Wedding at the Conway River Walk

Posted on by
17

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

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Highlights from the first half of May

Posted on by
Reply

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

 

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Bridal portraits in Pawleys Island, SC

Posted on by
8

A couple of weeks ago I was able to do some very pretty bridal portraits for a bride getting married this weekend.  We set everything up on just a few weeks notice but I had the weekend open and was glad I was able to fit them in.  This is a pretty unique location in a private home area a bit south of Pawleys Island, SC which is about 30 minutes south of the Myrtle Beach area.  The wedding planner knew one of the residents in the area and they allowed us to do some pictures around their home as well as down near the Intracoastal Waterway.  I thought they all turned out really beautifully and wanted to share some below.  I especially liked some of the sunset pictures down near the water with the sun spilling through the oak trees.  If properly exposed, shots backlit by the sun can be very beautiful.  I hope you enjoy these below.

Bride walking up steps - Litchfield

Bride walking up steps - Litchfield

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Cute engagement portraits at the Myrtle Beach State Park

Posted on by
Reply

I haven’t posted anything to the blog in a while so I decided I better make a post so everyone doesn’t think I’ve stopped working.  Actually, I’ve been extremely busy and it has made it hard to take the time to do this, and of course I’ve been playing with my new iPad 2 a bit as well :)   Being a photographer is a good excuse to tell your wife you need an iPad.  I’ve got some really great bridal portraits I’m going to be posting soon, I just have to wait a few weeks until after the wedding to make sure the groom doesn’t see what the dress looks like.

I thought I would put up some pictures from a recent pre-engagement session as the Myrtle Beach State Park.  This is a young couple that is not actually engaged yet but wanted to do some pictures.  They started out a bit shy and uncomfortable, the guy in the pictures was actually hearing impaired, but could read lips.  I find it amazing that someone can do that, I just had to be careful to speak towards him.  I try to be really easy going and make the pictures as fun as possible, I know it’s not easy trying to be romantic with someone pointing a camera at you.  I thought the pictures ended up being really cute and fun, I hope you enjoy some of them below.  And remember, many clients are nervous about getting pictures done, but it’s really not that bad.  It can actually end up being pretty fun, I hear that from a lot of clients after their appointment.

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Pre engagement pictures with a young couple - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Sunset light coming through the trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Small wedding at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

Posted on by
6

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

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Another beautiful wedding at Brookgreen Gardens

Posted on by
8

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

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

My website is fully going with HTML5

Posted on by
Reply

Unless you are interested in website development, you might want to skip reading this post for my other photography related posts instead.

This time of the year I have more time for playing around with my website and making changes to it. I think one big advantage I have over a lot of photographers is I know how to work on my own website, I don’t have to hire someone every time I want to make a change.  I think a lot of photographers don’t even realize the importance of a website.  I notice my website has a higher Google pagerank (what Google uses to rank websites) than a big studio like Gene Ho photography.

One big problem with creating a website is designing for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Every other web browser, including anything you would be using on a Mac, support what is called HTML5.  You have probably heard of this, it’s a buzzword now because it’s supported by many devices like the iPad, it enables much nicer looking websites that can do a lot of things previously not possible.  Finally on March 14th, Microsoft is releasing Internet Explorer 9, which like every other browser, supports modern web standards. With this in mind, I decided to make some website changes I’ve been wanting to make for a while that require a visitor to have a modern web browser.

I’m not a real web developer, I just know some html and css, I mostly just know how to layout a website and make it look nice.  So I’m using just some very limited features of HTML5 to make my website look better.  If you visit my website on a previous version of Internet Explorer such as 7 or 8, with my latest changes, you will now see this…

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Overcast sky, soft light engagement pictures

Posted on by
8

I had another nice engagement session at the Myrtle Beach State Park for a young couple that are not getting married for a couple of years yet.  They are getting married back home so I won’t be doing their wedding.  It was a cloudy day with just a little bit of color from the sunset showing through the clouds. Actually, when the sky is cloudy, it can be one of the best times to get shots that look more like in a studio.  In a photo studio they use these big boxes over their flashes or lights called a soft box.  Basically it’s like putting a sheet in front of a light, it makes it soft and kind of disperses the light around.  That is similar to what an overcast sky does, instead of strong direct light you get a more soft and dispersed light without as harsh of shadows.

However, an overcast day can make for a pretty boring flat look to the images with eyes that are kind of dark and lifeless.  Everything is kind of a trade off trying to work outdoors, you do the best you can with what you have to work with.  One thing that helps, you will notice there is a little sparkle in the clients eyes.  This is because I’m using a some fill flash.  Flash is very important even when shooting in plenty of light outdoors. In the future I’m actually going to experiment with more off camera wireless flashes to see if I can get a more unique look to the images.

