Photo Noir

Photo Noir is one of my favourite portrait sessions. The images are simply classic and timeless and everyone falls in love with them. The basic concept is that it is black on black. I ask the subject to wear black clothing and we shoot against a pure black background and then process the photographs as black and white.

I work as I do with my wedding photography, nice and relaxed and using flow posing techniques that puts people at ease and makes them feel comfortable in front of the camera. This enables us to shoot several different photographs very smoothly and in a sequence so the subject moves naturally from one pose to another. I’ve always worked like this from the very first wedding I photographed and its probably the core ingredient in achieving my natural, relaxed images that most people book me for.

Of course, a portrait session like this differs from a wedding in that you don’t get any informal, reportage style photographs, or 'lifestyle' as they are known in the photography world. It is more fashion based, which is why I think everyone loves it. The objective is for cool, almost designer images.

But here’s the thing about all the images you see here. They were all taken in a small living room! I have a collapsible background system that I set up in one corner and then two portable lighting units either side. I even had space to hook up to a laptop so we could all see the photographs while I was taking them, which was great fun for Stephen.

Once the client has chosen their photographs from the session we have them framed in classic black with striking snow white, black inlayed mounts. They really are stunning! I also offer an exclusive Photo Noir image book album of all the pictures from the session too. Again this matches the black on black theme and showcases the photographs beautifully.

Wedding photography in Scotland really kicks off next month so for the remainder of this month I have more meetings with brides and grooms than what I have weddings to photograph. As you’ll have gathered from my last blog spring and autumn are the busiest times for wedding planning so most of my pre-wedding consultations take place during these months. I’ve also done a few changes to my .Edinburgh Wedding Photographer website. I’ve slightly tweaked the home page and also put my new wedding packages and prices up for 2011. I have several thank you comments on my wedding testimonials page but I’ve moved one of these onto the home page too so that it may connect with new brides and grooms visiting my site for the first time.

On a non wedding related note I received a few orders this last week for my Cuillins from Strome Castle print (click the link if you wish to see it). This is my biggest selling commercial print. I no longer promote my commercial work as my heart and enjoyment is totally wrapped in wedding photography, although I’ll undertake anything if the price is right ;) I still however occasionally get the odd magazine commission from publications I’ve worked with in the past and Edinburgh Arts still sell my range of fine art prints from many outlets and galleries throughout Scotland. I also have folks who prefer to buy directly from me, as was the case this week. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of seeing my work published in a host of magazine and books, covering a broad range of my work from commercial and fashion shoots to landscapes. But for some reason this particular photograph has been the most popular. It has appeared in more magazines and books than any of my other photographs and outsold all my other pictures by four to one, which makes the royalties payment at the end of each year rather nice! lol