Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

It was definitely time for a facelift for the old blog so the new design is finally online, just in time to celebrate the arrival of my new gift shop at Zazzle.  We have selected Zazzle for printing products, prints and giftware  for a number of reasons, primarily the high quality of Zazzle products which are endorsde and used by world famous brands such as Hallmark, officially licensed Star Wars and Disney, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet,  Mythbusters, and many more.  So this means that products featuring selected reproductions of my artwork are in very good company!

Aside from that, the Zazzle Promise is the sort of thing that I personally take a lot of notice of when purchasing anything from an online store, and I would expect nothing less for customers purchasing products featuring my artwork.  The Zazzle promise means that:

• Your satisfaction is Zazzle’s Top Priority. If you are not satisfied for any reason with the final product, you may return your purchase for a replacement or refund within 30 days of receipt.
• Your information is secure – Zazzle SSL secured servers are tested daily to ensure your data will arrive privately and unaltered.
• Zazzle produces products on demand and ships very quickly! Production and shipping is within 24 hours for everything but a few products that take slightly longer than 24 hours to produce and ship.
• And finally a great range of products and gift lines to feature my art, many that you can customise to suit your own preference!

Please click the link below to visit the new gift shop and let me know what you think!  New artwork is being added daily and if you would like to be notified of new additions, simply subscribe to this blog, follow me on Twitter or fan me on Facebook

Zazzle.com.au/mwrighton

I have just changed over from using Photoshop CS4 to Lightroom 2.4 for processing my photographs – all I can say is I wish I had done this sooner!  As much as I resist learning new computer programs (fuzzy mummy brain I think), Lightroom is so quick to use compared to CS4, the time out I have taken to learn how to use it is going to be a huge benefit in improving my workflow, especially for batch processing.  Here is a selection of the first images that I have processed through Lightroom from my road trip down south to Boyup Brook.

The only nitpick that I have with Lightroom is the watermarking ability or lack thereof.  I have purchased the mogrify preset which allows me to use my standard watermark…but it places them at the same location in every image, which can obscure important elements of the photograph. Plus I need to make additional copies of the watermark for different opacity and colours so that I can select slightly more subtle watermarks to suit individual images better…either that or just continue to use CS4 and apply the watermarks manually for each image.

Other than that one issue, I can highly recommend Lightroom to any photographer looking to speed up their workflow.

I hope you enjoy these images, some of them will be available for purchase as prints http://southwestphotography.com.au in the near future.

Cheers

Michelle

Orange Flower © 2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook Farmland © 2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook Farmland © 2009 South West Photography

Blackwood River, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Blackwood River, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Rustic Relics, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Border Collie, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Border Collie, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

Sometimes life just gets a little bit too stressful, and the best way to deal with it is a few hours in the country re-connecting with nature and the beautiful land that we live in.  Yesterday was one of those days, and what a joy to just take a few hours and enjoy the sunshine and the beauty of our South West.  I rarely go anywhere interesting without my camera in hand, so I do have a few of my favourite shots to share with you all:)

I’m very happy with these for several reasons, firstly every single shot was taken in full manual, and while I have always been pleased with the 50D’s output in the other creative settings that I normally use with changing light/movement situations, I can honestly say that nothing beats pure manual for getting the best images!  Secondly, and this is a biggie for me, I was shooting with the beast (70-200mm 2.8L), but every shot was hand held – the monopod didn’t go on the camera once!  This is truly amazing (to me anyway) as after my first attempt at shooting handheld with the beast when I first got the 50D was a disaster, it was so heavy it made my wrists hurt and every photo had severe camera shake and I never thought I would be able to use it handheld.

Purple Flowers at Harvey ©2009 South West Photography

Rustic Farm Building ©2009 South West Photography

One Tree Hill Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

"panoRAMa" Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook Farmland in July ©2009 South West Photography

Scarlet Breasted Robin Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

"Bird on a Wire" Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Donnybrook to Boyup Brook Landscape © 2009 South West Photography

Scarlet Robin, Boyup Brook © 2009 South West Photography

"Flight" Birdwatching in Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Blackwood River, Boyup Brook ©2009 South West Photography

Boyup Brook at Dusk © South West Photography

Little Lamb backlit by the Sun ©2009 South West Photography

The Golden Hour ©South West Photography

I have to say that I was really pleased with the last two – the little lamb was shot through a ringlock fence and I wasn’t sure if my settings where correct for the lens to blur out the wire strands, but obviously they were (yay for me).  I had to jump out of the car, over a muddy ditch and up a hill to say hi to three very friendly horses that came over to the fence when I called them.  It was the golden hour and the light from the sinking sun behind them was just magnificent while this big bay gelding happily posed for me to practice my silhouette shots:) In the full size, his chin whiskers look like threads of pure gold.

Ok, I think thats more than a few photos (I know, I just can’t help myself)…although I do have heaps more that I will add at some stage when I get time to process them.  I’d love to know which of the photos is your favourite and why, so please feel free to leave me a comment:)

Cheers

Michelle

South West Photography

Yesterday I had a session with very cute 71/2 month old Jack.  What a cutie-pie, but oh-so serious when it came time to take his photos:)  Thanks to his very sweet mum, K for letting me come to your home and photograph your gorgeous boy!  I hope you enjoy this sneak peak at some of his photographs!

