Wedding Day Photo of the Year 2007

I stumbled upon a great site and story that moved me. These pictures made me feel that i was at their presence, as a spectator witnessing an incredible love story. The photographer who captured this amazing moment in time is Rob Sigler.

Read about the photographers nostalgic tale:

Two summers ago, I received an inquiry to shoot a wedding in Philadelphia. The bride-to-be, KC, said both of her parents were in poor health, so she was unsure about the actual date. A few months passed, and KC called back and explained that her father's health was quickly deteriorating, and "because they are too sick to travel, we are bringing the wedding to them." KC, an only child, was insistent that both of her parents were able to attend her wedding. She called again that day and said, "Are you available Tuesday?"

I said sure, and cleared my schedule for the day.

KC quickly put together a small wedding ceremony in her parent's hometown. It was going to be a nursing home where her father had just been moved. At this point, KC was frazzled, so I was happy to do anything I could to help her out.

On Thursday night, the phone rang. It was KC's fiancé. He said that KC's mom (who was recovering from a recent stroke) had just fallen and broken her hip, and the wedding (for a second time) was cancelled. He said they were just going to have a small ceremony in her hospital room as soon as possible. By this point KC was completely devastated. I felt awful for them both. What is supposed to be an incredible experience for this young couple was turning into disaster.

I called him back, and told him I would be more than happy to come to the hospital and shoot the ceremony. He said thank-you, but no thanks. I understood.

Five minutes later, the phone rang again. This time it was KC asking me to come down to the hospital.

So, I packed up my bag, and off I went.

When I got there, the nurses were fashioning bed sheets to create an alter, and KC's mom was in bed and in obvious pain, yet she was dressed in her attire that she would have worn in Philadelphia. Several hospital staff members gathered around the room of the door to catch a glimpse of what was probably the first wedding ever in this hospital. Their hands were filled with Rice Krispies to throw at the end of the event.

As KC walked into the room with her father, a nurse sang "Ave Maria." The ceremony was beautiful. There were no ice sculptures, no flowers (except a few from the gift shop), no limos, but the love this family had for each other was more beautiful than any traditional wedding "thing." There wasn't a dry eye in the room, including mine.

This experience really made me think about my life, and think about what we do as photographers. It's so easy to get caught up in gear, flashes, trashing dresses, etc., and lose sight of what we are really doing. I walked out of the hospital knowing that I had just captured an amazing moment for the family that can now live forever.

Here are a few more pictures from the ceremony.

Read the entire article at: DWF Photo of the Year 2007

Seven Ways to Get Happy & Stay Happy

I came across a website alittlenews.wordpress.com. A blog site from a small town newspaper photojournalist for 17 years. Gary Cosby, Jr. dreamed of becoming a photographer for the THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC as a young photojournalist.

He started his blog just a couple of months ago, and its quickly gaining popularity. Ive had the chance to read his "Seven Ways To Get Happy And Stay Happy!" Article which actually helps all of us struggling photojournalists find inner peace and improve our skills along the way.

He humbly admits that some of his pictures are results of having found a blog about off camera lighting. Which blog? Strobist.com of course, the mother of off camera lighting ran by Mr. David Hobby.

Here's a summary of his article. Seven Ways to Get Happy & Stay Happy:

1) Work For Yourself. When you are happy with your own work, others will like it too.
2) Dont’ Worry, Be Happy - Focus on your work, not on things that are beyond your control.
3) Whistle while you work. A good attitude means more than good photos.
4) Be an educator rather than a complainer.
5) Every day, every assignment, push yourself to get better.
6) Be a proactive member of your newsroom.
7) Stand on your head. It will give you a different perspective from the everyone else.

Strobist Seattle Meetups Video

Seattle strobist meetup group has been very active in response to the Florida meetup that garnered nearly 50,000 views a few months ago. This time they came out with a video of what transpired during their meet. I cant wait to participate in such an event in my area, which Im anticipating won't be too long now.

This video is worth watching.Checkout what happened to Panda!

Find your meetup groups in Flickr.com

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=meetup&m=discuss&w=71917374%40N00&s=act

Checkout the official link of Seattle Strobist Flickrites

Related Articles:
Florida Meetups Photography Session

DIY Photography - A Better Bounce Card

I have tried most DIY bounce cards. Purchased and used a few, like gary fong's lightsphere, stofen omni-bounce, etc. None of them struck me more than this ABBC (A Better Bounce Card) DIY tutorial video.

You owe it to yourself to try it.

You Can Learn How To Make A Better Bounce Card!!!! Do it yourself . . . FREE. Watch the Free Learning Video!!!

Gothic Photoshop Photography Effect

brendan.oshea Flickr Pro User was kind enough to share the photo retouching secret to this gothic effect look in photoshop by using Unsharp Mask tool and overlay blend mode technique.

