Why Do I Look Different In Photos? 3 Factors That Affect Your Portrait

Before I was a photographer, I just couldn't wrap my head around why I looked SO different in other people's photos than I thought I looked like in real life.  I felt like no matter who took photos of me, it was never the same person in the photo than who I was used to seeing in the mirror or in selfies!  If you feel this way, you're absolutely right, but it's because you actually never get to see yourself as the world sees you until you look at a photograph.  

Scene & a most unflattering portrait from Garbo Dreams by Lauren LoGiudice 

You aren't crazy, or abnormal to think you don't look like yourself in photos, but there are three important factors that can make your portrait look more or less familiar to you:

1. The Mirror Effect
Any time you look in a mirror, you're actually seeing your identical "evil" twin who fools you into thinking this is what you look like to everyone else.  This person is who you have come to think is your image, but it's actually a reversed image of what everyone else sees.  That mole is not actually on the right side of your face as it appears in the mirror, it's on the left side.  Your larger eye is not actually the left eye you see in the mirror, it's the right eye (and yes, almost everyone has a larger or smaller eye).  Since many forward-facing "selfie" cameras mimic this mirrored effect, you're always seeing your mirrored twin, rather than the person that everyone else sees when they look at you.  A photograph reflects back your actual self, as others really see you, with a few other variables to consider, as mentioned below.  You notice all of the differences because they are new to your eye versus the image your brain has imprinted as what you look like.

via GIPHY

2. The Lens Effect
The human eye is equivalent to a roughly 45mm lens on a full-frame DSLR.  This means that your portrait will often appear different if the lens used to photograph you is wider than 40mm or tighter than 50mm on a full frame DSLR.  Many portrait and headshot photographers use lenses in the 70-200mm range that end up compressing the relationship between the tip of your nose and the back of your head, which can often reduce any facial features that may feel exaggerated when looking at yourself in the mirror with your 45mm lens eyeballs.  However, if a photographer uses something as wide as a 24mm lens for a portrait, it will often exaggerate any features and distances between them on the canvas of a face.  If possible, ask your photographer to use a few different lens focal lengths to help you decide which version of your face looks best to you in print.  A photographer also has the ability to see your face at a higher or lower perspective than you usually do, so when that is combined with a lens choice, it can affect which features are more or less prominent in the 2-Dimensional photo.



3. The Lighting Effect
Most of us view ourselves in overhead lighting, whether it's in the bathroom with the lights centered above our face, in a general indoor setting where there are skylights or overhead lights, or outside where we have sunlight almost always at an angle higher than our physical maximum height in relation to the horizon of the earth.  All of this means that when we see an unusual lighting pattern on our face other than what is natural and familiar to us, it highlights features of our face that we aren't used to seeing highlighted, or creates shadows that don't seem flattering because we haven't adjusted to their appearance over the many years we've come to accept the naturally occurring shadows on our face.  This is why a dramatic or creative portrait may be more flattering to the overall concept of the image, rather than what an individual might find flattering for their own personal use or interpretation.  A skilled photographer can use light to enhance or minimize certain features of your face, but you most definitely pay more for someone with that level of technical expertise and experience, versus someone who hasn't yet figured out how to manipulate light to your best benefit.

I hope this helps you understand why it is that you appear to look different in photos every single time you see them.  It's not you.. it's your brain that has been trained to see you in a certain way almost your entire life... and it's been seeing you differently than everyone else sees you all along!

Why I Don't Photograph My Family's Weddings

I have somewhere in the area of 30 cousins, many who have yet to get engaged or be married (if they choose to)- it seems like I, the professional photographer in the family, would be a natural fit to photograph their weddings, right?

It's easy to think that hiring a family member to photograph a wedding would be a natural fit and a smart choice, especially since you're doing family a favor by giving them business.  I would even say that this would be a smart choice if your family members are dress makers, florists, bakers, or maybe even ceremony musicians.  Those are all jobs that can easily be done before the wedding, or at the wedding in ways that don't necessarily detract from the family member doing their job well, while also enjoying the opportunity to see other family members during a special occasion.  Wedding photography, however, is quite different.


As a wedding photographer, I need to have a dedicated and objective eye on everything that's happening around me.  Moments are happening out of all corners of the room and I am there to capture them and preserve them for the couple and the families.  When I'm surrounded by family I know and people who haven't seen me in a while, they often want to catch up with me, which distracts me from the job at hand.  Naturally, I want to catch up with them too- but then I'm not paying attention to what's happening in front of me.  It's also really difficult to ignore someone who can call out your name from across the room to capture a photo of them, when really the most important thing happening is somewhere completely different in the room, but could easily be missed when being pulled in different directions by people who are comfortable making additional personal requests for themselves, because you're family and they just expect it.


When there's a family connection with the people at the wedding, there's a tendency to focus on and capture the people we are most familiar with, rather than remaining completely objective to both families and observing them all as unique and interesting in their relationships to each other as well as the couple.  I figured this out early on when I was just a guest at weddings and noticed that all of my images centered on one side of the family that I knew best as well as the friends I was most familiar with, almost excluding everyone from the other side of the family at the wedding.  It was much easier to be objective at friend's weddings than it was at family weddings.  Likewise, when couples have shared photos from friends & family that were taken at their weddings while I was the professional, I noticed the same tendency over and over, to only document the people that were most familiar to them.


When I'm a hired as an outside professional, I have the most objective view of all the relationships and important people in the room, and can approach both sides of the family with the same level of attention and dedication.  I can take in the silly quirks of family members and document them instead of rolling my eyes and walking away because I've already seen them behave that way a million times before at other family events.  I can appreciate the over-attentive aunt instead of being frustrated by her desire to make everything perfect.  I can delight in a kid's antics instead of scolding or correcting him as a family member.  I can just observe, document, and be present, rather than judging or assuming things that I may or may not already know.  Point blank, I can provide the best service and coverage possible when I can remain objective and be held accountable to a professional standard.



If you know someone who is considering a family member to document their wedding, please share these insights with them.  I want them to have the best wedding photography experience possible, and avoid making any mistakes that they might regret in the future.  To all of my family members who I've had to say no to, please understand that I'm looking out for you, and that I may still bring my camera and shoot what I can with one lens and no flash so that I don't disrupt the professional images being captured, but that it's nearly impossible to be "on my game" when being distracted by our family members!

