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Thursday 29th July 2010

Family portrait shoot today, Got some lovely shots of the girls, I used some different back lighting on some of the shots and using the tri-fold reflector with one softbox directly above for the close up of the girls.

Note the triple catch lights in the eyes from the tri-reflector!

Wednesday 28th July 2010

Back to the Fire station do take a few shots of Steve who retires later this year, I wanted to capture one of the fire engines with it's Blues on, but needed to separate Steve from the background, I went for a one second exposure and off camera flash set to rear sync, this gave sufficient time to capture the lights on the fire engine and just enough light on Steve. Even hand held for one second the pop of flash is sufficient to freeze Steve and keep him sharp.

Tuesday 27th July 2010

I had a chance to take a few portraits of Carl at the fire station, I set up a back light with a coloured gel over it to create the feeling of a fire, and with the smoke machine blowing smoke through the door , I got some interesting shots, there was a lot of wind blowing so I didn't have as much control over the smoke as I would of liked, so will be having another go in the near future, Photos below.

Saturday 24th July 2010

A trip to Bournemouth and the New Forest this weekend, just adding a few of the photos I took for fun!

Thursday 22nd July 2010

A trip to Bristol today to be on Damian Lovegrove Portrait training day, a Fantastic day with Damian, a chance to learn some new techniques, Damian is one of the countries top photographers and a great teacher, we had a great model (Chloe) who worked really hard and I got some great shots, I've posted a few below and when I've a bit more time I'll be adding quite a few more, all the equipment we used I have in my studio, so if you fancy have some similar photos of yourself give me a call.

Saturday 17th July 2010

I had a family portrait shoot in Tunbridge Wells today at Dunorlam Park, if you've never been then I would say pack a picnic and have a day there, the grounds are really lovely and there's a boating lake you can spend some time on as well, unfortunately I didn't have time for messing about on the water, but I did get some really nice shots, always difficult taking photos of small children as they get tired, bored and hungry very quickly, as it happened they all did very well, follow the link to see more shots from the day, photo shoot Tunbridge Wells

Thursday 15th July 2010

I had an evening portrait shoot of Tim & Donna and their family in particular the new arrival of their baby girl, I shot Tim & Donna's wedding about 3 years ago so it was great to see them again and very pleased they decided to come back to me for some family shots, I've added a few below, to see them all follow the link, Sussex wedding photographer

Sunday 11th July 2010

999 day at Eastbourne Seafront, managed to get a few shots of the events and some of the people involved, a few shots added below.

Saturday 10th July 2010

Morgan and Kate's wedding today at Deans Place, beautiful day and a beautiful bride, I've posted a few photos below, I'll add a link soon to the whole wedding, so keep coming back

Monday 5th July 2010

I received a Gold award from the SWPP today for my entry in their press and publicity competition and several Silver awards too, I am delighted with the result and will looking forward to attending their annual awards presentation. I've posted the photo below, I managed to get this shot at a training day with White watch at Eastbourne Fire Station. I've added two of the Silver award photos too!

Gold Award winning Photo

Monday 21st June 2010

I am very pleased to announce that I have been awarded with the qualification "Craftsman" with the Guild of photographers, After submitting three full weddings to the Guild I received a call from the Guild to inform me that I passed with ease and can now be known as a Craftsman in the art of Wedding photography, I was also informed that I am the only Craftsman in East Sussex and join only 15 others in the whole of the UK, certificate to be published as soon as I receive it.

Thursday 10th June 2010

I picked up 3 Awards this month from both the SWPP & The Guild of Photographers, the Guild states that " the images are those of a very high standard at professional level and are very difficult to achieve" so I am very pleased with my achievements. I've been very busy with the business side over the last few weeks and haven't managed to post many recent photos, so I've put a few below of when I've been out and about early morning for some sunrises, some lovely shots of my mate Shaun feeding his sheep, some pier shots and some rainy day ones too! Boudoir shoot next Friday, so more photos to be posted!

Thursday 20th May 2010

I had a wander along the seafront today as it was so lovely and warm, I took a few shots, the tide was out so I got a nice shot of the Pier with the sand leading you towards it, I then went up to Belle Toute Lighthouse later in the day for some nice sunset images, don't forget if there are any images you would like framed or on canvas or just prints to have framed yourself, then just send me a e-mail with the details and size of the image you would like, ok images are below, hope you enjoy looking :-)

Tuesday 18th May 2010

Hampden Park, Eastbourne today, just another break from the computer, had great fun trying to get the squirrels to come a bit closer to the lens, they were very timid, managed to get a few shots I liked.

