The cost of Covid-19

When we first went into lockdown in March 2020 we believed that it would likely be 6 months before we were able to fully reopen the studio, we never expected that nearly a year later we would no longer be able to keep the studio.

Our aim for April 2021 was to be moving to bigger and even better premises, to expand the studio as we had outgrown the current location. Things were looking good at the start of the previous year and now here we are, having to close our doors permanently due to lockdown after lockdown killing the business we have worked so hard for 5 years on. We know we aren’t alone and other studios and small businesses have suffered the same fate as us, usually (as in our case) because of the cracks in funding for directors of limited companies, coupled with no hope of a rent reduction over the course of the year; it has cost thousands to leave the studio sat empty with no earnings from the business.

There have been many issues with the government not being clear on where photographers & studios fit into the closures until the second lockdown, and despite the clarification that came from them eventually the local council refused to accept that studios had to close and therefore cut us off from receiving business grants with no route of appeal. It is all of these factors that have led us to this point and in all honesty it’s absolutely heart breaking to have to pack up and quit but the choice was taken out of our hands.

We can still offer the same retouching and illustration services as always and a slightly modified photographic service in the sense that it will be from a different location, or as ever, we can visit your business with a portable setup.

We have had a wonderful few years and met fantastic people, made great memories and we are sorry it has to end. Maybe one day once the world recovers we will have the opportunity to start over, but for now it’s goodbye and thank you to everyone who made Studio X a great place to be!

The reality of digital art

It’s a regular irritation of mine that for some reason digital art is considered less valid than traditional methods. I’ve even heard it described as ‘virtual art’ as if in some way it isn’t real.

I am an artist. Well, I went to art college and work in an art based industry so that kind of makes me an artist. Either way, I have always loved to draw but found that working in the graphics industry had meant that I did less art for myself and even illustration work within the industry seemed to be getting less and less, so I thought it was time to start scribbling again. I bought a pad and some pencils and with the encouragement of my wife tried to get back into it but there was never time, or I couldn’t be bothered, or I just got frustrated so I gave up.

Then I bought an iPad.

Having worked in photoshop pretty much since it began, and having produced illustrations that way for years, the idea of drawing digitally came easily to me. I was introduced to a brilliant app called Procreate and I was hooked. The old skills came creeping back, I was getting reasonably good again, so I started taking commissions and planned to sell prints. That’s when I first encountered people’s bias against digital drawings. When I told a potential customer how I was working I was actually asked 'if it would be cheaper because I was only doing it on a computer?'. I was gobsmacked!

Why would it cost less? 

Working digitally is convenient yes, you can take it anywhere, you can mix media easily, there’s no mess and of course there are multiple undos, but it takes the same skills and a similar amount of time. So what is the issue? Firstly I would guess it’s the assumption by non artistic people that because it’s on a computer, it does all of the work for you. Yes there are some things that can make your life easier but they are still tools that you have to know how to use. I think the biggest issue though is that there is no original piece. Yes you can do prints but there’s not an actual, physical original and people do love ownership.

But isn’t this also true of photography? 

With digital photography there is no original, even in traditional film photography there was no original print (yes there was a negative but you can make multiple copies of that) yet that is universally accepted. Will digital art ever be accepted the same way? Or will there always be a longing for old school? Old photographers get misty eyed over film and dark rooms... music lovers are buying vinyl because it was better than digital...

So my question is...

Will digital art ever be real?

Why your photoshoot discount isn’t necessarily a good deal

We all see them, the photo shoots for £10 for a lovely family portrait , or even a free shoot, and you’d be forgiven for thinking what a great deal these are! But sadly 99% of the time they’re not, and the companies who offer them rely on you not knowing that.