The Secrets to Finding An Amazing Wedding Photographer

There are SO MANY wedding photographers to choose from, aren't there?!  I would be so overwhelmed if I had to pick a wedding photographer now.  I thought it was overwhelming 10 years ago, but technology has made the market so much bigger with so many more inexperienced people just creating a website and giving it a try.  I know I can't possibly serve everyone as a wedding photographer, but I can at least share some insider secrets about the wedding photography industry that might help YOU find a really great and experienced photographer for your wedding.  Here's some insider knowledge on where the most amazing wedding photographers can be found, and how to find the ones who are near you...

Word of Mouth Referrals:

Talk to 5 recently married couples about their wedding photography experience and what they wish they did differently as well as who they'd recommend working with.  It's important to talk to married  couples, since an engaged couple who has selected their vendors hasn't really gone through the full experience and delivery process yet.  If someone is highly recommending a photographer you haven't seen anywhere else, it's probably because that photographer is awesome at what they do and they don't need to advertise.  Some of the best photographers simply cannot be found in traditional wedding websites and directories because they already have enough business from referrals that they don't need to put themselves out there in any other way. I know many amazing photographers who have really old websites and don't advertise anywhere because they spend all of their time serving clients rather than working on their online presence.  (I'm equally guilty of this!)  The best people to get word of mouth referrals from are other recently married couples, independent wedding planners, and venue coordinators at your favorite venues*.

*BEWARE of the Venue Vendor List:

Before blindly accepting a vendor list from a venue coordinator, ASK if the venue coordinator has actually worked with AND recommends the people on their vendor list, or if it's just a list that people pay to be on.  I've talked to many venue coordinators who say they'd never actually recommend the people on the list they hand out blindly to couples in their venue packets!!  It makes me cringe to think there are coordinators who are not providing quality referrals just because they're receiving a kick-back or commission to share names of people who want to work at their venue.  A great venue coordinator will be honest about this and give you some handwritten referrals that might not even be on their list.  Just know that paying to be on lists is a common practice in our industry and by taking the time to ask for a personal recommendation, you will get better results than assuming a list is handpicked to begin with.  If they can't give you any personal recommendations, than they may not have been working in the wedding industry for very long. Unfortunately, due to the stress and long hours of the event industry, there's often a high turnover in venue coordinators- so take note of their personal experience level as well.

Pre-Screened Professional Wedding Photography Organizations:

If you don't have enough personal referrals, this is often the second best place to find photographers who are highly qualified and produce amazing work as wedding photographers, but who aren't advertising or paying to show up on highly visible wedding websites.  Some of these professional photography websites can even help you find photographers in your local area to help narrow your search.  I've been on and off these sites depending on how much time I have to accept non-referral inquiries and how much I want my photography work to be seen.  When I'm really busy, I pull back from contest sites and professional organizations, but I love participating in them and getting accolades for my work when I have the time to invest in preparing for a contest.  There is a small caution in only using these sites: while someone may have amazing photography work and win awards from other photographers, you still need to check that couples have had great experiences working with them.  Some amazing artists aren't the best business people, so definitely go the extra mile to get references from previous clients if you decide to go with an award-winning photographer.  Here are my favorite places to find award-winning wedding photographers who are pre-screened for high-quality imagery before ever being accepted into the organizations:

• International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers - http://www.ispwp.com
• Wedding Photojournalist Association - http://www.wpja.com
• Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalists - http://www.agwpja.com

REAL weddings in LOCAL Magazines & Blogs:

Do yourself a favor and skip the national magazines and blogs.  It's frustrating to look at a big list of people who might not even be in your area, or who you'd have to pay extra travel expenses for.  Go straight to your local magazines and blogs, but skip their vendor directory where people pay to be featured (no matter how long they've been in business or if they're a good photographer), and head instead to the REAL weddings section for your local area.  Look at the names hidden in the crease of that magazine or under the headline of that article, look for the photographer credit on that blog post.  Once you're armed with some names of photographers who have been featured in magazines and blogs, check out their reviews on Wedding Wire, Yelp, or Pictage to see what other clients have said about working with them.  If they have no reviews, don't assume anything is wrong, just ask them to share references with you.  I've worked with hundreds of couples and only half of everyone I ask for a review actually ends up getting around to leaving one- but if people never ask for reviews at all, and their couples are perfectly happy, they may never get reviewed.

Hopefully these industry insider tips help you find the most amazing photographers who aren't paying to advertise in the directories, who aren't doing wedding shows, and who are otherwise very difficult to find online or in print.  This isn't to say that anyone who pays to be in a directory or does a wedding show isn't a great photographer, only that there are a lot of amazing artists who hide out from the public eye and take a little more sleuthing to find!  I wish you the best in your search for an amazing photographer, and if you found this post to be useful, please share it with other engaged couples who would appreciate getting the inside scoop as well. ;-)

How to Create a Large Group Photo of All Guests at Wedding

If I could only do one posed photo during a wedding, I'd want it to be a large group shot of all the guests.  After all, celebrating with the friends and family who love and support your marriage is the whole reason for having a wedding and not just running to city hall for a marriage license!  That being said, a large group shot of all the guests is often one of the most challenging images to create on the wedding day without turning it into a huge production- but after doing it for so many of my wedding couples, I can definitely say that there are several ways to make it easier and low-stress for everyone involved.

1. Decide on a Time & Location When Guests Are Already Gathered Together
Often, the most ideal time is immediately after the ceremony has ended, but before people have started to leave.  While I have done arrangements during the reception that involved everyone crowding on the dance floor, or going outside to get a shot from a balcony, by far the most convenient arrangement is getting people right after the ceremony.



2. Find a High Point To Shoot From, Tiered Steps, or a Natural Slope for Gathering Guests
The absolute easiest arrangement is shooting from a balcony at the back of a church or hotel ballroom and simply asking the guests to turn around and look up at the photographer.  The second easiest option is asking guests to file out onto the steps of a natural exit point from the ceremony.  The most chaotic, but possible in a pinch, is asking guests to move to a completely different location together where there's a natural slope in a hill, or where the photographer can get a higher vantage point with a ladder over flat ground.  The more traveling and set-up involved means additional time for chaos to ensue before the image can be created, and the more chaotic it gets, the harder it is to rein it back in.



