On touch ups...

Let's talk about something TABOO! What can be expected and what can't be, in terms of wedding photo touch ups: color corrections, skin airbrushing, or digital plastic surgery?

Everyone wants to look their very best on their wedding day. And a wedding photographer will take thousands of photos of the bride and groom looking their very best. But they are photographs, reflecting just them, just as they are. It's not the photographer's job to edit under-eye circles, chubby bits, blemishes, tangled up hair, or whatever.

These two bridal portraits are un-retouched. (I know, isn't she gorgeous?) Notice her smiling on the right - she has smile lines under her eyes, as does everyone when they smile. I've had so many brides ask me to touch up their under eye circles, meaning their smile lines. Everyone gets a wrinkle under their eye when they smile, even babies. It's not under-eye circles, it's perfectly natural and everyone gets them! I once had a client request I remove ALL her laugh lines. The photos ended up looking like there was a disconnect between her eyes and her big smile. Like it was from two different faces molded into one, and believe me, she looked much better before the touch ups. So own your smile lines (because you look odd without them!)

Wedding photographers are working hard at every wedding composing each photo, making sure their equipment is properly set, anticipating what will happen next so they can be in the right place at the right time. They're thinking about the lights, their ISO, shutter speed, lenses, aperture, and white balance. They're thinking about how many images they have left on their cards. They're thinking about their batteries and their speed light settings. It's a lot to juggle. What a photographer is not thinking about is that the bride's hair isn't perfect, blemishes, or double chins. Wedding Photographers will photograph what they see with their own artistic eye.

What to expect:
• Well-framed images that eliminate signage, switches, and unsightly background objects if at all possible.
• No blinking shots. (Hey, people blink a LOT more than you think!)
• No other photographers from the same company in the shot
• Looking your best is up to you.... or your hair & makeup artist.
• During portraits sessions expect touch-ups of the bride and groom. (Blemishes, wrinkles, bruises, moles, skin smoothing, etc) Nothing noticeable.
• Everyone gets a bit of a double chin when they laugh hard. Accept that you're beautiful just as you are, because you're laughing! Enjoy the moment!

What not to expect:
• Blemishes or under-eye circles removed from every photo
• Digital plastic surgery, including but not limited to: chin lifts, arm reductions, facelifts, or tummy tucks
• Skin touch-ups on anyone other than the bride and groom
• Don't expect to look like someone else. You look like yourself, and you are beautiful just as you are.

A Story, from a bride who is now a wedding photographer:
I remember about a week before my big day, I was rushing to work, and I got into my car too fast and hit my arm HARD on the car door. I knew it would bruise. Not only was the bruise HUGE (size of a kiwi) it was also dark purple. I asked my photographers if they could edit out my bruise in my photos. When I got my photos back I thought, "Hey! They didn't touch up my big ugly bruise!" Well, there's a reason.  Only now that I'm a wedding photographer do I realize why this was not really a possibility by any means. Why? Photographers take literally thousands of photos at a wedding, and editing takes massive amounts of time. For every shot I take, I spend about 10 seconds on each photo making sure those camera settings were set properly. But if I do any artistic touch-ups (for portraits, and super amazing shots) I spend anywhere from 1-5 minutes on each photo that requires retouching. So you can see how that becomes impossible. So, of course, I spent 5 months editing out my bruise myself in photoshop. But there's no way I would have waited 5 months for my wedding photos to come back. And my photographers did such a fantastic job with their job, it wouldn't have been fair for me to ask them to my makeup artist's job as well.

A Styled Engagement Shoot

If your vision of engagement shoot perfection involves Style Me Pretty, Wedding Chicks, or Grey Likes Weddings, then you should tune in.

Just because you didn't hire Jill La Fleur or Found Rentals for your styled engagement photography session, have faith! You can do it yourself. Just keep these things in mind and you're golden:

1) Location. I love Jose Villa's work, and so does the rest of the world. But what if Jose was plucked out of that gorgeous backdrop in the hills in the Santa Inez Valley and thrown into a rail-yard? Probably gritty-gorgeous, *sigh*... focus, Megan. What you'll rarely see in styled shoots is direct sunlight and shadows. It's all about SHADE & SHADOW. Find a place with some shade. Whether you choose gritty, graffiti walls in the LA Arts District, or soft creamy hills of Palos Verdes, just think: SHADE.

