Pictures of Perfection

Christmas has come and gone and we are now heading into the start of a very busy 2009. Like everyone, we're in the habbit of taking some time out to consider some new years resolutions. I think the key one for me is to have a strong ethic of continuous improvement. No matter how long you spend behind a camera there is always more to learn, and our european counterparts spend just as much on training as on equipment!

With this in mind Pictures of Perfection have joined the SWPP - Society of Wedding & Portrait photographers - and has submitted a panel for Licentiate qualification. In addition to this we have invested in several training courses to expand on our existing knowledge. This all doesnt come cheap, but our gear is as good as it can be, so we are now focusing on making sure that we improve ourselves as well as our equipment!

That said, we've bought some new gear too (it wouldnt be christmas otherwise!) with a Manfrotto monopod for those dark church weddings, a Manfrotto tripod bag to house our Nano stands, pocket wizards and shoot-through umbrellas, Some bongo-ties for putting flashguns in some creative places and another pocket wizard should drop through the letterbox tomorrow.

We're also expanding our Yell.com advert to cover the middlesbrough region and building on our already complex (and successful!) Google adwords campaign. We've already redesigned our pick-and-mix wedding photography pricelist for 2009, and we will be putting together so me pre-built packages for those that just want to see a simple price and know what they are getting.

Here's a quick one from Corrie & Dan's wedding on Saturday. They were a really fun couple and we had a great time at their wedding. We have a few of Simon & Laura's photo's to process yet and then we will concentrate on processing these.

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E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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I'm pretty beat. had a really great day today shooting Corrie & Dan's wedding and they were a really fun couple, up for a lot of fun poses and not afraid to get their feet dirty!

We started coverage at 10am and finished around 20:30PM, but it was a really nice day at Rushpool Hall.

Here's another quick one from Simon & Laura's wedding, also at Rushpool:


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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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M: 07984 441322

We're halfway through our winter weddings and it's good to be busy. It can be a quiet time of the year for some but people still want to get married despite the cold and we have had 2 fun wedding so far.

On Saturday we were at Rushpool Hall for the wedding of Simon and Laura. The weather decided to take a break from its usual bitter windyness so some photos outside was not a problem. no matter how cold and wet it is, we always recommend to our clients that you have some outdoor photos - its worth the short term pain!



Rushpool Hall looked really nice in the mid-morning sun, and the happy couple seemed to really enjoy their big day. We'll be waiting for our lab to reopen in January as Simon and Laura have opted for one of our new traditional print-based albums in a black colour 10x10 inches, with 50 pages of photos inside. Really looking forward to putting this together for them.

We're buying a few more pocket wizards this month as well as investing in new rechargeable batteries, more advertising for the new year and a few other items here and there. You have to spend money to make money, although thats not what our accountant seems to think! ;)


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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

We've been working hard at finalising our range for 2009. We are offering new albums from Loxley, Sim2000 and Spicer-Hallfield as well as our existing extensive range. We're also streamlining our packages to keep things simple, as well as expanding the range of products that we offer.

These are all high quality products from professional suppliers - things that you have told us that you would like us to offer. You won't find any fridge magnets here!

The photo shown here is one of our traditional "print" albums, for those that don;t like photobooks. This high quality album is available in 3 sizes and different colours and has a leather exterior, smooth magnetic opening, lace interior with thick boarded leaves. The cover also has an aperture for a small image. It comes in an attractive matte-finish box to protect it from scuffs, dust and moisture.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

It's really christmas time!! well it's december anyway!



Merry christmas to all our customers past and present!

We've purchased this Hoya Star filter as we have quite a few weddings over the festive season and it adds a nice touch to christmas photos with highlights from lights, candles etc. You can get them quite cheap for home use however we opted for the Hoya pro coated versions for maxiumum quality.

As the british weather is often not all that pleasant at the best of times, nevermind mid-winter, we have also purchased several large golf style umbrellas in pure white and deep black. These will not only add an interesting point to pictures but serve a functional purpose too - warding off snow and rain. It's little touches like these that make our customers really happy. We have a few other props on the way, including hand made lace parasols, which can be used for your wedding photos.