3. Decide How It Will Be Lit
Lighting is often figured out after the location is selected because we have more viable lighting options than we do location options.  However, in the case of an outdoor image, you need to be aware of any surrounding trees that might create dappled light and whether the guests could be looking into the sun or if they'll be in full shade.  If the set-up is indoors, is there a ceiling that a flash can be bounced off of to help spread a small flash?  Is the room lighting sufficient, or can it be turned all the way up by a lighting tech person after the ceremony has finished to help with the group shot?  Will any additional lights need to be set up in advance to cover the crowd?  A professional photographer will know and understand how to light this group shot in advance.

4. Prepare Guests With An Announcement Before It Happens
While an announcement in your wedding program is a nice way to prepare guests for this super awesome group shot, it's best if the wedding officiant can make an announcement with basic instructions about what to do before the couple actually walks down the aisle at the end of the ceremony.



5. Get Important People In Front
The couple, the wedding party, and the immediate family should all be in the front row of the image so that they take center stage in the image and don't get lost in the large crowd of guests.  This is often facilitated by simply having the couple, wedding party, and family members exit at the end of the ceremony as they normally would, and then return to the room at the back or file at the front of the steps with room for people to fill in behind them.

6. Check for Hidden Faces
Some people assume that if they can see the photographer with one eye, the photographer can see their whole face.  That might work for peek-a-boo, but not for this group shot.  Short people hidden in back rows or behind taller people can either easily be asked to move to the outside edge of the very same row, or to the front with little hassle to the rest of the crowd.  If you have time and space to ask tall people to move to the back, that's another quick and effective way to sort the crowd since most of those people know who they are and have been moving to the back row since middle-school (I'm a back-row regular myself.)



7. Encourage Everyone to Move In Closer Together
Our natural tendency is to have some personal space around us, but that makes for very sloppy looking group photos, especially when it's such a large group of people.  I've found that by asking guests to give the couple a group hug by getting as close as possible to their neighbor, reminding them that everyone is friends and family here, they become a little more willing to relax their personal space barriers and guards against being shoulder to shoulder with other people.

8. Count Down but Shoot On Every Count
A count down (3...2...1...) is nice for people who are sensitive to light, people who have a tendency to blink a lot, or just for letting people know that you actually need them to pay attention.  However, one of my secret moves is that I actually start shooting on 2 and I keep shooting after the final count.  It's best to prepare guests in advance by telling them that you're going to take multiple attempts at the group so that they don't start to disperse after just one count down.  Two or three count downs are generally all that's needed if multiple images are snapped during each count down.  Another body language clue to keep in mind and help the crowd understand that you're not done yet is keeping the camera up to your face rather than bringing it down to preview the shot.



9. Remember that Perfection is Impossible
There is nothing perfect about humanity, and when you put a large group of humans together, you're going to get a lot of imperfection.  You may take over 20 images of that large group and every single one will have something wrong with it regarding a person who isn't looking at the camera, someone important who blinked, or that awkward moment when someone opened their mouth to say something to the person next to them.  While there is PhotoShop when absolutely necessary, only so much swapping of heads, mouths, and eyes can be reasonably expected before you end up with a group of people who look like science experiments.  It's better to simply allow for a certain amount of imperfection and reality, rather than expecting something that isn't humanly possible.

Quick Summary of Tips:

Organizing:

- Decide how many rows of people you’ll have

- Decide how many people that places in each row (estimate 2ft for each person)

- Decide how you’ll be elevated or they’ll be stacked or standing/kneeling/sitting to see all faces

- Decide what kind of pose is most appropriate based on the use of the photo (for example, don’t have professionals in dresses sitting on the ground, but families in casual or sport clothing may be OK)

- Decide who needs to appear in the front row or most visible row for priority reasons

- Decide how you’ll get tall people to the back and short people to the front

- Make sure the group won’t be looking into the sun, or you’ll get squinty eyes

- Some people may have transition lenses that look like sunglasses, talk about this with the client in advance and find out how they feel about not people looking like they’re wearing sunglasses

- Confirm the details of the group shot with any coordinators or organizers for the day so they can help

- Speak loudly and remind everyone to look at you

Technical:

- Make sure your aperture is at least F/8 and focused in the second row of people

- Make sure your shutter is at least 1/80th or faster of a second to avoid blur from movement

- 24mm Lens should be enough lens width if you have enough room, if you were in a small room or space you’d go wider, if you were shooting from a field into grandstands, you'd go tighter

- Take a ridiculous number of frames

- Count down between shots but keep shooting in between counts

Did you appreciate these tips?  Do you have any other questions?  Let me know by leaving a comment!

Is Digital Really Archival?

As I've been sorting, organizing, and packing everything for this move, it's really struck me how the simplicity of paper and the printed image has actually survived and preserved information far better than the hard drives, DVDs, CDs, and other digital media that I've had. I found paper copies of my resume from 1997, 2001, & 2004 but I can't even tell you what version of Word those would have been printed from, what computer I would have saved them on, or if they ever made it to another form of "archival" digital media... and that was only 9 years ago! I have printed photos of myself as a child from over 30 years ago, but as I pulled out digital media from just 5 years ago, some CDs have been scratched or cracked to the point they can't be read, and that drive from just 2 years ago just doesn't seem to be starting up AT ALL and I have no idea if it's recoverable. 



Now I'm slightly terrified I've lost precious family memories because I never printed them and took them off that seemingly "safe" digital storage medium. It's really making me rethink what it means to archive and preserve information, and it's really given me an appreciation for the accessibility and archive that Pictage has of my professional work. Hard drives have failed, clients have had DVDs and Albums destroyed in flood or fire, negatives have been lost in moves, and yet Pictage has kept my professional images safe and sound through all of my moves and transitions so that my clients can always get a physical archive of their wedding and family memories, even 8 years later, after their CDs have become too scratched and computers have crashed.


