Pixsmiths on Pinterest

Have you seen the  latest social media buzz of 2012, Pinterest?  Its a n online pinboard to organize and share things you love. Now you can find Pixsmiths on Pinterest too.
You’ll see the “Pin It” button underneath our blog posts. Click this and you can pin pictures that you love to your own boards.

Its a great concept – a multitude of uses:

As photographers we love it as its  more image based than twitter of facebook. Its well known that pictures create inspiration and conversation.
Brides you  will love it to create mood boards of ideas for your own wedding and gather inspiration from other pinners.

Not just weddings but also travel, – your honeymoon destination, places you’ve been to.
Food, that tempts you.
Ideas for a home makeover.

You get the picture…. you can create virtual boards for whatever theme you want.

Add comments and likes  - get your friends and family’s opinions and suggestions in one easy way.

For example Pixsmiths are looking at some new logos for the website and have made some few suggestions on  a logo board so we can get feedback.   Soon we’ll have board for venues, shoes, dresses, favour ideas etc

Jamie Swanson,photographer and owner of the Modern Tog Blog has written a great article all about Pinterest for photographers and its many uses. Lots of great ideas there so please go read.

So go on everyone get inspired and get pinning!

Top Tips For Your Wirral Wedding Photography

January is a crazy time of year, wedding enquiries come flooding in . Christmas and New Year surprises and its congratulation your’re engaged, time to start planning that long list!

Obviously you’ll start with the most important.: date, church/venue

Next?

Photographer

…so I though a few tips would be helpful:

ONE

Look at several photographers sites.  See that they have images from at least 2 weddings.  Choose one who takes pictures that you like first and foremost.
Make a short-list and arrange to meet and discuss YOUR needs .  Look at the albums they offer – there are so many out there of varying qualities. Professional photographers will have access to trade accounts with  album companies. Compare the packages, number of pages in albums, are they like for like?.
Be aware of definitions used – page spread etc.. its not always the same!…some photographers call a page as  2 sides, some 1
Don’t be afraid to ask exactly what you are getting or you may not end up with what you expected ..and then spending even more.

Read their testimonials from past clients.

Check your photographer has back up equipment, is insured and gives you a contract.
Ask what happens if they can’t cover due to illness etc..
Pixsmiths have  a trusted network of photographers we can refer to of similar style and price.

Check out this article to dispel the misconception that photographers overcharge for a wedding.

TWO

When planning your day allow for realistic time-scales for your photography.As a rough guide leave approx 1.5 hrs between end of ceremony and start of wedding breakfast -especially if you have to travel between the two.

THREE

Check house rules of venue – if you want those real vow and ring shots make sure the officiant allows photography during the service.
Ask your photographer if they are happy to attend any rehearsal if its a church wedding.
Sure you won’t need prompting but linger a few seconds  for the first kiss and your photographer will definitely capture it -)

 FOUR

If you require more formal group photographs – allow 2-3 mins per group. Provide your photographer with any special requests .
Designating someone to gather groups together saves valuable photographers time and you get back to your party quicker  too.

FIVE

A pre-wed or engagement shoot is a great way to get to know your photographer before the big day.

Having a rapport with your photographer will really help in the day and will be reflected in your relaxed, natural looking images.
We love doing these types of shoots which is why we include them in our top packages.

SIX

In case you don’t have a pre-wed  and are worried what to do with your hands and feet here are some quick tips:

Feet – move your back foot sideways, place your weight on that back foot then place your other foot in front, thus forming  a T shape. Lean  hip towards the camera at an angle and place your hand on hips – very slimming girls!

Ladies hand and arms should have a bend, not straight – we have sensuous S-shapes ladies! leave the strong straight angles to the men.

Pose with head at a slight angl, not straight on  - keep thinking those s-shapes!
Keep shoulder facing towards the camera, drop your shoulders, raise chin slightly and don’t look down.  Go on have a practice!

