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Posts Tagged ‘Utah’
Here is a link to the full gallery of photos from the wedding and reception online: http://photos.jarviedigital.com/event/2011-Bell-Wedding
For those who take pictures in Utah County you’ll recognize these two locations.
But even with the popularity of these places it’s about photographing the personality of the couple so it’s them that should shine through in the locations and not the places.
And hopefully I brought a new approach to a common location.
If you’ve seen my engagement pictures before you also know that I don’t take these pictures simply so they have 1 picture for their announcement. I want them to have lots of pictures expressing their many moods, I rarely think of the announcement when I’m out there taking pictures. I do however make sure they look at the camera for a good portion of the pictures so that they can use one or two for the pictures in the announcements so that grandma can see the fiance’s face.
View the full gallery online.
Pick your backdrop is a lesson I stressed during my 10 day photography workshop bootcamp.
It goes far beyond picking your location. You can have the person stand in the same spot and get lots and lots of different backdrops by constantly changing your position and your lens.
These were all taken in a short distance from eachother and the theme was using the vegetation around… but the results were varied.
In most of the pictures you can assume that just out of frame there was something that was distracting and that’s why i chose the angle and the framing that I chose.
Kudos to the bride that was so gung-ho about pictures she was willing to be places for pictures that made my job so much easier.
For instance down below the flower bed was not very large and her willingness to go up hill a little made my job much easier making the flower bed look much more full.
Here’s a link to the full gallery online.
This post has been created and written by attendees of the 10 day JarvieDigital Bootcamp 2011 – (Interns for summer 2011)
(Photos by Laurel Scott)
INTERN 1
Bootcamp Day 5 and 6 – Flash Camp
We started out in the studio in the morning working with different lighting setups and equipment and light ratios. We mostly used softboxes, but we also used the beauty dish and reflectors. This was a good exercise in completely controlling the light – there was no external light to work with, so everything we did directly effective the outcome in its entirety.
We moved on to Alpine in the afternoon to start working with flash outdoors. This was challenging because the more types of equipment added in, the more something is likely to malfunction… so we had quite a few times when the flash didn’t go off… and so we got a lot of problem solving practice in.
(Photos by Laurel Scott)
I enjoyed using flash, even though it was often frustrating to get everything to work together. Moving the flash around to get the desired result is great. The talk we had the day before was informational, sure, but actually using the flashes is much more effective. The continued practice will be necessary, though, to fully implement what we learned on a regular basis.
The best part about flash camp: light painting in the middle of the night.
Update: When we were shooting the wedding two days later and I was using flash, I was so caught up in what we were doing that I didn’t remember all that we had done with flash. So, more practice and actively trying to think about and implement those techniques is important to becoming better.
(Photos by Laurel Scott)
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(Photo by Britney Brent)
INTERN 2
Flash is probably the best invention ever, aside from the lightbulb… which I guess is a part of it, but you get the idea. 
I found that as we were working the in the studio learning about flash the pictures seemed so perfect right out of the camera. When oyu hace total control of the lighting and a steady and consistant theme to the shoot the whole process is much easier. From setting up, taking all the pictures you could imagine to editing, I felt like because of the consistancy the work flow went by so much quicker.
However, I’m not going to lie, I LOVE to use the natural light of the outside world that you just can’t get in a studio. Using the light outside along with flash sure does help the picture though. We spent two days working outside with the flash at all different times of the day. We started with the sun high, then shot at sunset, when it was dark, and then again in the morning at sun up. Because of the light being so different around the flash helped us still get good pictures. We were able to control better what what being seen and focused on in the picture. I LOVE using flash. I felt there was a lot let post editing when you use the flash which is soooo nice!
Flash: Learn it, love it, USE IT!
(Photos by Britney Brent)
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(Photo by Angela Terry)
INTERN 3
Flash Me
Each day gets more and more jam packed with information. Today we learned flash in studio and out.