Photo by: Jose Villa

2) Props. Silly? Maybe. But props aren't just about props, they're about getting you both to relax and have fun with each other, and They get your mind off that giant black lens staring at your face. But they really do help us get natural expressions, genuine laughs, and awesome photos because you can play around and interact. Think: Chalkboards, empty frames, big initials, suitcases, mustache on a stick, old cameras, balloons, or have a picnic with neat tea cups or something fun like that.

Photo by: Blaine Photography

3) Outfits. Match the groom to what the bride is wearing. Both outfits should work together, but not match. If the bride goes vintage, the groom should too: Fedora, Suspenders, Bow Tie, Whatever. If the bride is dressed down, he's in jeans too. Girls look good in dresses, especially tea-length dresses and fun heels or flats if you're into that. Even in a shot in the middle of a field, a girl in a dress really helps add the "there's something special happening here" vibe. Prints are fine, colors are fine, neutrals are fine, just match they style of your shoot.

Photo by: Brittany Esther Photography

4) Head Gear. No, not that 14-year-old nightmare kind of head gear. Hats, birdcage veils, flowers, head bands, fedoras, sun hats, etc. Hats add to style. But if you're not into putting anything atop your head, then your engagement session is always a great time to have a trial run of your wedding day hair & makeup with your stylist.

Photo by: Studio B Photography, Headgear by: Fine & Fleurie

5) Time of Day. Low-light, sunset, and twilight are the absolute best times of day to shoot. The light is warmer, softer and less harsh on your face, and shadows are easier to come by.

Photo by: Me

One of the biggest parts to making a photo shoot successful is comfort. If you don't feel comfortable in front of the camera, bring props. If you don't feel comfortable wearing a dress, wear pants. You should aim for the styling you'd love to display in your house or just keep forever, but keep in mind that comfort trumps everything.

Just some fun ideas:
• Hundreds of ribbons hanging from a tree
• Actually USE the vintage camera props and take photos of each other during the shoot
• Martinis. For the photographers too... I'm totally serious!

• You don't need a gorgeous victorian era chair in the middle of a field to make your style engagement session pop. But if you do, check out Found Rentals.

• Jelly Beans
• Wildflowers
• Signs like "I do" "Will you marry me?" "Love" "Mr&Mrs"

Best Florists in California

Best Wedding Florists in California:

Nothing takes a wedding up a notch like professional floral arrangements. These are my top picks for the Best Wedding Florists in California.

Lani Elizabeth - Northern California

Bay Area, San Jose, San Francisco Florist

Photo by Blaine Photography

These girls can take an ordinary venue and make it pop and dazzle your guests... They do all kinds of arrangements from classic to modern, tropical to country, their style is your style. Their detailing is the best I've seen. They take so much care putting together their pieces, and they carefully pin the bouquet so the entire thing is a work of art. It's not just about the flowers at the top, it's about the whole bouquet/boutonniere/arrangement.

Yes, Please - Southern California

Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Pasadena Florist

Photo by Max Wanger.

Kelly Harris from Yes, Please does a fantastic job with unusual arrangements & neat-o flowers. She's always, always surprising me with her creative creations.  They have an adorable studio in Culver City. Oh, and Kelly's half of the duo from Bash, Please.

The Little Branch - Southern California

Photo by Me.

If you're after modern, these gals are fab. The berries in this bride's bouquet were picked from her parent's front yard which brought meaning to the arrangement. *So* sweet. They delivered some of the freshest, most well-done pieces I've seen in a while and they brought the whole wedding together beautifully.

Megan Blaine
Blaine Photography
323-893-2345

Why Do Wedding Photographers Cost So Much?!!

You may think the wedding market is an industry filled with overly inflated costs. I remember feeling this way when I went wedding cake tasting. An elaborate birthday cake for 50 people costs about $50, but my wedding cake for 50 cost a cool $5,000. A venue is half the price if you're hosting a birthday party instead of a wedding. A wedding photographer's base price is as much as a downpayment on a small car. I feel your pain. I've been there!

The truth is, weddings cost us more.

Hours:

I always tell my clients that about 1/8th of my time is actually spent at the wedding photographing, the rest is editing time, emails, coordination, travel, etc. That means if you have a 10 hour wedding, I'll be working on it for around 80 hours. That's 2 weeks of full-time work you'll be employing me for.

