Tuesdays Tips Tricks and Techniques - Setting up the shot

Today's post will be a little different, being that I will not be talking specifically about portrait photography. These tips, while talking about a still life setup, are equally important in lighting a portrait and can be used, and should be used just the same.

So where do you even start when setting up a scene and using multiple light sources? For this shot, I had an idea of what the finished product would look like as well as the style of lighting i wanted to use so I setup the lights and powered up the two main lights as well as introduced a single aspect of the scene. When lighting glass you generally do not want to light it from the front, you would get some very unflattering glare and reflections. Knowing I wanted a darker background I chose to light this scene from both sides with gridded soft boxes. If I was going to use a lighter background, I would have lit the main scene from the back.

Now I had my main lights setup and I adjusted the power to get the look I wanted. Since I was using two main lights, I had them both on to start with, but if I was going to use a main light, a fill light and a background light, I would introduce one at a time, this lets you better see what each light is doing. When you are starting out, it is a good exercise to add one light at a time and to power off the light you already setup; this gives you an even better understanding of what the light is doing. This is one of the amazing perks of shooting digital, you get to see what each light does and to build the scene little by little.

Here I added another element to the scene as well as the addition of a background light. You can do an isolated, solid black background but it makes the scene feel dead. Adding a little gradient of light helps to bring everything to life. Now it is time to add in the rest of the elements and to dial in the lighting.

Adding the rest of the elements showed where I had issues with the lights. Before the bottle and glass were well lit but now the book and skull blocked a good bit of the light on the left side of the bottle and the front of the book was much too dark.

To keep some shadows I powered down the light on the camera right and brought it forward to spill over on the front of the book, I also increased the power on the camera left light and moved it back and aimed it at more of an angle toward the camera. This kept everything well lit while providing some interesting shadows.

Time to add the wine to the glass and make final adjustments. This is nice but I felt like it needed just a little bit of fill from the front.

It is very subtle but I thought it needed just that little extra light. I shot much wider than I needed to, but that makes the cropping easier later, and with the sensor size of these digital cameras, you can get away with it, especially if you are not printing huge. The lighting and setup is all done, now it is time to do your edits. Sorry, but I may keep a few secrets today :)

If you don't have many lights but can use photo editing well you could do this all with one light. To do that, you need a solid tripod with remote (you don't want to touch the camera at all). All you do is setup your one light in each spot and combine all of the exposures in editing. It is a great way to start if you only have one light. This setup ended up using two gridded soft boxes, one gridded spotlight on the background and a large reflector for fill. The setup is kind of like a little dance which you can see in the animated gif below.

                                                     

Was this helpful to you? You can use these same techniques when lighting a portrait. Start with one light and fine tune it, adding in more elements as you are ready. Start small and work your way up.

Thinking Thursdays - The Black in "Black Friday"

The term Black Friday is very fitting for that consumer holiday. I know the origins but I want to take a more inspired view on the word.

Black, blackness, darkness all have been used by edgy groups to show their disdain for the light and to make it a point that they are of a darker mindset. Personally I am quite drawn to darker art, gothic artists and melancholy images but they do bring a feeling of loneliness and despair. Loneliness and despair are hardly words I would think businesses would want to associate themselves with, especially during the Christmas season. I know it has little to do with the color and more to do with turning a profit, but still.

And the darkness is coming earlier and earlier each year. I recently heard about a big box store announcing that their Black Friday deals were going to start around dinner time on Thanksgiving, I find so much wrong with that. We are already dealing with Christmas decorations and end caps making their appearance while the ghosts and goblins of halloween are just being moved to the clearance bins. There is little talk of Thanksgiving and it seems there is little talk of people being thankful. And it isn't as though stores and people are rushing in to celebrate the birth of Christ; no, they just want to start buying stuff.

We aren't thankful for having the money to buy stuff or even thankful for the gifts we get and those we give. We are just a very unthankful people. And now we are skipping over a time when we should be celebrating with our families around a dinner table and are instead out looking for a good deal on something we don't need and won't really even want soon after we get it.

What if we all chose to boycott all these Black Friday deals and the commercialization of November and December? What if instead of being out buying stuff for our friends and families we instead took that time and energy and invested it in each other? How many of you would be happier to spend some quality time with a loved one instead of opening some gift that you don't really need? If memory serves me correctly, I believe that some new video game systems are hitting the stores very soon. We will leave our children at home with someone else to go out and buy them a present that will let them zone out away from you. That is all time you will never get back and conversations you will never have.