Saturday 15th May 2010

Attended the Eastbourne Rugby Club's Annual Presentation evening Dinner & Dance, some photos below to see the whole event follow the link Rugby Club Presentation the band playing was great I've added a few shots of them too

Friday 14th May 2010

Not much time for photos today, I've been preparing for Eastbourne Rugby club presentation evening tomorrow, but thought I'd share a couple of shots I took today

Monday 10th May 2010

I Travelled up to Milnrow, Gt Manchester to spend the day with Brett Harkness and his wife Kristy of Brett Harkness Photography, they were running their "all about weddings" training day, the day covered all aspects of wedding photography and I got to try out some new techniques along side Brett and Kristy. Brett is the country's top wedding photographer who regularly writes for Digital Photography magazine to name but one, he was keen to pass on why he has become the most renowned wedding photographer shooting throughout this country and the world. A truly great day, I've added some shots from the day below, to see more follow this link Wedding photographer Sussex

Tuesday 11th May 2010

Jon & Emma's Pre shoot today, weather wasn't  great very overcast and quite cold, the shoot started at 5:45pm and I was very lucky to be able to use my friend Shaun's Bluebell wood he has on his smallholding near Cowbeach. We had a good wander throughout the woods taking shots using natural light which I had to colour correct quite a few because of the green cast from the trees, I also set up my new safari ranger lights to add some atmosphere in a few of the shots, have a look below I've added a few Images and see what you think, also follow the link to see the full shoot Sussex Wedding photographer

Thursday 6th May 2010

I decided to just take the camera out into my garden for half an hour today between working on the computer, put my 105mm 2.8 macro lens on and just take a few shots a very steady hand was required as even just moving a few millimetres at that range would throw me out of focus, a few images below.

Wednesday 5th May 2010

Mad day today editing wedding photos, just needed to get out for a walk so ended up at the seafront with camera in hand. Took a few shots of the pebbles on the beach, I've put the original Raw file as taken by the camera and then the final results just to give you an idea of some of my post production work I do on my Mac and in Photoshop and Nik Software.

Raw & jpg   

Final Image

Seagull shot Raw & then converted and rule of 3rds applied

Again Raw and converted jpg

The Image above was converted to jpg using ACR then changed to B&W in Nik Software, then I allowed a tiny bit of colour to bleed back into the image, hardly noticeable.

Monday 3rd May 2010

I Joined up with Morgan & Kate for their Pre wedding shoot this morning, they are getting married in July this year, this gave us all an opportunity to get to know each other better and to get some great shots, I learnt a lot about them and the style of wedding shoot they are looking for, we had a lot of fun and they were just so natural and very relaxed within 5 minutes of the shoot which made my life easy, we found some good locations around the hollywell area of Eastbourne, I think the photos speak for themselves! to see more of this shoot, just follow this link! Eastbourne wedding pre shoot

Saturday  1st May 2010

We went down to Eastbourne's Western Lawns, a friend of Jane's was playing in a band and also it was the Magnificent Motors weekend, so we got a few shots of the band and some of the cars, had a bit of a play with different angles to make the photos a bit more interesting, it's always worth having a play around, don't always go for the normal shots, get down low get a different perspective on things, use different lenses, wide angle and zoom in as well as taking  standard shots. have a bit of a change from the usual you'll be surprised with your results! some of Jane's and my shots below.

Saturday  24th April 2010

Photographed the Wedding of Jayne & Mathew,  follow the link by clicking on photo below to see the rest of the photos and keep checking out the Clients Weddings section for the latest shoots.

Sunday  18th April 2010

I was invited down to take some shots of Eastbourne Rugby team playing Worthing, so off we headed, it was a really hot day and we had a lot of fun shooting the team and enjoyed the fine weather.

After the game we had a Family photo shoot which was nice and close in Hampden Park, a few shots from the shoot added below, more to follow on the Portrait site soon

Saturday  17th April 2010

Kate and Dave's Wedding, photos to follow, a couple below as a taster

I met Stephen Lloyd preparing his speech at the same venue as the wedding, so grabbed the opportunity to ask him for a couple of shots, which he was very pleased to let me take, a very nice man I must say, I had a play in photoshop and put him in a different setting!

