Photographs for an Indian Visa
Are you going to India? Well the most difficult part of your trip could be getting a photograph for your visa.
Recent changes mean that you can no longer use a standard British Passport Photograph for this purpose. The new photo requirements when applying for an Indian Visa are for a photograph two inches square with very specific measurements from chin to the top of the head and distance from the bottom of the photo to the eyes.
Luckily there are still one or two photographic studios around who can meet this need. Here at BeautyPhoto.com we produce all our passport, visa and I.D. photographs by hand and can meet the specific requirements of any UK or foreign travel documents.
Digital Photography Courses
We now run courses and training days for photographers, both beginners and advanced.
The one we are most excited about is the new one-to-one full day in the studio for the photographer wanting to learn the secrets of good beauty portrait and glamour work.
Uniquely, the photographer brings along his or her own model, be it a friend, wife, girlfriend or the girl-next-door. She doesn’t have to be experienced in front of the camera. In fact it is better that she isn’t. It is all too easy to take reasonably good pictures on a course that offers a professional model: She, after all, does all the work!
Covering everything from lighting, camera work and posing, on this course you will learn how to work with an inexperienced model to get great shots.
Your model will learn all about photographic make up and how to strike a pose. You will both come away from the day with a wealth of knowledge and a fantastic set of photographs to start your own portfolios.
Visit our photo tuition website now and make the first move toward learning the art of beauty and glamour photography.
Google now does baby portraits!
This has just got to be the most amazing “Street View” capture in the GoogleCam’s history! *Click on the picture to see the full image. (More Street View fun here)
Don’t worry – we’ll take your baby portraits in the comfort of your own home or at our studio. Details
Update:
Google were quick to take it down. Perhaps they wanted to sell her some ten-by-eights before she had a chance to grab them off the screen!
(Click image for full size)
…or could there be some truth to the speculation that the whole thing was set up as a hoax?
Hmm… We’ll see!
The Mermaid Project
Over the next few months, Jayne & Chris are aiming to produce a range of fantasy photographs. The theme for the first phase will be Mermaids.
If you would like to model for one of these shots, Read the rest of this entry »
Nikon’s “worst ever” Digital SLR
This reminds me of the time I was in a record shop next to a girl holding a Beatles Album and saying to her mates “Oh my god! – I didn’t know Paul had left Wings”!
What planet is this guy on?! Read the rest of this entry »
Google Street View Mooning
…and the Street View Camera fun goes on!
Yesterday, if you typed 16 Bolton Road W into Google Maps this was the Street View image.
What tickled me was the way the face recognition software had blurred the lads faces. Should they also include …erm …botty recognition algorithms? 
Today however, Google must have decided their servers couldn’t cope with the number of hits it was getting from the lad’s mates in Bury. Typing in the same address today results in this:
Spoilsports!
Pictures from the new “Liverpool Eye” on the Albert Dock
Featuring video and still photographs showing views across Liverpool and the River Mersey from the top of the Ferris Wheel. This was my first attempt at using the Nikon in video mode. Edited in Windows Movie Maker.
Set to Building Memories (Turning Circles) written and performed by Isaac
Eye-Fi Workflow in the Studio
*Updated 6/1/2010
Part two of this “first-impressions” review of the Eye-Fi card, describes the workflow I envisage using for portraits and product photography in the studio.
You will recall that the intention is to wirelessly upload only the Jpegs, from the Nikon’s Raw+Jpeg pairs, for the sole purpose of reviewing the pictures on-screen, a matter of seconds after the shots are taken. And I can tell you, even after just one day’s testing, this is going to be so beneficial during portrait/beauty/fashion shoots. Read the rest of this entry »
I could have sworn I just heard Lightroom say: “WTF?”
Anyone who knows me as well as my computer does, will know I never shoot Jpegs. EVER.
Compared to the extra quality, tonality and latitude inherent in the extra bit-depth of the Raw File, Jpegs just don’t cut the mustard.
So why now?
Well it’s all down to the fact I’ve been playing I Spy with an Eye-Fi for my Wi-Fi. Read the rest of this entry »
Spicer Hallfield in Administration
So Spicer Hallfield have gone into administration - now why does that not surprise me?
And it’s no good blaming the recession. I could see it coming twelve months ago last Focus when they went all arty-farty. They seemed to have lost touch with both reality and in what the rank and file of photographers need and want.
Products that we all knew and loved became delisted overnight, to be replaced by a huge range of oddly sized/shaped/coloured folders albums and accessories. Read the rest of this entry »
Fujifilm exploits photography students
Fujifilm has just announced the winner of their 2008 Student Awards.