I have never done the shopping binge that is Black Friday but i have spent time away from my family, struggling to find stuff to fill in the space under the tree. But a couple of years ago I had this realization that maybe, just maybe, i was doing it all wrong. Being a single dad makes you watch your money but it also makes you see how much the kids really value your time. It would be easier to do my own thing and throw presents at them often to try to "show" my love and that may work for awhile. But kids are not stupid and they will one day realize your true intentions. Love is not in a present or in a tangible box that you unwrap. Love is in you and it is shown by time and energy invested. It's funny when you look at Christians and the Church. We often seem to revert to the Black Friday mentality and buy our love for God. We throw some money in a plate or donate to a cause but rarely do we invest our time and energy into God and into His people. God doesn't need our money or our things, he asks for us and for our time.

A couple of years ago my gift to the kids for Christmas was a vacation to Disney World. They didn't really have anything to unwrap from me under the tree but what they did get was a full week of me spending the time with them, making memories and having conversations. In five years, or ten or twenty do you think they will remember a video game they unwrapped so many years ago or do you think they will remember the time we spent together on vacation? And boy did we spend that time. We went from the time they were up until bedtime on the go. Hitting the parks and the pool and just being together. Maybe this year, instead of buying a bunch of stuff, you could take that money and go. Go spend time together and make some memories. After all, it is the memories we will remember the most.

Wednesdays Wedding Planning - No "I" in team.

Are you married, been married or getting married? Ever feel like you just want to skip it all and just get married now. I (Josh) have seriously given some thought to how we could expedite our wedding and just get married now. Patience isn't a virtue of mine but it is something I seem to always be working on. I don't think it is all that selfish to want to just start our married lives together and I think we could get married now and it wouldn't be a bad thing. But then I realize just how much is left to do. True there is the flowers and the cake and the tuxes and so on but there is also the housing situation and the packing and moving and honeymoon and budget and everything else that goes along with it.

There is also the guests. Someone once told me that Weddings and Funerals were not for those people the ceremony was being performed for but rather for those attending. A Father walking his only daughter down the aisle, two families joining together and in our situation, two children that I believe need to have this stake put in the ground to show that things are changing. Two children that have only known life with me for the past five plus years who are learning what it is like to have this wonderful woman join in our lives. I think the symbolism of the wedding ceremony will be very important for them as we join this family together.

I also heard a new way of understanding marriage at last weekends church service. I am committing my life to Katie but I am also making a covenant with God about how I will treat this woman. That's a pretty big deal. So while I do wish we could elope or at least move up the ceremony I think we have plenty to do to have it ready by June. The planning has been pretty stagnant for the last few weeks but our relationship has been far from that. We have had some important and encouraging talks with each other. We have had to come to some decisions together and have failed at that but learned what we did wrong and how to do it better the next time.

have you ever been on a team or watched one play? Have you ever seen them practice together the first time? A championship team does not start out that way, usually they start off awkward as they learn their strengths and weakness and those of their teammates and how to assist each other. It isn't that a championship team doesn't have any weaknesses, it is that they know and understand those weakness and how to support each other so that they can conquer everything. It is the same with marriage, it isn't that we don't each have weaknesses but it is that we understand them and we learn how to work together to become stronger. Once you find a teammate that will play alongside you the entire game, you can't let go of them. They may become injured but it is your duty to come alongside them and offer your strength as they heal. If you leave them behind you will fail. If you stop with them the opposition will get ahead but if you help them you may have set backs but you will still be in the game together. Be there for each other always but keep moving even when there are injuries. Lift each other up and carry each others burdens. That is what we are doing and it is what we will continue to do and because of that we will be a championship team.

Tuesday Tips Tricks and Techniques - Finding better light

Light, the crux of all photography. After all photography is simply capturing light but not all light is equal. Summer light is different then Winter light. Morning and evening light is different then afternoon light. And even at the same time of day, light reacts differently depending on how and where it falls. Light is also constantly changing. Clouds move across the sun, overcast days mute the light while trees and buildings block and shape the light. Capturing better photos of anything depends largely on the quality of light.

You will not likely see any spectacular landscapes captured during high noon. There is actually a term for professional and hardcore landscape photographers; wet bellies. This is because to get the best light for a landscape, they are out in the very early morning hours crawling around while the ground is yet saturated with dew.

