Category Archives: Wedding

After wedding pictures at the Myrtle Beach State Park

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Now that things have slowed down some I’m going to try and go back and blog about some of my previous weddings and events.  This couple was married the day before, and just wanted to do some portraits of the two of them.  The Myrtle Beach State Park is really a great place for pictures because of the options like the oak trees, the pier and the really nice dunes, all in the same location.  Also, it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits, so you don’t get in trouble for doing picture there.  The only thing is, you have to be really careful about getting on the dunes.  I still see other photographers getting in trouble with the park rangers sometimes.  I saw this one photographer recently not only up on top of the dunes and getting talked to by a park ranger, but also waist deep in the swash trying to photograph a model, which is highly contaminated with bacteria.

Back to this couple, the evening turned out to be great with some really nice colors in the sky.  I was even able to catch some of the seagulls flying by in a few shots, which is really cool of you happen to get it.  This is a good example of how you can get some really nice pictures no matter how big your wedding is, I just did this like I would do any set of family or engagement pictures and got a lot of nice shots.  I hope you enjoy some of them below.

Couple sitting on oak tree root

Couple sitting on oak tree root

Bride leaning against oak tree - Myrtle Beach State Park

Bride leaning against oak tree - Myrtle Beach State Park

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Beautiful wedding at Litchfield Plantation with a horse drawn carriage

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This is the first wedding I’ve done at Litchfield Plantation.  It’s a very beautiful area, I always like the Litchfield / Pawleys Island area with all the moss covered Oak trees.  It’s so pretty if you can get the light coming through the trees just right in the evening.  One of my favorite bridal portraits ever was down in this area.  Just in case you are not familiar, Litchfield is about 20 minutes south of Myrtle Beach down business 17.  A lot of the best spots, with the beautiful trees, are away from the beach near the intracoastal waterway.  I’m going to post some extra pictures below of the carriage ride and some shots of the location that you won’t see in my galleries or on Facebook.  I hope you enjoy them.

Update:
It sounds like this will be my first and last wedding at this location.  I had a client telling me they are turning this into a housing development or something and no longer booking events.  I guess they had financial problems.  Oh well, it was a pretty spot.

 

Oak trees at entrance to Litchfield Plantation

Oak trees at entrance to Litchfield Plantation

House at Litchfield Plantation

House at Litchfield Plantation

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Fun wedding at Kingston Plantation in North Myrtle Beach

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Kingston Plantation seems to be one of my usual spots, like the Grand Dunes, that I end up going to frequently.  It’s nice when I get to work at the same location multiple times, I can really get to know all the good photo spots after a while.   It’s also nice because it’s out of the Myrtle Beach city limits so you don’t have to worry about getting fined by trying to take pictures on the beach.  This couple was a lot of fun, I got a lot of just casual, fun shots of them as well as really nice posed shots as well.  I know it’s hard to relax at a wedding, but if you can and just try to act silly and not worry about things too much it makes for a lot better photos.  I tried to pick out some shots to highlight that were more unique to this wedding.  We did a lot of normal poses of course that turned out great, but I tried to highlight some that were more candid or a bit different.  I hope you like them.

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

First look at the bride - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Passing the rings among the family during the ceremony - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

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Wedding and sunset pictures at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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Sorry I haven’t posted to the blog in over a month.  The idea was I wanted to put up a blog post after weddings to show pictures from different location and events.  What I realized is in the summer I just don’t have time.  What I’m thinking I will do is during my slower months, I’m going to go back through all my spring and summer weddings, and put up some post about them.  So it should get more regular soon.  Also, sorry about the delays in getting proofs up and orders done, I’ll be getting caught up here in the next few weeks.

I always like doing weddings up at Ocean Isle, it’s such a pretty location.  It’s a lot like the Garden City area where you have the ocean on one side and the marsh area on the other.  The sun was still pretty bright and harsh during the wedding itself, but it turned out fine.  Later I was able to get some pictures of the couple a little while before sunset that I just loved.  I actually tried to get them to go out right when the sun was actually setting, but they were too tired by that point to do it.  I ran out and took just a sunset picture without them because it was so pretty.  I’ll post a few of the pictures below, actually there are lots of pictures from this wedding I loved in addition to these few, but I just don’t have time to post them. Remember you can always see a lot more if you stop by my home office to talk about a wedding.

Almost ready for the ceremony

Almost ready for the ceremony - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

Dad saying goodbye

Dad saying goodbye - Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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Really cool black and white images

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A lot of people don’t have a clear understanding of how black and white images are done with modern digital cameras.  It’s not like with film where you choose to use either b&w or color film.  Even if your digital camera has a black and white setting, all it’s doing is taking a color picture inside the camera and then converting it to black and white.  With the nicer cameras you take your pictures in a raw color format and then adjust and do what you want with an image later on in software.  There is really no such thing as taking a black and white image anymore, so any picture you see that I have in black and white, there is always a color original to choose from.

