Just got done a really fun shoot with Béke Beau and Dar Clinton where we had beautiful, late afternoon sunshine streaming through the studio windows … for about 6 straight hours! “Joe, surely you jest! Even we folks in Southern California never get that kind of sun!” Well, we sure don’t, either. As a matter of fact, there is still a foot of snow on the ground and no sun to be had at any time today. However, with the help of a couple Speedotron power packs and some ingenuity …

I already have windows in my studio but the sun rarely comes in and certainly not today. So I went outside with my Speedo, er, Speedotron 2403 power pack and a 2400 ws head and blasted it at full power toward the studio windows. I jacked the pack and the ends of the power cords up off the snow with a crate and packed snow around the light stand for stability.

Here is a view looking toward the windows. I moved the light source several times before I got the effect I was looking for.

Meanwhile, back inside I shot tests to work out my camera position and where the light fell to tune in everything.

My modeling light was useless with so much ambient light so I placed Stephanie into the scene to further fine tune the angle of the light. This shot revealed shadows falling right across her face so it was back into the snow to move the strobe.

Success! Now I have plenty of time to scrutinize while the models are getting hair and make-up.

Turns out that the shadow side was getting a little lost so I added another strobe to the right of the set with a Photoflex half-dome and a grid attachment to control spill.

I had the main light set to full power while the kicker with a grid was set as low as it would go since it was so close. This allowed me to shoot at 1/125 sec at f5.6-1/3. I warmed things up in-camera by manually setting the white balance to 7600K.

Not to say that Sandy is a lemon … she was stunningly beautiful on her wedding day! But the room in which she got ready left a little to be desired. But no matter what, never lose sight of the basic rules of lighting! A few post-processing tricks helped but the key is to start with the best possible image. Don’t expect to save an iffy image in Photoshop.

Shooting RAW has gotten me out of trouble on many occasions. This is one of those times. I love this photo but the bright lamp on the right draws my eye away from Carrie. Here’s how I fixed it quickly and easily using Smart Objects and a layer mask in Photoshop.

I use Photoshop heavily in my album design work and am always on the lookout for shortcuts to speed up mind-numbingly repetitive tasks and let me spend more time being creative.

This tutorial uses a much-misunderstood feature called Smart Objects. Not since the Pen Tool have Photoshop users been so scared! But fear not. Smart Objects are your friends. So just click here to start!

I really wanted to get around to making this video before the feeling wore off. I’m still reeling from the Yervant workshop as are all the others I met there since the emails are still going around! Check it out.

Not bad considering I shot video with one hand while reaching over everyone else to grab stills with the other. Ok, on with the rest of my life.

I’ve gotten accustomed to using a second shooter and an assistant on my weddings but not so long ago I didn’t have that luxury. I know I wanted to get all the artsy stuff from alternative angles but I was expected to get the money shots, too. After all, if I’m shooting the processional from the balcony, who’s down below getting the shots of her crying as her father walks her down the aisle? Enter, technology!

I already had some Quantum FreeXwire slave units. They’re cool because they’ll allow you to wirelessly fire flashes from waaaaaay far away. But did you know you can also use them to fire a second camera?

All you need is the sync cord for your specific camera. Then stick it on a tripod and wait for the fun to happen!

I shot these with intentional motion blur. I actually was shooting on the floor with one hand while holding the wireless transmitter in the other. The camera was set to continuous mode and caught several frames. I also set it manual exposure, manual white balance and manual focus to keep things simple and not get tripped up by a camera who thinks it’s smarter than me! Then I shot several tests on guests strolling up and down before the ceremony.

What goes up must come down…including brides!

Settings: 1/5 second @ f4.0, ISO 200, Canon 16-35 zoom set at 35mm.

This is the first of hopefully many more cool tutorials I’m doing to help out photographers everywhere. Yeah, tons of Photoshop tutorials abound on the Internet but not enough focus specifically on wedding photography. Although I may do more in the future that don’t apply so closely to the industry, they’re FREE so you can pick and choose the ones you think will help you.

This tutorial is the Glowing Skin tutorial. Even though every bride is awesome from the get-go, this effect will make your albums really pop. So just click here to start!