Cathy and Gary (wedding)

[heatherfeather]

Here are a few photos from my most recent wedding. The venue was the couple's home and all the guests were family, so it was super intimate and fun.

Oh, and be sure to check out the linkie of the slideshow/ vid at the end. I am having SO MUCH FUN with fusion of video and photos. I think in the last month I have done 12 of those things! You can tell that I am waay better at stills than video, but it still adds a bit of zing to the slideshow to add the bits of video.


1.
http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-8660-Edit/881276477_F6h7a-L.jpg

2.
http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-8616-Edit/881266207_D32jA-L.jpg

3. Wish I could have gotten this one straight on... but I had to work around the alter.

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-8572-Edit/881255855_sQ9ur-L.jpg

4. This was a special ceremonial thing they did about the joining of two families... They and all their kids lit the unity candle together.

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-8945/881356823_2s8ed-XL.jpg

5.
http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9028-Edit/881382163_ee4VG-L.jpg

6. A fun dancing shot...

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9234/881427627_umMxB-L.jpg

7.

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9329/881439250_L2jYF-L.jpg

8.
http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9412-Edit/881459490_k4S9N-XL.jpg

9.
http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9364/881444804_x4mzc-L.jpg

10. I thought I would just take a moment to flaunt my mountains.

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9458-Edit/881464330_Zrw6o-XL.jpg

11. JeffrouxII's LR Preset, altered to fit my needs.

Love the body language in this shot.

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9704-Edit/881486615_E5JHU-L.jpg

12.

And a set up shot of one of my assistants showing how we made some shade... It was bright out there! :D You can tell we are juuust getting some summer... the grass is still brown!

http://www.ambiencephotographyalaska.com/Customer-Galleries/Weddings/Carlson/Carlson-Wedding-9593/881478365_RqjmJ-L.jpg


And don't forget to check out the Carlson slideshow (http://video214.com/play/CBD1W3tL6mhCxmKRqan2YA/s/dark?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=one_click_share)

C & C always welcome!

[bendruckerphoto]

These are awesome. My only critique is that #10 could have been improved by using flash. An off camera strobe could have allowed you to underexpose the mountains by 1.5 stops (instead of overexposing them by 1.5) and really make the couple pop. Other than that though, great set.

[anonymouscuban]

Love #1 and #6. Nice set overall though.

Question... does she "look" much younger than him or is he actually older? At first, I thought it was her father, then I did a double-take when I got to the intimate shots. :dunno

[E Colby]

heatherfeather,
Very nice group. Well done
Cheers,
Colby

[heatherfeather]

Anonymouscuban: I would guess she is in her early 40s and he is in his 50s... though his kids are younger than hers. I don't really know the age spread, but keep in mind that she has aged very gracefully and add quite a bit of processing to minimise her wrinkles.

Bendrukerphoto: Actually that is what I generally do when I shoot that spot. I was thrown for a bit of a loop, because usually when I shoot that spot, the sun is coming from the right of the peak, and this was a different time of day, so the sun was blasting both them and the peak. The shade evened out the sun, but then I should have taken it a step further and added more light. Ah well, photos on a time constraint. Next time, eh?

[Agnieszka]

Oh Heather, these are just beautiful. I loooove the bridal portraits and that shot with the mountains in the background is gorgeous!!

Such beautiful work, thanks for sharing!! :lust

[Blurmore]

11 RAWR! 10 very nice Dancing shot very nice. Assistant? Jello-us. Tough to make a wedding at a residence not look like a wedding in someone's house, you did a good job, its all really clean.

[nicoleshilliday]

Stunning work!

I really want to like number 2 but she seems a little stiff. Much more relaxed with the hubby pics.

I love number 3...a different take on that sort of shot.

Love the light in number 3 (my kind of light!)

[zoomer]

1 and 8 are special shots.
1 the light and the look of contentment on her face.
8 I love these in tight intimate little moments with very short depth of field.
The rest are nicely done.
I am sure the couple will be very happy with these.

[Qarik]

one word..classy.

[smurfy]

They are so lovely, and number 8 is absolutely breathtaking!

[dannypa]

The ninth an tenth,nice shot !

[sweet caroline]

Gorgeous work! Is that an animoto slideshow, or did you use something else?