In studio the one thing I want to talk about is getting the white background white. If you set your subject up in front of a white backdrop it is going to be gray. You must light your white backdrop and check your “highlights” option on your camera to make sure all areas are white. I didn’t realize how difficult it is to use a white background, but it is worth the time and effort gone into it.
Out of studio I learned how to get the clouds and sky looking real cool in the background. To do that you must manually set your exposure for the sky without the flash. Then when you take the picture of your client you can get an awesome picture with the flashes lighting them and the cool sky in the background.
(Photos by Angela Terry)
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(Photo by Jeff Bushaw)
INTERN 4
“FLASHCAMP”
Studio and Alpine:
This morning we went to a studio to learn how lighting in a studio can differ from outdoors with speedlights and reflectors.
(Photos by Jeff Bushaw)
Some of the distinct advantages of using a studio are:
- You can control the environment. Such as a specific amount of wind blowing in a models hair.
- Based on your equipment, you can control the quality of light ie. soft or harsh, and the brightness level of your light.
- You have control over your direction of light. So, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is.
- Convenience. Your studio is not over a river and through the woods.
- Your images can take on lighting that would not be available in the outdoors. This can also be a disadvantage (see below)
(Photos by Jeff Bushaw)
Disadvantages of a studio:
- Unless you are very experienced at controlling your light, it will always look like it was artificially lit. There are exceptions to this but typically this is the case.
- You are limited to your backgrounds based on what you have inside of your studio. Whereas the outdoors has enough backgrounds for more than a lifetime of photography.
- You studio location might not be as convenient as your backyard or neighborhood park.
- Studio ownership/rentals are not free. The majority of outdoor locations do not cost anything more than potentially the fuel to drive there.
- In the studio we played around with different setups to show how changing various things affected the end result of photo.
Later that afternoon, we had the opportunity to drive to a beautiful home in Alpine, Ut. That had an absolutely spectacular back yard with tulips, trees, rivers, and rocks galore. Then, with the help of several models and married couples, we utilized our learned skills of speedlights, reflectors, diffusers, and other light modifiers to take photos that would hopefully amaze anyone who sees them. The wonderful thing about using such modifiers in the outdoors is that when used correctly, they can enhance the current scene without looking “fake”.
That night we continued the same thing but we changed locations to an open grassy field on the side of the mountain where the background was snowy peaks, and a beautiful color filled sunset.
Spectacular!
A Fun Experience
I’m happy that we did this.
What did we do? I did a presentation about photography to the hair school one week and came back the next week and did a photoshoot for them.
It just thrills me that everyone was so darn excited for the pictures.
It worked out well doing it as part of my Bootcamp experience because I had 4 photographers able to come along and take pictures.
There were often dozens of girls waiting for their pictures to be taken… I had to work fast and efficiently to get everybody in. It would have been fun to have a little more time to set up really great scenes… but I actually loved the challenge of the way it went down.
Those other photographers will share some of what they did on this day in a few days in a post about what they learned.
Other Schools/Groups/Etc
If you have a similar situation like this I’d be more than happy to consider how to make it happen… best month for it is July.
I’m inclined because of exposure and it’s really nice when they’re fun cute girls too. Cuz they’re fun to be around and one day they’ll get married and so will their friends. haha
While a lot of what i did was just getting through the mass of models, I did have some moments to pose some more fun stuff.
SEE MORE
These are just some of my pictures to see the rest of mine and pictures from the other 4 photographers go here… there are over 1200 pictures.
To see them in chronological order go here
I’m pretty happy with all the headshots I did. The lighting was just perfect for it. It was way overcast (even rainy) and yet it seemed to work really well. I think the key was being in a darker portion of the orchards and then catching what rays were coming down through and lighting the people up. Reflector right below the frame of the pictures.
For them I’m pretty sure it was about doing hair (and makeup) prior to the shoot.
This is what it’s all about. And it wasn’t even my idea… they came up with it! And I went along… I didn’t mind at all. haha
OK so for the end of Bootcamp we had an open invite to photographers and models to come out to the salt flats and do pictures.
Someone had a cool car and so we took some picutres.
