Wed Shooter

Black Friday Deals for the Photographer

Ed — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:20:15 +0000

There’s only two things worth getting up before 6am for: driving the wife to the hospital to have another baby, and Black Friday. This year’s ads are starting to show up and I started compiling a list of the best deals for the photographer-slash-gadget-lover. Here’s what stood out so far:

Circuit City

SanDisk 4GB Ultra II SDHC Card for $17.99

SanDisk 8GB Ultra II SDHC Card for $24.99

Costco

Western Digital 320GB Portable Hard Drive for $89.99

SanDisk 4GB Ultra II CompactFlash cards are $15 off (normally $32.99)

Best Buy

Western Digital 1TB External FireWire/USB/eSATA Hard Drive for $149.99

Office Max

Epson PowerLite S5 SVGA (2000 Lumens) Projector for $399.99

Maxtor 1TB One Touch External USB Hard Drive for $139.99

17 Photography People You Should Follow on Twitter

Ed — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:55:25 +0000

They’re not all wedding photographers–they’re not even all people–but you’ll definitely find good photographer, good information, and some nonsense (it is Twitter, after all) from these folks.

Bonus: me

Twitter user? Drop your link in the comments.

Area Code Battle. Ready … Fight!

Ed — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:28:47 +0000

Every year Area Code Baseball holds a tournament where the best high-school baseball players from various area codes compete. What if we held an area code battle for wedding photography?

I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and say, you can’t top the 805! Sure, there’s no major metropolitan city–but there’s major talent. Plus, me moving out of the 805 last year definitely improved their overall talent pool. Here’s some legends of the 805 and a few personal favorites:

Seriously, I don’t think you can top that … but if you’d like to vie for 2nd place, drop your nominations (with plenty of links) in the comments.

Let the games begin.

Three from Down Under: Samm Blake

Ed — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:34:25 +0000

While Yervant and Ghionis seem to be at the forefront of most people’s minds when the topic of Australian wedding shooters comes up, it appears there’s no shortage of great shooters down under.

I’ve really been diggin Samm Blake’s work lately. Samm is a Perth wedding photographer with an impressive background and wide array of interests. Her journalism and fine-art interests really shine through and I love how she juxtaposes images in her site. Plus, I can never look at too many great black & white images–and Samm doesn’t disappoint there.

Here’s 3 from Samm:

Ceremony

Portraits

2 Black and Whites

You can follow Samm’s blog here.

Catching Up with Jim Garner

Ed — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:39:58 +0000

Jim Garner is a busy guy. Besides running a successful Seattle wedding photography business, he’s also shooting commercially, creating BODA lens bags, and bringing home awards for his outstanding albums (1st place at WPPI the last two years). We caught up with him to see what’s new.

If you’re shooting part-time and thinking about breaking out, Jim’s been there.

You’re based out of Seattle but you also travel. Where have you been recently?

Just spent last weekend in beautiful Boston, photographing one of the most incredible weddings I have ever seen. Amazing couple, amazing day. Great fun.

Is it true that you worked in a cubicle before becoming a photographer? What was your occupation?

Yes, I sure did. Spending a few years in a cubicle really inspired me to break out and become a photographer. I was mostly in software sales.

So when did you realize that you could make a living shooting pictures?

After I got our wedding photographs back ten years ago. I had dabbled in photography for years before that, but never really thought you could make a living doing it.

Was there a photographer that inspired or influenced you?

I draw inspiration from so many artistic people. As far as wedding photographers go, Yervant is truly my greatest influence.

Bride on the Beach

Bride and Groom

How would you describe your style?

For our wedding work, I don’t subscribe to any specific “style”. Rather, I evolve with each couple and their needs. This also allows me to expand my creativity and personal growth artistically. Keeps the job fun!

Any horror stories you’d like to share? Something bad that happened during a shoot?

I’ve broken quite a few cameras and lenses but I come equipped with lots of back up gear. Back in the film days, I did have a broken inner shutter on my most used camera body at a wedding. Didn’t realize that until the lab called me a few weeks later. Yikes. Lucky for me, the bride was a total sweetheart and of course we took care of her.

With the photography and BODA, do you have time to just shoot for fun?

Hard to find time this time of year but I do have two beautiful girls at home and I love photographing them.

Any predictions on the next big trend in the wedding photo industry?

