of fun to work with :-)

Rik.

Latest news and events

Wow, what a busy week we have just had!
Rik spent last weekend in Nottingham visiting his sister and family. He had planned on going up to take some portfolio shots of his neice who has recently filmed a television advert through her agency 'Bizzykidz'. She needed to boost her modelling portfolio and required some studio based shots. Word got around that Rik was coming up and requests starting coming in for studio shoots. In the end Rik also had the opportunity to photograph 4 additional clients and throughly enjoyed his long weekend away. The feedback from these shoots was really positive and we are hoping to make trips to Nottingham on a regular basis...watch this space.
We were really excited to take a call from a new client  who has asked us to photograph their new baby next week at only 9 days old! We are incredibly excited about this shoot and have already put our heads together to think of some new and original ideas. Newborn baby photography is an area of our portfolio we are hoping to focus on over the coming months. We will be putting more information about newborn baby packages on our updated website very soon.
As well as processing pictures and sending out completed discs to recent clients, Rik has also been spending time working on our website again. We have grown and developed our business so much since we rebranded as RKphotography that we felt that it was time to change the overall look of our website and make some changes to our package and pricing options. Our clients will be pleased to know that this will not mean price increases, just more options and clearer information.
Today we met with Sam and Olivia whose wedding we are photographing in April. It was lovely to catch up with them again and chat about the finer details of their special day. We pride ourselves on spending time with our wedding couples at various points during the planning stage and never underestimate the importance of working with the venues themselves to ensure everything goes smoothly on the day. We always offer to photograph the wedding rings in advance as part of our standard practice. Sam and Olivia were really keen for us to do this as they wanted to use a picture of the rings on their 'Order of Service'. We will be working on the ring shots during this week.
There is lots to look forward to which is great news. Keep an eye on our changing website and facebook page (still Rik Irons-Mclean photography) for new images and daily events.
Karen.

Time for Something a Little Different - Website & Business Logos

Thought I'd get a little bit creative and help out a friend and my sister by designing some logos.

My bit for charity was the creation of the logo for Radford Swimming Club for children in Nottingham as below. Look forward to Nick Lee getting the website up and running:

Plus the logo for Bizzy Adults - an adult modelling agency as part of the Bizzy Agencies (including Bizzy Kidz) group.

It's been a very busy week with 5 shoots. Look out for some images soon.

Rik

LRPS Certificates Arrived

The certificate, official letter, and press release letter arrived from the Royal Photographic Society today. Time to get some new frames and hang them in the studio :-) Rik

 

Rik Achieves Royal Photographic Society Licentiateship and latest news

Fantastic news, since we last posted any news on our website, Rik has gained Licentiateship status with the Royal Photographic Society. Take a look at our facebook business page to view his amazing photos to see how much hard work is required to gain this accreditation.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rik-Irons-Mclean-Photography/117906454920063#!/album.php?aid=40799&id=117906454920063

Don't forget if you are a member of the facebook community, you can 'like' our page to be updated within your news feed with recent events, examples of our work and special offers.

As well as gaining a professional accreditation, we have also been working hard both in and out of the studio. Last weekend we were delighted to meet with Julie & Jordan, our latest wedding clients. We look forward to spending more time getting to know them over the next few months before their wedding in September.

Today we created a few more precious memories for the Andrews family, whose beautiful daughter Isla was an absolute star in our studio. We can't wait to share the lovely photos with them very soon (as well as a few from the album on our facebook page). We pride ourselves on making your photoshoot experience a memorable and relaxing one, so we always allow plenty of time for your shoot and never limit clients to a 'timeslot'. We believe that your memories of the shoot itself are just as valuable as the photos you receive, that's why we spend time with you before your photoshoot chatting about your preferences and what will happen during your shoot. After the event, we spend time editing and post processing each image individually before providing you with all of your final images on disc in a presentation wallet. As well as every picture telling a story, our feedback from clients in the testimonials section of our website is also something we are proud of.

Karen.