We’re often asked if we’re going to run another Living Social or Groupon offer like we did back in 2011. Well the answer is NO as we’re cutting out the middlemen and running a fantastic offer ourselves!

What’s the deal?

We’ve put together two fantastic value offers to rival anything you’ll find on the daily deals websites. Select your favourite offer from one of the following options:

One hour Studio photoshoot with complimentary single high resolution image – normally £249 for just £24.99 or;

One hour Lifestyle photoshoot with complimentary single high resolution image – normally £399 for just £34.99.

Want to know more or buy the deal now?

Of course you do! Click here to find out more and/or to buy the eVoucher (if they haven’t sold out already).

Don’t forget…

To share this post with your friends and family so that they can get in on the deal as well – use the share buttons to the right of this post;

Buy an eVoucher ASAP for yourself as they are limited in number and bound to sell out fast!

The post Our “better than a Groupon or Living Social” offer appeared first on Dean Hartwell Photography.

This Sunday We’ll be taking part in the Stilton Cheese Classic Car Run in aid of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

A cheesy tale for a good cause

The Stilton Cheese Run is part of the National “Drive It Day” for classic cars. This will be our 3rd year on the run, the route of which passes right outside our studio doors in Harringworth where we’ll take the opportunity to stop off for a quick photoshoot with a few of the other cars.,/p>

What’s a classic car run got to do with cheese?

The run was designed to follow the original route that Stilton cheese took between Quenby Hall, Leicestershire (where it was made) and The Bell Inn at Stilton (where it was sold).

The route/plan

The run will start at Uppingham, part way along the original route to allow the public to enjoy the 350 odd cars that will be taking part;

Between 9:30 and 12:00 the cars will be parked up around the Market Square and East Street before heading off on route at their own pace;

A lunch stop will be made at New Lodge Farm Shop near Bulwick where the public will have a second chance to view the cars;

Following lunch we’ll then continue along the rest of the route to arrive at The Bell Inn for a final meet up around 17:00.

So what will we be driving?

The ride of choice is a Triumph Roadster (the green car in the photograph above). The car has been in Jenny’s family for a fair few years (it was even part of her parent’s honeymoon) so it’s lovely to be able to get it out of the garage and onto the open road. Hopefully the weather will continue to be nice to us so we can enjoy the hood down without too many layers.

Keep your eyes open for us at the three stops, and you may be able to pick up a special “Cheesy Offer”…

The post Say “cheese” for the Stilton classic car run! appeared first on Dean Hartwell Photography.

Well the votes are in and the deliberations completed and we’re proud to announce our Little Star of 2013. Thanks to everyone for taking part, we think you’ll agree all our entries were Little Stars in their own right.

1st Place and our Little Star 2013 goes to Mirabelle

Mirabelle becomes the Little Face of our Harringworth Studio and wins a prize worth over £450:

A “Watch them Grow Experience” comprising of three photoshoots over the course of a year and a trio box frame for the wall after the final session;

£150 of Dean Hartwell Photography Gift Vouchers.

Well deserved runners up prizes go to Taylor and Imogen

Taylor and Imogen both with a fantastic runner up prize of:

A one hour studio photoshoot;

£25 of Dean Hartwell Photography Gift Vouchers.

Star Quality

With her enigmatic smile and relaxed personality Mirabelle just pipped our other two age category winners to the post. It was a tough decision to make but we know that there’s definitely a star quality to our winner. We look forward to meeting all our winners again for their photoshoots in the next few weeks. Both Jenny and I would like to thank all our entrants and their families and friends who took the time and trouble to vote for them.

The post Our Little Star 2013 Winner is… Mirabelle appeared first on Dean Hartwell Photography.

We’re looking forward to setting up a Pop-Up Studio at Barnwell’s Pop-Up High Street on Mothers Day between 2 and 5pm. A 10 minute photoshoot plus two images on CD (printable to A4) for only £20!

There’s more!

In the style of those TV shopping channels, “wait that’s not all”… if you pre-book an appointment before the 8th of March we’ll add an extra image on the CD for free! Why not call us now on: 01572 420871 or email us at: popup@deanhartwellphotography.com to book an appointment?

Download the Pop-Up poster to show your friends.

The post Mother’s Day pop-up studio appeared first on Dean Hartwell Photography.

Have you noticed that your monitors picture looks slightly blueish (cyan) making images look/feel cooler than they really should be?

What’s all this about colour correction?

If you answered “Yes” to the above question then read on, if you answered “No” then take a look at grey boarders to the left and right of this article, are you sure that they’re a neutral grey and not a little blueish…

Here at Dean Hartwell Photography we’re passionate about producing top quality images and as a result we carefully manage our workflow so as to maintain the integrity of an image’s colour right through the capture, editing and printing processes. Naturally there are times where we’ll apply an effect to an image for creative reasons but we know that our clients want their wedding dresses or favourite outfits worn at one of our photoshoots to look the same colour as they do in the wardrobe.

To enable us to achieve that goal we calibrate the colour profile of our cameras and computer monitors weekly so what we see on the back of our cameras and on our computer screens during editing is what you’ll see on your finishing touches. Colour correction is one element of photography that’s often overlooked by amateurs but is considered essential by successful professional photographers.

How to calibrate your monitor

Step 1 – Calibrate your monitor:

For repeatable results you need to keep the lighting levels consistent at your monitors location. For best results the lighting should be subdued and there shouldn’t be any glare or reflections on the screen;

Let your monitor warm up for at least 15 minutes before calibrating;

Calibrate using your operating system tools:

Mac OSX 10.8 – Calibration guide;

Windows 7 – Calibration guide;

Windows 8 – Just type calibrate into the search box and select “Settings”, then pick “Calibrate Display Color”. For older versions of Windows go straight to next step;

Step 2 – Confirming the calibration of your monitor:

Open our DHP Studio Colour Reference for use when calibrating your monitor. Right click to download to your computer if you want to save it;

Check that you can see 8 discrete steps from white to black on the left hand panels right side. Adjust/fine tune your monitors brightness until you can;

Now pay particular attention to the 4th grey patch from the top on the right hand side of the right panel. This should look neutral grey. Adjust the monitor colour settings (the R,G,B controls) until this patch looks neutral.

All done! Hopefully you now have a neutral picture that displays a full tonal range. Your display’s characteristics will change over time therefore it’s a good idea to repeat the calibration process every month or so.

Not sure what a neutral grey looks like?
Don’t worry, for £8 inc P&P we can send you a professionally produced print of our “DHP Studio Colour Reference” so that you can compare your display to a calibrated source. Call us on: 0845 6420871 to order.

For professional results:
We recommend using specialist monitor colour calibration solutions such as the any of the Datacolor Spyder Series. We use the Elite version however, for most home users the Express version will be more than adequate and you’ll notice immediate on screen results.

The post Calibrating your monitor appeared first on Dean Hartwell Photography.