The above shot was taken just before noon in late november. I was playing with my settings and getting shots of the kids feeding the birds. So while it is not a traditional landscape, it does give an idea of the light on the landscape. Being late Fall you can see the shadows are longer for that time of day since the sun is much lower in the sky. If you were to shoot this same shot in the Summer, the light would be almost directly overhead and much harsher. But lets see how the landscape looks at a better time of day.

This shot was taken at 6:22AM. It was cold and dark when I setup the shot. Very cold for being at the beach but it was well worth it. The light is soft and golden and it shapes the landscape beautifully. Composition and editing aside, if you want to take better landscape photos you have to be up early. Evening light is very beautiful as well, but in my opinion the morning light is just better and you have very few people out at that time of day. Most of them start arriving as soon as the sun peeks above the horizon but you want to shoot before that happens. Of course many of the truly great landscapes happen when a photographer finds a location and visits it often as they wait for the perfect light.

Photographing people is no different, you need to find or make the best light to capture them. Let's have a look back at one of the first "portraits" I took of my daughter.

This shot was taken with a Canon 7D dslr with a canon 70-200mm f 2.8 lens. For some of you that may not mean much, but lets just say that that is a $3,000+ gear setup capable of capturing incredible photos. The photo above is not an incredible photo by any means. It is a photo of my daughter and if that is all I had I am sure I would think it was adorable; I likely thought it was a pretty good photo when I took it. This was captured in direct sunlight in the middle of the day. Her eyes are dark with no light falling on them and the photo lacks contrast. With the gear I was using I should have been able to capture a stunning portrait, but I did not understand lighting at all at that time. I figured you put a subject in light and you could get a good shot with expensive gear. Luckily I was, and still am, part of an online photo community that was not afraid to point out my short comings and what all was wrong with this photo. I am glad they did because of that I have improved and now have some beautiful photos of my children.

The gear is essentially the same in these shots and had little to do with how they came out. True, the gear helps blur the background and will help with lower light photography but the light is the real hero. In the photo of my daughter the light is directly behind her and I exposed for her face. That makes the background lighter than her but with a vignette and some editing it all comes together. The important thing is that the light on her face is softer and there is contrast separating her from the background. And notice her eyes, they have a sparkle and life to them that the first photo I shared did not have. For my son, the light is off to his right side (camera left) and bring a little bit of shadow to his left side. If you don't like the light that is there, you can always bring your own.

So some tips to capture better photos of your kids, or spouse, or boyfriend/girlfriend etc...

Get out of the direct light.

Put the light behind them, or to the side and expose for the skin.

Make sure there is a light showing in their eyes.

Use a reflector to bounce some light back onto them. In the first photo I used a gold reflector for that, in the last photo it is just all natural.

If at all possible, shoot earlier in the morning or latter in the evening when the sun is not so high in the sky.

Find open shade.

Follow this blog :)

Seriously though, there is so much to learn about how light works and reacts with the surroundings that I couldn't cover everything in one blog post. So check back next Tuesday where we will continue our exploration of light. We will talk more about open shade, light modifiers, natural light modifiers and artificial lighting. Join me and I will help you to capture better photos that will last you a lifetime.  And soon you will learn how much you can do with light.

Come back next week where we will discuss using a reflector, both artificial and natural. See you soon. And if you have any specific questions leave them below in the comments. I love to hear from you.

Fisher Family

What is better than enjoying the Fall foliage at the Peaks of Otter? Enjoying it while photographing a sweet family. A loving couple with two sweet kids and a beautiful Fall day made for a wonderful outing. The young boy was very, lets say energetic but I think I still captured some great looks from him. The young girl was sweet as can be with a darling smile. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed capturing them.

Fall Family Portraits

I got to photograph this sweet beautiful family for Halloween. I just loved that the kids were playing in the leaves and that the whole family got in on the action. Days like this are why I truly love this job. Such a sweet family, I am so glad they chose me to capture their memories.

Thinking Thursdays - What Do I Know of Holy?

If you ever frequent 90.3 Spirit FM here in Lynchburg, chances are you have heard this song. But, have you really listened to it? The music is beautiful, the voices angelic but the words are so so powerful. It is easy to get caught up in the music and completely miss out on what the message is. Take a few minutes and listen to the song while reading the lyrics. If you can't view the video here are the lyrics.