We've had a busy few days with consultations for 2009 and tying up details for december weddings. We now have 20% more work booked next year than we had this year as well as 2 booking forms just sent out, and 2 consultations on Thursday. Diversification into portraits and events is going quite nicely too. One of the best parts of our business though is we dont just reap the profits in - we re-invest much of our profit back into the business. Today we've just bought a Canon 24-70L F2.8 pro-grade lens for £800 which Jacqui will be using instead of the 24mm F2.8 prime and the 50mm f1.8 primes. This is a higher quality professional grade lens (canon's L lenses are the best that money can buy!) as well as being more versatile due to it's zoom range. This is our second 24-70L meaning we now have a backup lens as well as making it so that the only non-L lens in our lineup is the 15mm fisheye.



Quick studio session with Mr & Mrs B for a birthday canvas.

This weekend we were also at Ormesby Sports Centre documenting the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers family fun day. A good time was had by all and we manage to fit in a team photo while we were there:



www.middlesbroughmilkrollers.co.uk



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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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We did some photos at Stockton Arc last night - a mix of live shots from the front row and some portraits of the acts outside the ready room. Here's one of comic Vince Atta:



This was lit from the right with a shoot through umbrella and triggered by pw. We like doing environmental portraits - showing people in their typical surroundings. Vince had just come off-stage after a successful set, and was happy to oblige with some no doubt well versed poses.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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M: 07984 441322

It's been like a royal mail depot in here lately with quite a lot of new equipment arriving. We've now got a full set of studio background systems as well as paper rolls, muslin curtain backgrounds and some cables so that we can use our pocket wizards with our elinchrom lights. We're also getting some accessories like barn doors, gels, cookies, snoots and grids.

Personally I'm a big fan of business investments as, despite the credit crunch, people continue to book us because we represent value for money and high quality.

High quality doesnt just come from under the carpet, and whilst average equipment can be made to look 'alright', I'm a firm believer in having the best possible equipment you can afford. In the new year I will be upgrading to the new Canon 5DmkII and Jacqui will be upgrading from 20D to the full frame 5D, as well as buying a 24-70L F2.8

Although most of our work has come in the past from Corporate and Wedding photography we are looking to diversify and expand, with quite a lot of interest in portraits already so this is looking like a good move. Our business plan for the next 12 months covers portraits, maternity, weddings, corporate and events. We have a marketing strategy in place for each, website pages being written to cover each sector, google adwords campaigns ready to unpause...the lot!

We will be ordering some new sample albums over the next few weeks to diversify our range, and simplifying our packages. We will still offer our current album lineup during consultations (we see around 95% of bookings beforehand, and prefer to meet face to face for a consultation however due to distance this is not always possible) but I think our packages could do with being a bit simpler and easier to distinguish.

Don't worry though - we pride ourselves on not being the cheapest wedding photographers around, nor charging you £2500 for a graphistudio album - our draw is that we offer high quality wedding photography at affordable, realistic prices. We dont cut corners, we dont subcontract your wedding photos out to an employee and we dont offer you a load of gimmicky tat you don't want. We just give you wedding photos (digital, media and prints),albums & any other related products you want.

Quick one from K&T's wedding:



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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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Hello!

Been a while since we updated, but we've been busy with a variety of things! We'd like to say thank you for a really busy year. We've covered over 20 weddings in 2008, with 7 left to go in december (the quiet season!). Things are looking good for 2009 as we already have 30 bookings for the year and we sent out 6 booking forms at the start of this week for appointments we had last week, so business is definitely defying the credity crunch!

We've bought some new toys too - a Sekonic L358s Flashmeter with RT-32 radio module and some pocket wizards to trigger flash remotely. We're also investing in some white umbrellas for rainy weddings in december and no doubt next summer!

Really looking forward to the december weddings as I think its a great time to get married - if a little cold!

