How professional commercial photography can give a boost your business

A picture can be worth a thousand words ...or can even bring you new business as it did for chimney sweep, Simon Barton. Simon spotted an opportunity to sweep aside the competition when he realized that no local chimney sweeps featured photographs on their websites. He decided to get some pictures of himself at work cleaning a domestic chimney, aiming to clearly demonstrate his emphasis on cleanliness. "Clients are very worried about soot getting everywhere and I wanted to show how my system completely seals the fireplace so that not even a speck of dirt can escape", Simon explained to me before the shoot. He even wears blue shoe covers to avoid bringing in dirt from outside.

I took a series of photographs of Simon as he set about cleaning a chimney and conducting a smoke test. Since posting the pictures on his website he has seen a significant increase in business, with new customers mentioning that they picked him because they liked the way he worked, having seen his website. "I'm really glad I had the photographs done as it's had a real impact on my business" Simon commented. "Jane found a great venue and made the whole shoot feel very relaxed and easy. I just got on with my job!"

Prospective clients can often be wary about what to expect when they book a new service - seeing images of you at work can help to remove their concerns and make them pick you and not the competition.

The small investment you make in professional photography can reap great rewards, so get in touch. My commercial photography rates start at just £125.00.

Thanks to Simon Barton for his great testimony.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Magical Autumn Family Portraits in Cheshire

Autumn is my favourite season by far! Nights start to draw in, with a nip in the air there's an excuse to have a real fire and dig the scarves and hats out. True, this autumn has been a little strange so far with frosts few and far between. But the autumnal colours have been spectacular especially over the last week or so. And in just a few short days the trees and bushes could all be stripped bare of their fiery glory - it will only take one gusty day or a sharp downpour.

With the ephemeral nature of Autumn in mind I have packed several photo shoots into the last couple of weeks. Of course the backdrop of scarlet, gold and burnished yellow leaves is perfect for outdoor portrait sessions but so is the light at this time of year. The sun is lower in the sky, shadows are softer, the light is kinder and if you can work quickly in the magical hour between 2.30pm and 3.30pm you can maximise all of this, resulting in stunning images.

Beautiful light on the edge of the wood

My chosen location for these recent shoots has been Marbury Park but I imagine any park with decent stands of trees would be as good, as long as you've scouted out a few good spots first. Woodland can be tricky - if the canopy of leaves is too dense then it can be a tad too dark and flat but if you can find somewhere towards the edge of the wood the light can be wonderful.

The birdhides made an unexpectedly great place to take portraits, as the viewing slots allowed my subjects to be lit naturally from both sides and the green wood of the hide was a very complementary backdrop.

Kids love messing about in woods and no more so than when there's an ankle deep carpet of leaves on the ground. I adore the fun of the piggyback shot but just look at that light in the background!

The other thing I love about Autumn is that the colours all go together so perfectly - Mother Nature never makes mistakes with her seasonal palette! I particularly like the fact that in my last shot here the family dog also matches in so well!

So don't hang about - you've got about a week at the most (don't hold me to that!) to get out and about with your cameras. We will have the magic of that cold Winter light next but it's not quite so pleasant doing a shoot then and kids' noses have a nasty habit of turning red and a bit runny!

Thanks to the families who have allowed me to share some of their images - these kids were wonderful - very photogenic and really fun to work with!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Venice revisited and revamped

I found a gorgeous book on Venice and its food in a discount book store today ("Venezia - food & dreams" by Tessa Kiros). In all honesty it's doubtful that I'll cook any of the recipes in it but it brought a whole raft of memories tumbling back and I just had to have it. In 2007 Nic and I went to Venice to celebrate a landmark birthday (his not mine!) and our wedding anniversary. In some ways it wasn't the perfect time of year to go - mid January - but it did mean that it wasn't swamped with tourists and the damp cold weather was preferable to unrelenting heat and its accompanying eau de sewage. It was a truly magical weekend - if you've been you'll know exactly what I mean and if you haven't make sure you add it to your bucket list. There really is no where else like it on earth.

I was a keen amateur photographer back in those days and took oodles of very average pictures whilst we were in Venice. I was pleased with a handful of them (I've even sold one or two!) but had relegated the rest to a sub folder somewhere in the bowels of my computer hard drive. Today's book purchase inspired me to unearth and reappraise my Venice "snapshots", with the knowledge that these days I am more of a dab hand at editing images.

And I was very pleasantly surprised! With a little cropping, tweaking of exposure, levels and brightness I found I had around 20 very nice images. They're not of a professional standard and I'd hope that nowadays I'd produce much better, but I've been able to create a very attractive collage of memories that will eventually adorn the walls of our downstairs loo!