                                             "What Do I Know Of Holy"
                                                       by Addison Road

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

[CHORUS]
So What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
So What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

[CHORUS]
So What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
So What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

[CHORUS 2]
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life it's name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

[CHORUS]
So What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

We can read books, listen to music and talk about who we think God is and what we think of Holy but what do we really know of Holy? "Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees" Have you ever been driven to your knees by the very thought of God? Have you ever had a glimpse of Him and became so overwhelmed that you could barely breathe? Maybe many of us are worshiping a god that doesn't or can't do that. Maybe we have made our own god, our own version of Jesus. I know I did that for so many years of my life. Sure there were some emotional times and thoughts that I was worshiping God but if there is no real power in His name, you are using the wrong name. 

Have you ever seen people around you, even in your same church that seem to know more of God then you do even though you both believe the same things? What do they have that you don't? What did they have that I didn't is the question I had. I still remember the exact moment it all became so real to me. I don't remember the exact day (as far as the calendar goes) but I do remember that day. That was the day that I got a glimpse of who God might be and boy was I driven to me knees. I had created my own god with the name of Jesus but man was it so far from who God really is. We are only missing out when we put our own thoughts on who God is, we cannot comprehend His name. 

It is a journey, before and after learning who God really is but it is worth so much when you start to learn about who He is and not who you think He is. 

What does this even have to do about photography or weddings? Why am I posting this on a photography blog? This is the most important thing there is, everything else is just stuff. But how would those things change when we start to really as ourselves what do we know of holy? How would we treat our wives, husbands, parents and kids? Would we really care about arguing about money or what to eat? How much easier would it be to forgive when we realize how much we have been forgiven. What would marriage look like when God is at the center? Imagine how amazing of a marriage you could have when that happens. It won't be perfect but can you even imagine what it would look like with God showing us how to love? 

Today marks my parents 54 year anniversary. It hasn't been perfect and I am certain there are many struggles that I never saw but they have stood by each others sides. My parents are the most amazing people I know. I don't believe there is anything my mom wouldn't sacrifice if it meant helping her family out. Her faith and her prayer and her love is not something that is normal, and without God, I don't think it would even be possible. 

I know for Katie and me to have a truly amazing marriage, God has to be in the middle of it. It is so amazing to me to watch her as she is continuing to explore this relationship with God. She wants it to be real and so do I. Don't we all want something real? I know that is what God wants us to have, otherwise the death and the resurrection would have been for nothing. 

Wednesdays Wedding Planning - Lynchburg Wedding Photographers

Whew, has another week passed so quickly? Katie has been so busy with her teaching job and helping me with the photography work, which we had something each day this weekend, we just haven't done much talk at all about the wedding. We also are having some vehicle issues that we are working on as well as thinking and planning for our future together. So while actual plans for the wedding day have not really been mentioned we do talk each day and work each day on the upcoming marriage.

Marriage counseling is in the works and we should be assigned to our mentor couple very soon, we are both very excited about this chapter in our lives. As I mentioned, we are having some car issues which relates to talking about our options and what we could do and what would be best to do. It is very important to us to keep communication open and not to just assume what the other is thinking. We have also agreed to be completely honest with our thoughts and feelings and to learn and to make sure we listen openly and intently so that we can come to a decision.

How often does the busyness of planning a wedding get in the way of building a marriage? I wonder that because of photographing weddings I can see the amount of work that goes into so many small details; I also am realizing that more myself as we work on planning our own wedding. I wonder if the average person puts in as much time working out the small details of their personal lives, as well as their future lives with their fiancé, as they do with the details of their wedding? The wedding day is over in a day, all of the work you put into it is for one day. The napkins you embroider with your names are thrown in the trash, the flowers decay, the food is eaten and all of those special little decorations are quickly forgotten. I wonder how well you would remember your wedding day if it were not for the photos and maybe video? But this post has nothing to do with the photos, at least that is where it is taking me.

Are all those details important? I really don't think they are. Don't get me wrong, they are wonderful things and it is amazing to see each brides twist on their own wedding but in the end, they really are not important; they won't make your marriage any better or any worse. So, I am not saying to forget about planning the wedding or to forego some details that you would really like. But. Are you spending as much time and effort on getting to know one another as you are on studying pinterest? Have you talked as much about your goals in life and marriage as you have what colors to use? Have you struggled with the decisions about how to handle the conflicts that can arise in your marriage as you have about who to invite to your wedding?

Don't become a statistic and have your marriage end in divorce or just be bad. Work now and work each day on building this relationship with each other. You are what matters on your wedding day, make sure your time invested reflects this.

