Chicago Wedding Photography

There is nothing quite like the promise of a new day. The early morning hours have a freshness that is quite unique. A beautiful way to capture this feeling is to have a sunrise wedding service.Now getting married at the crack of dawn may not be for everyone, but it would certainly make for a unique and memorable wedding. If you have ever attended a sunrise service on Easter morning, you know just what I mean. The rising sun makes a glorious backdrop to the bride and groom as they recite their vows.Planning an early morning wedding is different to arranging for any other kind of wedding. You will want it to have a softer feeling than an evening wedding. At that hour, there will probably not be a lot of dancing, either. Some soft music during the ceremony and reception would be very nice; you could look into something special like a harpist.Chances are that not everyone you know will be able to handle an early morning wedding, so you will want to think carefully about your guest list. Plan on inviting only those that are closest to you. To determine the exact time of the sunrise on your wedding date, consult an almanac. In the summer, the sunrise might be a bit too early to manage (5am service, anyone?), but if you push it too far into the spring or fall, it could also be very chilly, so be sure to check out the typical temperature for sunrise.For the reception, plan to serve brunch foods. Depending on just how early it is, you could limit the offerings to eggs and pastries, or you could have a more elaborate menu with carving station and a custom omelette station. People are not usually big drinkers first thing in the morning, but Bloody Marys, mimosas, and Champagne can be served if you want to serve alcohol. And definitely have a wedding cake.The bride should aim for a romantic and ethereal look. Bridal gowns created from soft and flowing fabrics like chiffon or English net would be beautiful choices. A sunrise service is not the time to bring out the bling. Look for a gown with more gentle embellishment, if any at all. A long veil floating in the early morning breeze would be lovely.When it comes to bridal jewelry gifts, the groom should select pieces for his bride that are in keeping with the tone of the wedding. For a sunrise service, he could choose from gifts of bridal jewelry created from delicate pearls or dainty sterling silver designs. If you are unsure of where to start, then ask the maid of honor what would coordinate with the bride's dress.The flowers for a sunrise ceremony could be done in a few different ways. One very pretty effect would be to choose a bouquet that features the yellows, golds, and oranges of the morning sun. This color combination would be stunning done in a simple arrangement of roses. Another idea is to use an all-white color palette for the most delicate and ethereal effect. Lacy and dripping white flowers would produce the most elegant arrangements.Having your wedding ceremony at the break of day is a lovely idea for a pair of early birds. How wonderful to capture that most special time of the day and make it part of your wedding. Getting married with the sun rising in the morning sky behind you would be a beautiful way to start your life as a married couple.

Raise a glass - now's the time to toast to the happy couple! Wedding toasts and speeches can sometimes cause anxiety - but don't let them. Enjoy your moment in the limelight, and make the most of these situations with some prep work.Your best man, maid of honor and other special guests may inquire about appropriate speaking times - so it's good to have an idea beforehand. You and your fiance may also want to prepare some expressions of gratitude for your parents, your guests or each other. Every wedding is different; discuss and layout a general "toasting timeline" before the celebrations begin.Who Toasts?
Traditionally the best man, maid-of-honor and parents of the bride and groom will say something over the course of events. However, close friends, the bride and groom themselves or anyone who has something to say is welcome to make a toast.When to Toast?
When to toast all depends on the nature of your wedding. If yours will be a cocktail or buffet-style reception, your guests may not ever be gathered at the same place and time to listen to toasts. Another option is to hold the formal wedding toasts, such as the best man's speech, during the rehearsal dinner instead. At a seated dinner, the father of the bride traditionally toasts to commence the meal. Your caterer can arrange an official champagne toast, passing glasses of champagne to each guest prior to the best man speech or the father of the bride. Toasts can really occur at any time during the reception - between courses, after the meal, during the cake cutting etc. Try to give your event coordinator an estimated timeframe beforehand, so he or she can round up your guests to listen.How to Respond
Everyone should rise for toasts to the new couple except the bride and groom, who remain seated (unless they already happen to be standing). When someone toasts the bride and groom, they should smile and say thank you. They should not clap or drink to themselves. If a toast addresses the bride only, the groom should rise. If a toast is directed towards the parents or any other guest, both the bride and groom should rise.