Here's a little pic of our boy pepper. This was lit with a 580EXII, a shoot-through umbrella and triggered remotely by pocket wizard



Gives you an idea of the quality of light and detail that we play with!
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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

We've put most of the finishing touches to our new online store, you can access it by clicking this link - our old store now redirects to it. We have some final customisations to put to it, but for the most part its ready to go. The new software allows you to send E-cards, rate images and leave comments on photos, as well as making ordering easy using google checkout, paypal or offline payments by cash-in-advance and personal cheque.

It's a much more polished product than our previous gallery which seemed to get a little slower with each wedding that we added to it whereas this software handles large galleries much easier.

You can also preview black & white and sepia tones on your images. Plenty of fun little things like that!

Here's two quick photos from Stephen and Victoria's wedding:





Taken on the HMS Trincomalee in hartlepool

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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M: 07984 441322

We're launching a new on-line print store shortly to replace our current system. The new version allows guestbook comments, image rating, sending of E-cards as well as digital download of images should you wish to purchase a single image. It should be ready to launch later in the week.

We've also continued our business model of maintaining a certain level of business investment and have purchased a brand new quad-core work station for the office. It should arrive on Wednesday, and will mean that we can use Lightroom on those 21.1MP images without wanting to throw it out a window!

Here's a few photos from Stephen and Victoria's wedding on the HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool. They chose our affordable Crystal package, and supplemented it with a licenced DVD to make their own prints from - a great option if you are good with computers, want to make your own album or just arent big on paper albums and is quite popular with many of our clients.

These are just a few scenic detail shots - something we always get good comments on as we capture the little moments and details that help make your wedding day special, but would otherwise be forgotten.







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E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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M: 07984 441322

One of the biggest issues with getting married in a Church is if you will be allowed any photos during the service at all and, if you are, is it bright enough to have any good ones taken?

At Pictures of Perfection we invest in high-performance Canon SLR's with advanced Low-Light capabilities and pair these with fast prime and zoom lenses that allow a lot of light in. This allows us to get sharp, non-blurry photos in even the darkest church without resorting to flash. Take a look at this example from Chris and Stephanie's wedding:



Here's a classic Duotoned image from the same wedding:



The weather was, unfortunately, not ideal however we come prepared and are able to take pictures indoor or outdoors, and even have a supply of white golf umbrellas and lace parasols should you wish for a little extra protection in a downpour/strong wind.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

Here's a quick old fashioned tone to show one of the many effects that we can apply to your photos:



We always provide the original colour image as well as the applied effects so that you can choose from a variety of photos and effects, and if you want us to apply an effect to a photo then just ask - we don't charge for this!




Chris & Stephanie were married on the 4th October at St Mary's Church in Stockton on Tees. They chose our Crystal Package which offers excellent value for money for those that just want coverage at their service, and some brief reception coverage. You can choose whether you want an album or not as we find many of our clients prefer to just purchase prints and having to choose an album isnt ideal for them if they don't want one, so we offer the flexibility with all our packages for standalone or album based options - you want it your way, you got it!

At Pictures of Perfection we operate a reinvestment model that sees a percentage of our annual profits go back into purchasing better equipment that helps us to provide a better service. We've just built a new workstation with a 24" Dell Truecolour monitor which we use exclusively for processing your photos. We will also be purchasing a new Canon 5DmkII camera once they are released in the UK and are really looking forward to the increased low-light performance for next years growing client base.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

We've had a hectic weekend with 2 weddings, 2 corporate shoots & 2 wedding consultations. A good friend of ours also got engaged so we'll be looking forward to covering their wedding!

After getting a bit wet covering a wedding in Stockton on Tees we had a brief respite at home before heading out to Big Mouth at the town hall to get some photos of the sell-out crowd. We got some good pictures of Stephen Carlin, who we have some photos in the brochure for his live DVD.

After that we scooted off to the Middlesbrough Empire to take some photos of their refurbished new 1st floor - it had a really good, polished look to it so it was good to get some long exposures in there before it opened up.













