Rami & Khrys revisited

Hey everyone!

Just realized that I never posted anymore images from Rami & Khrys' wedding last month, so here you go. All of these were shot with available light. This is the wedding where I had 3 Canon BP-511 batteries die on me (they refused to take a charge) and wound up shooting the reception with only 1 camera body.

Khrys wore these great red heels under her dress, and when they peeked out they popped, so we had to get some shots of them. And as for the image 2 up from here, that was shot with an off camera flash light in the middle of a golf course. Just having some fun...

Processed with Aperture 3

IMG_8434 - Version 2, originally uploaded by fwisneski.

Hi Everyone!

The image above was processed with Aperture 3. Apple released it this week, and I am playing with the 30 day free trial. It is available for $199. Jeffery and I are having wildly different experiences with it, and I am not ready to give a thumbs up or thumbs down on it yet. The 1 intriguing factor for me with this program is the ability to do slideshows. As a recent Apple convert, I do miss ProShow Producer, but perhaps this program can finally replace that.

Also, in a concerted effort to make the website and blog more cohesive, I made some design changes. Let me know what you think.

Here is a quick update on what to expect this week in class:

Sunday: We will be at Tri. We are going to cover Lightroom. Please don't forget to bring images!

Monday: No school! We are closed for President's day

Wednesday: We will discuss last week's church shoot. Again, bring images!

Thursday: We have models, come prepared to shoot, and BRING IMAGES!!!

See you this week!

Frank and Debbie

I had the pleasure of shooting Frank & Debbie's wedding yesterday. I will add more images to this set as I finish them up, but here is just a little sample. I need to recharge the batteries, format the cards, and back up the images so I can go teach class today. Don't forget, we are shooting rain or shine today, 3pm, at the Pasadena City Hall.

Sometimes equipment really is important...

Creativity and vision are always more important than equipment in photography. Without those, you can take crappy pictures with a 60gb $40,000 Hasselblad all day. With those, you can take amazing pictures with an iPhone.

But when it comes to particular photographic endeavors, sometimes, equipment really is important. In my wedding class, I am often asked if you can shoot a wedding with a Nikon D40 or a Canon Rebel XTI and the 18-55 kit lens.

While the quick answer is yes you can, the truthful answer is "not my wedding". Often times, in weddings, you are shooting under extreme lighting conditions. Wedding photographers live at high ISO's and big apertures. This ain't no sissy job. Dark churches that don't allow flash, dark reception halls that do allow flash, harsh midday sun, group portraits at dusk, large groups, huge groups, beach weddings with sand and wind, the list is long. As such, often times, consumer gear won't suffice. You need the extra boost of fast glass, f/2.8 zooms, and f/1.4 primes. You need the extra boost of quality high ISO's. You need the ability to change settings on the fly without diving into a menu.

Sports photography requires many of the same things, as does photojournalistic work. Wedding shooters live at f/2.8 and ISO 1600. The newer cameras (Think Canon 5D MKII and Nikon D700) take amazing images at high ISO's. They make the job for the shooter easier. It gives the shooter 1 less thing to worry about. Less stress, worrying about image quality or what will happen if you can't use flash, or how do I keep my shutter speeds up enough to avoid blur. The next piece of the puzzle is glass. Gotta have f/2.8 zooms if you are serious about shooting weddings. And IS or VR if it is available for the zoom your looking for. I live with my 24-70 f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8IS attached to my camera bodies.

And if that wasn't enough, what do you do if a camera or flash malfunctions during a shoot? Well, you grab another one out of your bag and keep shooting. You don't get to come back tomorrow if your flash breaks down. I see a lot of people getting their first DSLR and a kit lens, and now they are wedding photographers. Please keep in mind, that to do this professionally, taking pretty pictures is only part of the occasion.

The 2 pictures you see here were taken during a class I taught on Thursday night. The lovely model is Sondra. Thank you Sondra, I know it must be overwhelming to work with so many students. While the class was using my flashes off camera, in the dark at an abandoned gas station, we had the model lit with a low powered hot light to aid in focusing. I utilized that light, ISO 6400, and f/2.8 with my Canon 5D MKII. Are they noisy? Sure, but I had 80 students that wanted to shoot, and I didn't want to get in their way. So I just followed the hot light, and fired away. All in all, I am amazed at the quality of these images at ISO 6400. The Canon 5D MKII continues to surprise me. And the good thing about this exercise is that I get to test out things like this before I need to utilize it in a real world, paying situation.

