Red Blossom Boutique | Santa Clarita Photographer | Shed Light Photography

I always relish the opportunity to shoot portraits for a new purchase. I was contacted by Elissa Nemecek in regards to doing some fashion photography for a new clothing line she was starting called Red Blossom Boutique. Knowing Elissa as long as I have I was absolutely floored and honored to be able to photograph her models for her website. As I learned more about her new business model, I was even more excited to shoot for her business! She offers boutique clothing styles which are extremely flattering on everyone from small sizes to plus sizes. Being a wedding photographer in Santa Clarita, it certainly is nice to expand my love for portraiture every now and then.

Werner Law Firm | Santa Clarita Headshot Photographer | Shed Light Photography

I love headshots. I always have! That is what got me into the life changing game of photography. I was contacted by a friend of mine who happens to be a local attorney for The Werner Firm in Santa Clarita as they just got a new website completed by Scorpion Design, a phenomenal Internet Marketing Firm. They needed new, high quality headshots to match their amazing website!

Justine Senior Photos | Santa Clarita Senior Photos | Shed Light Photography

Sun, beach, more beach, and an amazing education. That is what you get when you attend Pepperdine University in Malibu. Justine found out about me through my sister in law as they were in the same Sorority together, Alpha Phi. I was hired out to do their Sorority recruitment video a few years ago, which was a huge success! They noticed a substantial increase in retention for the year!

Moreth & Kadell | Fallbrook Wedding Photographer

I love to travel. There are so many beautiful places in the world and experiences in life fuel me. When Rachel reached out to me to shoot the photography for their wedding in Fallbrook, it was no different! While Tom and I knew that we had a drive ahead of us, our desire for adventure and life experiences made it all the more fun.

John & Catie | Shed Light Photography | Wedding Photographer Santa Clarita

For any photographer, shooting a friend's wedding can be a daunting task. There is a lot of expectation and hype that you have to tackle! But at Shed Light Photography, we relish in the challenge. As a Santa Clarita wedding photographer, there are always going to be situations that we have to think through and work around.

April & Renard | Santa Clarita Wedding Photographer | TPC Valencia Wedding Photographer

The day started out like any other. The difference though was that on this day, I was going to be photographing a wedding at the very same venue that I had my wedding almost 3 years ago! The sun was bright and beating, April was in the bridal sweet with her bridemaid prepping for her special day and she looked absolutely stunning. In his dapper fashion, Renard arrived a bit later for the first look of the day in a sharp deep blue suit, the kind you see when you are deep at sea.

Bob & Joelyn Caprine | Santa Clarita Wedding Photographer

Absolutely stunning Catholic wedding photography in Santa Clarita at Saint Kateri Catholic Church with a reception that followed in the church hall.

Santa Clarita High School Senior Photography | Sarah Greenland | Canyon High School

As we gear up our new home studio and start building up our portfolio for our portrait business, I thought it would be neat to give you a sneak peak of what we have been working on! We are and always have been big on showcasing personality at its best. Sarah Greenland, a senior at Canyon High School, and a FANTASTIC Libero for Canyon’s Varsity Volleyball team just so happens to be my sister in law. I have been wanting to take her senior photos for a while and the date finally came! We shot her senior photos in 3 different locations: the studio, Placerita Canyon Nature Center, and Mentryville. The results were simply stunning. But then again, she kind of made it easy to capture with her sharp features.

Lauren & Geo Castro | Strathearn Park Wedding Photographer | Simi Valley Wedding Photographer

Stunning country style wedding at Strathearn Park in Simi Valley. This is a beautiful venue to tie the knot at!

When I got the email from Lauren wanting to set up a meeting, my ears perked up at her name. When we met I found out that I knew her through an old girlfriend of mine as they were best friends growing up! It really is a small world. Talk about a perfect match. Geo and Lauren really were made for each other. Geo’s mild tempered personality and Lauren’s type A personality really balance each other so beautifully.

Karianne and Brandon Parr | Santa Barbara Wedding Photographer | Santa Barbara Courthouse Wedding

See a beautiful wedding at the Santa Barbara courthouse with a rooftop wedding reception following at the Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara.

I have known Karianne for years since high school. I got to know her even better through our good mutual friend Bree Scurti (who’s wedding I also photographed!) and the way the story goes, Karianne knew that she wanted to work with Shed Light Photography after seeing how we photographed Bree’s wedding because the locations were the same! I was introduced to Karianne’s fiancé at the time through Bree as well, because he was their mechanic and I was in search of a new one. Needless to say, I take my car and my wife’s car to Brandon for everything.

Choosing Memory Cards – Photography 101

The answer to this question really is a simple one. What type of memory cards does your camera take? That really is going to dictate what type of memory card that you are going to get. Whether that is CF or whether that is SD, it doesn’t really matter. They both serve the same purpose. Now depending on the limits of your camera in terms of FPS (frames per second) in conjunction with the style of photography that you are shooting, you may want to consider the speed of your memory card.

How to Make Your Kissing Photos Look Amazing

One of the things that is on every bride’s mind before they take their photos, is how do I make sure that I look good? I want to look my best, but what is the right way to do so? How do I pose? How do I kiss? A lot of this comes down to your photographer’s direction, but the more you know, the better you can respond to that direction right?

Kissing is intimate. Kissing is passionate.