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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

I really love processing images for crisp B&W display. Some photographers just take out all the colour but there is much more to it than that. We've got hundreds of amazing black and white photos to show you during our consultation meetings, where we will discuss your specific needs to help make sure you remember your wedding day with style.

Here's a great B&W portrait from Alison and Simon's wedding at Pinchinthorpe hall



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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

This week keeps getting busier and busier - we now have three wedding consultations on Thursday alone! Still, cant complain!

I've updated some of our venue guide's on our website with some more recent venues. I've just finished working on some of Alison & Simon's photo's from Pinchinthorpe Hall. Theyve come out quite nicely if I may say so myself. Here's a quick one from the gardens taken using the 85L lens. Tack sharp details and creamy backgrounds are what this lens is all about!



Alison & Simon took out our Crystal package offering service coverage and a little reception, as well as all the usual formals as they just wanted a few pictures to remember their day by, and chose us because of our experience with the reportage style. However just because you take a small package doesnt mean that you will get a "cheap" looking set of pictures from us. You'll get all the same bells and whistles as our high end packages, just with less coverage.

For details of our wedding packages take a look here: http://www.picturesofperfection.co.uk/services.html

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

After a lengthy holiday we're back in the UK - returning to a pile of booking forms returned with deposit, answer phone messages, email enquiries - you name it we got it! Luckily our hotel and several restaurants in Malta had free Wifi so I was able to respond to a lot of the enquiries via e-mail, and have tied up a lot of consultations yesterday and today.

I've also spent some time fulfulling some orders we received whilst we were away and updating our accounts with recent purchases. We're making some investments soon in some new cameras and a high end processing system.

We've enabled montage's on our powerful gallery software so for all past and future weddings you can make your own montages with over 40 different templates to choose from.


A quick shot from Anita and David Knight's wedding at Preston Hall a few weeks back.

We're doing a wedding at the Trincomalee on Friday, and one in Stockton on Saturday and have 4 consultations between now and then. Busy, busy, busy - just how we like it :)

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

At Pictures of Perfection we use only high end Canon gear as we love the quality that it affords us - as do you! Canon has just released its new Camera which is set to create ripples accross the market. Here's the details....suffice to say - we're getting at least one!

* 21.1 megapixel full frame CMOS sensor gives you vivid, beautifully clear definition and enables you to print at an almost limitless size
* 3.9 fps shooting at 78 JPEG continuous image burst
* Full HD 1080 movie recording including HDMI output
* 9-point AF with 6 extra 'hidden' autofocus assist points
* Huge bright 3" LCD screen with Live View mode and Face Detection Live AF
* DIGIC IV processing for speedy reactions, accurate auto-focus and excellent image quality
* Super sleek, sturdy magnesium alloy body
* 16:9 aspect ratio
* High ISO 6400 - expandable down to 50 and up to 23,600
* Improved weather sealing to keep out the elements
* Optional Wireless Fire Transmitter with External HDD and GPS compatibility

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Sassy CMOS DIGIC IV Processor
Featuring the same second-generation on-chip noise reduction circuitry used on the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II more than adequately suppresses random noise, and eliminates fixed-pattern noise. This, combined with a CMOS sensor with 21.1 megapixels, means the Canon EOS 5D Mark II delivers crystal clear, high fidelity images.

With many years of in-house CMOS development under their belt, the Canon DIGIC IV processor offers an almost instant, super-quick start-up time, immediate buffer-clearing between frame bursts and superior image quality through advanced rendering algorithms.

The EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR from Canon shoots at 3.9fps, making this camera ideal for studio, wedding and landscape photographers, as well as for demanding action and sports photographers who need a camera that can keep up with the action.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Full Frame Finesse
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II features a 21.1 megapixel full frame CMOS sensor, giving you the capability and the freedom to express your creativity without a cropped field of view experienced with smaller sensors (a.k.a focal length multiplication). The full frame, 35mm film size sensor means the viewfinder is bright and open, making composition easier and reducing eye-strain. The sensor's low-pass filter and on-chip circuitry suppresses false colours and noise, allowing faithful reproduction of subtle tonal gradations in shadow, midtone and highlights. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II delivers outstanding image quality, particularly for its price point, and is the ideal upgrade for a 5D user, new 'film to digital' converts, or 450D / 40D owners wishing to experience the 'full frame advantage'.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Full HD 1080 Movie Recording
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II can shoot at 30 fps in full HD (High Definition) 1920x1080p video at 16:9 ratio, and at 640x480p, 4:3 ratio in SD (Standard Definition). Movie mode is accessed via Live View and still photos can be taken at any time while shooting videos. Files are recorded with .MOV file extension.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Big, bold and bright LCD screen
The EOS 5D Mark II features a large 3" high resolution 920K pixel poly-silicon TFT LCD screen providing you with improved image review functionality as well as improving the ease with which you can access and peruse the menu. The screen retains brightness and visibility throughout 170° in both a vertical and horizontal direction.

One of the biggest advancements of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is the introduction of Live View. Enabling you to view your composition on the LCD screen before you take the shot, Live View has taken its time to come to most DSLR's, despite being commonplace on digital compact cameras, but the feature is pride of place on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II's extensive list of benefits.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Take things into your own hands
The Canon EOS 5D Mark II weighs only 895g, far lighter than the EOS 1Ds Mark III and features a magnesium alloy exterior with rubberised grip surfaces. Another highly anticipated advance is the significantly improved weather sealing of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Whilst not to the same standard of the fantastic seals seen on the Canon EOS 1D series, the EOS 5D Mark II improves on the EOS 5D, featuring a multitude of dust and moisture resistant seals on the exterior, whilst the EOS integrated cleaning system looks after things on the inside. The Canon EOS 5D Mark II body strives to look good and feel durable yet light in your hands.

Like the EOS 5D, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II allows you to store your favourite camera settings and assign them to the C (camera settings) position on the Mode Dial, enabling you to switch quickly between indoor and outdoor shooting, for example. The Exposure mode, ISO speed, AF mode, drive mode, Picture Style, white balance and custom functions are all stored in the custom setting. There are 21 custom functions with 57 user-definable settings to enable photographers to set up the camera to their preference.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Complete connectivity
The EOS 5D Mark II includes optional Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E4, so photographers can work free of cables as full-frame image files can be automatically transferred through a wireless LAN to a computer in a matter of seconds.

A Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface allows rapid transfer of images from camera to computer, the ideal solution for shooting straight to hard-drive with the camera tethered to a computer in a studio environment, consequently providing full-screen previews of images as they are shot.

The EOS 5D Mark II is also HDMI compatible, enabling you to connect your digital SLR to HDTV sets, bringing your images to life in all their high definition glory. Compatible with PictBridge, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II supports direct printing to any compatible photo printer without the need for a computer. The EOS 5D Mark II accepts both Compact Flash Type I and Type II cards, including cards of 2GB and larger.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II – Compatability and accessories

* LC-E6E Battery Charger
* CBC-E6 Car Battery Charger
* ACK-E6 AC Adapter Kit for the LP-E6
* BG-E6 New Battery Grip
* WFT-E4 Wireless File Transmitter


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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

This is a great B&W shot. As mentioned before at PoP we don't just push a button and desaturate your images on photoshop, we hand treat each black and white photo to get the perfect effect. This one was taken with a blue filter at Preston Hall Museum on Friday.



It's almost time for our holiday to Malta so we have been running round like crazy putting equipment in secure storage and getting orders sorted out before we go. If you have any queries after Friday this week, dont worry - we'll still have email access while we're away!

Also don't fret about airlines; we're not going with XL!! Even if we were, as professionals, we are fully covered by Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

We had a wedding consultation this evening where the couple had been less than impressed by the formal (posed) photos they had seen on the website of one of Middlesbrough's more "common" wedding photographer's site. The quote they used was "It's like someone just went round with a camera", which we would agree with, but we won't say who it was! We showed them some of our formal shots as we always ensure we go through all the key formals as well as any ad-hoc ones that spring to mind - theyre so important even in these modern "reportage" times, even if its just for your parents! Properly orchestrated they take no longer than 20 minutes, and then we spend some time with you.



