Fellow Photographers,

My Deal of the Day this week is something of a mega deal – and it is not just for a limited time. I’m giving you £10 for each new person to refer to the studio who goes on to book for an event, workshop or course.

I want to draw your attention to this weekend’s events – I am expecting Friday Night’s From Concept to Creation event to be something special – we are going through the whole process of how you do a concept shoot. From how you come up with ideas, how you plan the shoot and finally how you execute the shoot and even for those who are interested how we deal with the images in post production.

Saturday’s Digital Rain, Digital Lightning and Wet-look Glamour Workshop also has an element of how you plan your shoots through to post production but this time it is focused on a particular style of image and technique.

Adobe Lightroom’s Graduated Filters and Elliptical Filters both get two different mentions in this week’s newsletter. Firstly this week’s video tutorial shows how you would normally use them in Lightroom, and then my chosen photo of the day uses them in a very different way to create a spotlight effect.

The newsletter rounds off with my full listing of forthcoming events, workshops and courses. One new event added this week. Can you workout which one is new? No prizes for getting it right…. but you can award yourself three points! (And that’s the only clue I’m giving you).

For all this and more… please read on….

Deal of Day

[Deal of the Day] Get £10 for each referral

It is often said that the best form of advertising is happy customers who tell their friends. I have always been very grateful to those of you who have recommended my studio to others and from now on I want to say a special thank you to those who have been encouraging their friends to come to events, workshops and courses at that studio.

For every new person you refer to the studio who books to attend a workshop, course or event I will give you a £10 credit that you can use when you book for an event, workshop or course.

All you need to do is ask your friend to put your name in the “Referred by” box when they make their booking. This will let me know that you referred them and I will send you a coupon code worth £10. You can refer as many people as you wish and for each new person that books, I will let you have £10 off your future bookings(*). Persuade enough new people to book and you need never pay to attend studio events again!

(*) Coupon codes must be used within 6 months.

Forthcoming Events

Friday, 5 December 2014 – From Concept to Creation

From Concept to Creation

Location: Ian’s Studio
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price: £29 (£34 inc post production session)

This will be a very different Friday Night – have you ever wanted to plan and execute a shoot, from coming up with the original idea, through designing the set and the lighting, defining how the model will appear, having your say on make-up? This event will enable you to do that.

This evening is not about getting loads of shots – it is all about getting just one or two images, and ensuring that they are something special.

We have model Bex H joining us for this event and I am planing to book an MUA to join us too. The event will have the following parts to it:

Concept – in this section in one or two groups we will discuss ideas for images that we wish to create. To help with this process I will arrange a number of items to be at the studio which the groups can choose to use as part of their idea. These will include a hundreds of post-it notes, scores of old photography magazines, boxes of old VHS video tapes, a large supply of old newspapers, paint, and paste. During this time we will take input from both model and MUA as to what is feasible from their point of view.

Execution – Once we have decided on the first idea, as a group we will go about building a set (if we need it) creating a costume/look for out model. The MUA will assist with make-up and styling. Once this is ready we will light the scene and finally take our photographs of it. We will then repeat this for the second idea.

Post-production – For many concept images there is a third stage – post-production. For those who are interested in exploring this part of creating an image, I am offering an ‘after hours’ session 10pm till 11pm for those who want to talk about and see different ways of processing the images we created earlier.

Bex H has been booked up to Art Nude levels – this gives the maximum flexibility when the groups are discussing concepts and ideas. You can see Bex’s profile on Purpleport here: http://purpleport.com/portfolio/bexh/?referrer=ianbutty

Please note: In the unlikely event that the groups struggle to come up with concepts I have two or three ideas that the groups can use as a starting point for their discussions.

Price £29 (or £34 with “after hours” discussion and tutorial on post processing)

Please book via my website: http://www.ians-studio.co.uk/events/from-concept-to-creation/

Saturday, 6 December 2014 – Digital Rain & Wet-look Glamour Workshop

Digital Rain & Wet-look Glamour Workshop

Location: Ian’s Studio
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Price: £69

This one day training event will teach how to create wet-look glamour images and to add rain effects and lightning effects in Photoshop.

During the morning we will spend 3hours in the studio working with a models to create the wet-look glamour images which will be the basis of our completed shots.

During this time you will learn how to set up the lights needed to create the effects. You will learn some of the tricks employed to create wet-look images, including how to make the water droplets more visible, and how to control where the water goes. The session is a practical session and you will have plenty of opportunity to take photographs.

Please note: due to the nature of some of the images and techniques being demonstrated at this event the model(s) will be posing topless for some of the shots. If this is likely to cause offence please do not book to come on this course.

After lunch (which is included in the price of the course) we go into a tutorial session where you will be shown how to use Photoshop to add digital rain and digital lightning effects to the images we created during the morning session. If you have a laptop with Photoshop on it you are welcome to bring it with you and follow the tutorials as we go through them. Alternatively you can sit back, watch and then try out the techniques at your leisure at home. Either way you will be provided with printed notes on how to achieve the effects and a CD with a video screencast showing you the steps for both digital rain and digital lightning.

The model for this event will be Rhianna Gray See: http://purpleport.com/portfolio/rhiannagrey/?referrer=ianbutty (Contains nudity). This will be Rhianna’s third or fourth visit to the studio, you can see images from a small group shoot that she did at the studio earlier this year here: http://photos.imb.biz/model/shoot/sgs-rhiannag (contains nudity).