Saturday  10th April 2010

I went up to Lancashire this weekend to visit Family, managed to get some nice shots on a walk near Pendle Hill and some of my great Nephew, some of the dogs too :-)

Monday  5th April 2010

Jane and myself decided to go down to the seafront where the sun was very harsh and test out some new on camera flash techniques, the problems always occur with such a bright sunlight is that the sky blows out to white, we managed to get some good shots of a nice blue sky and cloud detail without putting ourselves into silhouette, couple of examples below!

Wednesday  7th April 2010

I was asked to go to the animal hydrotherapy centre in Seaside, Eastbourne, to take some shots of Max having his swim, he was really loving his session as you will see.

Monday  5th April 2010

Just to inform you I am awaiting a complete new design to the web site and it will be with you in a few weeks and we're really excited, I haven't kept up with the blog for quite a while, so watch this space, because once the new site is up and running, there will be regular updates on what we have been up to, recent shoots, Photoshop techniques and some video footage of shooting and post production techniques. come back soon and I we'll keep you posted.

Sunday  4th April 2010

Jane had a trip to Arlington speedway, got some great shots of the Banger racing, I had to stay at home and work :-(

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Had a drive over to Newhaven, weather was dreadful, got a couple of shots at Newhaven Lighthouse.

This was only taken 2 nights before from my bedroom, lovely cloud formation.

Monday 26th May 2008.

Ok, Here goes, I've never got involved in writing a blog before so you may have to bear with me!

The plan is to write 2 or 3 times a week to keep you up to date with what's going on with sharpeshooters from week to week and also to give you a insight into what we do as far as the jobs we have up and coming, also some of the techniques I used to get certain shots including aperture, ISO and speed settings. I will also let you know how I achieve some of the finishes to some photos using Photoshop.

On Saturday of last week we had Hannah and Ben over to Eastbourne to do their pre-wedding shoot, after a cup of tea and a go over the details for the wedding in August, we headed of to the sea front at Hollywell, Ben was a bit apprehensive at first as there was quite a lot of people about, the first few shot were taken looking out of one of the thatched promenade shelters, I just walked away  and asked them to chat to each other and lean out of one of the window openings, a lot of people walking by wondered what we were up to! I got the shots I was after so we moved down onto the beach. I posed them on some wooden steps and again let them talk and just react together, by this time Ben was feeling much more relaxed and I was starting to get some really good shots, we then wandered down on to the sand, Hannah kicked off her shoes and they both went for a walk along the waters edge, they were both really relaxed and having fun together, I just let them get on with it and kept on shooting!

We then moved to the bottom of the cliff shooting as we went along the beach, Ben & Hannah came up with some places to have some shots taken, It's great when this happens, you then know that the couple are enjoying the shoot when they start to join in, Ben found an area that had some large chalk boulders with wild flowers growing around them "a ready made rock garden"  they climbed up to the rocks and I kept shooting I think they forgot I was there for some of the time. I then posed them for a few shots and we called it a day.

Have a look at the pre-shoot link to see some more of the photos taken that afternoon.

The photo below left was put into Photoshop, I adjusted the levels, made a curves adjustment layer and then added an action called Tea stained, I quite like the effect it has given me, It's worth investing in some actions, there's loads for sale on the net, give some a try!

Monday 26th May 2008.

I've spent all day re-vamping the web sites, if you didn't know we have 2, they both were identical, but now I've got one for our wedding and wedding related photos (this one) and one for all out portrait photos (sharpeshot.co.uk) It's 11:20pm so I'm going to finish for today and hopefully be blogging again soon.

Wednesday 28th May 2008

Ok, the web sites are ready to go live and if your reading this they are up and running, my only worry is that the keywords are good enough to keep us on the first page of Google when anyone does the Eastbourne wedding photographers search!!!

A busy few days coming up, so may not get back here for a few days, but will have loads to tell when I do. We are having a couple around tomorrow evening about booking a wedding for later this year, I'm doing some lifestyle portraits at a local park on Friday, a wedding on Saturday and a Pre-wedding shoot on Sunday, then will be spending the next few days on the computer processing all the shots!

Friday 6th June 2008

I knew trying to keep up with this blog was going to be difficult, I've had a busy week. As I said last Wednesday I hade a portrait shoot on the Friday, that went very well, Julia and her two children, the photos are going to be a surprise for her husband, we met up at the local park, had a wander then started shooting, we got some really good shots, the children soon got playing and enjoying themselves, I just asked close Julia to get in close sometimes and make out she had seen a squirrel or some thing up in the trees, we then found a tree that was leaning so it was an ideal opportunity to get them all in a row, I took about 100 photos or so and got some real good natural shots, I've added a few below for you to see, some more will be added soon to the Lifestyle pages.