I really wish I had printed my family and personal images over the last few years instead of letting them just live on digital media.  I had a bunch of personal images stored with Apple's former online cloud system DotMac which initially was moved to MobileMe, but when Apple sent me a notice that they were closing down these services and I should archive my media, I was too busy to make anything happen and now I've lost everything that was stored in their online server system and not printed or backed up in another accessible form.  Why they couldn't have just transitioned it to their new iCloud system is beyond me, but alas, it is what it is... a learning lesson that even things which you pay for one day may become unavailable the next.  At least I still have all the personal photos I stored on Flickr since 2005, but who knows how long that will last?



This move has made me keenly aware that perhaps it's finally time to print some of the family and personal images I DO still have access to so that I might actually have them even if some apocalyptic solar flare knocks out half the world's servers and electronics. I'm not being fatalistic... just realistic... nothing will last forever, but there are definitely ways we can make things last longer. I've been a huge advocate for digital media, especially for the seemingly eco-friendly reasons, but as I move a big bin of hard drives into storage next to the big bin of printed photos... I can't help but feel that the printed photos are the ones that are actually going to survive and still be accessible 10 years from now.  The longer I've waited to create a printed archive, the more I've lost.  Something to think about and consider for the years to come.

Wedding Wednesday: Why Marriage is Good for You

There's a saying you might hear once or twice while wedding planning that goes something like:

While planning for your wedding, don't forget to plan for your marriage.

I can honestly say that Alex and I fought more during our engagement than we ever have since being married.  Living together presented a whole new set of things to deal with like changes in sharing personal space and adjusting lifestyles to be compatible for living with another person during morning and evening routines and adjusting bad habits.  Luckily, when you love someone a whole lot, those adjustments and compromises that create conflict are just small bumps in a very long road of learning to communicate better and understand one another.

In the video below, Jenna McCarthy (not to be confused with Jenny McCarthy), shares research findings on what makes couples break apart, stay together, and some statistics behind people who really stick to their eternal vows of commitment.  When Alex shared this Tedx video with me- I found myself nodding all the way through in agreement with how true it really is.  So if you're planning a wedding, don't forget to plan for your marriage.  Click play to watch the video:

Making Your Own Wedding Album - Advice from a Bride

This is a guest post from Annabel, whose wedding I photographed in 2008.
(*My comments are in parentheses.) ;-)

A few weeks ago, Anne asked me if any of the pictures from my 2008 wedding ever ended up in an album. Oh boy, did they. What they ended up in is a hardbound 11 x 13 wedding album nay, volume, with a glossy dust jacket and hundreds of wedding photos spread out over 126 glorious, premium-papered pages. And the only thing more crazy than having such a hefty, museum-quality wedding album, is the fact that I did it all myself.
(*Anne: From my perspective, the paper & print quality is decent for what is available to the general public. However, as a professional I have access to much more archival quality album options, but better quality does come at premium.)

Now I know that making your own wedding album might not sound all that crazy to the average Jill, but if you’ve ever done a project like this, you might recognize that this is a task meant for only the truly ambitious (read: mentally ill) brides and/or grooms among us. Remember your high school yearbook? It was, what? 60 pages? There were probably fifteen kids on the staff killing themselves to put it out at the end of the year. And they didn’t even have jobs! So before you embark on a project like making your own album, you must ask yourself, are you feeling equal to fifteen over-achieving teenagers?

Me? I have no regrets. My wedding album is an heirloom I treasure and it’s beautiful. I’m not the only one who thinks so, either. We bought copies for all of our parents- and my mother, no kidding, makes people wash their hands before they touch it. Her friends may roll their eyes but they’re lucky she hasn’t put it in a glass case, turning only one page a day, like those illuminated manuscripts in museums. I can’t blame her- while I’ve yet to frame a single wedding picture, my giantess of an album sits propped up on a bookshelf in my living room just waiting for the day when I can afford museum lighting.
(*Anne: Storing albums with this many pages upright might cause the binding to become loose, unless it's propped on a book stand that allows the book to lean back, stay closed, or lay open with the binding sinking into the spine instead of the pages pulling on the binding. Storing flat is the best way to preserve the binding.)

Recognizing that what the mentally ill really need is a forum on which to communicate their crazy notions, Anne has asked me to share my experiences making my own album with her blog readers. So here we go!
(*Anne: Annabel is completely sane, and extremely creative. ;-)

Lets start with the cons:

• It takes a lot of time - I made my album when I had what some people might call “free time” but also goes by the name “life-crippling underemployment.” I don’t know that I would have had the time to devote to making as nice an album if that hadn’t been the case. Altogether, I bet I spent forty hours or more on it during this time. Even if you’re only doing a simple and short album with no fancy layouts, I promise you, this is going to take at least a day or two of your life. Narrowing down your photos alone will take several hours. Uploading high-res photos, laying them out, dealing with the inevitable technical glitches, and proofing your album will take up what will start to seem like an infinitely expanding amount of time. If this sounds awful to you, pay someone else to deal with those frustrations for you. If this sounds like fun to you- welcome to my club! Drinks are in the kitchen and you can hang your straight jacket on the hat rack.
(*Anne: even when I do the initial design for couples, it can take weeks or even months for them to look at the album design enough times to decide what changes they want to make!)

• It’s not necessarily cheaper – Although I knew Anne would make a great album, I wanted to do my own. I designed my album on blurb.com, which is a fantastic site where you can lay out and print your own high quality hardcover books. You have to download their layout software program onto your computer (the program is free) and then upload your album to the site. My large format, 126 page album, ended up costing roughly $100 per copy. Considering the time I spent on it and the cost of printing, I doubt it really made financial sense to do it myself. Remember that life-crippling unemployment I was talking about? After I made my album, I couldn’t actually afford to purchase it until a month later when we could afford it. Still, for me it was worth the time, the cost, and the wait.
(*Anne: Doing the math- if Annabel's album took her a week, and if she had a job that earned her $1000 per week, than her album cost her $1100... luckily she was able to spend time instead of cash.)