Here is what Brendan.Oshea had to say about this method:

I've done this on a few of my other photos Jimmy, and I've documented the process in one of the shots I've posted previously. It involves cranking up the radius slider in unsharp mask more than the amount slider. (opposite of what you'd usually do) desaturate a little, then repeat until it starts to look too silly.

Sometimes I'll get one of the channels, paste it into a layer and use overlay mode to desaturate. Depends on the image.

To tell the truth, I usually only use this technique when I want to hide technical flaws. Unfortunately, I use this technique alot. The lighting is critical though, and it just doesn't work unless I use this particular style of lighting.

Single Sunpak 383 Super on full power, newly acquired shoot thru 28" umbrella, triggered with Elinchrom Skyport.

Im in search of the Manny Librodo photoshop retouching technique, and this might be one of the secret ingredients as to how Manny comes up with his stunning photoshop effects. Manny is smooth and subtle when it comes to photoshop effects, and this is more deliberate, but effective. I'll talk more about my Idol in the upcoming articles... I can't wait!

Fake Wind Tunnel Photography Effect

I ran across this cool photography effect on Flickr.com, im sorry I forgot who took this picture, I will surely come back and update it as soon as I find it again.

Very cool "light painting" technique.
Here is an excerpt on how this artist came up with this awesome shot.

This was harder to do than I expected. I wanted to follow the contours of the car more closely, to make it look like the smoke you see in a windtunnel. But that was too slow, and I had to run back and forth pretty quickly, making the streak a little "bumpy." A longer exposure would work well, but my driveway is too bright for that.

Double exposure created in camera:

1) 13 seconds for lighting the car: large softbox to left of camera, White Lightning X-1600, 3 pops at 1/4 power + handheld SB-600 at 1/4 power to light rear of car. Also, the streetlight to camera right is contributing more than I wanted, giving the right side of the car a yellow cast and lighting the background.

2) 30 seconds for the fake "windtunnel smoke" -- created with a Fenix P1D LED flashlight on low power, and me running back and forth as fast as possible

Inspiration is from this image
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035610542@N01/28201733/

(RED) Annie Leibovitz - Vanity Fair

Annie does it again! How many times have we seen her photograph world leaders and icons, and stretching the boundaries to produce incredible pictures everytime. She keeps amazing us with her ability to choreograph her subjects and lighting scene (with the help of a million assistants) in a very limited time.

Vanity Fair July Issue features (Red), an awareness campaign which seeks to benefit the people of Africa by donating a portion of the money, when we buy (red) designated items. I saw the youtube video and can't help but share it to the readers and also inspire to help aid the people of Africa through (red).

Enjoy this video and try to study the lighting scenario she designed.

GBTimelapse and a Canon DSLR

This is "News to me"! This video came out a good 3 months ago (May 19th, 2007), but I just saw the time lapse video and it looks amazing. I guess you'll have to see it for yourself to believe it. This software, GBTimelapse is available to Canon DSLR owners only. Im sure they'll market it for all DSLR soon.

Nikon D3 and D300 Digital SLR Specs & Video

Finally! Something to cheer about for my fellow Nikonians. The new Nikon D3 has been announced, and you can checkout the video of the sassy new Nikon D3 Digital SLR. With hopes of meeting of exceeding the Canon EOS-1D Mark III in high ISO image quality, im very optimistic. Its said that it definitely produces cleaner images at high ISO over its predecessor the Nikon D2Xs.

In addition to the FX format (Full-frame) D3 Nikon has also announced the new DX format D300 which also features a 12 megapixel CMOS sensor. The D300 will be available in November. My favorite site to read about the specs and features is DPreview.com
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082313nikond300.asp

Here's the DPreview page of the New Nikon D3. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0708/07082312nikond3.asp

Checkout the video of this new Nikon D3. Looks like a tank, and its being described as rugged and heavy. We'll just have to wait and see how it competes with its competitor, the Canon 1D Mark III.

Checkout this Nikon global special site that features the new Nikon D300 and the Nikon D3. Sweet Patunias! http://nikonimaging.com/global/twoflagships/index.htm?cid=IJD78BJZIJ0

Here is the Official Nikon D3 Specs PDF. http://chsv.nikonimaging.com/global/products/digitalcamera/slr/d3/pdf/d3_2p.pdf

Photography Meet-Ups

Photography Meet-Up in Florida? I have been wondering all this time, how an event like this can be put together? Thousands of aspiring photographers and professionals flock to join such an event. I bow down to those that were able to successfully organize an event like this.

Nicholaus Haskins came up with this idea in Florida Park. Im drooling over this, thinking how valuable the experience could have been if I was there watching how these pictures were molded, and what tools were used to light the scene.

Looks like everyone who participated has a smile on their face! Well at least we get to see the "Behind-the-Scene" shots.

Here is the link to their FLICKR site:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobistmeet/pool/

And the site of the brilliant organizer that made this happen Nick Haskins:
http://www.nicholaushaskins.com/2007/08/tiffany-and-mike-get-trashed.html