Some Christmas Family Photos

Paige and Cody

Black and white version

Here's Pam (in the red) with her family plus Cody (next to her) and Maggie (the dog). This was the fastest, most freezing, photo shoot. Lasted about 5 minutes. I didn't do a good job with this shoot with the focusing and settings. A lot of pictures were blurry but it was getting pretty dark out there.

The ladies of the wedding

My next post are the actual ceremony, then followed by the reception.

Earlier tonight I went to a this meetup group called "the photographer's edge". It was pretty interesting. I have never been to a photography thing so it was cool chatting up photo stuff. They were talking about extension tubes and tripods - two things I never use. I just don't do that type of photography to find them useful. They brought some pretty fancy stuff there - like $700 tripods!

Also, in some super exciting news, Polaroid is bringing back their film!! One of my favorite cameras I own is a Polaroid that does instant prints. They discontinued the film - you know, the type where you shake it like a Polaroid picture - but they're bringing it back. Here's the news story

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?&entry_id=49511

More soon :)

Test Post Using Windows Live Writer

I’m trying out Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer that can edit and format an the major blogs including blogger.  So far I have to say that I’m impressed at the ease.  I don’t need to do a 2 stage process of first uploading a pic to flickr and then embedding it using html editor on blogger.  This is just a one step process that even has some cool special effects like this reflection…even a watermark.  How cool is that?  Thank Khiemy for the recommendation.

This picture is of Lily, my friend Chip’s daughter I took on Halloween.  It’s not the most technically the best photo due to the wrong focus area.  It was done on my old pal the D70s.  Speaking of which, that’s the same camera Jeff got.  So yup, that was really easy…so easy I almost want to post another picture.  You know what, I think I will actually!Me @ the Modern Art Museum | Ft. Worth, TX Summer, 2008

*Presses the Easy button.  Bam!  How you like that?!  Very cool.  I can even crop, resize, and add some effects like sepia ton.  If I didn’t have so many archived pics on Flickr I’d cancel it.  But oh well… This thing can even embed video too but only low res.  I’m still looking a WMV to MP4 or other HD res file compatible with Youtube’s High Quality mode.  Doh!  Where are the Blogger tags?  I guess you can’t do it all here.  Oh well still impressed….OH WAIT…they show it right before you publish.  Ok this thing rules.

UPdate:  ok the first picture is pixelated and I can't get it to be not pixelated.  So much for being cool.  Boooo!!!

Wedding Weekend Edition

Lake Arrowhead Spa and Resort all decked out

Mike waiting for his new wife

A little black and white artsy action

Christine, Barb and Dana all dolled up.

Beatrice, Barb's sister getting ready.

I hope Barb doesn't mind me posting of pic of her in rollers.

Trick or treat!!??!!  Anyway, more pictures as I spend a little time each day fixing up a few.  These are just in random order.   I just pick out whatever catches my eye.  I'll post some before and after shots soon so you can see what a big difference some digital retouching can make, especially with the colors and that "wow" factor that I strive for.  It's going to be a few days for the next update because I got a lot of stuff to do this weekend that's non-photo related.  More then.

Oooo La La

Dana requested VERY little makeup in the morning from the makeup artist Jeanne.  I asked her why and she said that's not her thing - she's not very fussy.  I can see why, she doesn't need any!  

Barb looking incredible.


I love the lighting in this shot.  File this under Johnny's favorites.  

I'm back from Houston, which is a great city but reminded me of LA in terms of traffic.  I went to the River Oaks Country Club for a meeting and that place and the surrounding area is RICH.  I'm talking about mansions and estates that were built in the late 1800s/early 1900s.  They look like something out of Casablanca.  I can imagine looking out on the 3rd floor "green room" seeing a plantation outside.  

Anyway, here are some more pictures.  I often think after a shoot that I nailed it then I'll look at the pictures afterward on my computer and think they're pretty terrible...then after a few more looks I'll pick out a few with potential ones I can work with.  Then I'll start liking them again...then I'll find some gems I missed earlier.  These are it.  Again, it's really easy when you have good looking people like Barb and Dana, a beautiful place like Lake Tahoe, and some perfect evening lighting with perfect weather conditions :) 

B + M: Part 2

Barb looking radiant.

Believe it or not, Mike doesn't think he looks good in pictures.


Just a very cool spy shot and effect reminicent of Gene Hackman's "The Conversation"

On to the ceremony. Emotions were running high - in the high resolution picture you can see tears...notice the tissue ready for Barb...just in case.

My absolute favorite shot of the entire wedding.  I love the fall colors.  


