Children photography at home Sessions

I thought I'd share with you a handful of photos from around the holidays just gone. This is becuase I realised how closely they resemble a typical children/family photography at home session I do with families in my work.

How does it work?:
I do the shoot over two hours which gives the children time to get used to me. As they go about their usual routine I simply photograph them. I become your child's very own paparazzi! We use different areas of the house and each brings something different to the photos - children often want to show off their own bedrooms and toys which make lovely colourful photos.

Then we all head out to a nearby park or green, natural area and again I photograph what happens there. Finally when we get back I sometimes keep the camera rolling as they have a something to eat becuase at this point the kids are really relaxed and sometimes come some real gems of photos, and finally I head off.

What Happens After:
After your shoot I edit the photos and depending on the package parents have chosen they can get up to 30 beautiful images included and on top of this up to two professional art prints of their favourite photos. It's a pretty good deal.

So if a family shoot at home sounds like something you fancy giving a go this year why not give me a call to set it up ....and if you're St Neots based in Cambridgeshire you can get a taster session on Mothers day morning for a mini price.

www.sammisparke.com

Contact me today

12 days of Christmas photography tips. Day four, tip four: Framing Your Shot

Day four, tip four:  Framing your shot - The Rule of Thirds

You might look at this Framing Your Shot as the second part Day 1,tip 1, Compose You Shot. Once yo've cleared the clutter and have a willing subject then knowing how to position that subject to get a truly aesthetically pleasing images is a big help.

So lets take a look at framing. To be precise framing is really a combination balance, layout and arrangement. Some people have a natural feel for what works well and others just need a bit of guidance and one of the best guides to use is the Rule of Thirds.

This is Darren Rowse's description of the theory from Digital Photography School Blog

‘The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.'

DR

What you need to do

The idea behind the rule of thirds is to imagine dividing an image into thirds by drawing three horizontal lines and then three vertical lines so that you have 9 parts. The grid should look like this

Many smart phone and tablet devices provide 

you with this kind of grid for taking and framing photos

This grid (our rule of thirds) tells us where the four most important parts of the image are that you should consider placing people or key points of interest in the image at these cross-sections .

Here the top right interest point falls over baby Etta's eye. 

Incidentally, the eyes happen to be the first thing that most people are drawn to when they look at an image that contains a face so it's important to make sure they are absolutely in sharp focus.

These key four areas are not the only parts of the photo which when utilised make for truly pleasing images to look at. We must not forget the four lines that make up this magical grid. If you place key subjects or your horizon along these lines your image automatically becomes more pleasing to the eye. 

It is really up to you how you use this framing rule. I've been photographing people long enough to know roughly where I need to place them and I do find images more appealing when i frame or crop them using this rule than if I don't.

I cropped these photos of Gaby using the rule of thirds so

that the top right interest point now falls across the expressive part of her face which encourages us to look there first. 

Yet this photo of teenager Natalia (below) doesn't strictly work with the rule of thirds grid but you don't have to be strict, you can be approximate as I have been and still end up with a beautiful feel to a photograph. There are other pleasing elements at play in this image such as diagonals which you can find more information on in the blog I reference below, The 10 Rules of Composition.

What baby Gaby and Natalia have in common is that are looking into the image/frame and our natural curiosity is to want to follow that line of gaze which means our eyes naturally sweep across the photo. 

Once you've been playing about with the Rule of Thirds for a while it will eventually become second nature. 

In these 12 days blog posts there really isn't enough time to go into all the little tips and tricks associated with fabulously aesthetically pleasing images but you can read more here in The 10 Rules of Composition 

In short: Off Centre and sharp eyes work a treat.

If you try any of these tips do send me your photos I'd love to see them and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.

However, if you are in that, 'OMG, I totally want a great family photo' place but are overwhelmed by doing it yourself then never fear, help is here! Click here to contact me so you can check this off your list. Easy Peasey

Sammi Sparke Photography working between Sheffield, Cambridge and London

New Born Photography with a Sparkle. (Practice makes perfect.)

This year I have started to offer new born and bump photography and what a learning curve it has been.

Baby Bumps

The bump side to my bump to baby photography has been a lot of fun and I feel truly in my comfort zone with this - sensitively capturing the beauty, happiness, love and hope that a woman exudes while she is pregnant has proved truly satisfying for me as a photographer.