Before I became a photographer, I’d had these shoots for the kids when they were babies or the obligatory family photos and the idea of a free, or very heavily discounted shoot, sounds too good to be true. Because it is. Yes, you can get some beautiful images of your newest family member, but that’s where they make all that money back that you ‘saved’. You’ll be sat there in a lovely viewing area whilst a salesperson tells you how beautiful this image is…oh and this one… that one too… the grandparents will LOVE a smaller print of these… And before you know it you’ve agreed to purchase £200+ worth of prints because they’re literally saying “oh you can’t possibly not have that one, it’s so beautiful!”

Have a look at some first hand experiences here.

It’s not that these companies are necessarily shady; they just have a target market that is, in the majority, the people who don’t realise that they’re pressure sales orientated. This is where the small business can often provide you with a better deal, because costs are up front and transparent and usually involve a certain amount of images being included. Not only that but they’ll make more effort to make your shoot personal, rather than a production line. Who remembers those certain companies who offered free shoots, but charged £800-1000 if you wanted the images and they looked exactly the same as everyone else’s images who’d gone through their doors because the photographers actually don’t know anything other than point and click? Your local independent photography company usually has far more experience and are happy to discuss your needs and your budget. I know that I’d rather have the repeat customers that I do, than sell those extra prints to them and never see them again.

So next time you’re browsing your preferred voucher sites and see one of these come up, or enter the competition to win a free shoot, remember to read the fine print and ask questions before diving in to what you’re led to believe is a fantastic deal that can just end up costing more than the saving itself.

Studio Open day

We decided a little while ago to have a drop in day at the studio to let people come and take a look around, meet the team and see what we have to offer at Studio X; the event was yesterday and we were absolutely thrilled at how many people popped in (or in some cases were with us for the majority of the day)! It was fantastic to meet so many new people who want to come back and shoot here, not to mention catching up with friends who came along to see what updates we have made to the studio this week and have a bit of a network. A wonderful group of people who we are really looking forward to having around again in the future 🙂 The most common comment we had throughout the day was about how much equipment we have available for clients to use, making people feel like a kid in a toy shop, which is always great to hear; we love how excited people get when they start thinking about the things they can shoot here!

Fair to say that we were absolutely shattered by the end, we ran over by about an hour and a half, but it was absolutely worth every minute. If you are reading this and we’re one of the lovely people there yesterday, thank you for making the day a success and we look forward to seeing you again, although we can’t promise wine and cake there will definitely be a cuppa and a smile for you!

Do we over use Photoshop?

Who else remembers when Photoshop barely had any features?

When I first used Photoshop back in the early 90's, all we used it for was cleaning up logos from a 300dpi bitmap scanner on an 8bit MacII CX. Obviously equipment got better, the features improved, skills developed and once layers were added in version 3 a whole new world seemed to open up. Nowadays everyone is aware of Photoshop, to the point of it becoming a verb, and it is used in some way on the majority of pictures. The features have grown to a point where in the right hands you can pretty much do anything with any image, or so people think, but my question is should we?

That's probably a ridiculous question from someone that has worked as a retoucher for the past 20 plus years and don't get me wrong, I love the challenge of a really tricky retouching job, but the obsession with Photoshop has in some ways ruined photography. Once upon a time besides the general cleaning up you might have a handful of good shots to comp for a finished piece. Now you get handed a drive with literally thousands of raw files for you to pick the best 12 to create one colossal layered file. Not only does this undermine the talents of the photographer but you end up with an image with no discernable light source, that looks more like an illustration. Worse still, once the client gets their hands on them and zooms in to 400% to check them on their non calibrated monitor you end up with wave after wave of changes that would never be seen in print and definitely not be noticed on a web page. Single pixels spotted out... Having to match colour swatches so the the product now looks completely out of place with the ambient light source... Skin smoothed to look like plastic... Images massively over sharpened for that 'High Def' feel... Or more often than not just bad 'suggestions' that get done because 'they are the client'.

I'm rambling now (it's probably my age) but wouldn't it be nice to use retouching to improve an image again rather than working them to death?