About Us

My Process

Suzette Harrigal Photography was created out of my love for freelance photojournalism. I enjoy shooting all sports. Based on a portfolio of my work, and sponsored by a Senior member, I was accepted into the highly regarded sportsshooter.com organization and I am the first and the ONLY Senior Member in The Woodlands. My photos have appeared in local newspapers and yearbooks as well as on team and corporate web pages. My most notable publication thus far has been the national magazine, Inside Lacrosse. My “Rainy Day” image, below, is featured in their 2006 annual calendar. It was shot in a torrential downpour/icestorm in Middletown CT. Most of my time is spent covering local high school action, but I also shoot college and youth levels.

I do not have a portfolio page, per se. Please judge my ability by all the images I post for sale. My only request is that you do the same for my competitors as well. Look at all the actual pictures offered for sell, not just the hand selected cream of the crop images. Given enough frames, everyone gets lucky and can accumulate an impressive portfolio given enough time. I think you get a much better feel for what you can really expect from a shoot when you hire a photographer by looking at the recent images for sale and the cost.

I shoot with Canon professional digital bodies and L-series lenses.I have professional lighting equipment. I am not limited by my equipment for any lighting condition or circumstance, with the exception of under water. I can cover very low ambient light with big aperature such as 1/f of 1.4-2.8. I can reach all distances with focal lengths from 15mm-400mm. I have 1.4X and 2.0X extenders if I need a little more reach. I prefer the primes, but I do have some zooms and sometimes make use of the new IS feature.

I prefer to capture the images in RAW format for the highest image quality and processing options. Low compression JPG format is my second option.

I still have 2 EOS 1VHS bodies as backup. They are Canon’s most advanced film bodies. Hi-Res scanning techniques have recently advanced to the point that properly post processed scanned 35mm slide film, using SilverFast, can provide superior image quality to many professional & amateur digital cameras. So, although it takes much more effort to process, I have these should the need arise.

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Why Medium Format???

Processing

Printing

Home printing provides an inferior product and is not cost effective. Therefor I retain the services of two different printing labs. I deal personally with the technicians and as a result receive superior quality and turnaround. Every print is QA/QC before it is sent. Prints and enlargements are printed outside Houston and mailed directly to our customers. The posters are printed locally.

We do not offer onsite printing due to the current high cost or inferior quality. This may change in the future as technology improves and becomes more affordable.

We custom process every image we post or print with one of several packages. We ue Bibble, LightRoom, and Pixmantec Raw Shooter Premium /Color Engine. If necessary, we use NoiseNinja to reduce noise and sharpen with Helicon Filter. We enlarge with PhotoZoom Professional.

We build posters with Adobe Photoshop. We do not charge for any retouching such as red-eye, blemishes, rub-outs of unwanted or unsightly background, sharpening, text, etc. The images we post online are low resolution and the final print is always much much sharper, with a better exposure.

I have recently acquired a professional Hasselblad V system complete with German made Zeiss lenses for Portraits and Weddings. The negative size is 50% larger than the 35mm-size SLR’s which is a huge advantage in resolution. Zeiss T* lenses are legendary for their resolution and ability to retain accurate colors (especially skin tones). This is a big problem for most DSLRs. As long as I can find 120 and 220 film, I will use this 6x6 format. So, if I’m using my manual focus, manual exposure, wind up box camera please be patient. It takes a bit longer to set up shots, but the wait is well worth it!

Non Sports Photography

While it is true that I find shooting sports especially challenging and rewarding, I do shoot other events as time permits. Events such as theater/concerts, weddings, receptions etc. For these events I either use available light, flash or light stands and strobes depending on what is permitted or requested by the customer. Any professional photographer or cinematographer will tell you the importance of professional lighting. I take extra care when using artificial lighting to assure that the prints you receive don’t have blown out whites or incorrect skin tones or a huge amount of noise. This takes professional equipment, proper set up technique and exposure as well as post processing. But, experience in each of these aspects and attention to detail is the key element to success. There is a lot more to it than just pressing the shutter button at the correct time.

Below are a couple examples from a recent wedding that I shot at no charge for a friend. A well known wedding specialist photographer was hired to shoot the wedding ceremony and reception. I posted my free images for family and friends after the official photographer posted his shots and got many kind remarks on how my shots were much more realistic in color, had better detail, and were sharper. As I said, experience in every aspect and attention to detail is the key difference to sucessful photos regardless of the event type.