Tag Archive for: photography

Tips and Ideas for Stunning Pre-Wedding Photos

Pre-Wedding Photo Shoots are memories for life time. Memories which make you fall in love all over again whenever you see those captured moments.

So let’s take a look at the sweet yet spicy, crazy yet graceful, madness filled yet love symbolizing, pre-wedding photo shoot ideas.

1. Monumental Memories

Historical sites offer a unique setting for a pre-wedding photo shoot, what with the interesting architecture and the stunning juxtaposition of the old and the new.

To give your pictures an edge, you could even opt for a regal attire to complement the setting, or be your casual self and let your personality shine.

2. Sunsets

Sunset photos never get old. Perfect shots of you and your sweetheart cuddling, kissing or dancing as the sun baths you with orange lights are bound to look romantic.

3. Captions

Ideas for funny captions are quite in trend. For this, some messages are printed on cue cards or hand-written on small chalkboards. These captions are then flaunted in different creative ways to create fun and memorable events together.

4. Romance in the City

If you want to portray intimacy amidst a crowd, then a street shoot in the city during the dark hours would be a great idea. Shots near restaurants, in front of malls or nightclubs also work well.

The contrast of the shimmering lights of the traffic, nightlife in the city, and the obliviously in-love couple in the foreground can really make the images pop.

5. Love in the Hills

If you’d rather prefer to be away from the cacophony of the busy city and capture lovable moments quietly, then a pre-wedding shoot in big, open spaces is a wonderful idea. Many couples prefer hills and valleys to city streets.

6. Flowers

What can symbolize love better than flowers? Beautiful flowers or flower props can be used in creative manner to give a romantic and charming effect to your surroundings. Another good thing about flowers is that they are available in varied sizes, colors and textures.

7. Kitchen Cuddle

This is as easy and as sincere as romantic ideas come. You do not need to get out of the house, and it does not even require you to get dressy.

8. Casual Clicks

Sometimes, doing nothing gives great clicks. Candid photographers try this often. They will ask the couple to roam and chat around casually. They will hide and click innocent and casual pictures which are incredibly nice. You yourself won’t believe on them.

9. Furry Friends

Looking to make your pre-wedding photographs super cute? Then include your pups and kitties in the shoot. A personal quote on their collar will make the moment even more special and set your pictures apart from the crowd.

10. Playing Around with Engagement Rings

Engagement rings were the first things which bought two of you together. So, flaunting these beautiful rings in different ways is also a favorable idea in pre-wedding shoot these days. This will make you fall in love all over again.

11. Food and Infatuation

If your love story began at a cafe, restaurant or even your run-of-the-mill food stall, you can pay tribute to the place where it all began by incorporating it in your pre-wedding photographs.

Food can portray your emotions, your love, your interests, your similarities as a couple and much more and the best part – you get to munch on goodies while being photographed.

October 23, 2017/by Chris Abell

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Captivating Photography with Strong Neutral Density Filters

What is a Filter in Photography?

A filter is a product, usually made of glass, but sometimes made of resin or other material, which is designed to have some impact on the light hitting your camera’s sensor. For example, a UV filter is designed to filter out UV light – a throwback from film days, as modern camera sensors tend to have built-in UV filters. A polarizing filter filters out polarized light, good for cutting down on reflections and making blue skies pop.

What does a Neutral Density Filter do?

A Neutral Density Filter reduces the amount of light that passes through it and therefore, the amount of light that ends up on the camera’s sensor. It is essentially a darkened piece of glass (or resin) that is designed not to change anything other than the quantity of light that passes through it. Other factors such as the color of the light or polarization of the light should not be affected.

This allows for creative effects such as using a wider aperture (for depth of field effects) or a longer shutter speed (for time-based effects) than would not be possible otherwise. They are most useful in bright conditions where there is a lot of available light.