Cost £69 (includes lunch, printed notes, and a disk with video tutorial)

Please book via my website: http://www.ians-studio.co.uk/events/digital-rain-wet-look-glamour-workshop-3/

From the Blog…

[Blog] Waiting Lists, Re-runs & Custom Events

iansstudio-booking graphic

This blog post is a little different. It is not about photography techniques but about giving you a little background about how I schedule events at the studio.

The first thing to say is that you can easily find out if there are still spaces on an event at the studio. If the normal booking form appears below the event there are spaces still available. Sometimes events sell out. (It has been happening quite a lot over the last month). When that happens the website will replace the booking form with a message saying that the event is full and giving you a link to contact me to be added to the waiting list.

It is always worth while asking to go on the waiting list. Occasionally I do have photographers cancel from events, if that happens I work my way down the waiting list calling people to see if they want the place. You might be lucky and get a cancellation.

Even if I don’t get a cancellation I use the waiting list to decide whether it is worth re-running an event. Which brings me to another point – if there is an event on at the studio that you wanted to go to but it was on a date that you couldn’t make, please let me know. Typically if I have two or three people either from the waiting list or who have contacted me to say they couldn’t come to a particular event but wanted to, I will look into rerunning the event.

When I decide to re-run an event, I will typically contact the people who were either on the waiting list or were unable to come to the original event for other reasons and I will agree a date with all concerned. Where I can I will give these photographers priority for booking too. As far as I can reruns will be as similar to the original event as possible.

One example of an event that has recently been re-run… and will be rerun for a second time, is the Mounting and Matting event. The initial event was in October but two photographers were unable to come – so I reran the event in November – that event sold out and now I am running the event again in January.

Finally we can take this to the logical next step. If two or three photographers want a workshop, or training course or event on a specific topic, I am happy to schedule a custom event specifically for that group. One example of this was last year’s In-depth Art Nude Course I ran the six session course for three photographers without the event ever being advertised on my website. (FYI That course is back on the calendar for September/October 2015 and is now open for anyone to book on to it).

[Video 016] Using Graduated Filters in Lightroom

I recently received an email from one of the subscribers to my Photography Newsletter asking for help with using Graduated Filters in Lightroom. I thought the topic would make for a good VideoCast – so in this week I look at how to use graduated filters in Lightroom, including two different ways to add colour to grey skies and how to use a graduated filter even when there are objects that extend above the horizon line.

Please subscribe to the video feed on YouTube. Also please subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more Photography Hints, Tips and How-Tos.

For the best way to view the video – please click the full screen icon and veiw in HD.

What do you think about this video? Did you find it helpful? Please comment on my blog page or comment on the video page on YouTube and let me know your thoughts.

Photo of the Day

POTD Fri, 14 Nov 2014: Calamity in the spot-light

This image comes from the “Unusual Underwear” event at the studio with model Calamity. The spot light effect is a mix of studio lighting and post production in Lightroom.

Calamity was lit with two softbox either side of her and slightly behind this gives the rim lighting effect on her. The image as converted to black and white and the contrast and clarity increased.

The spotlight effect was achived by using two graduated filters in lightroom to reduce the exposure in the top left and top right triangles. Finally a an eliptical graduated filter was added round her feet to simulate where the spotlight would fall on the floor.

Other images from the event can be found here: http://photos.imb.biz/model/shoot/calamity-underwear (NSFW)

Calamity will be returning to the studio for a full day group shoot on Saturday 27 December 2014 – http://www.ians-studio.co.uk/events/oh-calamity/

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a source of free photographs.
This photograph is (c) Ian M Butterfield. All rights are reserved. No use Is permitted (including non-commercial use) without prior permission. If you wish to use any of my photographs please ask first.

Image Reference: FG1114A-G13914

Recent Sales

For those who are interested in Stock Photography here’s some information about some of the strange and not so strange sales that I have made.

SALE 30 Apr 2014: Ramses Statue in Tanis

Part of a statue of the Pharaoh Rameses II at Tanis in the Eastern Delta of the Nile. This city is where most of the buildings and structures of Avaris (Pi-Ramesse) were moved to.

NUMBER OF SALES TO DATE: 1
SOLD VIA: Alamy
LICENCE: Rights Managed

This photograph was taken on a trip to Tanis in Egypt. We weren’t scheduled to go there, but as the tour we were on was prevented from going to the location we were intending to visit this was our destination instead. All things being considered I think Tanis was much more interesting than where we were meant to go to, and considering I have sold a number of images from there. Probably much more profitable too.

30 Apr 2014
Country: United Kingdom
Usage: Editorial
Media: Newspaper – national
Print run: up to 750,000
Placement: Inside and online
Image Size: 1/4 page
Start: 01 March 2014
End: 02 March 2014
One use in a single editorial or advertorial article used within print and /or web versions, with re-use of the article in other titles or web versions within the same newspaper group. Digital use includes archive rights for the lifetime of the article.

Alamy link: http://www.alamy.com/image-details-popup.asp?Imageid={0E381027-F19A-4108-937D-A807914DB559}

Image Reference: EW0504C-D01636