Just an update on the current state of Lockdown 3.0
I’m here if you need me. A lot of what I normally do isn’t possible under the current restrictions but like many small businesses I’m trying to keep trading as much as I can.
I have some Commercial work still on: Product Photography, Digital Reproduction and Fine Art Printing can all be done safely without contact.
I am still processing print orders from Family, Communion and Confirmation sessions from last year (and the year before, and the year before that!)
So it’s a good time to look out those proofs and think about finally getting prints.
But I’m not in the office full time. I’m here when I need to be – generally mornings after the school drop (or after I make sure my home schooler is out of bed). So if you want to call in it’s best to phone to make sure I’m in the office when the time suits you – 087 683 8511
It’s no problem coming in to do something or meet you.
Otherwise I’ll be in my pink chair, drinking coffee in my garden – which is starting to spring to life again
I have put the three most popular values up on the site but you can also customise your voucher by adding value in €10 units.
Vouchers are effectively a pre-pay for the a session and include products up to the value selected. Or they can choose to take the value of the voucher as a credit against another product like larger Framed prints, Tryptichs, Storyboards or Albums.
You can of course still phone or email me to get more info on vouchers and purchase them direct from me: 087 683 8511 rob@roblambphoto.com
I do so many headshots these days that I set myself the lockdown project of trying a self portrait (again). I even bought a remote release to make it easier.
It’s going to take a bit more work.
Apart from the normal ‘oh god do I look like that’ thing (and a few more grey hairs), just being alone is weird: no one to do what I do for everyone else. But I guess that’s in the nature of a selfie.
In fairness there are a few in there that are worth looking at in more detail. I’m not gone on the studio feel but this is where I was today.
But I think I’m not really sure what mood I was going for today – and TBH not really in the mood. And there was no one there to ‘make the magic happen’ except me.
I didn’t realise this was going to be so difficult.
A lot of lens filters pretty much died out with film: all those weird coloured filters you used with black and white film, fancy 1970s effects filters, even gradient filters (for most people). All can be replicated in post production. Doing it in post just makes it easier – and saves wrecking a good capture with poor filter choice.
But one filter still has a place in my bag: the circular polariser. That’s because some of the effects of the polar filter can’t be replicated in post. It works in three dimensions to affect a 2D capture.
It came in handy this week for what should have been a pretty standard external view of an office building. With low sun on the building, the windows had strong reflections that wiped out the branding on the window.
Polarising the light largely removed those reflections. The reflected light as a particular orientation which can be removed by the filter if you rotate it to the correct plane.
Can’t do that in photoshop!
Now we can also now see the crap in the window of the apartment above – and I’ll have to remove the bird poo in photoshop. But the branding is now clear.
The other main use of the Polarising Filter is to saturate your skies. Now that you can do that in Photoshop but the filter gives you a head start.
I do get questions about filters and this is it: just the Circular Polariser. And buy a good one.
People are still sold UV filters to protect their lenses. Hopefully you spent as much as you could afford on a good lens that has coated elements throughout to optimise the image and reduce internal reflections. So why put a cheap bit of plastic (or even more expensive glass) on front and undo all that? Unless there is a real chance that something nasty is going to get on your front element: salt spray, mud, snow – or you are up a proper mountain – use your lens hood to protect your lens.
If you are a serious landscape photographer then you probably should learn to use gradient filters. But for us mere mortals, we shoot RAW and apply a gradient filter in Lightroom.
Social Distanced Family Photo Shoots can still be fun
It’s great to be out and about in Cork out doing Family Photo Sessions again.
On the wall of this guy’s house are pics of him and his Mom and Dad I took when he was a baby. Next to those are pics I did when his sister was a baby. And this week I went back to take photos of him and his little brother (and sis and Mom and Dad of course).
I would be a big fan of letting kids outdoors anyway – and back gardens are the perfect spaces. Plenty of surfaces and things to do. The kids are comfortable out there: really at home. And it’s not so big a space that they can run off and we end up too spread out.
In the New Normal of Covid-19 precautions and restrictions, it’s the ideal solution to a responsible safe session.
As Clients and Suppliers return work next week, I’m looking forward to getting back to the office and starting to work out what the New Normal is.
I’ve had commercial clients cancel, PR work postponed and there have been no Communions and few Confirmations this year.
I have some print orders to fulfill from work shot before the Lock Down and I can get those out to people now that the Framer is back at work. Socially Distanced, safe collections are possible.
But can I conduct a safe, socially distanced photo shoot?
There’s no reason why Product Photography shouldn’t go ahead. So anyone looking for product for their new (or expanded or renewed) web store can get those done.
In general people look better further away and 2m is probably about right for a good headshot. So anyone looking for a profile image is welcome to get in touch. Assuming that their lock-down haircut is presentable!
And in particular the kind of feature session that shows how your business is adapting to trading in the current environment is a really good idea.
A formal family photo shoot is probably going to go OK but I specialise in the informal, intimate portrait and that’s going to be difficult. Especially with younger kids who tend to almost adopt me by the end of the shoot.
I think the biggest hit for most photographer right now is the loss of the Wedding Business. But if you’re planning something more intimate within the new restrictions, feel free to talk to me about how I can be part of that. We can tailor coverage and delivery appropriately to suit your plans
Many ended up coming from my own back garden. It’s probably the most productive time in our garden just because of the range of plants we have that flower in Spring: starting with the jolly primroses, wild garlic and the apple blossom.
Love the dandelions too. A weed is just a flower in the wrong place.
It’s that time again when we are graced with an infection of politician’s headshots all over our streets. Increasingly the general public see this as an invasion. Litter. They make a mess of our streets, obstruct our view of traffic and then have to be disposed of after just three weeks.
But they endure for one very good reason: people engage with images of other people. We look, we familiarise and the candidates hope that we start to like them.
It’s a powerful process (and one that’s pretty unique to Irish Political Campaigning).
So are you harnessing this power for your business? You are the most unique part of your business. Your business will thrive or fail based on your ability to give your customer what they want and they need to be able to trust you on that.
You need a good profile image. Whether it’s on your website, your LinkedIn or Facebook or whatever, people engage with a face on a screen and they will make decisions about you and your business based on that.
My Beginners Photography Course is running again as part of the Ashton Adult Education Programme.
This term we’ve extended each class to a full 2 hours to allow more hands-on practical work. There will be more time on practice and I’m also offering the chance to do a practical workshop outside the course.
Otherwise the course structure is the same – spread over 8 weeks and it covers a wide range of image-making with whatever camera you’re have available to use.
