Your E-commerce shoot.

Would you believe me if I told that the antiperspirant is standing on a piece of black acrylic in both of these e-commerce images? 

And no Photoshop was used to change the background colours either!

When you have multiple products that need to be photographed for your e-commerce site, time and consistency are major factors to consider. You need a return on your investment. You need a photographer that can execute the shots you require in a timely fashion. You need someone who can give you a consistent look across your range of e-commerce images. 

The trick with using the black acrylic is knowing that it acts almost like a mirror. You can see the reflection of the product is visible in the acrylic already. The black acrylic is simply reflecting the lit white background also. To get the same level of white there are a few things to factor in: for example how far away the product is from the background. 

Could I have used a white acrylic? Yes! White acrylic also creates a reflection. It just wouldn’t be as intense as what you see with the black acrylic.  The problem would become apparent when I wanted to shoot the products on a black background. I could not light the products and turn a white acrylic sheet into black. And that is down to something called the Inverse Square Law. 

So when it comes to images like these, the choice of what colour base comes down to what is required. If a client wanted both black and white backgrounds as shown above I would choose a black acrylic to save time. If the client only wants black backgrounds then that’s a no brainer. It would be black all the way. But if they wanted just white backgrounds, the choice would be settled by what intensity of reflection you wanted and that comes down to taste.

Backgrounds aren’t just limited to white and black for your e-commerce work. If you have a brand colour that you wanted to use, that could be done too.

If you have any products you require e-commerce images for, get in touch. Prices start from £20 per image.

If you would like to hire me for your product, food or drink photography, call or email me.

Alternatively, to receive updates about the projects I’m working on sign up for my newsletter.

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The cost of having a period.

It was great to see that Scotland has decided to make sanitary wear free. I want to do a series of images about period poverty and was doing a little bit of research into the cost of having periods. It was here I came across a post, I believe it was on Reddit or another similar platform, from a male dismissing the concerns from females and calculated cost of periods and therefore sanitary products as minimal. This guy did find relevant information but hadn’t taken into consideration anything that deviated from those numbers. I’m not surprised that he got it so wrong. He doesn’t have the experience of having a period every month after all. We can all make assumptions with the facts out there. Facts like:

• An AVERAGE period cycle is 28 days. Mine is 25 days so technically I have an extra period each year. That’s approximately 40 extra periods I’m going to have in my lifetime above the average.

• The AVERAGE length of a period is 3 to 7 days. There’s a massive difference in calculating costs between 3 and 7 days. Luckily I’m on the 3 day side so that balances out the extra period I have every year. 

• The USUAL amount of blood lost is 10 to 35 ml’s. Again quite a difference at each end of the spectrum. But there is more to just how much blood is lost. It doesn’t flow at a constant rate an there’s only a certain amount of time you should keep tampons in. Sometimes you’ll have to change your sanitary wear almost straight away. Sometimes you have to change it because too much time has passed despite not having much blood on it. Sometimes you have to change it because the damn tampon feels uncomfortable or the towel has scrunched up and the sticky side is sticking to your legs and not your knickers. 

And because periods are so different, even during our own cycle, we may have to buy several sizes of tampons and/or sanitary towels plus panty liners to cover or needs. The guy in the article was right, you can bulk buy a ton of tampons for quite cheap but there’s a difference in quality between the brands. Would you want a brillo pad shoved where the sun doesn’t shine? I certainly don’t and wouldn’t expect any female to have to put up the extra discomfort of cheap and nasty sanitary products when she’s already having to deal with the period itself. 

But the costs don’t stop there. No matter how careful you are, there are going to be accidents. The cost of cleaning or replacing sheets, knickers, trousers and towels after being bled on mounts up. How about the cost of pain relief? I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t suffer much from PMS but I still need to take pain killers every now and again. There are many who suffer terribly each month, needing a stockpile of pain medication, hot water bottles and even time off work. Can you imagine losing a few days pay each month from a natural bodily function? 

And the cravings are real! For about 2 days in each cycle I just want to eat. And when I do eat I want to eat some more. So lets add on the extra food to the cost. Don’t forget that sanitary products are a luxury item and the government gets an extra 5% of our money.

But it’s not just the cost of all that is mentioned that is the problem. Face it, the majority of females do not earn the same levels of pay that our male counterparts do. We are earning less and paying out more just because we are female and have certain bodily functions. Women have enough to deal with every month (or more) just having a period, lets help each other out and shift the balance. If you can, make sanitary products a cost of doing business. Pay your employees fairly no matter what. Fight for changes in the workplace, in local and national policies. But most of all, don’t assume that people are making a big fuss over nothing when you don’t understand the situation.

What happens at your headshot session?

Knowing what you are going to get from a product or service is a big factor in your decision making. Paul was assured that his headshot session would give him a range of images he could proudly use wherever he need them to be.

So what should you know when you have your business portrait taken?

Booking your session couldn’t be easier. Once you have scheduled a call with me I will guide you through the process and together we will book a time convenient for you. Sessions are either AM or PM to give us plenty of time. I know you are busy and I don’t want to keep you any longer than necessary, so these sessions are geared towards taking as long as you need to get the headshot that suits your requirements.

During the session you can change outfits as many times you as you like. With each outfit change we will ensure that you have a range of different images to choose from, including photo orientation, backgrounds, lighting etc. Images will be reviewed throughout the session to ensure you are happy with the results and this will give us a chance to change things up if required.

At the end of the session, we’ll sit down with a coffee and review your images. You will get to choose your favourites to be professionally edited. I will be there to help you make your selections if you need a second opinion.

In Paul’s case, he had another appointment to get to so we were unable to go through the images together. In situations like these, I will send you contact sheets of all the unedited images so that you can choose your favourites.

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Once the selected images are edited and ready for you, you will receive them in both high resolution suitable for print and a lower resolution version cropped specifically for online social media platforms. All you will need to do is upload the file to the relevant platforms.

If you need a printed image, I have a number of options available to you. Please let me know and I will discuss these with you further.

Refreshments will be available throughout your session, if there is anything you specifically want on the day please let me know.

The hardest thing you will have to do is choose your outfit (s) and we’ll even help you with that.

So now you know what to expect, contact me today.

What are studio lights?

And why do I use them for portraits?

Studio lights, as you can imagine, are a light source. They are essentially a torch. Though instead of turning them on and off with a switch, I can make them flash for a fraction of a second with a trigger attached to my camera.

Like any torch, there are many brands and with many different powers of studio light.

Along with the lights themselves, there are different modifiers that can be attached to the light. Modifiers are a little like light shades. They shape the light so the light hits where you want it to be rather than shining all over the place. Modifiers also change the quality of the light. They can achieve anything from the harsh, contrasty light akin to the midday sun in the middle of summer to the soft light of a midwinters day with the sky full of clouds.

So why do I use studio lights? 

The simple answer is I’m in control. I have control of where the light shines, how big it is, how powerful it is, its quality and how many lights I use. It’s not that I’m a control freak, it just allows me to control the look and feel of your portrait with a consistency that using natural light does not give me. It lets me create images that capture the best you. Want a summery photo in the middle of a cold, wet winter? We can create that. Want to get snowy Christmas pictures ready in the height of summer? That’s not a problem either. Whether you want a dark, moody image, something bright and airy or anything in-between, it can be created at anytime in any season.

But don’t think that studio lights are confined to the studio. They can be combined with any available light, the sun or interior lighting, to get the images you need.