Equipment:

When photographers shoot, say a birthday party, we take from 300-500 images, max. Of course, raw images take up many gigabytes of computer space, back up space, and DVDs. But multiply that number by 10 and that's how many photos we take each wedding. It's like 10 birthday parties. 3,000-5,000 images for each wedding. And well, that costs us a lot more computer space, and computer space costs money. We also require bigger memory cards, the highest-end lenses, carriers, and even uniforms. The base cost of being a fine-art photographer, a family photographer, a headshot photographer, etc is much, much less than a wedding photographer. 

Insurance:

Insurance is astronomical for wedding vendors. Why? Because we get sued. Seriously. Think about it: this is a couple's one big day.  You don't get a re-shoot, and you have one chance to make it right. We shot a wedding once where the cake delivery company stuck a 4 tier wedding cake their delivery van, and expected it to survive a curvy mountain road all by itself. When they opened the back, the cake was all over the place, not even recognizable (um, duh). Luckily the bride had a wedding coordinator who didn't even tell her it happened, called the bakery, and pulled a miracle out of her pocket. But that bakery could've been sued for everything they were worth if not for that savvy wedding coordinator. So, our insurance is pricey.

Location:
Unfortunately, your wedding vendors will cost more in certain states. I always feel like I have to apologize for charging my couples sales tax, but it's one of those things that just has to be done. For instance, we live in downtown Los Angeles and the taxes here in California? We basically pay 5 separate rounds of taxes. It's much more affordable all around to live & work in other states.

Value:
You're paying for expertise, not just hours, or number of images. This is something less quantifiable, but I would say absolutely the most important element to the discussion. I like to think of it like this: Why would you ever pay $200 for a pair of Citizen jeans when you can get a pair from the Gap for 50 bucks? Because the Citizen's are higher quality, the style is current, and they make your ass look like a million bucks. It's the same with wedding photography. There will always be a cheaper photographer. Heck, your uncle has a camera, right? But you're paying for expertise, art, and style, and for photos that will last forever.

If you find a wedding photographer whose style is what you want, just book them. Seriously. Just call them up, and book them because if you save a few hundred or even thousand dollars booking a less experienced "budget" wedding photographer, your photos may not come out well, or even not at all. Photography is an art form, and not everyone does it in the particular way that speaks to you. Wedding photos are what you will have for generations to come, what you show your children and grandchildren. It's how you relive your memories every year on your anniversary. No, you don't mess with your wedding photos. Wedding Photography is the one place you shouldn't cut corners.

Don't get me wrong, we always try to fit our packages within a client's budget to the best of our ability. But it always cracks me up when people call us up and say, "We don't want to pay your fee, we just want, like, 3-5 photographs for our website," or "How much would 50-60 photographs be of our wedding?" The truth is, we never show up to a party and only shoot 3-5 photographs. We shoot many, many, more, then we end up with 3-5 winners and send them to you.  And it's expensive because we're really good at what we do, and you're paying for our expertise, not just for hours, and not just for products.



Have something to say? Leave a comment below.
Want to see our style? Check out our website.

Megan Blaine
Blaine Photography
323-893-2345

Why Hire a Photographer?

Let's talk about the value of a wedding photographer. We've been hearing a lot of couples lately who hire their friends or family members to photograph their wedding. I can't tell you how many people I find who regret that decision.

Even the most skilled photographer friend or family member may miss crucial moments. Your friends and family will want to participate and party, not photograph all the time. Even if their intent is to do a great job, when they're at the wedding surrounded by their own friends and family, they'll put down the camera and chat (and can you blame them? I'd do that too!) Professional wedding photographers don't take time off at all during a wedding. They must stay focused the entire time, looking for moments to record, because once that moment passes, it's gone forever. A brief conversation that a friend photographer has could cost you the perfect meaningful shot, and then it's gone forever.

A good photographer can make a budget wedding look like a million bucks, and capture those moments between your family and friends that mean so much to you later in life.  After my own wedding was over, I realized I could have changed anything - my dress, my flowers, my food, my venue, my table settings, cake, you name it (OK, not my groom)... But it passed by so quickly (Really - the whole 8 hours felt like 30 minutes), and what I walked away with was being most amazing man of my life left in the end was the photos.

