Related Posts

• 
  Tips for photographing Fireworks

  With New Years Eve coming up there is often times where you have a chance to photograph fireworks if you want.  

  Photographing fireworks can often be confusing and frustrating.  You want to capture more then one firework at a time, and you want the capture the movement, but can't quiet figure it out.  There is one tip that makes this much easier, and will give you the results you are wanting!

   LONG EXPOSURES!!

   

  Having a long exposure (mine was 30 seconds) will allow you to capture more then one firework, and you will capture all that movement.  However, you will need to adjust other settings and you will need to figure out a way to allow yourself to photograph with such a long exposure.  Here is a quick list of what I do. 

  1) Set my exposure to 30 seconds. 

  2) Set my camera up on a tripod.

  3) Set my camera on a 2 second delay.  I do this if I don't have my remote trigger with me.  Even on a tripod when you click the shutter, there may be inadvertent camera shake that will result in your picture not being tack sharp.  This way I can press the shutter button slowly and lift my hands slowly so there is no camera shake. 

  4) You will want to set the other settings in camera to get a proper exposure.  Having such a long exposure, your camera is going to let in a lot of light, so you will want to adjust your ISO (most likely as low as you can go or in the 100's) and then adjust your aperture.  For this image, I was shooting at an ISO 160 and an F stop of 14.  That way my image wasn't overexposed. 

  Below you will see a picture of my settings.  

  

  Try these tips and you should have no problem photographing those fireworks! 

  This also works for other type of pictures you want to take in the dark like castles and such.  I am sharing an image I took with my cell phone and the image I took with my camera.  My cell phone was barely able to capture the lights behind the castle, but my camera had no problem with it, since it was long exposure.  This was a 25 second exposure, 14 and ISO 160.  

  First is the cell phone image.  I mean it isn't horrible for capturing the moment, but as a photographer I wanted more.  I waited for the crowds to die down (the park had closed 10 minutes before this when I took the cell phone image.  I waited until about 30 minutes after closing and and it was pretty empty).  They don't kick you out right when park closes, the rides stop, but you don't get ushered out of the park right away, which allowed me to capture some pretty awesome night time shots!)

  

  And now the image I captured with my camera.  Again this is a 25 second exposure, ISO 160, and F stop 14. 

   

  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Posing Tips for Photographers with Henry

  And now it is time for us all to take some professional posing tips from the wise Henry.

  Henry has graciously offered to show us the amazing benefit that tilting a subject's chin down will provide.  Less double chin, bigger eyes.  What's not to love?  Henry demonstrates, because he knows that even a double chin cannot make him look bad.  This makes it much easier on us to show these posing tips, since we don't have to use one of our client images.  :)  

  Without further ado, take it away Henry!

  

• 
  Traveling with your Gear!

  So you booked that ever-sought-after destination wedding!!! Congrats! It is a lot of photographers' dream! How amazing is it to not only get to shoot a wedding, but get paid to travel and shoot?!

  But now the big question....

  How do you safely travel with your gear and also protect your clients images while traveling? You don't get to drive from your house to the wedding, and throw everything into your trunk, nor do you get to drive straight home after the wedding, and download your images.

  Well, here is how WE travel with ours.

  Tomorrow we head out to shoot an amazing wedding in Honolulu. We couldn't be any more excited then we are, but also every time we travel with our gear, we get nervous.

  (photos taken with our cell phones)

  We have our two carry-on rolling camera bags that holds the majority of our gear. (Yes, I know a lens cap was missing. I took the lens off of my camera and replaced it with the 50mm 1.2 as I was using the 16-35mm, to fit it into my camera bag to take the photo, and forgot to put the lens cap back on)

  
  

  
  

  Between Rachel and I, we check 4 pieces of luggage. 2 of them have 4 lightstands, large diffuser panels, chargers for the AA eneloop batteries and other photography related items. The other 2 pieces of luggage are obviously personal items, like clothes and such.

  The gear above may look like it is overkill, but I promise you it is not. We are paid to get the shots no matter what, even if we don't know the lighting situation we are going into. We also are paid to make sure that our clients' images get home safe.

  Now imagine that you are boarding a plane and find out that they can not accommodate your rolling bag with all your camera gear. They are asking kindly for you to check your bag. First don't freak... because after this blog post you are prepared!

  In my personal item that they allow you to carry on (usually a very large purse or backpack), I have my wallet, my ipad and other things necessary to travel on the plane. I also have a couple of tshirts. However, we also have either our Shoot Sac on us, or another bag of some kind stuffed into the bottom. Usually they are asking you to check your bag because there is not enough room for your suitcase in the overhead bin. (Reason #1 to check into your flight as early as you are allowed--to get a better boarding position and lower the risk).