"My wedding photography business is failing!"That was what I was thinking just over a year ago. I was stuck in a rut, doing the same old marketing techniques that I had been doing for years. The same ones that almost every other wedding photographer in my area was doing.The problem was that my prospects were becoming numb to the same tricks over and over. On top of that, I was getting older, and engaged couples were moving further away from my age demographic, making it more difficult to relate to them.It was time for a change in my marketing plan. I had to find a way to get back into touch with my niche.In order to be successful I would need to concentrate on a few things.

Focus - Narrow down prospects into groups of exactly who you want to do business with. Know who your perfect client is. Are they first time couples or people getting married for a second or third time?
Design Great Material - Design compelling marketing material that speaks to that group of people. Create something of value that you can give away, something with staying power. Personally, I use a free e-book and advertise it with a leaflet. This helps promote my website, and gets me their name and email address (which is required at download).
Gather Leads - You can accomplish this two ways: by telephone, or by email. I suppose you could use snail mail, but this is wedding photography business 2.0, remember? As you read in number two, I use a form on my web page that requires that the user input their name and email in order to receive their free download. I require that they opt-in to avoid spam issues. The other method is to include a recorded telephone message with free information in exchange for their name and phone number.
Harvest - Now, it's as simple as staying in touch with these prospects until they require your services! Send out a monthly newsletter, or provide them with valuable information through email. Any way you slice it, they asked for you to contact them, so DO IT! These are hungry prospects asking for exactly what you're selling.

With photography, post production used to involve a few tweaks in the darkroom before printing a final image. Now, the digital revolution has brought along with it a great variety of computer software that allows us to perform extremely complicated enhancements and image manipulations. These enhancements and manipulations have become standard procedure for most modern wedding photographers. I happen to be a bit of a purist when it comes to photography so post processing is something I like to keep to a minimum. A slight correction of the colour balance and an increase in contrast will usually suffice.The problem with having so many options in post processing software is that some wedding photographers tend to go over the top and end up having photographs which look epic and overly dramatic. A look not suited to the mood of a wedding.As a wedding photographer you should always bare in mind the amount you are getting paid for a job and take that into account during post-production. You don't want to be working overtime on post-production without the appropriate income.At a typical wedding you may shoot up to 1500 photographs so when it comes to post production you need to have some sort of strategy in place to organise the files as effectively as possible. with over a 1000 images to deal with you know you are going to have groups of images taken in the same or similar locations, with the same or similar exposures. This means that you can use pre-sets on post-processing software to edit the batch all at once. This saves a lot of time and is really useful if you are on a tight time schedule.Selecting which images to use and which ones to bin is the first, and most important part of the editing process. It takes place before any of the image manipulation and must be done successfully in order to satisfy your clients. Having a consistently strong set of images is key to exceeding your clients expectations and building your reputation as a wedding photographer.As I have said before in a previous article, with wedding photography flattery is the key. So certain production techniques like skin softening or teeth whitening can really make the difference to your wedding photography.My wedding photography concentrates on the quality of an image as an image. The aesthetic quality is of most importance. If the subject matter isn't there then you have nothing. Don't rely on using post-processing software to save an image that can't be saved and don't let the endless possibilities of programmes like photoshop or lightroom over complicate your images.As a final pointer - Always remember that making the image is secondary to taking the image.

