Here are some “behind the scenes” photos, taken by our friend D.J. Ellis, one of hottest photographers in the nation, of Stephanie and the group in Seattle this past week.  D.J., you are the bomb dude!

All the gang hanging out after a long day of shooting. The next crop of "World's Best"?

Learning from Master Yoda himself, Jim Garner. "Wedding Photographer World's Best He Is"

The group being tutored on night shots

Stephanie "chillin" with her gnomies after a long day on the beautiful beach

Nuff said. "Watch out world, here they come!" (This almost looks like a promo for 'Survivor - Wedding Photographer'.)

Stephanie just sent me a few more pictures from her workshop there in beautiful Seattle, WA.  She learned a lot but Jana and I are looking forward to her return back to the studio!  Check out all the latest Wedding Photographs on our website…

What beautiful and dynamic colors in this shot, and the contrasting long white veil really leads the eye to the bride.

Stephanie really used the sunset here to capture a very romantic shot.

The birch treeline subtly brings in the white to guide your eye directly to these smooching lovebirds. Gorgeous colors.

Excellent use of a new lighting technique to get just the right amount of light on our subject without washing out the panoramic view of the Puget Sound.

Have a great weekend everyone!

On day 3, we spend quite a bit of time reviewing & retouching of Whidbey Island Images and using the tools within Photoshop CS3 (many that some didn’t know were there).  It was a very helpful session, on how to use the tools without making the pictures look over-done or air brushed.  Here are some shots of the gorgeous area around Whidbey Island…

The afternoon session was all regarding the business side of things an excellent 2 hour session on enhancing the client experience (which Tim and I believe is the most important part of any service provider!). Keep watching for more shots from the workshop.

Stay tuned.  (Yes, my brain is FULL )

Wednesday was a day of “Photoshopping”.  We were  critiqued on album layouts of our Wedding photos yesterday from Downtown Seattle that we designed, mine went well, suggestions were made by all the other professionals which (in my case) really improved and fine-tuned the spread.  There is a lot of truth in having “an extra set of eyes” to look at things.  I am getting some one on one with Jim today on Photoshop, which I am looking forward to.  I also enjoyed learning some advanced tips and tricks with layering and blending that will really proved to be helpful.  

At 6pm to Dark, we had our Evening Photo Shoot Workshop, then at 10pm, a Fireside Dinner & Dessert right on the beach.  What a day!  I’ll add some of the Evening Photo Shoot shots with tomorrow’s post. 

I have to tell you that this beach house where Jim is hosting this private workshop is just outside of Seattle on Puget Sound and it is beautiful. It has 130 feet of low bank waterfront and is walking distance from the beautiful Deception Pass Bridge and State Park.  Westerly views from the house are of the Olympic Mountain Range and San Juan Islands. You can see it is a gorgeous place by taking a photo tour here -  www.surfcrestbeachhouse.com . 

Today has just been loaded with tons of information, with Jim’s wife Katarina also teaching on her part of the business, so needless to say it’s been busy and lots of fun! This is a total luxury, 1st class workshop and just a great experience all the way around.  I highly recommend it.

Stay tuned for those Evening Photo Shoot photo’s and more from Day 3 tomorrow!

Well, I couldn’t be more tired and my brain is full.

What a great day we had starting with a morning classroom session that took us through direction on workflow as well as Story Shooting presentation, goals and guidelines. [a great session!].  The afternoon was spent shooting models at a couple of fantastic Seattle locations downtown.  Emphasis on lighting and emotion can’t help but make us better at doing what we love, capturing couples at their best on their wedding day.  I can’t wait until tomorrow! 

Here are just a couple shots from around Seattle today…

Fun, fun, fun!!!  More tomorrow. 

Stephanie, along with our good friend Dawn Shields, will be in Seattle, WA, from July 21-July 28 for this extraordinary workshop hosted by Jim and Katarina Garner.  For those of you that didn’t hear, Jim Garner was voted by American Photo Magazine as “One Of The Top 10 Wedding Photographers In The World!”.  What an honor.  We look forward to Stephanie’s daily comments and pictures during this week as the 10 photographers attending this special workshop learn first hand from Jim tips and techniques on posing, dramatic lighting, contemporary imaging techniques, night shooting, as well as the backside of the business such as workflow, Photoshop, album design, and a host of other unique services that we can offer to you dear brides.  It should be a great week, check back daily starting this Wednesday for updates and photos from Stephanie on how it’s going!

For those of you that haven’t seen Jim and his teams work, here is a sample. You can see he deserves it. Congratulations Jim!!…

Stay tuned for more, beginning every day starting this Wednesday! 

Are you looking for the type of images you would get if you went to a “traditional” portrait studio downtown in your home town? Or are you looking for more “cutting edge” or avant gard styles? Something you might see in fashion magazines? Something else?  I recommend a book that our good friend and fellow photographer Jim Downing sent us some time back written by Gary Bernstein. It is probably one of the best books on lighting you will ever read on use of light, light metering, camera settings, lenses, exposures, and composition, shows photographs of models, celebrities, and individuals, and describes the composition and lighting of each portrait in easy to understand diagrams.

• Color or black & White or both?
• Individuals or groups? Any specific age-range of subjects?
• Head shots? Head and Shoulders? Bust? Waist-up? Full length?

The feature of this book that makes it so worthwhile to me is that it breaks down exactly how to light a portrait and teaches you how to look at other portraits that you like and try to figure out the lighting that was used. Look at the catchlights in the eyes. The direction the nose and eyebrow shadows fall. The length of the shadows, etc, etc, the real “psychology of portrait lighting” and interaction with the subject.
 

When Jim told me about this book and that he studied it back in college in the 80’s, I thought, “how dated can this be”?  But he sent it to me, and I have to admit he was right, again!  This book is like a university education on professional lighting techniques in your hand.  You may get more exercises and assignments from paying big bucks at a university for this training, but the principles are all right here in this fantastic book at a fraction of the price. 

You may have a hard time finding a copy, I think it’s out of print.  To be helpful, here is a search via Amazon to find used copies [much more reasonable] :  Availability on Amazon – Click Here  ISBN: 0-89586-269-7

I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have a copy and how you like it.  Our readers will appreciate your comments about it.

Happy shooting this weekend!

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