Saturday's Yosemite Elopement

[tenoverthenose]

The week before we were shooting a glamourous wedding in San Francisco, this week it was an elopement in Yosemite. It really makes me realize how much I love the variety of what we do.

This couple eloped to Yosemite and had a simple ceremony in the valley - just the two of them and an officiant. We stopped by a few different places before and after to soak up the park. I was shocked at how crowded the park is getting already this summer, but there is always some place to slip away. Spring is just starting to hit the park, but not there yet.

The couple was awesome to work with. Tons of killer imagery, and oh yeah, I busted out my point and shoot (images are on my blog) - can you guess where the point and shoot was used? As always, much more on my blog at www.patrickpike.com (http://patrickpike.com/)

1.
http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/96b1be8ccadc6b9c6eb615d6fa20a575.jpg

2.
http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/a49f6795e89d9f04f8071ac47e701ed6.jpg

3.
http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/f49c7b91fb6860e8224e1d13bc811687.jpg

4.
http://patrickpike.com/photographs/patti_todd_preview.jpg

5.
http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/4baa13876e038f4b4535a1127f5cbcc4.jpg

6.
http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/82f9733b6158a03b2fc3df854cd824d7.jpg

[Gary Peterson Photography]

It looks like you captured their day perfectly.

[Darren Troy C]

3 and 6 are the clear winners for me....awesome job, always love your work!

[tenoverthenose]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it! Any guesses on where the P&S was used?

[Scott_Quier]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it! Any guesses on where the P&S was used?
#5 - for the faster electronic shutter, so you could better balance the flash to the ambient?

[Moogle Pepper]

I hate the needle in the haystack search type questions. :soapbox

...#1? Or.. all of them? :D

[Shima]

Love what you captured! I have two friends that just got married (sort of an elopement since very few people knew, but not really since they did have like 5 people attend including one of their mothers) so it's neat to see that they're not the only ones with this idea for Yosemite :)

[Agnieszka]

Just beautiful.

Love 4 & 5 :lust

Thanks for sharing, I'm always excited when I see your name on the board :barb

[tenoverthenose]

Thanks everyone ~

@Scott #5 is shot at f/14 & 1/160, lots of light coming from my alien bee.

@Ted maybe, maybe not... I'll wait till we get a few more guesses. Also, more than one on my blog was shot with the P&S

@Shima I love elopements and the way they strip away all the "fluff" of a wedding.

@Angie Thanks! The funny thing about #4 is that the groom really did not like having his picture taken. But when he was holding his wife, nothing else mattered :)

[The_Fat_Zebra]

Great work! Most of the pics on your blog really convey warmth and emotion!
My guess on the P&S is for the pictures where you seem to be chasing after them :D, like the first pic you posted here which also seems grainier than the others.

[dahn8]

Love the photos! My guess for the P&S would be #1... maybe #4 too?

[Moogle Pepper]

Come on, people, keep on sending your guesses! :rofl

[Dooginfif20]

man i cant even pick 1 favorite! these are awesome! good ol glacier point is looking good! was that taken in the valley? man awesome work!

[tenoverthenose]

#1 was not taken with a point and shoot. It was shot with my 5DII + 16+35 at full wide, draging the shutter to about 1/8th of a second. They were walking and I was behind them walking too shooting without looking through the lens - where I got the idea for this (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=166045). Grain was added in Lightroom 3 to add to the feel. This image is a personal favorite from the day.

#5 is the point and shoot - Scott was right (but for the wrong reason). There are two more taken with this camera on my site.

[Moogle Pepper]

#1 was not taken with a point and shoot. It was shot with my 5DII + 16+35 at full wide, draging the shutter to about 1/8th of a second. They were walking and I was behind them walking too shooting without looking through the lens - where I got the idea for this (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=166045). Grain was added in Lightroom 3 to add to the feel. This image is a personal favorite from the day.

#5 is the point and shoot - Scott was right (but for the wrong reason). There are two more taken with this camera on my site.

I knew that. I was... testing your memory! :D

[Scott_Quier]

#1 was not taken with a point and shoot. It was shot with my 5DII + 16+35 at full wide, draging the shutter to about 1/8th of a second. They were walking and I was behind them walking too shooting without looking through the lens - where I got the idea for this (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=166045). Grain was added in Lightroom 3 to add to the feel. This image is a personal favorite from the day.

#5 is the point and shoot - Scott was right (but for the wrong reason). There are two more taken with this camera on my site.But it could have been done that way. P&S cameras often do have a faster sync speed and a faster shutter will tend to limit ambient while still allowing a good fill flash. So there: :D

[tenoverthenose]

But it could have been done that way. P&S cameras often do have a faster sync speed and a faster shutter will tend to limit ambient while still allowing a good fill flash. So there: :D

It's a great feature! My P&S will sync up to 1/1000 with Pocket Wizards. Just before I pulled out my P&S I had taken a similar frame with my 5DII and sync'd it @ 1/200 so I didn't want to take the time to adjust my light :)

[mmmatt]

Ha! I never would have guessed 5. I was really scratching my head thinking they all had obvious off camera flash (silly me), or were too wide or the bokeh was too nice. 1 was first runner in my mind but that would have been too obvious. Anyways, great set Pat. I think I like 4 the best just because it is so natural. 6 and 2 are awesome as well.

Matt

[Scott_Quier]

It's a great feature! My P&S will sync up to 1/1000 with Pocket Wizards. Just before I pulled out my P&S I had taken a similar frame with my 5DII and sync'd it @ 1/200 so I didn't want to take the time to adjust my light :)
Here's how I think about it ... You know what aperture your flash is set to. That's independant of the shutter speed. So you set up the P&S at that aperture and your clients are perfectly lit by the flash. Increase your shutter speed to 1/400 (for example) and the background will be 1 stop less exposed than it was with the 5DII. Easy Peasy.

[Swartzy]

Fabulous Patrick...just fabulous. Your creative POV's and post production continue to inspire me to stretch out as a "native traditionalist". Inspiring. Love your blog & website. Incredible settings...of course Yosemite would be an awesome place to shoot...been there for landscaping but wow....portrait work would be icing on the cake. Excellent work.:thumb

[TGAllen]

Great stuff, per usual. #6 is my fav.

[tenoverthenose]

Thanks again everyone ~

@Matt Actually you can get some pretty decent bokeh on a P&S if you are careful with it. There are the other images from my site that were taken with my P&S, no lights this time.

http://patrickpike.com/darkroom/blog/blogshow/4bd5ae63bc8e4/4164ed6c95407d09e80891c328d5c9a6.jpg

@Scott That's a great way to do it, but I had already done that with my 5D (that's why I was shooting at f/14). I had to be carful not to loose too much detail in the shadows.

@Swartzy Thanks for the good word on the site. I love the way t turned out! It's actually a bit tough to shoot portraits in Yosemite. Everyone (normally) wants shots of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, etc., but most of the time the lighting doesn't cooperate with our schedule.

[mmmatt]

Nice!