Other helpful uses of ND filters include:

Reducing the depth of field in bright sunlight

Adding motion blur to moving objects

When using a wider aperture

Types of ND Filters

There are several types of ND available – screw in ones come in various filter thread sizes and slot in ones fit into a holder that screws onto the lens. They are available in different strengths too, known as the filter exposure factor as follows:

ND filters and their exposure factors:

2x one stop
4x two stops
8x three stops
64x six stops
1024x ten stops (Lee Big Stopper region)

Using an ND filter is simple, you just either screw on or slot into a holder and leave the camera’s automatic exposure system to work out the filter factor. If it’s an 8x, for example, the camera will reduce the shutter speed from, say, 1/125sec to 1/15sec to compensate for the three stops extra light required. Or the aperture will be opened up from f/22 to f/8.

What Is a Graduated Neutral Density Filter?

Some neutral density filters aren’t so “neutral” after all. A graduated neutral density filter blocks more light on side than the other. Half of the filter might block out 4 f-stops on one side and only one f-stop on another. Where might be this be useful?

Landscape photography is an immediate candidate. When you are taking pictures of landscapes, the sky tends to be much brighter than the ground underneath it. By using a graduated neutral density filter, you can get the right brightness levels in the sky and the ground at the same time.

Waterfalls

Using an ND filter in this way is not its primary benefit though. Have you seen those shots of waterfalls that look ethereal with blurry cotton wool water? Well the chances are an ND filter will have been used. Here the filter is used to reduce the shutter speed so that blur occurs. If you are out in a bright location the shutter speed will be at least 1/125sec and ideally you need 1/15sec or slower. So pop on the necessary ND filter and you’ll gain the effect you’re after.

Buildings

Architecture photographers have a useful technique that often needs an ND filter to work. When photographing famous landmarks you often have problems with tourists getting in the way. If the shutter speed is slow enough it will be open long enough to ensure the moving people are so blurred they cannot be seen on the image. A 1/2sec exposure may record a streak of someone walking while a 4 sec exposure will make them vanish. Simple, but very effective.

Apertures

It’s not just the shutter speed that you may want to improve either. If you are shooting in bright conditions you may find the aperture the camera is selecting is small and the resulting picture will have far too much front-to-back sharpness known as depth-of-field. This is often the case with portraiture or flower photography where a distracting background ruins the photo. Using an ND filter will help you open up the lens and provide a shallow depth-of-field.

Flash

Another use for an ND filter would be when using flash. You can often reduce the exposure of the flash using auto settings, but for close ups that may not be possible. The ND filter will provide the key to this essential barrier.

October 9, 2017/by Chris Abell

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Avoid These Common Mistakes When Hiring Your Wedding Photographer

Every couple aspires for their wedding to be a picture-perfect affair. And, they leave no stone unturned to turn this dream into a reality. They look for the most exotic venue, hire the best vendors, select the most beautiful outfits, and everything else, which helps them to make their wedding truly memorable.

However, when it comes to hiring a wedding photographer, not every couple might end up making the best decision because of their lack of knowledge about this art. In fact, there are a few mistakes, which most couples usually make while hiring their photographer.

Well, this can be a real spoiler in any couple’s dreams of having a perfect wedding, since, only the wedding pictures preserve the memories of this beautiful day.

Here are some common mistakes you must avoid, which most couples make while hiring a wedding photographer.

1. Prioritizing products (Albums) over the quality of the photography

You might have a limited budget, and there is nothing wrong with that. This still does not mean you need to compromise on the quality of the pictures. There are ways to work around a small budget. For one, I believe it is better to have a bunch of great pictures in the drawer than an album of mediocre images. Skip the album for now. Get the pictures and make an album later. Even if you make it a year later it is still fine. Relax and look at what is important. Focus on the quality of the photography rather than the products you get right now

2. Not Sticking to the Finalized Schedule

Pay attention and respect the schedule you and your photographer discuss prior to your wedding. Being an hour late can make or break your images. Don’t just assume it only takes 10 minutes!

3. Don’t Make the Mistake of Overlooking the Photographer’s Personality

The number one mistake to avoid when hiring a wedding photographer is to listen to everyone else. Your best friend might have loved her photographer, and your cousin probably swears by hers. So you met with both of them and their pictures seem good enough. But did you like them? Your photographer will be with you all day, so it’s important you get along with them and enjoy their company. Your instincts will tell you a whole lot!

