We have really come to enjoy shooting in the late afternoon Arizona sun. It provides some truly magical results, especially when you throw in a couple 'extra touches' with off-camera lighting that really play up the detail and create a unique feel for photographs. We think that it is these small details that take a photograph from ordinary to something that is really worthy to hang on a wall and put in an album.

We photographed Michael and Marissa today at the Mesa Arizona Temple near Phoenix, Arizona. For these photos we wanted to evoke a painterly 'Caravaggio' feel, so we used a soft/hard lighting scheme in combination with some late afternoon sunlight.

Sarah and Jerry teamed up on this one, with Sarah clicking the shutter as Jerry arranged lights. Perry Sevey shot did some wedding videography, and did an excellent job as always. For the photo above, Jerry was actually hiding behind that tree on the left, holding a flash which is providing the 'spotlight' on the bride and groom's faces.

Another flash was placed behind a shoot-through umbrella camera-left to provide just a touch of fill in the shadows. And the sun finished off the rest of the photo, providing that warm glowing light from the right side of the photo.






The photo above is a fun shot of the groom spinning the bride. Check out this video of the setup for this shot:

Las Sendas in Northeast Mesa is a great place for family photos, and since Sarah hasn't had a family picture in a while, and I wanted to try out some new lighting, we decided to do a family portrait session up there.

We arrived close to sunset and started to set up. Since we'd arrived a bit later than we'd hoped, I'd say that the ambient light was around 1/30 of a second at f4 - challenging, particularly if I wanted to maintain the silky smoothness that ISO 100 produces on Canon's excellent CMOS sensors.

I set up a white shoot-through umbrella camera-left at 8:00, with the sun camera-right at about 2:00. I balanced the flash - a Vivitar 285 - and ended up with it at 1/16 power.

The hardest part was corralling the kids. They just want to play in the grass and the fountain, and I can't blame them. There aren't many places in the metro Phoenix area that offer grass, fountains, desert, and cool stone arches. It's a virtual playground for a photographer and for kids.

I recently did an engagement photo session up at Las Sendas for a couple that needed a variety of photos for their invitations. They will be putting some text on the side of one of the photos. This is a fairly common request, and we can photograph engagements with this in mind.
Following is an example of how the final image would look. We darkened the background so that it will be easier to read the white writing against it.

Of couse, we always try to get a few classic poses, that can be used for engagement announcements or framed and put on the guestbook table at the reception, so that people see them when signing in. One of the common things I hear is "We really don't have many pictures of us together," so we'll always try to do a broad variety of poses and shots during an engagement session. Many couples will even bring changes of clothing so that they get even more variety with their pictures.

Again, variety is what it's all about. We try to capture couples in a natural way. Nothing overly rigid or posed, but something that really says "you". And retouching is always included. Planning a wedding is tiring, it's not suprising that engaged couples are among the most tired people. No worries, we can get rid of the circles under your eyes, and any other blemishes. We'll make you look like a supermodel. Well, at least we'll try.