Vette in Huntsville

Today I'm revealing a couple engagement images from Huntsville, Texas. Above is a favorite image of mine. I shot this at dusk. Had to add a little fill flash. Of course, many of you know that adding flash often lights up the foreground more than you want. Using the graduated filter in LightRoom can be a blessing! This image was shot at ISO 500 with 32mm Nikkor, at f4.5 1/200 of a second.

Recipe: I used a noise reducer to remove artifacts and improve skin tones. Using LightRoom 3, I boosted the greens to bring life to the evergreens which were suffering from the Texas drought. I used the adjustment brush boosting clarity (added black to further clarify) details. The gradient filter was used to improve the sky detail, and to lower the detail in the flash foreground. 

The image above was enhanced in virtually the same way. Shooting into the sun can lead to really bland images. Highlights can be lost, and people can end up in shadow. Shooting from any other direction was out of the question because of undesirable backgrounds. Finding a work around allows you to find the dramatic.

And of course, the obvious question...Jim you are an idiot! Why are you shooting this shot at 3 in the afternoon? You are right...but...I am a Dallas wedding photographer. When I travel for engagements, I may end up spending the day with a couple exploring the city (and college campus in this case) where they live. It was about a 3-4 hour drive, and I'm not the type to go to a park, shoot for 40 minutes and say "Thanks, that will work - goodbye." These are images of a time in a couple life they can't get back. These images are forever, and represent their romance...the time they fell in love. I must be able to shoot over a period of hours and "make it work".

Email me if you'd like to see their webcast - engagement slideshow with music. jim@jimrode.com

First Recipe

That's it! I do not intend to bow to the pressure of emails saying "if we use you, can we have the pictures in a week?" No. I won't do what others do. I am thrilled with what I create. If it takes 3 weeks...so be it.

Your wedding day images say a lot about you. They define who you are. You can wait 3 weeks for me to  bring out their finest qualities. If I plan on only 2 weddings per month, you must realize I sacrifice for your wedding. I will not punch them out every week. I could make twice the money...but I would feel less "good" about myself. Plus, it goes against common sense to sell you associate weddings shot by someone less capable. I would just have to work twice as hard to try to fix what I didn't create.

And yes, I enhance every image. No surprises with 70 images made great...and then your guests go online to see all the blemishes... No surprises with a Dvd of blahs...

The recipe for the image above shot at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo.

The shot shown second was captured at noon at ISO 640, 18mm Nikkor lens at f/3.5 - 1-60th second.

In the enhanced shot, I opened the raw file in LightRoom, removed noise, and did a manual adjustment of distortion for the columns. I brightened the image about 45%, add contrast, and upped the black slider. I played with the graduated filter and adjustment brush on the ceiling columns etc. I upped the green foliage with Color, before adding clarity. (While using the adjustment brush, I will often add or subtract clarity and contrast to bring out an HDR effect. As a wedding photographer, I don't have time to do true HDR with 3-5 bracketed images...and as I understand HDR, it doesn't work well with people anyway...as people are living - breathing - beings who can't hold perfectly still!

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