Richard Bryan

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Understated Greetings

Unique greeting card photography for award-winning greeting cards from designer Adriana Lovesy.

With these cards being handmade, the client requested for them to be photographed in a way that would evoke a certain sophistication and position the brand at the premium end of the greeting card market. This included an approach that would combine a soft lighting effect but also bring out the texture of the card.

Adriana hadn’t had a professional shoot before, and as such I suggested we start with a small ‘introductory shoot’. That’s when the initial styling was considered and resulted in the shot above and below, amongst a few others.

“My first sample shoot with Richard really opened my eyes to what was possible and helped me put together a clear visual representation of my brand.” Adriana Lovesy

The lighting was paramount in these shoots, and I decided to create a very soft effect by using additional diffusion. A little tricky whilst also capturing the card texture and conveying the reflectivity of the gems.

Sometimes clients can underestimate the effect of having too much light within a scene. I’m often asked to make things as bright as possible, I chose to preserve a slightly lower overall exposure for these as otherwise certain details and textural elements begin to disappear as the brightness goes up. Leaving the brightness down a notch or two also prevents the card from blending into the rest of the scene.

To achieve this look I created a setting that was simple and elegant but maintained a contemporary feel. A subtly textured backdrop was used, alongside small jewel props used to echo the glass crystals from within the cards.

“Every shoot he always captures the essence of the Mrs Lovesy brand but adds a lovely twist making each shoot slightly different from the last – I still get excited viewing the images from new shoots.” Adriana Lovesy

Subsequent shoots included images below…

Each card is individually finished with glass crystals which when combined with a premium card stock adds a touch of decadence to the products.

Adriana has had much success with her greeting card brand including recognition within the industry’s Henries awards. She now sits on the Council for the UK’s Greeting Card Association, click here for further examples of greeting card photography and to read a little about the GCA.

You can see Adriana’s Instagram here.