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W e sat the dark room oddly lit with Christmas lights tucked away in the corner and spotlights on random pictures of Italian paraphernalia—Meatballs, soccer players running along the Spanish Steps, and the Pope. As the plates and plates of steaming food were placed in front of us, we talked, laughed, and swapped stories like we were veterans. Only, we’ve never been on the frontlines…just in front of brides and grooms.
A few weeks ago, I hosted Happy Hour on Blu Domain. Not only did I have a blast, it was awesome meeting other photographers and answer a few questions. In the midst of the crazy typing frenzy, I encouraged photographers to ask another photographer out to lunch if they had questions or just wanted to get to know that person better (I got this idea from [b]ecker…who’s pretty much an industry forefather of giving back). Well, shortly thereafter, I received quite a few emails from photographers inviting me to lunch…so cool! Because I wanted to keep the lunch small, I invited a few photographers (some of which had contacted me about going to lunch before Blu’s Happy Hour), to join me at Buca Di Beppo in Irvine this afternoon. We had a GREAT time together and I’m so stoked to have made new peers within the industry! I’m honored to be associated with such a stellar group of people, and I’m happy to call them friends!
Who’s Who (and their bloggity blogs)…
*Amy of AHS Photography
*David and April of Ohana Photography
*Katy of Katy Regnier Photography
*Kimberlee of Boucher Photography
*Marlene of Marlin Munoz Photography
Here's a group shot...
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| ...And apparently only THREE of the seven of us know how to make silly faces!!! :D |
| I want to send a special thanks to David for bringing EVERYONE a box of Godiva chocolates and awesome Suzy's Zoo star sticky notes...he's so wonderful! I had an awesome time and I also want to apologize if I spoke too much or too quickly...I'm working on it! :) Thanks again and I can't wait to see what your futures hold for you!!! |
    
B efore I begin this week’s FAQ, here’s a disclaimer: I’m SO not a workflow guru, so please don’t think I’m trying to portend I’m all that and a bag of chips. And, yes, I use disclaimers because I went to law school and now know how important they are! ;) The end.
“Do you shoot Raw or Jpeg?”
Well, the answer to this question is YES. Yes, I shoot raw. Yes, I shoot Jpeg.
Truth be told, when I first started my business, I was looking for the quickest way to improve both my skills and knowledge. I’ve never been one to shy away from hard work, but one thing I learned in law school is that it’s not as important as hard you work, it’s about how smart you work. So, instead of reinventing the wheel, I tore apart my favorite photographers’ workflows and chose one that would work for me.
In the end, I completely and whole-heartedly adopted David Jay’s raw workflow. It’s allows for me to batch process my images and ensures my clients have consistent images that are all color-corrected and have a little saucy punch to them added by raw presets.
Why jpeg? Two reasons:
1. At every wedding, I show a slideshow of images from the wedding day. While guests are eating dinner, I download my favorite images from the day (about 30-40), retouch them lightly in Photoshop and display the slideshow on my laptop at the reception. The slideshows are an AWESOME way for clients to see the images and guests are equally excited to see instantaneous images. Because I do this, I need my images already in jpeg format so I can immediately open them in Photoshop. Yes, I can convert the raw to jpeg, but that’s one extra step during a time crunch that I really don’t want to be concerned with.
2. I like jpeg better. Plain and simple. I love the color and crispness I get with a jpeg and whenever I convert an image from raw to jpeg, something’s missing. Please don’t ask me what that ‘something’ is because I couldn’t tell you…I just love jpeg (FYI, everything on my blog and slideshows are shot in jpeg). When I first started my business, I shot completely in jpeg (which forced me to start nailing exposure because I didn’t have too much latitude for mistakes), and I would have stayed shooting that way, but I was literally killing myself trying to retouch so many images before they were posted online (and, yes, I could’ve posted unprocessed images online, but I seriously have OCD and perfectionism-issues, so that totally wouldn’t work for me!).
So here’s my workflow after a wedding:
*Download my images using iView and tag my favorites (blog, slideshow, portfolio) with color codes
*Edit blog favorites
*Edit a slideshow
*Pour the remaining 800-900 raw images into Adobe Bridge and use presets to process them.
*Convert to jpeg
*Upload to my online lab, Pictage
I know this is a very, very basic breakdown, but if you want to learn more about what to do exactly, David Jay is the main man. Be sure to check out his Freedom Club for video tutorials and latest news. He’ll also be speaking at Pictage’s PartnerCon next month here in Los Angeles, so be sure to check him out! I’ll be there too, so be sure to holla back!
Again, the FAQ blog posts are just to kinda-sorta help push people along in their business. If only one person found this helpful, then I’ll feel like it was worth it! :)
Happy Wednesday!