Right after the ceremony, you have to make some decisions regarding formal portraits and what your guests are supposed to do. For instance, do the guests leave for the reception site immediately so the space is clear out for the formal portraits with close family members? Should there be a receiving line for all the guests upon their departure? How should the events be timed? QUESTION: Who should I include in these? Do you want a list of shots?Believe it or not, the best use of a shot list is for you. The shot list provides you a means of planning out who needs to be ready for formal portraits, and allows this part of the day to go faster. BIG TIP: Notify each family member you want formal portraits of, then have a member from each side of the wedding couple be "in charge" of organizing all of the people for formal portraits. This alleviates you having to worry about it during the portraits - you can just stand there with your newly appointed spouse, while family members circle around you.Do I need a shot list? Not really. I generally ask the person in charge of organizing the family members who is next. Since I do not know Aunt Gertrude, I will have a lot of trouble knowing if Aunt Gertrude is there or not. I try to make these formal portraits as fast and as painless as possible. QUESTION: When should we plan the formal portraits? How should that timing be organized? Typically speaking, the formal portraits happen right after the ceremony. In lieu of a formal receiving line, I personally prefer leading the couple out of the church and to a pre-determined place where they can decompress and just be with each other. This is a great time for some intimate, "paparazzi" style photos. These can be some of the most romantic photos from the day, because they are natural, unposed, and most individuals have a just-married glow about them. QUESTION: We are having a Receiving Line. How much time should we plan for that? The timing very much dependent on the number of guests you have invited, and can stretch from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Receiving lines are very traditional, and are typically done at traditional weddings as a means of alleviating the couple's stress over getting to say "Hi!" to everyone at the wedding. The receiving line traditionally happens after the ceremony, as everyone is leaving the church. While traditional, this is not necessary. You could do the receiving line as a means of welcoming everyone into the reception hall, after the cocktail hour, just as one alternate example. No matter the timing, just keep in mind one little rule. The number of individuals involved in the receiving line greatly affects the speed of said Receiving Line. Some venue spaces do not want the congestion of a Receiving Line, so make sure your space is OK with it prior to the event.Standard Order of Receiving Line:

We know from the number of professional wedding photographers we supply with printed and customised USB flash drives that there is a real move in the sector towards offering Wedding Portfolios on a USB flash drive.Whilst we're a long way from portfolios and shoots being supplied exclusively on USB Sticks it is interesting to see how quickly wedding photographers have grasped this particular storage medium. For many the printed flash drives are offered as an "optional extra", something that sits alongside the traditional album and is a way of providing clients with photographs in a format that they can use to email to friends and family that couldn't make the big day, to post onto their Facebook account or just to print off on their home printer.A good quality, good looking USB drive that is provided in a smart gift box looks so much better than a CD or DVD and they enhance the image of the professional photographers offering them - CD's and DVD's are pretty "old hat" and don't exactly convey a great image these days!If you're a professional wedding photographer and you're considering using USB sticks then choosing a supplier is arguably more important than choosing the style and type of flash drive you order. It's a common misconception that a flash drives are all the same so if you're buying a 4GB drive from one supplier it'll be the same as 4GB drives from another supplier - this is not only wrong but it's dangerous to think this because if you leave yourself open to buying flash drives that will damage your business and harm your relationship with your clients.It's a bit like buying a decent lens for your camera - outwardly two lens from two different manufacturers might look the same, have broadly the same specification but the results can be massively different.Some suppliers of USB sticks (we know because we often have to pick up the pieces) offer what they claim to be Grade A, Hynix or Samsung flash drives only to then supply flash drives that are assembled using recycled or Grade B flash memory chips, sometimes they'll have cheap flash controllers and increasingly some will supply "masked" USB drives where rejected flash chip of say 600MB has been "masked" to look like a 1GB!Unfortunately when you look at these flash drives they'll look great, it's only when you use the flash drives that you'll notice how slow they are, how many failures you get and how data seems to magically "disappear" after its been loaded (this is common on masked flash drives). They also have a nasty habit of failing after just a couple of months.Suppliers get away with sending out these USB memory sticks because they know in lots of cases they'll be given away at trade shows and publicity events and people won't care if a few fail (ironically it can be a very high percentage that fail but because they're given away free no real data is collected).But, when you're dealing with the memories of peoples wedding and an event, that for many, will be the most important day in their life you need to take care that you're buying good quality, high speed flash drives that are not going to fail. The best way to do this is to work with a company that has a proven track record of delivery that understands the demands of the wedding photography business and values their reputation as much as you value yours.