Also I am a glutton for comments so look down just a bit and leave some love :)

Tuesday Tips Tricks and Techniques - Get those photos off your computer!

My fiancé (Katie) and I recently started watching the tv show Revolution, gotta love netflix :) And with several actors/actresses in this from LOST, well what more do you need. The premise of the show is that there was a worldwide blackout fifteen years ago and the electricity doesn't work anymore. Nothing. No cars, tv's, radios, phones; nothing. What does this have to do with the topic? One of the characters carries a phone around, even though there is no power, because somewhere on the phone are the only photos she has of her kids. I love my phone, it is full of photos from life and I love looking at them often. I also have three external hard drives ful of photos as well as several discs used for backups.  Thousands and thousands of photos with many of those being of my family. But what if? What if the power went out and we lost all of those memories?

It is difficult to imagine the world with no power, and perhaps it is not anything that would or could ever happen. But. Computers do fail and hard drives fail. I remember many years ago I lost a memory card full of pictures of the kids. I never found it and now I can't even remember what pictures were even on that card. Computers and hard drives fail. Cd's and usb drives of images get lost and yet we still fill them with our important memories as if they will always be there.

It is time to get those prints made. Get a few large prints, maybe a canvas or two of the really special photos and display them on your wall. Make photo books. A couple of years ago I (Josh) took the kids on a trip to Disney World, I could probably write several blog posts on just that, and when we got home I created a huge photo book filled with hundreds of our memories. I was intentional with the photos because I knew I was going to make a book but even if you weren't I am sure you have memory cards or your phone filled with photos from your trip. They may not be perfect or the best quality but they are still your memories.

Make those books that you can sit down with and relive those memories with your kids. Print out 4x6 prints to stick to your fridge, frame prints to hang and sit on tables and make some large prints for your wall. Get those memories off of the computer and your phone and make them tangible. I recently talked with a bride who received a disc of her wedding images but between the whirlwind of marriage, the honeymoon, life and getting pregnant with her first child, she just hasn't printed anything.

If you have a photo session, seriously talk to your photographer about having them order prints for you. If you did get a disc, print them yourself. There are numerous high quality labs you can use if you have a print release. There are also several online publishers that you can easily create an affordable photo book.

Mpix  -  an excellent online photography printing company offering cards, books, prints, canvases and more.

Walgreens - not the best quality but great for cheap 4x6 prints to hang around and tape up.

Shutterfly - not as high quality as Mpix but a little cheaper. They also offer an assortment of products.

Blurb - A fairly cheap and decent quality photo book company.

MyPublisher - a higher quality online photo book company. They are constantly offering great coupons for your books.

There are so many options to fit everyones needs. So upload those memories and get them displayed. You will be happy you did.

Weddings and Broadway and Zombies, Oh My!

This was an absolute thrill of a weekend as far as work goes. Friday night I got to cover the Ugly Bug Ball for Amazement Square. The tables and costumes were amazing and it was just so much fun meeting so many good people. I may be biased, but the Sweeney Todd table was spectacular, plus meeting the people from Fusion Salon was so much fun. I mean, how awesome does this Sweeney Todd look? (more after the jump)

 It wasn't all gore and creepy though. We had the well known Jennifer Prince of Bliss and the Mike McKendree of the 93.7 KHF Morning show representing Annie.

The lion King, Tarzan, Cats and more were all represented in all their glory.

Fast forward to Saturday and I was second shooting for LuAnn Hunt of LuAnn Hunt Photography  at Amanda and Matt's wedding. It was a little cool out but the Fall colors and the wedding day fun was warming. 

On to Sunday and it was hordes of zombies at the United Way Run For Your Life fundraiser. I worked with Tabitha and the united way as well as a couple of other photographers to help them create the marketing materials for the event. During the event Katie and I ran a photo booth for any of the zombies looking to get an awesome photo done. It was a beautiful evening and there was a great turn out. 

I absolutely love my job, I love the people I get to meet all of the time and I love where things are going. I strive to be sure I glorify God in all that I do, so even when shooting zombies I pray that my actions will show my love for Him always. So that was last weekend, now we are on to blogging, shooting a couple of family sessions, trick or treating and more. Mini sessions are scheduled for November 9th and the Bliss Venue tour is the 10th. So what did you do this weekend?

