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Photo of the Day - Erica & Wayne

This shot is from Erica & Wayne's wedding last Friday.  There is an amazing story to this wedding that I'll share when I have the slideshow ready.  Be sure to come back in about a week.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Photo of the Day - Nirali

Lauren & Josh's Wedding - Lake Oak Meadows, Temecula CA

I finally had an opportunity to photograph at Lake Oak Meadows.  I've heard great things about the venue and can finally see what people are talking about.  For starters, it is shaded by beautiful old-growth Eucalyptus trees and every corner is landscaped with flowers and grape vines.  However, the feature that really sets it apart from everyone else is the lake with FIRE coming out of it.  

Lauren and Josh were awesome to work with.  Plus, their guests were all very friendly and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. DJ was mike from Good Times Entertainment and the Officiant is the very popular Chris Tuttle.

Photo of the Day

This photo is from last Sunday's wedding of Lauren and Josh at the beautiful Lake Oak Meadows.  

Tips for Photographing Fireworks

It’s amazing to see how many people have Digital SLR cameras (the ones with interchangeable lenses).  If you’re one of those fortunate people then you have the tools to capture fireworks like a pro.  Here are a few tips:

1. First of all, make sure that you are not downwind of the show. If you are, you'll be taking pictures of smoke and not fireworks!  
2. USE A TRIPOD.  If you don’t have one then you’ll have to support your camera on top of your car or the arm of your chair.  Don’t bother hand holding because the quality will be crap.                                                             
3. Pack a range of lenses and experiment with what works best for you.  55-200mm is a pretty common lens... if you have that one then you should be set.  Wide angle lenses aren’t going to do you any good unless you’re REALLY close to the action.  Try to fill the frame as best as you can.
4. Set up your camera properly:

• Turn your flash off.  
• Set your camera to Manual Mode (M)   
• Set your ISO to either 400 or 800
• Set your Aperture to F4 
• Experiment with Shutter Speeds of 3, 5, and 10 second exposure to see what you get. Typically, you'll be better off using a long exposure for the individual fireworks and a shorter exposure for the grand finale (since there is so much light in the sky with all the bursts). Remember that the longer the exposure, the more of a "trail" you'll see for each burst and the more likely you're to catch multiple bursts in one image. 

Anna in Roma

It seems that every time Julie speaks with or emails Anna, I can expect to hear wild laughter from her office.  Julie's told me about her blog for a while but just got around to checking it out.  It is a RIOT!!!  The subtitle is 'Cultural Observations of an American in Italy.' What an amazing life experience; it makes me want to go to Italy.  Check it out:

http://www.annainroma.com/

We are looking forward to photographing her wedding next April :)  

July Promo

Now through July 31st - 25% Off Canvas Prints

Vendor Lists

I have seen some major F-ups at weddings in the past few months and I have to speak out.  There is a huge wave of new WEDDING VENDORS WITH NO EXPERIENCE.  PLEASE, do yourself a favor and use the venue's Vendor List; these are people who have proven themselves over and over again and will do a good job for you too.  If they screw up they are dropped from the list.

Don't get me wrong... this economy is hitting everyone.  Not to mention the fact that everyone loves the satisfaction of knowing that they got a good deal.  But cummon, this is YOUR WEDDING.  

More Love!!! South Coast Winery Wedding

Hi Justin!

Thank you so much for all of your hard work at our wedding. People are still commenting on how impressed they were with your professionalism and dedication to the event. 

We just returned from our honeymoon on Thursday and were delighted to see the gallery from the wedding was already up! We have browsed through just about all of the photos you posted and we are amazed! It has been so fun seeing our day and how it played out. You made the day even better for us and we could not be happier about having you be part of such a great event!

Thank you, thank you! We will be talking to you soon so we can put the album together :)

Have a great day!

David and Leighann

Wilson Creek's New Building

I don't know if I shared this on an earlier blog-post, but I'm really proud of this shot of Wilson Creek's new event building.  I just photographed here last night and am super impressed with the time and thought that went into every aspect of this building.