I'm Lindsay! I love travel, coffee, cats, running, long walks anywhere... and of course, photography :) I wanted to share the first album of 2012 – Karen & Arcadio’s fine art book from their ReBar wedding in November. My favorite thing about it has to be the wraparound cover. I knew even before beginning their album design that this was the photo I was going to use for their cover. The NYC skyline – specifically, the Manhattan Bridge – was just MADE for it, I think :)
Here’s what the album looks like:
And here are a few examples of what the album design looks like inside:
I’m pretty psyched to share with you not only a killer shot from Lauren and Dave’s NYC elopement day, but also a peek into what I do behind-the-scenes when I’m processing images from a shoot!
The image below is an example of what I consider to be a ‘fully edited’ image from a shoot:
How did I get there? Well, let’s start from the beginning with the image as it was straight-out-of-camera:
1). RAW IMAGE (STRAIGHT-OUT-OF-CAMERA):
You might be thinking that this image is pretty flat, dark, and overall not too polished. And you’d be 100% correct with that assertion. I shoot all of my images in a RAW format, meaning that zero processing is done in-camera. Instead, the goal is to capture as much data as possible, so that when I go to process the images myself, I can do much more with them.
In this case, I wanted to capture the setting sun with its sunbeams, while also keeping the couple adequately lit with light. If I exposed properly for one, the other would suffer as a result. But when you shoot in RAW, you can get away with exposing somewhere in-between the two so that neither the sky nor the people are at the proper exposure, but that both are close enough to being right that I can correct it when I process the image.
Here, since I didn’t want the sun to appear as one bright blob of light in the skyline, I had to underexpose (i.e. make the image darker) so that while the sun beams are visible, the couple is a little too dark. But no worries, Lightroom to the rescue!
2). IMAGE WITH BASIC EDITING – READY FOR PROOFS + IMAGE DISC:
The above image is an example of what the image looks like when I run through my basic editing process in Lightroom. This is what you can expect when I deliver your images in the online proof gallery and on a disc after a shoot. I may tweak this slightly depending on the image set, but this is pretty much my signature style.
However, this image is not polished enough for a print or album. First issue at hand: there are distracting elements in the background. See that girl in bright pink just behind the fence (to the right of Lauren’s hand)? And the tacky signs just over the bridge? And the bits of tree in the upper right corner? Not cute. I want them gone!
3). IMAGE WITH MORE EXTENSIVE EDITING – READY FOR ALBUM/PRINT:
After substantial time spent in Photoshop, I was able to remove all those distracting elements. Sometimes it’s just not possible to remove these things and keep the image looking realistic, but in this case it worked out.
I also sharpened the image to better define their facial features, made the image a little less warm, and made a few minor tweaks just to make the image ‘pop’ a bit more. This is what you can expect when you order an album or print from me. Now the image is ready to be included in an album, or printed out + hung up in a frame! :)
Stay tuned for the rest of Lauren & Dave’s NYC elopement photos in the coming weeks!
I’m super excited to announce that for 2011, I’ll be offering two different kinds of albums in my wedding packages!
Option #1 is the same album I offered in 2010, the leather bound flushmount album. It lays flat and has very thick pages that neither bend nor collect fingerprint smudges :) There are several color options for the cover that you can choose from.
Option #2 is brand new this year! It’s a fine art book with a full photo wrap cover and the option of adding your names and wedding date to the spine. I love this book because it’s much more personalized. The cover is quite thick, though pages are much thinner than the flushmount’s, and feel completely different to the touch. The best way I can describe them is that they’re similar in texture/thickness to paper that an artist might use.
Here are the two albums together for comparison’s sake. The black flushmount album is a 10×10 with 10 pages, and the fine art book is about 9.5×9.5″ with 15 pages. Of course, you have the option of upgrading to a 12×12″ album or adding pages if you’d like!
To see a sample album layout, click below!
I had the pleasure of attending a wedding open house at Bubby’s this week. For those who aren’t savvy, Bubby’s is a restaurant and event space in the most fantastic NYC location, nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges on the Brooklyn side in Dumbo (though they have a Manhattan location too). I can’t imagine a better view at a wedding reception, nor a better area for outdoor wedding shoots. Seriously, look at this view of the Brooklyn Bridge:
Bubby’s also knows how to put on a great event! They set up tables around both floors and selected some of Brooklyn’s most talented wedding vendors to come and display their work. It was so inspiring to talk to them all and see their fantastic products. Check them out!:
Artesanal Sweets | Natascha had the most beautiful cupcake display I’ve ever seen! I must have taken at least 100 photos of her table. Her PB&J cupcakes are to die for! And her cookies are decorated with edible glitter!
Bona Angela Design | table runners, hanging lanterns, vases, and votives
Root Stock & Quade | plants, flowers, gardens
This is the view of the Manhattan Bridge from Bubby’s:
Fine & Raw | their mission is to “save the world through silliness and chocolate” – raw chocolate, that is!
NY Ceremony Music | a cello and guitar duo
Four Strokes of Brooklyn | Michelle makes gorgeous invitations, save the date cards, place cards, seating charts, and other paper designs for events.
Our Ketubah | Elyse creates “custom-designed, hand-painted artwork and limited-edition prints for marriage contracts, wedding vows, and other special day commemoratives”.
EmersonMade | They believe in “celebrating the uniqueness of the individual, the joy of being alive and all the smallness that makes up the Big Beautiful” and make hand dyed/stitched accessories such as flowers to wear at weddings.
Lion in the Sun | specializes in invitations
Brooklyn Rehab | Alyssa had the cutest display of crafts based on a four-season theme. She’s all about taking old, vintage, abandoned and found objects and giving new life and meaning to them. It definitely makes for some super creative wedding decorations!
My new sample wedding album just arrived! Well, technically it was delivered yesterday, but I missed it and couldn’t wait until Monday for the redelivery, so I biked all the way to the FedEx warehouse in Queens this afternoon (it’s NYC, I don’t have a car!). This wouldn’t normally be a big deal, except it was about 20 degrees out, plus windchill. My face felt like it was gonna fall off from the cold, and my legs were battling the force of the wind, but I made it there and back alive. That’s how devoted and excited I am about my photography! :)
So I ordered a 10×10 LayFlat album with a limited edition cover from Millers. I am offering this as the standard album in my wedding packages. It’s similar to a flushmount album in that it has thick, durable pages and lays flat on a table when you’re looking through it, but is much more affordable. Check it out!
