Getty Images

As you know I have has some success on Flickr lately with several of my shots making the Explore page and very recently I had two which made the Front Page.

Well, I have had some more morale boosting news from Getty Images via Flickr e-mail, they want to license some of my pictures to include in their library for sale, what a great Christmas present.  They have sent me links to all the necessary permissions and agreements which I am supposed to sign and send back asap.  I have some reading and evaluation to do!

Portrait Session 2

I have two models coming into the studio, mother and daughter, for my second portrait session.

In order to achieve the soft dreamy look for the finished images I will be using Continous lighting as detailed in previous blogs as opposed to studio flash and lightboxes, which send out a burst of light flooding the image and resulting in hard edges and shadows.

I will be using the same camera equipment hand held, not mounted since I want to move around the studio to get a more relaxed looking shot rather than one posed and held for some time.  In order to ensure sharpness I will increase iso to around 500 to get sufficient shutter speed, my Canon 5D Mk 2 is easily capable of maintaining image quality at this level without adding 'noise' to the picture.

I will go through health and safety procedures before commencing, including pointing out fire alarms and fire exits, slip and trip hazards, hot surfaces, not interfering with any equipment and not bringing food or drink into the studio.

We will have regular breaks away from the studio during the session.

Here are some of the shots achieved straight from the camera.

Textured Portraits

From my recent studio shoot.

Both portraits have had a texture layer applied in Photoshop using the technique detailed in earlier blogs.  I have brushed off the texture from skin but kept the overall tone of muted grey colours and think this has worked out well.