What to keep in mind when looking through the portfolio of a Wedding Photographer

                When we’re putting out online profiles together we’re cherry picking the very best photos from the years of our experience. These are helpful to show you that we can stage beautiful moments that will be an aesthetically pleasing for the casual observer. They show that we adapt to our environment, and that we have an eye for that magazine/magic quality everyone is after.

                What it completely overlooks are those small moments we capture that are going to melt your heart 10 years later. Like that photo of the mother dotting a tear away as the vows areet being exchanged. The father giving his son a final straightening of the tie before he walks down the aisle. The father of the bride giving his new son a sad but approving smile. A small hand squeeze the bride and groom sneak under the table cloth. Weddings are about the bride and the groom, but they’re also about bringing two families together with friends. A photographer keeps that in mind, and is constantly scanning for those moments that are going to bring an “aww” to your lips.

                A good wedding photographer is going to provide you with finished photos of each type. They have the experience and eye to know what will be aesthetically pleasing as well as seeking out those small moments that will tug at your heart strings. The thing that you should keep in mind when looking for your photographer is that these heart melting photos don’t always make it into our portfolios. We’re not going to share absolutely every photo we take of someone’s big day. We often can’t as the father of the bride may not have signed a photo release allowing us to. These are photos we share with the couple that hire us for them to decide what to do with.

                Sometimes these small moments can be the more challenging because we often can’t remake the moment. We must be constantly ready to take the photo because you will not get a second chance. We’re not going to ask the bride and groom to start their first dance all over so you can get the twirl of her dress. Yes, you can ask the best friend to hug to groom again, but now it’s being staged and you have lost some of the glow that was part of the moment. In a wedding the people are very rarely models so they will get stiff when they realize they are being photographed.

                What you should ask yourself as a bride is: Do you want someone set in their favorite poses that are going to focus on getting you each shot you saw in their profile, do you want someone who is going to spend all their time looking for the candid moments, or a combination of the two? Whatever your answer is I can tell you : you’re not wrong. It is what you want, and it is your day!

You can visit our portfolio here: https://tbphotographer.com

Is Rochester safe for children?

Marnie here -again. We took a photography trip to Maplewood Park in Rochester, NY today as I thought the bricks would make very nice HDR images. The problem is that while we were there it turned into more of a political statement for me. The location is right next to a Safety & Training center, a playground, and the Veterans memorial bridge. So I have to ask: Why is it one of the most unsafe parks I have ever seen? I'm glad we didn't bring our dog as I wouldn't have wanted him to be exposed to the unsafe conditions. If I don't think it is safe enough for my dog, why would any parent bring their children to this playground? And why hasn't the City of Rochester kept this park clean and safe?

I will say that it is Feb 26th so maybe the parks will be better cared for once summer comes, but this still isn't acceptable to me.

The first thing I noticed was a hand rail on the ground instead of up as a railing:

Now of course this partially drives me crazy because at the location is a plaque that says this is dedicated to our Veterans. It seems awfully disrespectful to our Veterans to leave it in this condition.

Maybe you don't care as much about Veterans and respecting them as much as you care about the safety of children? Well there's a nice playground on site also:

And really, you would think this would make it a safe place:

Now mind you I haven't bothered to capture images of the litter and general dity-ness of the park. It's only the end of Feb so I will give you another month to clean it up. I will even let you slide on the railing being on the ground. What I find 100% unacceptable and unsafe is this:

That is within 100 feet of that playground. If you think that distance is safe, look even closer. You can see the playground through the railings:

Adventures in Macro!

Marnie here :) I was being silly in the backyard with the macro lens yesterday, and wanted to share a few. Taken with the Canon 6d mark ii with a Sigma 105 macro lens.

Self Portraits

At some point in every photographers path to learning they have to do the dreaded self portrait. I personally hate my picture being taken, but it allows me to switch the lights as well as the lens. I set up the home studio extra quick, threw on a bit of makeup, grabbed the Canon 6d mark ii, and set up two lights. My back light was using a white umbrella as the reflector, and my key light was an LED ring light. I was experimenting warm vs cool lighting as well as the lenses. Ignore the fact that I don't always smile or look in the right direction :) There's a reason I am a photographer and not a model.

Photos were all taken at 1/160s
ISO: auto

Post edit: camera raw only for these using auto settings:

So from there I selected my favorite and went crazy on the retouching :)

I apparently decided that I likes the Macro 105:

I stole Tim's lens

Before we bought the full frame cameras I had been investigating if the Canon 24-105 kit lens was worth purchasing with the bodies. Everything I read kept saying how the Sigma Art 24-105 was the better lens- or at least it produced sharper images. When Tim was considering purchasing something more wide angle, I suggested he look at it. It worked! He got the lens this week, and this morning was my first chance to play with it. We have roller derby later today so I just played in the dining room with the puppy. These photos were taken with the 6d mark 2 using the Sigma. The only lighting was the sun coming through the sliding glass door, and the overhead. I typically do a bit more editing after RAW, but I wanted to show of the lens, not my editing style. So, here you are with just a bit of raw edits, and fresh off the camera.

Winter contrast photo for sale

Marnie here again. While looking at the photos that Tim did of Webster Park this past week on my phone they looked like regular old pictures of snow and trees. I mean, how many pictures can you capture of snow and trees? Then I kept looking at one on my computer, and you become more and more engrossed with it the longer you look. I mean: look at this detail when you take the time to zoom in!

So after becoming mesmerized I did a bit of dodge and burn on the photo and put it up on Fine Art America where you get a satisfaction guarantee on all purchases. Once again Tim has shown me how beautiful simple images can be. You see photography of canyons and mountains that are stunning because they are in stunning places, but it takes a lot of talent to take a stunning image in Webster Park in the middle of winter. Click on the link below to see it on FAA, and to purchase prints :)

Event photography

I recently reached out to the Rochester Small Business Council to capture the 2018 Biz Blitz , and you can follow that link to view the full album on the SBC website. The event was at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY. It was a wonderful time! I was using a wide angle lens on the Canon Rebel, and the 70-200 Sigma lens on the Canon 6d Mark ii. I don't have photo releases so I cannot share the images that had people in them, but there are a few of the photos that I captured:

Gosnell Big Woods Preserve

Good morning, Marnie here! Doing the apprentice photographer thing with Tim this morning, and trying to walk the dog at the same time. This Feb 3rd we went out to Gosnell Big Woods Preserve in Webster, NY. The temperature was 18 degrees, and weather.com claims it felt like 1 degree. While in the woods trails it wasn't bad as the trees sheltered us from the wind, but while on the field it was chillier. There had been a recent defrost before this freeze so the trail was pure ice in many places. I had the Canon 6d mark ii with the Sigma 70-200 lens plus the 2x tele converter, and the dog was strapped to my belt. I did not use a tripod or monopod today as it is hard to juggle the dog with them. We unfortunately did not see much in the way of wildlife. When we first arrived at 9am two other cars were there, both with dogs. they all quickly put their dogs on leashes, and headed out without problem. While walking through the woods we did encounter one dog off their leash, but it went back to the owner without problem.