POTD April 30, 2010

This is a photo from Ranee and Shawn's wedding at the CW Moore Plaze in Boise.
We were outside in the plaza getting some wedding part shots.
This started out to be one of those cutesy shots with the ring bearer and flower girl. The little ones were not co-operating so I just left it alone for a minute to see what would develop.
The little girl started playing with Ranee's earing, the little boy got jealous so he squeezed in the middle and gave Ranee a kiss, I used my Ninja photographer reflexes to snap it off at just the right time....now about 3 milliseconds later the little girl took a real liking to the earring and tried to pull it out of Ranee's ear, that picture is on Ranee's disc but I doubt she would want me to share it haha..

The setting for this one is basic city street but far enough back so there is plenty of isolation of the subjects.
Equipment was the d700 24-70 2.8 shot at f4 and the 42" softbox with flash from the left set at very low intensity so there is plenty of ambient light.

I am kneeling down so I am appx. eye level of the Ranee and the kids which give more of a feeling of being right there for the moment. In processing I turned the saturation way down, not quite to black and white.

I really like this photo, it is a genuine candid moment, not posed or rehearsed and a moment was captured.
You can see the rest of their wedding gallery here at this link: http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/Wedding-galleries/cw-moore-plaza-wedding/8005781_TpHCa#651047576_zvkaw

Great job Ranee and little people!!

POTD April, 29, 2010

Here is a beautiful portrait of Kathryn from her bridal portrait shoot at Kathryn Albertsons Park in Boise.
I chose the background because of the nice even tones and placed her about 40 yards from it so it would blur into a wall of color. The very late evening sun is shining from behind her giving her a nice backlight halo in her hair.

I lit her from the front with my normal lighting setup sb800 with 42" softbox. Again using the Nikon CLS on camera flash commander mode system. Flash was on ttl at +1.
This setting makes it difficult to tell if flash was even used but still creates some nice shadow on her face and helps to magnify her isolation from the background.
Shot with the d700 and the 70-200 2.8 lens at f4 at about 150mm. The large f-stop and long distance lens really add to the background blur and subject isolation.

Kathryn is such a beautiful lady and her personality is really coming through in this photo.
I had already photographed her wedding a couple months previously so she was very comfortable with me and we were having a great time at the shoot which really allows the natural personality to come through in the photos.
Here is a link to Kathryn's full gallery:
http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/Bridal-galleries/Kathy/10002064_Pnget#726204291_gWCxh

When photographing her wedding I felt she had some great modeling potential so I asked her if she would like to d a fall color bridal shoot. She said sure but moved to the east coast right after she got married.
Lucky for me she travelled back to visit her Mother in October and we stole a perfect fall evening to get this photo shoot in. I am so glad she did, I love the photos we produced in this shoot.

Great job Kathryn!!

POTD April 28, 2010

This is from Kathry's Bridal Shoot at Kathryn Albersons Park in Boise.
As you can see we hit peak fall color, my favorite time of year to shoot in the park for obvious reasons.

Used my normal process, found a beautiful spot and then put Kathryn into the scene. This tree has amazing red color every fall, the trunk and overhead branch create a nice frame with just a bit of the pond showing on the left in the back.

We photographed Kathryn's wedding at a golf course and that was all she had contracted for.
While shooting her I could see  she had great potential as a model.....so I asked her if I could get her out for a bridal shoot in October. She thought that was a great idea and the gallery we made that is on my website is one of my all time favorites.
Link: http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/Bridal-galleries/Kathy/10002064_Pnget#726204291_gWCxh

Kathryn is one of those people that is such an amazing person to be around, a one of a kind, so any chance I ever get to shoot her again I will jump on.
Kathryn turned out to be a natural and she is such a great looking lady. I will post another one of her tomorrow.

This is taken with the 70-200 2.8 at F4, using the d700 with a flash on a stand with a softbox from the left.
The flash was set very low so is not adding much, the light in this is mostly ambient from the right.

I shot this again from fairly far away at about 150mm or so I like the perspective of the long lens and it really helps to isolate the subject. I set the exposure as bright as possible without blowing the dress and told her to throw some hip and this is what we got.

Great shot Kathryn!

POTD April 27, 2010

Suzannah and Mike again at their engagement shoot at the CW Moore Plaza in Boise.
We shot on a very overcast day, I call these power days because the light is so good I can shoot anywhere, it is like a giant softbox in the sky.