Thinking Thursdays - Love and Marriage

Oftentimes other people can say things so much better than we can. I will continue to write about mine and katie's upcoming marriage and what we are learning but after watching this video today, I think this is more important than anything I could say today.



What would the world look like if more of us would love like this? The world is broken and on this side of eternity it can never get like this for all of us, but what if we took the first step and love like this? To truly love like Christ? What would that look like to those looking on? No infidelity, no judgement, no guilt just unfaltering love. This is the type of love I want and it is the type of love I want to give.

It won't be perfect but this is what I will strive for. Guys, love your woman unconditionally and lift her up. Ladies, love your man and encourage him. When two people are striving to love like this, there is nothing they can't overcome. Divorce doesn't become an option but marriage and love become the priority.

Wedding Planning Wednesdays - Engagement Photos and the wedding photographer - Virginia Wedding Photographer

It's that time of week again, hard to believe another week has slipped by so quickly. We are just under 8 months left in planning our wedding and at times it feels like we have so much left to do but I think it is important to realize what all has been done so far.

We have our location for the ceremony and reception picked out and reserved. We, well Katie has, bought the wedding dress; she is doing an excellent job hiding that from me as well. We have also picked out two possible cake vendors which we will be meeting with soon. The colors have been chosen, although there is still the question of the hue. I (Josh) never put much thought into how many hues one color, purple, could have. The date has been chosen as well as where we plan on honeymooning. We took a quick getaway to Williamsburg over the weekend where we took our own engagement photos.

This brings up a good question, should you shoot your own engagement photos? Being as we are wedding photographers and I (Josh) learned a lot about about photography by doing self portraits, we figured we would save some money and do our own. There were definitely some pros and cons to going this route. For Pros, we didn't have to pay anyone. We got to do them in one of our favorite places, Williamsburg, Va. We setup the shots that we wanted and I think we got some beautiful shots together. For the cons, that is a little more difficult. When you have a photographer doing them you get to give your full attention to your fiancé, I think I did pretty well dividing my attention and I was still able to get some pretty candid shots since I just held the remote shutter and turned my attention to Katie. 

There were many missed focus shots because, well, there wasn't anyone behind the camera. The biggest thing for me (Josh) though was I took the shots, edited them and did the slideshow so I didn't get the full impact of seeing them for the first time; Katie did get that though so I was very happy with that. So would I do it that way again? Absolutely, but I caution you to not do it unless you have a familiarity of doing self portraits. I think I will still be surprising Katie in the next week but I can't divulge anymore on that since she will see this :) Love you Katie :)

Our wedding photos will not be done by us, it was actually a pretty big process deciding who would do our photos. A few local first choices were booked for our date, one had gotten out of doing weddings and some were out of our price range. In the end I am very happy and thrilled to have Emily Russell of Emily Russell Photography capture our day. Check out her facebook page by clicking on the link

over her name. 

I knew Emily from when I lived in Michigan and through the power of social media reconnected. And being a

photographer we messaged often talking about the business and I even was privileged to assist her on a wedding.

So things are progressing well even though we still have much to do. One thing we have both found that is very important

is that we continue to take time to continue to grow closer together. The weekend getaway helped a lot, especially as work 

is devouring much of our time and everything else. We have also started going to a bible study to grow closer to God as we 

grow closer together. Premarital counseling is also in the works as we both realize that relationships and marriage takes a lot

of work and effort. We know there will be good times as well as bad times and we have both seen and continue to see very 

unhealthy relationships around us. We will be different and we hope to be an inspiration and help to others. 

Marriage is work, there is no easy way. Some people choose to jump from relationship to relationship and quickly run when things

get hard. We have been blessed to not have had any big trials but we know that they will come. Because of that knowledge we know

we must work hard at the foundation so that when the storms come we will make it through. Neither of us take the commitment of 

marriage lightly and we hope to be a light to those around us. Engagement to Katie is my promise to marry her and this is our foundation 

building time. It isn't that we don't want to build the house immediately but we know we want our house built on the rock. So come and walk 

with us. 

Tuesday Tips Tricks and Techniques - What camera bag is right for me?

You have your bright shiny new camera.; maybe it is a huge dslr like the Canon 1Ds Mark IV or maybe you have a nice small compact or you may just use your cell phones camera but now how do you carry it around? I will just focus on the dslr on this post since that is what I use and if you have a cell phone you likely already have some sort of case for that. So what do you buy for your camera?

