I did the most exciting fashion photoshoot for Pink Diamond Boutique today.  Ladies the clothing they showcase is so beautiful and there is something to match every style.  From Couture cocktail dresses right up to fashionable work outfits.  The make-up artist and I was having  a chat and she said the funniest thing.  She says because she has trained to become a make-up artist she knows what to look out for so sometimes when she sees the way some ladies do their make up she just wants to walk over to them with a wet-wipe and help them lol!  We used every prop imaginable, champagne, old stepladders, chinese umbrellas just to name a few.  I am the first one to admit than I’m not always the most fashion conscious person, but all the things I saw today certainly made me want to convert…  Desingning and putting fashionable items together has a little something to do with a person’s creativity and flair and let me tell you Miss Pontsho Mokoena has loads of it!  I will post some of these beautiful photos as soon as the website is up and the clothing range has been launched.  WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street,

Riani

I have known M for years now, and we decided that it would be fun to do a boudoir photoshoot for her man.  And so one fateful day our schedules had open slots at the same time and we had tons of fun in the studio.  M has is a professional model (and good friend) and I enjoyed shooting with her in the studio.  She was very open-minded to the different poses I had to suggest as well as coming up with some creative ideas of her own   Here is a testimonial which M wrote after her afternoon of sexiness:

“The Boudoir photoshoot was done very professionally. Riani’s calm and content personality makes you feel relaxed and confident with her ongoing compliments. Music was playing
in the background which lets the energy flow as you start to relax and wonder into the beauty of your soul.

She gives easy guidance to poses, outfits and lighting to create the best masterpiece of every photo she takes. The studio itself was very private and stunning. It was a very

fun photoshoot which I didn’t want to end. You are guaranteed leaving with more confidence. The end product is gorgeous, classy photos with very natural editing and a warm
ambient feel.

Ladies, give yourself the gift of releasing your inner goddess – to use your photos as a Valentine’s gift is only an added bonus!

Thanx Louise Diesel Photography for this memorable experience!”- Testimonial from Megan Brandt

Riani

Glamour Boudoir Photographer

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

If you are anywhere in South-Africa you will have noticed that Vuvuzela’s have become as common as cars on the road.  They are everywhere!  It is truly an incredible feeling to be a South-African celebrating the Wolrd Cup in South-Africa.  After waiting for so long it almost feels unreal.  to the best team in the whole world BAFANA BAFANA united we will stand behind you from now till the end.  AYOBA!!!

Riani

FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup South Africa Ladies and gentleman, today is officially 7 days left to the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup in South-Africa! Can you believe it?! This time last year it was all just a distant dream and now it is

almost upon us. International Soccer teams, coaches and supporters are starting to arrive in South-Africa as from tomorrow. We thought it might be a good idea to celebrate this joyous occasion by having soccer photos taken

of your family in the soccer kit of whichever team you support. You will all be able to look back at these soccer supporter photos and know that you

were there!!! Bring your kids, flags from your soccer team, soccer kits and soccer balls, absolutely everything goes. For more information contact us on 011 869 7759 or send us an email on info@louisedieselphotography.co.za

Riani

Experimenting with photoshop textures When I first started working with photoshop I couldn’t understand how people can make beautiful works of art with all the different effects and tools. But now that I have been in the industry for years I understand that you have to work in different layers

(and play around with the opacity of every layer) I went in search of photoshop textures on the web this morning and got textures so beautiful they made my heart race  So I took my time playing around with different textures on different photos and these are the cool effects that I got out of it. As you can see there is a million variations that you can use. Anything from just changing the background to altering the whole look and feel of the image. The choice is yours!

Riani

I asked little Sasha how old he is and he showed me four tiny fingers all together…  There are so many words to describe toddlers energetic, funny, inquisitive, fun-loving, entertaining and let me tell you this little guy was all of these and then some!  He really thrived being the centre of attention and this gave him even more energy to perform and show us just how

good a model he really is J  Capturing beautiful photos of toddlers is sometimes a challenge and this is why we have to go into it prepared, make sure your lighting is set-up correctly

and then just have lots of fun with them.  Instead of telling kids how we want them to “informally pose” we show them exactly how it’s done.  This also gets us down on their level which they absolutely adore.  So if you want to have beautiful photos like these taken of your little angel make a booking today!

Toddler Portraits

Riani