I was really happy with the way the shots turned about, I ended up with about 150 shots that I liked, so that was a really good session.  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures below.  If you like this post, please try out my few Facebook comment system at the bottom of the post after the pictures.

Couple laying by the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Couple laying by the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Couple having fun on the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

Couple having fun on the oak trees - Myrtle Beach State Park

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

Fun bridal portraits at Brookgreen Gardens, Holiday Cottage

Posted on by
3

It was nice going to the Holiday Cottage in Brookgreen Gardens without actually being there for the wedding ceremony.  I always get some nice shots of the bride at the cottage area, but it’s nice to have a whole hour just to concentrate on the one thing without being rushed.  This gives me enough time to be able to switch lenses and set things up a bit more, for example using my 50mm f1.4 almost wide open.  The bride featured here is actually having her wedding in Brookgreen so we were allowed to do pictures in the area without any additional charge.  I talked to Sally Gomez, the manager of private events at this location, and as I had heard, she told me it’s a $200 charge to do pictures for an hour in the gardens. This may seem like a lot of money, but you are getting personal service at the cottage and it’s just a beautiful area for pictures. So I would highly recommend considering making the investment if these type of pictures are something you are interested in.

The bride pictured here had a lot of creative ideas and wanted to do shots with the idea of her trying to be the perfect wife, but messing up quite a bit.  She actually brought a tray of burnt cookies and some shirts with burn marks from the iron to use as props. I think everything turned out really nice, I pictured in my mind what we would do and I think it pretty much turned out just like I had wanted, hopefully the bride feels the same way.  I knew from past experience that a lot of nice window light comes into the cottage, and I think I was able to capture it.  After we did shots in the cottage we went out to the lake and then to the gate area where they usually have the wedding ceremonies.  The old gate and brick wall is one of my favorite spots in that area.  I had this bride do a similar shot of walking through the gate that really worked well for me in the past.  I also love some shots of the bride against the gate with the way she is framed by the foliage, hopefully for the actual wedding at the end of March there might be some flowers as well.  I had some more ideas for shots to try, but the hour we were allowed went pretty quickly.  I got about 20 or 30 really good ones, so it was plenty.  I will post some of my favorites below.  If you like some of these please let me know in the comments section below, and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook to keep up to date with my latest pictures.

Bride leaning on old brick wall - Brookgreen Gardens - Holiday Cottage

Bride leaning on old brick wall - Brookgreen Gardens - Holiday Cottage

Bridal portrait near gate - Brookgreen Gardens - Holiday Cottage

Bridal portrait near gate - Brookgreen Gardens - Holiday Cottage

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→

What I’m up to around Myrtle Beach this winter

Posted on by
Reply

It seems like trying to keep up with this blog, I’m either too busy to have time to post, or I don’t have anything all that interesting to write about. At least the slow winter time doesn’t last too long in Myrtle Beach. Things usually start to really pick up sometime in March. I have had a few families that because of the cold wanted to do some pictures inside, and I think they turned out really nice. I have even had some couples do engagement pictures even though it was cold. I will post some pictures from these photo shoots below.

I’ve also been working with a new slideshow service called Animoto. It allows me to create really interesting slideshows unlike anything I could do with traditional software, and do it easily as well. They also give the rights to use a lot of music, so the slideshow can have music without breaking copyright like you see some websites doing. If you click on most of my photo galleries where it says “music video slideshow” you can see some of these videos. I personally don’t like when photography websites immediately start playing music, so I think this is a good compromise. My galleries can be viewed without music, and if you deliberately click for the video slideshows, you know to expect music as well.

Finally I’ve also been experimenting with doing time lapse photography. The Nikon D700 has a built in Intervalometer (See Wikipedia link for more information) so you can set it up to take pictures every second, or whatever interval you would like. My first try doing this was down at the Myrtle Beach State Park pier at sunset, it turned out acceptable but not great. I made a number of mistakes and I need some moving clouds in the sky to make it more interesting. I’ll post this first try below as well. Thanks for reading, next week I should have a post about some bridal portraits at the Brookgreen Gardens Holiday Cottage that should be really cool.

Example of Animoto photo slideshow.
My first attempt at time lapse photography, sunset from the pier at the Myrtle Beach State Park.

Couple leaning against park store wall

There are more pictures from this event - Continue Reading . . .→