Michael Howard is a professional photographer based in the Algarve. He has been commissioned for his creative approach by advertising, design and publishing companies for many years. He and his wife Sue work as a team, initially travelling to tropical islands, Greece and Spain, either on commission or to take stock photography. Over time the work became focused on Portugal and nearby provinces of Spain. He regularly adds to his unparalleled collection of stock photos of Portugal, while the commissioned work is typically of interior and exterior architecture for European companies promoting tourism.
Michael sums up his views on commissioned work: “good photography can be looked on as an investment rather than an inessential expense. In a recession it is all the more noticeable that those resorts with an alluring, relevant collection of photos attract the bookings or sales. Clients often argue that their photos will 'only be used on the web' believing that professional images are not needed. On the contrary the small files on websites make good photography just as vital as for large brochure spreads. It is quite an art to produce a clear image that will look impressive when compressed into a few dozen pixels.”
Of his work photographing villas one client wrote “For a villa rental company today professional photography on the website is essential. We have had a big increase in sales for those villas photographed by Mike Howard.” Another told him that in the fortnight after the pictures appeared on the company's website the villa had become booked for all weeks of the year and even for several of the following. A villa owner summed it up: “Mike’s photographs proved to be the best investment we made.”
Much of Michael's time is spent on retouching and montage work. He is often commissioned to produce a finished image of a building in progress for the following season's brochures. His work for resorts and tour operators on seamlessly 'planting' digital gardens, 'filling' empty pools or removing bulldozers has helped his clients to achieve good occupancy in the difficult first year after building works.
His work will always be correct for reproduction. Providing a printable, within-gamut file and following designers' layouts are priorities. He has considerable practical knowledge of printing processes, designing and publishing photographic books on Portugal and a wide range of postcards. Michael's stock library sales are always Rights Managed and handled by his agents. Links are to be found on the Contacts page.