Wedding Photography....where to start?

Every bride while planning her big day has quite a few decisions to make.  I am finding that many brides and grooms today, seem to be paying for all or most of their own weddings.  There is a variety of reasons for this, and probably why the decision is so difficult. There are so many things and people that must be hired in order to complete the day.

I found a GREAT article on Your Bridal Planner that helps guide you into choosing the RIGHT photographer for your wedding day.  Read here how some of the things you did not know, and what you should know.  Give your memories the LOVE they deserve, wedding photography should be right up there with your gown!  Enjoy the article!

Tips for your BEST Wedding Photos!

 Many brides can become "overwhelmed" when planning for that BIG day, there is so much to do and in what seems to be so little time.  One of the most important things of this day, I feel is photography.  Keep in mind that besides your wedding bands, your photos are the very first heirlooms of your union and new families and these are to be cherished for many generations to come.

It's very easy to give priority to your "guests" and what I mean by this is that sometimes we focus on making sure we choose the right venue, the most beautiful gown, the greatest looking and tasting cake, the most expensive flowers, etc.  Before you know it, you can easily be well over your budget.  These things are important, don't get me wrong, however, when the guests leave the venue, the remnants of the cake are stored away, your gown goes in for preservation, the gifts either get returned or exchanged, what's left?  Your memories! Exactly!

Many of you will hire photographers and videographers, and you may simply choose your photographer for the "price" of their packages, and whether or not they hand over a photo CD, etc.  Don't get caught up in this, first of all, NEVER choose your photographer for "the package!"  Choose your photographer because you LOVE their work, and because you LOVE how they make you feel about your wedding.  Listen to them, shop around, see who has your best interest at heart and NOT who is willing to offer you a package that will get you hooked.  Get hooked with them, get to know them, ask questions, and by all means make sure that they offer Engagement Sessions.  Don't skimp on your everlasting memories, you do not want your wedding photos sitting in a box under your bed because you are embarrassed how poorly your big day was captured.  After all, what's left are your memories, give them the TLC and priority you so deserve!

More tips on how to hire a wedding photographer  and Here are some GREAT photography tips for brides......Cheers and may you all live happily ever after!

A shift in thinking.... Help Portrait & Voices of Haiti

Recently we had the honor of  hearing Jeremy Cowart speak, not only a fine and talented photographer, not only a man with a vision, not only a man with an amazing soul, but a man willing to do and reach hundreds if not thousands of people with a brilliant and heartfelt and RAW idea!  You don't have to be a photographer, see here how YOU can get involved and make a difference.

Help Portrait, will change how you see what can be done in the photography field that above being art, it is human, beautiful, and should make us all shift our thinking.  Please visit the site, and get ready to make a move......this is easily something YOU can get involved in and make a difference in the lives of so many!

Voices of Haiti is ANOTHER beautiful thing that Jeremy has done, definitely a deep, beautiful part of his legacy.  And even if you are not a photographer, get involved if you can, this is such a blessing!
 Amen amen to people like Jeremy, you truly are an inspiration and a messenger from above!

Thank you !!

Photo Courtesy:  Escalate LIVE

Delta Kappa Sigma on The Empress Yacht in Sausalito!

We had the pleasure some time ago to have met some wonderful gals from the SFSU Delta Kappa Sigma Sorority...these girls not only study hard, they play hard, and they volunteer hard!

They celebrated a Founder's Celebration aboard the San Francisco Empress Yacht and here are some of the images from that shoot.

Okay ladies...here is how to get your FREE Photo Key chain valued at $9.99....ready, set...GO!!!!!!!!

1.  Join us on the YStudio Photography Facebook Fan Club....see the link to the right of this post.

2.  Post a comment on the shoot here.....and finally

3.  Follow us on Twitter

Now isn't this easy!?  AND if you rather have a 5x7 print instead of the key chain, no problem, we can do that too!  Have fun, and HURRY as this offer ends May 31, 2010!

Treasure Island Photo Shoot with Phuong My & LaNisa

Well once again, we have come across and met with a FABULOUS Designer, she is young, talented and quite wicked with her designs!  I am saying that in the BEST sense!

I ran into Phuong My, saw her work, and knew instantly, I MUST work with her, she's young and has quite a story, I am sure you will all be hearing about her soon, and I have got to say she definitely has a NEW Fashion attitude for San Francisco!  Fashion weeks are among us and she's keeping busy......so stay tuned!

As a photographer my goal is to work with our clients to make sure their vision is captured, yes through our lens, but one of the very important things within fashion is to stay focused on what you are shooting and why.  Yes we had fun on this shoot and we always like to go outside of the box per se, however, we NEVER lose sight of why we are there...we are there for our clients.

When it comes to fashion editorial shooting one can be a little more risque, however, ALWAYS get the shot of the garment in every possible angle, in the right lighting and with little or NO distracting backdrops or textures.  One has to constantly think of color and lighting schemes or it can all go downhill.  In this case we were shooting again around noon time, possibly the WORSE time to shoot, but lately it has been my favorite because it pushes me to THINK THINK FOCUS AND SHOOT!  We are creating the look with controlling the lighting, and keeping a tight grip of our technical management as well as time management.

