Oh and if you’re wondering where I got the adorable but slightly cracked out looking twitter bird from above, it and other fantastic freebies are available at Smashing Magazine, one of my favorite design/photography resources.  The generous designer is Mirjami Mennenin.

If you’re an east-coaster getting buried in the snow, hope you’re enjoying it!   Follow my new twitter feed by clicking on the bird above.  Slàinte!

The moody lighting in this was done with the Honl Photo Speedlight 1/8 Grid.  It’s a plastic piece that looks like a honeycomb — a common DIY is to take a bunch of evenly sized black plastic straws, glue them together and then put them in front of the flash.  Strobist has instructions for the DIY version here.  It was a bit tricky controlling the direction of the light and there were more than few trial-error error shots to get the light to beam on the logo without having the kickback glare of light hitting white paper….it could definitely be better, if I was going to do it over again, I would use a lightstand rather than holding the flash in my left hand as high as as I could while taking the picture. 

Please excuse the rather unkempt nails (sometimes sharp details are a bad thing!).   This pic takes advantage of the great macro capabilities of my G-9.  I have definitely not stopped being totally amazed with what this little point and shoot can do.  One of my favorite photography bloggers has jumped on the Canon G bandwagon and has the newest G11, with a discussion of the macro capabilities here.

Bridal magazines are filled with stunning images of larger than life engagement rings, and these same types of images frequently grace the pages of wedding photo album. Quite often, theses images are taken with a macro lens, which allows the photographer to get up close to an image and capture an image that magnifies the subject. The macro-capabilities of a macro lens don’t come out of the bag too often–once for the great ring shots, and maybe a few other times if there are some really great small details.

This has created a dilemma for me…If I’ve got a bag that can carry a certain number of lenses, is it really worth it to lug the extra weight when I’ll only need the macro lens for a shot or two? And is it worth it to spend over 500 bucks on a lens I’ll use maybe twice per wedding?

After some online researching, here are the solutions I’ve come up with. First, I can just use what I’ve got. If I use a regular lens, steady the camera while I shoot, and then increase the sharpness of the photo in post-processing, it’s likely that I’ll get a decent shot.  This is the photo posted above–nothing amazing and it could definitely use some more sharpness.  Second, according to the advice of Lawrence Kim,I can just use a point and shoot camera to get the rings shot.  Based on the pics on his blog, this seems to be a pretty darn good looking option.  While I don’t have his beast of a point-and-shoot, I do have a Canon powershot somewhere that could do the trick.  Maybe not…I dug up the point and shoot and it appears to have melted down and no longer focuses.  Oy.  Finally, DPS has an interesting option–take my 50 F/1.8 lens, reverse mount it, use a $9 adapter, and take some macro shots.  While the manual focusing could be a bit tricky, especially in a dimly lit room, this is a pretty inexpensive option and I usually bring along the nifty fifty lens as a back up anyways.  Since I no longer have a point and shoot, I’m ordering the adapter now and will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Update:  The Canon G9 was used for the above ring shot.  It picks up details nicely and unlike a heavy macro lens, is a cinch to carry around.

I saw this fantastic post at the Digital Photography School–Must Have Wedding Shots.  While this site is targeted more for photographers, this is a great resource for brides.  After you’ve spent months looking at amazing bridal magazines and seeing beautiful pictures and visualizing what you’ll look like on your big day, it’s extremely helpful to communicate with your photographer the concepts that you have been visualizing so that they can try to capture those moments.   It’s sort of like giving songs to a DJ to play for the wedding–you want to give them an idea of what you want to hear, but also give them the space to go where the music takes them.

Here are some of the key shots from the list they have and others from amazing wedding photos I’ve seen:

1. Prep Shots – Bride & Groom (one of my fave shots is one with bridesmaids surrounding the bride and helping the bride get her dress on).
2. The Dress – Hanging or Draped (preferably from window light)
3. The shoes (seriously–how can you miss the shoes?!)
4. The Window Shot – Bride facing out window with great soft light
5. Bride walking down stairs (especially if there is some sort of spiral staircase involved)
6. Bride Applying Make Up (love it when there is a great mirror reflection in this shot)
7. Groom Fixing Hair
8. Grooms Father & Best Man – Attaching Boutonnière to grooms lapel
9. Groom and best men crew attempting to tie bow ties (my husband told me he and his groomsmen spent forever trying to figure out how to tie a bow tie–I would love to have seen the puzzled looks on their faces!)
10. Groom waiting at the altar
11. Church or other ceremony location wide shot (with & without guests)
12. Bride walking down aisle ( Side Profile & Front ).  Photos of guests gazing in awe at the beauty of the bride in the background.
13. Father giving away bride
14. Groom over the shoulder shot of bride
15. Holding hands – Bride and Groom
16. Bride & Groom Kiss
17. Bride & Groom Leaving Church
18. Wide angle shot to get in the Receiving Line
19. Bride & Groom – Inside Limo Shot
20. Reception/Banquet Hall Outside shot
21. Detail shots before the guests get in–centerpieces, favors, all the things that the bride has worked so hard to plan!
22. Shot of the Invitation (if you want this, make sure you save one or send one to your photographer)
23. Food Shots (Cocktail Hour, Drinks, etc.)
24. Shot of each table full of guests
25. Shots of Bride & Groom with & without family
26. Bride and Groom Portraits (can be done before the ceremony if you don’t mind seeing your other half before the ceremony, this gives you more time to spend with your guests)
27. Bride & Groom with Bridesmaids & Groomsmen
28. Bride and Groom Hand & Ring Portraits
29. Rings shot close up
30. First Dance
31. Bride & Father Dance
32. Groom & Mother Dance
33. Bouquet Toss
34. Garter Toss
35. Cake Cutting, Bride and Groom Feeding each other
36. Misc. Guests Dancing
37. Bride & Groom Eating
38. Best Man & Maid of Honor Toast/Speeches
39. Parents speeches
40. Bride & Groom Toast/Speeches
41. Guestbook Signatures
42. Children Dancing with Bride & Groom
43. Bride & Groom’s Parents Dancing (Plus Grandparents)
44. Bride & Groom “Just Married” Vehicle – Driving Away or any form of send off that you plan–there are some amazing shots when people have sparklers!
45. …and my absolute favorite–the entire wedding shot.  This includes everyone who attends the wedding and requires a bit of planning, a very wide angle lens, and usually quite a bit of height to get everyone in this shot.  When it works out, it’s a great way to see everyone at your wedding, in “where’s waldo” style.

Any other ideas?