Category Archives: Company News

Does Your Website Need Video

by on May 25, 2017 in Company News | Tagged ,

The world wide web has now become our most favourite shop. And it’s a well known fact that a good deal of the nation will look to the web to shop for either goods, find information or services.

So if your in business to attract customers, what do you have? A website! It’s all about communication. And when a visitor lands to your website they need to see if you can supply what they are looking for within a very short time frame. It is also a well researched fact that people don’t want to spend time reading to find the information.

 
So make it easy TELL THEM!

 
The Benefit of adding a custom video to your website. This allows the viewer to be informed with a single click. What, how, where on any of the desired platforms your site is viewed on.
 Because of this, many businesses have found it valuable to use video to quickly convey their primary value proposition.

Having video on your site makes it easy for the viewer. Video can explain a more complex message than script. It keeps the viewer engaged and therefor more likely to purchase your service or product. This way of thinking is for any small business, right up to the multinationals. So don’t think that your business is not large enough to have one, think the opposite. It needs one.

The prospect of taking on the challenge of producing such a project can be somewhat intimidating if its not your day to day thing. There are various areas to consider to make sure you convey your message. Here at Alternative, helping people and companies to do this better, more creatively and more effectively is a plesure to have. We would both come together and start with a process known as the “Story Boarding” that will address scripts, planned visuals and locations for the shoot to tell the story.

The process to making a video can be fairly complex, but that’s where I come in!
If you feel this could be right for you and would like to know more please do contact me.

 

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Shoot Corporate Video for Training

by on February 17, 2017 in Company News | Tagged

Alternative Images is an established photographic company that delivers images of the highest quality to their clients. Video production is an area that the company also has a wide knowledge base and makes video content for company conferences, marketing and training projects. In the portfolio the vision is to address the need for website video production to engage with the audience of large or smaller companies to deliver a message in a short direct piece.

The use of designed graphics always enhances a video production. These can be kept simple or made quite complex but again this is determined for the client in how much is needed for the application. Graphics can be made just to change the scene or break away from the footage or be designed to explain or show a certain procedure within the video content. Enjoy!

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Corporate Group Shot Magic

by on February 13, 2017 in Company News, Events | Tagged

Group shots are one area of photography I am asked to do several times a year. These can range from forty people to possibly one hundred and twenty in a single shot. I have a technical process to produce group shots that make them stand out from the rest, where no one has blinked, all hopefully smiling and the surrounding area telling the story. How I hear you say!
A few years back when shooting on film you would take various images and then choose the best one to perhaps print from. This was the only way it could be done and was very hit or miss. It is virtually impossible in a large group not to have someone blinking, looking in the wrong direction, talking to each other and not paying attention and yes hiding! Even when they are asked to “Look this way”.
With the aid of digital photography virtually anything is possible. It is a big cheat but can get you out, not of “trouble” but a real life situation that is not avoidable in these situations. This technique I use brings back what the eye sees that a camera has difficulty with.
What I stride to do is obtain the best image in the first place, but have the ability to correct slight inperfections at a later stage to suite!
Usually when I do these it is in a conference type situation so a large group would need to be positioned in front of and on the stage set. This is the only space you have to do this right?

 

Start:
Before the people arrive I would take a shot of the set to grab the image that is on screen. Why, because when using electronic flash this will be bleached out and not captured in the actually group shot. This gives you the logo or name of conference to add later. Then when the group arrive they are positioned best one can and in the time frame you have. Usually this is done within five minutes because people will start to become board and fidgety and you will loose there concentration and co-operation.
Capture main Group Images:
Next is to shoot say five to six frames of the group all in the same place. This then gives you in post pro the chance to choose the master image and from that you can use any of the other images to replace expressions or blinking eyes that may be apparent in the master you want to use.
Post Pro Retouch:
Here you have to use image processing/retouching programs and I’ll warn you it is not for the faint hearted. The process to set logos behind people on screens and doing the changes with flawless accuracy does take a very competent retoucher. And I’ll admit sometimes can catch me out, so I call upon expert help from one of my team.
Conclusion:
So you achieve a conference set with logos on, all people looking and smiling in the right direction, without blinking eyes. Usually I obtain a 99.9% hit rate using this method and am often re booked by clients due to the quality of my work.

 

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Luck or Experienced Calculation

by on January 18, 2017 in Company News, Other Topics | Tagged

‘You have it so easy’ say you out there. Perhaps not! As a photographer and videographer for the corporate world and mainly within London, I have been asked to shoot various people or objects in situations that sometimes have not a great deal of control, but I need to come home with the shot.
Over past years in these situations, that can be, not stressing but certainly let the adrenaline rush through your body, I have only had a few moments where I can honestly say ‘Is this going to go right for me?’ Or is this going to work out, will I loose out or become a winner with the wow factor and obtain that perfect frame. One time I remember was when I was working for American Airlines and needed to take a photo of Gary Lineker who at the time was in his prime of his football career with the England team on a training day. We needed a run of images for a PR article, I managed to fire off about three frames before he turned ran away from the gathered photographers to join his team mates on the training pitch. This was one situation that was going all ok but the tide turns very quickly sometimes and even in efforts to request his return ‘could you please come back not quite finished’ fell on deaf ears and as yet have not had the opportunity to meet him again in the flesh to thank him for that one.The images I got were fine for the article.
This one was great fun! It was a very early start. 5.20am to be precise. But apparently these balloonists like to float on the early morning thermals. I believe that actually it’s because they don’t know where they may land and when so need the rest of the day to make their way home, but hay that’s just my opinion. All the preparation of erecting these huge floating bubbles was nearing the end and shortly they will be off. Quite a dramatic experience really as they fire up the balloon and the basket drags alone the ground to lift up into the sky. Then complete calm as they float away in the distance. So my opportunity is close to achieve that shot. How well was this going for me.
All the balloons left within a good time frame and the soft breeze gently let them gain distance, there it was. The moment I was hoping for. Now feeling somewhat alone, with a slight adjustment to the angle by running to my left in the long bumpy grass of the field, I had the three balloons in the frame. The nearest one dominant in the picture displaying bold colours, the others just starting to become faint in the distance but adding to the overall composition of the shot.

This was the shot to end the set. Was it luck or was it a calculated situation on my part that this could happen for me, that the timings of that early morning produced this situation of the balloons in a line as they took off.
To be honest it was a bit of both really!

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