Today I’m dropping in to share some of the fabulous art created by classmates doing our FolioFocus Kids Trends2 workshop. It’s always a lot of fun to see how each artist incorporates the insights from the same trend to create some wonderful and unique to them in their own style ..read more

I recently wrapped up a couple of live sessions of our FolioFocus portfolio building workshop, in which I shared access to my Next Steps Bible. It’s a guide I lovingly put together to help classmates get the most out of all the stunning designs they created during the class. For a limited time, I’m making it available here for everyone to use. You have a strong body of work and dream of getting your licensed or sold to be featured on products, now what? If you don't have the budget to exhibit at a trade show or an agent to represent your work at one, you may be at a loss for how to fin potent ..read more

4 weeks have once again flown by in our TrendSpiration session. As you can guess the content focussed on sharing trends and inspiration, which was accompanied by a design brief for classmates to complete each week. Take a moment to have a look at some of the wonderful submissions below. Our designers are usually open to working with new people so don’t be afraid to reach out if you are interested in licensing, buying or collaborating ..read more

Today I’m thrilled to share some more classmate artwork from our FolioFocus Kids Trends class. One of the key things pushed in class is the importance of finding your own way through a trend and learning how to keep it true to your own unique style and viewpoint. I think this has been done so well in all the submissions, so please enjoy! More Awesome Classmate Art: If you are interested in working with or licensing/buying artwork from any of our classmates, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with them ..read more

It’s great to be back at it after the slow down of Summer. We kicked off the first week of our new FolioFocus Kids workshop last Monday and I’ll thrilled to share the gallery of work created so far! As usual, I’ve been absolutely blown away by the high standard of art being created by classmates and it’s always fun to see how everyone interprets the same brief in their own unique way. More Week 1 Art: If you are interested in working with or licensing/b ..read more

Here are some of the essentials you may need, and alternatives that don’t cost the earth. • Camera and Lens. I’m not going to go into much detail here as there are so many choices. You need a camera that will let you control it manually, preferably a DSLR or similar, where you can change lenses. An entry level DSLR (cropped sensor) will be fine for most uses. It’s really the lens that’s going to make quite a difference. I wrote about this above, in the section about achieving a ‘Tack Sharp’ image. Always have a charged second battery on standby so you can swap them over. • Background. Reall ..read more

4 Technique and Practical Advice Getting a Sharp Image Another good reason to get a tripod is for sharpness. Use a tripod to ensure that the camera is focussed upon your product, and then use the self timer (built into most cameras and phones) to take the image. Even when the camera is fitted to a tripod, the movement when pressing the shutter button can still affect sharpness. Even if this isn’t immediately noticeable, and doesn’t appear as a blur, it can reduce the sharpness of the image overall, so remember to use the self timer!Inexpensive tripods can be easily obtained and will greatly im ..read more

Styling your Images When it comes to creating a setting, there are two basic types, being a lifestyle setting or a unique custom styling to showcase your product. A lifestyle setting is based around the use or placement of your product, such as this coaster image... Client : Yellow Room Designs Alternatively you could style ..read more

Client : Hannah Marchant Illustrates  Using Natural Light There are very few applications for on-camera flash in product photography - it’s simply too direct and too harsh. If you use a table or surface placed next to a large window it saves on investing in any lighting equipment, and it also provides a beautifully soft appearance to your products. If you're using sunlight, photograph at the same time of day to achieve consistent li ..read more

Client : Helen Tiffany IntroductionThere are many tutorials online about product photography, particularly dealing with the more technical details, but instead here I’ve chosen to cover some of the practical elements based upon my own experience. I’ve put together some tips on how to pick surfaces, backgrounds and props, and how to best light the images. I’ll also go into whether it’s best to have a light or darker setting to show of ..read more