This shoot for instance was super sunny but freezing cold as we were shooting in San Francisco's Treasure Island, being close to the SF Bay has it downfalls, wind and cold!  I feel sorry for the models, they are usually thin and well even a large gal like me can get cold, so can you imagine?  When wind is involved one has to think of loose hairs, garments movements, equipment falling over, very expensive equipment!  When cold is involved one has to work fast as the models can easily lose it during the shoot, and we can't have that.  Also controlling, re-directing, and bouncing light in a manner that does not change your color temperatures, etc.

Overall the challenge is quite a thrill and the results are.....well see for yourself!  Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments, WE LOVE and welcome you all!  Have a great weekend!



Fashion Designer:  Phuong My Tran
Hair/Make up  YalunXi
Model:  LaNisa Buena Vista
Photographers:  Me and hubby

Removing a background on Photoshop CS4

Good morning folks!  I can't believe I am blogging at 4:30 a.m., but, I cannot sleep and I am a day late on my blogging....I hope you enjoy this tutorial, in my opinion, and although it may take a bit getting use to, it's the easiest way to remove a background on CS4.  Yes, I know CS5 is now available, but til I get it CS4 is wonderful too.

A few weeks ago we were called by a wonderful local fashion designer to shoot her line.  I had no idea what I was getting into and want to send a much heartfelt thanks to Teresa Reynolds  for her help and guidance, we had so much fun and it was much easier than I thought.

There was a challenge in the space we were using (the fashion designers apartment), but I focused on the lighting and that the TRUE colors of the garments were showcased.  We photographed everything with a less than white background and two strobes.  Again, if you can get the proper white exposure background this is ideal, but if you are in a hurry and cannot control the space you are working in, here is how you can save yourself through PS ... again!

Here is the original image.  As you can see there was fabric instead of a paper background available.

Here's how I removed the background.

1. Open image in PS
2. Create a new layer from background
3. Create a new layer via copy
4. Select the Magic Eraser tool and begin to erase the large parts of the background you wish to remove
(Make sure you are on the correct layer so you can see as you go and remember that as you get to the edges, you will most likely need to decrease the size of your brush)

5. Choose the Eraser Tool to clean up along the edges on what you wish to keep
6. Once done, you will need to duplicate the layer and make sure you open the layer underneath the layer you are working on

7. Select brush and make it large, choose your background color and paint the entire layer (with extracted image on it), I chose white [see photo].

Once you have the image on the white background, zoom in and see if there is any cleaning up you have to do with the Eraser Tool.  When you are done zoom out and look at the image, make sure you clean around the hair, shoes, etc.

Here is the finished image and another cool thing is that you do not have to use only color for a replaced background, you can add an image if you like.  See here the image I borrowed from Jungle Photos ...Have fun, the possibilities are endless in PS!

I LOVE to share and help and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away OR post a comment, we love those!

"BOY OH BOY!" Finally a BOY shoot!

Many of you are probably thinking, do they EVER photograph men!? Well, yes actually we do and here is proof!  Meet Nhigel Anderson.  I met Nhigel through a buddy of mine who mentioned that his nephew was interested in modeling.  I took a look at some of the photos he had on his Facebook, and concluded that YES....Nhigel needed a shoot!

I  came up with three looks for Nhigel, a Tommy Bahama look, an Urban look, and a CK look.  From the very beginning I visualized a more edgy type of approach with lighting and I will show you here what was done differently to achieve it.  Trust me it is ALOT easier than you think!

For instance looky here at the difference between each shot.  mind you, we were shooting in the middle of the HOT bright sun and usually this creates flare ups and over blasted skies, which I don't always hate, but on this shoot as mentioned, I was going for EDGY.....so here we go.

Notice photo 1 (natural light) shot in manual on my Canon 5D Mark II at 1/400 f7.1 ISO 100 on my Canon 24-70 f 2.8L lens   

Now....notice another photo taken at 1/200 f 11 at ISO 100...you are probably saying what's different?  Well, lighting is what is different. 


Here's how I did it.....and mind you this is only because I only had one lighting assistant and one light stick.  Val, my lovely lighting assistant (and if you believe this you are even funnier than me!)  Val stands for Voice Activated Lightstand...LOL!  Anyhow, my assistant is standing to the right of the camera, the light is roughly about 4 feet away from Nhigel, and after 1-2 tries I nailed the shot I wanted.

See the blue sky peeking through the palm trees?  THIS is what I wanted instead of that white sky as you see in photo 1.  Doesn't lighting just change the entire feel?  It gives it that edge and keeping this in mind, you can shoot all day long in that nasty hot blasting sunlight, challenge yourself.  It's ideal to shoot during photographer's twilight time, but why not use the ole brain cells, and make it happen no matter at what time of day you are shooting.

Here are a few of my favorite photos using more or less the same concepts.  ENJOY!  And do ask questions if you have them!