If you have any equipment questions or concerns, you can always ask them here: Faded and Blurred

And of course, if you are looking to learn more about photography, you can always come check out Tri-Community.

Coming up in class this week:

Monday night we have cars and models. Bring your gear!

Wednesday night we will cover paperwork. Contracts, releases, etc.

Thursday night we will have some Photoshop instruction.

See you all soon, have a great rest of your weekend!

Frank

What do you like to shoot?

My name is Frank, and I shoot people. It's what I enjoy, and have a little talent for. I don't shoot landscapes, architecture, macros, flowers, product, abstracts, the list goes on and on. Not for lack of trying, and some people may tell you differently, but I don't really have the knack for it. I have great admiration for photographers that shoot all of those other types of images, and am often awed and occasionally jealous of others work and talent.

Many non-photography related friends assume that if you take nice pictures, you must be able to take nice pictures of everything. I whole heartedly disagree with that assumption. I do believe that as a photographer, you will find your niche. Now is that to say that you shouldn't attempt any other subject matter? Absolutely not. Don't think for an instant that when I go on vacation with my family, that I am not snapping away at the beautiful vista or memorable landmark in front of me. And I also very frequently go on photo walks and safaris with other photographers to try and sharpen my skills in other arenas.

But most of that sharpening of the skills get's applied to my wedding photography. As a wedding photographer, you must at least be able to dabble in all different aspects of photography. Wedding at a beautiful 19th century church? Shooting architecture. Getting pictures of the rings? Product or macro imagery. Someone getting married on the beach or in a National Park? Landscape. Table settings, cake, dinner, shoes, the dress, lot's of details that do not directly relate to people photography. I do them all when on a wedding shoot, and try to do them as creatively as possible.

Now, most of my shots that are outside the people realm are "technically" good. As in properly exposed, but they lack that "punch" of a much more talented photographer working those types of images.

So what is the meaning of all of this? I know what I can do decent enough, so that tends to be what I specialize in, but I also like all other types of photography too. So I keep trying. And I think that this adds an interesting dimension to the people aspect of my photography.

What really got me thinking about all of this is a forum posting by a photographer whose work I really dig., Kevin May. He is an amazing photographer who has the opposite problem, (or perception), than I do. He can shoot everything but people. Specifically, this forum discussion was on a website dedicated to shooting pretty girls. Yet he continues to participate in discussions and the posting of images. Said posting is here:

http://www.supershoots.net/forums_topic

So while I don't think I am the next Ansel Adams, I certainly do have an appreciation for what he was able to do, and if anyone wants to go shoot in Yosemite, give me a call, and let's go. I am always up for trying to better my skills and my eye. Can we bring a model?

Now here is what is up for next week. I originally thought I was going to have something super cool to announce for Monday nights class, but it looks like it will have to wait a week. Keep your fingers crossed, it will be awesome. Instead, we will be playing with multiple flashes, in large groups. Maybe we will even try a class picture with everyone holding speedlights.

On Wednesday we will be lecturing. I know several of you have upcoming weddings, so we will cover everything again. Bring your questions.

On Thursday, we will be doing another Engagement shoot in downtown Covina, with one of our own. Cue spooky music...

Please don't forget to bring images. We have done a lot of shooting, and our models are only working for prints and images on CD. I would also love to see some work and critique it for the class.

I am also including a before and after shot from our Thursday night engagement shoot. Remember, I only took 4 shots, as I was just testing the lights so I could get the students shooting, but here they are. The setup was 2 speedlights, set to TTL, the main was shot through a white umbrella, and the light on him was gridded. ISO 400, f5.6, 1/60 sec:

And don't forget to tell me what you think so far in the comments below. Maybe even tell us what you like to shoot, and why? Or what type of photography you wish you were better at, or admire? Let's get all interactive.

See you soon,

Frank