Today was the first day of my fundraiser- Portraits to Raise Autism Awareness! For those of you who don’t know, I am on the Board of Directors of the Autism Society of Maine and I wanted to try to raise awareness through photography! Autism occurs in 1 out of every 150 births in the United States, and that number is on the rise by 10-17% every year. Organizations like the Autism Society of Maine provide information and support to families affected by autism. For the months of May and June, I will be offering $50 portrait sessions (any kind- senior, family, children, bridal, you name it!), 100% of which will be donated to the Autism Society of Maine. Over the next two months I will be adding photographs and information pertaining to this fundraiser, so stay tuned! For more information or to schedule a session, please email (info@michelleturnerphotography.com) or call the studio (207-623-8703). Two of my good friends, Nadra Edgerley and Sharyn Peavey are also involved in the fundraiser!
I photographed 14 destination weddings last year, 12 of which were international weddings. We traveled all over the country to beautiful places like Colorado, Nevada and Montana, and we also go to visit a lot of fantastic places worldwide like Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The number one question I am asked by other photographers is how I book destination weddings. First, you need to have a good website, because usually this is the first point of contact from a destination bride. Second, you need to have a lot of samples that you can show her independent of the website. As soon as a bride contacts us, we send her links to several wedding slideshows and a link to a complete wedding if she wants to see one. If a destination bride wants to see albums, be prepared to send an album to her for a few days.
But how do they find us? Well, there is no magic button to make it happen- it is really important that you get your FIRST destination wedding to get the ball rolling. Ask your current brides if they know anyone getting married out of the country, and if they do, ask for a referral. Keep you ear to the ground. Sometimes you may need to offer that first destination bride a good deal- whatever you can do to get that first destination wedding. After all, destination brides are going to want to see what kind of destination wedding images you can take- what you may do with a venue that you have never been to before.
After you photograph that first wedding, it gets easier from there. If you did a fabulous job, the couple will give you referrals (and usually destination brides know other destination brides). The venue may refer you. And your blog visitors will see that you do destination weddings. We really love photographing destination weddings, and I think that our clients really respond to that. The couples that hire us usually share our enthusiasm for creating beautiful images- they are willing to give us total creative license.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of our favorite destination wedding images from this past year:
I just wanted to reiterate what a wonderful time I had photographing the wedding of Amelia and Brian. This was a destination wedding photography gig- they chose beautiful Puerto Vallarta as the location for their wedding. The slideshow encompasses both shoots- the wedding day and the post shoot- see it here.
For those of you that don’t know, I was contacted by a British publishing house (Ilex Press) a few months back. They hired me on the spot to write a book called “Wedding Photography Now” for them that is due out in 2008! I really have to thank all of my couples from the past few years- all of them have been wonderful about signing model releases so that their images can be used in the book! I am about 3/4 of the way finished with it, so I’m hoping to have it wrapped up by early June (the start of the busiest part of the wedding season)!
Alicia Williams, a good friend of mine (and a great photographer!) asked me about a set of actions I used for retouching images. Because others have asked about the Boutwell’s Totally Rad Action Set, I thought I would post how I use these actions in my daily image workflow. I find that these actions are subtle but powerful, and because they simulate a lot of film looks and things that you could have done in a darkroom in the film days, I think they will stand the test of time and not make the images look dated. Disclaimer: To use these actions, you must first be able to create a well-exposed image- these actions will not fix bad images. You must also be comfortable using layer masks in photoshop.
Image 1- Here is the original, straight from raw, file. Well exposed, but lacking some oomph.
Image 2- For my first step, I wanted to do some non-destructive dodging and burning to draw attention to the bride and groom, glamorize the rocks, and lighten the shadows in the groom’s face (Yin/Yang). The difference is subtle with “save for web” files, but look at the groom’s face to see the most difference:
Image 3- For the step pictured below, I wanted to add a bit of glow and smooth out the skin of my bride (Prettyizer):
Image 4- For the step pictured below, I wanted to warm up the file a little (Warm it Up Kris!) and bring back some of the detail in the rocks (Boutwell’s Magic Glasses). I used my layer masks on both to back off the warming and sharpening filters on the faces of my bride and groom.
Image 5- And here is the finished file. I simply smoothed over some of the sand and some trash on the rocks and added contrast (+contrast-luma).
And here is the original file again for the sake of comparison- I think you’ll agree that the file above is much more attractive than the file below!
I photographed Erica and John’s engagement session in Boston last weekend. They were good sports not to wear their jackets- it was a cold cold spring day! Eric will be photographing their wedding in just a few months at Sandy Island in New Hampshire! Here are some of our favorite photographs from their session:
Adding texture to your photographs has become en vogue in the past few years. With the popularity of canvas gallery wraps, I am a big fan of adding some texture to a handful of photographs that may end up on canvas. I have had a few photographers ask about the textures I use, so I thought that I would post here.
First, you will need a texture file to use. I take a lot of photographs of interesting textures and create my own, but some of the time I am looking for something specific and I will turn to a set of actions that I purchased from Bruce Dorn and Maura Dutra. In order to use these actions (or to use a file of your own) you will need to understand layers and layer masks in photoshop. Basically I will add the texture as a layer on top of the photograph. Sometimes I change the layer style, and sometimes I leave it as is (it depends on the photograph). I adjust the textured layer and then I’ll use a layer mask to paint away the texture in certain areas of the photograph (the faces, for example).
Textures aren’t for everyone, but for me they add a certain reality to the photograph. I really like the use of texture in this one- the first file is the original, the second is the file with texture:
I photographed the wedding of Amelia and Brian a few weeks ago- it was one of my favorite post-wedding shoots that I have done. Amelia and Brian were troopers- they got up early the day after their wedding so that we could photograph with the best light available. By the end of the shoot, they were totally immersed in the water! What a couple!
This is one of my favorite photographs- they are nuzzling by the rocks as the sun comes up!
Amelia and Brian flew down from Chicago for their destination wedding in Puerto Vallarta. We wanted to go to the beach after the ceremony for their couple/bridal party pics, but it was Semana Santa in Mexico and it was impossible to even get out of the hotel because it was so crowded! Fortunately, we planned a post-wedding shoot, so we simply decided to do the beach shoot the following day. Their ceremony was absolutely gorgeous- what a great sky! Here are some of my favorite photographs:
I photographed the destination wedding of Norma and Chris in November of 2006 in Puerto Valalrta- I just had the opportunity to work with Norma again when she flew in from Chicago to pose for a boudoir shoot as a favor to me. She agreed to let some of the images be used in my upcoming book (more on that later!) as the publisher wants some boudoir shots. It seems that the popularity of boudoir sessions has skyrocketed ever since the New York Times published an article on “Brides Gone Wild”.
Here is one of my favorite photographs of Norma and Chris from their 2006 destination wedding:
And here is one of my favorite shots from Norma’s “For Your Eyes Only” Session:
