But now the work really starts, so much to organise!  Which is probably why you are searching the internet for a wedding photographer, right?  Well once you have checked out the site, get in touch and book an Engagement Shoot.

Why?  Well here are three great reasons to get engagement photography…

We get photos of our babies, family portraits, school pictures, weddings and other significant stages of our lives, and your engagement is another one of these landmarks.  It is a time in your life you will look back on with fondness, and beautiful photos will help keep that memory alive forever.

Engagement photos are useful!  Use the photos on your save-the-date or wedding invitation, buy cleanskin bottles of wines and use the photo for custom labels to give to special wedding guests, or hang a beautiful large print at the ceremony.

Think of engagement photography like test driving a car.  It’s a great way for us all to get to know each other, and learn how we work, before the big day.  We can sort out the style of photography you like, and figure out what you don’t like, before the wedding day, without the pressure of time and location constraints.

So there you have it, three reasons why you should book an engagement photography shoot.

Actually, lets make that four reasons.  If you book your wedding photography with Nigel Honey Photos, you will get $150 off the price of your wedding package!

If you own or run a business, you know that two of the most important things are your loyal customers and great staff. You want to keep them happy, and know that they are appreciated. Happy customers are returning customers, who will keep spending with you, and happy staff are loyal staff who will do a better job and always go that extra mile for you.

But how do you do it?  How do you say “thankyou” to your staff and customers, without breaking the bank?  If you are looking for a great way to reward your loyal customers and employees get in touch with Nigel Honey Photos to see how we can help.

After this we headed down to Tranmere for a little swim. The water was very very cold, Naomi did very well given the conditions…!

If you see me on a shoot these days, you will notice I have a little black piece of plastic hanging from a lanyard around my neck. This recent release on the market place is one which I would now never be without, the X-Rite Colour Checker Passport, which opens up to reveal a series of colour charts and white balance tools.

These charts are used by the devices software (Mac or PC) to create a colour profile specific to your very own camera. If you use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop when converting your Raw files, you have the choice of using either the standard Adobe Standard colour profile, or a generic profile they have created for your make and model of camera. But every camera is different, and the colour profiles they give you are not exactly accurate.

The Colour Checker Passport is quick to use, you  can create a generic profile to use in any shot, or create a specific profile for a specific shoot, optimised for the given lighting conditions.

Simply take a photo containing the colour chart, then load it into the software (or use the export plugin for Lightroom) and the software will look at the photo, automatically locate the chart, and crunch the numbers to create a colour profile ensuring the colour values of each chip on the chart are correct. Then you apply that colour profile to the rest of the photos from that shoot.  Too easy!

Here is the chart, with the Adobe Standard profile applied.

Now lets have a look at the profile for the Canon 5D MkII as supplied by Adobe. This is the “Camera Standard” profile.

And here we go with the custom profile.

As you can see, there are a few differences in the colours. The actual chart it uses for the profile is in the bottom half of the card. The top gives a grey scale, the basic colours that you can adjust in ACR or Lightroom and the middle two rows are for sampling for white balance, giving neutral white balancing, as well as options to warm or cool the image.

So how does it work in the real world?

Check out these pics, the first of each pair is with Adobe Camera Standard profile, and the second is with the custom colour profile created specifically for the job. I am sure you will agree the work in making the colour profile is well worth it.

The difference is subtle, but still makes a big difference. Of course, the photos will look best if you are viewing them on a properly calibrated monitor. Colours look more natural and consistent, and provide a better base from which to do more creative stuff with the photos like film effects and the like when required.

All client shoots with Nigel Honey Photos are now properly colour profiled with the X-Rite Colour Checker Passport at no extra charge.

We visited the railway line and then over to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, which is a beautiful spot.

Juliana and Fitri were great fun and looked fantastic, I wish them all the best for their real wedding day very soon!

Cremorne Beach, just out of Hobart

I love the soft dreamy, surreal look of the images from the crummy plastic lens on cameras like this and my Holga 120CFN.  The randomness of focus, composition and exposure -these cameras have no light meter and only basic exposure settings, though the Diana is somewhat more sophisticated than the Holga – the vignetting and the light leaks all add to the fun.

My little photography assistant, Lucas, at the West Hobart Train Park

I can run regular 35mm though the cameras but they are designed to use medium format film. If you use 35mm film,, you miss out on the wonderful vignetting and softness around the corners of the lens.

Bathurst St, Hobart

However the cost of this film and its associated developing and scanning mean using these cameras with this film can be a fairly expensive.  Each shot can work out to cost about $4 or $5, and you have to think twice about taking a shot, where as ideally you wouldn’t think about shooting with such a camera. Still, these cameras are great fun and a nice bit of relief from the seriousness of modern DSLR photography.

At Nigel Honey Photos we have a number of extra options to get you photographed in more locations. Think about doing an engagement shoot before your wedding, or why not be adventurous and Trash the Dress? We also have a number of high-def video packages available to truly capture your love for each other.

It gets better. Right now, if you book your Hobart wedding photography with Nigel Honey Photos, you will not only get stunning photos of your wedding to treasure, but you will get a family portrait shoot every year – for life - for free.

This means fresh photos every year, perfect for anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, or when your family grows in number…

Of course, some conditions apply.

Take advantage of this special offer and get in touch with Nigel Honey Photos today. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sunday and Monday was spent at a professional photographers seminar run by the AIPP. One of the speakers, Alan Moyle of Photobat in Launceston told us about his portrait of the week project he did a while back and I thought it sounded like a great idea. So I will kick things off with a shot of fellow photographer Thomas Moore, taken during speaker Shelton Muller’s off camera lighting workshop.

The wedding ceremony was held at a church in Buckland, on the way to Tasmania’s East Coast from Hobart.  This little girl was sitting a few rows in front of us, and sat looking towards the back of the church most of the time.  I think she eventually had a little nap.

The reception was held at the Cascade Visitors Centre who put on some very nice food indeed, and of course, an ample supply of Tasmania’s finest brew.

Mel, Lucas and I would like to congratulate Jason and Libby for tying the knot, and well done for putting on a fantastic wedding.  Hope you enjoy the honeymoon and we are looking forward to catching up with you when you return.

Here are a couple of shots taken at Bradleys Head.

Naomi looked stunning in her orange wedding dress, and we are all really looking forward to giving it a good Trashing!