Whilst I do offer my clients individual advice tailored to their needs and their photo shoot, I also thought it would be fun to do a series of blogs each month called “What to Wear?” These are particularly useful for family portrait sessions but great for individual inspiration too!

So, to start it off here is the first ever entry of ‘What to Wear’ showing a really great autumnal array of clothing for men, women, boys and girls. The first selection is perfect if you would describe yourself as a ‘jeans’ person or family – at your happiest in a comfortable pair of jeans with a smart top or jumper and a few simple accessories. If the lady likes to be a bit more dressy but has a partner or husband that only feels relaxed in jeans, no problem since this combination works perfectly in the second selection.

Not only will these selections be harmonious with a group or family together, importantly the clothing will blend beautifully when photographed outside with a backdrop of trees displaying their autumnal colours in all their glory.

Don’t forget accessories can make all the difference to a great image; perhaps a hat, scarf or a great necklace!

These selections are a guide to help you create harmonious outfits particularly for the group/family portrait sessions. I do not advocate buying a new wardrobe for your photo shoot, I think you will be amazed by what you already have – go and take a look and have some fun putting outfits together!

Still unsure? Please don’t worry, for further advice contact me here.

I am passionate about black and white images but I also love to use my creativity when cropping an image. Now, many photographers would argue that all cropping should take place in-camera and in the main I agree since it makes life easier in the day to day processing of clients images. However, sometimes I enjoy nothing more than having a ‘play’ cropping my images to achieve a different ‘look.’ Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t!

Here are just a few of my results from this morning’s efforts. Starting with the original shot out of camera and then a quick simple crop to make things more even and a conversion to black and white:

I love square crops and letterbox crops:

A few more ideas:

Finally some food for thought, flipping a photo over:

The square and letterbox are my favourite what’s yours?

P.S Hey, this dude reminds me of James Dean!

After an initial phone consultation I met with Lisa at her business premises. Together, before taking any photographs, we chatted through the final concept and vision she had for her corporate business portraits including the all important colour theory for her branding. After a quick ‘cuppa’ we got to work capturing images to include classic head shots, full portraits and even Lisa at work with her client, all produced in a variety of colour and black and white.

With Lisa’s re-branding she understood the importance of investing in a good professional corporate business image . With Lisa’s kind permission I am able to show you the difference a professional portrait can make to your business. Before the re-brand, Lisa used a personal snapshot of herself (see below) and hopefully you can clearly see from the second image the tremendous difference a professional shot makes.

If you would like to know more about how I can provide you with a corporate business portrait then please feel free to contact me here.

Lisa reviewed our session saying: …”Liz is an exceptional portrait photographer. I hired her to do some corporate shots for my website. She immediately put me at my ease which resulted in my shots looking relaxed, approachable and professional – exactly as I had briefed Liz.”
To see the full review of my services from Lisa Boyd please click here

To see Lisa’s website and the services her business offers please visit here.

For those content and sleepy shots, I find it best to photograph newborn babies at 5-10 days old. So long as they are warm and well fed they really are just so sleepy and pliable we can get them into cute poses such as this one.

However, on the day I met Finn it became apparent he was experiencing a little bit of tummy ache and understandably was very restless. These things happen and after a while his mum and I decided it was best to reschedule the photo shoot for when he was feeling better.

Upon my return Finn was 18 days old and obviously feeling much better. In fact he was so content he slept through most of the shoot and we got some lovely shots as you can see. Finn made sure he woke just so as to show off his amazing big blue eyes!

If you are interested in a Newborn Baby Portrait Shoot please get in touch during the end of your 2nd Trimester or by the beginning of your 3rd Trimester so that I can reserve a session for you around the time of your due date.

Mummy and Daddy of Finn bought a Multi Frame, 3 Large Single Frames and a Folio from their Newborn Portrait Shoot, pictured below. Finn’s daddy is a very talented architect of AR Design Studio and had very clear ideas for minimalist white frames which look absolutely gorgeous in their simplicity.

It was a beautiful June weekend and some friends of mine, Mini and Jonny, were getting married in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the same weekend as the Isle of Wight Music Festival, as such there was high demand for ferry tickets which were sold out. Luckily I had mine!

Looking forward to a lovely wedding and a relaxing stress free weekend I received a call whilst in a taxi on my way to the ferry terminal. It was Mini’s twin sister CC calmly asking me had I left home yet and could I bring my camera with me. Their photographer and dear friend could no longer make their wedding due to extreme unforseen personal circumstances.

Gulp! Gone was the idyllic thought of a lovely wedding and enjoying a drink or two with friends. It was into professional mode now, yet scared as hell for weddings are not my normal photo-territory.  The taxi did a sharp turn around, I collected my equipment and scrabbled for memory cards returning to the ferry terminal with two minutes to spare.

I arrived in time to capture the bride at home with her family and then straight on to the wedding ceremony. The rest of the day unfolded without a hitch, the groom had his RAF colleagues in full uniform complete with swords and Jonny had even managed to arrange with his pals a Red Arrows fly past during the reception much to Mini’s delight!

The cutting of the cake gave rise to the moment when I could switch off my camera and become a guest and enjoy the party in full swing and pretty damn good it was too!

I must mention my partner David who stepped in as my assistant. Fantastic at it he was too!

So, here we are at last!

I met 16 year old Hetty in Lymington and we visited several locations including the side-walks off Lymington High Street, an industrial park, Elmers Court Hotel and finally Milford on Sea. We stopped for a coffee part way through – all the venue changes and clothes changes are thirsty work you know!

What I try to capture in my teen portrait photography are images that not only ‘mum’ will love but most importantly ones the ‘teens’ will love too. It is vital they are happy with the way they look in photographs so selecting their own clothes is a must and if possible having their picture taken without mum and dad there, even better with a few friends!

I must say most teenagers I have photographed do seem very confident and comfortable in front of the camera, certainly more so than I ever did at that age. Perhaps this stems from the instant availability of camera’s these days, in the format of mobile phones and i-pods.

Although Hetty was very comfortable in front of the camera, great fun, vibrant and lovely to chat with, I don’t think she realises just how pretty she is and I hope these images prove to her she is gorgeous.

I know Hetty has just finished her GCSE’s and I hope she realises her dream of becoming a mid-wife whilst continuing with her passion of horse-riding.

Good Luck Hetty and sorry this is so overdue!