  I then quietly inform the flight attendant of what is inside my bag, and ask if there is any way they can make it work. If they say no, I then proceed to remove my 2nd bag or Shoot Sac, and start stuffing cameras and lenses in that bag. I will not let my gear go under the plane and out of my sight.

  So I put as many lenses as I can in my Shoot Sac, and then the rest of the lenses or cameras and memory cards in my purse/backpack. I will stick a flash or two in my pockets if need be. I will then give them my nearly-empty bag.

  I can then almost always find a spot for my backpack in the overhead bins.

  I just refuse to let them take all that gear under the plane where it is out of my sight and control.

  We have insurance on our gear (and also insurance on us as a business) through Package Choice, but by the time I land and realize that my gear was either broken, or stolen and I file a claim, I won't have my replacement gear before the wedding or shoot that I was hired to shoot. I try to take every single precaution necessary.

  So what do we do to protect the images we shoot? Obviously we can't run home and back up immediately, and we need to run the gauntlet of packing and unpacking and airline travel between the wedding shoot and getting home to download. So, I bring my laptop and we each have external hard drives that are made for traveling (they have little hard cases they sit inside) and we download immediately to each of these each evening. (That way Rachel has a backup of Crystal's images and Crystal has a backup of Rachels images) (This external hard drive also sits in our carry on bag). We also bring a TON of memory. Over 260GB worth of cards. So we shoot to these cards and we do NOT reformat or erase ANY. Plus, we shoot Canon 5D Mark IIIs and we shoot to two cards, so there is a back up inside the camera, as well. So, we have at least 4 backups of every image. Two externals, the original cards, and the back-up cards that stay inside the cameras. We travel with these in separate bags. So we are as insured as possible against corruption of data, loss of images, etc.

  And finally, we bring all of this so that we can easily tackle any situation possible. If something breaks, it's ok. We have multiple back-ups. If the situation is not what we anticipated, it's ok, we have as many options as possible to come up with a good answer. It might seem like overkill to some, but we're paid to capture this once-in-a-lifetime day, and we take it very very seriously, and we don't accept or offer any excuses for ourselves.

  P.S.
  On top of all of our gear, we also bring a 2nd shooter. (Yes there are already two of us, but we shoot as a team, not 1st and 2nd shooter, so we bring a 2nd shooter to help out at most weddings, so we can team shoot. That will be explained in another post.)

  Our seconds also come with their gear.
  
• 
  Top Ten Things Pure Can't Live Without

  There are thousands of things out there for photographers to consider purchasing.  A lot of them are fantastic.  But for Crystal and I, these are Pure's Top Ten things we CANNOT live without.  

  In no particular order:

  * means that the link is an affiliate link.  At no additional cost to you, if you purchase something from that link, we get a small commission.  We ONLY recommend products we use and love.  NONE of these companies have asked us to write about them or post their products.  In fact, I am sure most of them don't even know who we are.  ;) We are only posting about them, because we use and love their products weekly, if not daily.

  1)  Pixieset.  Delivering clients images is easy and stylish.  We upload to Pixieset, and the client can easily download their sessions or share with family members and friends who might want a photo or two also.  We can set print prices, and we can easily sell prints that way.  Digital images are critical for wedding photography and Pixieset delivers.  Their price is excellent too.  We use the paid version so that we have total control over the settings for our clients and have enough storage, but there are even free options for you to try out first.

   

  2)  A Black Rapid camera strap--*  Having our cameras hanging around our necks was quickly out for long weddings.  Neck and shoulders ached by the end, and it was not practical for shooting two cameras.  Enter the Black Rapid (especially the DUO strap.)  The camera slides along the strap on both sides of the body and hangs on the hip.  Practical and convenient.  Do make sure that you check the D-ring for tightness often.

  

  3)  A Good Camera Bag (or two)--So sometimes we just need a couple of lenses and one camera body (births are a good example of having to travel light and not be a significant presence), and sometimes we need the WHOLE kit.  What bags to Crystal and I use?  For small bags, we love both the JoTote line of bags (we have some that are over six years old and are still in perfect shape, despite being dragged to every wedding stuffed with flashes*, Gary Fong Diffusers*, and triggers and batteries*) and the Copper River Bags.  Copper River Bags are almost bullet proof with thick leather and a more rugged design that works for men or women and have a lovely and unique styling.  (Mine doubles as my purse and has for over 5 years and it still looks almost new, and it is my top travel/vacation camera bag.)  

