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Looking for a Wedding Photographer? Trendy or Timeless?

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In this next installment to the series: Four Questions to Ask Yourself Before Looking for a Wedding Photographer, we’ll look at your style. Not the photographer’s style. But yours. Planning a wedding entails a lot of following current trends. The popular colors. The popular favors. The popular drink. Is the same true of your wedding photos?

You really need to ask yourself… do I want my wedding photos to look trendy or timeless in 20 years? It’s more than the content of the photos. Of course your dress will look so 2011… it’s strapless, isn’t it? This is about the style of the photography.

Group Photos

Here’s a classic example where trends are seen. Below is a traditional photo taken by Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer Rose Schaller.

Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer group photo

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

It’s a gorgeous photo. Well lit. You can clearly see every member of the wedding party. But, the photo below is what you’d likely see in a popular wedding blog:

Hudson Valley Wedding Photographer Group jump

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

Same photographer. Same wedding party. Same location. Awesome fun.

The Portrait

Rose was kind enough to also provide an example of a traditional wedding portrait.

Hudson Valley wedding photographer portrait

Image by Rose Schaller Photo

Note the well lit faces of the bride and groom. And the fact that the entire scene is in focus.

Here is an example of a more on-trend wedding portrait from Tampa Bay wedding photographer Booray Perry:

Tampa Wedding Photographer Booray Perry portrait

Super fun! Notice the colors are a bit muted. This is a different look, more artsy than realistic. And this is when you have to think about your style.

Do you want props?

mustache wedding photo
The guy look

potato sack wedding race
A day at the races

What’s Your Style?

So, again, this is when you need to ask yourself “How do I want to view my photos in 20 years? Do I want artsy or realistic? Do I want action shots or candids?” This is not a matter of photojournalism versus traditional photography. The scenes above didn’t just happen. You want to look for a wedding photographer who works in the style of photography that matches your style. In the next post of the series we’ll delve a little deeper into the various styles and what they actually mean.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

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Mommy, What’s a DVD? Why Digital Negatives Aren’t Enough

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“Mommy, what’s a DVD?”

Don’t laugh. 25 years from now when you want to see your wedding pictures, your daughter may just have to field this question.

One of the trends today is for couples to bypass the traditional way of saving their wedding photos in an album by just getting the disc of images from the photographer. Sure, I know, albums are expensive and you would just as soon do your own album because it will be more personal. Unfortunately, life may get in the way.

While you are planning your wedding you have many wonderful dreams, but real life jumps back on the scene in short order. There is work and family, maybe a new home to finish, kids to raise, and bills to pay. Time marches on and that album never quite makes the top of the to-do list.

 

Meanwhile, technology marches on.

Ask your parents or grandparents when was the last time they drug out the slide projector to look at those old pictures? Exactly. I’ll bet there are some beautiful memories stuffed in those old carousels.

What about floppy discs? Sony announced they will no longer be making them.
Likewise, do you even own a VCR? Even Kodachrome is obsolete. What makes you think that in 15 or 20 year DVDs won’t suffer the same fate?

Do your self, your kids and their kids a favor; save those precious wedding day memories in the only format that will live for ever. Get a wedding album.

Want to read more about what makes a good album and why it really is the best way to save your images for posterity, read this article.

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DIY Your Wedding Prints? What You Need to Know

April 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In this next installment to the series: Four Questions to Ask Yourself Before Looking for a Wedding Photographer, we’ll look at how you’d like to view your wedding photos on your 20th anniversary. But wait, I just got engaged! Why are you talking about my 20th anniversary?!

Prior to hiring a wedding photographer, especially before setting a budget for a wedding photographer, you need to think about how you’re going to want to look at your wedding photos in 20 years. If you want to actually look at photos, rather than a round piece of metal (CD or DVD), you may want to consider budgeting for professional prints.

CD only please

What if you there are no CD drives in 20 years? You decided to save money by “only getting the disc”. You thought you’d get them printed, even design your album, but those things stayed on your to-do list. So, here you are 20 years later with a disc and no wedding photos. That’s what’s called an orphan bride; more about that in a future post.

Getting Prints

Are you a DIY queen? Are you on top of all those projects? If so, perhaps you will take on the task of designing your album. You still want to watch where you get the album printed, as well as all the photo prints.

When your photographer saves the photos to the CD, they generally save them as one particular size (4×6, 5×7, etc.). Well, you can’t simply take a 4×6 image and blow it up to a wall print; the shapes are slightly different. You’ll need to crop it slightly. If it’s a portrait, this may not be an issue. But what if it’s that cool jump shot of your wedding party? Oops, had to cut out a few bride’s maids!