On Saturday we shot Simon & Jo's wedding, their photos won't be going on the web until they have returned from their Honeymoon, so check out the wedding site in a few weeks time, the shoot went very well, a lot of guests where smoking at this wedding so it proved a bit difficult at times to get some candid shots without a cigarette in the picture, I don't mind taking shots of people smoking, but they need to work well or fit in with the style of shoot. Anyway as I said it went well and we got some great shots, I'm sure they wont mind me posting just a few for you to see!

On Sunday we had a trip up to Windmill Hill to take a pre-wedding shoot, we where lucky with the weather, warm and slightly overcast, a perfect light for portraits, John & Reggie had a lovely big garden that looked out to open fields so we decided to take the shots there. Again I'll be adding some of these photos to the lifestyle pages later in the week so keep checking those pages also the pre-shoot page, John & Reggie really enjoyed the photo shoot and we got some cracking shots, we even got the family pets to join in! I've added a couple below.

Off to Ireland tomorrow to do a shoot, back on Tuesday, so I'll try and get back on the old blog as soon as we're back, also I'll get some more photos on the lifestyle pages, see you soon!!

Wednesday 11th June 2008

Hello again, back from Ireland, we had a great time and got the shots in the bag, we also had some time to visit family and get a few candid shots of family & new friends.

Here's a few pictures of Tom he's 80 years old and as fit as a fiddle he owns a farm in Co Tipperary, he came over for a drink of his favourite tipple Jameson whiskey after rounding up his cows for milking on his quad bike!

A  couple shots of Doug & Wendy with Toffee

I couldn't resist getting some shots of the puppy Tara and the one of her resting on Rory the boxer

last one of this bunch, you can't go to Ireland without having a pint of Guinness!! a couple of people have wondered if that's the ghost of the old woman who used to own the pub in the glass panel to the right, she had grey hair and kept her hair up in a bun, don't know if you can see her!

Short and sweet this time I know, but it's late and I need some sleep, catch up soon. 

Monday 16th June 2008

Full of cold today, must of caught it on the plane coming back from Ireland, hopefully be better before Friday as we have a wedding to do at Barnsgate Manor near Crowborough, then another on Saturday at Manor Barn Oast near Hastings, so I don't want to be sneezing all over the place!

Well what have we been up to since Ireland? I did a Pre-wedding shoot at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne on Saturday, Mark and Victoria, keen Yacht racers, so we got some shots on and by the boat they race, as I have said before it's good to meet your clients before the wedding day in a place they are familiar with, they soon relaxed and we got some good shots, we also got to have a good look around the area they are having the reception, we always go the the wedding venues about a week or so before the event to check everything out and to make sure everything is in order. I had a visit to Manor Barn today and had a good chat with the owner which was well worth the visit, we also walked through how the day will go.

Here's a few pics of Mark & Victoria, I put on the original and the after I've played with it a bit shot! you can see more of the shots on the Pre-shoot page.

Super fun Happy action!!

Deep Forest action, gives deep rich colours and glowing shadows, softens the photo too.

I changed this one to a duo tone then added a Vignette.

 One of my favourites "Rusty Cage" a dark moody and warm effect.

Friday 20th June 2008

           Cheating a bit here, it's actually Monday 30th, but it's easier if I just date things as we did them, so here goes!

Grant & Shireen's wedding today, the day went really well and we got some great shots, everyone really enjoyed themselves, we had a lot of group shots to do so we were limited to the time spent with just the bride and groom, we had to wait until after the wedding breakfast to get them on their own, this wasn't a bad thing as the light was great, we got some good shots despite Grant's mates shouting and trying there best to take the Mickey, you can see a selection of the photos taken on the Weddings page.

I've put a few shots below we took on the day I really like, they aren't the usual bride and groom shots, hope you like them!