Here's a quick one from the weekend - it was pouring down, but rain never stops play. We hooked up a quick lighting rig and away we went.



And one from Kerry & Tom's wedding the weekend before.

Here's some of the photos from our recent Middlesbrough Milk Rollers shoot:









They've come out really well and we're really happy with them!

We have consultations Today, Tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday and Monday so its a busy week for meeting customers, and to add to this we are covering weddings tomorrow and Saturday at Preston Hall Museum and Pinchinthorpe Hall. Really looking forward to them both.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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One of the things we often get the most compliments about are our black and white photos. Quite often, at bride's requests, we provide a whole set of B&W images as it's style with a timeless quality.



The above shot, from Kerry & Tom's wedding, is a perfect example. The tonal range in the folds of the dress is fantastic. Some wedding photographers just desaturate an image and increase the contrast in order to to get a Black and White image, however we hand treat every image in order to get the best effect. We won't go into how we do it, but its the fact that we DO do it, that you love.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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M: 07984 441322

Good day today - two confirmed bookings and 3 consultations planned in for this week. Our calendar is really shaping up for next year although one of them is for 2 weeks time. Not the biggest rush we've ever had though as we had one couple come for a consultation the week before their wedding date! However as it was a weekday we had that day free so were able to come to the rescue.

Just putting the finishing touches to Kerry & Tom's graphistudio album now and here's two of our full page images (click for larger versions on FlickR)






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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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Pictures of Perfection covered the launch of the new Ten Feet Tall comedy night at the Town Hall Crypt last night. It was a really great event and the staff did a great job of doing up the room in a style worthy of the night. Toby Foster, of Phoenix Nights fame, headlined and it was a full house. It's going to be a monthly night so if you like comedy, check it out. Look out for some photos we took in the Gazette soon.

This rounded off a busy day for us as earlier we were shooting in Thorntree for the wedding of Victoria and Scott. We'll post some photos up of this shortly as we havent finished them yet and we usually like to make sure the client has seen them before posting them in Public, and they do not have internet access. Watch this space!

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

Wedding enquiries are like waiting for a bus. You don't get one for 3 days and then 4 come along at once! Next year is filling up nicely and so far we have 12 weddings on the book for 2010 which isn't bad going so far. We have a lot of engagement shoots coming up as a result of our recent promotion too.

Been kept busy lately with a lot of PR shots and on the weekend we went to Redcar industrial area to shoot the team photos of the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers rollerderby team. This was a fun shoot in overcast weather, with a 550EX off camera and a 580EXII on camera triggered remotely with pocket wizards. The shots came out great, but I'm not finished editing them yet as the girls want a Sin City makeover.

The diversity of our work is our true strength as it gives us a real depth when it comes to photographing weddings. Just finished working on a B&W album for Graham and Julie and getting it printed on metallic paper for a really glamorous appeal.

We're currently refreshing our sample set which is taking some investment, although we're keeping all our old samples as well - some large format prints in frames, some new album styles (Spicer Hallfield deluxe albums with mats) and some other products to offer as extras after the success of our recently introduced box frames.

It's all good! September is a busy month for us with 7 weddings to cover in 2 & a half weeks before going to Malta on holiday - I think we deserve a rest! :)

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E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
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Here's a quick one from yesterday's gothic wedding at Redworth Hall. It was a really great one to shoot as the bride and groom wanted a little less traditional and to make the service a little more personal. The wedding dress was blood red & the bride walked down the isle to HIM - Right here in my arms.

We took this shot just before shooting the formals on the main green:



We got a lot of great pictures that they are going to be thrilled with - can't wait to show them the album. We were at the wedding all day as they invited us to be a part of their whole day. We set up a simple lighting rig (just an elinchrom 400BX with a shoot through umbrella and a Pocket Wizard) in the hotel room for the bridal preperations which lit the room up nicely.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

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This guy showed up in our garden today!



