Wedding Photographer

So you're getting married! Congratulations! But with that comes planning your wedding. There's probably two things that come first to mind. Either "I can't wait to start shopping around" or "Chaos! Where do I start!?" Well the good thing is that there's tons of information online to help you and guide you through all the steps, needs, do's and dont's. (The Knot, Hampton Roads Wedding Guide, WPJA ) On the other hand, there's so many choices of pretty much everything that it makes it even harder to make up your mind. Cake, venue, food, reception, wedding gown, bridesmaids, etc.
And then it comes, the photographer. Who's going to photograph your wedding? Who will be in charge of capturing all those moments on such a busy day? Is he any good? Is he reliable? Well.....

The Solution
First of all, start doing A LOT of research in your area for local wedding photographers. A good professional photographer will have a website where you can view his work. Next, make a list of your top choices and start making phone calls and sending emails. Compare packages and what they offer and most important meet with the photographer. It is extremely important that you meet with the prospective photographer ahead of time. And when I say ahead of time, I mean months and even a year or so before. Good professional wedding photographers book their weddings years in advance so your chances of getting something last minute with a good photographer are slim to none. He's probably already booked.
I personally try to meet with my clients at least once after the first intervew. I know the couple has a busy schedule and it's usually the bride calling most of the shots, but the better I know the couple, the easier it is to get the shots. That way I go to the wedding prepared. I know what they're looking for. I know what they want and what they're expecting from me.
It's better if the couple likes the photographer not only as a professional but also as a person. Personality has a lot to do here and that's something you don't want to miss. Can you imagine having a photographer that you don't feel comfortable working with and even worse, in charge of taking all those special shots! Awkward, I know.

Here's a list of what you should ask to your soon-to-be wedding photographer:

• How many years of experience?
• Will you bring an assistant?
• Backup equipment?
• Prints, CD/DVD with print rights, or both?
• How many photographs will you take? (approx)
• Album provided? (if you want one)
• What type of equipment do you use?
• How will the images be processed? (basic color correction, retouch)
• How do you provide the proofs? (online or paper)
• Do you provide engagement sessions as part of the package or is it additional?

Those are the basic questions that I came up with but you ask all the questions you need to.
So there you have it. Hope that helps and good luck planning your wedding and looking for that wedding photographer!

-Herson




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Hampton Roads Bridal Shows

I was looking through the Hampton Roads Wedding Guide website and found a list for the upcoming bridal shows in the area. Very useful site if you're still in the process of getting everything in order for your special day. The bridal shows dates are here.
Hope this helps!

-Herson

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Ms. Knockout USA 2009

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with Mandy for a Knockout Haircuts campaign. She won the Ms. Knockout USA 2009 contest and guess what? Yes, she deserved a photo shoot to celebrate her achievement and to be featured on the KOH website. Congrats to Mandy! Visit Knockout's website and get to know her better. Enjoy.

-Herson

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Puerto Rico Destination Wedding

I've been out for about three weeks doing a lot of traveling, spending time with family and shooting weddings. I traveled to Puerto Rico to shoot a beach wedding on the 20th of this month. The weather was perfect and the location was even better. It was in Steps Beach located in Rincon, Puerto Rico. It was an outdoor wedding/reception with a lot of guests, tons of color and lots of latin music of course. The couple was busy all day as you would expect but I had the chance to grab them and took them to the beach. We had little time to set up so I grabbed my SB-800 and used on-camera to get this shot.

Congrats to Alana and Robert! Best wishes!

-Herson

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D3X finally announced...officially that is.

Nikon officially announced the D3X after being miss-announced a couple of days ago by Nikon Pro Mag in Europe. 

Well, it's finally here but, Nikon decided to let it go for $8,000 or $7,999.95 to be exact. ARE YOU KIDDING!? I don't even think Donald Trump would pay $8k's for a camera. After all, it's just a D3 with more resolution and slower frame rate. Pretty much. It even has the same body. You probably need this if you're a fashion photographer or something like that working for some big company or magazine. And then again, you don't even need that much resolution to do a magazine shoot which is not bigger than 8x11 INCHES! My point is, I don't see an average Joe buying this camera just because he's shooting a couple of weddings next year. Nikon needs to understand this and drop the price because if they do drop the price, more people will buy this. In the mean time, just get a D3 or a D700 if you want Nikon's best. 

-H

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Ooops... Did anybody say D3X?

