I went into this photoshoot with a plan, and it got shot to pieces.

I’ve been playing around with off-camera lighting here and there. Since lighting is such a huge component of a good photo, it’s nice when you’re able to control it to achieve a certain look. When I had to chance to shoot Cale, I was all prepared to try using a couple flashes set up indoors with a simple backdrop – a very simple home studio setup consisting of a speedlite and 2 optically triggered flash bulbs (which don’t refresh very fast).

After setting up and snapping some photos, I became painfully aware that this setup wasn’t working. It wasn’t because the lights weren’t working together correctly, or that the setup was incorrect… But simply the fact that [...]

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I love a good project that is quick, fun, and turns out great. My best friend /college roommate is to be married this year to a wonderfully perfect girl and I all but insisted that they let me help out with their save the dates and invitations. I wanted to come up with something that was as goofy, playful, and colorful as they are – something that the recipient would think, “That is sooo them!” After a brainstorming session, we decided to go for a photogrid approach, but with the photos all interacting with each other in some way. Front and center we wanted a nice picture of them together, but all around would be individual shots of them reacting in different ways. Plus Mini-Wheats, their kitty (which we rescued from certain death and nursed back to health in our college dorm room). All we needed was to shoot the images we had sketched up.

A fast photoshoot provided all the images I needed and the card came together pretty quickly after that. Finally, we had it printed on heavy glossy front/matte back stock. Excited to move on to the invitations!

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We had a lot of fun on this recent photoshoot with Gracie and her family – she was such a joy to shoot! During the editing of this set, I got the chance to fine-tune a photoshop action I’ve been working on to apply to the final images to give them more of a cohesive, signature look. My goal is to build up a bank of these flexible, signature processing looks to make editing more streamlined and consistent. They don’t always work for every setting or lighting scenario, but they provide a good place to start for experimentation. Find the action that works the best, then tweak it until it matches your vision for a particular project.

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