SEVEN

Wedding car choice, what to choose?  White is traditional  but against a white dress not always good contrast for your pictures, perhaps consider an alternative colour

Whilst mentioning cars,Vintage cars are always popular but be aware that hooped dresses can provide interesting challenges! We had a bride who’s hoop got quite bent in the car and her bridesmaids had to rearrange her dress in the hotel foyer before she walked into the ceremony!

EIGHT

Love confetti shots? get your guests to use big and colourful  confetti – so much better for pics than small and pastel variety.

NINE

Don’t leave booking your photographer too long – good ones get booked a year in  advance, esp for prime summer Saturdays

TEN

Please offer to feed your photographer if they are with you for the whole day. They really appreciate it and then they won’t faint with hunger during the day/nighti  A space  near to the wedding breakfast room means they are nearby in case the speeches are earlier than planned and they won’t miss any action for you. No body wants photographing when they are eating!

I’m sure you can thinks of other suggestions to, so please feel free to add in the comment section below and if you wish Pixsmiths to cover your wedding please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat.

Liverpool Bride St Georges Hall

Time at last to catch up with a bridal shoot that that took place last Autumn  in Liverpool at the fabulous St George’s Hall. The event was led by Pete Bistro of Fotoinspir3 who organises several such events throughout the year at various locations with stunning architecture. Pete was Classical Wedding Photographer of the Year in  2011 so it was a great opportunity to learn some new techniques – both in posing and post production.  It was a packed day, including 2 sessions with the lovely Katie Robinson, our model for the day, as well as tips on the workflow of a wedding and album designing. Pixsmiths are always striving to improve and develop and I’m sure our brides in 2012 will benefit from this master-class.  below some of the images taken in and around St Georg’s Hall.

Pixsmiths Wedding Review of 2011

Its New Year’s Eve and time for a little reflection.  We so enjoyed all our wedding in 2011, a huge thank you to all our fabulous couples for allowing us to share and capture memorable moments, we couldn’t have done it without you! 2012 is already looking busy and we have more great  couples and wedding venues lined up we are really excited about – so thank you to those who have already booked us and soon we’ll start arranging the pre-wedding shoots we love to do for you. Happy planning but remember to take some time out to talk to each other and not mention the “W” word, it can get a little stressful so times to relax are also important.

We have taken thousands of images this year  - its really difficult to choose the hi-lights - from the getting ready shots, the details, those candid and fun moments, special father daughter moments, that first look, first kiss, first dance, those moments when you didn’t realise we were there with our cameras!   We’ll do it all again in 2012 but for now please enjoy a look back at some iconic moments in 2011 and to all have a fantastic 2012.

Orchestral Concert

The end of October Pixsmiths were with our friends of L’orchestra dell’Arte to capture some images from an
“Essentially Viennese” concert during the Heswall Arts Festival 2011.A packed audience, including local, MP Ester McVey, enjoyed the musical event. The event was the last in the Heswall Arts Festival

Of course no flash photography was permitted during the event, it would be too distracting for the musician. Pixsmiths as professional photographers are well equipped with fast lenses to cope with available light – just as it might be in your dimly lit  church service or dark wood beamed reception for your wedding photography, so you can rest assured we can capture those moments for you in any situation.  Please contact us to discuss your photography needs with us, we’d love to hear from you.

Festival Director Dr Valerie Warr
Conductor & Artistic Director Edward Peak
Soloist Laura Sheerin

Photographers: Pixsmiths Creative Photography

Wirral Wedding Review

Wow what can we say! We love getting your feedback and to know we’ve captured precious moments from your big day. This review has come in today and we were overwhelmed and grateful for the kind words.  Not only that but it obviously took time to write  all this  and we know it comes from the heart. Thank you so much Sam and Dan x