We heartily congratulate mature student David Wala, from Newcastle College, on his win and certainly wish him well with his future career.
Let’s hope he makes the most of the publicity surrounding this competition, because his prize was quite frankly, crap. Read the rest of this entry »
He’s a Sexagenarian, you know!
My mate Mike is sixty today! ~~ “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE”!
As another poor photographer, he’ll understand that I couldn’t afford to buy him a card. In any case, they simply don’t do one that says: “Congratulations – you can now get an extra 10% at B&Q” !!
I knew I had a shot of him taken at my daughter’s wedding last year – so it was into Photoshop’s Extract filter to remove all evidence of the camera and tripod he was operating and of course, the background.
My own B&Q discount card (yes yes, I’m ancient too!) was scanned and added to the picture. Luckily, only a little bit of pixel pushing was required to make it look like he was actually gripping the card, and little drop-shadow under the hand for added realism.
Rather than drive to our nearest B&Q, a Google Image Search turned up a suitable new background. Originally used to promote a new B&Q store, the shot was too sharp. So I duplicated the layer and applied a decent amount of Gaussian blur. Then a layer mask was added and filled with a black to white gradient to blend the sharp image with the blurred version to realistically impart the shallow depth of focus you would expect in this type of scene. Little touches like this all help to avoid the “cardboard cut-out” effect when replacing a background.
The “eye candy” picture is a publicity shot of American actress Molly Simm sitting in a rusty old wheelbarrow. Someone had made this into a mock B&Q advert, which has been kicking around the Internet for the past year or so.
A little added wording and “voila” – the card was complete. All in less than an hour.
Hmmm…. Come to think of it: That was an hour of “work” time, so all in all, it turned out to be quite an expensive Birthday card!
I hope the old fart appreciates it!
Railway Children!
As a former press photographer I am quite used to seeing pictures designed to shock, to invoke thought, to stir up the emotions. Heck! I used to take them!
As a portrait photographer, however, I find myself judging pictures on their artistic merit, on their technical competence, and on whether or not they have “worked” as a portrait. I ask myself: if I were the parent of a child in the portrait – would I be proud to hang it on the wall?
These two portraits were on the website of an American family portrait photographer. Now I should point out that prior to seeing these two images, I was pretty impressed with the standard of this person’s portrait photography. These, however, left me feeling very uncomfortable indeed. Maybe it’s a Feng Shui thing? I don’t know. I just know I don’t like them. Ironic really, when you consider that as a press photographer ANY picture that made you look twice, or that made you think about the subject, would have been adjudged a roaring success.
These shots give me the same feeling one gets when standing close to the edge of a very steep drop. Furthermore, do they give out the message to any other kids who might view them – especially if they were on the wall of a family friend – that it is okay to go and play down on the railway tracks?
So what do you reckon? Am I getting carried away? What do YOU think? Use the Comments link at the bottom of the page – That’s what it’s there for!
More Passport Photo Rules
Backgrounds must now be 5%-10% grey – not white!
This “new rule” has actually been in place since the guidelines were laid down by the Identity and Passport Service three years ago.
This year, however, they are applying the ‘new’ standards for passport photos more rigorously. The regulations have always stated that the background for passport photos should be off-white, or 5% – 10% grey. During 2008 they will begin rejecting photos taken against a white background.
Employing a professional to produce your passport photographs may cost a few pounds more (we charge £10) but it can actually work out cheaper than having two or three attempts at getting it right in a photo booth. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to go through all the rigmarole again should the passport office reject them.
Customer Service – Spicer Hallfield style
Now, I’m pretty good at navigating websites and second-guessing the nuances of wizz kid designers. So whilst I won’t go as far as to say the new Spicer Hallfield website actually got me beat, time is money, and after fifteen minutes of trying to locate the products I wanted, I caved in and picked up the phone.
- Me: Hello, I’d like to place an order please.
SH: I’m sorry we can’t take your order over the phone.
After explaining I couldn’t locate the items on their new web site, she put me through to someone called Mark who kindly talked me through the intricacies of the new portal. Apparently it is easier to enter a keyword, such as “Classic” to narrow down the number of items you have to scroll through! Once you’ve found the album you require, however, there is no link to buy spare pages for that album. You have to start a completely new search, again guessing what the best keyword might be this time!
OK, so we’re getting there. Wait…! It states on the website that Read the rest of this entry »
