To prepare I picked up some books and hit the Internet. I viewed all types of wedding photo sites and spent time in the wedding discussion areas on Flickr. I even looked through some of my old wedding photos (before digital) to get some ideas on the poses my wife and I did. I made sure to get out and practice taking outdoor and indoor shots with my flash to see the difference in camera settings. I was also fortunate enough to get some pro advice from some friends of mine who had experience with wedding photography.

As the big day approached, I met with the bride to get the list of shots they wanted and got my equipment together. The day before the ceremony, my wife and I attended the rehearsal to scope out the venue and finalize our plan of action.

The day of the wedding we got there early and got to work. It was non-stop the whole day because I wanted to make sure we got everything on the list. Afterwards we packed up and went home. The next day my whole body was tired. I didn’t realize how much work went into photographing a wedding and I have a real respect (not that I didn’t before) for those who do this on a regular basis.

I took over 800 photos, but only about 300 made the final cut. Post-processing took a while and since this was a special event I downloaded the trial version of Lightroom 3. I have to admit, I’m really impressed with it and I really may have to consider buying it after the trial is up. After getting used to it, post-processing was a lot faster and I can see why people are willing to put down the money for it.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the wedding. I mentioned before that they are a very photogenic couple, which made my job a lot easier.

Last week I gave the newly married couple their photos and they liked them. This made me happy because in the end, that’s all that matters. I enjoy photography because it’s a way to capture those special moments in life. It gives me a chance to get out, have fun and be creative.

The big question I think about now is whether or not I’d do another wedding if asked. Probably. The stressful thing about them is that you only get one chance and a missed or messed up shot is gone forever.

Here’s some lessons I learned and hope to improve upon in the future:

• Be ready for anything. I had to alter the list of outdoor shots I wanted to take because it was getting hot. We decided to take the family photos indoors which slowed down the set up for the reception. The wedding planner was great and it all worked out in the end.
• Watch your camera settings. I had my indoor settings still set when I started the outdoor photos. I caught it early so, I was able to adjust and redo those shots.
• The list is your best friend. Know the complete flow of the service and plan your shots according to schedule. I studied this list to the point where I was able to set it down and photograph without looking at it. My wife helped keep me on track by checking off the shot as I took them and made sure I was where I needed to be when the time came.
• Focus, focus focus. I blew some cool shots due to focusing issues. I used my Tamron 17-50mm 2.8, so it tends to be soft on focusing when indoors or low light. But I can’t blame it all on the lens. I hope to be able to one day go all manual and get away from relying on auto focus so much.
• Enjoy yourself. I was nervous up until I took my first shot. I didn’t want to mess up anything, but realized that worrying wouldn’t solve anything. I had fun and made sure I captured the event as if it were my own.

As always, I’m open to advice and would like to hear any additional tips/advice. Enjoy the photos!

The pose I chose was due to the fact that I’ve spent a lot of time this past year in front of a computer. While this isn’t too uncommon of me, the projects I’ve been on have kept me in front of a PC more than usual. Fortunately, I enjoy what I do, so it doesn’t always seem like work. And as for the couch, I’ve spent many late nights in that exact spot, so I felt the need to include it in the shot.

Here’s to another year.

Round can simple described as a “Circle”. Circles are simple closed curves which divide the plane into two regions, an interior and an exterior.

OK…that’s the technical jargon. We all know what Round is and can identify objects that are round in shape. Your challenge couldn’t be much easier. Locate something that is “Round” and turn it into a creative photograph. We must clearly be able to determine which object you’ve chosen as your round subject.

Yeah, yeah this is pretty basic, but time has not been on my side the past couple of months. I wanted to make the challenge and it was cold outside, so I decided to look for round objects around the house. This was the most obvious.

Exposure:      0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture:     f/25.0
Focal Length:     17 mm
Focal Length:     17.3 mm
ISO Speed:     320
Exposure Bias:     +1/3 EV
Flash:     No Flash

All of these pictures were hand held because I knew the camera would do well with a tripod. The first set of pictures are in Downtown Dallas. I hadn’t been there in a while and didn’t know they completed the park, so I decided to stop and get a couple of shots. They had so many other nighttime shots I wanted to get, but finding a place to park for a few minutes was tough.

The second set of photos were taken in San Antonio. I’ve finally started taking the white balance off Auto and think I may start doing it more often. The camera does a good job of choosing the best setting, but sometimes manual is the way to go.

The third set of photos were taken New Year’s Eve. My wife and I got a chance to go out without the kids for dinner and a movie. After having dinner in Plano, we took a little stroll around the Shops at Legacy. I had my camera and decided to get some shots of the area. It was cold, but nice that night.

For those photo enthusiasts, if you click the view on flickr link, you’ll be able to see the camera settings I used.

A silhouette is a view of a object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. The term has been extended to describe the sight or image of a person, object or scene that is back lit, and appears dark against a lighter background.

Many photographers use the technique of photographing people, objects or landscape elements against the light, to achieve an image in silhouette. The light might be natural, such as a sunset or an open doorway, a technique known as contre-jour or it might be contrived in a studio.

Quite simply, your challenge this time is to take a photo where your main subject is a silhouette with no discernible features visible. It should be black and outlined by the light situated behind it. The subject and post processing is up to each individual.

I think this was one of the firsts challenges that I’d gotten a decent number of votes in. I knew what I needed to do to get a silhouette, but I needed a subject. Well, once again I got my little model to help out.

He had just gotten ready for bed and I asked him to put an ornament on the Christmas tree. While he was busy finding a spot, I shot a couple of photos for the challenge.

I added a black faded border around the picture and played around with the levels to enhance the glow from the lights. I think I got a decent shot. View the image at flickr to see the camera settings.

One photography trick that will help your subject stand out is selective focus. With this technique, we can choose one part of the image to be sharp and in focus, while the rest of the image is kept out of focus.

Using a larger aperture, say 2.8 or 5.0, can leave the background out of focus while keeping the main subject sharp and force the eye to it. Of course the distance between the subject and the background will impact what aperture you use.

For this contest show me selective focus by blurring out the background to draw more attention to the main subject.

While Macro lenses may give some people an unfair advantage in this challenge, I encourage everyone to give it a try even if they don’t own a macro lens….like me.

Any new photo where Selective Focus is achieved is welcome. The subject and the post processing is entirely up to the individual.

It was a last minute idea for me to take this shot. I’d been busy that week and didn’t want to miss another challenge, so I took a picture of the item I use the most. I used my 20mm Kenko Extension Tube and 18-55mm lens.

My son had just recently drawn a picture of a monster in school. He wanted us to put it on the refrigerator, so I used it as the subject of my challenge entry. The only real editing was a crop and a little extra contrast.

Taking indoor, low light photos is always a challenge when you don’t have a good lens, so most of the pictures were doctored up a little. I didn’t break out my external flash, so I used the on-camera one which had to be toned down some in post processing. I also found auto focusing was an issue at times, but the Nikon did pretty good with picking out the right settings in Priority mode.

Here’s the original post I did about the event at theotalks.net.