#561 Ottawa Portrait Prices

Posted on December 17, 2010 by admin

Running a business is challenging. One of the biggest challenges is developing fair prices for different items. In photography we price by usage and value and complexity of shoot. How will the photo be used?:

National advertising campaign in all media?
Thumbnail portrait on a web site of a small business?

These uses would be priced very differently.

Anyway there was a recent article in the Ottawa Sun about the price of portraits the city paid Paul Couvrette ( a well respected, veteran Ottawa photographer) to do portraits of public city officials.

Good article. The prices are fair.

Access the article.

Ottawa executive portrait

#559 – Introduction to Studio Photography Workshop

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

A couple of weeks ago we ran another Intro to Studio Photography Course at Ottawa Studio Works.

We limit the session to two students to maximize hands on learning – and our students soaked up the experience. The morning was spent learning about equipment, theory and some exploratory light sets.

Intro to Studio Photo Class

In the afternoon two groups came in to test the student’s studio portrait photo skills. It’s a challenging day for the students but they did very well!

Introduction to Studio Photography is now offered to anyone throughout the year. Interested? Just contact us to book your session!

Students success!:

Studio Student Success!

#558 This week

Posted on December 9, 2010 by admin

This week we had many adventures.

We started with a nighttime photo safari that brought our photographers out on a near perfect winter photo adventure! We had -4C temperatures with light blowing snow – perfect for some Night Light shooting. Frank captured his version of the fun, below:

Ottawa Photo Safari

We followed with another adventure – capturing corporate portraits in Ottawa. We photographed groups and individual executive portraits for a new client. There were smiles all around including my assistant:

building a set

I picked up some large prints (thanks Dave Andrews) and have started putting up some fine art in our gallery at Ottawa Studio Works. The walls are coming alive.

The week also includes some teaching – a Creative Fundamentals Custom Course, developing a proposal for a client and and writing the Exposed! photo newsletter – coming soon.

#557 New Photography Workshop – Photographing Your Children

Posted on December 8, 2010 by admin

Christine Denis joins us for another photo course – “Photographing Your Children”

This is a regularly run course that runs in the spring that produces better parent’s photo skills to immortalize smiling kid faces!

The workshop involves:

A classroom session to understand the magic built into your camera. In the classroom Christine teaches about photo skills but also introduces storytelling concepts and scrap booking resources.
Practical shooting session where young models play for your cameras. Christine is there to assist, guide and support your questions.
A critique and review session helps you improve your future skills and see different ways others interpreted the same fun. This evening is very
beneficial and comes with automatic smiles.

See course details.

Reserve your spot!

Photographing Your Children - Photo Course

#552 Photo Safari

Posted on November 28, 2010 by admin

A week ago we featured the first of three winter photo safaris covering the seasonal lights of central Ottawa. Safaris are not photo classes but a time to explore for a burst of photo fun with some new photo friends.

One of the participants sent us photos and this to say:

“thanks again for the safari last night i had a great time and am inspired to try new things and figure out more buttons on my cameras 🙂”
Louise

Ottawa Photo Safari - student success

#551 Top Tips for Winning Photo Contests

Posted on November 25, 2010 by admin

Last week I judged the Canadian Geographic / Parks Canada Photo Contest.

It took much of the day to choose the winners. About 4000 entries had been sifted to produce a short list of a little under three hundred.

My two co-judges – Creative Director Suzanne Morin and Parks Canada’s Daniel Rosset – and I were to select the top ten in each category and, yikes, then choose the winners.

Reducing the photos to the top ten was not as hard as selecting the top picks. Below are details to improve your chances of winning a photo contest:

Use a low ISO – 100 is ideal. 400 on most cameras is ok. Low ISO will produce cleaner photos with less noise or grain texture to the photo.
For landscapes use a tripod… period.
Get closer to your subject. I cannot stress this enough. So many entries are dismissed because the main part of the photo is sooooo far away. Get closer!!
Simplify. Keep your photos clean. Messy backgrounds or lack of a focal point will make judges ask “what is the photo about?!” and quickly say “Next photo!”
Create a strong primary focal point. Make it obvious what the photo is about.
Submit well exposed photos. Auto settings can cause problems in some scenarios. Manual mode can be fooled by light or dark subjects. Learn to expose for the main subject.
Keep photos sharp in the right places using both focus and shutter speed.
Have fun! If you enjoy what you are shooting it’ll show in your photos.

Need more info? Read how to get your photos noticed.

The photo contest winners are announced in the spring.Good luck in photo contests!

Tips for winning Photo Contests

#549 Dogs!

Posted on November 22, 2010 by admin

This weekend we photographed some fine furry friends at the Aylmer SPCA to support the good work they do to care for dogs and cats. This is an annual fundraiser.

Santa was good enough to visit and send the dogs, cats and humans best wishes. We photographed approximately 100 wonderful companions.

Alain, one of our ProProgram photo students, assisted and did much of the actual shooting. This Christmas, consider giving a donation to the Aylmer SPCA or ANY animal shelter. The animals appreciate it!

Aylmer SPCA - mid shake!

Aylmer SPCA

: Aylmer SPCA

#548 New Photo Services Page

Posted on November 19, 2010 by admin

About time!

We have just updated our Photo Services page, or, more correctly replaced the Stock Photography page with an updated list of our services.

Why?

Well stock photography was all I wanted to do when I started working in photography. It was the most fun work I have ever done: Wake up, shoot whatever you want (that has marketable value), send it to an agency and get paid well.

Ok, I am embellishing and romanticizing a bit but it was a pretty great job. Why did I change? The whole stock market changed:

People saw the potential and started supplying more work to a saturated market
Digital cameras made quality photos (seem) easier to produce
Web made marketing stock easier
Prices came tumbling down
We reduced production of traditional stock

Custom Stock Photography - Ottawa

Now we produce very little traditional stock and work more for specific clients building stock libraries for their own purposes.

We also provide work to other clients and markets including executive portraits and event coverage so it was time to rebuild that page. See our new Ottawa Photo Services for yourself.

Executive Portraits - Ottawa

We’ve also added a list of photo courses we usually offer through the year. The list is not definitive or exhaustive but gives you an idea of what you can learn on photo courses at HarryNowell.com.

#546 Assignment Spotlight – Headshots in Ottawa

Posted on November 14, 2010 by admin

Recently we worked with RO in our photo studio and on location in Ottawa.

She wanted us to create some memorable headshots to attract attention and casting agents. She was great to work with. We drew on her talents including her background in dance. Some fun below:

Headshots Ottawa