  For a larger bag, Rachel uses the ThinkTank Airport*.  It is small enough to stand up in the overhead bin, so travel is simple.  Crystal has the slightly larger LowPro that fits a few more flashes and nine lenses.

  4)  Cactus V6 Flash Triggers--*  We have used almost EVERY radio flash trigger on the market.  We have spent thousands and thousands of dollars, so you don't have to.  We moved up from Cactus v2 to Cactus v5, and now we just started moving up to v6, and we are obsessed.  We have used other brands of triggers between each version, thinking that with the higher price tag, we would be getting more reliability.  However, we found we got less reliability compared to the Cactus triggers.  We use a four light wedding reception set up, often a light or two for bridal sessions, and trigger strobes in the studio, so we need reliable triggers.  The V6 allows you to use groups, set flash power from the transmitter, set channels, etc.  They are transceivers, which means you can use them as triggers or receivers as needed.  This is so fantastic.  Another amazing perk is that they work with both Canon and Nikon.  Crystal and I shoot Canon, but sometimes our 2nd shooters, shoot Nikon.  We can pop one of these babies on their cameras, and they can trigger our Canon flashes!  How cool is that?!!

  We were able to get eight triggers for a little over $400.  Fantastic for getting all of our reception lighting and letting both Crystal and I have a trigger or two.  These little babies make us look awesome with our light control.

  

  5) Fong Light Diffusers--*  Particularly the collapsible ones.  We use these on our four flashes at receptions.  They are small and easily carried, excellent for travel.  They throw the light out and if there are color casts on the ceiling the cap keeps the flash from spreading that color to all the wedding guests.  While it does eat power (and by extension, it eats batteries faster), we feel the way it makes out light look is a worthy trade-off. 

  

  6)  Millers--We adore Millers for prints and albums.  They make us look GOOD.  Their turnaround time is so fast you'd swear they were are printing your stuff in your backyard.  The deep matte prints are so beautiful they make my soul ache a little. It is wonderful to see your image prints the way you see it captured in your mind.  Their customer service is top-notch.  Millers is printing done right.

  7)  A good large reflector/diffuser--*  These suckers are not your typical round affairs that are maybe a foot or two tall.  No, these are big oval monsters that are taller than we are.  They unzip and have a fantastic diffusion panel inside that allows you to temper harsh sunlight, which is critical during noon formals for sunny summer weddings.  They also make amazing fill light in the studio, reflect beautifully indoors and out, and are pretty legit impromptu changing booths if Crystal and I each hold one or two around a client.  SO much multitasking.

  

  8)  A great contract--We love the contracts from Rachel Brenke.  Having a good solid contract gives your client an understanding of what to expect from you (managing client expectation is critical to a good experience), and it protects both you and your client from legal issues.  It will outline what you will provide and what your client will give you in return.  It outlines what you will and will not do.  Going to a session or wedding without a contract is about on par to going without clothes.

  9)  Lightroom/Adobe Camera RAW--Post-processing photos is just what happens.  In the film era, you would not hand over your rolls of film to your client and call it a day.  Rather, you would bring them to the darkroom and choose chemicals and processed to develop them.  You would dodge and burn.  You would bring your vision alive even further with your post processes.  It is no different in the digital age.  Processing the RAW files is important.  Making sure you lift the digital haze of your images, correct any possible faults that happened during capture, and then putting your spin on the images is a critical part of being a Photographer.  Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW allow for quick edits, batch processing, and quick export and file renaming.  This is a critical step for the efficient photographer.  (Bonus points for OUR presets to get you from point A to done in record time!)

  10)  Photoshop!--Cloning, healing, and specialized edits require Photoshop.  Lightroom/Camera RAW/Photoshop all go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly.  Editing skin in Lightroom is a tricky process at best.  Removing unwanted items is liable to make a saint curse.  But Photoshop makes short work of all of the above and allows your creative vision to shine through.  And again...we're pretty partial to our actions.  

   

  
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• 
  At Home With Pure--Rachel's Chickens pt. 1

  Part of our triumphant return to blogging is that we wanted to blog a little about us.  About things we liked to do, when we were not being Photoshop ninjas or out doing photo sessions.  It gives us a chance to share who we are and what makes us tick.

  Usually when I write this blog, I write it as both Crystal and Rachel, but for the At Home portions, we'll just be posting as ourselves.  So in the case of today, Hi, I'm Rachel and I'll be your blogger today.