Suzannah and Mike were having a lot of fun at their shoot and you can kind of tell they like each other...
Now this is how you keep a guy going during a photo shoot. We all know how difficult that can be sometimes...well if every 10 minutes or so (we have short attention spans) he gets a little sugar then there is a lot more cooperation from him....

So anyway this is during one of those "recreation breaks" I tell them you guys go over there and practice making out while I play with the settings on my camera...oops it just went off.....

Anyway check out their gallery on my website, there are lots of fun shots in there.

D3 85 1.4 again at f2. Notice the field of view is quite a bit deeper partly because of the larger f- stop and partly because they are farther away from me. Natural light again.

I chase the background with this great wall and the barred window, placed them in the left of the frame and the window in the right to balance the frame.
In processing adding a little vignette and a very subtle blur then pushed the blues just a smidge.

Nicely done Suzannah and Mike.

POTD April 26, 2010

Suzannah and Mike's engagement shoot at the CW Moore Plaza in Boise.
Suzannah is such a beauty with amazing high and beautiful blonde hair and Mike is such a good sport. We had a great time at their e-shoot.
We had a nice cloudy day so the light was perfect and they showed up looking great, dressed for the occasion.

This is one of the first shoots where I was using my new 85mm f1.4 lens. I love this lens it give the photos a very dramatic look with the short depth of field.

This photo was taken in natural light at F1.4 with the D3 camera, see the how the background just melts away, the bokeh is so creamy. Mike is rendered very out of focus and the background is basically gone which brings your eye right to Suzanah and her beautiful smile.

I purposely chose a nice bright background with no distractions for this shot and then placed them on the bench right in front of the background I chose. I am kneeling down so I am right at eye level with Suzanah, I told Mike he was just a prop in this one...he seemed ok with it haha...

For processing I kept the exposure nice and bright but not blown out anywhere, which adds energy to the photo.

Great job Suzannah and Mike.

POTD April 25th, 2010

This photo is from Alex and Sharon's engagement shoot last fall. I chose this setting because of the amazing background. The fall color is in full display and the bit of pond on the left adds a nice touch.

I shot this with the d700 and 70-200 2.8 lens. Lighting was with the sb800 on a stand with the 42" softbox from above left.
I got back quite a ways and shot this as about 180mm at f4 to get a very nice blur on the background so they would be isolated in the frame. I was sitting down low so I would be at about eye level with them.

Now Alex and Sharon were a very fun couple and their preferrence was to be smiling and laughing...I actually prefer shots like this, so they accomodated me and hit me with a couple small grins.

I love this pose, it is one of my favorites and I use it a lot, couples just seem to fit together nicely in this pose and it makes them feel comfortable.

In processing I boosted saturation and contrast just a smidge. Mainly I made sure the levels were just right with a good white and more importantly the black point....a correctly set black point with a good exposure and contrast is what provide the dark rich color.

Very nice Alex and Sharon, one of my favorite engagement pictures of all time, thanks!

POTD April, 24, 2010

Bonus picture for the 24th.
Here is another picture of Carley from her senior pictures photo shoot at the Old Penitentiary in Boise.

I really like this shot because her personality is really coming through.

I chose this wall as the background because it goes so well with her outfit and hair color.

Shot with the d700 and the sb800 with softbox.
Used TTL flash at about +1. With that setting the flash does register but there is enough ambient that unless you look closely it is hard to tell a flash was even used.
For someone with Carley's color it really help to use flash as it really warms up the photos and bring out the reds and nice skin tones.

I think this was our last shot before it started snowing. Carley is such a trooper you can't tell she is freeezziing!

After this shot she changed into her evening dress from the Miss Teen Idaho pageant and put on her sash and crown. Then we took a few more while it snowed.
You can see her full gallery at my website alloutdoor.smugmug.com.

Thanks Carley your shoot was so much fun!!

POTD April, 24, 2010

This photo of Carley Campbell was taken outside the back wall of the Old Idaho Penitentiary in Boise.
This is an old historic building from the 1800's. We shot on a beautiful spring day in Boise...except for the snowing part.....and well the wind was blowing and it was actually pretty cold, like I said spring in Idaho.


Carley is the reigning Miss Idaho Outstanding Teen. I can see why, this girl has it together.
Personality, good looks, class and spirit. She is going to go far.
This shoot was actually for her senior pictures but we also took a few of her in her crown and sash.
There is a full gallery of her on my website under Galleries>Portraits>Carley.

