I’ve always edited my photos out of order. It just always made sense. Sometimes I won’t even look at the images from a shoot for days or weeks or even months. I do this so the anticipation of the images builds, and when I finally look at them I have a fresh perspective on them. I also do this so I don’t have to deal with the pressure of editing thousands of images from a trip all at once. It’s just too much of a hassle. I just edited the image below and it was done in January of this year. No biggie! Another advantage is that as I learn new techniques and refine my editing skills, I can edit images that I would have done poorly on earlier. In fact, I tried to edit this very image about a month after January. I failed. I simply could not make the water look right. The exposure that had the good looking waves wasn’t coming through right in Photomatix, and when I tried to mask in the correct one, I just couldn’t make it look good. I tried it again this evening and bam, no problem at all. I have gotten so much better at masking, adjusting exposure levels, re-masking, painting, spotting things to fix, that it was a piece of cake. I can also say with certainty that if I had edited this image in January, the sky would have looked bad. Back then (it seems so long ago) I was still pretty new to HDR, so I simply took the Photomatix result of the sky and went with it. This would cause haloing around trees, and unrealistic colors in the sky.
About the image | Laguna Beach at High Tide
I took this image at a somewhat secluded cove in Laguna Beach, below the famous (and incredibly expensive) Montage Beach Resort. In fact it was so secluded that some photographer felt comfortable enough to photograph his half naked girlfriend and was right in the way of my shots for a while. After they finally left, I was free to create images of the sunset! Kristin and I waited at this cove for an hour or so waiting for the sun to go down, and for naked people to leave. During the sunset, I took tons of images from different angles. And when it just started dipping below the horizon we started to leave to find a vantage point on top of the cliffs. Right when I got the end of the cove we were in, I found this spot and fired off 6 exposures from my 5D Mark II.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 15mm Fisheye f/2.8, 15mm, f/14, ISO 200, 1/13th
I’m kind of a sucker for California, sunsets and beaches (if you haven’t noticed). So when I can get all three of them in one image, I’m pretty satisfied. I have an almost identical image of this pier that was shot about 10-15 minutes later in an older blog post. That image shows just how quickly sunsets change from beautiful golden warm tones, to surreal and cool tones. I took this image on a photo walk with Trey Ratcliff, back in January. If you like the images on this blog, you should check out his work as well over at Stuck in Customs.
I took this image with a Canon 5D Mark II (I’ve got a review here), and a Canon 24-70mm lens (review here). I kept the aperture fairly low here to freeze the waves as much as possible. The lower your aperture, the faster your shutter speed. Shots like these have several obstacles, including waves, birds in the air, people walking by on crowded beaches, and so on. Some people can’t figure out how you would be able to freeze birds in the air when you’re taking 3-7 frames of a scene. To concur this obstacle, you can either mask in one of the lower light frames (which always have the fastest shutter speeds of the set, or shoot a single RAW image and convert it into a pseudo HDR.
Just finished editing this beautiful wedding from May. Alisha and Ben are an incredible couple! I actually had a Bible class back in the day with Alisha and then we had their wedding referred to us through a mutual friend. The wedding was held at First United Methodist Keller and for the reception we drove a short ways over to Watermere in Southlake. The whole wedding was an absolute blast and I can’t say enough good things about Alisha and Ben! They are both very involved with a ministry that I adore; Sower of Seeds. And they have an incredible heart to serve God and be involved in changing the world. Here is a collection of some of my favorites from the wedding. Congratulations Alisha and Ben!
First United Methodist Keller
1025 Johnson Road
Keller, TX 76248
817-431-1332
Watermere at Southlake
251 Watermere Drive
Southlake, Texas 76092
817-748-4000
The Images
Alisha getting ready
The dress
Ben looking all GQ
The guys
The girls
Game time
About to walk down the aisle
Saying their vows!
The first dance
Alisha and her Dad
They had a deck of cards at every table so most tables were playing Texas Hold ‘Em
Okay, not cool! All of that birdseed was all over me and my camera about a millisecond later! I’m pretty sure someone through their
hand full straight at me!
Congratulations again Alisha and Ben. You two were a blast and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you two!