  I am not quite sure how all of this started.  I think the more kids I've had (and I have 7), the more I have gotten interested in ways to be a little more natural.  I've gotten more and more mindful of what we're eating or buying or wearing, etc.  I got into cloth diapers for real (I'd dabbled off and on) a little over a year ago.  We love to grow our own garden and have fruit trees.  But gradually, the desire to have backyard chickens has been sneaking up on me.  Yes, I admit I love animals, so the idea of so pretty chickens wandering in the yard appealed to me.  And then the lure of multi colored eggs?  Yes, please.  But the real drive came from the idea that I could know exactly what I was feeding my chickens and I could know that our eggs were nutrient-rich, and also free from lots of junk.  Studies have shown that chickens that are able to free-range produce eggs of VASTLY greater nutritional content than those who are not allowed that.

  So, about a month ago, we took the leap.  I will probably do a few blogs detailing the journey, but this is how we got started and what we have learned (and what others could learn from our mistakes.)

  I had been researching chickens for awhile before we went out and got our chicks.  I had a vague idea about what needed to be done, but I really just didn't know how it would all play out.  But one thing I did know, with so many little kids in our house, I needed to have chickens with good, docile temperaments.  There are quite a few that are really sweet, but we walked into IFA that Friday afternoon, determined that we would be leaving with some Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks and at least one Ameracuna.  Well, it didn't turn out quite like that.  The Amerecuna's were sold out.  So we went back the following Monday and picked one up.  (Actually...that's not quite true, we discovered that many feed stores sell "Amerecunas" that are really sweet mutt chickens called Easter Eggers.  No big deal to me, but good to know!)  Why did we want these specific birds?  Buff Orpingtons and Barred Rocks are well-known as very sweet chickens that behave almost like pets.  And the Amerecuna is also known to get along well with humans AND it lays blue eggs.  Yeah, pretty tempting.

  So, I got home from the feed store with my chicks, their starter feed, some probiotics and electrolytes for their water, and a heat lamp for their brooder. I got everything set up and stuck the chicks under the heat and gave them their food.  They were pretty peppy and ate and drank right away.  I did check all of the chicks immediately for what is called "pasting up."  Chickens have one way for things to leave their bodies.  They lay egg and do...other things...through their vent.  As chicks, this can get caked over with droppings and the chick can quickly die if this is not attended to.  Two of our chicks had mild pasting up.  So I had to clean them up gently with warm water.   Chicks have to stay warm.  Since they have no feathers, only down, they can chill quickly.  So I worked gently and carefully, but quickly and cleaned them up and then blow dried them.  I was worried how they would react, but on medium heat and low air, the chicks LOVED the blow drier.  They fell asleep immediately.  It was great.

  

  Here were the chicks on their first night home.  (Minus my Easter Egger, since she didn't get home until a few days later.)  I learned quickly that newspaper should NOT be used in the chicks' brooder.  It can cause splay leg, so that was changed out for old towels quickly.  They seemed much happier with that too.  

  

  Here's Lucy, the day she joined us.  She's established herself as the head of the pecking order, if you can't tell from her cheeky look here.

  Baby chicks brooders (our brooder is just a plastic rubbermaid container) need to stay at 95-100 degrees for the first week.  After the first week, you can start slowly dropping the temp by 5 degrees a week.  They will need to stay under a heat lamp (especially if it is not warm outside) for about 6 weeks, which is when they will be fully-feathered.  It seems amazing, but in just a few weeks, these tiny little balls of fluff were more like teenage chickens.  They grow so quickly.  We've made sure they have fresh food and water available at all times and they are eating machines.  

  The kids all got to picks a name.  Actually they all suggested many, and I picked my favorites.  So we have (starting from the top and going clockwise):  Goldie (a Buff Orpington), Lucy (and Easter Egger), Juliet (the Barred Rock on the bottom),  Stella (the Barred Rock on the top) and Caramelina (the Buff Orpington looking the wrong way!)

  

  And a final image to make you laugh.  The girls think I am their momma hen.

  

• 
  Setting Yourself Apart with Professional Lighting

  Shooting weddings is so much fun, isn't it?  All the giddy anticipation of shooting all of those fabulous wedding moments.  A beautiful bride in her stunning dress.  A dapper groom gazing lovingly at his new wife.  All those well-thought-out details.  It's enough to make a photographer's heart skip a beat.

  The other thing that can make a photographer's heart skip a beat is talking reception lighting.  Only this time, it is usually in fear.  A lot of photographers are very comfortable working in natural light, but when flash is added to the equation, their hands go clammy, their mouths go dry, and they get hives.  Even if they don't fear the flash, they might be stuck in a bit of a lifeless style of lighting.  But it doesn't have to be that way.  