This is the final collage - I'm going to get it printed at around 30cm x 30cm. I've stolen the quotes from Tessa Kiros' book - I hope she doesn't mind as it's only for our loo - but they epitomise our weekend in Venice, especially the part about getting lost but it not being a problem. We set off from our lovely hotel each morning and just walked and walked. We stopped to eat when we were hungry, whiling away a few hours in cosy little bars serving prosecco and cicchetti (delicious bites!). We usually didn't have a clue where we were and only consulted a map when it was time to find our way back.

Just as a comparison I've created a collage of the images before any editing, to show just what a few simple tweaks can achieve. It makes an OK collage, but the final version (above) is much more vibrant and punchy, I like the occasional use of black and white and I love the addition of the quotes.

If you'd like to learn how to create very simple but really impactful and personal pictoral memories of special events in your life just get in touch. I run one to one tuition sessions at very reasonable prices. http://www.picture-it-big.co.uk/Onetoone.html. Even better get someone to treat you to it - I have gift vouchers too. All those photos should not be languishing hidden on your computer when they could be bringing back nice memories every day!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Should I buy an SLR camera?

I get asked this all the time when I’m teaching people with compact cameras, so I decided to try to write a blog that will help you make that decision before you part with your hard earned cash.

Firstly let’s take a quick look at the types of camera out there as it may be surprising to some that compact cameras and SLRs are not the only options available.

Compact camera: Often referred to as a “point and shoot” camera and is designed for ease of use and convenience. It does not offer interchangeable lenses, has a built in flash and has many automatic modes to make picture taking as simple as possible. Some do feature options for controlling aperture and shutter speed and there are some with extremely good lens or optic quality.

(I’ll do SLR next although really it should come last as you’ll see shortly).

SLR camera: stands for Single Lens Reflex but you don’t really need to know that! It uses a system of moving mirrors to allow the photographer to see exactly what they are going to capture (What You See Is What You Get – WYSIWYG). Non SLR cameras (the other three types discussed here) do not use this mirror system.  SLRs also allow you to use interchangeable lenses, have full control over aperture and shutter speed, use manual as well as auto focus and use additional filters and flashguns. Basically you get more control and can be much more creative than with a compact camera.

As I said earlier these are not the only two options and the alternatives are well worth taking into consideration.

Bridge Camera: bridges the gap between compact cameras and SLRs, hence the name. Bridge cameras are often a similar size to small or entry level SLRs and have common features. They do not have interchangeable lenses and usually have a lower ISO range (meaning that they won’t perform as well in low light). They have a fixed but very versatile lens which allows you to photograph close up and wide angle through to telephoto, with the zoom limit often being very high.

Compact System Camera: More recently manufacturers have brought out a fourth option designed to have interchangeable lenses and all of the flexibility of an SLR but in a much more compact body.

So now that you know about four options instead of just two, how on earth do you decide which is the right one for you?! I’ve used all except the newer compact system camera (if any of the manufacturers would like me to do a review of one, feel free to pop one in the post!) and they’ve all got their place in the market. It really comes down to what sort of photography you want to do,  how much money you want to spend and whether you like carrying and changing lenses or just prefer one that does it all.

Perhaps describing how I use my cameras will shed some light. I stick my compact camera in the bag whenever I’m going out with the kids and might want some quick snapshots. I know there’s quite a delay when I take pictures, I can’t get the nice soft focus background shots I love and I can’t capture close ups of faraway things. However, in good daylight conditions it delivers great quality snapshots. I have also done some really nice close ups with it. Shots taken with the flash aren’t great, but then I am used to using an SLR with external flash gun.

I use my bridge camera when I want to get better quality pictures than with my compact but don’t want to carry additional lenses. A good example of this was on a recent holiday to Cape Verde where I didn’t want to risk taking an SLR and all the lenses.  Sandy beaches and SLRs don’t mix well! My bridge camera has a 20X zoom so I knew I could get some good candid pictures of the kids playing in the pool and on the beach. It also does some great close ups with soft focus backgrounds and the image quality is better, sharper and crisper than the compact. It also has an optical viewfinder which I prefer to the LCD screen.

I bought this bridge camera as a natural step up from a compact, when I was still an amateur photographer stuck on AUTO.  I first started to see the limitations of it when I began an A Level evening course. I had my first play with an SLR and loved the quality both through the lens and in the final images. And of course there’s no delay when pressing the shutter (no more missed action shots!). Once I had tried a macro lens and an external flash gun I was hooked – there was no going back. However hard I tried I could not achieve the same quality of images or creative effects with my compact or bridge camera.

