Valentine’s gift

The best gift in my opinion is the gift of memories, a gift that your loved ones will treasure forever. I now have a range of Love Picture gift vouchers ready to ship out to the lucky recipients.

A photography gift voucher is the perfect present for your husband, wife or partner. A mini shoot gift voucher is something really special.

If you choose one of my £55 mini shoot gift vouchers, the lucky person can choose a family shoot in a stunning bluebell forest, wild flower fields, a golden hour shoot, lavender fields or beautiful woodland locations. It’s a great gift and also includes a 12x8 enlargement.

Another great gift for the parents to be is a Newborn photoshoot gift voucher. This is a really special present to new mummy’s and daddy’s as they really will cherish these memories forever. A lot of mamas wouldn’t have had the chance to have a baby shower this year due to the pandemic so lets really spoil them on valentines day.

Lastly I have Love Picture gift cards where you can select the value of the gift. The gift cards can be used towards any of the services I offer.

Thank you so much for supporting my small business.

Leila x

My studio is in Chipperfield WD4. But I am happy to come to your home for the shoot. Areas I cover are, Berkhamsted, Chesham, Amersham, Tring, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Potters Bar, St Albans, Luton, Abbots Langley, Kings Langley, Bourne End, Gerrards Cross, Chandlers Cross, Chandlers Cross, Bushy, Rickmansworth, Pinner, Redbourn, Harrow, Hatfield, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, London

The best valentines gift

It’s valentines day next week, we have all been home schooling, trying to work and muddling through our third lockdown. Lets be honest, its been tough!

The best gift in my opinion is the gift of memories, a gift that your loved ones will treasure forever. I now have a range of Love Picture gift vouchers ready to ship out to the lucky recipients.

A photography gift voucher is the perfect present for your husband, wife or partner. A mini shoot gift voucher is something really special.

If you choose one of my £55 mini shoot gift vouchers, the lucky person can choose a family shoot in a stunning bluebell forest, wild flower fields, a golden hour shoot, lavender fields or beautiful woodland locations. It’s a great gift and also includes a 12x8 enlargement.

Another great gift for the parents to be is a Newborn photoshoot gift voucher. This is a really special present to new mummy’s and daddy’s as they really will cherish these memories forever. A lot of mamas wouldn’t have had the chance to have a baby shower this year due to the pandemic so lets really spoil them on valentines day.

Lastly I have Love Picture gift cards where you can select the value of the gift. The gift cards can be used towards any of the services I offer.

Thank you so much for supporting my small business.

Leila x

My studio is in Chipperfield WD4. But I am happy to come to your home for the shoot. Areas I cover are, Berkhamsted, Chesham, Amersham, Tring, Hemel Hempstead, Watford, Potters Bar, St Albans, Luton, Abbots Langley, Kings Langley, Bourne End, Gerrards Cross, Chandlers Cross, Chandlers Cross, Bushy, Rickmansworth, Pinner, Redbourn, Harrow, Hatfield, Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, London

Bluebell family photoshoot tips

The end of April & the start of May is a very busy time for me! Spring has arrived and now the bluebells are out in their full glory! I live in Chipperfield, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire and all of my photography sessions take place locally. I’d like to share some tips for both budding photographers and future clients.

Finding the right bluebell woods

The National Trust has a number of bluebell woods on their land but these are mainly used for visiting families and not for professional family shoots. Therefore I would begin by scouting for smaller local woods close to the well known larger woods, as bluebells tend to migrate across areas. One of our main stunning bluebell woods is at Asridge, Docky Woods. If you’ve never visited please go as it will take your breath away. Another stunning place to visit is Philipshill wood located between Chorleywood and Chalfont St. Giles, within the Chilterns Area. I started off doing my bluebell shoots in both these places but have since found so many more deserted stunning locations around Chesham, Sarratt & Chipperfield. 

What to wear

Clothing choice is very important when shooting in the bluebells. Your base colour pallete in all your images is going to be quite an acidic green and a very vibrant purple/ blue. Ideally  your clothing needs to fit with this colour scheme and I tend to use neutral tones such as cream, grey, light pink etc.

What time of day

Bluebell photography is especially tricky as these flowers tend to grow where the light is dappled and theres so much contrast. The trees can also be quite bare so you are often be faced with very bright patches of light which can create unevenly lit images. Ideally you want to photograph very early in the morning, or late into the evening when the sun is lower. My perfect day is an overcast cloudy day as the lighting is beautifully balanced. 

Perspective

I always shoot from low down and use the bluebells as foreground so I can create a beautiful purple blur at the front of my image. I love finding paths, patches or fallen trees to sit my families or children on and then I will shot them from quite far away to create a sea of bluebells.  

Props

When I do my mini shoot sessions I used a huge 2 foot round white balloon as a prop. It looks amazing in the photographs and its also a good distraction in so many ways for the children. If they don’t want to be photographed they still always want to hold the balloon so its a good way to build up a relationship and get some amazing natural shots. Its also a great prop for children having a birthday shoot. It also offers a whole other set of photos for the client so they have a bigger variety to choose from after the shoot. Lastly if you want to make the child laugh, you can get the parents to knock you with it, that always gets a giggle. Another good prop is a bunch of artificial bluebells as bluebells are a protected species so you really shoulnt’t pick them.

Be careful

Bluebells are also a protected species so paying attention to where you sit your subjects is very important. Look for patches/areas that have no bluebells or use pathways. If you shoot from very low down it is easy to make a path disappear in camera. Alternatively you can use the pathways to create some lovely leading lines to your family. 

Would you like to book a bluebell mini photography shoot this year. These shoots are extremely popular and sell out very quickly.

The mini session will last 30 minutes and the cost is £55 and included in that price you will have access to an online viewing gallery. You will also get to choose 1 photograph to be enlarged and professionally printed 12x8 size. Extra prints start from £10, digital images £20, there will also be some special offers like 8 digital images for £100.

These are the dates 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29 30 April  1 ,2, 3 May 2021

Full family shoots can be booked at a time and location (subject to availability) that suits you and will be tailored around your requirements.

I’m based in Chipperfield but cover all the local areas including Sarratt, Kings Langley, Abbott’s Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Watford, Rickmansworth, St Alban’s, Potters Bar, Chorleywood, Croxley Green, Bushey, Tring, Beaconsfield, Bovingdon, Chenies, Flaunden, Chalfont St Giles, Belsize, and Harpenden.