4 Techniques, 4 Stunning Effects, 4 PicturesThe Zoom Drag
(1/10th of a second, f/4, 70mm->24mm)
This shot is perfect for dancing couples at receptions. The couple captured in a moment in the center of the frame - a background of streaking lights blurred in bocca behind them, it's simply beautiful. To achieve this effect, I've found a dark scene on the dance floor where there are a bunch of small ambient lights in the background. I have a flash a external flash on my camera and I'm bouncing it off the ceiling to get good light onto the bride and her father. Putting the shutter at 1/10th of a second, and the aperture at f/4, I'm zoomed in all the way at 70mm on my 24-70mm lens. I brace myself, because as soon as I click the shutter, I zoom out as fast as possible, hoping to get to 24mm as soon as the shutter closes. If executed correctly, the couple will be sharp, captured by the flash of my camera, while the lighting in the background will be dragged across the background. Getting the timing right takes some practice, but it's worth it. The Open Shutter Spin
(1/50th of a second, f/2.8, 24mm)
Another technique that will give you stunning images at a reception. Find a similar setting, dark dance floor with lots of cool source ambient lights in the frame. Position your flash to light a dancing couple, choose a focal length, and then brace yourself for the shot. Hold the camera out from your face a little bit, and as soon as you press the shutter, rotate the camera counter clockwise (clockwise if your lefty) as fast as you can. This will freeze the couple in the center of the frame, while dragging the ambient lights in the surreal and beautiful to create a beautiful framing effect.

Photographers in the digital era are faced with many unique challenges that their predecessor's in the film era never had to deal with. The way your market your photography business would be the first that comes to mind. Social media and the internet didn't exist in the 60's and 70's. Photographs were taken on film instead of digital media. A photographer using film had to rely on his skill to get the shot right the first time. They didn't have software to make an OK shot look great. Most photographers were unable to process their own film. So, in most cases they would have to rely on an outside source to process their precious photos. If the film became exposed to light during the processing before it was completed. The pictures would be unrecoverable and would be lost forever. Photographers now process their own photos. The difference now is that the photos are not on film, but on digital media.Protecting these digital files creates a unique set of challenges that most photographers can find daunting. However, if the proper steps are taken to secure and most importantly having a backup procedure in place can ease the stress of losing these files forever. In some cases losing digital files containing a clients wedding could put a photographer out of business. So, having a backup procedure in place to protect you from having a media storage device fail is extremely important. I've come up with a method of protecting your files that's easy follow. Following these steps will ensure that if one of your storage devices fails that you'll have a proper backup of the original files. Most importantly you have to put together a backup strategy that is tailored to fit your needs.As a photographer, I have a step by step system that I've used now for over 5 years that has allowed me to sleep soundly at night. Because I Know that if I have a hard drive failure or a flash disk fail while shooting a wedding that I have a backup and all the files won't be lost. I take a lot of photos during the course of a week. I keep all my raw files as well as any files that most would normally delete. You never know when you may use them for another project. So, the amount of storage need to hold these photos is quite large. The good thing is storage prices have come way down over the past few years. With the flooding in Asia last year the prices of hard drives did go up a bit, but have leveled off once the supply and demand corrected itself.Your first step should be to make sure you have enough capacity to hold multiple backups. Images captured through cameras are only going to increase in size as more and more megapixels are available in new cameras. I have no less that 4 external hard drives that I use for my storage needs. Having enough disks for each shoot is important as well. I always carry at least 4 4GB cards and no less than 4 backup 4GB disks. Your storage needs will vary depending on your camera as well as the number of shoots you have in a given time frame.While in the field I use a Sandisk Wireless 4 GB SD card. This allows me to immediately backup my files and send them to a secure location while I'm still at the event. You have to be within range of WiFi or the files won't transmit. I don't use a card any larger than the 4 GB card. This way if a card fails then I don't lose the whole wedding. I also make sure and replace my cards every year. New cards can fail and I've a few out of the box. However, the chances of a card that's been used over and over failing is a lot higher. There are a lot of photographers that will copy their raw files directly to USB thumb drives. I don't recommend this as it's too easy misplace or even lose these while you are at your event.The first step that I take after returning to my studio after the event is over is to copy my SD card's to an external network attached server or NAS server for short. I use the Synology D212 2 disk bay with 2 redundant hard drives. This is where redundancy is key for your backup strategy. The way this systems operates is that it copies your filed identically on both hard drives. That way if one of the hard drives fails then you will have an exact copy on the other hard drive. To me this is the most important on site backup option you should have. There are larger systems that offer multiple disk drives that offer you the ability to set your backup to be redundant. The one useful option that the Synology offers for me is the ability to access my files remotely offsite at my office. Since the unit is network attached. I can remote in to the unit and copy any files I may need while at my office.You can also use multiple external hard drives as your back source. This offers a cheaper way of having your files on multiple backup sources. This would protect you as well in the event a single hard drive fails.You should always have a backup that you have at an off-site location. This could be a physical hard drive that you take and store at your studio or another safe location. The reason you want to have an off-site back up is in case you have a fire, theft or act of God. If any of these were to occur you could lose all of your back up information. No matter how many hard drives you are using to backup your files. Having them all in one location is just as irresponsible as not having a backup at all.There is also an option that you can use for you off-site backup source. There are also online sites that allow you to backup your files on their site. You can do this through the internet and your files are secured on their servers. These days most companies charge a few hundred dollars per year for unlimited space. There are also plans that can accommodate even average home user for a few dollars a month for 20 or 30 GB of storage space. This would be the most reliable source for offsite backups. You should at minimum keep a copy of your raw files on an external hard drive that you keep at a secure offsite location. I like to call it the three copy rule. Original source would be your first copy. The second copy would be your external hard drive backup. The third would be your offsite backup location.