And when you blow up that 4×6 digital negative to a much larger size, you’ll notice something else – the pixels. Or, let’s say your photographer included high resolution images on your disc. A wall size will print quite nicely, but now you’ll have to do quite a bit of creative cropping and scaling to get a 4×6.

Lastly, there are the subtleties of the contrast, hue, saturation, etc. in your photo. Your photographer uses a professional lab, like White House Custom Color; where they know how to correctly print the photos. Photos with subtle highlights and shadows may wind up printed with overexposed areas next to deep shadows if you print at a drugstore.

You Get What You Pay For

In some respects, it may seem a bit crazy to pay for a wall print and album from your big day. Heck, those items alone can cost upwards of $1500. When you consider the photographer’s time to optimize the photos and get quality prints that will last over 50 years, you may decide that it’s worth the money. Either way, it makes sense to weigh out the alternatives prior to setting a budget.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

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4 Things to ask Yourself Before Shopping for a Wedding Photographer

April 11, 2011 By 2 Comments

Wait. That title is wrong. Shouldn’t it say, “4 Questions to ask a Wedding Photographer?” No. Here’s why, before shopping around, you need to decide what you’re looking for in a photographer. And no, the number one question should not be budget.

Wedding Photography in action

Courtesy of G&R Photography and All Occasions Video Production

Budget

Shouldn’t this be in your top list? NO! Here’s why. You can find a million photographers who will shoot your wedding for $1500, or $3000, or whatever budget happens to be. You need a better way to narrow down your search. You can search based on budget once you find an answer to the other questions.

Top Questions to ask Yourself

  1. How do I want to view my photos on my 20th anniversary? Are you really going to sit around looking at that data DVD of photos?
  2. What’s my style? Do you like trendy or timeless photos?
  3. What are the key events I want covered? Do you want getting ready all the way through last call for drinks?
  4. Posed or Photojournalistic? Well, the question is more complex than that, but do you prefer candids or posed photos?

This is a basic list of questions to ask yourself before ever contacting a photographer. This will help you immensely in the process of narrowing down your search. It will also help you to set a realistic budget for photography. In the next few weeks, I’ll cover each of these topics in more detail to help make your search fun and enjoyable.

 

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

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Do it Right First – Photo Mistakes You Can’t Fix in Photoshop

April 5, 2011 By 1 Comment

It’s usually possible to fix most bad photos in photo editing software like Photoshop. But there are some things you just can’t fix – bad focus and overexposure. So let’s learn how to have fun with those bad photos anyway.  These examples aren’t from a wedding, but the tips will help you (or your guests) take the right right shot the first time.

Bad focus

Poor focus can be caused by actual bad focus or camera shake. You can wind up with bad focus because you focused on a moving target, or used auto focus but didn’t lock the focus on your subject first. You can wind up with camera shake if you are using too slow a shutter speed. Or, as I found out recently, you have an old point and shoot with a real sticky shutter button.

In the photo below, we see a fantastic expression on our clown’s face. The photo seems to be pretty well exposed, and yet… it’s out of focus. Let’s see a close-up of his face.

closeup of blur

What a waste of a great shot. Oh well, it’ll look good in wallet size prints.

Let’s see if the sharpen tool or filter can do anything for us.

smart sharpen

Not too bad. I tried the sharpen filter a few times but didn’t like the results. This time I tried the smart sharpen filter. I set amount to 445% and the radius to 3.6 pixels. Any larger radius and a halo appeared around the nose. here’s a close-up:

It’s still not good. Photoshop can’t really fix bad focus, but perhaps I can print out a 4×6 instead of a wallet without wanting to throw it away. This would also work in a slideshow for the web if there is no zooming into the photo.

Overexposure

Overexposure can be caused by a couple of things. You were playing around with the manual settings and forgot that you changed locations (or took the lens cap off). Or, you had it on a programmed mode, aimed the camera at something dark and let the camera set the exposure based on that. Or, it could be that you have a scene with a large dynamic range (the contrast between the darkest and lightest elements of the composition). You exposed for something in the middle and hoped for the best.

overexposure

Either way, you now have a photo with detail that is lost due to overexposure (see above). The blurred background appears to be correctly exposed, but our subject is bathed in too much light.

