meganbeth.com

After an engagement session, many of my clients opt for a custom designed guest sign-in album, as opposed to having their friends and family signing their name on a line in the tradition guest sign-in books. I design each 8×8 leather bound flush mount album, and they’re customized to each couples engagement session.  The extra negative white space in the design layouts leaves ample amount of room for not only guests to sign their names, but to leave little notes and well wishes.  The lay flat binding, thick foam core like pages, and creamy smooth leather add class and grace to a sign-in album, while being a perfect keepsake for the couple from their wedding day.

Here are a couple of the layouts of the guest sign-in album from Asal and Nick’s wedding.

And the finished product.

And now, time to answer some readers Frequently Asked Questions.

How do you find time to edit all of your wedding images in post processing, I’m super overwhelmed?
Well to be honest, I do spend a lot of time in front of the computer, because I am a perfectionist, but with that being said, I do not edit every single image in Photoshop. After I upload/import my cards to Lightroom I begin the editing process with culling the images by flagging the keepers. Then I sort by ‘flagged’ images and adjust the temperature, tint, exposure, recovery, blacks, contrast, and sharpening on every photo. This is my basic edit, and all images a client receives get this treatment. Then after I’ve exported the images, I only pull certain images through Photoshop for my fine tuning/artistic editing, which includes masking out scars or blemishes, smoothing/retouching faces, actions, and dodge/burn certain areas if needed. I don’t use a lot of actions on my images, because I like them to look as natural as possible, but the few I do use are Totally Rad Actions or Kutota Photoshop Actions, both used at very low opacity. Images that get this special treatment are all of the images that go on my blog, slideshows, and any image that a client receives in prints, canvases, or in their albums.

How do you get your images to look so sharp straight out of the camera, mine are always gray and flat?
The colors produced straight out of the camera with digital cameras are, by default, much more gray and flat than film cameras. By changing the contrast in Lightroom or with an S-curve in Photoshop the image gets a major color boost. And all of my images receive an extra sharpening in Lightroom, or in Photoshop with the Kutota Sharpen for Web action. But, the first step to making your images better starts with you and your camera. You need to perfect your images in your camera first because you cannot make a bad image good in Photoshop, you can only make a good image better. This only comes with learning your camera inside and out, learning light and different lighting situations, and practice, practice, practice. Here are some examples of my work before I have edited them with the camera settings I used. The ones on the left are straight out of the camera, and on the right, after I have edited them.

Hopefully this helps inquiring minds, and if you have a question that you’d like to see answered on my next FAQ, feel free to email me at megan@meganbeth.com. Happy Tuesday!

June, whew, glad that month is over. Some days it seemed everything was going wrong. Like EVERYTHING. It started when I went into my Dell computer and graciously tried to make more room for it to run faster. More commonly known as deleted things, crucial things, things that may or may not have stopped my computer from working FOR TWO WEEKS, and then it was all down hill from there. And I’m not going to lie, sometimes it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when life keeps kicking you down. But I’m here, keeping my head up and trying to move forward. I ended up buying a new fancy machine, and it’s got a picture of a half eaten apple on the front. I feel really lost, but I’m excited to get back into the swing of things. So please pardon the dust if things seem to be running a little haywire around here, cause, THEY ARE!

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the fourth with your families. And if you get a photo booth at your wedding, I may or may not have to jump in.

And for another round of Frequently Asked Questions, helping all wedding guests and Uncle Bobs alike.

Do you pros have any general pet peeves about us amateurs taking shots at weddings?
Generally, no. Guests taking photographs at weddings does not bother us, heck, when we are guests we do the same. Buuuuuut, there is one thing that does bother us on rare occasions, and his name is Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob is a guest at the wedding, a photog novice, usually carrying a pro DSLR camera, who feels the need to document the whole wedding. Uncle Bob follows the couple around everywhere making it difficult for the paid photographer to get a shot without him in it or shoots over our shoulder. I second shot a wedding once where at the ceremony three Uncle Bobs stood at the front of the aisle two feet away from the couple, which was super frustrating. And back when I was just starting out, I had someone ask me if I could pause between shots so they could get their shot, and while I understand they mean no harm, there is not enough time in the schedule to stop in between each shot to make sure they’ve had enough time to capture it. Honestly though, at most weddings it’s not a problem, and if it is, I normally say something.

Can I use the image of me that I got off of your blog/facebook?
Yes, of course! But, we photographers, kindly ask that you do not alter the image in any way, including cropping out the logo. Think of it as cutting off Picasso’s name from a canvas he has painted. We are artists and like our work to be presented to the world just as we created it. If you decide to put images up that you receive in your package without a logo on it, kindly credit the photographer who took the images.

Do we need to feed you at our wedding?
Yes, I’m 5’1 and 100 pounds soaking wet and if I don’t take a break and eat, I might pass out. Which would totally be embarrassing. But please no swimmie fish, I’m allergic.

And other than wedding season, it’s crab season, YUMM. Check back tomorrow for images from Chaela and Scott’s wedding!

They say timing is everything, no? It is. And especially on your wedding day. There are so many things to include, and the biggest mistake I see is when couples don’t allot enough time for photographs. Your wedding photographs are documenting your love on the most important days of your lives, and will forever become heirlooms, and if photographs are important, then they need to be a priority in the schedule.

On a few rare occasions I have been allotted ten minutes for photographs with the bride and groom, and I photographed them to the best of my ability in the very limited time I had. There was no time to absorb the location, seek better lighting, or put the couple at ease while in front of the camera. I had to complete their photos, right then and there. And although the images came out well, imagine what could have been done with more time. I make images, I make photographs, I make art, and it’s quite difficult to accomplish given such a limited time period.

Most of my clients choose to see each other before hand (some of them here, here, and here) to allow for just that, more time for photographs and to enjoy the cocktail hour with their friends and family, and to relax and enjoy those moments alone on their wedding day. The first look is growing in popularity simply because it’s more practical on a limited time schedule. My couples are scheduling the time for photographs, instead of just squeezing it in between the ceremony and reception. I normally work closely with brides on the schedule, and whether or not you decide on doing the first look, I suggest allotting no less than forty-five minutes alone with the bride and groom, twenty-five minutes for bridal party photos, and twenty minutes for family formal photos.

Click here for a Wedding Timeline sample that you can download and change to fit your day.

And here is a little peek from Chaela and Scott’s wedding right before we walked around downtown Annapolis for forty-five minutes.