Getting Married in Scotland

Jo and Martin, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

It is fantastic to be a wedding photographer in Wigtownshire some of the very best weddings take place in Scotland amongst the backdrop of historic castles, grand manses and character filled churches.

It is a stirring to see splashes of tartan and hear the skirl of the pipes.
The great thing about Scotland is that the landscape is often breathtakingly beautiful at any time of year from the vibrant greens of Spring and Summer to the golden browns of Autumn and Winter.

Anyone considering getting married in Scotland should follow this link this link for legal information on getting married in Scotland

There are some great reception venues in and around Newton Stewart for more information check out the following:-

Creebridge House Hotel, Newton Stewart
Kirroughtree House, Newton Stewart
North West Castle, Stranraer
Knockinaam Lodge, Port Patrick
Corsewell Lighthouse, Stranraer
Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas

Wednesdays child

Wednesdays child, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

This shot was taken at a recent wedding, the little girl really didn't want her picture taken, but her mum really wanted her to, she refused to look at the camera, and in the end I had to take a couple of pictures of her when she wasn't looking.

This was one of the out takes but there was something about it and I prefer it to the 'official' shot.

It's Guinness Time

It's Guinness Time, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

I wanted to produce a low-fi image that was reminiscent of a primitive analogue camera such as the Holga. I wanted to produce an image that conveyed all of the importance and atmosphere of the moment without the reliance on megapixels or pin sharp detail.

This was a candid shot that I took in the Bladnoch Inn, near Wigtown. I decided that I could use my small Canon Ixus to take this shot for several reasones, firstly it is relatively discreet, sencondly it has reasonable image stabilizing which helps and lastly due to the small sensor it is lower quality than from my Nikon DSLR's. I disabled the flash to make use of the available light. However this resulted in a slow shutter speed having to be used and despite the image stabilization a bit of motion blur. No problem, this helped add to the atmosphere.

The resulting image was then processed in photoshop and slight sepia tint was added in post production with some grain to make it look like a "real" photo :-)

Together

Together, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

This portrait was one of several taken on a recent privately commissioned shoot. The models here are Solway Star and Kate. I particularly love the moment captured here, there is a strong connection between the girl and horse and it makes for a lovely image. Ironically this shot was a grab shot which I took just as I was starting to put my camera equipment away after the formal shoot. Which just goes to show that some of the best pictures can not be planned!

The photograph was taken using natural light and Nikon DSLR with 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

I was recently awarded a distinction from the Royal Photographic Society which was a proud moment for me, and has encouraged me to try some new techniques and styles of photography.

Canon P&S Happiness

Natural History Museum, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

I have been incredibly busy over the last month, both on a personal basis and also a photographic one. So I apologise for the lack of new posts on the blog. However I intend to make up for all that right now.

Following on from my last post regarding my small pocketable Canon Ixus Camera. I was mooching around on the internet wondering whether I should add a more sophsticated compact camera to my collection when I stumbled across a site called CHDK for Dummies. CHDK stands for Canon Hack Development Kit, ok it's not very snappily named but if you have a small Canon compact camera then it is a revelation.

The CHDK allows you to copy a small program onto the media card in your Canon compact, through this program you can then unlock a whole host of advanced features such as being able to shoot in RAW, shutter priority, aperture priority, time lapse photography and also motion detection.

CDHK seems to be perfectly safe and does not damage the camera, you can choose to let it autoload every time you start the camera or fire it up at will. I have been using it for the last few weeks and can testify that it is incredibly powerful, absolutely free and a must have. It's saved me from buying a more expensive compact with more manual control. My inexpensive Ixus now does it all.

Windows Wallpaper

Windows Wallpaper, originally uploaded by Dan Baillie.

As a photographer it can sometimes get a bit wearing having to carry a multitude of camera bodies and lenses around. Even when you are not working you feel that you should have a reasonable amount of gear with you in case you see the perfect photo. Well the other day I flouted convention and went for a walk without my usual Nikon accompanyment. After all I was only going to walk the dogs. I took with me a Canon Ixus 80 IS.

When I saw the view in the photograph I immediately regretted not having my SLRs, however with a bit of jiggery pokery with the settings on the Ixus, this is what I managed to capture - yes it probably will only print upto a 16"x12" maximum, and it probabably hasn't captured as much detail as one of my Nikon lenses might. But it's not bad, and it set me thinking as to what other images could be captured on the small sensor camera, a bit like the way that pin hole cameras have a huge amount of limitation, but sometimes the results of something so simple can be stunning.

This is the start of my Small Sensor Project entitled "Big Pictures from Small Cameras".