Options, options, options.... So many options for carrying a camera that it can get overwhelming. Do you get a backpack? Maybe a hard pelican case is better for you, but don't forget about the sling packs and traditional camera bags. Let's start with what I use, all three of them.

As a working professional that takes studio strobes on location I needed a case to haul the lights around in that would protect them. This thing is a beast, it is big, it is heavy but it does its job. The case is watertight and pressurized for flying. I haven't had to use either of those perks but the weather sealed aspect is nice when you are dealing with fragile electronic equipment. I can even downsize my gear to where I can fit the light, battery, cameras, lenses, and more all in one space which is great when I have to haul everything on my own. I wish it was just a bit larger or had a way to accommodate a light stand.  If you have a lot of gear and want absolute protection this is the way to go but be forewarned it is heavy and while it has wheels, they are almost entirely useless if you take it off of pavement.

Pros:
Weather sealed
customizable to fit what you need
impact protection

Cons:
Heavy
Bulky
wheels are useless off of pavement

Easy to carry and it fits most of your gear, especially if you are a hobbyist. When you start hauling multiple cameras and several lenses along with batteries, cables, remote triggers and flashes you run out of room fast. There are several sizes of backpacks and this one was perfect for when I got it. When you are looking for a backpack case make sure you allow yourself a little room to grow. At the very least you want plenty of room for your camera, a long lens, a wide lens, one flash, batteries, filters and room to spare for an additional lens. This setup is great for nature hiking or going to the beach. I can fit a long lens for wildlife, a wide angle for landscapes, a flash (because you just never know) and some batteries. I can even strap my tripod on the outside and have room for water. I highly recommend a backpack style camera bag for those who like to do a lot of walking around with their hobby. Some issues to be aware of are that if you are a tourist the case is on your back and someone could unzip it and steal your gear. Also be aware that the zipper could fail and spill your valuable gear.

Pros:
easy to carry
holds a nice assortment of gear
comfortable

Cons:
easier for someone to steal your gear while wearing it
The zipper could break spilling your gear
slow access when you want to change lenses

The shoulder bag, comes in an assortment of colors, designs and sizes. This was the very first bag I got for my camera so it fits very little anymore but I use it all of the time at weddings. I carry my camera on a sling strap and keep my spare flash and lenses to change right in the bag alongside batteries and memory cards. This bag will soon be replaced by a thinktank shoulder bag.

Pros:
Comes in a variety of sizes to accommodate and shooting style and budget
comfortable, but not as comfortable as the backpack
easy access

Cons:
if you get a size that is right for your gear and body I can't think of any except that it is not impact resistant.

Things to consider:

Make sure you get a bag that is comfortable to wear for an extended period of time. Has easy access to everything in the bag. Get a bag that gives you room to grow; if you have a camera and 2-3 lenses get a bag that can fit 4-5 lenses and maybe even a second camera. You want a bag that will last you a few years without running out of room, I am about two years past due to upgrade my bag. Don't get a camera name brand bag, you know like two of mine that say canon. When you get a bag to go with your brand, i.e. canon or nikon, you are advertising that you are carrying around expensive camera gear. For me, I will be putting my money into a http://www.thinktankphoto.com bag.

You could probably write an entire book on camera bag systems, but my thoughts and suggestions are to get a bag that will fit more than you currently have, is easy to access, is comfortable and doesn't blatantly advertise that you are carrying camera gear around.

What is your carrying preference?

Josh & Katie Engaged - Virginia Wedding Photographer

Yes we are Engaged :) I know the ring made it official but for me (Josh) I find having the engagement photos done helps to cement the fact in my mind. Perhaps this is because I don't have a ring to wear, so having official photos done is kind of like my ring. So who took them? We did of course :) I heard it said that you can't do your own engagement photos but being that photography is our life and business it only made sense to shoot them ourselves. Plus Katie won't let me do our wedding photos so I had to do something.

Normally I would like to write up a little something on the engaged couple but we put ourselves out there all over the blog and our website that it would seem to just be repeating ourselves. If you haven't read it already though, I did write a post about  Why Am I Getting Married which you should totally check out.  The weather was very uncooperative for the Family session we had booked for Saturday so when that ended up being rescheduled we decided to head to one of our favorite places, Williamsburg, and do our own engagement photos. The weather ended up being cool but very beautiful for our session and we both had so much fun being in a place we love, with each other doing what we love. So here is what we captured, we are both so happy to share this time of our lives with you.