Random things during the busy summer and the wedding documentary gallery

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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Small wedding at Ocean Isle Beach, NC

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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What I’m up to around Myrtle Beach this winter

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

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Wedding at Brookgreen Gardens – Murrells Inlet

It’s been a long time since I did a wedding at Brookgreen Gardens. It’s a really pretty area and weddings there always seem to turn out beautiful. This ceremony was at the Holiday Cottage, which was the same location I had a wedding the last time. I guess they also have weddings in another part of the gardens as well, but the cottage area is very nice.  In the past the only way a photographer could work in the gardens was if they were working for a wedding. However, the wedding coordinator at the Holiday Cottage told me they have a new policy.  I need to check into it, because I would love to be able to do engagement pictures from time to time. I believe they charge a substantial amount for doing a shoot in the gardens, but it might very well be worth the price for a couple. Anyway, I had a lot of pictures I really liked. I tried to pick out some of them so I could have a reasonable length blog post. I hope you enjoy them below. If you like the pictures, don’t forget to make a comment, and click the Facebook like button above.  You can also subscribe to this blog at the bottom of the page.

Bride in doorway of Holiday Cottage - Brookgreen Gardens

First look - Walking to see groom for the first time in dress - Brookgreen Gardens

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Third year with family – Myrtle Beach State Park

I just wanted to make a quick blog post about this recent family session. This is my third time working with this family. They were one of the groups I photographed back when I was really just getting started, I’ve learned quite a bit since then, but they always seem happy. It’s nice to see the same faces over and over again. Every year I seem to get the cutest shots with the kids. They both have really big eyes that just seem to reflect the light perfectly. The family wanted something a bit different this year, so I took them around the oak trees in the Myrtle Beach State Park, and that seemed to work out really well. I love some of the shots of the girls looking through the trees. I could have put up a bunch of pictures, but I tried to pick just a few of my favorite below.

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