Now if you just let the camera do the black and white conversion, or if you just use basic software that removes the color, you can end up with a pretty flat and boring image.  Doing a good black and white is a lot more than just removing the color.  I think a big difference between a good and bad photographer is the investment you make in really good equipment and software.

I’ve always used actions in Photoshop that would allow for soft and glowing, sharp and high contrast, and other types of b&w image conversions.  Recently I just starting using new software called Nik’s  Silver Efex Pro 2.  This really takes the black and white conversions to a whole new level. I’m just getting started using this software, but I’m already getting results I love.   As I work with it I’m sure I will get better, keep an eye out here and on my Facebook page for more variety in black and white styles.  I will post a few of these black and white images below, I hope you enjoy them.

Groomsmen in black and white - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Groomsmen in black and white - Kingston Plantation - North Myrtle Beach

Entering the reception - Grande Dunes - Ocean Club

Entering the reception - Grande Dunes - Ocean Club

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Random things during the busy summer and the wedding documentary gallery

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I’ve been meaning to put up a new blog post for a while.  Myrtle Beach is just in it’s busiest time right now, and I’m always backed up with work, which is a good thing but it makes it hard to do extra things like posting to the blog.  It also doesn’t help I got strep throat and now that I’m off my antibiotic it seems to be coming back, and I almost never get sick. So instead of trying to concentrate on one subject I decided to just put up a few random pictures I’ve really liked over the past month.

One new thing you will notice on the website, I’ve put up a new gallery called wedding documentary.  The idea for this is to put up more candid pictures that I might not put in a gallery otherwise.  I always have lots of pictures I really like, but I just don’t think they are suitable to put in as my main examples of my work.  The idea for this gallery is a place for these more raw, less perfect and touched up images.  I’m going to try to stick to pictures that are truly candid and unexpected, or sometimes perhaps a really silly picture even if the client knows I’m taking it that wouldn’t make it into the gallery otherwise.

I’ve also been experimenting with the new Nik Software Color Efex Pro 3 software.  I used the bleach bypass filter for the first image below, it’s a cool effect.  I’ve just got to get used to working this software into some images in my workflow and figuring out what I like.  Below I’m going to put some examples that are in the new wedding documentary gallery, as well as just a few other random shots I liked.  As always if you enjoy some of these pictures please click the like button below.

Groomsmen waiting on the second floor - Ocean Club - Grande Dunes

Groomsmen waiting on the second floor - Ocean Club - Grande Dunes

Bridal party in the sunset - Ocean Club - Grande Dunes

Bridal party in the sunset - Ocean Club - Grande Dunes

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Wedding at the Conway River Walk

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I had a fun wedding reception a couple of weeks ago in the Conway River Walk area, specifically at the Peanut Warehouse.  The Conway area is a small historic town about 20 minutes away from Myrtle Beach.  Conway has a really pretty area on the river, with some nearby railroad tracks that are no longer used, that makes for a great photo location.  This couple already had their wedding ceremony in Italy, they were just having a second reception for the family and friends that were not able to make the trip.  I wouldn’t normally want to just photograph a reception only, but this couple had me do bridal and couple pictures before the reception.  It was pretty much what I would do for any wedding except for the actual ceremony itself.  I just know my pictures can’t really compete with the beautiful location they had for their wedding.

This turned out to be a lot of fun because the bride was not worried about her dress and we had lots of extra time for pictures of her and the couple, a lot more time than I would typically have at a wedding.  Everyone was really relaxed as well.  The couple even ventured out pretty far on the railroad tracks to a little bridge overlooking the water.  I was actually surprised they were willing to do so much because the tracks are very difficult to walk on.  I’m always up for anything, so if there are any adventurous couples that want to try something different please let me know.

The only problem with the pictures is it was a very overcast evening, which can be nice, but it was making for some flat kind of boring light. I’ve been experimenting more and more with using off camera flash aided by the new Pocket Wizards.  I tried in a few shots to get some flash on a light stand behind the subject to simulate sunlight hitting from behind.  I also used a second flash a lot at the reception itself to give some more interesting lighting.  If you enjoy these pictures or have any comments about them please let me know below.

Light coming through the walls at Peanut Warehouse - Conway River Walk

Light coming through the walls at Peanut Warehouse - Conway River Walk

Bride backlit with flash - Conway River Walk

Bride backlit with flash - Conway River Walk

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Highlights from the first half of May

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This is such a busy time of the year I can’t really post about each wedding on my blog, I just don’t have time.  But I wanted to highlight a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.  One was a wedding in Andrews, SC of the same bride featured in my previous blog post.  I’ve also included a few family and engagement portraits from the Myrtle Beach State Park.  I discovered a new spot for pictures I really like at the park, at least the way the light is right now.  It’s the drainage ditch for land runoff into the ocean.  You don’t want to get in that water, but it makes a really great background at sunset.

