Give Students a Shot-ric woods photography

We know how hard it is to get a break in our industry and that's why we are always open to giving students "a shot". We get an email like.... "Hi, I like your work/website,I'm and a student at XYZ and I would like to work with you" You can see my XXXX on facebook thanks Jon/Jan Doe" hotlips@hootmale.com. I remember one chap that applied to us for a position that did amazing automotive photographs for his friends, but when we told him some of the duties that he would be doing as a "newby" he wasn't interested. Sadly many of the young folk I meet already think they are famous, got a cam era, got a business card and now I'm a photographer. I have to tell you if their portfolio shows that they can CONSISTENTLY PRODUCE ACCURATE SKIN TONES & SHOOT CORPORATE FACES THAT SIT WITH IMAGES ON AN EXISTING WEBSITE...Im interested.I mean my only qualification is a drivers licence but the studios portfolio speaks for its self. Its a huge strain on a studio to take on people and train them and give them the shills to produce "IN CAMERA" images that make graphic artists cry with joy . Photoshop is NOT for fixing bad exposures.End of speech !! Every now and then we get a very professional approach from students for work or work experience that shine above the rest. Two recent identities are Caitlin Nolan-Jones and Pyanuch Hathaipontaluk ( nickname Nuch pronounced Nu") Caitlin is a passionate young woman with an out of the square approach to fashion and design. Nuch ( Nu) is a student with a strong portfolio, saying that she passionate about a more theatrical approach to make up. We will bring these two together at our Fashion and Beauty photography course .Where their skills will be under the scrutiny of the studio and students. They have promised to make us proud. Maree and myself are sure that their excitment will fuel their results, we will soon see, the Course is on Thursday 28th April 2011.

Miss April Pin-Up Promotion by ric woods photography

BOOK NOW your photoshoot now enquiries@ricwoods.com
See behind the scenes video of Kara's shoot HERE

Ashleigh Grace talented 16yo singer-ric woods photography

Behind the scenes video grab and some of Ashleigh's images.





Ashleigh Grace the talented 16 year old singer hired us to capture images for her website and album.
We were so pleased to be working with Ashleigh, for me its refreshing to see a dedicated young person who is willing to do the work to get the desired outcome. Sadly many "up and coming" think desire is enough and that they are already famous without the perseverance to produce quality work....but not this young lady.

Thanks to Maree Nichols for great makeup for Ashleigh, make up for photography is very different to "street" make up , or what you would wear out or to a wedding etc. The Digital Camera sees the colour spectrum much differently especially the reds.

Thanks to John and Meagen at Castle Media for input with the styling during the session.The shoot was a great success.We achieved several very different looks during the session.

TIP: Its important when shooting images for commercial use to leave room for "text over" and have the subject looking into the text...remembering that there ate left and right hand pages.

You can see Ashleigh YouTube singing here.
Remembering that this clip is about a year old when she was 15...Well done Ashleigh.

Lucy's Beauty Photoshoot- a great subject

Lucy commissioned us for a photo shoot and we all had a great deal of fun.

The shot list included images in colour and monochrome, images were to include, formals on seamless white, face portraits, some pin up style images and a selection of moody rock chick images. Lucy wanted to keep her natural hair style....I could see maree wanting to push the look a little...

At our studio we are less inclined to push the latest fashion of overworked over saturated images...in saying that we do show clients before and after images that have make up but very little photoshop work.

Maree kept the make up minimal and young.Make up in a photo shoot is very important to present clients at their best, it safeguards against too much shine as the studio strobes produce a great deal of light and the reflection of human skin can blow out high lights.

Air conditioning in the studio was great to keep the skin cool during these very hot days...I'm sure glad that we were not working in a warehouse studio.

We ask clients to come with washed faces with no make up, with a good breakfast to keep the blood sugar up and bring costume changes...we guide clients on clothing depending on the "tone" of the photo shoot and the looks that are requested.

I'm sure that a few of these images will find their way into Lucy's mums house on mothers day.

We provide a complete framing service with all the examples on the wall .Also other products like images on acrylic, leather free standing double or triple portfolios for all the young people that are renting apartments and cannot put frame hangers in the walls.

We run photography and lighting courses for those interested in taking their skills to another level or want to get out of the rut of shooting in the same way.

We also instruct people about digital colour and monochrome photography.

Some images work in colour,some work in monochrome and some can look great in both formats.

The pin up images were fun ...some for public view and some not...

Lucy settled in after an hour and produced some stunning images in colour and black and white...

The corporate world will never look at a blazer in the same way again after this photo shoot

Lucy was able to give me great laughs for images, this is a great deal harder that one thinks...Note how the colour tone changes in Lucy's makeup (especially the lipstick) in the colour image and then check out the monochrome images.I like to have the "tone" of the lips at least as dark as the eyebrows...

Danielle's Photoshoot

Maree provided the hair and make up for this beauty shoot of Danielle. Danielle's instructions for the shoot was not to have the current American inspired orange spray tan and the post production plastic skin look.....most of these images have very little digital work

We pulled out several lighting scenarios ( you can learn these, see our 2011 photography & lighting course booklet download HERE ) some produce great Black& White images.

Overexposing an image can produce a high key image that is flattering to the skin, a different mood can be obtained by bringing in a cool blue light effect

Colour and B&W are equal choices in our studio,some images look great in colour and some in B&W..some work well both ways.Its alway good to try different POV (point of view) with the camera as well as a shallow DOF (Depth of Focus) Here Im shooting at 2.8.Also be mindfull of intersecting lines like the floor squares or window frames

Its always great for us to hear the "WOW" from the clients as we reveal the images to them.As many of our followers know we prefer to shoot a more natural look with peoples complexions and our clients like the fact that we can give them what we call "the good nights sleep" post production re touch if requested...