Sophie...Our Tiny Dancer_ric woods photography

Sophie has melted the hearts of all the staff at ric woods photography.
During her portfolio photo shoot she showed all the confidence and poise of a mature adult dancer...and at only 8 years old,she has so much time to polish that presentation.
Sophie and her mum ( who was fantastic with her styling) certainly struggled with her image choice...."so many great shots to choose from". One of my favourite photo shoots of the year thus far.Maree was in heaven applying stage make up to 8year old skin.....

Crissy's Pin Up Photo Shoot-ric woods photography

We shot Crissy the other day.We were commissioned to shoot her in the style of a pin up.These retro photo shoots are coming our way often these days and they are lots of fun.The clothes are great and Crissy certainly has great praise for Kat at "Catfight Collections" in Hamilton for their great range of Retro clothing. Maree Nichols applied Crissy's make up and assisted with the photo shoot. Well done Crissy...3 hours without a fade out.....





See some behind the scenes action 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.

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...

O'grady Family- a new addition- by ric woods photography

For more information on family portrait sessions and our fine art products email maree@ricwoods.com or call ric woods photography 02 4962 1066

Rob Jones-stuntman-Mad Max 4 (fury road)

MAD MAX 4 stuntman rob jones was in the studio the other day to get some pr head shots for his portfolio. Rob a very talented stuntman has worked on many film including Ghost Rider with Nicholas Cage. Rob (resume here) lives in Newcastle and is an extremely talented motorcycle rider who has won many championships.

See the MAD MAX 4 announcement video here.I wonder if Mel Gibson will appear in the film.

When I was asked in Europe wher I was from and I replied Australia "Ahhh, Road Warrior, boom boom" was the reply in a German accent. That was thename Mad Max was realeased under many years ago.A strong cult following is still present.

Studio: We shot rob with a simple set up using a beauty dish as the key,high above camera to create contrast.We also shot him on seamless white as an alternate choice for his agent.

MAREE: MAKE UP ARTIST & PHOTOGRAPHER

Maree having finished her make up course has now added another string to her bow. Seen her shoting Nicole after completing her make up.

30 days old

KiDZ KROOK3D- Keep an eye on this Newcastle band

KiDZ KROOK3D a great up and coming Newcastle band commissioned us to shoot new PR shots for them. We are ALWAYS pleased to help out performing artists, its a tough slog to get your name around with out good PR images.The days of shooting someone against a bedsheet background are over.Youtube,Blogger,Facebook,My Space etc have made us all pick our game up.
I found it helpful to stay professional on my way up as an artist photographer to remember a saying I heard somewhere " When I'm painting I'm an Artist...when I'm framing I'm in Business"


...KiDZ KROOK3D mean business.

Here are the images they chose from the shoot....you can see some out takes in the "behind the scenes" video below....You'll hear a sample of one of their tracks

It was a great shoot and we all had a buzz. You can listen to these guys at http://www.myspace.com/kidzkrooked . I think these guys will go far , they are witting their own stuff and its fantastic to see these young serious about their music.

Check them out...

MSN - kidzkrooked@hotmail.com

TWiTTER - twitter.com/kidzkrooked

FACEBOOK - facebook.com/kidzkrooked

YOUTUBE - youtube.com/kidzkrooked

****DON'T FORGET OUR PHOTOGRAPHY & LIGHTING COURSES FOR 2010****

HAVE STARTED.SMALL CLASSES BOOK EARLY

Download Details **HERE**

NEWS- recent shoots and photography and lighting course download

Nicole M's Shoot. Maree waved her trusty make up brushes over the lovely Nicole guided by Jo Nelsons ever watchful eye. Maree is evolving into an amazing photographer and make up artist. She has a great attitude very client focused and always willing to learn. PROOFS HERE
Nicole N's friends arranged a studio shoot for her birthday. Celebrations started on the seamless white backdrop and continued out into the nightclubs. Primary photographer was Maree and grabbed great shoots.See the PROOFS HERE

Download our 2010 photography and off camera flash lighting course PDF booklet. Class numbers are small, to avoid disappointment EMAIL YOUR BOOKING NOW

WhiBal Cards-We use these in the LITTLE LIGHTS -BIG RESULTS off camera flash seminars

There are still places in the next LITTLE LIGHTS-BIG RESULTS off camera lighting seminar.Be quick its this Thursday Evening 6.30pm-9.30pm.Cost is $70 for ProAM lab customers and $80 for others. Bookings 02 4962 1066.

