Month: September 2009

  • Wedding Photos from Tivoli...

    Last weekend's wedding was awesome!  The lights were EVERYWHERE, and oh-so-beautiful.

    To me, wedding portraits AND photojournalism are all about the light.  Nothing magnifies a beautiful moment like dramatic light.  I also like warm light, soft light, rim light, and light that transitions from warm to cool.  As a wedding photographer with roots deep in nature / outdoor photography, I just really enjoy good light.  Okay I'd better stop talking about light...

    Photographers:  As per the usual, most of these images are minimally edited, from a Nikon D300 and one of these three lenses-  Sigma 50-150 2.8, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Nikon 85 1.8.  Some shots were JPG, some were RAW.  All were shot with Kelvin white balance, and various different metering and exposure settings.  I talk a LOT about light, white balance, metering and exposure at my Workflowshop because I believe in-camera perfection is actually one of the BIGGEST (and most over-looked) factors in having a quick, enjoyable workflow.

    Take care!
    =Matt=


    Photographers, click HERE to get one of the last two $225 spots at the next Workflowshop!  Only five people get this $50 discount, then the next 5 seats are $275.

  • Workflowshop #2 - Camera Settings and Post-Processing...

    The next "workflowshop" is going to be on October 26th, and there are still a FEW seats available for $225 before the price goes up.

    You should sign up if:

    * You regularly feel overwhelmed by the task of "editing" hundreds of photos.  If it feels downright boring, mundane, instead of exciting or at least manageable, then you're running the risk of burning out.  I really don't want that to happen to you!

    * You shoot hundreds of photos in a session, or thousands of photos in an event, or each week / month...

    * You find yourself doing the same color correction over and over again to similar photos in similar light with a slightly different pose...

    * You shoot in a professional capacity, and need to make sure your images are ABSOLUTELY safe, both short-term and long-term.  I'll be talking about downloading, backup, archiving, etc...

    * You aren't that good at exposure, white balance, or in-camera settings. In my opinion exposure and white balance, or LIGHT in general, is/are actually extremely important in a speedy workflow.  Simply put-  Taking sweet pictures in the first place can honestly get me excited about editing them!  Certain events, yeah the light stinks and ya gotta do what you can, but I definitely notice a difference in my happiness quotient when it comes time to edit photos where I paid attention to the light, or simply had good light to work with.  And light, of course, translates into exposure, white balance and in-camera settings from a technical standpoint...

    Who should NOT sign up:

    * Photographers who feel like they have enough free time, or at least feel that editing hardly takes up their time...

    * Photographers who don't shoot that many photos, or don't need to edit that many photos.

    * Photographers who, when they do edit photos, only really need to edit a dozen or so and don't do much more than make 'em look clear / colorful / sharp, for blog viewing etc...  (No seriously!  A "Photo Blogger" workshop is in the near future.  It will be a much more basic workshop, one that doesn't cover in-camera settings, or the downloading / backup / proofing stages of workflow, JUST the basic edits to make images pop on your blog / facebook, or for small / medium prints...  It would be much more affordable as well, probably in the $50 range...  I'm thinking early December or late January, when "wedding season" is less intense.  Any input from blog readers?)

    ...Alright, I'm going to wrap up with a few recent images from a wedding at the arboretum, one of my favorite venues!  Next up will be a new wedding venue I've never shot at before, Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach...

    Take care everybody, and see you soon one way or another!  I'm heading down to San Diego now for the SD Shootout, then this coming weekend I'm heading down to SD again for the Miramar Airshow and my autofocus / exposure workshop, and then Tuesday October 13th is the next So Cal Shootout, phew!  That's a lot of getting together...

    =Matt=

    (PS:  As always, these images are minimally processed, with no more than a few seconds' worth of clicking in Bridge, and some are straight out of the camera with the RAW or JPG default edits.  I REALLY believe that in-camera capture AND computer "default" processing settings are a key element in achieving a happy workflow!)

    I love shooting at the Fullerton Arboretum!  Just look at how the light got all nice and warm as the ceremony progressed... 

    NO reflector! This was a light bounce I just stumbled upon... 

    Off-camera flash at the reception.

    And of course, the obligatory tripod reception shot.  This is with the default RAW settings, no adjustments.

  • Bok Tower Wedding Photos, Lake Wales Florida

    Danielle & Eric's wedding was simply gorgeous, and we definitely had an absolute miracle with respect to weather.  It was 100% predicted to rain every single hour of the day, a couple Saturday's ago.  Somehow, magically, mid-day the rain stopped and gave us an entire afternoon without more than a couple drops of mist.  Bok Tower is a wonderful wedding location that I would just LOVE to photograph at again some day!  It's venues like this that I'd offer a big fat discount to brides with good enough taste to pick such a location...

    The cloudy light was dreamy and soft, and I had the dreamy-soft bokeh of Eric's superb 35 1.4 L at my disposal. 

    But, I'll let the images do the talking!


    Images were shot on a Nikon D300 and a Canon 5D mk1, using the Sigma 50-150 2.8 lens on the D300, and the Canon 17-40 L or 35 1.4 L on the 5D mk1.  The very first shot was taken with a Sigma 150mm 2.8 Macro on the D300, on a tripod, with gelled off-camera flash coming from the right.

    =Matt=

  • Wedding Tomorrow at Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida!!!

    Hey everybody!  I'm sorry I haven't blogged regularly enough recently, but life has been crazy!  Tons of photo shoots, workshops, a small vacation with Joy and her sibblings, a BEAUTIFUL wedding at the Fullerton Arboretum on 9-9-09, (yep, Wednesday!) ...and now I'm in Lake Wales, Florida for my good man Eric Farewell's wedding.  The ceremony is going to be at Bok Tower Gardens, a BEAUTIFUL Lake Wales and national historic landmark, one of the sweetest wedding venuesI've ever shot at.  I need a nap before the rehearsal this afternoon, but here are a few photos from our scouting trip around town...  Enjoy!

    =Matt=

  • Dirt Jumping Today With Friends...

    This evening I made time to go dirt jumping with some friends.  Kevin Hall from Facebook knows a great jumper so we went down right around sunset today and rocked some really cool pics.  Lemme know what you think!

    =Matt=