While Amy was working, I set up our portable studio equipment and took a few images while Julie was having her makeover.  Then once Amy had finished, Julie took centrestage and we ran through several different set ups with the backgrounds and lighting, all designed to capture Julie’s radiance   I couldn’t resist taking a few of Julie’s hair with the little ruby jewels glinting away!

So many things have happned this year, with one of the most exciting things being a brand spanking new website!  We worked hard on it and every time I log onto our site to add another post, I feel so proud

We have had some amazing shoots, and met lots of wonderful new friends.  We love to keep in touch and our Christmas card list gets longer every year.  Sarah gave birth to Daisy this year and we took some beautiful maternity images and then had a great newborn portrait session with Sarah once Daisy was born.  Last month Sarah got in touch and booked us for a portrait session where she could use the images for Christmas cards, which we think is a fab idea!

I’m really looking forward to our first portrait session of 2012 with Raisa and her husband and their daughter; the session is booked on the same day as their daughter’s birthday in early January.  I think it’s a great way to celebrate and capture your baby’s first birthday, and I can’t wait for it.

Rich and I wish you a very merry Christmas and a lovely new year, and we hope to see you for a portrait session soon xx

Remember Sarah and baby Daisy?  Sarah wanted some images of Daisy for Christmas cards and booked a portrait session with us for the images.  We think it’s a fantastic idea and jumped at the chance to get the Christmas decorations out early for this shoot.

Daisy was an angel for this shoot and she loved playing with the tinsel in the park while we took the photos of her and her mum. Then we headed into the warmth of our studios and once we’d had a cup of tea, Sarah and Daisy continued with the portrait session.

No one else is allowed to copy or reproduce the image, and this law also incorporates the technology of today.  Copying or reproducing covers scanning, reprinting, downloading and uploading of the images, in fact any manner where a copy of the images is made.  This also applies to altering the images; even the simple task of making a colour image black and white is prohibited under the copyright law.

So, for example, putting your holiday photos on facebook or some other website is fine as you took the images and therefore you own the copyright.  A common misunderstanding is that when given a disc with her images on by her wedding photographer, the bride will naturally upload them onto her computer, her profile, and her phone without believing she is breaking any sort of law.  I have many stories of brides wanting their wedding images printed out at a high street photograph printers and not being allowed as she does not own the copyright to the wedding images.

It is true that she is breaking the law under the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988 if she does not have permission from the photographer.

What’s needed is a Reproduction or Print Licence; this gives the bride permission to copy her images in a manner described in the licence.  Usually this gives permission to print the images, upload them online, onto phones or other devices, but may have restrictions on the images such as being entered into competitions, submission to publications or being sold.  It may also have restrictions on altering the images; this would be covered by a Usage Licence.  This is not giving the bride copyright of the images though; that remains with the photographer.

Any client of a photographer will not have the copyright of their images; I am using a bride for ease of explaining what can be a very tricky topic.  It is important to remember that you cannot print, copy, scan, reproduce, upload or download any image that you have not taken yourself.  You need the permission of the copyright holder.

There are some myths regarding how long the copyright lasts for; it is 70 years after the death of the photographer. Music copyright lasts for 50 years after the music was originally created, which may be the basis for some confusion.

The contract you will have signed with your photographer for your wedding or portrait session should cover your permission for them to take the photos of you and to use for their own purposes (which usually means processing them, adding them to their website and using them for marketing and promotional products).  There should be a section covering your usage of the images after you have received them and what you are licensed to do.

The licence can be a paper or electronic copy and if you don’t have one with any of your images, it is best to go back to your photographer and enquire.

The full Act can be found here

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is a simplified description of the Copyright law.  It is my interpretation and specific questions should be directed towards to a solicitor or lawyer.

If you have any other questions, please contact me.  I hope this has been helpful.

Until Christmas Day…..

Tracey and Dave brought their adorable twin girls, Olivia and Emma and Finn, their baby boy for a family session and we had so much fun in front of the camera and behind!   The girls danced to the songs on the radio and played Pat-a-cake, which looks so funny when I flipped through the images on the back of the camera for the girls to see

Finn was fast asleep, and woke up towards the end of the photography shoot ready for his big close ups, and the two girls cuddled up to him for a lovely photo of the family.

Now, I’m not sure, but I think at one point Tracey was making funny faces behind my back, as the girls were laughing their socks off at their mum, but when I turned round, Tracey was just smiling….  (We love this sort of fun during our kids photography sessions as it creates such happy images, so mucking about is thoroughly encouraged).

Our thanks go to the Edwards family for such a brilliant time x

It had huge windows which gave us some wonderful backlit images of Jayne, our bride/model for the day.  Jayne’s make up was styled by the wonderfully talented Jeni Morris.

I would like to say thank you to Chris and Claire for generously giving us their time, knowledge and advice for the day, and the lovely Claire from The English Wedding Blog who gave me some valuable advice on running my site and getting our wedding images on other blogs.

We took full advantage of that gorgeous week of summer weather in Spetember when Danielle wanted a Rock Your Frock shoot.  We asked if she was interested in going barefoot on the beach, and Danielle readily agreed.

Here in the Wirral, we have some spectacular beaches and we leap at every chance to arrange a photography session using these beaches as gorgeous backdrops.

We checked the tide times and sunset times, and headed off once Danielle had got ready at our studio.

We think these images are simply stunning, the clouds at sunset gave the sky some amazing colours and Danielle in her ivory wedding dress seemed to glow as the evening drew closer.