My wife Kristin just came on board full time with the photography business. You can find out more about her at the “Meet Kristin” page at the top navigation bar. She is an incredible writer (way better than I am) and an very talented photographer. Photography is one interest we have always shared all the way back to when we were dating. I’m so glad to finally have her working with me so we can actually get things done! The Canon 5DMII is Kristin’s primary camera body when we are shooting wedding or any other event. She uses it a lot more than I do so I thought it would make sense for her to write the review from her perspective. Let her know what you think by leaving some comments at the bottom of the post. Thanks!
about reviews
One thing to note about these reviews is this: I only put reviews on this site of products I use on a regular basis. I may try out a new product from time to time, but I won’t put a review up unless it makes it to my camera bag. I’m also never paid to do these reviews. They are only products that I genuinely love and recommend to you. So you know I’m not just saying something because someone asked me to.
I absolutely LOVE my 5D – this camera is reliable, durable, and is the industry standard for wedding photographers. There are many benefits of the 5D Mark II, from it’s ability to shoot in low light to its fairly quick 3.9 fps shutter speed which is great for shooting weddings at night and for capturing sequenced moments. Here are a few of the specs:
21.1 Megapixel Full-frame CMOS Sensor
DIGIC 4 Image Processor (faster processing for fine details, colors, and reduced noise)
3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor with Live View Function, anti-reflection, and scratch resistance
3.9 frames per second and a durability of 150,000 frames with improved weather resistance
Wide range ISO of 100-6400 (expandable to 50 and 25600)
And one of my favorite features: Full HD Video with 1920×1080 resolution and manual exposure control
New firmware updates that include 24 frames per second, full manual audio control, and critical exposure info displayed on LCD
The 5DMII’s ability to capture vibrant colors with its 4 Image Processor is simply fantastic. The camera produces amazingly accurate and vibrant skin tones, spot on saturation and incredible detail. The ability to capture images in low light situations also really comes in handy for night time weddings and shoots at dusk. With an almost completely dark reception room, I can shoot away with confidence knowing I will get quality images. Of course, you have to remember that the higher ISO you use, the lower image quality you are going to get, with much more noise. This can be taken out to a degree in post processing, but the more noise reduction you use after the fact, the less detail you get in an image and a smaller print size. With that said, you can still take images at ISO 3200 with incredible details and have them printed with a great quality.
While the 5D does have the ability to shoot with different settings (aperture value, time value, etc) it does not have pre-set options like an entry level consumer DSLR. So, if you are thinking about purchasing a 5D Mark II (which I highly recommend!), you need to make sure you are comfortable with your camera and you know how to manually change your settings without relying on the dreaded green box “automatic” setting. One thing James preached to me over and over again when I was first learning about how to really USE my camera, not just point and shoot, is that we need to CREATE images, not just take them. When you use the camera’s automatic settings, you are letting the camera tell you what kind of shot you are going to get. Yes, you can set up the shot and have an eye for what picture you want, but beyond that the camera is doing all the work. To really create images that are captivating and truly your own, you really need to learn how to use your camera beyond the “portrait”, “automatic”, or “landscape” settings. This process takes time and practice, but once you learn about your camera and utilize it’s capabilities, you begin to move from “picture taker” to photographer.
One of my favorite features of my camera is the ability to shoot in full HD video! Even though I always had my camera by my side, I always wanted a video camera to capture the moments in between still shots. It always seems like the most hilarious or touching moments happen when you don’t have a video camera around. Well, problem solved! Now I have a camera and a video camera in one This feature really allows James and I to take our business to the next level. One of the greatest advantages of having two photographers at sessions and weddings is that we both have unique styles, but we also capture every moment of the event because we can be in two places at once. But, to add to the experience for our clients, I can take HD video while James is shooting, then we put them into these amazing slide shows that are like nothing our clients have ever seen. We can combine the video and the still images of a particular moment, so the bride and groom (for example) can watch the moment when they feed each other their wedding cake, and then they can also see the photographs we produce from that moment. It adds a personal touch to every session, but it also is great for personal use too! I take my camera on vacation, to events, and pretty much everywhere just in case I need to capture those moments with a photograph or a video. I’m pretty sure when James and I have kids, they will be the most photographed and videoed kids ever!