Perth Baby Portrait Photography

Perth Baby Portrait Photography

Perth Baby Portrait Photography © South West Photography

Perth Baby Portrait Photography © South West Photography

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, so we took the kids down to Fremantle for a few hours (of course so did half of the metropolitan area;).  Normally if I take my camera when we go out, I lug the heavy 70-200mm 2.8L around with me (gotta love L zoom:) but the down side is that its pretty heavy to carry when you just want to wander around for a few hours.  So I popped the nifty fifty on my camera and apart from a few portrait shots of the kids, decided to step way outside of my normal subject matter and try to get some interesting shots of some of the old buildings.  Considering I’m not into architecture photography, I am quite pleased with how these turned out!

Hotel Cleopatra Fremantle

Fremantle Architecture Photography

Fremantle Architecture Photography

Fremantle Architecture Photography

Fremantle Architecture Photography

Fremantle Markets

The highlight of last week for me was a wonderful session that I had on Saturday with Mitchell and Kaden, two gorgeous little boys who were loads of fun and had me cracking up all over the place with their antics!

I know their lovely mum is anxious to see their sneak peak, so here it is – thanks so much Jackie for letting me photograph your beautiful boys, I hope they had as much fun as I did:)

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Perth Childrens Portrait Photography

Are you interested in a Free photo session for your child, aged from newborn to teens?  I am currently building my portrait portfolio and I’m looking for enthusiastic Perth parents who would like a Free Portrait Photography Session of their child.

In exchange for use of photographs from your child’s session in my portfolio and for promotional and advertising purposes (print and internet)

You will receive:

FREE Photo session of approximately 1-2 hours (time required depends on child/children) VIEW PORTRAIT SESSION FEES

FREE online private gallery (password protected) to view all final images (between 20-35 images)

Two FREE 6″x8″ professional photo lab prints of your choice selected from your private gallery plus web resolution (600px @72dpi) copies of these two images for sharing by email, facebook etc)

You are under absolutely No Obligation but may purchase prints at a heavily discounted rate (Christmas presents for Grandparents?) and will receive web resolution digital images of any additional prints that you do purchase VIEW PORTRAIT PRINT PRICE LIST

Location: Portrait sessions will be held on location at a local park, garden or playground – a nice location where your kids will feel comfortable, can have some fun and be themselves  rather than posing for the camera.  Locations SOR/hills preferred due to time constraints.

Day/Time: Most weekdays are available for booking up to two weeks in advance, limited weekend sessions left at this time. Flexibility may be required due to inclement weather.

Portrait style: Natural light/lifestyle/candid/casual style (not formal studio shots)

If you are interested in having a Free photo session, please send me an email with your child’s details, the most suitable times/days for you and a contact telephone number.

I particularly require baby, toddlers and pre-schoolers and can accommodate a portrait ‘party’ for larger groups of children.

For additional information and to view galleries, please visit my South West Photography website.

Cheers

Michelle

Gorgeous three year old Tatum was a joy to photograph, and was particularly helpful when Dora and Boots were hiding inside my camera lens;) I will have to work on reducing the number of final photos to somewhere between 20 and 30ish, but as a mum myself, I found it really difficult to not include all the really cute ones!  We did this session at a local park which provided a lovely range of backgrounds…and dozens of ducks to keep Miss Tatum amused!

Children's Portrait Photography © 2009 Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © 2009 Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Children's Portrait Photography © Michelle Wrighton, South West Photography

Or should that be “I am Facebook Clallenged”?

I’ve finally decided that I need to give these social networking groups a go, so I have joined Facebook and Twitter.  I guess it would be showing my age and number of years online if I said that I really prefer the old discussion forums (which of course still exist, but there seems that there has been a mass exodus away from the ‘old fashioned’ discussion boards and now everyone spends more time Fan and Tweeting).   And I will grudgingly admit that it looks like a better way to actually get to know the people you are talking to online, so I guess it can’t be all that bad!  I don’t need any other distractions though, so I am not going to be dragged into any food fights or barn yard antics;)

I’m actually thinking that it might be a good way of instantly notifying friends and in particular clients when photos from events are uploaded to the proof gallery…at least in theory, and this is where the challenge comes in…I’m not quite sure that I am using Facebook properly, well no, thats not what I mean, I have figured out (mostly) how to use it, but everything new that I want to add to my busines page seems to be adding to my personal page instead.

For example, my photo albums…I wouldn’t have thought that I needed to add them to both, but maybe I do.  And I can’t figure out how to favourite pages from my business page.  LOL I am sure a few more hours playing with Facebook should improve my skills;)

In the mean time, this is the Facebook Page that I have started for South West Photography andyou can find me at SouthWest Photo on Twitter

And this is a little logo that I made up this morning.

South West Photography Logo

Bailey was my first session with a child that I have never met before. He is only two years old, very well behaved and was an absolute delight to photograph.

These are a few of my favourites from the session.

Children's portrait photographer perth, country WA

Little Superman © South West Photography

Big Blue Eyes © South West Photography

Superman at 2 years © South West Photography

Just call me Mr Cool © South West Photography

Yeah I know I'm cute! © South West Photography

Boys Will Be Boys Storyboard © South West Photography

Classic Black & White © South West Photography