• Technology is frustrating – I have little bit of a background as a graphic artist and so was prepared for the technical part of creating my own album. If you are easily frustrated with technology, putting together your own album may not be for you. There’s a definite learning curve with the software on most of these book design sites. If you’re someone who picks up new technology easily and have a speedy computer with plenty of space for your photos and plenty of processing power for the software, then you’re in good shape. If not, you might want to pay someone to do it and save yourself the hassle. Sometimes the photos don’t load properly and you have to start all over again, sometimes the blurb.com software is glitchy (though to their credit they are always updating it and their customer service was great when I used it a year ago), and sometimes malevolent elves crawl into your computer and screw things up for no reason at all. That last one is almost guaranteed, trust me.
(*Anne: Agreed!! Stuff happens ALL THE TIME to delay what feels like should be a simple & quick process!)

And now, some tips

• Think about design – Before I started my album on Blurb, I looked through some of the public wedding albums on there and they were all kind of, let’s see how do I say this nicely?: terrible. Well, I guess there wasn’t a way to say that nicely at all, huh? It’s not that the people making the albums were terrible, it’s just that our first instinct is to try to get as many photos into as few pages as possible. Economical? Yes. Pretty? Not so much. That kind of design leads to a really hectic-looking and amateurish product. Instead of looking at other wedding albums, try looking through some of the books the professional photographers have made to show off their portfolios on Blurb or in your local bookstore. Use their ideas to organize your album and make it the piece of art it deserves to be. These people know how to use white space to draw the eye in and to use design to create a feeling. If you have ten pictures of people going nuts on the dance floor, put ‘em all on one page and let it feel crowded and crazy, just like your dance floor was. But you don’t want the picture of your dad crying in public for the first time ever to be sized down and hidden among a bunch of other pictures- give it it’s own page.
(*Anne: EXCELLENT advice! Annabel's album was BEAUTIFULLY laid out and provided just the right balance of things that went together, highlight moments, and space to appreciate the art and the memories all in the same space.)

• Put a pin in it for a few days – When you finish your album and preview it once or twice, don’t go to print and buy it right away. Let it sit there for a few days without looking at it. Then, go back and preview what you’ve made. Have other people look at it too. You’ll catch mistakes easier that way and maybe realize that two pages of people eating is not as adorable as you thought it was when you were making it.

(*Anne's final thoughts:
Most couples I survey after a few years of marriage never actually got around to making their own wedding albums. They tell me they hung a photo on the wall, or gave photos as gifts to family members, but their own wedding albums often don't get created, despite their best intentions. The sad part is... I'm equally guilty of thinking I can do my own album. I've spent 5 years helping other people make their wedding albums, yet even after being married for 7 years, I still haven't made time to do my own wedding album. We all start off with ambitious visions of having plenty of time and dedication to the project, but at this point, I'm ready to hire someone else to get it done for me just so I'll finally have the whole story of our wedding day in one beautifully bound place! Annabel's story is definitely exceptional- which is why I'm so glad she was willing to share her experiences on my blog!! Thank you Annabel- you're the bee's knees. ;-)

Do I Need A Second Photographer?

I have the ability to work solo or as a team, which means I'm often asked if couples need two photographers on their wedding day. I don't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions, so here are a couple things to consider when it comes to one or two photographers:



1. How big will your wedding be?
Are you going to have over 200 guests, or less than 70 guests? While I've covered a 500 person wedding on my own with no problems and great images, sometimes the sheer size of a room with many guests in it is better covered with two or more people. However, if what you want is an intimate wedding with a relaxed feeling, two photographers may be overkill and might make your guests feel as if they're always being watched. The images below are from an intimate wedding of only about 30 guests. You see three completely different perspectives from one person, and I didn't feel limited by trying to avoid another photographer being captured in my shots:






2. Will there be important moments happening in different places at the same time?
Obviously one person can only be in one place at a time, so if your wedding events involve important moments that you'd like documented simultaneous in different locations, you'll obviously need a second photographer. The next question would be, is it necessary for the second photographer to be just as skilled as the primary photographer? Some photographers bring along an "assistant" to every wedding, but that doesn't mean the "assistant" is a capable photographer- they may be more of a bag wrangler who might grab a photo if needed. Determine the importance of that second photographer and their ability to capture events when the main photographer is not around.

3. Does your location have restrictions on where photographers can be and how they can move?
Many couples may not realize the policies and implications that their venue places on photographers or videographers. Some churches won't let photographers into the sanctuary at all during the ceremony, which would completely kill the need for a second photographer. Some will allow photographers to be stationed in different parts of the church as long as they don't move around, which might mean that a second photographer can get a different angle without movement. A photographer's favorite place to shoot is obviously one in which they aren't restricted. Know what restrictions your venue has so that you can speak with your photographer about how they feel they can best cover the events.



4. How does your favorite photographer prefer to work?
As someone who shoots both solo or as a team, I can see the benefits and drawbacks to both situations. What it really comes down to in the end, is selecting a photographer for their images. Images that make you fall in love when you look at them. If you start your decision with the work, than you can allow the photographer to decide what they need in order to capture those images. Ultimately, no matter how many photographers there are, there's only one editor deciding which images are worth keeping. Some people create their best work in a team and feel completely off without a second photographer in the same room, while others create their best work when they are the lone gun, getting all of the shots they want on their own without worrying about where a second photographer is or what they're capturing. There's really only one best angle or shot at any given point in time, so even if two people are shooting the same moment, it's highly likely that only one of those images is going to be worth keeping. Whatever your wedding requires, trust that your photographer will make the best recommendation that what will allow them to get the best images for your particular event.



Myth: A second photographer means better images
Quantity does not equal quality. Hiring two inexperienced photographers over one experienced photographer isn't a better "deal" if you're ultimately disappointed with the quality of the images that were produced. The best "deal" is to hire the best quality you can afford, no matter how many people it takes to achieve that quality.



Myth: More photographers means more images
There are times when I've worked alone and captured more images than I did when I had a second photographer. Each photographer has a different style of capture and editing images down to the final selection. Ask your photographer approximately how many images you can expect from your wedding, and ask to see an entire proof gallery featuring the images of the photographer that you're going to be working with. Take notice of how many posed vs. candid vs. detail images they capture and decide if that's the same balance you'd like from your wedding day.