Here is a video of Lauren and Daniel’s engagement session that we shot at the Fort Worth Stock Yards and Sundance Square. It is a great example of the fusion between still images and video:
Conclusion
So, to sum up, the Canon 5D Mark II is a great addition to your camera set up – it is a versatile, durable, and amazing camera. As a photographer, you have to have a wide range of knowledge and your equipment really does assist you in the creative process. Having the 5D in your arsenal will help to expand your ability as you continually grow as an artist and photographer. There are plenty of other photographers at the top of their field who choose to use the 5D Mark II as their primary camera of choice. This is an incredible piece of technology at an extremely affordable price for the features it offers. Want to shoot HDR with the 5D Mark II or any other Canon camera that won’t bracket more that 3 images? Not a problem! There is a great HDR photographer named Brian Matiash who shoots exclusively with the 5DMII. He uses the Promote Control to take more than 3 brackets and has a great review of it over at his blog. Check it out if you’re interested.
Here are some images taken with the Canon 5D Mark II:
If you haven’t noticed, I have a brand new blog layout! I wanted to create a two column site with a simple design that focused on the images rather than the design around them. My previous layout and design were great while they lasted, but there were a lot of things I didn’t like about it for my style of blogging. The biggest issue was that it was only one column. If you wanted to look at a review I did on a piece of software a while back there was no easy way to get to it. You could choose the categories drop down menu and find reviews but I have a LOT of categories and the only way to get to the menu was from the top of the screen. What if you scrolled down towards the bottom? There was also no easy way to organize the most popular links of the site into one place. The new layout fixes all of that. There are a couple main issues that a certain percentage of people will have with the new layout. One is that since I added a column to the left, the blog is a bit on the wide side. 1250 pixels wide to be exact. According to my google analytics, this means that 33.5% of my viewers will have to do a little bit of scrolling from left to right if they want to navigate the side bar. While this is a concern, I know that the vast majority of you will be able to view this beautifully. You’ll be able to see ginormous images that fill most of the screen (just as images were intended to be viewed), as well as navigate the site to find reviews of products, popular links, and older posts. Another issue will be the image size itself. The images are BIG, 900 pixels across, but this is a photography blog. It’s about the images. Why would I want to have teeny little images that don’t showcase the details of my images? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the new design; good or bad.
Upcoming Additions to the Blog
If you look to the right you’ll see a section called “Reviews.” Then you’ll notice that currently that section is looking a little empty. Over the next few months I plan on adding a lot more reviews to the site for people interested in the gear I use. I will only do reviews of gear that I use on a regular basis and gear that stays in my camera bag wherever I go. I will make these reviews as in depth as possible and include both technical and layman’s term language. Some people care about specs and jargon, others just want to know if it works and how.
I am also going to be having guest bloggers stop by every now and again. I think this is a great way to showcase other creative artists around the area, around the country, and even the world. While the majority of these guest bloggers will be other photographers, I plan on also including artists of all type. This may include musicians, painters, graphic designers, or any other creative thinker that inspires me. I have a lot of interesting and exciting things in the pipeline so stay tuned and stay connected. Leave some comments and let me know your thoughts!
Brista and Jonathan | Denton Lifestyle Photography
And now some images! I met Jonathan at a wedding back in December. I wasn’t shooting the wedding, I was in the wedding party for my good friend Chris Burrus. Jonathan was too. We all got to hang out for a few days between the bachelor party, rehearsal, and wedding day so we all kind of became friends in the process! So needless to say, I was thrilled when he asked me to do a session for him and his wife, Brista. I had heard about this new place in Denton called the Angry Friar: A double decker bus from England that drives around Denton serving fresh fish ‘n chips in rolled up newspaper. We headed to Denton and Brista and Jonathan went on a fish ‘n chips date while my wife Kristin and I stayed back and took pictures the entire night. Here are some of my favorites from the session.
Well I’m back from a quick trip down to Cancun, Mexico for the beautiful destination wedding of Lauren and Daniel. They got married at the incredible Gran Caribe Real in a gazebo on the beach, and it was absolutely gorgeous! Brides, destination wedding are a fantastic way to get married in style, and it’s often cheaper than doing a wedding locally. Mainly because instead of inviting 200+ guests at $100+ a head, you only take about 30 or so of your closest friends and family. The end result is a beautiful, intimate wedding in paradise and some incredible wedding images on the beach to boot!
