This week’s photo challenge is Plug And Play. A couple of things came together for this one. Firstly, I’ve been experimenting greatly with my speedlite – I’ve been trying to come up with things that work in locations without proper power. I am aware of the strobists and I think I might have to start paying more attention (though I only have one light).

The other thing that influenced this shot was the use of oblique strategies. There’s quite a nice online version if you don’t want to buy a set of cards. Anyway, the strategy for this challenge was:

Everything comes from its opposite

Hmm… plug and play… my first idea was to have a playstation unplugged in the foreground with a couple of kids playing with a beach ball in the background. Unfortunately, free willing models are hard to come by so I went for another plan… plug/unplug… play/work… ah yes… so, what about when work becomes play? Oh yes… it is definitely playtime when the circular saw comes out!

Shot TTL with a speedlite through a softbox (you can see its reflection in the window). High-speed sync to subdue the daylight outside.

Ok… it’s not really Lego, but it has to be the ultimate customisable movie camera…

The Red Epic Scarlet.

Following on the heels of #1 comes the strangest job advert I think I’ve ever seen. Looks ok(ish) to start with…

[Name Deleted] Photography ltd. is offering full time holiday work. Half term, summer holidays and weekends. We are looking for career minded hard working people to join us&any age can apply&. but we do need you to drive to the venues. You will have to be confident and great with people. The right person will earn around £1000min p/m. We offer all the training you need to be relaxed and confident about the photo sessions. All equipement is supplied. Please have a look at our website and see if this is for you. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you in your new career with [Name Deleted] in 2010.

So you follow the link to the website and reach:

Um… so you can work for them as an assistant for four hours and you only have to pay £75.

Once you’ve done that, you can then work for them during holidays and weekends (which I think is what this job advert is suggesting) for only £495.

Level 3 seems to actually be a job, but might not be.

And yes, if you click “Click Here To Pay” on Level 4, it really will transfer you to PayPal with an invoice of £9,995 before you’ve actually had any contact with the company (Incidentally, I wonder what the PayPal charges are on a sum like that!)

Doesn’t look dodgy at all… no no no!

Wow… who’d a thought colour balancing was so involved?

There is no ‘correct’ balance of colour temperature/contrast/brightness etc, it’s a matter of taste. However, across a set of photos, there should ideally be a consistent look. I’ve been asked to produce packages of photos for the awards ceremony I shot in December. Each medal recipient receives one photo receiving their medal, one of the group shot, and one of the family portrait taken after the main proceedings.

No problem, and a great commission to take.

But oh, that colour balancing! The ceremony was shot with a speedlight bounced from the cream wall behind, the group shot with studio strobes direct for key and bounced for fill, and the portraits with a standard studio setup. Thankfully Adobe Lightroom allows me to copy and paste settings across shots, so once I have fixed one of each example, it’s a quick Ctrl+Shift+C, tick a few boxes and Ctrl+Shift+V to paste the settings across pictures taken under the same conditions. Thank-you Lightroom!

Yesterday, the dining room became a makeshift studio to shoot some engagement photos for the most lovely SimonG and Jess. I ran through ‘the usual’ shots with Jess showing off her ring, but wanted to try something a little different too. The result came out quite well, I think…

There’s no reason, as Jonathan recently showed why a limited space should limit your results too greatly.

Part of the reason I had no time to run the Tuesday Challenge is due to the pending launch of Camera Tutor, a blog-style hints and tips site containing weekly tutorials for all levels of photographers.

It will launch on Friday 1st January, 2010 and have new content each Friday morning.

Time to re-read the excellent book that sweavo got me for Christmas last year. My photography site is ok. Every time I do a redesign it looks much better than it used to. But I feel it’s getting away from me again.

The challenge this time is to redesign without rebranding. My business cards and stationery are all good, I think – giving the view of quality and competence. The site needs a revisit and that revisit is about to start.

Incidentally, as loyal blog readers, have a sneak preview of my new slideshow Update: Deleted since I’ve redesigned the whole site. I haven’t finished adding photos to it yet (the repeat is too soon), but any comments would be welcome.

How many engineers does it take to change a lightbulb? And how many attempts does it take to photograph the activity?

Depends on the light bulb in question…

So… that’s it. Time up. The deadline has passed for Christmas portrait photographs, and what a lovely bunch of people I met at the weekend getting those last minute shots in. We used the usual studio space in the beautiful Leicestershire countryside – beautiful while it wasn’t raining, anyway, and had a ball!

I can’t decide if my favourites were the couple with the great little boy who wants to be a pop star (and threw all the best poses too, once he’d warmed up to the idea of being photographed). Or was it the lovely lady with the three teenage sons, all four of them great fun and most cool?

I think, due to the levels of pain I witnessed during their pile-up (their own idea) it has to be the latter! I did point out to them that putting mum on the bottom of the pile might not be such a diplomatic idea – the final shot was a pile of lad with mum sitting sedately on top. Great stuff!

One of my favourite photographs from the weekend was probably this one…

So, that wraps it up, and now it’s time for me to do the last of the printing and then I can start wrapping up my presents. Har har, see what I did there? No? Not very good? Oh, ok.

Well, I’m still enjoying my job as a Leicestershire Photographer, and I still think the redundancy last year was one of the best things to ever happen to me. It’s hard to believe I’ve been a pro photographer for less than twelve months, and only doing studio portraiture for maybe five or six of them.

photographer Leicestershire | wedding photographer Leicestershire

Sometimes a job advert rubs me up the wrong way. Here’s an example:

Photographers Assistant

Description: Photographer specialising in location small flash work with high end family clients and corporate work. Looking for BERKSHIRE based (RG8 area preferably) assistant who is smart, keen and hardworking.

Ideally suited to someone after more of an education than a salary, but the work is paid. SEND to the email below: A CV, Recent photo of YOURSELF and in the email the relevant details – Drivers license? Car? Location? I DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOUR PORTFOLIO, I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU WANT TO BE AN ASSISTANT, I DO NOT WANT EXPERIENCED PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO HAVE FALLEN ON HARD TIMES APPLYING.

I am the photographers main assistant but am based too far away for his smaller jobs, any time wasters will be sent straight to the bin. Thanks!

Crumbs! I don’t know, it almost reeks of jealousy and/or paranoia that they’re going to be replaced.