In today’s blog I thought I’d share th answer to a question I hear almost daily.  “What can I do to take better photographs?”  Well, here are my five tips for taking better photos (no matter what camera you have)

1 – When photographing landscapes take a minute or two to look through your viewfinder and study everything that will feature in your shot, starting in the middle and working out towards the corners.  You will be surprised how many times you find some unwanted object creeping into your shot.  To fix this, crop your shot tighter or try and change the angle you are shooting from.

2 – Another great tip to take better photos is to try and change the angle which you are taking the photo from.  Think about it, what is the angle people normally see the world from?  When they are standing upright, so get onto a balcony and take the photo from there or try and lie on your tummy and take the shot from really low down so that your composition goes from plain to interesting.

3 – My third tip for taking better photos if you are photographing people in midday, is to try and move them to a spot where most of their face is in the shade.  This will get rid of “squinting eyes”,  distracting highlights on the face and harsh shadows under the eyes and chin.

4 – At number four we have the age old piece of advice to “split your viewfinder” into thirds.  Use your imagination to divide your viewfinder into 9 equal sized blocks and when photographing a person try and position the subject at a space where two of these imaginary lines cross.  The same applies to landscapes, unless you have a perfectly calm river where you are capturing a clear reflection, try and place the horizon so that there is either two thirds of sky or two thirds of land.  This will make your shot more visually appealing.

5 – Never stop experimenting…  Learn the rules to break them properly   How else do you think any kind of progress will ever be made?  Enjoy!!!

Riani

In today’s blog I thought I’d share some tips on taking great wedding photos.  So here are 9 great tips on taking wedding photos. My first  tip on taking better wedding photos – is to make sure that your memory cards have been cleared before hand, and that you have more than enough batteries which are all fully charged. (PS – and that you have a clear understanding of how your equipment works)

Second great tip on taking stunning wedding photos – Always make sure that you focus  on the bride’s face no matter what happens… (and take your exposure readings from her face)

The third tip on taking good wedding photos – be ready to capture all those moments in between your formal posing and moving around.  You are allowed to enjoy the day and talk to people but be ready to capture anything.|

Fourth tip on taking wedding photos – Make sure that you take a lot of photos on the actual day and review them later(you can still check if everyone’s eyes are open) but there just isn’t  time to study each and every photograph.

Fifth tip on being a good wedding photographer – Be helpful and considerate at all times (you have been behind the scenes at more wedding than the bride and you normally know what works)  This will help to relax the bride and give you the opportunity to capture better photos.

Sixth tip to taking better wedding photographs – Try shooting from different angles, climb onto a chair to capture the wedding guests congratulating the happy couple, and lie on your tummy when taking a shot of the rings with the couple in the background… It is things like these that will set your style apart from other photographers.

My Seventh tip on taking beautiful wedding photographs – is to keep a look out for opportunities to create “arty” photos like this silhouette shot.  Looks like something straight from a Disney fairytale.

The eighth tip to taking better wedding photos – Take charge (and not in a negative way), remember that you have been hired to perform a service and that you need to produce stunning images with the help of natural light (which fades quickly after the sun has set)

Finally the last tip to taking better wedding photos – Learn to connect with your clients in such a way that they are comfortable enough to trust you, this will give you the creative freedom, you need to create amazing wedding photos.

Riani

I love to capture photos of people in their natural environment, where they are everyday and doing what they do every day.  In the industry it is called environmental portraiture.  So, Hand in Hand South-Africa empowers women in rural villages by giving them the means to start their own entrepreneurial business and then helping them out as well as following up.

This is where we were contacted to go with them to Rustenburg where they have a few of these initiatives up and running and needed some environmental portraiture of these peoples everyday lives for a case study.

There is something utterly humbling about doing work like this.  You meet people who don’t have a lot but because they are grateful have done a lot with what they have.  Even though

there is a language barrier you still manage to communicate with knowing eyes and smiles which radiates proudness.  These women are able to support their families in such a way that will teach their children the ways of life.  And being able to work, supports and challenges them in such a way that they are proud to show us their hard work.

Going through these photos just makes me smile…  The personality of every person in the photographs, what they think of their work, how hard they work to support their families and exactly how proud and grateful they are to have been given this opportunity. ( and of this crazy photographer sitting on her bum in the muddy (and wet) vegetable garden… )

Riani

Brokers in general have hectic schedules, so when you get commissioned to do corporate photography of brokers at a big company at AON Benfield you’ve really got to know your stuff.  They book out one of their biggest boardrooms for an afternoon (well four afternoons in this case) and we fit each broker into a 15 minute slot and that’s what you have got to

work with.  This was basically the kind of corporate photoshoot where the company has asked that we photograph their brokers (each individual needs 10 great photos) and you have to keep in mind that not all people like to be in front of the lens.  The hard work is to connect with every individual in such a way that they feel comfortable enough to laugh and smile…  Corporate photoshoots are always done on location so you have to go prepared.  Flashes, spare batteries memory cards & all.  I really think the boardroom was a fantastic space to

shoot in and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to have professional corporate photographs taken of their company.  If you are interested and want to get more information on our professional corporate photography please contact us on info@louisedieselphotography.co.za or give us a call on 011 869 7759.

Riani

“People say photographs don’t lie, mine do.” – David LaChapelle

“Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.”

Dorothea Lange “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” Elliott Erwitt “It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.” Paul Strand“Voyeur: you capture light, the enchantress, and bend her to your likeness” – Anon “Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about time, masters worry about light.” – Anon Riani

Roedean School for Girls (SA) contacted us to take some commercial photographs of the school.  The brief was” Inspiring a life of significance”  As you can see all the girls in the photos are silhouetted giving the photos the feel that it could be any girl in the world attending this heritage-filled school.

We thoroughly enjoyed the this new challenge to be very creative within  a school environment and would reccomend commercial photography to anyone out there.  Then there was also the element of working together closely with some of the pupils and teachers of the school and I would

like to thank the science teachers and the Nicky down at St Margaret’s (GR1) for all their effort in helping us out with everything from blue chemicals in test tubes to getting the “littlies” to hang upside down on the monkey bars.  As commercial photographers we love the challenge of

following every brief to the tee (and then add a little bit of creative flair) so that we can provide the client with an excellent product at the end of the day.

Riani

Wedding Photographers in South Africa

Wedding photography is one of the most rewarding jobs that we do as photographers. Every wedding is unique and that’s what makes it such fun for us. We usually meet the bride and groom beforehand, which helps us get a feel for each other but by the end of their wedding day, we usually feel like family friends….

We have photographed at so many wedding venues in South Africa but even wedddings at the same venue are never the same. We tend to connect with the couple and get a feel for what they want and how they are on the day and then we just go with the flow. As result, all our wedding photographs are emotional, natural and unique.

As professional wedding photographers in South Africa, we often get to photograph people from all over the world, who choose beautiful SA for their destination wedding. This is always fun and we have photographed brides in the bush, with lion cubs, with a giraffe and even a rhino!

As female wedding photographers, we also understand exactly how special this big day is for the bride and groom so we ensure that no special moments are lost. After all, your wedding photographs are all you have left once the big day has come and gone. You want to be able to look back at your wedding album or coffee table book and relive each moment of that special day!

We offer a variety of wedding photography packages and will tailor a package to suit your requirements. So if you are interested in choosing us as your wedding photographers, please contact us at: info@louisedieselphotography.co.za

We look forward to being a part of your special day and giving you the most stunning wedding photographs that you will most certainly treasure forever…..

South Africa is truly a beautiful place for your wedding. Make sure to bring home some lasting memories in the shape of professional quality, beautiful wedding photographs.