This photo was taken with the d700 and sb800 with 42" softbox. I chose the back wall of the prison for this shot because the colors go so well with her outfit and red hair.
This is actually one of the very first shots we took this day....Carly has had her picture taken A LOT so she had no trouble settling right in to getting some good photos.

I shot this at f4 but I was pretty far away from her at around 150mm so I would really get some nice isolation from the wall and I moved her out from the wall a little bit extra just to be sure.

Basic processing and sharpening in Lightroom and here it is.

I love the look of this photo, Carley's confidence poise and beauty are really showcased in this photo.

Beautiful shot Carley!

POTD April 23, 2010

This a shot from Kyle's Senior Picture shoot last week at the Old Penitentiary in Boise. I normally do only wedding photography but we throw in a senior portrait shoot once in a while along with a few family pictures.

If I haven't said it before I LOVE black and white in all it's flavors and nuances.
Black and white worked great for this shot because of the rocks.
Kyle did a great job at his shoot, for a guy he rocked it, very natural in front of the camera.
I think portraits are just less stressful for guys, I mean really, if our socks match when we leave the house we figure all the rest is gravy!

This was shot with the d700 and 70-200 2.8 shot at f4. I didn't use the softbox on this one, natural light.
I sat on the ground and shot this at about 150mm so I would get a good blur effect on the background.
I moved just a bit to the left so his legs would be in the shot and blurred into the background.
The light was nice and diffused sunlight because of the clouds so it was very easy to shoot.

As always, I chose the setting and background first then put Kyle into the setting where I wanted him.
We chose a manly pose, I said something stupid (it just comes to me haha) and this natural grin was the result. I love this shot!

Great job Kyle, your gallery came out great on my website!! Here is a link Kyle's gallery: http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/Portrait-galleries/Kyles-Senior-Pictures-Boise/11938152_EfGWx#845486805_zf3G2

POTD April 22, 2010

Can't tell you why I just love this picture....it's not about the shoes...
I guess being there helps, we were up on a cliff next to a big red rock formation right at sundown, there was an amazing red sunset throwing soft red light on the scene.
I like that this feels unposed to me....like I walked around the corner and Oops!

This is Ranee and Sean. This is one shot from the best gallery I have shot to date.
We shot this engagement shoot on the farm and out in the desert of Idaho around a red rock  formation that we found.

This was shot with the d3 and the 28-75 Tamron at f4. This was the first shoot where I ever used the d3...I loved it then and still love it today...what a camera!
This is with natural light, I was laying on the ground focusing on their shoes and wanted to blur everything else. The focus and depth of field came out just right.
I added a little blue to it in post and that was it.

Nice pose Ranee and Sean!!

POTD April 21, 2010

This is a shot from Eric and Jackie's engagement shoot at the Old Penitentiary in Boise. I just love this back wall of the prison with the guard tower in the background, it really fits my eye.
Jackie and Eric kind of like each other...can you tell...so it was no trouble getting them to walk up and down this path kissing each other a few times. We got a few good shots out of it and they had some fun...win win.

Shot with the d700 and the 70-200 2.8 lens at f4.
Processing was in lightroom where I brought up the black point and pushed the blues, then gave it some vignetting.

Pretty simple shot really. I found the background I wanted. Used a large f-stop to put the focus on the couple and blur the background.
They walked through the frame until they were right where I wanted them and I took the shot. Planning meets execution, with a great looking fun couple like this it gets pretty easy.

Super job Eric and Jackie!

POTD April 20th.

This shot is from April and Craig's Engagement shoot at Kathryn Albertson's Park last week.
I love shooting in this park because there are so many different spots to shoot that I find new little nooks and crannys every time I shoot there. I try to get a few unique shots for every couple.

This is one of my classic bridge shots. This one really shows their personality together, Craig is having lots of fun and doesn't April look hot in this. She has the most amazing hair.

For the light in this I was using old faithful the 42" softbox with sb800 flash on a stand.
I shot it with the d700 and 70-200 2.8 lens at f4. With that lens I try to get as far back as I can..the longer the distance the more the background blurs....as it did very nicely in this shot.

I always choose the background first before I do anything else, then I place the couple into the shot and either pose them or let them pose naturally with no direction. Some couples are great at posing on their own, some are not. April and Craig did pretty well on their own for the most part.

I love the color in this shot and the way everything came together nicely for a classic posed engagement photo.  Very nice job Craig and April!