[mmmatt]

Now Heather... we've all seen your mountains many times! This is really a great set. In less than a dozen shots you showed us a brides beauty, passion between the couple, the symbol of their bond, laughter and joy, love for family, the gentleness of a new husbands touch, intimate moments of reflection, raw passion and a lumpy cake. Everything a wedding is supposed to be. Well done my friend!!! If I had to pick a fave I would pick 11. Love the processing, and the passion she exudes by pulling him in is wonderful. They are all great though, and I personally have no problems with the lighting in 10.

Great work again Heather, thanks for sharing with us. As for the slide show, it was nice and I like the chunks of video, but would like to see them more intermixed throughout the day. I know that probably isn't possible most of the time without a specific video shooter. It was also hard for me to first look at these gorgeous photos then see them all abused in a low-res sideshow. Maybe there is a higher-res version, but that is the hardest part about doing sideshows for me. I wonder if sharpening the bajeebies out of them would help the low-res versions? Either way well done show, and an amazing photo set.

Matt

[bendruckerphoto]

Gorgeous work! Is that an animoto slideshow, or did you use something else?

That's Animoto, yep. video214.com is the anonymous domain they use.

Heather, if you have an Animoto Pro account, you can upgrade your slideshows for free to high-res. It's definitely important to do that. It really bothers me that their low resolution versions look so poor. It's basically a must to upgrade to high-res.

[l.k.madison]

8...11.... :bow

There are no words for those two. Wow.

[Scootersbabygirl]

Heather - as always, amazing. I love your style and if I could emulate one photographer from the DGrin forums (a toughie!), I'd definitely want to emulate you! The umbrella your assistant is holding - is it a photography umbrella (I'm guessing) or just a regular white umbrella?

[Antonlm]

Great shots! Just wonderful!

[heatherfeather]

Thanks to all for commenting! Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I was off having the worlds best camping trip in the mountains of AK for Memorial day weekend! We had 80 degree weather, and were quite spoiled. We came back with that "dirty, happy, tired feeling" and it is good to be home.

@ Agnieszka: Thanks! I can't wait for you to share what you got cooking up down there in Boston! :) Hopefully sweet little A will let you take the time to share!

@ Blurmore: Actually for this wedding I was spoiled and had TWO assistants. People are constantly asking to come and "watch" and I say "Sure, but I'll put you to work."... The one in the shot is Joe, and he is a regular assistant... He does a pretty great job and knows his stuff fairly well.

@Nicolesholiday: Thanks! She is one gorgeous lady, which always helps a lot!

@Zoomer: With your "always perfect" lighting, it is good to hear that these were hits for you. #1 is one of my favorites... All natural light from her covered deck. And #8 is a favorite too... I love it that her ring is in perfect focus as well as her fantastic eyelashes...

@Quarik: Thanks!

@Smurfy: Thank you!

@Dannypa: Thanks!

@Sweet Caroline: Thanks... and you are right about the slideshow. I am loving using Animoto... I used to use Showit, but I had SUCH a hard time finding appropriate music on my own, and then getting the timing right was killing me (the perfectionist). I would spend hours and hours working on the slideshow but especially the music. It was such a pain. Now I spend maybe an hour or so on it.

@mmatt: Well, as mama always says: if you've got it, flaunt it! As to the slideshow, my main use is just for facebook, where I need the resolution really low so that folks don't have to wait for video to buffer. So, while the HD version is lots prettier, it doesn't pay for me to spend the time to render the thing since nobody will sit through that much buffering. According to my view counter, I get over 60 plays for every time I post one to FB, and that is a lot of free promotion.

@bendrucker: of course, high resolution looks better, but I think there is a big chance that most folks don't notice the resolution unless they have a "practiced eye", like you pros do... (see my reply to mmmatt)

@l k madison: Thanks!

@ Scootersbabygirl: Thanks! Yep, that is a massive 60 inch photo umbrella that I used to use on a stand, but the darn thing is like a sail and gets blown over at the slightest gust, so it has to have someone hold it. In this instance it was just quicker to have Joe hold it. I go through so many umbrellas....I shot an e-shesh a couple weeks ago that I was so thankful for the brolly because when the stand was blown over, it blew into a stream. The umbrella floated, and kept the speedlight dry and safe and sound.

@Antonlm: Thank you

[SmugDesigns]

Exceptional work. All are great photos. But 1 does it for me. :bow:bow:bow