The new born side to the bump to baby shoots however, has been far more of a learning curve for several reasons.



Newbies

The primary challenges I have faced with new borns revolves around how I make a new born shoot my own.

I do not use a studio and my photography style is very much against (for want of a better description) the studio photography aesthetic.  I am through and through a lifestyle family photographer favouring a reportage approach where I can, natural light and always a real back drop such as the home or nature.

I wanted to still offer however, as part of my package, some 'studio style' new born images. You know the ones, where babies are swaddled, cocooned and sleeping often with random flowers or hats attached to their tiny heads. These are pretty cute images and understandably they are something that lots of my mums tend to want.

So, I had to learn this and wow, what a challenge! I needed to acquire a rather odd skill set;how to model new born babies. Yep. I was petrified. They are so tiny. I really must acknowledge here that learning this stuff was only made this possible thanks to dear family and friends. These guys let me practice on their new bors and bless them, their confidence in me helped me feel more confident in return.

With my first ever new born shoot featuring my niece, my brother had to lay underneath the blanket we put her on so she felt warm and contented and that way he could manipulate her arms and legs to help get her into the optimum position for the shot.

Aside from hands on practice I watched every You Tube video going on the subject, I watched them before, during and after and I still watch them now. I also looked at every new born photography tip and bit of advice out there. It was quite a learning curve.

The greater problem however still existed that parents could go to most high street studios to get these staged kinds of images and I needed to offer something else in my packages, something that made my new born shoots at home special. With this in mind I needed to bring the home and the family into my images.

   

In the future I look forward to being able to capture more of those everyday looking after baby moments: Baby's nursery, baby being bathed, baby being dressed, baby with sibling(s), parents with baby out for walk, grandparents and pets.

Essentially, I want each of my shoots at home to represent each individual and unique family I work with.

.....and unlike studio photography you also won't be paying through the nose for every image you want.

I'm not a studio. I'm not photographing several babies a day and making hundreds of pounds on selling you prints and charging you extra for the digital files.

I actually tend to get quite attached to my clients which on the whole works out pretty well for them, for you. I really want you to have all the images I take especially considering the work that's gone into making them for you. I've come to your home, taken the time and care to photograph your new born with you, the parents and sometimes other family, and then I've gone away and spent hours editing those photos using my expertise to create stand out images you can't wait to show off in your home or by sharing with friends and family on your social media.

So here, finally, is my NewBorn package. A package which beats the socks off of any studio shoot in a monetary sense as well as, according to my clients, in the style and choice of images you get.

Photo bundles are charged at the following New Born shoots at home:

• £250 for Sheffield and Cambridge clients.  For all other clients travel is extra

Each shoot includes:

• A two hour shoot on location
• Editing / artistic enhancements
• 10 images
• All 10 images sent to you in both
• High-resolution, perfect for printing any size
• Low-resolution, perfect for online viewing, web devices or for sharing on social media   (Extra images can be bought for 10 pounds an image)

• 1 x a3 professional prints
• Opt in for a New Born book for £50 extra.

Or until October ONLY the incredible offer of.....

• £300 for Sheffield and Cambridge clients. For all other clients travel is extra

Each shoot includes:

• A two hour shoot on location
• Editing / artistic enhancements
• 30 images
• All 30 images sent to you in both
• High-resolution, perfect for printing any size
• Low-resolution, perfect for online viewing, web devices or for sharing on social media

• 2 x a3 professional prints
• Opt in for a New Born book for £50 extra.

'Bump to Baby' image prices and 'Bump, Baby and Beyond' image prices coming soon.

www.sammisparke.com

info@sammisparke.com

07879 423231

Themed Days for your amusement. Presenting Follow Up Friday.

So my new thing is trying out themed days of the week. Today is Friday and my themed day is Follow Up Friday ‪#‎followupfriday‬ (worth a try) where I look back at some of my my lovely returning clients/

 families too see how they have grown. You will have seen a lot of this little guy on my website but he is just so damn photogenic, as are his two new twin siblings. Through his first few years here is Leo. www.sammisparke.com

My New Website. To thine own self be true.

I have a brand new website. Yay!

It is a site, a site which has taken an inordinate length amount of time to come to fruition.

www.sammisparke.com

I knew almost exactly a year ago it had to be done. I already had a website, two in fact; one for the babies, children, family and wedding photography I did and the other for the corporate, business, event and commercial work I undertook but here was the problem apparently. 