POTD April 19th

Had a really fun Engagement shoot at Kathrun Albertson's Park in Boise with Annie and Rob last week.
They are a really fun couple and we got some really nice pictures.
Annie was a natural she settled right into it, Rob not so much, he kept looking at the camera like it was trying to capture his soul lol....but he was a great sport and hung in there and did his best for 2 hours.

This shot was taken in full evening sun. I set them up in front of a densely branched bare tree and blurred it a lot at f2 for a really nice background. I was more or less trying to copy that old World War II photo of the sailor dipping the girl next to the ship....you know the one.

Equipment was the d3 with 85 1.4 lens at f2. I held the camera way down low and pointed the lens up at them and took a series of shots hoping to get one in focus and this is what I came up with.
I think it really captures their energy and they both look great in the photo.

Nice shot Annie and Rob!

POTD April 18th, 2010

I love this shot of Annie and Rob and Kathryn Albertson Park in Boise.
This from their engagement shoot last week.
This is very late inthe evening the sun was down and the light was fading fast.
Equipment was the d700 with 70-200 at f4.
Sb800 flash on a stand with the 42" softbox from the left, sun setting to the right.

Annie has beautiful hair and I wanted it to show in this photo so I had her stand back and lean into rob so whe could tilt her head way back and have her fall free.
I warmed the colors up just a bit and gave it a saturation boost.

For composition I tucked them right in to the bottom left of the photo between the large fountain on the right and the small one on the left. I have shot a lot of couples in this park but I always try to get a little different twist on the shots so each couple has some unique looking shots of their own.

Great job on this one Annie and Rob!!

Photo of the day April 17th, 2010

We shot Elissa's wedding last year and this is from her bridal shoot in Kathryn Albertson's Park in Boise.
Equipment was the d700 with the 24-70 lens at f4.
I was using the softbox but had it set very low from the left.

Elissa is the first person I ever shot on this rock from this angle. I really like the evening light and the reflections in the water behind her and the rocky shoreline.

I never use a tripod, as the evening wears on I increase the iso and go down to f2.8. All of my lenses are tack sharp at 2.8 and the d700 and d3 can go up to ISO 3200 and still take a very clean photo.

Elissa has a very fun personality and it is really showing through in this shot. We had a great time at her wedding also. Her family was a lot of fun at the wedding and we got some really nice photos. I will post some from her wedding another day.
Nice job Elissa!!

Photo of the Day April 16th.

I just shot April and Craig's engagement pictures last weekend.
I love this picture.
Equipment was the d700 with 70-200 2.8 lens shot at f4.
Lighting was the 42" softbox on a stand with sb800 using ttl flash controlled by the Nikon CLS system, my usual setup. The light is setup straight in front of Craig from behind April.

He is leaning against a giant tree stump in Kathryn Albertsons Park in Boise. This was taken about an hour into the shoot so they were both feeling nice and relaxed and comfortable which is what you really need to catch a natural shot like this.

This is one of those great shots you can get when the couple thinks you are fooling around with your camera and not even taking pictures, they take a minute to relax and this is what you can get.....

April is such a pretty lady and that hair is just amazing. Craig has a really fun personality and it is all coming through in this shot.

Photo of the Day April 15th, 2010

Another photo from Crystal's wedding.
Another of my all time favorites.
Equipment was the d200 with 28-75 Tamron at F4.
Lit by 24" softbox with sb800 from the left.

We hit the fall color perfectly and the sun was shining right into the back side of this amazing red tree giving it a wild looking red glow. I have been back to this park for the last 4 years trying to capture these same condition to no avail, Crystal hit it just right.

I set her up in that small archway opening between the two trees so she would have just the smooth background of the carpet of leaves and increased the ttl flash just a bit so the background would be a bit dark to really accentuate the white dress and all the color of the day.

Crystal hit another classic pose looking down at her flowers, and her it is.

Photo of the Day April 14th, 2010

This is a photo from Crystals bridal shoot. This is the number one rated wedding photo on the entire Smugmug webhosting site so it is pretty generally liked.
This is from 3 years ago and her gallery is still a fan favorite on my webpage.
Equipment was the d200 with 28-75 Tamron on f4.
Lighting was from a sb800 flash on a stand with a 24" softbox from her left.
This is one of my favorite settings in Kathryn Albersons Park in Boise.
There is a flat rock with some grass on it right along this rocky shore line with the pond.
There is some nice color in the background that fades out and some nice foreground detail with the flowers.

Crystal looks so classy and elegant in this photo, I love her dress and the pose.
Then for processing I hit it with just a light blur and a saturation boost.