There is nothing like the feeling of holding the one you love in your arms and giving yourself emotionally to them through your kiss. Kissing, even when seen in passing by people is often a quick occurrence and there are very few times where you will actually see that moment captured to be seen again and again. Your engagement and wedding photos are one such occasion. There is nothing like capturing the raw emotion that you feel in the months leading up to and the moments of your wedding.  

Lens Focal Length | Photography 101 Santa Clarita

There are several factors that make up a lens. We have been learning about the aperture, zooms vs. primes, etc. However one of the basic principles that comes to mind when choosing a lens is the focal length of that lens. Is it the lens for you given what you are shooting?

Photography 101 – Lenses

The Ultimate Debate – Zoom or Prime?

Back when I first started my photography business, one of the things that I started to do (and still do) is look at the work of other photographers. Sometimes, there is no greater inspiration when you are feeling completely uninspired as artists than to find your inspiration in others. One of the things that I found myself noticing more and more, and desiring more and more for my photography was certain degrees of depth of field. I LOVE it. I can’t seem to get enough! And there are photographers that utilize this tool so well and organically, it inspires me like no other.  

iOS 7 - Advancing Photography for the Consumer

Holy Cow! Every year phone technology gets better. The apps, the call capabilities. Apple really struck one heck of a movement when it comes to really putting a lot of tools in the palm, literally the PALM of your hand! This has meant a lot of interesting things for industry professional. There are even "Photoshop" like apps that allow you to edit your photos and really create some compelling editing on the phone!

I was recently out with some friends who posed the question, "do you ever think that wedding photographers will become obsolete?" I really thought about it for a second and there are some great points to pay attention to here. You have a camera on your iPhone that can take 8MP photos and for most people who are posting just to their Facebook or creating a smaller than 8x10 print, that is more than enough! I remember the days when the camera I used for weddings and headshots as a young professional Santa Clarita photographer was 8MP! On top of that, these photo editing applications make things extremely easy to edit photos! CRAZY!

I looked at my friends dead in the eye and said I honestly see where you are going with this, however I don’t believe that wedding photographers will ever be replaced. Why? Think about all that you are paying for. It takes more than a good camera to take a good photo and those skills are something that you will never be able to learn in a day. It takes years of experience to really hone the skills necessary to be able to adjust your camera settings just by looking at a scene in a split second. Or to see the light in a scene and know just how to reposition your subject to get that right lighting, and framing, and composition. Knowledge is really what is missed out on.

So in an ever changing world where technology is becoming easier and easier to use, photographers appear to be less and less needed, but the truth is, the experience that you receive from a true professional completely outweighs the benefits of a nice phone. And THAT experience is the exact same reason that you hire a Santa Clarita photographer for your wedding, and your anniversary, and your maternity photos, and your family photos, and your life events, because life is worth more than just a simple phone photo. Life memories are worth capturing in their BEST light. So let's Shed Light....

Sorry... I just had to say it... My verbal jargon was on a roll!!! Cheers!

iPhone Headshots! | How To Take Stellar Photos On An iPhone

Taking a Good Photo on a Budget

Let me preface this by letting you know that this article is geared towards business professionals. I happen to work with lawyers and attorneys and is astonishes me how little attention they give their professional headshot. One thing I always tell them is that if you are going to take a photo yourself, at least take a good one!

So you do realize that a good photo can be the difference between actually booking a client and not booking that client right? I figure that we should start there because this simple truth is the basis and foundation for this article.

Photography 101 - Composition

So you got the lighting just right? Did you remember your distancing? Where you using off camera flashes or not? Did you put the memory card in the camera? Did you happen to forget to take the lens cap off? Oh you did??

Don’t worry.

That one happens to me ALL the time. Seriously, at least once a shoot. I am not joking!

But if you have gotten all of those things taken care of, and your subject is actually in frame, then it is time to do your job as the wedding photographer and get that shot. Go on take it! Oh but be careful. Where is everything positioned in your camera? Is it where you want it to be given the mood you are attempting to achieve? If not, then…

Photography 101 – Metering

Welcome back to the camera pen everyone! I hope you all had an AWESOME memorial day! I know I certainly did. Went to the beach with my wife and family and just relaxed…

Camera Metering Modes

But now it is back to business. This week I wanted to talk about a very interesting topic that I don’t think gets touched on a lot and that is Metering within the camera. Back in the days of film, you had to have a separate light meter to do the job. This light meter would ultimately take in the amount of light that was hitting your subject and spit out your shutter speed and aperture that you would need on your camera to give you an optimum exposure. A LOT has changed since then. These digital light meters are now built into the camera! If you are shooting on any kind of DSLR, then you have come into contact with the light meter.

Full Frame or Cropped?

What Camera Do I Buy?

So you have decided to take the plunge into this crazy game of photography, and the first thing on your mind is getting a killer camera. But with so many options, choosing the best one for you can be a daunting task! There are so many different avenues that I could go down with the different specs on cameras and comparing and contrasting particular models, but I will save that for another post. I want to focus this on 1 aspect you need to consider when looking at a camera: cropped or full-frame?

Photography 101 - What Is ISO?

What the Heck is ISO?

I’m glad you asked! Welcome back for this week’s lesson on ISO (or ASA as some of you older folk might know it as) and what a blessing or a curse this can be for your photography. In simple terms, ISO refers to the Film Speed. No not how fast your film runs or the frames that it takes per second. This is Film Speed.