Myth: Males & females see things differently
Any two people will have different perspectives no matter what their chromosome structure is. Bigger factors in the way that people perceive the world may be how tall or short they are, if they are near sighted or far sighted, what lenses they prefer to use, if they like details or people more, if they prefer to be in control or go with the flow, or if they get more excited over candid or posed images.

Myth: Guests and family members with cameras will provide acceptable additional coverage
First off, if you're getting an album from a photographer, a guest's images are not going to be included in that album. Secondly, I've seen the photos your guests and family members take and I'm in no fear of losing my job to them even if they do have a "fancy camera". They aren't very good at anticipating moments, they don't know how or where they can get the best angle, they really don't understand lighting at all, they generally limit themselves to taking pictures of only people they already know, and they don't have back ups of things like batteries and memory cards in case their camera dies or they run out of memory. Oh, and you may never actually see the images they took if they forget to upload and share them.

Myth: Two photographers is more expensive
Everyone has different expenses in their personal and work life, so you can't automatically assume that two photographers will be more expensive than one. Sometimes intern photographers join me as a second shooter for free just to get experience and build their portfolio, but I also don't guarantee the quality of their work or rely on them for important moments. If all you want is an extra photographer as a back-up plan, ask the photographer if they can provide that for you rather than hiring or inviting someone else who is going to try and compete for the same important moments.



Hopefully my responses do not elicit a definitive yes or no answer, but rather points to consider. First and foremost- look for a portfolio that has imagery you can fall in love with- then talk about the rest with the photographer who created that portfolio and make sure they're a great personality fit as well. Most client relationships with wedding photographers last 1-2 years- so you really want to make sure you enjoy working together!

CAUTION!!
Recently I heard a very disturbing story about a local photographer who tells couples they'll have two photographers for their wedding day, only to send one "second" photographer to the wedding to tell the couple at the last minute that the "first" photographer was too sick to make it. In reality, this "first" photographer is booking multiple weddings on the same day, hiring a bunch of "second" photographers to tell couples the same story, while he may not even be photographing a wedding at all that day! It's people like this that make me sick to my stomach. The couples end up just being glad that the second photographer is still there, even though they've paid for two photographers and the person they met with isn't the person shooting their wedding. Please make sure you do your research before hiring a photographer. Check for online reviews and ask for references from three recent couples before hiring someone to document your once-in-a-lifetime event. Make sure that the quality of the images on their website represent the quality that you'll receive. Since a wedding day is something you can't do over, you want to make sure you're getting the best you can afford so that you'll have no regrets later.

Dena & Jeff - Four Years Later

Today is Dena & Jeff's 4th wedding anniversary!! I thought I'd check in with a little facebook interview to see what their thoughts are on four years of marriage...

Anne: Four years since the wedding, what's changed since then? Has anything stayed the same?
Dena: Well, we are now four, with the addition of Miss Evaline on 01.09.10. Cisco [the adorable dog] is still with us getting older, but still sweet as ever. We are still living in Clearwater. Jeff is still at the same company. I am now a stay at home mom with a side business at www.denarella.com. [I love her upcycled bags!]
Jeff: The biggest change: our daughter Evaline was born this past January. There may have been other changes over the last four years, but they're all eclipsed by the joy (and terror) she's brought into our lives.

Anne: When looking back on your wedding day- what do you remember most? Was there anything you would do differently if you could do it again?
Dena: The friends and family that came together to have a great party. Dancing, eating and socializing with everyone! If I had to do it differently I would of taken group photos before the ceremony. I also would of made the list of photos that I really wanted to make sure that we got them - like you suggested :)
Jeff: You mean other than the obligatory "my beautiful wife walking down the aisle"?
The band.
After our original band cancelled a few weeks before the big day, we were able to find a Blues Brothers tribute band that could perform on short notice. I was worried we'd end up with a theme wedding based on a theme neither of us wanted.
They showed up for the reception... all seven of them, including a full horn section and rocked out all night long to the delight of our guests. The next day, our caterer told us that in the hundreds of weddings he'd been to, he'd never seen so many people on the dance floor for so long.

Anne: What advice would you give to a couple who's planning their wedding right now?
Dena: My biggest advice to couples is to trust in your vendors. Research them and then let them do their job. They do this for a living and they usually know best. Also dont sweat the small things. In the end they do not make a difference and no one will notice except you!
Jeff: Don't sweat the details. I can say this because I was the guy portion of the equation, but I think my wife would agree. On our wedding day, she found out the flowers delivered were totally different than what was ordered, but beautiful nonetheless. She didn't make a big deal out of it because the guests wouldn't have noticed and it would have gotten in the way of why we were there that day: to have a great party with our family and friends.
...and get a band.

Anne: I have to ask... what did you end up doing (if anything) with your wedding photos?
Dena: Um. . . We have a bunch around the house. Jeff also made me a 1st year photo book that has them in there. We also gave most of our family framed photos. I still need to make photo books for ourselves and our parents.
Jeff: We have a few of the photos, in frames, around the house. But, we're both pretty tech savvy, so all of our favorites are in digital photo frames, or screen savers, or photo slide shows. I end up seeing a few different photos of our wedding every day.

Anne: Can you share your top 10 favorite wedding images and why you love them?
Dena: I almost bit it coming down the stairs. Too funny.


Loved having my cousins, room mate from college, and my sister with me for the wedding.


I love this beach. I wanted to get married here since I was small.


What a great group of guys!


Daddy tear - nice shot anne.


My dad got the sand from the beach, and it was a bit wet. Stuck in the bottom.


Our personalities exactly!


Our new family!


My favorite all time PHOTO!


Why you buy a $200 dress and not spend a fortune!


SPEND THE MONEY ON A REAL BAND. It is worth it! My caterer said that he has never seen so many people on the dance floor EVER!


Anne: What have these last four years of marriage taught you?
Dena: Patience, Love and Understanding. Things will happen in time and enjoy the moment you are in.
Jeff: What have I learned? If this was the Newlywed Game, I'd guess that Dena would say, "not enough."
However, I would say that having a partner to share my life and experiences has made the bad times better and the good times extraordinary.