The long awaited Nikon D3X has been announced "accidentally" by european Nikon Pro Magazine before Nikon's "official announcement". You can see the detailed images and text straight from the magazine HERE.
Nikon's news still has nothing on their website though. Now that the big X secret is out there, the only thing we need is price and release date. Ohh, and patience. =)

-H Read more on this article...

Tools of the trade...

I'm always being asked what kind of software I use to edit my photos so I decided to post it here.
Well here it goes; I use Adobe Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 (recently upgraded to CS4).
I just started using Lightroom 2 because it helps me organize all my photos through catalogs and creates the most important thing............BACKUPS. I usually make all the exposure, color and white balance corrections in Lightroom and then export to Photoshop to do all the heavy post processing.
I shoot weddings and models, so I'm always shooting RAW. That way I can get more out of my photos when post processing, especially those fancy fashion shots and Lightroom allows me to make those corrections through it's amazing camera raw processor.
All my work is done with either a 24" iMac or a MacBook. I know you've probably heard this millions of times but I have to say it because it's the truth................Macs are great for this stuff! They allow me to do everything fast, easier and better and the amazing HD monitors are a plus of course.

Well there you have it. Now you know a bit more about me.

See ya soon!

-H Read more on this article...

I little bit Old School...

I've always liked the old US Navy posters.  You know? Where they used pretty looking girls and strong shirtless sailors to recruit people; often times called pin up girls.
I've never had the opportunity to do a themed shoot like this but hey, guess what? It happened about a week ago. I had the chance to work with a model who was up for this kind of shoot. I really like how the bright colors "pop"and the fun and inviting feel.
I would love to have a project with this kind of style to work with. I need to start writing down all these ideas for future reference. -hint-hint-.....

Enjoy!

-Herson Read more on this article...

Congrats to Jonathon and Deborah Wygant!

Congrats to the newly weds, Jonathon and Deborah Wygant. The couple tied the knot in Myrtle Beach, SC this past month. I drove down to South Carolina from Virginia Beach to get there and encounter horrible weather. Well, at least for wedding purposes. It was my first time visiting Myrtle Beach and let me tell you it looks a lot like Virginia Beach. No wonder they're always comparing the two. I really enjoyed my stay regardless of the weather and the dreaded 12 hour round-trip from and to Virginia Beach. Heck, that's part of my job, isn't it? : )

We all had a good time and that is why I enjoy being a wedding photographer. Well, this is it for now!

-Herson

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Mt. Trashmore Virginia Beach shoot

Wedding season is almost over so there's not a whole lot going on as a wedding photographer in Virginia right now so about a week ago I went to Mt. Trashmore to do a shoot for a model. We had little time to set up and get going. It was late afternoon and the sun was setting pretty quick and we wanted to get the beautiful orange/red sky. So we did and we also used it to our advantage. We used the warm golden color as a rim light and we used one Nikon SB-800 to get her other side and finally, an Alien Bees with a shoot thru umbrella as our key light.

If I remember correctly, settings were as follows: ISO 200, 1/250, f/8 and all the photos were shot with a Nikkor 80-200mm 2.8 and triggered the Alien Bee via Pocket Wizards. The SB-800 was triggered optically with the AB.

So there you have it. I have a lot coming within the next few weeks so check back for more!

-Herson Read more on this article...

M.I.A.

Well it's been a while since my last post. I've been super busy lately with shoots and some other stuff.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Myrtle Beach, SC to shoot a wedding. The weather was horrible but thank God the ceremony and reception were indoors. I'm still working on those but will post a few ASAP.
I have a couple more photos I'd like to post here before the end of the week so stick around.

P.S.
I just found out I'll be going to Puerto Rico in December to shoot a wedding! That's the good thing about being a destination wedding photographer. Can't wait!


-H Read more on this article...

Found my twin brother!

I was playing around the house last night with the strobes and this is what came out.
I used two SB-800's for this one @ 105mm and 1/128th of power. Camera right and left.
Very simple but kinda weird to see two "me's" watching TV on my couch.
One's more than enough. Poor wife!

-Herson

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Fun Day

I'm not always shooting weddings and/or models. I like to have a variety to keep my skills up to date. So I went out with the guys for a shoot today and decided to bring my Nikon strobes. I was able to get awesome results with three Nikon SB-800's.
I shot @ ISO400, 1/1250 to darken the sky and the strobes we're doing their job @ full power. I set my aperture to f/4 and went at it. After messing with my exposure for a couple of times, I ended up with what I wanted. Dark skies for a dramatic effect and a well lit subject. I didn't have any kind of light modifier. Strobes were shot bare and I used Nikon's CLS to fire the strobes. Enjoy!

