Audrey & Morgan are engaged! We spent the afternoon hanging out with Audrey & Morgan in their city, Hoboken, NJ. We were not only excited to spend time photographing this beautiful couple, but to walk around this city where Paul and I were engaged! We started off by getting a scoop of delicious Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (yum!),  then we walked through some cobblestone alleys, had fun finding cute little spots to sit and enjoyed the view along the waterfront. Audrey & Morgan, you two were a delight, we cannot wait for your wedding!

Look at this beautiful bride-to-be! Morgan, you’re a lucky man!

While walking over the water at Pier C, we pulled out the strobe lighting and softbox setup to give the photos some drama and to bring in the city skyline behind Audrey and Morgan.

While Paul was taking this…

…I was taking this.

One of the places Audrey & Morgan had in mind for us to shoot was at the Hoboken train station, and I can see why! I loved the cobblestone, the architecture, and overall feel here. I love this set, so romantic!

If you would like to let Audrey & Morgan know what you think leave a comment below! Which is your favorite?

*Carolyn

*Carolyn

Jessica and Sergio started the celebration of their soon-to-be marriage by doing an awesome engagement session with us. We feel so honored to be able to witness their love story. Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ was the perfect location for Jessica & Sergio’s engagement session. Not only was it conveniently  located for them, but it was fitting since their anniversary is on the 4th of July! Jessica & Sergio, it was great getting to know you two and we cannot wait to photograph your wedding! Enjoy the photos, starting with the FABULOUS ring, Sergio, I’m impressed!

Love those shoes, Jess!

Jessica & Sergio make it look like they have been doing this their whole life! I just love this set of photos from the memorial.

One of the things I love about these two is how easily Sergio makes Jessica laugh!

If you would like to let Jessica & Sergio know what you think leave a comment below! Which is your favorite?

*Carolyn

One of my favorite photos that Paul has taken is this beautiful and intimate photo of Melissa & Eugene on their wedding day. And he used no super fancy lighting equipment to achieve this!  Before getting into the technical details of what went into taking this photo, I first have to preface by setting the stage of what was going on before and during this photo was snapped. Melissa & Eugene were married in the late fall, and in the late fall it gets dark quick. Paul planned to take a few extra pictures of the lovely couple for a few minutes during the reception since their time outside was limited due to the sunset timing. After Melissa & Eugene started their fun and lively wedding which included lots of noise and merriment, they slipped away for a few minutes to have their picture taken. This is one of those photos that Paul captured during that time, and it is so soft and intimate, you would never know what was going on just feet away from them in the reception hall!

In order to create that soft intimate feel, Paul shot with his aperture wide open (f/1.4). And whenever shooting with the aperture wide, we make sure to focus on the eyes, because that is usually the focus of our image and where we want the viewers’ attention to be drawn. Since Melissa’s eyes are closed, Paul focused on Melissa’s fantastic eyelashes. While her eyelashes are perfectly crisp, everything else around them is slowly softened by the natural blur a shallow depth of field creates.

As I mentioned earlier, this photo was taken inside at night and there was not much available light. Paul turned up his ISO and then used his flash to add some light, by turning it towards the ceiling and bouncing the light. When the flash is turned toward the ceiling, the light bounces off the ceiling and is softened as it is reflected back down onto the couple. And soft light is super flattering.

Paul  then had Melissa & Eugene sit on the steps of the lobby at the reception hall, while he stood in order to get a higher angle. The higher angle and tight framing adds to the intimacy of the photo, because there is nothing else but the two of them in the frame, as if there is no one else but the two of them in the whole world.

Soft light, a wide aperture and shallow depth of field, focus locked on the eyes, and just the right angle and framing turn this photo of Melissa & Eugene into more than a photo, but a love story.

*Carolyn

50 mm, f/1.4, 1/125 sec, ISO 3200

I was really looking forward to Jessica & Sergio’s engagement session all week, and it did not disappoint! We met this awesome couple at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. for their engagement session. It was so beautiful to walk around and explore. Jessica & Sergio, it was such a pleasure to photograph you at this special time in your life. There are more photos to come, but here is a preview for now!