The key to this photo is the TTL flash. I set it high enough that the rest of the photo was underexposed just a bit so her dress would not blow out, this really helped to highlight her in the photo.

Photo of the Day April 13th, 2010

Another shot from Ally's wedding. I wanted to start with some of these older pictures so it will be easy to see how changes have been made to the way the photos look as techniques and equipment has changed over the last 4 years.

Equipment again was the d200 with Tamron 28-75 lens at f4. This is mostly natural light late in the afternoon.

I love the look of this with the old castle drawbridge with the black chains contrasted with the white dress.

Ally did a great job in this shot, I love the confident look she is giving in this photo.

The processing in this shot really added as I did a bit of an infrared effect which turned it mostly black and white which I thought really worked with the elements in this photo.

I was very careful not to go too far as the detail preserved in the dress is a large component of this shot....if it had been blown it the shot would have been ruined.

Nice job Ally!

Shot of the Day April 12th.

This is a shot from my first real wedding four years ago.

Equipment was the D200 and 28-75 Tamron.

Taken at F4 with just a little fill flash but mostly window light from the right.

This is Ally, she looks so pretty in this picture.

I have shot her several times in the last few years and we have become friends. I always enjoy photographing her, she has an amazing fun personality.

This photos has basic processing with a blue tint added, to really accentuate those blue eyes.

I know as soon as I saw this great looking mirror we had the makings for a memorable shot. We slid the mirror over by the double door to get some nice light coming in for her.

I had Ally hold her shoes so we could get a nice relaxed feel for the shot and had her lean over the end of the couch and look at me in the mirror. I burned the background just a bit to really bring out the reflection and in the end we have one of my favorite shots of all time.

I will post a few more from her wedding as this project goes along.

Photo of the Day April 11th, 2010.

Portrait of Tara in downtown Boise.

Equipment used: D3, 85 f1.4 lens.

Shot with natural light at f1.4.

I chose this location because of the red color of the background, which matches her red hair.

That is a staircase about 10 feet behind her, almost unrecognizable as a staircase due to the amazing bokeh of the f1.4 lens.

One of the tricks to getting good focus with this lens is to shoot on continuous focus so if there is any movement the autofocus will adjust. Important because the depth of field fo this lens is razor thin if you are shooting from up close, here I was only a few feet away. The only part really in focus here is her eyes and about an inch of her hair.

I shot Tara a couple years ago and she was a dancer for one of the local pro teams so she had no problem getting comfortable in front of the camera with me. This makes my job much simpler because it allows me to focus on the camera and composition and not so much on the mood of the subject.

Very lucky in this instance as we chose just the wrong time to shoot as there was a hockey game just letting out and at a couple points we had 20 or more people standing around watching us.

I had my normal 42" soft box set up with sb800 but we did not use it very much as the natural light was so good this day.

This is a busy weekend for All Outdoor Photograpy, we had a family shoot yesterday with 24 people. We shot the large group as well as all the individual familys that made up the large group. We had a lot of fun and the kids behaved very well for the most part, which sped things up a lot.

Today we have an engagement shoot for a couple we have had a hard time getting together with so really looking forward to getting their shots, as I am sure they are excited to get out there and complete their shoot as well. The light is perfect today.

Photo of the Day April 10th 2010

Brianna and I had a shoot a few weeks ago in downtown Boise.

It was a perfect spring evening.

We found this great looking brick wall for this shot about an hour before sundown.

For lighting there was a mix of ambient light coming from the same direction as the flash. The flash was an sb800 on a stand shooting through a 42" umbrella style softbox.

I probably could have been ok with no flash but I like the more dramatic shadows, catchlights and color I get with the flash.

Shooting with the d700 using Commander mode for the flash control. Flash was set on TTL at +1.

I was using the 24-70 f2.8 lens, set at f4, I love this lens, provides a lot of width and just enough depth of field, nice and sharp and all F-stops.

Briana a you can see is a very pretty young lady. By this point in the shoot we had been at it for over an hour and she was starting to feel very comfortable and confident. Until you subject reaches the point where they are comfortable and confident it is almost impossible to get photographs that really show the true person and personality.

As you can see I shot it from an angle and had her pose at an angle also, this creates energy in the photograph and I tucked her just a little bit off center facing into the space.

So there you have it..my very first photo of the day blog. My goal is to do this every day for 1 year and see how it goes over. I imagine the posts will change over time as this project evolves.

Fee free to post comments if you have any ideas on additional info I could add to the daily photo blogs.

MikeR