Birds of a Feather

Birds are without a doubt one of my favorite subjects. They are so elegantly designed. The Master Designer must have really known what He was doing. And in addition to all that birds have going for them, they can fly. WOW! Shooting Photographing birds is an activity that I have spent many hours engrossed in. I've got quite a collection of bird images and it is still growing. This is why I am starting a gallery on my site just for these feathery creatures.
http://alvinusmelius.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Birds-of-a-Feather/G0000kU3cS2hzp6M/I0000.EI9m_GczCs

Brother's Wedding

I have photographed the weddings of all my siblings thus far (well all those who are married). These weddings are extra-special, special days. I love weddings not just because they represent the union of two hearts and lives but because they represent the union of families. And there isn't much more important than family. Any opportunity for families to spend time together is one to be grasped and savored.
My most recent sibling to marry is my younger brother. We had fun taking pictures after the ceremony and we had fun a blast at the reception.

Not What You Think..

Sometimes a photo is just what it seems. Other times it's a question of perception. The fstoppers  site this week posted some photos that will make you look twice and again....

 See if you can figure out these photos : look twice photos

Relaxing with the Reynolds

Sunday I had a great time on a family shoot with the Reynolds family. They're a cool bunch...And we made some beautiful images.Here's image of the guys...

Shoot with Beverly

Another natural light portrait

Portrait using window light.

I set up a shoot with Beverly, a friend and co-worker. She'd wanted to do this for a while but our schedules never seemed to matchup. when it finally did it was fabulous. We agreed to meet at Serenity Park for the photoshoot. I arrived earlier and began scouting the area for places to shoot. While scouting I met another photographer who informed me that there was a wedding in a few minutes. (Bummer!)

So we drove around looking for an alternative. Turns out it's all about the location.  We ended up a most unexpected place, which I will refer to as 'an abandoned government building', which turned out to be great! The light was amazing and Beverly was great! I spotted a few areas where the light seemed interesting, set up a single light took a couple shots then forgot about the flash because available light was just so lovely. I really enjoy using available light for portraits. Having to deal with the camera and model only really simplifies things (though there are times that your flash just can not be ignored. I did  use a flash for fill in some of the images.)

The three images in this post were converted to black & white after the shoot. I'm really experimenting with black & white conversions so I spent quite some time doing conversions and messing with the luminosity of various color channels to see how that would affect the different areas of the images. Changes in the red channel seem to be more important for skin tones. I will probably post something about that in the future.

This is one of many planned photoshoots. I'm excited about my next shoot as well.

If you're interested in doing a shoot with me just drop me a line and we'll set it up.

This is my favorite photo in the shoot. For this shot it's all available light. I use my 70-200 f/2.8 lens extensive for this session. Here I was probably about 8 feet away from her.

What I've been up to...

Well I've been spending most of my time learning these days. I have been asking myself two major questions: What can I do to better my skills as a photographer? What can I do to give my clients a better experience?

So I have been spending my time answering these two questions. And as a result some changes will be taking place on my website and my packages, so don't be surprised.

Did I Learn Something?

You bet I did. Just finished a webinar on Marketing Wedding photography with Rob Provencher (great guy!). It went on longer than planned but I'm not complaining. From this webinar I've come up with a project that I would like to work on. I am in the process of refreshing my portfolio. I will be planning one big shoot per week. Not a job, just a shoot that I plan and execute and get models and props, etc.

This will definitely have a focus on wedding photography and portraits. More information and posts coming soon.