Reasons to consider entering the competition or booking a studio session: –

– Family looking to get a new family portrait

– New baby looking for their first photoshoot

– Children portraits needing updated

– Couples looking for some pictures together

– Friends looking to get some fun pictures together

After the popularity of my last competition I am running another one. This time the prize will be a free studio photoshoot worth £165.

The competition is open to everyone: –

• Families
• Couples
• Singles
• Children
• New born

In order to submit a picture to the competition simply email me your image to competition@aleckirkham.co.uk along with name(s) and a message. Once the picture has been posted on Facebook simply get your family and friends to like my Facebook page and then like your picture. The winner of the competition will be the image with the most likes on the closing date of 30th Sept 2012.

The winner will receive a free studio photo session in a professional studio utilising the latest lighting equipment and backgrounds also included will be a DVD of full edited images 40+ for your personal use without any copyright restrictions, no hidden costs.

Here are just a few of the images captured during my last studio session, including Cameron the winner of the last competition: –

If you don’t want to run the risk of not winning the competition I am running a special offer in tandem to the competition.

Book a studio photoshoot (£70) and receive a free DVD of fully edited images 40+ (normal price £95) for your personal use without any copyright restrictions, no hidden costs. If you would like to book a session please email me at info@aleckirkham.co.uk or give me a call on 07515 997819.

Please note the photoshoot will be held at the photo media studios in Coatbridge.

Here is a mixed selection of images  taken during my last studio session. I you would be interested in attending a studio photo session please get in contact.

What is the correct lens to use to take a portrait picture? There is no definitive answer to this question; however which ever lens you use could have a dramatic different to the final outcome. For me my personal favourite lens is my Canon 70-200 IS F2.8 and I know there are many photographers out there that would agree with this lens choice. But why this particular lens you may ask? For me being able to zoom in to 200mm means I can compress the foreground and background and in many instances crop any distraction there may have been in the background. Also being able to shoot at F2.8, give me a shallow depth of field, again reducing and background or foreground distractions in the image.

The image above shows a simple portrait shot of Suzanne taken during a recent engagement shoot at Burgh Hall in Glasgow. This is a good example of how I choice to use my Canon 70-200. Here are my camera setting for this shot: –

Camera: Canon 5D MKII

ISO – 200

Shutter Speed – 1/200 sec

F-Stop  – 3.2

Focal Length – 200 mm

I positioned Suzanne so here back was against the wall and that the soft diffused daylight was illuminating her face plus getting the all important catch lights in her eyes. Now looking at the camera setting the aperture of F3.2 gives the image its shallow depth of field, very evident on the wall both foreground and background. I could have shot this image at a focal length of 70mm however I opted to zoom to 200mm and take some paces backwards to get the compression to the image and in doing so removed the distracting tree branches now out of shot. Setting the ISO to 200 meant that as I was hand holding the camera zoomed to 200mm I had a reasonable high shutter speed to reduce any camera movement. So there you go how I like to take simple portraits.

I am running another studio drop in session on the 18th Aug. I have once again booked the photography studio at Photomedia facilities based at Summerlee Heritage Park. Using the purpose built studio with flexible lighting system and choice of backgrounds, I can photograph most families, groups, couples and individuals in comfortable relaxed surroundings. You are welcome to bring a change of clothes for a different look, changing room and bathroom facilities are available.

To find out more or to book a photoshoot session please use the following link – Studio Drop In

Just to complete my collection here is an image captured of my youngest, Sam. He’s always in a hurry to get anywhere and never sits still long enough for me to get any good pictures of him. This image was taken at the end of a long days outing which involved visiting a castle, a beach and a play park, so by the time I took this picture he had worn himself out.

I love the way that the long telephoto lens and wide aperture (Canon 70-200 F2.8 IS) compressed and blurs the background.

This time its of my daughter, we were in a field and Lauren was picking some wild flowers. Normally she never wants to get her picture taken so I was very lucky to get this picture. Again this picture was captured in Raw and then converted in Lightroom. In Photoshop I applied so skin softening, sharpening and a vignette.  I also enhanced the blues in her eyes plus applied some colour to her lips to match the flowers.

I had a exhausting but great time last night photographing the 5th and 6th years students from Taylor High School who were out celebrating with there end of year school prom.