So, let’s bring it into Photoshop and try to fix it. Here’s what happened when I tried a simple levels adjustment.

photoshop levels adjustment

No good. Still no detail in his face.

Let’s try adjusting the exposure. I’ll just darken it a bit. After all, that’s what I messed up on in the first place.

exposure adjustment photoshop

My, my. That photo is still looking like it’s heading for the trash bin. Time to play.

photoshop levels contrast adjustment

Like this post on shooting portraits into the sun, this one is a bit artsy and not to everyone’s taste, but it suits me just fine. I got rid of most of the contrast and added a levels adjustment. It brings out his ginormous dark eyelashes and cute nose.

Basic Photography Skills Do Matter

This is when you realize that it’s important to have a grasp on the basics of photography. Know how to hold your camera so that it doesn’t shake. If you are on auto mode and your subject is not centered, aim the camera at them to set the exposure and focus. Most cameras will allow you to hold down the shutter button halfway and recompose the shot, while retaining the proper focus and exposure.

After the wedding and you’ve collected hundreds of guest photos (make it easy), don’t delete those that didn’t come out perfect.  Try some basic fixes in a photo editor can bring them to life.  Plus you can have fun playing with the photos. See what happens when crop, add filters, brighten. Have fun with your photos.

 

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: DIY, Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

The Easiest and Best Way to Find Your Wedding Photographer

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today we have a guest blog from a great company in the wedding photography world, SnapKnot.  We think their approach to finding a pro photographer is major improvement over traditional sites and blogs.  They have a very well designed site that is super easy to use.  Just select your city and set your price range by adjusting the sliders.  Then the Photographers within your selections are shown for you to click through to their site. You can read about SnapKnot in their own words below:

SnapKnot is a unique, photocentric wedding photographer directory. We offer a fast, free, fun, and easy way for brides to find their perfect wedding photographer, and for photographers to connect with new brides and book more weddings. Co-founders Mike Rheaume and Reid Warner, freshman year roommates at Dartmouth College, launched the site in February of 2010.The seed of the idea actually came from Reid’s experience when he and his wife Eunice were married back in 2007. They had a very frustrating time trying to find a photographer. They spent a lot of time on Google searches and on the current “big media” wedding sites that don’t do a very good job in terms of making it easy for brides to browse and compare photographers relevant to their personal needs.
We thought there was a need for a way for engaged couples to find photographers who matched their location and budget range and compare them easily side-by-side. SnapKnot was started as a result. Our goal is to make SnapKnot the go-to place for couples searching for their wedding photographer, and for wedding photographers looking for an innovative, effective way to connect with brides.

We have grown very quickly and response has been overwhelmingly positive.  We currently have over 2300 photographers on the site worldwide (mostly US), and we are seeing about 20k visitors per month. We are different than most wedding sites out there because we cater exclusively to wedding photographers. The site is very photocentric, allowing photographers’ work to speak for itself. Brides do not get overwhelmed by too many different types of vendors while also having the ability to easily search and filter, and our photographers know we are solely focused on increasing site traffic and providing them with more inquiries from qualified leads.

Over the past six months we have become more of an active community than a mere static wedding directory. We have made personal connections in offline “real life” with many of these photographers, and our Twitter and Facebook networks have become very active – especially for our Diamond members.   Plus we have a great blog with interesting and useful info to help any couple in their search for a photographer.
Within the next year, we are planning on expanding much more into the bridal market. Our first year was really about building our wedding photography database to a level high enough to really start promoting the site as a valuable resource to brides. We are also looking at the mobile market, and have some exciting ideas about what this might look like for us over the next few months, so stay tuned. We are always listening to feedback from our users, so one of our primary goals is to stay lightweight and nimble so that we can bring new ideas to market rather quickly. Based in part on this feedback, we have a few ideas about some new onsite tools for brides, as well as layout ideas for our city search that we believe will make the site even easier for brides to use. We hope to introduce many of these new features over the next few months.

Brides: Learn more about how SnapKnot works.

Photographers: Learn more about our membership features.

Also, please follow us on Twitter (@snapknot), Facebook, and check out our blog. Thanks for reading!

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DIY Wedding Photography with Twist

March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hopefully you have not considered buying disposable cameras to place on the tables at your wedding. If so, please stroll over to one of the major wedding sites forums and do a search to learn why it is such a monumentally bad idea (cost, time, terrible pictures).