SLR cameras also allow you to shoot in RAW as well as JPEG. This gives you much more control when editing your pictures afterwards, a must for a professional photographer (some bridge cameras do offer this format as well).

If speed and image quality are important to you, if you’d like to enlarge your shots for display on the wall or enter them into competitions then you should probably go for an SLR. But only if you are prepared to spend money on additional lenses. The “kit” lens that usually comes with an SLR does not allow you to take real close up shots nor does it zoom very far, so you’ll soon find that you need at least one additional lens. You can buy lenses that have a similar wide range to bridge cameras (e.g. 18mm-200mm) but the quality is not as good as dedicated close up, wide angle or zoom lenses. I soon found that I needed a macro (close up) lens and a zoom lens. But then I’m selling my images. If I was an amateur photographer on a budget the one “Jack of all trades” lens is perfectly adequate, certainly when you first start out using an SLR. You can also save money by buying generic lenses such as Tamron or Sigma and by buying second hand.

For me, using an SLR feels like a “proper” camera – I can look through a view finder, it instantly takes the picture when I press the shutter button and has a real and satisfying feel, it’s fast and overall a more quality experience. If automatic modes fail to give the result I am looking for I can take control and make fine-tuned adjustments. A bridge camera can do this too but the quality is generally not as good, with more noise (speckled dark areas) on the final image and just not as crisp and punchy. I know that if I use a particular lens with my SLR I can achieve a particular result – it gives me much more control.

I can’t truly answer the question of SLR cameras versus the new compact system cameras as I’ve yet to use one and can only rely on the reviews I’ve read. They seem to have a place in the market, based predominantly on compact size and being light weight, but opinion seems to be that although very good, they don’t always perform as well as SLRs in the more challenging lighting conditions.

All my cameras have their place and role to play and I'm sure I could come up with an argument to add a new compact system camera to my kit bag! If I was forced to give them all up except one I would hang onto an SLR - and it would be my mighty Canon 5D - I'll blog on why it knocks the socks off my 350d and 40d another day!

Whatever you decide to do, make use of the internet and read lots of reviews. Stay away from manufacturers’ reviews initially as they will be biased and stick to web sites that offer independent reviews e.g. http://www.cameras.co.uk/ but there are many others

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

A digital photography class for beginners at Davenports Farm Shop, Cheshire

I ran another course for beginners in digital photography today and had such a great day. It really doesn't feel like work - sharing something I love with other people who go away so enthusiastic and excited about what you've told them. Today I trained a former colleague, Catherine, who last knew me as the foot expert rather than the photographer - although she remembers me jumping up and down in excitement about buying a new camera lens too. And flogging flower photography calendars up and down the office! Talk about moonlighting - the writing was probably on the wall way before I was made redundant.

So, anyway, there I was today teaching her and her two friends how to take better photographs with their new SLR cameras. They were typical of the people I teach - they know how they want their pictures to look but get frustrated as they don't know how to achieve it. They consider their good pictures to be lucky snapshots. As ever, they are hard on themselves and have usually got a good eye for a nice image. Husbands and dads have tried to explain about apertures and shutter speeds but somehow the penny has never dropped and the camera has stayed on the fully AUTO mode (little green square).

By the end of my training sessions people usually tell me that I have cut through all the jargon and made it all make sense. Catherine commented today that she hadn't known what anything on the screen on the back of the camera had meant and that she was going away able to interpret it all and say what ISO setting she was on and why and what shutter speed and aperture she / the camera had used. Things like Auto White Balance and Exposure Compensation now made sense.

On week days I train at an amazing venue - Davenports Farm Shop at Bartington on the A49. The staff are very friendly and accommodating, giving over an entire room free of charge  in the Alice in Wonderland themed tea rooms to me. The choice of tea and coffee is dizzying but Belinda will guide you through and select the best one with you and all the food is locally sourced and freshly prepared by Belinda and her husband. The cakes are to die for - I drooled so much over the miniature cakes served to two ladies nearby that they donated the ones they couldn't quite manage to us!

I combine the classroom sessions with practical exercises outside and Davenports has oodles of interesting subjects. Today we concentrated on the outdoor chess set, practising using the Av mode to set different apertures to increasingly blur the background and also seeing how zooming in compresses perspective. On previous courses we've photographed the ostriches and alpachas, flowers, fruit and veg, old fencing - the opportunities are endless.

If you like the sound of it get in touch and we'll sort out a convenient date. I can tailor the courses to suit particular interests e.g. portraits / close up flowers etc. All in all I am always told that it's a great day out and very informative and practical.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

New Digital Photography Taster Courses for 2011

If you want to take great pictures you need a lot of expensive kit and you need to understand all the technical stuff - don't you?