We use the Whibal Cards in our studio for great exposures.

Factory info below.
WhiBal Certified Neutral Gray Card for White Balance
We designed the WhiBal® White Balance Reference Card to be the best Gray Card for White balance available. WhiBal® technology is now Patent Pending and all WhiBals® are made in USA. What makes it so different?
Having a "Gray Card" reference is the best assurance that the digital pictures that you capture will have the ability to be properly White Balanced. Only with a proper White Balance can you be ensured of proper and accurate color, regardless of lighting conditions. Unlike your eyes, a digital camera does not automatically see whites as white. It sees the color of the light reflected from it, hence blue-ish in Daylight and Orange-ish in incandescent lighting. By photographing a Gray Card reference for each lighting situation that you are in, you are assured of being able to achieve a proper White Balance for all of your pictures. The Gray Card reference picture can be used with today's software to balance the color casts that various lighting conditions produce with all digital cameras. The best method to properly White Balance your digital pictures is by using a Gray Card properly and shooting RAW. RAW Conversion Software such as Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom can then perfectly adjust all the captures that were shot under the same lighting conditions. And the beauty of the WhiBal® is that it is small enough to fit in your pocket or around your neck, so that it will be used on a regular basis, as above. Remember that the most accurate Gray Card is useless if it sits in your camera bag. What are the criteria for selecting a good Gray card?
It must be spectrally neutral. In other words it must be Gray! Not close, but actual Gray. This means that they reflect all colors through the spectrum equally. The Gray Cards within the WhiBal® system have both *a and *b Lab channel values of less than 1 at D50 and are spectrally "flat". The WhiBal® RAW Gray Card is spec'd at less than +/- 0.5! And each card is individually measured to certify this spec.
It must maintain its spectral neutrality under all reasonable temperature and environmental conditions. WhiBal® does.
It must be physically rugged. Waterproof, scratch proof (color goes all the way through, not just a coating on top).WhiBal® is.
It must not respond to UV light any differently than the visible spectrum. WhiBal® does not.
The Gray Luminance value must be in a range that is good for digital cameras. WhiBal® rules!
Beyond technical specification, the most important aspect of a Gray Card is that you use it. WhiBal® Pocket is the size of a US business card (2x3.5 inches) so that it fits in your shirt pocket or hangs around your neck with the included Lanyard. WhiBal will be used and not be an accessory that lives in your camera bag.

Fine Furniture-by Rod Jackson

Its not very often I get to see such fantastic workmanship.Rod Jackson creates fine furniture.This piece we photographed to present to a panel of judges, these judges "invite" you to present your furniture in an exhibition.

This mostly handcrafted piece is wonderful in the "flesh".The only lathe work was to separate the ends on the legs and the collared grooves.These legs are had crafted from square lumber.OUR goal was to make images that show case the finer points of his work and get his piece selected.I feel we have achieved the brief.

Its valued at $10,000.00

What did my client think?

"G’day Ric,

Well, what can I say, except they are brilliant !!!!! It will be hard for me to select the number back to ten as they are all so good.

I can’t stop smiling and showing the photos to staff.

Kind Regards

Rod"

Thats how we like it .....

TEENS AGAINST WHALING-Skye Bortoli

Skye Bortoli is a wonderful young lady on a mission. At a recent shoot for the launch of a new product she filled us in on her quest. www.teensagainstwhaling.net is a strong group of young people determined to stop the slaughter of whales. Their latest goal is to send 1,000,000 postcards to the US President. Billabong is one of her sponsors and if you buy one of her stylish T shirts ( see film clip) , Billabong will donate $5.00 to help the cause...

Skye was a great professional and easy to shoot. The brief was to do some lifestyle shots, light, happy and young...that came easy. We also had a huge shot list of the new product she is launching ( a secret at the moment). Monique , Skye's mum and Skye we able to keep up the pace with the help of fruit juice, biscuits and a huge bag of red frogs that eventually evaporated.....Well done, good luck with your worthy mission.