Now you’ve probably hired a pro photographer who is going to do a fabulous job capturing you and your fiance on your wedding day. But what about the other events related to the wedding – rehearsal, limo ride, honeymoon, etc? And what about all the stuff your guests will be doing? Well with today’s technology you can count on hundreds and even thousands of photos (and videos) being taken on digital cameras, phones, and Flip cams.

The question is, how do you easily get ahold of all those great memories? Email? Facebook? Prints? While those can work (usually with a lot of time and effort hunting them down), many times the results are disappointing due to file size and resolution issues. Of course there are a lot of other free and paid options to use too. We think (okay, we’re biased) the best solution combines four important features:

1. Easy for your guests, with no log-in or passwords
2. Free full resolution downloads for you
3. Privacy – keep the stuff you don’t want your boss or grandma to see hidden
4. Enjoyment – turn the best moments into a slideshow keepsake you can watch every anniversary

So where can you find such an amazing service? Well look no further than Storymix Media’s Guest Memories photo and video service. Check out the slideshow from one of our happy couples. Katie and David had quite an extensive wedding experience that spanned two ceremonies (Illinois and California) with a honeymoon that took them to Brazil, Argentina, and Peru! Being able to include photos from all the different locations and turn them into a slideshow was a real plus. As Katie said, “Thanks, you’re awesome. I love the slideshow!” Enjoy their show and imagine what you could do with all the photos from your guests.

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7 Secrets from the Pros. Take Great Photos at Your Friend’s Wedding

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

by Ariane – Creative Director @Storymix Media on 09/08/2010

As wedding season kicks into high gear for the fall, let’s look at some tips to take awesome photos at your friend’s wedding. I interviewed several photographers who had tips for achieving great photos with your average camera, and some examples shots that would be better shot by the pros. We’ll look at some ways you can actually help those pros deliver fantastic photos to the bride and groom.

See the awesome photo above? That was shot by a happy guest at a wedding. As the exuberant bridal couple left for their honeymoon, dozens of friends and family were there to cheer them on.

Correct Exposure

Note the subtle detail on the bride’s dress? Nope, didn’t think so. That kind of detail can easily be missed on a high contrast photo (dark tuxedo next to white dress). Notice that even the detail on the white dress shirt in the foreground is lost. Yet, we can see all the detail on the tuxedo. The camera set the exposure for the dark areas of the photo: the tux and the room in the background. If you wanted to capture more detail on the bride’s dress with your point and shoot camera, you would have to lock the exposure on something lighter first. If you are running out of time before their exit you could aim the camera at the palm of your hand, press the AE-lock button (most cameras have this feature) and then re-aim at the bridal couple.

Private Moments

How else could you help? Well, Ed Spencer, of First Day Entertainment suggests going wild snapping your shutter at the cocktail hour. This is a time when most photographers are busy taking private shots of the bride and groom. The professional photographers will most likely not be available to capture the family moments at the cocktail hour… the joy as distant cousins reminisce for the first time since childhood… the sorority sisters sharing hugs and memories.

Don’t Forget the Gear

Atlanta wedding photographer Deborah Cruce, of Beedazzling Photography suggests trying your equipment out at home before the big day. Read and re-read your manual. Play with the different settings.

wedding photo long lens

This is an example of a photo that would be better captured by a pro. Deborah snapped this shot using a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens from the balcony of the church. That is a big lens to carry around. At that aperture she was able to get lots of light into the photo without having to slow the shutter speed to the point of blur. With a point and shoot, or DSLR camera with kit lens, this gorgeous couple would look rather tiny.

Be a Know-It-All

If you are really close to the bride and groom, you probably know many of the other friends and family. New York wedding photographer Alex Fischer suggests you can help gather guests together for small informal group shots during the reception.

uncle phil

Unique Angles

Brad White, Monterrey California wedding photographer, of Luminesce Photography suggests using your photographic skills to capture those special moments at unique angles. As the photographer, he might capture the bride tossing the bouquet, while you might capture the catch. He might capture the first taste of cake by the bride and groom, while you peer over the cake and capture the tear in the eye of the mother of the groom.

He also offers this beautiful example of what you can capture with your own amateur camera. This bridal couple posed for a shot, while Brad snapped his shutter with a point and shoot.

luminesce wedding photo amateur

Although the sky has gorgeous color and we see some details on the bride’s dress, all the detail in the tux is completely lost. It’s a nice shot, but check out what he was able to do with his pro camera:

pro luminesce photo

Ah, now we can really see that dress and tux. And the couple does not look like they sprayed on a tan. Thank you for the perfect example of the differences between cameras, Brad.