No, not necessarily. Of course great quality cameras and lenses and an understanding of how to use all the settings can help you to produce fabulous images. But if you don't know some basic rules or tips then it doesn't matter how good your kit or technical knowledge is. Occasionally I leave all my SLRs, lenses etc at home and just take my Panasonic DMC-FS12 compact with me to remind myself of the basics. I also like to demonstrate that you can get some really good shots with a compact camera.



All these shots were taken with a compact camera



This led me to thinking about how easy it is really and how everyone can take good shots if they just have some simple tips and techniques.

That's what's inspired me to run some taster courses in 2011. I love running courses - so much so that I'd do it for free if I could, but I have bills to pay, cosmetics, shoes and clothes to buy!

The idea of these taster courses is to give people some completely non-techie knowledge that they can go out and put into practise straightaway and see an immediate improvement in their photographs.

If this sounds like it's for you please get in touch. I'm running two courses - one in June and one in July. Details are on my web site. The taster courses are just £20 per person for two hours.

If you're ready for for the next step - getting off the AUTO button and finding out what all the different settings do then take a look at the workshops and small group courses I offer.

To book or find out more contact me on 07868 750505 or via http://www.picture-it-big.co.uk/

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!

Slipping through my fingers...

Schoolbag in hand

She leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye

With an absent-minded smile

I watch her go

With a surge of that well-known sadness

And I have to sit down for a while

The feeling that I'm losing her forever

And without really entering her world

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter

That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time

(Lyrics from by Siobhan McCarthy & featured in Mamma Mia).

I don't always know exactly where my daughter is sometimes and I don't like it one bit! She has been glued to my side (or her daddy's) or in the care of someone we've handed her over to ever since birth. How am I supposed to let her go her own way without worrying myself into a nervous breakdown?

To put this into perspective (I'm just clinging onto some) she is 10 years old and has started to call on friends and meet them in the local park. I know I can't stop her going and although I can warn her about stranger danger I can't terrify her with stories of kidnappings and worse. She came home half an hour late today - it wasn't really her fault, she ended up going to pick up her friend's brother with their mum. And I can't go ballistic at the mother who is much more laid back than me as she's been through it once already. I limited myself to two text messages and five bitten nails - I'm saving the other hand for tomorrow when she'll no doubt want to exercise her new right to freedom again.

But this isn't a blog about how to let your children go out on their own without worrying yourself sick (I have an inkling that will only happen when senility kicks in). It's more of a realisation that this time is so precious and so much of it has already slipped by so quickly.

I didn't find motherhood easy and I think I have only recently become completely comfortable in my role as mummy. I had postnatal depression and spent the first five months on a rollercoaster of emotion - "yay I'm a mother and my daughter is absolutely gorgeous"! Then five minutes later "oh my god what the hell have done, what was I thinking of?! I'm rubbish at this, everyone else is coping so well, they have lots of other mummy friends, I'm the only one on my own all the time". It all happened again when I had my son 2 years later and redundancy and stress related problems didn't help me settle into motherhood either.

I think the fact that I never knew my own mum (she died when I was a few weeks old) also had an impact. Lacking a role model must have had an impact on how I would adapt. I think I've done an OK job in the end, I'm never sure if I'm being fair, over-indulgent, too strict, too much in love with every hair, mole, smell, expression - but I don't think that makes me any different to any other mum. I have a feeling I seek approval more than I should and can't believe that she loves me and looks up to me as much as she does. It amazes me that she wants to copy how I apply my make up, do my hair - I'm not a girlie girl and did not do this with anyone when I was young. Through her I think I have come very late into girliness and am so enjoying going through this stage with her. I'm making the most of it as it will be shortlived - she already tells me when I look naff and, when I let her, she applies make up much more adeptly than I ever did.

And did I mention that she is hilarious and a great mimic? When she's in her comfort zone she has attitude in spades and will hold us all rapt with her performances. I can't understand why her teacher describes her as "quiet" - are you sure you have the right child?

I feel as if we are in a magical time at the moment - her  inbetween girlhood and adulthood and me finally completely content with being (1) mum and (2) photographer. I want to freeze this time and not let it slip through my fingers.

When I went to watch Mamma Mia for the first time I had never heard the song "Slipping through my fingers" before and I absolutely sobbed during the whole scene. I still think it was more than just a chick flick weep - more of a cathartic moment when a lot of stuff hit home. I love the lyrics and feel as if they were written for me and Abbie. She, however, thinks they're really dumb and has taken out an injunction against me playing the song at her wedding along with a slide show!

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I'd love to hear your comments too!