I needed all my work in one place.

I understand the advice. It was advice I took from the hugely knowledgeable South Yorkshire based PR guru #FayeSmith whilst i was on her February #BrandBooster course.

It turned out my brand was a little confused.

What this year of putting the website together has achieved, aside from a pretty fab website, is that it has lead me to a much better understanding of the type of photographer I want to be and therefore how i need to proceed, the work I need to prioritise, my desired cliental and how exactly to market myself.

Courses like Brand Booster in Sheffield, UK, run by Faye Smith, are exceptional at cementing in place in your own mind and the consciousness of the people around you who you are, what you do and how you do it.

So far this seems like a thinly veiled promotion for the Sheffield Brand Booster - I assure you it's not (though if you are a new or struggling business I cannot recommend courses like BB enough).

What this is about is an explanation for what you see now as my current website - my contemporary portfolio of work.

So here we go... this is my raison d'etre or maybe more accurately the motivation behind the madness: 

My updated website's home page shows mainly the creative, lifestyle family photography I do. It includes primarily baby, children and family photoshoots, wedding photography and artistic photoshoots. 

It is my ambition to do more of these types of shoots and my ambition for each type of work correlates with the order I've mentioned them in and the frequency with which they appear on the home page.

Some may find it strange that I have neglected to include the other work I do on the home page, work I do plenty of including corporate headshots (which I really enjoying doing) music photography (I love) and event and website work which is work I respect. 

Not having these areas represented on the home page (even though they are represented in my portfolio) has been a difficult decision for me because I still need this work and am good at it.

What I had to put first was my brand and what I want to be doing with my photography in the next few years and after I asked myself that question there was absolutely no doubt in my head about the answer. I want to be an exceptional family photographer with a specialism in lifestyle baby and children photography. I want my reputation to come before me and I want my style of work to be recognisable. We can all dream ;)

So, in a bid to make this happen I needed to represent only on the home page the work I want to be synonymous with and I hope very much I've done the right thing. Only the next few months will tell.

The site, although lunched is in need a little preening in the removal of some of the photos from the slideshows - I am told 10-15 is a healthy and professional amount of images per slide show but achieving this is incredibly hard as I have very little objectivity left with regard to what needs to go. 

Anyway, I open up my new website homepage content dilemma to you all and anyone who might have a considered opinion on it. 

Either way I'd love any feedback on the site.

www.sammisparke.com

Signing off for now, Sammi

Inside a Toddler Lifestyle Photo-shoot

This Toddler photo-shoot is very typical of how most toddler lifestyle photography shoots go.  Our subject is the lovely Leo who is 18 months and it took place in Autumn when the light was especially lovely. 

I arrive at your home at a specified time. Before hand we will have exchanged some emails and I'll suggest maybe having a change of clothes ready and some ideas for a change of location such as the park during our time together.

I usually start indoors and allow my little subjects to get used to me and my camera. I just photograph away at opportune moments..

I use the backdrop of the house and very often your child's bedroom and toys which make for colourful photos.

Often I suggest incorporating lunch or a snack in the photo-shoot because it can lead to some fab photos.

.......and then, depending on you guys, the parents, you have the option to get in on photo time yourself.

Heading outside or any change of location is key for variety in the photos I do plus it also acts to keep the little one fresh and interested.

The light outside, at certain times of year, can be a blessing for photographers. I don't use much artificial light at all, some fill in flash mainly, but I always try to utilise natural light because I feel children look their absolute best photographed in this way.

A play area is a definite bonus :)

And then we come inside and I usually get a few more snaps before I head off. 

Essentially, during the shoot I quietly stalk your little one until I have a repertoire of fabulous images which I then take away and edit.

Children and Baby photos require very little editing. The main purpose of this process is primarily to make eyes sparkle, colours look their best and remove any food or bogeys, yes snot, from your little one so they look their absolute best. I will also pick certain photos to change to black and white and add some stylistic affects.

...and that is pretty much it.....so if you are interested then make sure you contact me:

Sammi Sparke Photography

07879 423231

info@sammisparke.com

www.lovebeautyphotography.com

Sammi Sparke Photography

07879 423231

info@sammisparke.com

www.lovebeautyphotography.com