The moment.

Yep...it's official.

Some alone time after the ceremony.  

It was party time after dinner.

*out of breath*  I'm back in Texas.  Congrats to Mike and Barb who have been together for 11 years??!!   It was nice to get some fresh air up in the mountains and to bust out my camera for once.  Hopefully these pictures captured the mood because both Mike and Barb and a lot of guests were just overwhelmed by emotion.  It was incredible.  Also, during the reception - I've never seen a wedding people party so hard!  They even had drinking games!  Awesome.  Anyway, more pictures to come when I get time to fix some more up.  There's a huge problem:  I have waaaay too many picture (itchy trigger finger + 9fps sports camera = ??? GBs of pics)

B&M Engagement

UCI

Some Dinner Pics

Alea, UCI undergraduate Class of 2008!


B - I just threw her in there cuz this was a nice pic.

Khiemy and Ty - who I owe a refund for the red envelope. I actually owe Johnny Lam one too, but he got me a gift certificate. I'll have to figure out a way to pursuade them to accept their refunds.

I have been patiently awaiting my more powerful lappy computer which is in for repair to do some retouching so pictures have been trickling out veeerrry slowly. Here are a few more guests who only attended the dinner portion (which was probably the smarter thing to do). Also, congrats to my former research assistant Alea, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCI and attending Hastings Law School! There was a lot of brain power in that room come to think of it.

Also, on the Sienna front - that little girl might be getting an agent so hopefully I can get in on the action for pictures. The talent scout really liked her and my "professional" looking photos :) Anyway, these photos were snapped by me just for fun. (I only shot a handful that day). I notice that photo newbies tend to shoot horizontal shots a lot. I guess it feels more natural. I suggest changing things up - go vertical, try shooting upward from below, and even ... do I dare go there??....TILT the camera. But please use sparingly at non extreme angles (just my opinion).

Hey Jeff, I know you have 2 kids and a wife to get out of, but we need to get together soon!

Sumu and Brian's Wedding Reception Part 2

Brian having fun.


Nothing too fancy, just a cute little cake.


Sumu workin the camera.


It was also Sumu's dad's birthday so everyone sang 'Happy birthday' really out of tune.

The lovely young ladies.

Here are a few more pictures from the wedding reception. Karen was also there with Anand but didn't bring Mateus.

Also, I signed up for twitter so I'm a little more Web 2.0 up in here. Basically it posts whatever you're doing at the moment and can even be updated using SMS text messaging. There was this American reporter the other day who got out of Egyptian prison the other day because he let his friends know he got arrested through a twitter update. It posted a little link on the blogger sidebar on what I'm up to.

Sumu and Brian's Wedding Reception Part 1

Yesterday I shot Sumu and Brian's wedding reception at Scott's Seafood Restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA - across the street from South Coast Plaza (I didn't get to shoot the actual wedding, which was last Thursday). It was a very small and intimate reception for family and close friends. There wasn't a lot of hoopla but it was very romantic. When I saw Brian come up in a tux I thought it was going to be very formal and no-nonsense, but I was absolutely wrong. They were completely into each other and absolutely adore each other. Brian was full of fun photo ideas like laying on Sumu's lap, dipping, and plenty of smooching. Here are some images we took before the guests arrived. Plenty more in the next few days.

Since we're talking about weddings, I went to check out Laguna Ablums and was very impressed. So now, I'm in the process of selecting pictures to put together a couple of sample albums and will be able to offer some awesome and affordable wedding packages.

Before | After

I was talking to Shari today about photos and retouching so I gave her a quick demo. The first pic is straight out of the camera and the second shot is retouched. As you can see, it makes a big difference. My philisophy on this is just to do enough to enhance the picture a little bit - don't go nuts. The trick is a good shot to begin with. Some people can perform miracles with Photoshop but I can't. I love the lighting in this shot, giving her the famous "glow."

What I've done is enhance the color saturation and contrast and boosted the light a little. Some people might not like the color or that you can't see the beach but I like the warm tones on this one - the effect I was going for, it's all a matter of taste. Also notice she's not facing the sun. But you do it I bet either the flash goes off or the person is too dark. How did I do this?

1. You need a DSLR (you can get one for pretty cheap these days, don't anything fancy)
2. Spot meter on the face (make sure your camera has this)
3. Adjust your camera settings to it and make some adjustments. (I use manual mode)

How did I learn this? Reading photography sites with tips like this one and practicing ;) I'm just passing along the info.

Feel free to leave questions in the comments or share your photo tips.