Jessica & Doug Reception: Part 2

Beautiful location! So happy that this place had windows to let in natural light during the beginning of the reception. There was lots of dancing and traditional dances. Here are a few of the reception details:

We briefly went outside for some portraits of the bride and groom alone.

Ahh, a nice freshing crisp salad on a hot day

Party time!!

Happy Monday :)

Jessica and Doug wedding: Part I

Jessica and Doug had a very traditional but really nice wedding. Most churches are very tall, long and narrow but the one they chose, was short and wide. The color of the walls were very light and the main entrance had gorgeous natural light, which Caroline and I were happy about because we weren't allowed to use flash :) We both really love natural light and only used our flashes during the reception.

Before the ceremony, we met up at the bride's mother's house to take a few photos of Jessica getting ready. The bride layed out her rings, invitations, and any other accessories she thought Caroline would need to photograph. I love it when brides care about details and see the importance about photography and the difference it can make on their big day.

The brides mom had a cute little display in her bedroom which served as a nice backdrop to photograph The Dress. Here is Jessica's stunning dress:

I think she looks just gorgeous here. We did a few portraits in their nicely decorated home, since it was over 100 degrees outside.

I was in love with the grooms boutonniere. It was pretty unique

The programs for the ceremony....and the boutonniere, again :)

The bride and groom did not see each other before the ceremony. Once we finished with her portraits at the house, she slipped back out of her dress because it was too hot outside to be driving around in it. So as soon as we arrived at the church, she slipped right back into it. I just adore this picture of Jessica's reaction as her mother helps her with her dress. She looks so giddy and excited and just so happy. It's one of the favorites from the day

Sharing a nice moment with her sister and maid of honor

Last picture for today. The church has strict rules about moving around alot during the ceremony. With permission, I stationed myself at the front right side of the church, so I would have a good view of the bride and groom and be able to capture any emotions during the ceremony. Caroline was so awesome to rent me a 70-200mm 2.8L lens. I always knew that was a great lens, but I completely fell head over heals in love with it once I used it. The bokeh is spectacular and it's pretty sharp. I had that lens on my camera for a whole hour, and yes it totally killed my arms and neck, but it was so worth it. Here is a picture of the lens so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about:

And here's one of the images I snapped during the ceremony with that awesome lens:

I get to use it again this weekend since I will be second shooting another wedding with Caroline, yay!! Part II coming soon with lots of more photos of the reception.

Wedding: Sneak Preview

Hey all! I'm in the process of editing a few images from Saturday's wedding. I was able to second shoot with the lovely Caroline Nichole. It was so awesome to finally meet her, and her adorable baby girl, who is 5 weeks old! Her husband joined us as well for a little while as we ate our dinner during down time at the wedding.

For now, I leave you with this short preview that was taken during the bridal portraits at the church. You will be able to see more of the beautiful bride later on this week as I finish editing them :)

Photoshop tutorial: Eye enhancement

I've had this video saved in my folders for quite some time now and thought about sharing it now with my blog. I always wondered what would be the easiest way to enhance your subjects eyes. Thankfuly, I found this glorious video, and it's so easy! I'm in love :)

If you'd like to watch the complete video, please CLICK HERE.

I had a very good picture in mind to try this on. It's from a session I did a few month ago. Here is an example of a before and after picture.

Meet little Shaq before:

Shaq has the most amazing big blue eyes and I really wanted them to pop. I don't think his eyes look bad in this original picture, straight out of the camera, but I wanted to add more color to them so your attention is drawn to his eyes. I also wanted to lighten the picture overall and clone out the yellow toy that's on the floor to the right.

Voila! Here is Shaq after:

I don't want to go overboard with the eye coloring thing. I want my subjects to look as natural as possible, but of course, a little tweeking won't hurt anyone, but in fact, will really make an already good picture, look even better! :)

Wedding: Sarah and Eric

Rain threatened Sarah and Eric's wedding day but thank goodness the skies stayed dry throughout the day. The sun would peek out it's cute golden head from time to time but for the most part, the clouds were a cool sheet of white blanket, which was fabulous, because it acted as a natural diffuser! Which made the lighting outside perfect for photos!!


Here are alot of my favorites...

The groom's mom was smiling the whole time, it was so great :)

Here comes the bride

I love capturing emotion. Here is the bride's sister feeling emotionaly happy

I LOVE this shot because it was taken either right before or right after the first kiss. I love how they are both looking at each other, enjoying an intimate moment, unaware of their surroundings, and you can see all their friends and family cheering on!

While Jennifer was arranging the group for portraits, I caught these moments of Sarah and Eric sharing a kiss. They are so in love :)

I LOVE LOVE this photo of the new happy family

The groom and his best man were all about laughs and jokes the whole day!

While Jennifer and her husband took off with the bride and groom for more intimate portraits, I was inside snapping a few shots of their guests relaxing during cocktail hour

This is my favorite father/daughter dance to date. It was so beautiful

There's that beautiful smile again...

Happy weekend!