We have been working with Andrew and Michelle for about a year and they love the images we produce. Sometimes the jobs have a very tight deadline of only a few hours until the images have to be delivered.
We work around around the builder who do the last bits and pieces, take some photos at dusk and do the post-production over night to deliver the images the next morning to the printer. And we never ever missed a deadline.

See some sample images below and check out the APHomes website for more photos and their houses and land packages and also check out their web developer Marc Newport and his stunning WordPress powered web-design.

Even worse, almost everyone has a friend, an uncle Bob, or knows someone with a “big” camera these days and entrusts them with once-in-a-lifetime events, like their wedding. The results are often disappointing. Uncle Bob is also great in shooting inconsequential stuff like commercial-quality photos for your company.

Remember, the images you present in your advertising, brochure, website, etc., do reflect the quality & appearance of your business.

Photography is much more than just having a “big” camera!

When you hire a pro photographer, you are paying for their time investment more than anything else. Many hours go into creating quality images and delivering a polished product that you will cherish. It is this time spent after the shutter is pressed that often makes the difference between just another snapshot and a great photograph.

Let’s take Real Estate for an example. Estate agents generally aren’t trained in photography. But they’re in the business of marketing property and try to sell a product worth hundred thousands of dollar with those photos. Photography sells real estate.
Buyers use photographs to decide which homes to see in person. Homes with poor photographs are often screened out of the selection process. So, attention desperate home sellers. Don’t want to lower the price on your house? Consider better photos ! Read more >>

Below are photos taken by a Real Estate agent and our photos (shot without flash lights). The agent’s images are first, ours are second.

Time the shoot favourable to the sun.

Elevation changes the point of view.

Use the ambient light to your advantage.

A general photography rule of thumb is the closer the subject, the better the photo. But in these photos you can see the impact of taking a few steps back (or using a wide-angle lens to give that impression). It gives the viewer more context and makes the place seem more spacious.

Level the camera straightens the verticals.

When the Real Estate agent saw our photos she said:

“It is hard to believe that it is the same house.”

A while a ago I created a series of 20 Virtual Tours for the Christchurch City Council. Many of the buildings I captured are now seriously damaged or gone…

If Google sees a benefit in Virtual Tours, you may should too !

A 360˚ Virtual Tour is definitely a great way to introduce new visitors to your website. And for past visitors, they can show their friends and family and relive the moment. A Virtual Tour really does allow a visitor to get as near to visiting your venue as is possible from their home.

Whatever your business – a hotel or function room, whether it is inside or outside, use a panoramic tour to show it in the best light possible. Think how important this is for a wedding venue, where the bride and groom will want to get a feel for their special day. Show your facilities off.

Adding a panoramic tour to your website will allow visitors to walk around. They’ll be able to do everything from zooming in, to virtually walking round your venue.

A panoramic tour definitely makes a location and your website more interesting and worth returning to.

Virtual Tours have been around a long time, but not many businesses truly understand the benefits they can bring. However, you do now! So now you understand just how 360˚ Virtual Tours can attract more visitors. A Virtual Tour definitely pays for itself.

As a sample, below is the Virtual Tour of the entrance to the Lake Timara Lodge – one of the country’s most luxurious and private lodges.
Click here to take virtual tours of the charming rooms at the Timara Lodge.

Check out a few of our Virtual Tours and see how they got embedded into existing websites:

• One at a time – services and restores all versions of the classic Porsche 356
• The Helmsman – luxury cruises in the Marlborough Sounds
• Copthorne Hotel Marlborough
• Marlborough Convention Centre
• Copthorne Hotel Commodore - Christchurch airport
• Garin College - Richmond, Nelson
• 
  

The video below was produced for HARCOURTS Real Estate. The owner of the house had moved to Christchurch and the house in the Marlborough Sounds was empty. To make the video more attractive we persuaded the owner to appear in front of the camera to talk about the place and its features to give it a ‘personal’ touch. A different approach to the usual Real Estate Video.

The video is now linked to a listing with HARCOURTS Picton website and has attracted within the first month more than 60 views from Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

UPDATE: After a total of 250 views, the house is now SOLD.

Hold on, a dozen portraits in 1 hour ? We are talking business portraits here and not snap-shots !?
That is 5 minutes per portrait and includes moving from location to location !?
Well…

Anyway, it turned out that we had not even one hour for the shoot because Patrick was busy with another event. But in the end we were able to produce enough images to make the client happy.

The day was grey and miserable with dark clouds over Blenheim but the client insisted on some architecture photos of the entry to the winery.

A bit of Photoshop magic did the trick and resulted in quite a dramatic image. Dark clouds all around and just a bit of blue sky behind the tower. Is that a sign from above…?

Shooting for the Heritage New Zealand Magazine again, I got commissioned to supply images for four stories, with the renovation of Nelson’s Theatre Royal getting the biggest exposure.
It is the oldest operating wooden theatre in Australasia and fell silent when a geotechnical investigation found it to be unsafe.
However, in June it will reopen, better than before after a $6.5 million restoration project but with its heritage core intact.

Tamara and I used a mixed of ambient light and portable flash lights to create a “theatrical” feel for the images. Ben, the magazine’s designer commented on the photographs: “Frank, really happy mate. The theatre images are perfect, fill of drama and composed very cleverly.”

Many thanks, Ben !!!

Timing for the interior photography was problematic as we had to take photos of several rooms between departure, cleaning and arrival of guests but Diana co-ordinated everything very well and we were able to complete the photo session in the estimated time frame. Please visit the new Portage Resort Hotel website, designed by babelscribe.com and check out the Virtual Tours or for example view the Kowhai Room Virtual Tour.

Shooting a restoration project for the Heritage New Zealand magazine, the brief was to capture a variety of images and one “great opening hero image” to begin the story with.

The grounds around the historic Broadgreen House in Nelson didn’t look great with a large area fenced off to allow the new lawn to grow.

So I decided to take an evening shot. Because the building is not lit at night, Tamara and I went out to paint the house with light.

After the camera was set up close to the surface of the little pond in front the house, Tamara controlled the shutter and I painted the building and surrounding area with two hands full of SB-800s Speedlights. It took us around one hour to get the image in the box.

When you agree that the person who releases the camera’s shutter is the photographer we say kudos to Tamara for taking such a heroic story opener.

In a recession, consumers become value oriented and distributors are concerned about cash.

Maybe you own or manage a hotel, motel, B&B etc. and you have done everything you can do to marketing your business. You have paid a truck-load of money for placing ads in the travel guides and magazines, your website wasn’t cheap either and you wonder where you can save money.

Of course, you can do the photography for your business yourself because everyone can take a photo.
Right…!?
So it might look like this photo (the actual photo presented on a B&B website):

To enhance the appearance of the room, we used ARRI lights to create the mood the luxury lodge deserves and the new photo looks now slightly different:

Same room, same price for a night.
Now judge for yourself, where will the guest more likely stay ?

A photograph which I took recently for a B&B in Marlborough got chosen as the 2009/10 front cover for a prestigious travel guide.