4. Interfering in his work

Many couples tend to give their suggestions to the photographer while getting themselves shot. What’s worse? They even reject the photographer’s ideas at times, and compel them to do the things the way they feel is right. You have to understand that your photographer is a pro in his work, and hence, is well aware of how to give you the best wedding photographs. By dictating your own terms, you might just end up irking him; the result of which, can lead to you getting the mediocre quality pictures.

5. Letting Relatives Get in the Way

We have a name in the industry for a guest who shows up with pro photo equipment and takes ‘unofficial wedding photos’—we call him Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob may think he’s doing you a favor by taking more shots for the couple, but usually he just gets in the way and makes us miss our shots. Tell Bob to leave the camera at home and just enjoy his time at the wedding without working.

6. Last Minute Bookings & Disappointment

You have set your budget for your photography, you have maximized it the best you can so you can afford the best photographer you can get. All ticks so far, however you leave it, you don’t make a decision and then when you realize you still need to hire someone, you can be left disappointed when the wedding photographers you wished you had hired are fully booked on your day.

As with your wedding venue, as soon as the wedding venue and the date is confirmed, you should be booking your wedding photographer. No matter what your budget the best wedding photographers will be taking bookings up to 2 years in advance, so don’t wait a couple of months before your big day and be surprised they are booked up.

Our advice is as soon as you have your date and venue, find your perfect wedding photographer and get them booked.

7. Not signing a legal contract

This is yet another mistake that many couples often make while hiring a wedding photographer- not signing a legal contract. Remember, whatever you decide and agree on with your wedding photographer should be put down in writing in a legal contract. This will save a lot of misunderstandings and help sort out issues that could potentially arise at a later stage. The agreement should mention the agreed number of days/hours of work, the number of edited/unedited images, the maximum delivery time, liability, ownership of the images, usage rights, payment terms, etc.

8. Put your phone away

Always an interesting topic but we feel wedding photos can easily be ruined by shots of the bride and groom walking down the isle to a sea of camera phones being held up too. Weather you ask your guests not to do it or not, perhaps ask them to have a cut off point, you can take photos if you wish up to this time, then please put your phone and camera away and enjoy the rest of the day with us. Have you considered an unplugged wedding?

July 3, 2017/by Chris Abell

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Photography Wedding Tips

Want to book photographers that go the extra mile? Check out Premier Entertainment. We’ll capture your wedding day any way you want, and leave you with some amazing memories to last a lifetime.

Below are some of our sweet tips on making the most of your big day photography.

Practice Makes Perfect

Sometimes posing in front of a photographer you don’t know can be awkward, especially when you are trying to record and intimate moment right after saying “I do”. Check out photography you like and pick out some favorite portrait poses, then take an afternoon and practice them together. You might even want to practice relaxing your face in the mirror for natural shots.

Light Your Face With Love

You’ve probably heard someone say, “You need to find your light.” Or something along those lines, and it couldn’t be more true than when it comes to wedding photography. Talk to your photographer about the kind of light you want reflected in your photos, too. Also, if you plan on taking a lot of photos indoors be sure the lighting isn’t florescent as that can discolor your skin. Look for rooms that have a lot of natural light to keep your skin glowing and fresh.

Use The Weather To Your Advantage

No matter what happens on your big day, use it to your photography advantage. Rain, clouds, and lightning can often make the most gorgeous natural backdrops for wedding photos.

When You Choose Premier Entertainment for your photography needs you get:

Professional photographers
Professional photography lighting
DVD with high-resolution images and print release
Password protected online gallery for viewing, proofing, and downloading
Photo editing (color, contrast, exposure)
Extensive photo editing and retouching
4 to 6 weeks turnaround time
24/7 personal online planning tools
Unlimited advice to help plan your big day
One on one meetings to personalize everything to your needs
Full-time office staff and thorough event planning

June 9, 2016/by Chris Abell