Whisky and gin product photography
Product Photography in Birmingham and Warwickshire
Richard at Juniper and Peat sells unique whisky and gin online. He wanted some high quality photography for social media, and for a new marketing campaign. For the whisky, he wanted a classic, high quality feel with a darker look. For the gin, it was a bright, light and airy feel reflecting summer. These were all actually created in April 2020 in the corona virus lockdown, in my studio. Richard posted the bottles to me.
Sarah from his marketing agency said “Just seen the product photos you did – they are fantastic!! Richard added “I really like them. We’ve started using them already in our Facebook campaign”.
I’m a product photographer based in Warwickshire, just south of Birmingham.
Event photography in Birmingham and Warwickshire
Event Photography in Birmingham and Warwickshire
Here are some photos from various business shows, at Edgbaston, Birmingham, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, the Ricoh Stadium, Coventry, Aston Villa Stadium, Birmingham and the King Power Stadium, Leicester. They are run by the Midlands Business Network, and have over 1000 attendees at each show. I’ve taken photos of the stands, to show how busy they are, the speakers and speed networking.
An event photographer has to think on their feet, be very personable, aware of what’s going on, and be unobtrusive. It’s trickier than you might think!
I’m an event photographer based in Warwickshire, just south of Birmingham.
Photography in Redditch
Professional business photography is important to project the right image of your business
Cleanse-a-drive are a cleaning company in Astwood Bank. They commissioned me, as a Redditch photographer, to create some action photos of cleaning in progress, and also some staff headshots. I went up on the roof of a warehouse in the cherry picker and took some photos of the gutters being cleaned. I also showed a drive being steam-cleaned. We then collected together all the vehicles and all the staff in the owners large field, and did some group photos that show off the whole business. It’s a family business, so we included the dog to add even more personality and show the human side of the company.
Carl Sabin, the business owner, said “All of the team are delighted with the photos. We’re getting them added to our website and new brochures. Your work is amazing and we’ll always recommend you “
I’m a commercial photographer based in Studley, near Redditch or contact me.
Micheal Vaughan in 2019
Micheal Vaughan in 2019
Micheal Vaughan OBE was England cricket captain for the test team from 2003 to 2008. He famously was captain when England beat Australia with a 2–1 victory in the 2005 Ashes, England’s first Ashes victory since 1986/87.
He is now a cricket commentator and writer. In March 2019 he spoke at the Midlands Business Network Expo at Edgbaston in Birmingham. I had a brief chat with him (we were both born in Sheffield so we got on fine) & took a few photos. He’s a nice chap! He gave an entertaining and insightful talk, with several stories about the post-Ashes celebrations involving Freddy Flintoff. The interviewer Dave Sharpe brought the best out of him.
You can see more of my work as an event photographer in Birmingham
John Barnes in 2019
John Barnes in 2019
John Barnes is a bit of a legend. The ex-England footballer scored one of England’s best goals ever, against Brazil in 1984. He sang a rap in the official England 1990 World Cup song, World in Motion, which wasn’t bad at all. He also won a few trophies and titles with Liverpool and other clubs.
He is now a football pundit and speaks out about discrimination, bias and racism – in sport and generally. He is genuinely passionate about it. In Oct 2019 he spoke at the Midlands Business Network Expo at Edgbaston in Birmingham. I had a brief chat with him & took a few photos. He gave a thought-provoking talk and was entertaining as well. He even performed the rap!
You can see more of my event photography
How to take a business headshot yourself - part 1
Create your own business headshot.
Perhaps you have a new member of staff and need a quick photo for the website for now, before getting a professional photographer later when you have more staff that need an updated business headshot. Or you’re just starting a business and can’t justify the cost of a professional right now.
This is the first of a series of instructions showing you how to get a better business headshot using your phone or compact camera, and doing it in your office. Here I’ll talk about the basics. Future posts will cover a little bit about lighting, how best to get someone to stand for a photo, and quickly editing the photo afterwards.
The cameras in phones are getting very good, but generally they have a wide-angle view. Great for getting everyone in sat round the table, but not so good for a headshot of just one person. Get too close with the phone and then you get a very distorted picture – a bit like one of those curvy mirrors that used to be at a fun fair. That’s why for a selfie everyone holds the phone at arms length or uses a selfie-stick. You can see the distortion I mean in the photo of me (yikes!) above on the left. My already large nose seems to be even bigger and my head is an odd shape. Not very flattering. That’s all from having the camera too close. So you’re going to need a friend or colleague to help. A selfie isn’t going to cut it.
If you have a compact camera with a zoom option, set the zoom somewhere in the middle of its range and use that instead of the phone. You’ll be able to stand further away and get a much more flattering picture! The photo of me on the right was taken from about 8 feet way, and I hope you agree I look better in that one.
If you need to use a phone, then stand about 4 feet away (twice as far as the length of your arm is a good way to remember!). The picture will have a lot more in it than just the head & shoulders that we need, but we can crop it later – I’ll tell you how in a future post.
Now, the other aspect I’ll talk about here is the background. We need to avoid a cluttered background like in the above left photo. You are going to have to move away from a desk with calendars & coffee pots behind it ! If you can find a plain white wall that would be great. You can always temporarily move a picture that’s hanging on the wall if necessary. Have the person stand a little way in front of the wall if possible, not right next to it. The further they are from the wall, the more blurry the wall will be, while keeping the person themselves sharp in the photo.
In the second post of this series I’ll talk about the best light to use and how to get someone to stand. If you signed up to the series, you’ll get that straight to your inbox soon.
You can see my headshots on my business portraits and headshots website.