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DailyPhotos > paulbellinger  > Daily Photos > Daily 2013
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Blurry Night, College Station TX

Sarah Williams and I shot a beautiful College Station wedding last weekend at the Messina Hof Vineyard.  The reception had a very cool wall of lights that we played around with throughout the night.  This is one of the more artistic photos I created.  The bride and groom were really into silhouettes so I hope they will enjoy this one.  I hope it helps them to remember the little moments they had alone on what must have seemed like a blur of a day.  

I love how wedding photography pushes me to focus on mood and emotion rather than technical discipline.  There is so much more to telling a story than exposure and focus.  

Today is a big day for me because I’m unveiling my new logo, seen here as my watermark.  I bought a font and tweaked it in Photoshop.  I plan to use it in the banner of my new photography website that will hopefully launch soon.  What do you think?

UPDATE:  Thanks Fan and Ed for your suggestions!  It's funny that I actually have a more creative version that I initially liked more and I posted the two in a private group on Facebook and the people there unanimously liked this one best, for the reasons mentioned by Ed.  The creative one was criticized for being illegible and busy while this one is classy and clean.  And it took me about six hours to make this logo Mr. Fan, it's not just a font with large P and B.  Lastly, a lot of research went into it as I've been looking at logos for the past month or so.  I've posted both options to the smugmug daily group on facebook if you want to weigh in!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 24, 2013, taken May 18, 2013
Ladies First, Houston TX

These two danced up a storm at Bianca and Taylor’s Houston wedding at Agave Road!  Bianca and Taylor had a wonderful day and danced the night away.  Check out Sarah’s blog post for more beautiful photos from this Houston wedding.

This is a single 0.8 second exposure edited in Lightroom 4.  The light flare and streaks were created entirely in camera.  I used a speedlite on the camera to freeze the children in place, while leaving the shutter open long enough to create the light streaks.  I’ve seen a lot of wedding photographers use this technique and always thought it was fitting for crazy receptions, because it conveys movement and a little craziness.  Sarah and I have used this technique a few times since and always have fun playing around with it.

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 23, 2013, taken May 03, 2013
A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall, Nacogoches TX

Well this is pretty much the oppesite of a glamour shoot!  We had a very strong storm pass through Texas yesterday and as far as I know we were lucky that there weren’t any major incidents.  We were planning for the storm all day and it ended up not hitting us too hard.  I was standing in the carport, watching a wave of rain come through and it hit me that I needed to practice my rain shots in case it’s ever raining on a wedding day.  So I set up a couple of speedlites on stands, just as I would at a wedding, and begged Nini to go out and pose in the rain.  The only catch was that we could only find one umbrella!  And I needed it to prevent my lens from getting drops all over it!  So Nini had to actually pose in the rain.  She was not happy about it, but her attitude fit perfectly with the lighting I created.

I processed this photo in Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6.  In CS6 I used a batch of actions that I recently purchased from www.florabellacollection.com

I was really impressed by the actions and have learned a lot about photoshop by going through and dissecting their actions and seeing all kinds of new tricks I never knew how to do before.  Exciting!

Trivia question: Where’d I get the title for this post?  Don’t google it!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 22, 2013, taken May 21, 2013
Glamourous Fashion Experience, Nacogdoches TX

This time my beautiful wife Nini is posing in the home studio (spare bedroom).  I tried to replicate the natural outdoor lighting that we got earlier in the shoot.  I used a giant four foot softbox to create a very soft light source.  The strobe was just above Nini’s head height, and was positioned directly behind me while I was shooting just below eye level.  You can see my silhouette in the catchlight in her eye.

I processed this photo using Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS6.  The light leak and vignette were created in Exposure 4, by Alienskin.  I’m two days in to a free Alienskin trial and I’m a sucker for light leaks!

Thanks for all of your suggestions on what to call these beauty makeover photo sessions.  I’m still toying with various phrases.  

UPDATE:  Thanks for your question Terry.  The inspiration for all of my modern beauty makeover shoots is the one and only Sue Bryce.  She's won a ton of international awards, including most influential at this year's WPPI.  See her head cropping style at www.suebryce.com

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 21, 2013, taken May 10, 2013
Southern Belle Bridal, Huntington TX

Emily is a quintessential Southern belle!  She’s got that larger than life Texas beauty and epitomizes Southern hospitality with a smile that can make anyone feel welcome.  I’m sure glad the amazing Sarah Williams let me tag along for this bridal session and subsequent wedding!  See more of this beautiful bridal session on Sarah’s blogpost.