P.S. Because my sister once told me she hates reading my blog without any pictures, here’s a picture of JD…some people have hinted that he hasn’t made a blog appearance in a while, so here’s my main squeeze at Sandy and Jesse’s wedding
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The Wedding Channel Turn Around
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S o, the tables turned on me yesterday. I’m quite used to writing about my clients’ engagement session or wedding day from, well, my perspective. As we hang out together, I like to not only hear what they’re saying, but truly listen to what’s being said in between the lines. I love it.
However, yesterday my lovely client, Nicole--who also happens to be assistant editor at The Wedding Channel--wrote about her experience during the engagement session in an editorial piece posted online. You can read it in its entirety by CLICKING HERE. It was wonderful reading about the day from her perspective and I’m honored to be her photographer.
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| On a tangent, I just want to clarify something for my blog readers. The write-up I do for every photo entry is, yes, for my clients, but it’s really more for me. No one else. I love the art of writing and while I’ve never claimed to be good at it, I think I may have a knack at it. Not good, but decent. Another photographer blogger wrote a not-so-nice blog entry based entirely about how my writing shouldn’t take the form it does…because, as this blogger so kindly put it, he doesn’t come to my blog to read romance novels. He even went as far as pulling out eight quotes from my blog entries and used them as examples of what NOT to do when blog posting. He made me feel so warm and fuzzy. But that’s besides the point…I write because I want to. I write because I need to. The pen is a powerful thing and if I have the chance to document a single frame of time through written word and photographs in peoples’ lives, I will continue doing so. |
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Erika and Rey : Wedding
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© Jasmine Star. This post cannot be republished without permission. Stealing makes me sad. |
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T he bright sun bounced off her over-sized sunglasses and she smiled. She balanced her keys, sidebag, shopping bags, and a Nordstrom ice tea in her arms and looked quite bridelike as she entered the large doors of Coto De Caza Golf and Country Club. Her wedding day arrived and while she dreamed of marrying the boy she met at the age of 14, it seemed forever away. Last Saturday, surrounded by friends and family from Peru, Honduras, and all over the United States, they committed their lives to each other.
Erika and Rey have two amazing sons and it was a marriage of four people, not just two. Their lives are intertwined and their familial foundation is unshakable because its cornerstone is love. They love, laugh, and live life fully with each other…proving that come what may, their bonds are a quadruple cord of affection and adoration. As the sun set on the Orange County hillside, the four of them—Rey, Erika, Isaiah, and Elijah—made a public declaration to love, honor and cherish.
Erika and Rey…with my everything, thank you. You both have the biggest hearts and your thoughtfulness did not go unnoticed (especially hounding us to eat dinner with you!). I’m honored to have documented your wedding day and I appreciate your over-arching accommodation to anything and everything I could’ve ever dreamt of asking. Have a blast in Cancun and don’t forget to dance some more salsa because I’m not sure you tore up your reception dance floor enough! :) Much Love…J*
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| All the floral arrangements were provided by Flower Girl...here's Erika's lovely bouquet... |
| JD captured this moment as Rey's son was helping him get ready and offer last minute words of encouragement! :) |
| The lovely cake by Rossmoor Bakery |
| The entire day was flawlessly orchestrated by Tracie of RavenCo Design and Event Planning ( tracienaddor@aol.com )...she did such an AWESOME job! Here's a detail shot of the "Artists Table" where all the children sat during dinner...what a great idea!! :) |
| Details, details everywhere...I loved it! |
| To view more of their wedding, CLICK HERE for a slideshow! |
I make no issue being 100% honest with myself. I could be a better wife, a better child, and a better friend. Sometimes I hate admitting my inadequacies, but spotlighting them helps me improve. Or at least I hope so! ;)
This summer has been insane with all the shooting I’ve been doing…and I absolutely love it…and wouldn’t change a single thing. Well, maybe just one thing. I work too much. It’s like I don’t have an OFF button or something. Perhaps I slipped by Heaven’s quality control inspector unnoticed. I like to blame my Type-A personality, OCD, perfectionism, or whatever buzz word is applicable, but the fact of the matter is that I really just don’t know how to let go and breathe every once in a while. However, it’s something I’m working on.
No, no…it’s something we’re working on. JD is an ever-present force in helping me take time to smell the roses. And ocean. And Polo’s sweet doggy breath.
To my pleasant surprise, JD bought me an early anniversary gift:
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JD’s comes home every evening to the sight of me in front of my computer and he thinks that I can better use my time with a pimped out Mac Pro. I can’t WAIT to get it set up and start crankin’ away at my projects. I'm such an Apple nerd, so I’m dying with anticipation and excitement!!
And on a totally unrelated sidenote, I was planning on buying JD argyle socks for our anniversary…so, yeah…I need to think of something a little nicer. Suggestions are welcomed. No, really, I need some gift ideas…stat! :) |
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