 Pixsmiths were a fantastic choice for our wedding photography, we are so pleased that we chose them. They were exceptional in every way. The photography packages offered by Pixsmiths were the best value that we found after weeks of phoning photographers, and the treatment we recieved was outstanding.The offer of a pre-wedding photoshoot was a fantastic idea as it really set us at ease and allowed Dave & Sandy to experiment with different styles so that they were fully prepared for the day. This service reflects the commitment and professionalism of their company.We loved looking at our pre wedding photos and being able to feed back which ones we liked, so that on the day they knew what type of images to capture. We also chose some to be printed onto cards to be placed on the tables at our reception venue for guests to take away the address of the wedding album and so many guests commented on how lovely these cards were and kept them as momnentos of the day!!On the wedding morning I (the Bride) felt very relaxed when Dave and Sandy came to meet me at my get-ready venue as they were very calming and really helped me to relax and enjoy the bridal prep. They are so personable and friendly that it was great to see them on the morning.The photography throughout the day just seemed to happen in the background and the more formal pictures we requested were well organised by Dave and Sandy despite us giving them a very tight schedule (!!)Many of our family and guests commented on how friendly and professional the photographers were The images we recieved from Pixsmiths were flawless in quality and really captured the atmosphere of the day, including the little details that we were too busy to notice. They have given us the gift of the story of our wedding day from all angles- we could not ask for more!The prints we have recieved, and books we had made were also of super quality and very well laid out. I cannot stress enough how thrilled we were with Pixsmiths photography!!We have recommended Pixsmiths to all of our friends and will continue to do so- the fact that our friends ask us who our photographers were is testament to how fantastic pixsmiths were on the day.We cannot recommend them highly enough! 6 stars!! 

You can add your own review/comment or read more reviews  on our testimonial page.  If you want to know more or to arrange a wedding consult please call us we’d be delighted to hear from you

Memador Albums and CD Cases

At Pixsmiths we carefully source our album products to give quality at affordable prices.  We have just taken delivery of another wonderful Memador Album – very popular with our clients.  These luxurious  storybook  albums are simply beautiful.  A large 16 x 12 inch landscape album with 60 pages, plenty to tell your wedding story. Laminated to protect from acid in your fingers and will preserve your images for generations to enjoy..  The canvas cover can be in colour or in black and white – looks great with the black leather cover.  These albums do take a few weeks…they do come all the way from Jerusalem, but we reckon they are well worth the wait.  Parent copies are also available – approx A4 size replicas of the main album, with plain black, ivory or burgundy coloured cover  We have added a matching CD case (sourced in the UK)  to make a stylish package for our couples to showcase their fabulous images from Pixsmiths. We can provide a full wedding photography service for you, complete with exceptional quality albums.

Don’t hesitate to contact us for details to discuss your wedding requirements.

Amy and Ian Pre Wed Session

There is a wonderful community spirit amongst the folk of West Kirby.  A few months back Pixsmiths, Wirral Wedding Photographers called upon Amy of Slinky Media fame to ask about some portrait pics for our website. Well AJ was fabulous, not only took great photos for us but  also did them as  a favour and gave us all the files too.  So it was a real pleasure to be able to take some couple pics of Amy and Ian, who get married next May on their farmhouse.  A little nerve racking at first as Amy is a wonderful photographer herself, we considered it a real honour to be asked to shoot them.  Amy had her make-up done  that day and in return was taking some christening pics for the MUA – see the love keeps going around! It was a really enjoyable session as they are sun a fun loving couple, very at ease in front of the camera as well as behind!  We had a little stroll around their favourite walking areas just by their home. and also enjoyed Amy’s chocolate cake (very yummy). So glad now they have some good images of themselves – they deserve it.
Can’t wait for their wedding next year – it will be very Amy and Ian with lots of family, friends and fun on the farm.   There will also be a “rock the frock” or “Trash the Dress” session too – so keep an eye out for that . Below some favs from the session.

The VW Beetle is Amy’s pride and joy, she won’t part with it so of course we had to include it in the shoot

Interested in having an engagement or couples shoot, then don’t hesitate to contact us we just adore these sessions.