Bridal Portraits inside a hotel bathroom

This image was taken of my beautiful bride April Howell yesterday about 1 hour before she married her husband Delano. This was taken while she was finishing up her make up.  I used the light from the hotel bathroom to light her face and just asked her to turn and look to her left a little.  I shot this with my 85mm, and then in Photoshop I blackened the sides of the image a little to blend out some of the background from behind her.  It's like doing a portrait session in the middle of a lot of wedding day action!  You are beautiful April!

Next Workshop- Las Vegas, Nevada- right after WPPI

Camera settings: Nikon D700, 1/200 sec at f/2.2, 85mm at ISO 1250, flash did not fire.  Taken at 5:22pm on February 15, 2013 by Jason Lanier.

Creating Motion Blur in Wedding Images

Creating motion blur in wedding images- this shot was taken at my wedding for David and Elaine last month down in La Jolla, California. The key to creating a shot like this is to use a neutral density filter and a tripod which enables you to slow down your shutter and shoot on a tripod during the middle of a very sunny day like this one. You have to get the bride and groom to hold still which they did a great job of on this shot. The goal in this image was to get the water to appear as if it's continually moving, which makes it fun because the rocks and wedding couple are completely still. This is a trick that landscape photographers use, and since I am a landscape photographer I know how to do it! Camera settings: Nikon D3, 1/4 sec at f/22, 16mm at ISO 100, flash did not fire. Taken at 1:01pm on November 26, 2011 by Jason Lanier.

Wedding Detail Shots- getting the stuff they will forget

I always tell my clients that they spend SO much time planning, preparing, spending, stressing, and finally getting married that it's my job to make sure I capture all of that so they will never forget it. I was married almost 11 years ago to the most amazing woman in the world. I have a pretty good memory but I can honestly tell you I can't remember the food served (I think it was Mexican food or something), I can remember about 3 of the songs the DJ played, and the decorations are a total blur.

If I didn't have the pictures that I have from my wedding I would remember even less. Due to my personal experience me and my team of photographers take great patience and time in getting the shots of all the things that you have worked so hard to create. My favorite comment from my clients is after the wedding when they see the images they say, "Wow, I didn't even know that happened, or I didn't remember we did that!"

For this shot in particular this is a bouquet that sat in the window at the Keawali Church in Maui for the wedding I shot there in January 2011. The sunlight was coming in and I just loved the contrast of the beautiful flowers against the window, and I made sure to frame it inside of the window frame and walls. It's a simple shot, but I love it. As the experts say, the quality is in the details, and wedding photography is no exception....

Camera settings: Nikon D700, 1/160 sec at f/3.8, ISO 1000 at 28mm. Flash did not fire.

Wedding Photography Tips- #1 Finding the Right Photographer

Top ten tips for bettering your wedding photography experience

Tip #1- Finding the right photographer

Having shot weddings all over the world from Rancho Cucamonga, California to Sydney, Australia and a lot of places in between I have seen and experienced a lot. We have shot weddings that only included the bride and groom (no guests) to weddings well over 600 people. We’ve done weddings that lasted a total of only 30 minutes to weddings that have lasted three days. The advice I give below would apply to all the different wedding types that I’ve ever done. I publish this article that will be done in a 10-part series for the sake of all wedding brides and grooms out there in the hopes that it will improve their wedding photography experience.

Finding the right photographer- fall in love with the photographer, not their packages. While it’s undeniable that finding a photographer that fits your budget and gives you what you’re looking for in regards to deliverables is very important it’s not as important as finding a photographer that fits your style and passion. I always tell all of the brides and grooms that I meet in a photo consultation, “You only leave your wedding with two things, your spouse and your wedding photography. Make sure that you have made the right decision on both before saying, ‘I do.’”

Remember that hiring your wedding photographer isn’t the same as buying a car. You can’t sell it if it doesn’t work out to your satisfaction, there are no lemon laws, and you will not have multiple chances in your life to find the right wedding photography for you. Almost all of us have bought a car we regret buying. But after you’ve sold it and it’s gone it usually turns into a funny story of the “bad” car you bought once upon a time. Talk to any bride who’s hired a “bad” wedding photographer. There is no laughing, usually only tears. The moral of this story, take the time to find the right one for you.

Good photographers including us at Jason Lanier Photography do what we do because we truly love it. When we find clients that sincerely love our work we will almost do anything we can to be able to provide the opportunity to shoot their wedding. Flattery goes a long way and as long as we can make the numbers work for both of us, we will find a way to shoot your wedding.

I know I’ve found the right bride and groom when I ask them, “If we can make the financial part work, would you like us to shoot your wedding?” If the answer is, “Yes,” then I know that the vast majority of the time we will find a way to make it work for both of us.

Good photographers should also make sure they are a good match for the wedding couple as this will lead to a much more successful photography experience. I always tell my prospective clients, “You will spend more time with your wedding photographer than anyone else on your wedding day. So make sure you like them before signing on the dotted line.”

Last but not least is certainly the package portion of the conversation. Item #2 on the “Top Ten Tip for Bettering your Wedding Photography Experience,” will speak at length about packages and determining the deliverables that work for you. But the only thing I want to mention about the pricing and package portion in this article is that if your photographer is more concerned with how much money you have and hasn’t even asked you the name of your fiancé for example….you’ve found the wrong one. Photographers should be just as focused and dedicated to finding the right clients as all wedding couples should be at finding the right photographer.

While this advice might seem simple it is also unbelievably true. Being a wedding photographer I can’t help but use marriage metaphors when I speak and write. But finding the right photographer is truly like finding the right spouse. Once you’ve found each other you both know, and saying yes just seems so easy.

For any questions or comments please feel free to email me directly at Jason@jlpros.com.

Item #2- Understanding Wedding Photography Packages and finding what’s best for you will come out later on my blog in October 2010.

Sincerely,

Jason Lanier

Taking time to cool off-using a fast shutter camera

I figured since the last post was about the California wildfires...I might as well show some shots that can cool us all off a little. The shots below can only be captured with a fast shutter camera like the D3. Canon has a very fast 10mp camera as well that could do this. The D3 and comparable cameras that should around 10fps (frames per second) are instrumental in capturing the vivid details you see in the shots below. Many times I feel the speed of the camera is overlooked when photographers choose their camera...and so many focus on the mp only.

I believe of course the best cameras have both high quality and fast speed. There are Nikon's and Canon's that have cameras that shoot at 20mp or higher but you lose the speed. The fast cameras are mostly used by sports photographers but I couldn't do without the speed for my wedding business. I utilize the speed for bracketing, HDR, and for capturing the fast never to repeat moments like a crazy bouquet toss. Brides always get a kick out of seeing the trajectory of their bouquet in flight when they see their wedding images. I love high resolution...my only recommendation is to also place a lot of emphasis on speed...it does matter and makes a huge difference.

Los Angeles Wilderness Bridal Shoot- shooting tutorials

I already shared the first picture from our shoot in an earlier blog post but these shots below are some more from our shoot on the couch. From a photographic standpoint I love putting a rectangular couch that has straight lines in it in front of a huge wilderness backdrop that has everything but straight lines. Then when you throw a bride on top of the couch and completely change the lines by the positioning her in all different ways it can complete the shot to give you something you'll love.

We actually shot video of this session and I've had a lot of people asking me to start putting out tutorials in the hopes it could help them. I've been shooting video on all of my shoots recently to start developing a library that we can turn into shooting tutorials and guides in the hope they can help others. I'll be shooting video while doing the shoots I have in Spain for this same reason. I hope you enjoy!