I have been researching how people with a small budget making their wedding affordable and think these 10 little tips can be useful for people who have small budget.Ten Tips for an affordable wedding:1. Marry on a not popular time. When you marry on a monday it is a lot cheaper then marrying on a Friday or Saturday.2. The season that you marry in. Did you know the most people marry in the summer or the winter? An autumn wedding or a winter wedding is a lot cheaper then a summer wedding and they can be so beautiful! Think back to the wedding of Miranda and Steve in Sex and the City in the gorgeous autumn garden. Another thought is a winter wedding in a big Forrest, snow on the threes, a beautiful sight. Often you can get great discounts on wedding cars, wedding locations, etc. in these seasons.3.Buy an affordable wedding gown and beautify it yourself. The diva under the wedding dresses is of course the top, but they are very expensive. The average wedding dress costs around the one thousand pounds. Our tip: buy a cheap, simple wedding dress and give it a stunning look by wearing the perfect shoes, jewelry, haircut and make-up. Do you really have a low budget then you can always look for a fabulous gala dress or evening dress.4.Save money on bridal flowers and bouquets. A bridal bouquet costs around 70 and 150 pounds! One beautiful flower in your hands is just as pretty. The bridal bouquet is a typical traditional thing. Nowadays a lot of people get rid of the bridal bouquet and use the money for the decoration of the wedding location.5. The thank you gifts for your guest do not have to be very expensive. If you are a little bit of a creative person you can think of something that is fun and costs little money. The key is to make a personal gift. It can be a handwritten note with a own baked cookie, it is personal. Burn some cd's with your favorite songs and create the cd-inlay. Use your talent or use the talent of friends and you will see it doesn't have to cost a lot.6. The wedding cake is one of the eye catchers on a wedding. The average cost of a wedding cake is around the 250 pounds. Wedding Cake makers never define how much it is for the whole cake but usually they define the costs per person. An average wedding cake costs 7 pounds a piece. The wedding cake maker usually haves a minimum take of 30 persons per wedding cake. Thirty persons, seven pounds a piece is 210 pounds. A fun way to make it a lot cheaper is to have a table full of cupcakes. An cute decorated cupcake, f.e. with someone names one it, costs 2 a 3 pounds a piece. Three pounds, thirty persons makes a total of 90 pounds, a good way to save money.7. Save on the wedding rings. Buying a wedding ring is hopefully a one time business. Saving on a nice wedding ring is probably the last thing you want to save on. Nowadays there are a lot websites that offer wedding rings cheaper then most real stores ca. The websites do not have pay rent for their shop or something like that and you will see that back in the price of the wedding rings they offer online. You can save up to 20 % by buying your wedding ring online.