Going the distance

Speaking of the differences, with your average consumer camera, you are better off getting in close during the ceremony. This photo by Virginia wedding photographer Neil Colton shows the detail achievable with a $5000 lens on a $6000 camera. This shot was taken on an island, across the lake from the wedding. Unless you were on a boat, this photo would have been pretty impossible without that equipment.

neil colton wedding photographer virginia

 

Neil offers some other ways in which guest photographers can be a big help at a wedding. Many brides cannot afford the services of the photographer for the entire reception. This is where you come in. The photographers often leave after the cake cutting or first dance. After getting your own groove on, you can capture the impromptu dance moves of the bride’s grandmother.

Formal Group Shots

You can also be a huge help to the photographer by not taking photos at certain key times. When the pro photographer is taking the formal shots they need everyone looking at the camera. If other people are also taking photos it can be distracting and can also detract from the lighting. You don’t want people to blink during the formal shots because Uncle Phil’s flash went off a 1/2 second before the photographer’s lights.

Sharing Those Photos

Now that you’ve taken those masterpiece photos… how are you going to share them with the bride and groom? Facebook… email… Snapfish… Flickr? Well, let’s examine those options. Facebook allows others to view the photos, but if they try to download them they get a nice 4kb jumble of bits and bytes. Email will take forever to send 50 3MB files one at a time. Snapfish will charge your friend $.25 per photo to download the files. And Flickr will limit you to 200 photos without a pro account.

Check out our new Guest Uploads feature at Storymix Media. For $19.99 you can upload and share an unlimited number of photo and video files. Multiple people can both upload and download without pesky passwords or signing in. And check out the new look on our weddings photo and video website while you’re at it.

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: Guest Memories, Photos, Tutorial Tuesdays Tagged With: ,

Modern Save the Date | Online, Eco-Friendly and Personal

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Post image for Modern Save the Date | Online, Eco-Friendly and Personal

We recently completed a Video STD for Dubuque custom wedding invitation designer Stephonie Ogden of SAO Dzynz. For those of you new to that term, STD is not a disease, it’s for Save the Date.

Stephonie was looking for a fun, unique, and personal way to let her friends and family know when her wedding would be held. She didn’t want to be limited to one photo, or even just photos. And so, she convinced her fiancé to film a video clip to include in a Deluxe Video Save the Date from Storymix Media.

Another reason Stephonie wanted to go with an online save the date was the environmental impact and expense of mailing postcards. The link to the private gallery was simply emailed to all of her family and friends. No need to register – and no html email to get stuck in her friends’ spam boxes.

Last week I interviewed Stephonie to gather any tips she had for filming the best possible video clip to include in your e-Save the Date. As a photographer as well as graphic designer and bride, she was the perfect person to put together tips on capturing the video.

“We were going to say our names in the video clip, but then decided if we are inviting you to our wedding, you know who we are :) Guests will most likely recognize us, hopefully, from the video alone if they don’t know our names, plus the video you put together has our names on a slide so it would be redundant. I think the most important things are to tell your guests when, where, plus a little flare (personality). If you want to mention that a formal invitation will follow, that wouldn’t be bad either :)

Tips on capturing best video:

- Time of day is important. Noon light is the worst lighting of the day, its unflattering coming from above. Make sure the sun isn’t behind you, otherwise you will be a silhouette and no one will be able to see you. Also, be careful about the sun being directly in your face to avoid squinting and funny expressions ;-)

- Beware of your surroundings: if people are in the background and what are they doing, noisy streets/construction/people, bad shadows, location, distractions, etc.

- Review your video before you quit shooting, make sure you look at everything and like everything

- Simple video editing software can help by starting and ending your clip exactly where you want (this helps when you don’t have someone to film for you and you have your camera on a tripod – you have the ability to cut out walking from the camera to your spot and then back to the camera when you are done to stop the recording). My Mac came with one…

[editor's note: Storymix Media will do this for you]

Location was important to us, we wanted it to represent us and our special day, so we decided filming on our boat was perfect. We made sure the boat faced the right direction with the sun and backdrop of the city, waiting for boats to drive by because of noise and the waves (really didn’t want to make our guests sick by viewing a video that was filmed on a rocking boat!).

Just remember, you guys are in love and its fun :) As soon as we made it through a full run through, we were happy with the results. It doesn’t have to be long, short and sweet works just fine :) ”

 

 

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

Filed Under: Tutorial Tuesdays, Video Save the Date Tagged With: , , ,

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