I held true to the believe that you don’t need to be right next to the cool things in your picture. So I had her stand apart from the car.
I lit her up with a light and the car as well with another light.
Turns out it’s hard to get a black car lit up nice at night.
BELOW
These are pictures taken from the event mainly from interns. A couple of them are mine but mainly their just edited by me.
I’ll let the interns talk about what they did in later posts.
See the rest of the pictures here.
Planned a while back it’s finally happening… My 10 day photography workshop that will go until May 26th
A short Recap of some of the highlights
- Day 1 – Intro Stuff and In the evening two of what I consider to be my most important presentations
“Attractions and Distractions: Developing a language for photography” and essentially what we can call simply “Taking in focus pictures: Tips for more in focus pictures” - Day 2 – The highlight for this day is i’m focusing on workflow and assisting
- Day 3 – The highlight is a long photoshoot with dozens of models in provo (a chance to practice their assisting skills)
- Day 4 – Learning to really see and utilize locations – including a walk through of abravenel hall for photoshoots we’re doing the next week.
- Also the intro presentation for Flash Camp that evening
- Day 5 – Studio lighting then the start of flash camp which includes a lot of models
- Day 6 – The finish of flash camp – (flash camp is about using flash at day then sunset and then twilight and then night… going to bed and then waking up to do it all over again in reverse)
- Day 7 – A real wedding will be the highlight
- Day 8 – An involved photoshoot for the symphony
- Day 9 – A wedding centered day – with photoshoots and a wedding vendor dinner which is an amazing experience to learn more about the culture and expectations of being a wedding photographer
- Day 10 – recap day includes a big photowalk at the end with lots of photography from the community at large
Other things we’re doing
Bootcamp is all day long and in all the other spots we’ll be at the computer learning how to work on pictures and learning all sorts of photography projects that I have lined up for the interns to work on this summer. Because we’re shooting so much simply going through pictures will take a lot of time… because it’s everyone’s pictures.
We’ll be focusing on them writing down and internalizing what they learned and sharing it here on the blog. (so stay tuned for that)
Options to the Public
- You can come to the Presentations tomorrow
- Flash Camp I will still take 2 more photographers
- Wedding Vendor Dinner you can add yourself to the waiting list for if there are spots available after the wedding vendors book
- Thursday the 26th anyone is free to come to our closing social a photowalk tentatively planned for the salt flats.
- Model – I’ve found a lot of models to be part but if you also want to model for cash Or for pictures let me know.
- Hey if you have a lot of money laying around and 10 totally free days there’s always bootcamp itself
haha
Motto and Objectives
The main objective of this Bootcamp has always been to teach my summer full time interns all they’ll need to know to work all summer long on pictures and projects.
Secondarily to give them lots of amazing experiences to help them get much better at taking pictures. (this is actually going to be a big portion of the time we spend)
The Motto = Pick your battles (I will relate almost everything to this saying/mantra)
K first off when the lighting doesn’t change much throughout the show you start to get a little creative… so I shot through some red fabric that was hanging over by the vip lounge area.
The last set I did at this venue was pretty epic being able to have some good access and use some unique lighting… but this was great show because it was challenged me in other ways.
Contrary to all the light you see in the picture above most of the show was lit by only a couple of light bulbs surrounding the artists. (Like below)
I’ve run into John Allred at several other shows I’ve taken pictures of in the past. Finally after all these years I got time to make it to one of his own shows.
(good thing it was two days because I was originally gonna hit the first night)
The velour is a great place to take pictures in my opinion. I guess I haven’t been to hundreds of spots but it’s one of my favorites so far.
Even with this unique setup that they did with this show being off the stage it worked well.
Most of the pictures were taken with my new 85mm f/1.4 lens and yet I still had to go pretty high with my ISO and low with the shutter speed.
(If anyone see’s a 50mm f/1.4 I believe i left mine there the last time I did a concert. I know… sad day 
The setting was not one where I could get away making my radio controlled lights seem like they were part of the light show… since there was no light show.