Saturday 21st June 2008

Another Wedding today, John & Regi, quite a long day we left home at 1.30pm and got home at 10.30pm, they had a great day, loads of fun guests and they even had a magician during the meal, we got some good shot of him entertaining during the Wedding breakfast, he had fire coming out of his wallet and allsorts going on. the wedding was at Manor Farm Oast at Icklesham near Hastings, Kate and Syd ran the show and  were brilliant, they looked after everyone there and provided us with some great sandwiches and home made punch. The evening was rounded of with a great little Jazz band the singer sounded a bit like Stacey Kent to me, we got some good shots of the first dance and then everyone else joining in. I've added some below, you can see some more shots of the wedding on the "Wedding Page"

Monday 23rd June 2008

Off to Cambridge today, I won a competition to spend the day with Mark Seymour a top London wedding photographer on a wedding Master class, a big thank you to Professional Photographer Magazine for the privilege, the day was great two super models Kelly & Mark, a big thanks to them as well, getting put in all sorts of places and positions so we could get the shots! I'll add a few at the end of today's blog.

The setting was brilliant, we were in one of the colleges, very old buildings with some great columns to pose them against, also a chapel to get some realistic indoor shots. A fantastic day and I learnt a few new tricks on the way!

Tuesday 24th June 2008

Two wedding Pre-shoots today Mick & Dani this morning, we went down to the seafront and the Italian Gardens, It was fairly quiet and they both relaxed really quickly, I got some lovely shots in and around the open air theatre, Dani said she has never had a good photo taken of her, have a look at the pre shoot page and I think you will agree she has now! Mick didn't know what to expect but he said he had a really good time and is now looking forward to the wedding shoot. I've put a couple of shots below.

Here's a before and after I've done on this Photo 

In the afternoon I did Fitz & Carly's pre-shoot we had a trip to the other side of Cowbeach to a stables where they first met, Fitz was fixing the stable roof and Carly was riding one of the horses, so it was a good place for the shoot, again have a look on the Pre shoot page.

One of the horses wanted to get in the photos and kept following us around, you'll see some of the shots below, there was a few big electrical pylons in on of the fields so I took a shot as if one of them was the Efile Tower, also one of the fields was ideal for Carly to walk through in a "only the crumbliest Flakiest  chocolate moment" if you know what I mean, you will when you see the photo, anyway I've put a couple of photos below and I'll see you soon!!

Tuesday 2nd December 2008

Ok, here we go again, long time no blog!! sorry about that had such a busy summer 20 weddings done and now a bit of time to catch up, I'm not going to go through the last few months but will start with what I've been up to over the last week or so.

Firstly a portrait shoot of Catherine, Mark & baby Ellouise, I gathered my studio lighting together and headed off to their home at the foot of the downs in Willingdon, we did a few family shots around the piano, then I got some really nice ones of Ellouise on her own tinkling the Ivory's.

                  we then got our cold weather gear on and headed outside, it was freezing, I got some super shots of the family in their woollies, then once home had a play in Photoshop and I was done, I've posted a few shots below.

 A couple of days later I had James & Sophie around to the studio for a few shots for Christmas gifts, James also wants' to have one of the photos made into Christmas cards, I did the shoot and then started to have a think of what may work, I've added a few shots and one of the ideas for a card.

Up early today to catch Blue Watch at Eastbourne Fire Station before they went off duty, they had been out all night at a fire near Hailsham. A Firefighter called Selwyn retires soon so they wanted a photo of all the watch together before he went, the light was good, but I still needed to up the ISO to 500 to get the aperture right to get everyone in focus and stop blurring I shot at f8, 1/60s. I also took a few of Selwyn messing about and a few single ones of a few of the other lads, I've added one of Luke in B&W with a bit of an action added.

  Brave Boys!!!   Off to Cheltenham tomorrow to get some photos of my daughters Graduation, so no doubt will be posting a few shots on the blog!!!

Saturday 6th December 2008

The Graduation went well and tested my Nikon D3 very well too, the ceremony was in a large hall with no natural lighting, I got a seat to the left of the stage where the presentation was going to be and connected my 70 - 200mm f2.8 lens with a 2x convertor bringing the largest aperture to f5.6. I set the ISO to auto and camera setting to manual, speed set to 1/125sec and camera fixed to my Manfrotto monopod, as you will see from the photos the noise is hardly noticable.

As you can see the stage is quite some distance away. taken with my standard f2.8, 22-60mm lens, f2.8, 1/60sec, ISO 1000.

f5.6, 1/125sec, ISO 1800, as you can see the lens with convertor got me in really close, noise is very minimal.

A few shots taken outside, all ISO 200, all taken at Cheltenham Race Corse.

Monday 8th December 2008

Took a few shots of my mate Neil and his family on Saturday, a few Portraits for the family's for Christmas. Just used the one softbox and set up in their lounge, positioned it above camera and slightly to the left.

an action added to this one.

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