Another thing I’ve done at my last couple of weddings is display pictures from the ceremony on my iPad.  When I get a chance at the reception, I will load in a few pictures from earlier in the day and put them up in a slideshow.  This seems to go over really well, there was almost always a small group around the iPad looking at the pictures.  I’m going to try and start doing this from now on.

Another fun thing I’ve been doing, which I will have more pictures of later on, is working with the latest Pocket Wizard wireless flash triggers.  I’ve been good for a long time at seeing great light and making use of it.  But now I’m trying to get better at making good light myself, even under bad conditions, using multiple flashes.  The http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/ website is a great resource for really learning advanced flash techniques if you want to learn more.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.

Groom leaning bride back for a kiss - Kingston Plantation

Groom leaning bride back for a kiss - Kingston Plantation

Kiss on the beach walkway faded color effect - Kingston Plantation

Kiss on the beach walkway faded color effect - Kingston Plantation

 

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Small wedding at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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I had a very nice small wedding up in Ocean Isle Beach, NC this past weekend.  There was only about 40 guests and a small wedding party. Small weddings can be nice because everyone is generally more relaxed.  You can’t tell how large a wedding is anyway in my favorite type of pictures, the expressions on people’s faces are the important thing.  Ocean Isle is a bit of a drive from my usual area around Myrtle Beach, I don’t make it up there very often, but it is a really pretty area and it’s a lot less crowded then down here at the beach.

This wedding was held at a pretty difficult time of day for pictures, right around early afternoon.  Thankfully the sun wasn’t directly overhead, but it was still pretty high in the sky.  I’m getting quite good at being able to look at the light even in difficult conditions and get nicely exposed shots without any more harsh shadows than can be helped.  I was actually really happy with the way the family pictures turned out even though the sun was so bright, final adjustments in Lightroom always help as well.  I did some shots of the couple right after the ceremony, then we went out right before sunset to do some more pictures of just the two of them.  By then it had become very cloudy but at least the rain held off until the evening.  You can’t control what the natural light is going to do outdoors, you just have to learn to work with it.  But if you do have the choice when planning for pictures, evenings right before sunset are best.  The next best is earlier in the day but cloudy or in some shade, then finally the worst is full sun at noontime.  Think about this when doing your own photography.  I hope you enjoy some of the shots below.

Happy smiles - Ocean Isle Beach - NC

Happy smiles - Ocean Isle Beach - NC

Lacing up the dress - Sunset Beach - NC

Lacing up the dress - Sunset Beach - NC

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Another beautiful wedding at Brookgreen Gardens

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I had another wedding at the Holiday Cottage area in Brookgreen Gardens.  I always love going there, you just can’t beat the background and lighting that you get with lots of trees and a garden.  The weather had been so nice that a number of flowers were in bloom, this is always great in the background of a picture.  This wedding was for the bride that I recently did the fun bridal portraits for, you can read about that a couple of blog posts down from here.  I actually noticed at this wedding I didn’t take quite as many total pictures as I usually do, I think because they didn’t have as much dancing as they do at some weddings.  But I think the quality of the pictures I did take was very good.  I would be glad to show almost all the shots as examples of my work.

I like to give a photo tip with my blog posts.  Something in particular I thought about with these pictures (I mentioned this briefly on Facebook) is the importance of really getting in close for a picture instead of trying to crop it later.  I used to think it’s better to shoot wider than what you want in the final image, because you can always crop later.  It is good to keep in mind when shooting that a 4×6 has a completely different aspect ratio from an 8×10, so you do have to try to leave enough room in the picture to allow for this. But if you want a close up of a face, you will get a much different look from shooting really close then shooting a wide shot and cropping into the face.  This is due to things like the way the closer you get, the more the background is going to be out of focus.  When you use a longer lens (more zoomed in like a 50mm or more) you also get a more flattering compression of features, a wide angle will make noses and ears look bigger etc.  It also can make a subject look like it’s closer to a background.  And there are probably other reasons as well, just know it looks a lot better to shoot close to what you want the final image to look like.  Next time you take pictures try to get in really close to your subject by physically moving closer or using a longer lens and see what you think.

I tried to pick some of my favorite pictures to post below, if you like these pictures please let me know in the comments below, or click the Facebook like button above.

Bride walking down the cottage stairs - Brookgreen Gardens

Bride walking down the cottage stairs - Brookgreen Gardens

Bride and father walking towards the ceremony area

Bride and father walking towards the ceremony area

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