I guess it also makes it moody when you take pictures through random fabric… like this one above… it did help to make the bare light bulb look a little cooler.
I told him that the pictures would therefore be a bit more grainy and moody… he said he’s down with that.
I think lots of people have to default to a grainy moody look for lots of concerts simply due to limitations of their cameras… But I hope that I added great ideas, composition and used the lighting to my advantage… in ways that set these pictures apart.
BTW the pictures are all taken with my backup camera the D7000 which doesn’t handle low light quite like my normal camera the D700 – but it was nice having that challenge and seeing what it could do when in a pinch.
I posted a write up about their pictures at the SLC Airport
But now for just a post of their pictures at Memory Grove
While sometimes I pick on themed shoots for a few reasons… the truth is I wan to do more.
Mannequins for my idea… no
I’m not gonna ask my clients to dress up like alice in wonderland, a disney princess, the newest most popular movie character.
I also won’t insist they need to go with a desert, beach, stadium or race track just for the heck of it and make it very themed based on those locations.
It just doesn’t work for what I’m doing… if their friends look at the picture and ask why are you on a beach towell at utah lake having a pic-nic. You hate Utah Lake, you two have never been on a pic-nic and that’s not even your beach towell nor does it have anything to do with you or your wedding.
I don’t want a mannequin for some idea i have… “you go stand here and put your hands just like so”
I want to use the location and light and their personalities to create something that works just for them.
I create art around them… I don’t just put them into the art I create.
I know there are plenty of photographers that do this other way… and I think it’s cool and they come up with great stuff… it’s just not me.
Collaborate
So when I do more themed it’s because the client was also creative… and we collaborated.
What usually happens is they have an idea that they think shows off their personalities and their relationship… and I… adapt it to make it look photographically much more appealing.
That’s the way I pose… you do what you would normally do and I’ll tell you when it sucks and adapt it to make it much more photogenic.
I communicate a ton with my clients and give them what I consider lots of instructions… and yet they always tell me they feel like I didn’t pose them. That I’m not a poser.
So with themes they say:
- Our first date was …
- We love to…
- Our favorite location is…
- Our favorite music… our favorite store…
- Our favorite activity together is…
I say: Let’s run with that… I have some good ideas that will work for that. Such as…
PERSONALITY
My photography is about personality.
I want my clients and their friends and family to say “Oh my heavens that’s so ‘Bobby and Susie’ ”
- Does it reflect them?
- Does it reflect their wedding?
- Does it reflect incidents in their dating history?
- Does it reflect things they like? (at least)
I do want to do more themed shoots
- They get lots more attention
- They are more creative and artistic (in general)
- I like the challenge.
- Even the challenge of making the repeated theme fresh and new in my own way.
- They are better for business. (the attention they get)
- They are more desired by wedding magazines and blogs
Why I have sometimes been hard on themed shoots.
Well it’s not because I’m against themed shoots or think they’re bad for photography.
It’s because I worry that people don’t do a good job of distinguishing creative direction for photographic skills.
I think a picture can be a great picture while being a poorly taken picture.
The key is to appreciate each are for what they’re worth!
Areas of impact to consider
Locations, creative ideas and selecting photogenic subjects are all GOOD things (needful things)… but then there’s that other pesky little thing… taking good/skilled pictures (light, emotion, composition, processing, the moment)
People can be praised in the picture for many items
- The Location
- The Idea
- The Subject
- The Photographic Skill
I guess what I desire is that people can look at a picture and see where each of those skills came in.
Examples
Part of this came from thinking about typical Orange County or NYC weddings where they’re spending crazy amounts on the weddings. There is so many pretty elements on the wedding day that I worry potential clients are seeing all the pictures of the pretty things and confusing it for pretty/skilled photography. (Yes they can certainly be skilled photographers as well as pretty items/locations/subjects of course.)
I myself have been fortunate to have taken pictures of a lot of typically pretty people. I have also taken pictures of couples at nice places (a lot of LDS temples) and a few more exotic locations.