*Carolyn

f/ 1.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200 using 50 mm lens

Today’s Behind the Shot is about a photo from our engagement session with one of our fabulous couples, Emily & Noah. Their engagement session was held at the Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.

Because it was during the off-season, there were lots of metal garage-like doors over the storefronts on the boardwalk. The texture and character of these doors was awesome, so naturally we would want to use them for photos. Paul decided to do something a little different to give the photos more depth and to draw your focus more towards the beautiful couple. He set up a speedlight (aka flash) on a tri-pod behind Emily & Noah.

If you have read the other Behind the Shot posts, this sounds familiar because it is the same way we set up the light for some of the backlighting shots we discussed. However, this technique is a little different than those backlit shots I had described in previous posts. For Emily & Noah, Paul angled the speedlight to be pointing towards the metal door (not towards the couple, and not straight up). So the light would blow out the details on part of the metal doors that are closest to the light source. You cannot see the speedlight or the tripod in the first photo, because they are hidden behind the couple. But you can see that there seems to be a glow around the couple where the details of the metal door are blown out by the light. This makes Emily & Noah stand out a little more against the door, it creates depth, and has a similar feel to a vignette (that’s when people use photoshoot to make the corners and perimeter of the photo dark) – only this way you do not have to do any post-processing editing to get that effect and it is also more subtle.

In addition, Paul also gelled the speedlight. Gelling the light means that he velcro- ed on a piece of tinted plastic over the light source to give it a different hue. Paul used an orange gel (aka tinted plastic) to make the light warmer in some of the photos. Can you tell which ones used a gelled speedlight?

I hope this was helpful and informative! if you have any questions please feel free to comment below and let us know!

*Carolyn

Today we have a guest post from Sesame Street, who shares with us what marriage is about…

We took these photos during our engagement on one of theses dates. We went to Paterson Great Falls in Paterson, NJ after we met with our DJ.

Circa 2007.

Now we still take this advice and make sure that we have date nights without talking about “business ” (which does not just mean photography business, but also things like bills, chores, schedules, etc.) –Instead we talk about funny things our son does, the way God is working in our hearts, hopes and dreams for the future, and just joke around and do fun things together. – - We still have meetings and still need time to do work together so while our son is still with loving caregivers we take the opportunity to go out for a date after our time spent working on “wedding planning ” (now for others instead of ourselves!) and it is essentially the same thing – continually dating each other. Life gets busy, heck, life is busy and will be for a long time. So don’t let to-do lists get in the way of the most important relationship in your life. Ferris knows what I’m talking about…

*Carolyn

The setup was similar to the diagram shown in the previous post with the photo of Christina & Cole where the speedlight was setup behind the couple. However,  there are couple of things that are different about this photo. In Christina and Cole’s photo, they were ONLY lit from behind as I held the speedlight centered behind the couple creating a silhouette effect. In this photo of Briana and Chris, even though it was dark outside there was still some available ambient light. Because Paul was not going for a silhouette look for this photo, he set the ISO high and opened the aperture (see settings below) to catch that ambient light, AND he set the speedlight so that it would be strong enough to wrap around them. This combination lights Briana & Chris enough to be able to see the details of their awesome wedding day attire, beautiful flowers, their soft skin, and gorgeous faces.

The positioning of the speedlight was also different, it was positioned closer to the bride than the groom in order to light up her veil. Her white veil dramatically reflects the light and gives her an angelic glow. On top of that, every snowflake that is falling around them is also glowing as it reflects the light. Even some of the branches and fall leaves are glowing which highlight the uniqueness of this special day. Normally, just backlighting the couple in order to have snow or rain illuminated OR in order to illuminate the bride’s veil makes for a fantastic photo on their own. In this case, Paul was able to achieve both in addition to capturing the autumn colors surrounded by snow. Truly, this photo is not only unique, but genuinely captures Briana & Chris on their wedding day.

above photos taken with 35mm lens f/1.8,  1/100 sec, ISO 3200

Paul loves one of these photos, I love the other. I wonder which version you prefer?

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