Anne: Can we see a recent image of your family?
Dena: Check [Jeff's] Flickr. You can also check Evie's blog at evalinetherese.com


Happy 4th Anniversary Dena & Jeff!! To see a slideshow of my favorites from their wedding day, click play on the slideshow below:

Wedding Album Design Examples

I believe your wedding album design should reflect your sense of style just as much as every other choice you make for your wedding day. To help you identify which wedding album design is most appealing to you, I've taken one set of images and created a variety of album designs to show how each album design affects the viewing and interaction of the images on the page. While there are literally infinite design possibilities for wedding albums, I've found that most designs can fall into one of the following categories: Fine Art, Traditional, Editorial, Collage, or Embellished. I've included a quick preview here, but you can click on the links to view the complete album design sample.

FINE ART
This album design displays one image per page, like a gallery in a book, allowing each image to stand on its own and command the full attention of the viewer one image at a time. Images are usually centered on the page with a white or black background or matting, with or without contrasting border/bevel (the sample below is black background with contrasting white border/bevel.) If the book is printed with images on the front and back of each page (allowing two images to lay side by side when open) there are opportunities for pairings of images that uncover hidden or implied relationships. If you're a minimalist, or want your album to look like a portfolio of art, this is the album design for you:
Fine Art Album Design Sample


TRADITIONAL
This design is based on traditional matted album templates. Images are dropped into pre-cut or pre-designed openings, allowing for a collection of images to work together by appearing on the same page, rather than each image standing alone. A nice traditional design will typically average about two images per page, with some pages having one large image and other pages having a few smaller images. Other than the simple album, this album style has been around the longest, going well back into the film and pre-computer days. Images can have contrasting borders or can sit on a plain background of black or white. (This example sits on a plain black background with no borders/bevels.) If you're looking for a matted album (or matted album look) that will stand the test of time despite fads and trends, the traditional album may be one you want to consider.
Traditional Album Design Sample


EDITORIAL
This is a cross-over design that takes the clean simplicity of the traditional album but utilizes the benefits of full bleed printing and layout design software. Named editorial because it most closely resembles the kind of layouts you'll find in a lot of magazines and editorial photo spreads. This design makes use of collections of images sharing a full bleed spread of page and uses size to highlight more important images or to diminish less important images. Typically you can put more images into an album with this design than you can with the first two designs, while still maintaining the overall clean look. If you want your album to look like a magazine layout, this may be the album for you.
Editorial Album Design Sample


COLLAGE
The collage album design started to emerge in the late film days when darkrooms started overlaying images on the same print using advanced darkroom techniques. Since the invention of photoshop and other photo layering software, collage design has emerged on the wedding market as the most popular style of album design for approximately the last 10 years. This type of design offers the most flexibility and possibilities for how photos are laid out on a page, how collections are styled, and adds elements like overlapping images, translucent white or black filters on images, colored backgrounds, tilted cropping, and various bordering options. If you like a contemporary look with the ability to use images as your backgrounds, this album design will offer the most flexibility for you:
Collage Album Design Sample


EMBELLISHED
An embellished album creates graphic designs and embellishments around the images in an album, making the graphic elements of the album of equal importance to the images. Starting with a base similar to the collage style album, the embellished album adds flourishes of swirly stamps, textured overlays, fading vignettes, graphic backgrounds, and/or text with quotes, names, or phrases. Somewhat inspired by scrapbooking, this design style is creative and trendy for people who want to stylize their album with whatever is fashionable right now. It's often used to enhance albums that focus on portraits and details, and used less when the focus of the images are moments or scenes since it can become visual competition for the images on the page. If you love whimsical and trendy, this album will appeal to your aesthetic (note, the example below is not mine and does not use the same images as the others- eventually I'll change that, but I chose this example for efficiency):
Embellished Album Design Sample


While I'm able to offer all of the design options above, I personally love the Fine Art & Editorial album designs for their simplicity, timelessness, clean lines, and emphasis on the art, real moments, and people. I've learned to enjoy the collage style designs as well for my clients in order to offer added flexibility and more client customization in design. I think the embellished designs are really creative, but I also realize that in a decade those embellishments will start to look more like grandma's floral tweed couch and avocado colored sink, which were once the height of fashion. I have no problem honoring my clients requests for something different than what I prefer because ultimately it's the album that THEY are going to live with forever and pass on to their children and I believe it should reflect an aesthetic that they identify with. ;-) So, what album design style do YOU prefer?

How to Take Amazing Engagement & Wedding Ring Photos

It's been almost a year since I first wrote this post and a whole new season of just engaged couples are appearing on the scene, so I thought I'd bring this post back to life for all of the 2010 brides to be! (I know you're dying to see some of my newest work, but I'm still crazy busy and blogging is a low priority right now!!)

I received a great question from a bride in the comments over on WeddingbeePRO and I thought I'd turn this into an extended post for everyone out there who's working with a point & shoot camera and looking to get a great shot of their engagement or wedding ring to share with friends and family!! (For this post, I'll be using my own point & shoot camera, the Canon PowerShot SD870IS Elph.)



1. Take Off Your Ring
As beautiful as your latest manicure may (or may not) be, it's going to be so much easier to take a great picture of all of your ring's beautiful details when it's off your hand (especially if there's side detailing). After this post, I hope to inspire brides to show off their rings in style and with creativity and personality! It could even become your facebook announcement or twitter avatar, since everyone is going to ask to see it anyway! So get the ring off the finger and get creative! (Can I just tell you how hard it is to squeeze my ring off of my fingers these days?! OUCH!!)

2. Find a Cool Background or Set Up
To make your ring shot "artistic" find something really interesting or different - I like things that represent you and what you love! Maybe it's a cool band poster, or the first love letter or card you received from your sweetie, or your favorite book, or your favorite fruit (oooh.. I wish I had a kiwi in my house right now- that would be mine!), or your favorite flower, or your favorite pair of shoes, or just a cool texture like an awesome sweater or pillow you have laying around - whatever! ANYTHING can make a great background. Get creative! If you need inspiration, definitely check out the Rocktographers Blog.



