If you have access to a copy of Studio Brides (vol24) check out our photos being used full page for Cyan Reign (featuring Violet Vex) on pg95 and also for Cyan again on pg92 this time with Holly modelling a black wedding gown.

Don’t forget about our Christmas day photography special that’s on, where you can get over 50% off a family portrait on Christmas day while all your family are together. Call me on 0410504757 or use the contact page on this site to email me.

$200 for a  1/2 hr shoot 3high res files provided and an 6x9in print – North-side Brisbane & Redcliffe

$250 for a 1/2 hr shoot 3high res files provided and an 6x9in print – South-side Brisbane (limits apply)

Very limited bookings available so get in quickly to secure your time with us now.

So many of our friends are starting to get used to using Google+ to share content they find while doing searches so here at Mark Greenmantle Photography we’re taking the focus off the cameras for the night to get some of that work done too.

It’s not something I have quite got my head around just yet, as I really think in a much more visual way and while I try to get into the social networking mind space I usually find interesting stuff about photography online and totally lose track of my networking while I learn about something I can use in shoots. There’s good reason my wife Violet is creative director at Greenmantle Studios!! hehe

That said, I’ve installed plug ins on this site that SHOULD allow you to log in here and comment using either your facebook credentials OR now using your G+ account. It’s all run using APIs on both the Facebook servers and Google servers and other than entering my name email date of birth and blood sample of my first born, it seems pretty safe to use. There’s no freaky stuff going on I swear! Our business page is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107808593874684013817/   It’s not the prettiest URL and we hope that Google will soon update the business pages management but that is us – so go and add us there and say hello. I will be posting more images there again soon. The soon to come rollout of G+ logos on this site means you can recommend any page you see it on to Google Plus with one click. Plug ins to make that happen have been installed but nothing is showing as yet. If you want to do me a huge favor, please feel free to post a link to http://www.greenmantle.biz/ from your Google+ accounts and from Twitter.

Now then, for the budding shooters who watch this space, some TECH PRON for you (yes that was a deliberate typo – it is a PG rated site mkay) – I harp on all the time about monitor calibration and how damn important it is that your screen is showing you the right colours. This is especially important when doing photographic retouching!  Well, Dell have currently at under $700, for a 27inch monitor with an ultra wide gamut showing 99% AdobeRGB / IPS / 2560×1440 pixel resolution!  Now I use an older 24in Dell ultrasharp as my main monitor and it’s been VERY stable for colour – only a slight shift over four months between calibrations (it DOES have power filtered through a UPS), but the new monitors are bigger, better and cheaper. At that rate you could buy six of these for the price of one Eizo of almost the same size…. makes you think doesn’t it!  Do yourself a favour, ditch the gamer screen that makes your images far too bright to match to prints, get one of these and a Color Spyder Pro and use the savings on high quality glass for your camera. The monitors are available here: http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=au&cs=aubsd1&l=en&s=bsd&sku=210-31399&redirect=1

add it to your xmas wish list kids!

Keep your eyes peeled for copies of the current Queensland Brides Magazine, you’ll see our shot of Violet in blue for Cyan Reign on page 173.  More images to be published soon in Studio Brides and we’ll let you know other publications as they go to press.

Violet Vex models for Cyan Reign in Queensland Brides Photo by Mark Greenmantle

Violet was published in four magazines this last month, including the aforementioned two publications, but also in Tattoo Downunder and we’re told also in a hot rod magazine we have yet to see. If you get to see either of the first two magazines and then look at the tattoo and hot rod mags, you can be sure to notice that we took quite some time seamlessly retouching out her gorgeous ink for the bridal work. It’s just another service we can offer to clients here.

For the photographers out there watching our work, take a look at image files you may have passed over through 2005 – 2008 for reasons of low light image noise rejection and if shot in RAW format at the time, push them through the current version of Adobe Lightroom again now. Here is an image that was one of about 30 shots taken with lightning from a storm in December 2005. At the time I was only using RAW Shooter Pro by Pixmantec which later became Adobe Lightroom. RAW Shooter Pro did not provide the best noise reduction algorithms and I had all but forgotten about the other files in this chase that had been rejected. Last week I pulled the folder open anew in the current Lightroom version and was very happy to see just how many more files yielded excellent print candidates.

For more information on Sandgate, head over to www.sandgate.com.au for event listings, venue info and much much more.