  We want to walk you through our four flash set up for receptions.  It makes lighting much simpler and gives your images a very polished look.  Brides and grooms spend a lot of time and money planning their receptions, so we believe in capturing those moments in the best way we can.

  Here is a pullback of our flashes towards the end of a reception.  If you look, you can see where all four are placed. 

  

  We personally use 2 580exiis in this set up and 2 430exiis.  We have an arsenal of about 10 flashes, so we can set up almost anything, but we really like this set up.  We alternate the flashes so they go 580, 430, 580, 430 and we start at about 1/8 power and adjust to get the light we want.  Why do we alternate the lights?  Well, the power output of the 580 and the 430 are different so we get a nice lighting ratio with this, so the images are not as flat.  Also, depending on where people stand and their angle, we will get different variations of key and fill and hairlight and kicker.  The variation is not strictly needed, but it is a nice nuance.

  

  The great thing is we can get this clean, textured light with very little effort on our part throughout the entire wedding.

  We get a lot of questions about this lighting, so let me give you the rundown on what you will need.  

  We point the flashes up to the ceiling and diffuse the light.  We usually diffuse the light with collapsable Fong diffusers.  They work very nicely for throwing the light over the venue and also for canceling out any colored ceilings.  The diffusers will also help the spread of light if you are working outdoors at night with no tent.  Fongs are ideal for large event photography.  The omni-directionality of their light makes for a very pleasing lighting pattern for receptions.

  

  Our first preference is to use Manfrotto Justin Clamps (see above) for attaching our lights to the corners.  It puts them up and out of the way of accidents.  But if there is nothing to clamp the lights to, we will use a regular light stand, above the heads of the guests in the corners and usually behind something (so the legs are behind something and the flash head is above the crowd.)  People who have not seen this set up in action worry that the flashes will bother guests. Actually, having the flashes away in the corners is less distracting than having a flash on camera and going off in people's face.  The light is high up to avoid unwanted shadows.  

  To trigger the flashes, we actually prefer to use the Cactus V5 triggers.  I know they are not one of the industry-standards, but we have spent THOUSANDS on another system and we were so disappointed with that system.  It was delicate and SO finicky.  The slightest thing would cause misfires.  The Cactus, ironically, have been the most reliable and the price can't be beat.  

  We don't shoot with a flash on camera as well.  We find that unless we do a VERY wide (i.e. 16mm) shot, we don't need the extra fill.  

  When dancing starts, depending on the size of the room, we will turn off 1 or 2 flashes to give a more dramatic feeling.  

  

  As you can see, the polish that having that hairlight really make the image.  The dimensionality of the light also gives wedding dresses and all of their texture a chance to shine.  

  Based on how you set your camera, you can also capture the colors of the lights a DJ brings (having a lower shutter speed and letting that ambient light enter the camera) or drown it out a bit, if it is causing a significant color cast to your guests (by raising your shutter speed to allow less ambient light to enter your camera.)

  

  The great part is that when moments happen, you can capture them very easily and stylishly, because your lighting is all set up beforehand.

  Which leads to another question.   Many people fret that they just don't have time between the wedding and reception.  If that is the case, just bounce the flash for the grand entrance and then while people are getting settled in for dinner, etc. set up your stuff.  It takes about 10 minutes total.  It is not hard to do.  We also recommend (even if you DO decide to just bounce your flash) having a battery pack and/or spare batteries for your flashes.  We have a few large battery chargers that charge 16 Eneloop batteries at a time.  We load it up and then change out the batteries and let the charger keep refreshing our batteries as needed.  It keeps our recycle times very short.  If your flashes are getting sluggish, swap out the batteries for new ones.  If you have notice before big events (cake cutting, bouquet toss, etc.) swap the batteries preemptively.  (Do this with any flash, really.)

  For a smaller venue, 3 lights or even two will work very nicely to give more dimension and professionality to your reception flash set up.  We recommend using a flash off camera whenever possible for these events, because it will set your work apart and more effectively capture your client's wedding preparations.

  And finally, even if your venue is not the Four Seasons, this can really let your clients' reception shine.  This image was take in the church gym which often doubles as a basketball court at times.  It was a beautiful, well-decorated wedding, but sometimes the gym can overpower even the more carefully detailed wedding.  But good lighting let the lovely planning shine.

  One last note:  Having good quality, clean, consistent light will make editing your reception images a breeze.  Usually I can just apply one of our workflows (most often for me Basic Workflow from Pure Presets 1) and I can simply tweak it to fit the lighting and then apply it to most of the reception images with very little changes.  THAT is a HUGE timesaver.