3. Find Good Light
Good light is ESSENTIAL to a great photograph! The easiest light to work with is natural light because it's the most powerful and consistent. Make your way to a nearby window or take it outside. If you don't have any natural light to work with, you can get creative with a flash light, the light coming from your computer or TV, or just any ol' light in the ceiling or from a lamp around your house. BUT, in order for artificial light to be bright enough, you may need to get very close to the light source, which is why a flashlight may sometimes work better in these situations.

Why shouldn't you use the flash on your camera?! Because the reflection from your ring may blind the camera's exposure meter and cause a pretty crappy picture. It's kind of like when you get pictures with red-eye. With most point & shoot cameras the flash is entering the eye at the same angle it's leaving the eye - reflecting off of the red and veiny retina at the back of the eyeball. Gross, right? Yeah, use another source of light that's not the point & shoot flash. Which also might mean manually turning off your flash so that it doesn't automatically fire- you may need to read your camera manual if you haven't already figured out how to do this.

4. Set it up
Think about the prettiest view of your ring - is it the setting from the top? The amazing details on the side? Think about the angle you'll be photographing your ring in terms of how your photo will best highlight what you love about your ring. If you need help standing your ring up, find something you can stick it into, or if you need to, a glue dot or a little tape might help keep it upright if that's how you want to shoot it. There's no shame in this game - just play around with it until you like how your entire set-up looks with your creative background. If you're anything like me and you never take your ring off, this would be a good time to give it a good toothbrush scrubbing to get rid of any soap scum (unless the metal in your ring is too soft for that kind of treatment- but most will be fine.)



5. Set Your Camera to Macro Mode
Most point & shoot cameras have a macro mode. It's usually represented by a little flower or tulip. This allows your camera to focus at a much closer range than would normally be possible. In macro mode, you should be able to get a close up shot in sharp focus even if you're only 1-4 inches away. If for some reason you have a not-so-great point & shoot and it doesn't have macro mode, try zooming in from further away to get a great detail shot. iPhones and camera phones will simply NOT work for a great ring shot.



6. Get Closer
For the best ring shot, your ring should be no less than half the size of the screen, unless you're giving your background equal or greater billing in this photo. It's totally possible to fill your screen with your ring when you're in macro mode or zooming in. Just make that ring take up as much of the screen space as it can on that beautiful LCD.

7. Just Shoot It
When you're in macro mode, or zooming in tight, it is essential that you stay completely still for this photo because any little movement will pull it out of focus. Either brace your arms on something or use some thing else to balance your camera on, like a tripod, stack of books, upside down bowl, whatever- just keep that camera STILL if you want to get all of the details in focus. If you need to stand over your ring, pull your arms in tight to your body so they'll be less likely to move around as you're taking the photo.

Once you're all set to shoot your amazing ring on your creative background- shoot the heck out of it! Try shooting it in different ways, try moving the camera around for a different angle or perspective, try framing the ring differently on the screen, try moving the light around, or positing it so that the light hits it differently, take multiple shots of the same set up because one might be blurry and the next one might be in focus! Rings are especially difficult because they're often metal, which is reflective, and can fool the camera's focus point into thinking it's further away than it really is. With point & shoot cameras there are a lot of things you can't control very easily - like the exposure and point of focus, so it's good to take a LOT of different pictures and then look at them all later on your computer screen before deciding which one is "THE ONE". It's all digital baby, so don't be afraid to take tons of pictures- the goal is to get ONE amazing photo in the end, but it might take 30 or more shots to get that one amazing photo. Work it out!! (Um, yeah, I worked it out like 90 times. I may be just a BIT of an obsessive perfectionist! I'll probably end up editing this entire post like 20 different times too. Whatever- make it rock or don't do it all!)



8. Edit
After you've shot a bazillion photos of your ring, load them to your computer to view them at full screen size in order to make your selection rather than trying to choose one from the tiny screen on the back of your camera. You'll get a much better look at the clarity and focus as well as the colors and exposure when you're looking at the images on your computer screen. Force yourself to narrow it down to just one or two photos. As a professional, this can sometimes be the hardest part of my job, especially when there are tons of awesome images that essentially look exactly the same. But frankly - no one wants to see a bazillion photos of your engagement or wedding ring, they just want to see one or two shots with great detail to show off the overall design.

If you've done everything right up to this point, you should be done! If you want to get crazy with photoshop at this point, go for it, but remember to keep it about the ring itself and not about a bunch of crazy after-effects which will might just take away from the beauty and design of that awesome ring you love so much!!

9. Share it with the World!
Here are my results with my point & shoot camera... not as great as what I can do with my professional lenses, but hey, I worked what I got and you can too!! (Complete with five years of wear and tear on platinum and white gold - it's been a good ride so far!!) I'd love to see what you come up with!! Share your link in the comments and show us what you did!!


Gorgeous custom egg was a 5th anniversary gift from my husband, custom designed and created by our dear friend Liz Smith, who's an indie craft artist. You can find more of her fun creations in her etsy shop--> Made in Lowell, or if you live in the Boston area, you can see her work in person and maybe even get a live demonstration of her techniques at Western Avenue Studios, where you can visit my studio as well!

Some insider gossip for you... my engagement ring is actually a big fat one carat Ziamond. Yep, CZ baby. Alex and I were students when we got engaged and when we started looking at rings, I told him, "you don't need to buy me a diamond because it's not about the rock, it's about the symbolism of commitment." He really didn't believe me at first, and I reassured him that, "after we've been married for like 10 years, and our commitment really means something, then we can upgrade if we have the money, but until then I don't want money to prevent us from making this commitment to each other." What's sad is that the jewelry stores gave him a really hard time for asking for a CZ instead of a diamond for my engagement ring!! They kept asking, "Are you SURE she's OK with it?", and he started feeling really guilty! Seriously- just let the guy do what's right for him. One day I'd love to design a custom wedding ring and maybe even get a much more unique set of stones in the color green. In any case, we didn't put a ton of unique thought or design into our engagement or wedding rings because they were just a symbol for us, not a statement. Eventually, though, I'd love to make it a statement... a unique and subtle statement of our marriage and how we've grown together over the years. ;-) If you're reading this Alex, I love you - and if you want to upgrade your ring someday with cool enamel, different stones, or even some kind of ultra techie microchip, I'm all for it honey!! XOXOX