Indian weddings are full of colours, music, dance and flavourful food. In short they are festivals in themselves; from the intricate mehndi designs painted on hand with henna, to the massive and colourful decorations that flare around the whole house of the bride and the groom and the place where they are going to be wedded, it's all about ornamenting and having all-out fun.And amongst these colourful celebrations, India's very own film industry - Bollywood has a very big role to play in it. With the latest film releases filled with dance and wedding numbers, young boys and girls have many up-beat songs to pick from to perform their very own items during the celebrations spanned out over many days. Here is our pick of 10 of the best Indian wedding songs that you will have fun moving your body to.1. Desi Girl (Dostana): although it's been quite a few years, since this song was released, it is still a favourite amongst numerous young boys and girls because of the super dance beat it has. A Punjabi bhangra becomes a must at this song.2. ChannKeMohalla (Action Replayy): Though the movie didn't receive quite the applause they expected, Aishwarya's ChannKeMohalla was more than appreciated. We can still see many girls translating the same dance steps of our former Miss World to this tune.3. Sheila kiJawani (Tees Maar Khan): and of course who can forget the vivacious Katrina Kaif performing on Sheila Ki Jawani not too long ago. Though the dance number is quite fun to look at, you get equal enjoyment performing on it too.4. DupattaTeraNau Rang Da (Partner): a hilarious film indeed, but Partner did give us some delightful songs to listen to and to perform on and this is one of them.5. AahunAahun (Love AajKal): another popular Punjabi beat is "AahunAahun" from the film Love AajKal.6. AinvayiAinvayi (Band BaajaBaaraat): a typical Punjabi fun song that can be played at any wedding for loads of fun.7. JeeKarda (Singh is King): Katrina Kaif gives her fans another fun number in Singh is King, where she moves her body in a way though would inspire anyone to try out that funky dance.

If you have already spent a little fortune with your latest digital camera, you might ignore the need for a tripod to complete your entire photographic experience. Fine! BUT while you make a move from good to great pictures taking, best camera tripod or monopod will avoid series of blurred images and are becoming useful add-on that all photo enthusiasts should have. The choice of your tripod or monopod is to be taken seriously because they generally last longer than your camera itself. As vibration is the best enemy of every single photographer, we would like to help you select the right equipment according to your needs.As there are hundreds of models to select from, let's first look at the benefits of tripods:
They offer ultimate camera stability and prevent blurred shoots;
They enhance your macro experience;
They allow long exposure in low light condition and permit imaginative effects;
They accomplish very nicely when outdoors, under wet or windy conditions for landscape photography;
They relieve fatigue triggered by carrying heavy weight and long telephoto lenses.

Wedding invitations are printed by a variety of manufacturing processes. With a wide range of invitations to choose from you will be able to find just the right one to fit your theme, formality and budget. It is wise though to know exactly what it is you are purchasing before making your final selection.At one time all invitations were engraved using a hand tooled engraving plate etched by experienced craftsmen. Often copper plates were used to which ink was added with the paper actually pressed to the plate. This created a raised printing that you could feel. You will see an impression of the entire imprint area on the back side of the paper. By far the most traditional and formal printing method, it is also quite expensive and not used nearly as often today.Letterpress is popular but is not the same process used in the past that involved lead slugs to make impressions. Today magnesium dies are used to give the impression of letterpress on which you can see the individual letters pressed into the paper from the back side.The process of lithography or offset printing is the most widely used printing style today. Ink is applied to paper in a printing process that does not provide a raised or pressed appearance. Magazines and marketing materials are printed in this way. Less expensive than engraving, it looks fine but is not as elegant.Digitally printed invitations are the least expensive to produce. The appearance is similar to that of lithography and much like the laser printing that you do yourself on your home printer. A relatively fast process, digitally printed invitations are fully customizable.Thermography is a popular step in the printing process that looks very much like engraving but is far less costly. Thermal powders are spread on wet ink and heated so that the powder melts into a solid mass that fuses and sits on top of the paper surface. A fast process, you can feel the raised lettering on the front but not on the back of the paper. Less costly than engraving but almost as nice, thermography wedding invitations are a great choice for invitations you will be proud to send.Before selecting your wedding invitation supplier, be sure and ask by what method your invitations will be produced. All will include your customized information but you will want that information to look as nice as it can within your established budget. When in doubt, ask that samples be provided for your review. Your wedding invitations set the tone for your special day and you deserve the best.