Personally, I think giving couples beautiful and real experiences on their wedding day. Not just a “photo session” but rather a time to truly enjoy each other and their best friends & family. We pre-plan with our couples to create the perfect experience that really fits their personalities–in affect, we set the scene for gorgeous moments to happen naturally. We see this as a whole new style and way of approaching wedding assignments.

Portraits that fit a couple's personality

Bride and Groom in B/W

What type of local publications or resources do you advertise in?

We advertise in all the local wedding magazines. We are also part of a great online vendor resource called junebugweddings.

What are you working on next?

We’re all about creating gorgeous wedding albums for our clients.

Need more Jim Garner? Check out his website and blog. Also, check out this interview with Scott Shepard about the BODA lens bag.

If you need some album inspiration, here are Jim’s 2007 and 2008 WPPI albums. Both won 1st place.

Blog Roundup

Ed — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:14:35 +0000

UPDATE: Silly me, I initially forgot Blogger. Thanks to those who reminded me.

If you don’t have a blog for posting your wedding images, you should get one. After you get electricity and upgrade that Model T, that is.

Ok, maybe you’re new to the industry. If so, get a blog. Now. People will read it. Search engines will love it. You’ll probably get more traffic to your blog than your website.

Here’s a quick roundup of your options. And some nice samples to go with. If I forgot any–or you want to share your blog–link it up in the comments.

WordPress
Type: you host it
Example: Paul Johnson

WordPress.com
Type: hosted
Example: link us up if you have one

SquareSpace
Type: hosted
Example: Jeff Newsom

TypePad
Type: hosted
Example: Chris Humphreys

Blogger
Type: hosted (can also publish to your site via FTP)
Example: Anne Ruthmann

MovableType
Type: you host it
Example: link us up if you have one

Tumblr
Type: hosted
Example: Dror Eyal

Infinet Designs
Type: custom design/you host it
Example: [b]ecker’s blog

Into the Darkroom
Type: custom design/you host it (based on MovableType)
Example: Fred Egan

Professional Photographer’s Theme
Type: WordPress theme
Example: Mark Ridout

BIG Folio Blog ¹
Type: hosted
Example: Jose Villa

For non-nerds: “you host it” refers to blogs that reside on a web hosting account you control (usually the same one your website uses). “Hosted” refers to blog platforms that are hosted and managed by the provider.

¹ BIG Folio Blog is owned by BIG Folio, which also hosts wedshooter.com.

Now We’re Getting Somewhere

Ed — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:35:57 +0000

What do you Think of the Canon 50D?

Ed — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:50:01 +0000

Canon announced the 50D today (hands on preview at DPReview). I’ve never owned any of the 20D/30D/40D line of SLRs, but this camera looks pretty nice. I’m still not sure if I will buy one–I love shooting wide and I’m a bit spoiled on the 5D’s full-frame sensor.

How about you? Do you 30D or 40D owners plan to upgrade?

New Canon 50D

David Beckstead in the Archives … and Around the World

Ed — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:09:51 +0000

Just added one of David Beckstead’s past WS articles to the new site. David talks about a model shoot at a dry lake bed as part of DWF 2007.

If you’re looking for a chance to do some model shoots and small-group learning, there are Shoot with Beckstead sessions planned around the globe this Fall and Winter. Here’s a quick rundown:

Aug 26-28 in London, UK
Sept 1-3 in Troms, Norway
Sept 30-Oct 1 in Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 6-8 in Northern California (featuring Zack Arias)
Nov 6-7 in Santa Barbara, CA
Dec 8-10 in Birmingham, AL

Visit the Shoot with Beckstead site for details. And, if someone wants to pay my admission to the Nor Cal session with Zack, well, I wouldn’t complain.

Retouching for Par

Ed — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:20:05 +0000

One of my goals for 2008 is to improve my retouching skills. I’ve come to conclude that retouching is a lot like golf: excellence takes countless hours of practice, perfection is impossible, and you should always cover your divots.

I was using my own home-brewed Photoshop action last year. It was sufficient for some images, but often resulting in plastic looking skin. If you’re an action type of person, Totally Rad and Kubota Production Pack have the best retouching moves I’ve seen.

I tend to be a teach me how to fish kind of guy, however. After researching, forum-browsing, and practicing, I’ve found the retouching tutorials over at Digital Grin to be exemplary. There are 3 tutorials (here, here, and here) which are quite in-depth. Unless you want to spend hours practicing and tweaking the methods described, don’t even bother clicking.

How do you retouch? If you’ve got a resource, share it in the comments.