Ben and Vicky

Ben and Vicky, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

The 9th May marked my first outdoor wedding this year. The location was Glentrool Estate on the banks of Loch Trool. As the ceremony was to take place outside on the lawns of the lodge, during the week proceeding there were at least three people praying for sunshine....and low and behold it was a gorgeous sunny day. Also a credit to Ben and Vicky it was the most beautiful wedding with a really relaxed and joyful feel and they were a lovely couple to photograph.

Taken looking towards Glentrool Lodge, taken using a Nikon D200 and 70-200mm f2.8 lens set at 70mm, ISO 200, natural light.

Bus Stop

Bus Stop, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

I absolutely love candid street photography, it's hard to do and even harder to do well. I don't really get much chance to practice it where I live as I live in a very rural area, and there isn't an abundance of jostling street life, however sometimes I happen to be in the right place at the right time and this was one such occasion. This lady was waiting for a bus and I took the opportunity to grab a shot. Some people don't like colour popped (selectively coloured) images, probably because it is often overused and has become less fashionable. I quite like it when it is done well, and where I feel it wasn't done for the sake of it. I don't really follow fashion anyhoo.

Hairy Cob

Hairy Cob, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

Over the last year or so, due to owning our own horse, I have become quite experienced in taking equine and equestrian portraits. These tend to be much harder to achieve than other animal based portraits.

Firstly it is rarely that flash or even simple reflectors are able to be used, as these spook the horses and thereby ends the photosession. This means that you are entirely reliant on natural lighting and in getting the horses position in relation to the light just right. There are some days that lend themselves perfectly to this, and some days it is much, much harder.

Secondly horses are large animals and can tend to look awkward or unnatural unless the whole of the animal is shown, however being domesticated and used to human companionship getting them to stay at a reasonable distance can be pretty tricky.
For most horse portraits I tend to use a 75-300mm f2.8 lens, which enables a wide aperture to be used to render the background out of focus.

Red Gerbera

Red Gerbera, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

A few months ago I purchased some radio triggers in order to start taking more strobist type photographs with several flash guns mounted off the camera and fired remotely through diffusers and reflectors.

I don't generally do flowers as a rule. I don't tend to find them all that exciting as a subject, and they are hard to do well. But I had a new flashgun to test and it was raining outside :-)

I take my hat off to anyone who is able to take excellent flower pictures, it's an artform of it's own and it's a lot harder to get decent lighting on a flower than it looks!

Strobist Info: Flash hand held directly above flower - set to half power. Diffused by a piece of paper. Flash triggered remotely by a cactus trigger. Second flash lighting background from below triggered remotely by cactus trigger

Burrowhead

Burrowhead, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

There are times when you are driving along, when suddenly the sky breaks and you know that you have to get somewhere to take a photograph, and get somewhere quickly. This was such an occasion and Burrowhead was the nearest place to capture the sky.

Handheld, Nikon D40, Nikkor 75-300mm @ 75mm. ISO 400

The Underdog

The Underdog, originally uploaded by The Puddock.

I was asked to take some photographs of a Jack Russell puppy the other day. Getting great pictures of peoples pets and animals is a real pleasure, and when the animals are young you get the additional cute factor :-) It is however, much harder than it looks when they are this young as they just want to jump all over you, or eat the camera.

This puppy was probably the smallest that I have ever seen, it was tiny. To emphasis the small size of the pup I wanted to include something that would provide a sense of scale to the image, and a nearby four wheel drive vehicle, provided an excellent backdrop. To further increase the sense of scale and depth of field, I had to lie flat on the floor, which was of great interest and fun to the pup.
I chose to process the image as a monotone to emphasis the dog which was predominantly white and to help separate it from the background.

The image was taken with a Nikon D200, Nikkor 75-300mm and handheld with natural light.

Baillie Photography

Let me start by introducing myself, my name is Dan Baillie and I live near Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and I am a photographer.

I developed a keen interest in photography when I was fourteen years old, as I write this I am thirty six. I started with 35mm Praktica MTL5B with an excellent 50mm Tessa lens which my Dad gave me for my birthday. I learnt the basics, burned hundreds of rolls of film and eventually upgraded to Canon EOS 5 autofocus bodies when they were launched.

My Father and I ran a photographic company called Sandringham Photographic and took a variety of postcards pictures, shots to be used on calendars and a selection of weddings.

In 2003 I left my home town of Southend-on-Sea in Essex and moved to the wilds of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.

I swapped film for digital in 2007, when I moved from Canon 35mm SLRs to Nikon. Purely because Nikon were producing slightly better cameras at the time, and also offering better deals. Around this time I also started my own photographic business, Baillie Photography, which at the time concentrated on limited edition prints and stock photography. In 2008 I branched out into wedding and portrait photography, and also began to specialise in taking equine portraits and event photographs.