We thought he was dead at first but a few seconds later he woke up and flew off. Busy prepering our gear for Kerry & Tom's wedding at Redworth Hall tomorrow, weather report is promising so really looking forward to it. They have booked our popular Emerald package.

Speaking of the Emerald package we had a consultation today for one of our high end Graphistudio album packages and when the clients turned up it was someone that we used to know! Small world after all. Really looking forward to their wedding next August!

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

We've changed the appearance of our site so that we have some more large images on display whilst retaining the identity of the website, which has always served us well. The new neutral design allows us to expand the site to cover our various other photography styles rather than build up 4 or 5 different websites, which will come in handy soon.

We've also given the blog a bit of a sweepover so that it looks a little "prettier"!

Looking forward to the wedding of Kerry and Tom on Friday - it's going to be a cracker, as long as it doesnt rain!! And even then I've got some good ideas.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

Whilst it's not something that you'd like to think about, there is always the small chance that something can go wrong at your wedding that is not anyones fault.

For this reason it is important that when choosing your wedding photographer you ask them if they can show you their insurance certificates. Your photographer should have all the standard equipment insurance in case something happens to their gear just before your wedding. More importantly they should also hold Professional Indemnity insurance and Public Liability ensurance and if they have employees they should also hold Employers Liability Ensurance.

Without asking these questions you could potentially leave yourself open to a lot of risk, which makes it a very important question to ask.

Pictures of Perfection takes pride in having the highest level of cover available within each category to provide our customers with peace of mind. Thankfully we've never had to use it, but it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it!

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

Just two quick pics from Simon & Jane's wedding yesterday:





They were married at the Middlesbrough Registry Office and only wanted a few pictures of themselves and their family after the service. Our Crystal package (See Here) is perfect for this with about an hour and a half coverage on average, usually covering the ceremony and the formals afterwards, as well as some alone time with you and your partner for some portraits.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

You can see some of our Handywork from last saturday on the front page of today's Northern Echo. We took some photos of TFT Supremo, Graham Ramsay, promoting TFT's new comedy night "Big Mouth" at the Town Hall on September 6th. We are also providing official photography at this event, continuing our tradition of being the most popular stand-up comedian photographers in the area. Here are two of the photos used:





One of our photos Stephen Carlin was recently picked up in fact, and he is getting a return slot at a forthcoming Big Mouth event, dont miss him as he is hilarious:



Today is a busy day as making an outcall for a wedding consultation for this September, so big rush to get that sorted for the client on time as it's all very last-minute. Tomorrow we are picking up some high-end bowens studio lights for our sister business which does in-home portrait sessions.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

Whew what a night! We were out at the BB launch party til after midnight last night, but it was a great party! I really enjoy covering these kind of events as you always get to talk to some interesting people. I was up at 7AM this morning too to do a photoshoot at the town hall. Sleepy!!

Here's two quick shots from last night - loving the bokeh (background blur) that comes with the 85L lens. Neither of these photos have any saturation, sharpness or contrast adjustments - its straight out of the camera.





Looking forward to using it regularly!


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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322

One week on and my dream lens has arrived. Here's a quick test shot taken today of one of our award winning pedigree bengal cats, Pepper.



The Depth of Field (Area that is in focus) is razor thin which makes this the ultimate portrait, detail and wedding lens. Really looking forward to putting it to good use tonight at a corporate shoot at Hardwick Hall. The image above looks a little noisy...however for any photographers reading this, here's the geeky part: this image was taken handheld at iso 1000 indoors with the curtains drawn - thats how much light this lens allows inside!

Tomorrow we are off to Leeds but fitting in a wedding consultation for our Diamond package as well as a promo shoot for the head honcho of TFT.

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For more information please see our main website: Pictures of Perfection or contact us:

E: info@Picturesofperfection.co.uk
T: 01642 886016
M: 07984 441322