P.S.
Flickr is not working for me today so I had to use Photobucket. :S

-Herson



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Nikon D90. It's official!

The new Nikon D90 has been announced by Nikon. It has a CMOS sensor, went up to 12MP and a new feature called D-Movie which allows you to record HD video up to 720p at 24fps with sound. They also claim low noise up to ISO 3200. I hope so! It will be available by the end of the month. You can pre-order through Amazon or Ritz. Go HERE for all the details. Will keep you updated.

-Herson
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Virginia Beach Plymouth Prowler Shoot

When I started photography I started doing a lot of automotive photography until I basically got tired of shooting cars and then moved to what I do now. Weddings, Portraits, etc. Being able to interact with people motivates me but this assignment was one of a kind. I had the opportunity to shoot 36 Plymouth Prowlers @ The Virginia Beach Boardwalk and I had a blast. These guys traveled from all over the country (even Canada) to meet here in Virginia Beach, talk about cars and have a good time.
They told me they wanted a panorama with all the Prowlers in it and of course, they wanted to be able to see the beach. Well that almost ended up being rocket science!

I took individual shots of the cars and when it was time for the big shot I had to go inside someones hotel room and use their balcony for the shot. (no, I didn't steal anything) I was using a 12-24mm wide angle lens and guess what? It wasn't wide enough so I had to improvise. I took 12 hand held shots and decided I was going to stitch 'em up later in post. I pulled this one off and everybody was amazed with the results giving the situation we ended up dealing with. (not a lot of room for the shot they were looking for). Saved the day!

-Herson Read more on this article...

DIY Ring Flash

This was my first time doing something like this and I got to tell you it feels good. Good because instead of buying a $400 Ring Flash, I came up with one for only $19.26. That's right! I ended up going to Lowe's and grabbed everything I needed for my DIY Ring Flash. Here's the list:


- Plastic terra-cotta planter
- Two 3" PVC couplings
- Glue
- Metal tape
- Black spray paint

Also used some cardboard from a diaper box I had at home (thanks to my son for pooping so much :D) and went to Michael's to get some translucent paper. (scrap book section FYI)
The whole thing took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete and the results were amazing. It requires some cutting so careful out there with that razor blade. :) You want to finish the project with all your piggies still attached to your hands.
I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures of the entire process. Yes, MY BAD. But if you have any questions shoot it over and I'll try my best to answer it ASAP.





Thanks for looking!

-Herson
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Nikon D90

Looks like the new Nikon D90 will be announced this week. The D90 will replace the almost 2 years old D80.
Not that it means much for us wedding photographers but we can expect it to be as good as the D80 and of course better.
It will probably sport the same sensor as the D300 in a smaller, more advanced-amateur package rather than the semi-pro D300. That will place the D90 between the already famous D300 and the new amateur oriented D60. Check here for more updates.


-Herson
ProPixel Photography Read more on this article...

Just another day...

Well like the title says.....it's Monday which means work, traffic jams and all that awesome stuff.
But.......I've had some spare time and I've been reading a lot about DIY stuff and I found David Tejada's blog which is full of very well written and detailed articles about creating your own light modifiers. I think I'm going to be spending some time at Home Depot or Lowe's tomorrow. :)
I will keep you updated with my new projects and "creations"!
Stay tuned!

-Herson Read more on this article...

Model shoot...

What a day! We finally got together with one of our female model friends Carly and went downton Norfolk for a photo shoot.
It was hot and nasty but somehow we managed to get tons of awesome shots. Plus having a crazy and fun person to work with is always a plus. (crazy as in..........i don't know. Crazy...) Not in a bad way. Anyhow, here's a sneak peek. Enjoy!

-Herson



This is me...........don't ask why.
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Congrats Jenni & Chris!

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to shoot Jenni and Chris' wedding. We spent the whole day shooting but it was an awesome experience. Those guys know how to party! They even had an after-party-party! Cris and I were so tired that we couldn't even think straight. We simply packed up all of our gear and went home. It was almost 12 hours of shooting!!!
Congrats J&C!

-Herson Read more on this article...