Thank you for all of your suggestions yesterday on what I should call my beauty sessions.  I’m still undecided, leaning towards words such as luxurious, beauty, modern, makeover, glamourous, elegant, style, fashion, model experience, etc.  To answer one question, yes, each session comes with professional hair and makeup, either on location or at a salon.  Eventually it would be nice to have it done in-studio, but first I’d need a studio!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 20, 2013, taken April 26, 2013
Nini’s Glamour, Nacogdoches TX

This is the final product from Nini’s modern beauty makeover shoot on the day she got the call from Montana State.  Yes, we celebrate good news with a photoshoot!  I shared the before and after version a couple of days ago, and mentioned that I would use it to market this style of shoot.  But what should I call this shoot?  Sue Bryce calls this style “glamour.”  But she’s from New Zealand and maybe hasn’t noticed how bad of a name “glamour shots” have in the US.  So if not a glamour portrait, what would you call it?  I’ve been calling it “modern beauty makeover,” but I’d love to hear other suggestions.

This photo was shot with only natural light and I did the retouching in Photoshop using Sue’s two minute rule.  But of course the retouching actually took me 10 minutes instead of two.  I’ll get my time down eventually!

I've shot two weddings in the last two days!  I'm wiped!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 19, 2013, taken May 10, 2013
Emily and Dalton’s Landscape, Huntington TX

Emily and Dalton had a beautiful wedding at the Sawmill Lake Mansion in Huntington Texas.  I was thrilled that the amazing Sarah Williams let me assist her for this wedding, because I also helped out withEmily’s bridal portraits a few weeks earlier and she was awesome!  So Sarah and I had high expectations for their wedding and they did not disappoint!  After the ceremony Emily and Dalton put up with us posing them for about a full hour, and were willing to go all the way to the other side of the lake for this shot.  I hope they like it!

Well I haven’t posted a landscape photo in May yet, not one without a bride and groom in it at least, so I think I’ll finish off the month without posting one.  In fact, I haven’t shot any landscapes since I was in Chicago back in mid-April.  Part of the reason is that I’ve decided to start a wedding and portrait business, and I’m trying to practice as much as possible before we move to Montana.  The other part of the reason is that I’m just not inspired by the landscape around me in East Texas.  I may not shoot another landscape until we get to Montana.

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 18, 2013, taken May 11, 2013
Dylan’s Superstar Senior Portrait, Nacogdoches TX

I’ve been really lucky to work with the amazing Sarah Williams on a few senior sessions recently, and she gets the best senior clients!  Dylan was fun and easy to work with.  He has a great outlook and will have bright future at Texas A&M, so we wanted to send him off looking like a superstar!

We used the Joel Grimes three light technique to light this portrait.  If you check out ESPN the Magazine, or Sports Illustrated, you’ll see a lot of athletes are lit with this technique.  I’ve practiced it a few times with Nini and my soccer superstar little sister Taylor.  Working with speedlites we were able to set up the lights in downtown Nacogodches in only a few minutes and get the shot right away.  Click the link to Taylor’s photo above to see the lighting setup.

See Sarah’s blogpost for more great photos from Dylan’s senior session.

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 17, 2013, taken May 1, 2013
Nini’s Modern Beauty Makeover, Nacogdoches TX

A before and after shot of my beautiful wife Nini, who has recently accepted a job at the Montana State University!  We celebrated the good news with a “modern beauty makeover” photoshoot.  Montana State is in Billings Montana and we’ll be moving in July.  I could not be more excited!  We have enjoyed our year in Texas, but I have always hoped of moving to Montana (as a close second only behind Nebraska).  Big Sky country has two of my favorite national parks, Glacier and Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons are just around the corner.  It is a landscape photographer’s paradise!  While Nini will be starting a new chapter in her career, I’ll be starting a new career altogether, as a photographer doing shoots just like this modern beauty makeover shoot and weddings.  I can’t wait!

This before and after photo is an important piece of marketing for my new business.  It is inspired by Sue Bryce’s before and after marketing that she trained us to make in her 28 Days challenge on creativeLIVE.  The goal of that workshop is to train a new photographer to shoot Sue’s modern glamour style in 28 days.  Well I’ve been following Sue for a lot longer than 28 days and have yet to master her style, but I’m getting there!  Both shots were taken using natural light.  

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 15, 2013, taken May 10, 2013
Blurry Night, College Station TX

Sarah Williams and I shot a beautiful College Station wedding last weekend at the Messina Hof Vineyard. The reception had a very cool wall of lights that we played around with throughout the night. This is one of the more artistic photos I created. The bride and groom were really into silhouettes so I hope they will enjoy this one. I hope it helps them to remember the little moments they had alone on what must have seemed like a blur of a day.

I love how wedding photography pushes me to focus on mood and emotion rather than technical discipline. There is so much more to telling a story than exposure and focus.

Today is a big day for me because I’m unveiling my new logo, seen here as my watermark. I bought a font and tweaked it in Photoshop. I plan to use it in the banner of my new photography website that will hopefully launch soon. What do you think?