The Gran Caribe Real Before Sunset
Before getting to a quick preview of Lauren and Daniel’s wedding, I wanted to post an image of the view from our balcony at the resort. The Gran Caribe Real is right in the middle of the Cancun strip, so there’s water in front and water behind. This is obviously the west side the faces away from the ocean but still towards the bay area. I wanted to get a lot more shots during this trip of the scenery, but my 24-70 lens got moisture inside and completely fogged over! I was NOT happy!
Quick Preview of Lauren and Daniel’s Destination Wedding at Gran Caribe Real
I only have time to edit a couple images today, so here is a quick one shot preview of Lauren and Daniel. This was taken right before the ceremony. They decided (much to my delight) to see each other before the ceremony. A lot of brides are hard to convince of this new idea, but I can tell you from shooting wedding for a living that seeing each other before the ceremony is a great idea! I will do an entire post around this idea soon so stay tuned!
As many of you have read, my work is being featured in an art gallery this Saturday night at Main and Vine Art Gallery in Keller Texas. I just wanted to say that I got all my prints in and all the selected images for the gallery night are now on display and ready to go! So, if you can’t make it by Saturday night for whatever reason, you can stop by any time now to view my work. I’m pretty excited about the gallery night and hope to see you all there, hopefully I will be able to meet some of you I haven’t met before face to face. Any prints purchases that night or any time through my website will come with a “Certificate of Authenticity” as well as a brief “Story Behind the Image.” You can keep these with the picture or with your other important documents.
Cancun Next Week!
Wow this trip is coming up fast! I got some emails and phone calls from a few people with tips on what to do while in Cancun. I figured out I will only have one full day to travel around. Every other day is either the wedding, or a half day where I am flying. If I have time to make it down, I will go to the Myan ruins at Chichen Itza. I have been to the ruins at Uxmal on a cruise I got to do a few years back, but Chichen Itza is supposedly where it’s at for ruins. I keep reading that you need to stay there for about 3 days to see everything there, but I will just have to cram what I can into one day. Other than that I won’t have a lot of time to focus on travel images. Which is perfectly fine because Daniel and Laurens wedding is going to be amazing and I can’t wait to shoot it!
F14 Tomcat Aboard the USS Midway
My family has a great history of serving in the armed forces. My Grandpa and his brother on my Mom’s side served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He served on submarines and did all kinds of cool. My Papa on my Dad’s side was an MP in the second World War, but I never got a chance to meet him because of his passing when I was about three years old. My sisters husband even served with the US Rangers, although I don’t know much about what he did. Maybe I can find out one day . Most recently my cousin Brandon (also on my Dad’s side) served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne as a medic. He was with them when they marched in and I truly admire his bravery and courage, as I do with both my grandparents. To everyone who served or serves in the US Military, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are all heroes and your courage leaves me in awe. We are forever in debt to your sacrifice.
The aircraft below is none other than the famous F14 Tomcat. You know, Top Gun? The F14 flew from December of 1970 all the way through September of 2006 when it was officially retired. What’s really interesting about this jet is that Iran owns about 44 of them today! During Nixon’s presidency, back when the US had good diplomatic relations with Iran, the US decided to offer Iran access to our military technology. They needed aircraft to defend themselves against Russia and they decided the Tomcat would fit the bill. After relations started going south, the US embargoed much of their shipments to Iran and even began destroying remaining F14′s to make sure they didn’t fall into the hands of the Iranian air force. To this day, Iran still has 22 working F14 Tomcats. The US Air Force will not sell scrap parts of the F14 either because of the same fear, like they do with other aircraft.
Back in February I had the honor of photographing the amazing wedding of Amber and BJ at the glorious Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous, thanks to Julie Eastman of Extraordinary Events & Designs. She is a tremendous talent, and I highly recommend her if you’re looking for a wedding planner in the Dallas Fort Worth area or anywhere else for that matter!
I’m pretty excited to show this slide show. We got so many good images from this wedding and it just couldn’t all fit in one song. So we did two! What you wouldn’t know without watching the video is that the wedding had a Beatles theme. How cool is that!?
