John Wood Photography website update

Well, it's not spring any more so I guess this could be called an early summer clean! I've updated the portraits gallery page on my main website with some newer examples of my work. I felt things needed a bit of a freshen up and I'm pleased with what I've changed.

It also gave me a chance to fix a couple of small things I'd been meaning to do for a while and correct a couple of links that were pointing at the wrong page.

Making these changes has also got me starting to think about the next redesign of the site as a whole. Plans are already being mapped out on paper for some revised layouts and categories to reflect where my photography is now focussing (no pun intended!). Hopefully I'll be able to get some of the changes I want to make implemented in the next couple of months.

One thing I have been really happy about is that my site - John Wood Photography is the no.1 site in both Google and Yahoo search engines when looking for me. Guess the early key wording and search engine optimisation that was done when the site was built is paying off. Still, there's always more to be done to improve things.

BIG format prints!

I just received my large format print (above) for a client and I'm absolutely delighted with it. Overall it measures 80x80cm and each picture is 20x20cm within that.

It was the first time I'd used this new supplier and from what I've seen, it certainly won't be the last! The quality of the print finish is superb and it certainly arrived well packed and protected.

I can't wait to see it finally mounted, framed and up on a wall in their home.

I had a few problems with setting up the multi aperture layouts but these have been well and truly solved now and I have created a series of different sized templates with different layout apertures which I can create some stunning wall art from.

I've been having a go with quite a few styles and layouts from different shoots and these test creations are available for viewing on my flickr stream. The large format prints certainly do create an immediate impact and show off the photos to their fullest. Combining several prints in one also shows the wide variety of moods and styles that can be captured during a photo shoot and is good for showing all the family together or for just following a theme.

I think the large format and multi-aperture prints should prove a popular product offering and give customers an innovative way to display their photos for all to see.

Current readings

I'm working my way through a very interesting book at the moment. The Hotshoe Diaries by American photographer Joe McNally shows examples of his work and how he has achieved the looks in particular shots using just small speedlight flashes.

It is full of inspiring ideas and is written in quite a humourous way. Joe certainly has all the equipment I think he could ever need, including the latest Nikon D3x cameras and SB900 speedlights (several in fact!).
He's been known to use up to 12 speedlights at once to get the look he's after which is more than enough to worry about!

The book is certainly giving me some ideas about how to be even more creative with my photography - I just need to get out there and try some of the things out now. It's a book that I can see myself dipping back in and out of as a kind of reference manual in the future. Should be some fun times ahead.

Bumper pack of lighting gels!

I want to start experimenting more with flash and learn about colouring my lights with gels. You can use gels to correct white balance, or gel lights to create coloured backgrounds or similar creative uses. I've had a brief go at this in the past and through the very simple use of an old Quality Street sweet wrapper, I managed to turn the whole of my living room red! The effect was way more than I had been expecting and was my first, early foray into gelling.

LEE Filters are acknowledged to produce the best filters in the world, and their range is outstanding. I discovered that it was possible to sample the delights for FREE; using their contact page I requested a sample pack. It just so happens that the sample pack gels are the perfect size for use on my Nikon SB800 and SB600 Speedlights too!

Now I will be able to to add colour into my shots in new and exciting ways. Hopefully I'll be able to get some shots done soon and then I'll post up the results.

Best image in class!

My shot of Mount Burgess (above) in YoHo National Park received the 'Best In Class' award in the lastest competition I've entered and scored a 20/20. I was really pleased with the result as I had the competition set subject in mind when I took the photo during last summer's trip to Canada.

It took a bit of work to get the right amount of detail in shadow areas of the trees without blowing out the brighter areas of the photo and I think I managed to pull it off OK.

The 'Reflections' competition was the last of the regular print league competitions of the year and all that remains now are a couple of one off competitions in May. I'll hopefully find out how I've done over the course of the year quite soon.

It's a girl!

Congratualtions to Sarah and Ben. We got the exciting news in the early hours of this morning that Sarah had given birth to a beautiful baby girl weighing in at 8lbs 9oz at around 3am.

Both mum and baby are doing well and we're really looking forward to seeing them soon.

Looks like the newborn shoot will be in the offing imminently too!

Great news.

Sarah's maternity shoot - follow up

Following on from the item a few posts below in the blog, I've now shown Sarah her photos and she's been really pleased with them - something which I'm obviously really happy about! It was a great shoot and we got to try lots of things out on the day, so thanks again Sarah for that.

With her baby due any day now, I hope everything goes well and am really looking forward to seeing your new arrival (and taking your baby shots for you!).

I've put together the slideshow in this post which picks out my favourite shots from the session. I hope you like it. It was put together with my slideshow software - Proshow Gold, and then uploaded to YouTube.

Happy viewing and any feedback is really welcomed.