UPDATE: Thanks Fan and Ed for your suggestions! It's funny that I actually have a more creative version that I initially liked more and I posted the two in a private group on Facebook and the people there unanimously liked this one best, for the reasons mentioned by Ed. The creative one was criticized for being illegible and busy while this one is classy and clean. And it took me about six hours to make this logo Mr. Fan, it's not just a font with large P and B. Lastly, a lot of research went into it as I've been looking at logos for the past month or so. I've posted both options to the smugmug daily group on facebook if you want to weigh in!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 24, 2013, taken May 18, 2013
Sarah Williams and I shot a beautiful College Station wedding last weekend at the Messina Hof Vineyard. The reception had a very cool wall of lights that we played around with throughout the night. This is one of the more artistic photos I created. The bride and groom were really into silhouettes so I hope they will enjoy this one. I hope it helps them to remember the little moments they had alone on what must have seemed like a blur of a day. I love how wedding photography pushes me to focus on mood and emotion rather than technical discipline. There is so much more to telling a story than exposure and focus. Today is a big day for me because I’m unveiling my new logo, seen here as my watermark. I bought a font and tweaked it in Photoshop. I plan to use it in the banner of my new photography website that will hopefully launch soon. What do you think? UPDATE: Thanks Fan and Ed for your suggestions! It's funny that I actually have a more creative version that I initially liked more and I posted the two in a private group on Facebook and the people there unanimously liked this one best, for the reasons mentioned by Ed. The creative one was criticized for being illegible and busy while this one is classy and clean. And it took me about six hours to make this logo Mr. Fan, it's not just a font with large P and B. Lastly, a lot of research went into it as I've been looking at logos for the past month or so. I've posted both options to the smugmug daily group on facebook if you want to weigh in! Critiques are always welcome. Daily photo: May 24, 2013, taken May 18, 2013" href="javascript:openLB(2531779341,'',XLarge,'',1024,683);">Blurry Night, College Station TX

Sarah Williams and I shot a beautiful College Station wedding last weekend at the Messina Hof Vineyard.  The reception had a very cool wall of lights that we played around with throughout the night.  This is one of the more artistic photos I created.  The bride and groom were really into silhouettes so I hope they will enjoy this one.  I hope it helps them to remember the little moments they had alone on what must have seemed like a blur of a day.  

I love how wedding photography pushes me to focus on mood and emotion rather than technical discipline.  There is so much more to telling a story than exposure and focus.  

Today is a big day for me because I’m unveiling my new logo, seen here as my watermark.  I bought a font and tweaked it in Photoshop.  I plan to use it in the banner of my new photography website that will hopefully launch soon.  What do you think?

UPDATE:  Thanks Fan and Ed for your suggestions!  It's funny that I actually have a more creative version that I initially liked more and I posted the two in a private group on Facebook and the people there unanimously liked this one best, for the reasons mentioned by Ed.  The creative one was criticized for being illegible and busy while this one is classy and clean.  And it took me about six hours to make this logo Mr. Fan, it's not just a font with large P and B.  Lastly, a lot of research went into it as I've been looking at logos for the past month or so.  I've posted both options to the smugmug daily group on facebook if you want to weigh in!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 24, 2013, taken May 18, 2013
Blurry Night, College Station TX

Sarah Williams and I shot a beautiful College Station wedding last weekend at the Messina Hof Vineyard. The reception had a very cool wall of lights that we played around with throughout the night. This is one of the more artistic photos I created. The bride and groom were really into silhouettes so I hope they will enjoy this one. I hope it helps them to remember the little moments they had alone on what must have seemed like a blur of a day.

I love how wedding photography pushes me to focus on mood and emotion rather than technical discipline. There is so much more to telling a story than exposure and focus.

Today is a big day for me because I’m unveiling my new logo, seen here as my watermark. I bought a font and tweaked it in Photoshop. I plan to use it in the banner of my new photography website that will hopefully launch soon. What do you think?

UPDATE: Thanks Fan and Ed for your suggestions! It's funny that I actually have a more creative version that I initially liked more and I posted the two in a private group on Facebook and the people there unanimously liked this one best, for the reasons mentioned by Ed. The creative one was criticized for being illegible and busy while this one is classy and clean. And it took me about six hours to make this logo Mr. Fan, it's not just a font with large P and B. Lastly, a lot of research went into it as I've been looking at logos for the past month or so. I've posted both options to the smugmug daily group on facebook if you want to weigh in!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: May 24, 2013, taken May 18, 2013
Canon EOS 5D Mark III |
More details: exif |
Original size: 5760x3840 |
Current: 800x534 |
Share photo: links, forums, blogs |
Keywords: wedding texas college station silhouette studio sarah williams
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