Las Vegas Photographer

Recently, I photographed Kris and Tom’s wedding in Oregon. They are an awesome couple and I loved being part of their special day! One experience from that day led me to think a lot more about privacy and the role of wedding photographers – when do we need to back off and when is it okay to keep shooting, etc…

This is the scenario: After the ceremony, Kris and Tom went into the house with Tom’s kids. Immediately, I could tell it was a very emotional and special moment for the family. My gut instinct was to give them space, but I realized as a photographer, they hired me to capture ALL the memories from their wedding day. At all my other weddings, I always follow the bride – no matter what. This time was no exception. I followed Kris into the room and used a zoom lens to give them as much space as possible. Then took these photos….

They ended up being Kris’s favorites because of the emotion and story behind each image. For Kris these images are real, raw, and beautiful! From this experience, I’ve been reminded that I am hired to invade privacy – even when it feels like I should stand outside of the room. As photographers, we shouldn’t fear photographing the intimate moments, because that’s why we’re there. What’s the worst that could happen? If the client doesn’t want us there, they will ask us to leave. The payoff is pretty awesome when you have the opportunity to capture intimate memories like this

And it also helps to use a zoom lens and back off ….

Las Vegas Wedding Photographer Destination Wedding Photographer

Jeff and Karen knew they wanted their wedding portraits taken in the Valley of Fire, near Las Vegas. It was important to them that this dramatic desert landscape be a part of their portraits.

In my opinion, if you want the environment in the shot, then shoot it like a landscape. That is exactly how I handled their portrait session. For most of these images, my aperture was set to f16 , to ensure that the landscape would be clear and sharp. If I were to have my aperture set wider – at f2.8, then the landscape wouldn’t have been in focus. Because the landscape was critical to this shoot, that obviously wouldn’t have worked for this session.

Another thing that helped this environmental portrait session be successful was the time of day it was shot. Because I knew we would have direct sunlight all day long (being in the desert and all), I needed to shoot when that direct light was softer and not as hot. The best time for this is either sunrise or during the last 20 minutes left of daylight. We chose to do this session in the morning – at about 5:45 a.m., to be exact So early, but SO worth it!

EXAMPLE 1: Silhouette & Stars

EXAMPLE 2: Backlighting

Here is a riddle for you - What do the above two pictures have in common (besides that they are of the same couple)?

ANSWER: Even though these photos have completely different exposures, both were photographed at the same spot. The only one who moved was me – the photographer . This is a great example of how using back-lighting through different exposures can create several different portraits. Here’s how:

How to make the silhouette:

Before you start to pose your subjects, make sure you are shooting in manual and that your flash is off. You will need  a strong light source to place behind your subjects – like the sun. Have them stand so they are blocking it out, positioned at an angle so that you will see more profiles. You will want to meter for the background and not your subjects, which will underexpose them – or make them dark. Because your camera will want to make everything in the frame exposed, you can manually stop down with your shutter speed. (explained in The Art of Photographing Backlit Subjects). You’ll also notice that this example has a really cool star underneith the brides chin. Read on for instructions to create that.

This article really breaks it down with more explanation, if you’d like more details.

How to make a star:

I love being able to use stars in silhouettes – especially when they can be strategically placed, as the star is under the chin in this example. To do this, first follow the steps above. You will need to set your aperture to f16 or f22. What this does is focus the light which creates that star look. If you were to set your aperature to f2.5, then you would blow out the light, or it would not be as focused, creating the exposure for Example 2.

How to blow out the background:

Once again, make sure your camera is in manual mode and the flash is off. You will need a strong light source behind your subjects. This time, meter for your subjects and force the camera’s shutter speed to shoot a stop or two down from what the meter tells you (explained in The Art of Photographing Backlit Subjects). You will also need to have the aperature set at f2.5, which will do the opposite making a star – all the light will spread out.

I really have fun playing with the different exposures and I’m sure you will to. I am setting up a flickr group to see more of what you all are shooting. I’ll share the link later, but in them mean time leave a comment with a link to some of your fun backlit images.

Say you want to photograph a bride standing in front of the window, contemplating the vows she is about to make (as in the picture above).  As a subject, she will be backlit, because the light source is behind her.

The main challenge to overcome when photographing backlit subjects is that your camera meters for the light. If we left it up to the camera in this scenario, the window would be exposed properly but the bride, our main subject, would be underexposed.

So how do you trick your camera into exposing for the subject instead of the light source? There are two ways I wanted to discuss: Continue reading

I enjoy shooting children’s portraits with my 70-200 mm f2.8 lens. Usually, I will zoom all the way to 200 mm f 2.8 .  Shooting with these settings allows me do to a few things, which are illustrated in the images and explained below. Continue reading