In other news today, Violet Elwood and I headed to Kangaroo Point to watch the new RAAF Squadron of Super Hornets fly over the city which was fun but they took a very unexpected track behind our spot and we scored only a few seconds of clear view of all 24 fighter jets.

And, simply because cats that dance like captive bears look extremely cute, here’s an awesome dancing cat

Zac Buckley - Active Image Fitness
0415644748
http://www.activeimage.net.au
http://facebook.com/ActiveImage.ZBuckley

model: Violet Vex - www.violetvex.com

Back lit subjects for soft contrasts, warm shadows and shallow depth of field (shot with lens settings to wide open apertures ie: f/2, f/1.8, f/1.4 or even lower) allow you fast shutter speeds if you pick your light, location and timing just right. For those with DSLR cameras, set to your lowest f/stop and switch to either manual metering, or spot aperture priority  settings. Most Auto settings on modern cameras will meter for the blown out backgrounds leaving your subject little more than a shadowy silhouette, or force you to use flash which will be a cold light that doesn’t match the sunset colours, or try to get too much in focus, so if you are one to set to Auto – now is the time to try something new.

When I have loads of time to prep each shot I prefer to meter with my Sekonic light meter (mine is the Sekonic L-758DR Digital Master – usually available with free shipping from this ebay store)  which allows me to get spot readings through the light meter lens rather than just an ambient light reading.  Usually however if you are trying to keep up with the games of playful children just on sunset, you want to put your camera into aperture priority mode, with metering set to the smallest spot metering option your camera will allow (most have multiple spot metering settings available) and then ensure you lock your light reading with your spot meter over faces rather than near the bright sun in the background.  As the meter cursor is over the face, locate and depress the AF/AE-LOCK button until you have finished recomposing the frame and have taken the shot.

Be wary of the massive lens flare that can occur with this style of shooting. Sunlight can quite easily flood a full frame even though you may not have that effect visible in your viewfinder.  Should you be somewhere here in Australia, you will also note that with spring starting, you need to also be wary of snakes coming out of hibernation, that mosquitoes are already showing their appetites and that magpie nests will soon need to be avoided as well. Before sending kids out to play in long grass, it’s best to check ahead for risks.

Here are some images from last weekend at a local park – I can post full EXIF data on files on request.

Even before the global financial crisis hit markets, commercial shooters have had to contend with an increasingly difficult time maintaining pricing structures to compete with the flood of new amateur shooters. These new shooters with DSLR cameras claiming to work as professionals with amateur pricing schedules drove down the mean pricing seen by clients and pushed higher the marketing hurdles in front of established and experienced working photographers. We now see a swathe of bottom end shooters competing for jobs with the least appropriate equipment, lack of insurance, lack of knowledge of work place safety and ethics, lack of technical skills to do the jobs to brief and of course, with a lack of experience and know how to trouble shoot photographic challenges of any kind. Clients have in the last few years been so flooded with low grade imagery in both mass media and through social networking, that barely average photography is now too often regarded as good enough.

An average image in your advertising can cost you far more in lost opportunities though lack of interest than you may lose in paying for quality photography and production showing a great image.

Too often quote requests come through demanding bottom end pricing suited to your average high school kid with their first digital camera. I have had to be blunt and say, “sorry, but you cannot afford me”, to several of these clients but I rarely get the chance to explain to them the costs of professional photographic equipment and commercial insurance with public liability, the value of commercial licence to imagery, the time spent not only shooting the images but for processing the files, editing and retouching files, the time spent arranging models and makeup artists and hair stylists and I don’t bother to calculate even half the time spent administering each commercial shoot.  A commercial photographer has to factor in expenses for marketing, web hosting, paying for assistants and accountants and much more but most clients only get to see the few hours where the camera is to the eye.

So for the client who wants the punchy and eye catching imagery and has expectations of photography that will drive customers their way, think beyond the “who’s cheapest” mindset as it will only cost you more in the long run. Rarely will a cheap amateur reward you with a quality result so aim higher. Here is a link to a site that shows suitable pricing for commercial shooters of various types with mean pricing taken from a large pool of professional shooters: http://photographersindex.com/stockprice.htm

We strive to give the best value, real attention and quality possible to clients whilst being realistic about commercial costs so we quote each job on its merits and needs and image licencing requirements.