Luxury weddings pull out all the stops when it comes to the venue and how it is customized for the reception. From amazing floral arrangements to the custom lighting, no detail is left unturned. Usually the wedding photographer is in charge of capturing the venue and details. However, with the primary focus of the wedding photographer on the bride and schedule slips, the timeline gets compressed when it comes to photographing the venue.

A growing trend, especially for high-end events, is to hire a photographer who is dedicated to photographing the venue and details. That is their sole focus and specialty. By obtaining a photographer who specializes in venue photography, one can expect a higher level of image quality and composition. Some photographers, such as James Cook Photography, specializes in photographing venues using High Dynamic Range technology. They even have a website dedicated to HDR Luxury Wedding and Event Venue Photography.

With the bride spending so much on the venue, it is reasonable to expect them to want to make sure they have the best pictures possible of the venue and they are willing to pay to get it. Many wedding coordinators are now suggesting this service. Not only does the bride benefit, but so does the planner by anticipating a need and providing expertise to their client. As a side benefit, the planner also has noticeably different photographs they can use in their marketing materials to help differentiate themselves from others.

The use of HDR Images for Backgrounds is a growing trend in portraiture. James Cook Photography is using this technique in their senior portrait work. They create their own High Dynamic Range backgrounds and them drop the subject on them. This composite image of two separate images provides a distinctive look and seniors in their market crave. These are premium images that are printed on metal to add to the boutique nature of this work.

One of the industry leaders on creating HDR images is Trey Ratcliff and you can view his work at on his website Stuck In Customs.

While this image looks like it was taken outside, in reality, this image was photographed in-studio on a white background.  It was then dropped onto a HDR background in Photoshop.  HDR, High Dynamic Range, images are photographs that are comprised of several photographs of varying exposure.    Using HDR as one of our methods for producing our senior portraits lets us stand out from the amateurs.  Besides producing images that are different, the other reason we like this is because we can shoot in-studio where the weather is always nice and we don’t need to travel to locations which improves our efficiency.

To view more of our images, you can visit our Senior Portrait website.

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from Jason Domingues at Jason Domingues Photography. In the photographer’s own words

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from Rob Medina at Medina Photography.  In the photographer’s own words:

My buddy had just bought his ‘new toy’ and brought it by y house- I could not resist taken a picture of it! I used 2 550EX flashes with pocket wizards to light the subject- taken at night. Manual 1/60th @f8 ISO 100- Flash units set to manual- 1-550 camera right- 5 feet away, 7 feet up pointing down on rider and bike 1/8th power. Second 550ex behind the bike about 3 feet away 1/32 power. Both units were manually zoomed out to 105mm for a smaller beam. www.medinaphotography.com

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from Davina Fear at Davina Fear. In the photographer’s own words:

One of this couple’s fave things to do is to ride amusement park
rides. They love to go to Lagoon here in Utah. We knew we couldn’t
go there and do a host of other fun things as well so we found a tiny
little park that had some cool rides. I am not one that can sit in
the backseat of a car and not get car sick BUT I’ll do anything for a
great shot. So I got on this ride with them in a swing just in front
of them. I used my long lens because I knew the shot that I wanted
was the one when we were going full speed around. I just held my lens
on them and let the world go around us. As sick as we all were when
we got off of the ride we all agree it was completely worth it. What
do you think?

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from Chad Franz at Chad Franz / Eclipse Photography in Indianapolis. In the photographer’s own words:

Just a simple shot that says so much more without showing their faces than it ever could by showing them. Even with the texture and SX-70 kinda look, viewers still just talk about the overall feeling of the shot. I love the idea of conveying a couple’s feelings in such a way that the viewer thinks about the subjects without any thought about the photographer or techniques. More can be seen on my blog!

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from Eric Cotter at Eric J Photography in Orange County. In the photographer’s own words:

I shot this in downtown Long Beach CA. The refreshing thing about this session was that I didn’t do it at the beach.. So many times we here in SO Cal just rush off to the beach because, well IT SELLS!!!.. But we tend to forget the dynamics of shooting in other surroundings. This entire shoot was a breath of fresh air, and gave me a different perspective on engagement sessions. For all of you that have those 1 or 2 killer locations that you frequent, do yourself a favor, shoot somewhere completely opposite next time.. Your creative side will thank you.

Today’s awesome photograph comes to us from photographer William Haun. In the photographer’s own words:

I love the contrast of my 7 month old son’s tiny figure and the massive fish above him in this photo I took at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. He was mesmerized by the blue glow of the tanks full of thousands of colorful fish. Visit my website at http://www.williamhaun.com/ to enjoy more of my photography and videography. For more photos of the cutest baby on earth, visit Trey’s “baby blog”.

Today’s photograph comes to us from Kevin Hart. In the photographer’s own words:

The photo was taken at a wind farm in S.Ireland on top of a mountain. Permission had to be obtained because it was private and also dangerous. I will include this in the book of photos that I am at present shooting.