Kendall - Denver High School Senior Photography

When Kendall first contacted me about Senior Photos, her "About Me" section on my contact form went something like this: She likes M&Ms, is sarcastic, has red hair and only wears black.  To be honest, I was quite looking forward to meeting her because she sounded so confident.  When we met up in downtown Denver for her Senior Portrait session, I wasn't disappointed.

Kendall has a great personality and loads of confidence.  She was so much fun to work with!  Although she initially only wanted to smile in her photos, she gave me some great looks that were a little more serious and had some attitude.  Kendall, thanks for an amazing photo shoot.  I had a great time!

M & L - Larkspur Wedding Photography

On a beautiful July evening at the lovely Spruce Mountain Guest Ranch in Larkspur, CO, I had the pleasure of helping  Sarah Roshan of Trulife Photography photograph M & L's wedding (you can read her blog post here).  Here's a peek at what I captured:

Lindsay and Bob - Silverthorne Wedding Photography

On a beautiful July afternoon, Lindsay and Bob were married in Silverthorne, CO.  If you remember when I met up with them in November for a quick photo shoot, I couldn't wait to shoot their wedding.  Well, this was it and it was everything I hoped it would be!

They chose to weave lots of Asian-inspired details into their wedding, including a Torii Gate that her dad built (and had to transport up the mountain in a moving truck), a sake ceremony (san san kudo), and 1000 hand-folded origami cranes!  To say that this wedding had some amazing details would be an understatement!

What made this wedding truly special was the presence of so many family and friends.  It was obvious, not only from the distances people traveled, but by the way everyone acted around each other that this was a very close family and a group of friends that has been around for a long time and will continue to be friends far into the future.  It was such a joy getting to know everyone (I went up the day before to photograph the rehearsal dinner).  By the time I left I felt like I had made a bunch of new friends!

Lindsay, thank you so much for believing in me and booking me before I ever even considered shooting weddings.  I had a wonderful time with you, Bob and your families and friends.  Congratulations, Lindsay and Bob.  I hope you have many, many years of joy and happiness together!

Location: Silverthorne Pavilion
Flowers: Joanelle's
Catering: Gilchrist Catering
Makeup: Belle Amore Makeup Artistry
DJ: Top Hat Entertainment
Officiant: Josh Ratzlaff
Photography: John Bosley Photography
2nd Photographer: Sara Hasstedt Photography

Another huge thanks to Sara Hasstedt for helping me photograph this day.  I couldn't have done it without you, Sara!

What's up with the initials?

You might have noticed in a bunch of my wedding previews from last week I just used the couple's initials, while in others I used their names.  What's up with that?

Any weddings that I shoot with other photographers are their weddings.  I'm there to help capture different angles and moments, but the wedding isn't mine.  In these cases, I just use the couple's initials.  Why?  If the couple's friends search for their wedding, I don't want my blog post coming up in the search results.  Then they might think I was the main photographer!

When the wedding is my wedding, I use the couple's full names.  Same idea... when people search for a wedding, I want to be found in the search results!

OK, now that that's cleared up, get ready for a beautiful wedding I'll be posting on Wednesday!

Utilize Backlight - Better Photos... Now!

We've all seen a photo where there's a  group of people looking at the camera, but they're squinting because they're looking directly into the sun.  It's an easy mistake to make.  You want your subject to be well lit and there's not a better light source than the sun, right?  The only problem is that the resulting photo isn't that great, it's got deep black shadows and your subject is now temporarily blind.  What other options do you have?  Backlight!

By placing the sun behind your subjects, you've completely changed the look of your photo.  Your subjects are no longer squinting, so that's good.  If you've exposed for the shadows on their faces, all of their features will be visible.  Unfortunately, your background is a lot brighter than your subject, so now it's probably pure white.

By getting a little creative with your subject placement, you can create a more interesting background than just pure white.  Find a tree that you can place between your subject and the sun and you'll get a colorful and interesting background for your subject.  You can also use your flash or reflect some light back into their faces to decrease the contrast between your subject and the background (for a reflector, I use a Tri-Grip).  Just be careful you don't reflect too much light or they're going to start squinting again!

Backlighting is a technique that changes for every situation and takes practice to master.  Be patient and keep practicing and eventually you'll start to get results that you're very happy with.  Your subjects will thank you.

NOTE: The entire time your subjects have the sun to their backs, you are facing the sun.  Never look at the sun through your camera!  Also, don't forget to turn around once in a while and see how the light actually looks when it falls directly on something.  Sometimes the intensity of the sun decreases while you're taking photos and you can use it to directly light your subject with beautiful sunlight!

Here's an example of a photo with strong backlight and reflected light
to fill her face.

Here's another example with strong backlight and reflected fill light.

Here's a more subtle example of backlighting, but this time there is
no reflected light.

Read all of my DSLR tips here.

Sneak Peek Week - N & C's Wedding

We ran into some beautiful light at N & C's wedding at Arrowhead Golf Course.  

Sneak Peek Week - M & L's Wedding

Dancing under the lights at M & L's wedding in Larkspur, CO.  More to come soon...