Bass Performance Hall
525 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102-5440
(817) 212-4280
Julie Eastman
Extraordinary Events And Design website blog
Lauren and Grant are an amazing couple. Both are currently going to Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. I made the unfortunate mistake of saying College Station was located in Austin and was promptly corrected by Lauren’s mother, Lori. You see, Austin is home to the University of Texas, the Longhorns. And the Longhorns and Aggies are one of the biggest rivals around. Sorry Lori, won’t happen again . One of the greatest things about being a wedding and engagement photographer is traveling. Don’t think that just because you live far away, I won’t come to your location! I love love traveling and will be there no problem. College station was about a three hour drive and we got to see a lot of cool places on the way. We did Lauren and Grant’s session on the Texas A&M campus which is MASSIVE. Then we headed over to a lake to get some shots at sunset. Enjoy!
This tree is apparently a huge deal at College Station. Legend has it that
if two people walk under this tree, their love will
beblessed and the two will get married.
And then over to the lake at sunset
Amazing how the stars came out for this last shot
I love finding an image in my library that I have looked past and discarded multiple times, and then realizing it’s potential and bringing life to it. The obvious photos are great, but these little hidden gems have a special place in my portfolio . On our recent trip to California, my wife Kristin and I were driving back to Orange County after a rather disappointing trip to San Diego. We drove to San Diego to scout a place for sunset and I could not for the life of me find a good place. Now, you can take snapshots anywhere, but an HDR or landscape photograph has a lot of criteria to meet before it becomes worth taking. There has to be something unique or intriguing in every part of the frame. So after visiting the USS Midway and having a corn dog at Hot Dog On A Stick (we ate there during our honeymoon so it’s tradition ), we bailed on San Diego in hopes to find somewhere on the way back the OC. There were a lot of unique challenges in taking pictures of the beach. I have become very picky on what I take pictures of and it can be frustrating at times. Everybody has seen the typical picture of a beach with the sand, the waves, and the sky behind it. So I always try and bring something extra into the sides of the frame when I can. This could be a pier, a bluff, some rocks, people, etc, whatever makes the shot interesting.
When I took this image, there was nothing to bring into the frame besides the sand, the waves, and the sky; the typical image. But to me, there was something unique about this one. The waves would crash and pour in about 5 feet past where I was standing every few minutes. And every time the waves receded back they would pull this deep, buried, black sand with it along with the usual sand. This black sand I guess was native to the beach but was buried underneath the normal sand. What was so cool about it was the veiny streams the waves carved out to reveal the darker sand beneath. Pair that with the incredible colors the sunset provided and the distorted lines of a 15mm fisheye lens, and you have the image below. You may also be interested to know that the only reason the sand is reflecting the colors of the sky is because a wave had just receded back to the ocean and the sand was wet and water was still streaming through the veins down to the ocean. The HDR process brings these reflections out and makes them pop, so the sand is like a mirror image of the clouds and sky above.
Low Tide at Carlsbad State Beach, California
P.S. I put my heart and soul into making these image. If you like what you see, or don’t like what you see, let me know! Comments are how I gauge whether or not I’m creating images that people love and remember. Cheers!
P.S.S. After I took this shot, we visited a place called Harbor Fish Cafe right on the beach. They had some of the best fish n’ chips I’ve ever had. And I am complete sucker for good fish n’ chips. They served the fish on a cardboard plate with a roll of paper towels. Brilliant! Can’t wait to go back!
Hey there! My name is James and I'm a photographer. Although I
try and to avoid pigeon-holing myself to any one style of photography,
I do specialize in wedding and travel photography.
I reside in Fort Worth, Texas with my beautiful wife Kristin who
is always by my side shooting with me.
The goal of this blog is that it will be an online community where I can
share my travel work, recent weddings, and any other shoot I may be involved
in at the time. I try and update this site at as close to daily as possible,
so check in often and let me know what you think of the place.
I also have guest bloggers on here from time to time. These people may be artists,
photographers, videographers, or anyone else that I feel you should know about.
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 15mm Fisheye f/2.8, 15mm, f/14, ISO 200, 1/13th