I don’t do the fancy very expensive receptions (not like OC or NYC) … in fact often I do cultural hall weddings.
I have tuned my skills dealing with mid day light and crazy colors of a church basketball court for many a reception. (I am thankful for that tough teaching)
Making up for deficiencies
You deserve it all
A client deserves all those things we can offer, good ideas, good locations and good photographic skills.
I think the Photographic Skills can make up for possible deficiencies in the other areas.
- They can make a boring or “ugly” place look great.
- They can bring out the most beauty in the subject
- And they can portray the idea/theme in the best possible way.
THIS THEME
Here’s the deal on these pictures.
They had a long distance relationship.
He would fly up from California almost every weekend. He had graduated BYU and had a job in California and she was still going to BYU living in Provo.
So they said Airport and we rolled with it.
We then threw in some other pictures… Like these Memory Grove pictures.
Last spring I had a workshop up in Davis County Utah.
The theme was spring and we found a few people to model it up for us… more along the wedding side of things.
Above wasn’t a model but a real bride… what happened was Andrea Hanks was doing bridals that day and wanted to come join us for the end of the day here in the orchard we were in.
So above is a picture I took of her bride… in fact she was gracious enough to let everyone take a few pictures.
Two reasons for posting these now
- You might ask why post these pictures now… so long after the event? Well two reasons.
First my storage system for pictures died back in late april of last year… it took me about 8 months to get it back online. It prevented me from editing and uploading two photoshoots This one and another workshop. They were both not paid gigs so it wasn’t the end of the world… but that was 6TB of original files and I relied heavily on my SmugMug backup of those files during that down time. So three cheers for SmugMug
Second it’s about to be spring again… so hopefully this inspires some brides, families and people wanting some nice pictures.
This bride had already been married for a little while but got back in her beautiful dress and became the focus of attention for a while.
Below is a picture of her husband that came and supported her.
And another couple that came for some engagement pictures.
OK this is who came along for the fun
Turns out that up in a tree is a pretty great place to take pictures from
OK so I did a post on this photogenic couple back the day after I took their pictures. I finished up about 35 pictures real quick and released them… but… I had another 100-200 in mind to edit up and give the happy couple.
So I edited them and then I was saying to myself I should post some more. Then I uploaded them wrong and had to change the order of the gallery to chronological (which I usually do as a secondary gallery viewing) and so I thought why not post theese pictures in chronological.
The point of these posts are for future clients to know what I’m about and what to expect for their photoshoots… AND for photographers to see how another photographer operates.
So you’ll see the progression of places and how I use the places and how light changes and how we interact. I might have put in a couple dozen pics into this post but there are still over 100 I didn’t put in. So check them out if you really want to see it all.
K I tried to put more of the newer pics into the mix this time for those who still remember the last post. (Which I doubt people will remember them all)
I really love the one on the bottom right… but it matches the other one so we put it more into a sequence for this post.
Above and below should show you how big a difference the choice of lens can have on a location.
I think these two (below and above) really tell a lot about these two whom I know very well… they are fashionable minded and they met eachother dancing.
Free class tonight, part of the monthly photography group sponsored by SmugMug. We’ve decided to actually make it on the subject of SmugMug itself.
To let us know you’re coming and to be informed of future month events sign up here. Group page here
There will be a beginning and an advanced track. I will be teaching the advanced track.
I will cover things like.
- Coupons,
- Watermarks,
- Quick Galleries,
- Smart Galleries,
- Integrating with Lightroom,
- Organizing in Lightroom,
- Customizing,
- Analytics,
- Pricing,
- Batch Downloading,
- SEO options,
- Event Marketing and favorites…
- Basically anything that smugmug has worked on recently.
It’s in Lehi tonight at 7pm beyond those details you should sign up to see the rest.
If you have special requests on what to talk about let me know here. (or tonight for any Q&A)
The beginner class will be taught by Dustin Bess
I might do more of these SmugMug presentations around the country so if you’re interested let me or SmugMug know.