The one invaluable thing that made my wedding fantastic was my photographers. They captured it. They captured moments that I didn't know were happening and are so precious to me. My grandma whispering to my granddad during the ceremony. My mothers eyes filled with tears during my dad's speech. These are things I would have missed forever without my fantastic photographers, and when I see the photos, they transport me straight back to our wedding day. Our wedding photographers were Kitty & Craig Fritz of New Mexico, and their company is TwinLens Images. They are photojournalists and they are damn good at what they do. All photos below are ©TwinLensImages. Can't say enough good things about their work.

Photos from my own wedding:

©TwinLensImages

Can't you just feel how nervous Keith was? (I was an hour late to my own wedding) My only wedding advice is this: If you have to cut corners, cut everywhere except your photographer. Really.

Best California Wedding Venues - Southern California

I've always thought that one of the hardest parts to planning your perfect wedding is finding the perfect location. When you find the perfect wedding venue, everything else just falls into place. I love it when I get to shoot at weddings with a stunning location because it just makes my job so much easier.  So here's a little cheat sheet of the best Southern California Wedding Venues. (I may keep adding to this list!)

Classic, & Unique Wedding Venues (i.e. Not a Golf-Course or Hotel Ballroom)

Alverno Villa (Villa Sol de Oro)

I was this bride. I really wanted classic, rich-feeling elements without having the stuffy atmosphere that's so often found in a hotel ballroom, or other traditional spaces. So I call this Untraditional Classic Style.This beautiful villa was designed by famed architect Wallace Neff. It sits on about an acre of land in a residential neighborhood in Sierra Madre, CA (right by Pasadena). The best part is it's really inexpensive! The site fee is only $5000 and the exclusive caterer is also reasonable and the food is delicious. You can get in and out for about $8,000 including 4 course plated dinner for 120 and a full bar.

SB Spring Bank Lobby

This is a classic beauty with marble coming out of it's ears, original carved wood ceiling, this place is 2 stories of decadence on Spring Street in Downtown LA. For more information about weddings at SB Spring, visit: http://laloftrental.com/

The Vibiana

The Vibiana is a former cathedral turned into one of the best wedding venues I've ever seen. It's stunning, cleanly detailed with classic elements throughout, and there is an adjacent garden for an outdoor wedding ceremony (or cocktail hour while the catering crew sets up for the reception). This place costs a pretty penny (Site fee alone was $16,000 for a Saturday in 2008), but this venue is perfect for a huge wedding up to 1,000 guests. Click here for more about The Vibiana

Urban Loft Wedding Venue:

If Downtown LA doesn't scare you then you're my kinda bride (I live here). If your ideal wedding consists of a blank, open, space that you can do what you like with, these venues are fab.

Pacific Electric Loft Penthouse

Pacific Electric Penthouse: Think: skylights, exposed brick, 40' Vaulted Ceilings with exposed steel roof trusses... Perfect for an urban wedding location! 

Huron Substation

This little gem called the Huron Substation is located in Highland Park and it's just incredible. It has a vibrant loft feeling, with lots of potential to do as you wish with the 2 story space, without the hassle of parking in downtown LA. Click here for more info on a wedding at the Huron Substation. 

Other unique Loft Wedding Venues to check out: Marvimon Downtown, LA, and Smog Shoppe: a former smog shop, turned into a fabulous Eco-friendly Wedding Venue. It's Certified Leed Platinum, and the cost of Weddings at the Smog Shoppe are really reasonable and start at $3800. With all site fees included, the starting prices are really around $5500. Click here for more info. 

Rustic Wedding Venue:

The Santa Margarita Ranch

Whether you're going for rustic, outdoorsy, eclectic, or vintage, these two rustic wedding venues are my top pick. The Santa Margarita Ranch just outside San Luis Obispo is such an incredible wedding venue. It's off the beaten path so it's private but spacious and surrounded with rolling California hills and ancient oak trees. This barn is a perfect venue for a rustic wedding, and is lined with huge wooden beams and stone walls. Add some twinkle lights and you've got yourself a cozy, homey, rustic wedding space. These photos are care of HeAndShe Photography.

 Grand Chenier Ranch

 

If you like the Santa Margarita Ranch, this barn at Grand Chenier Ranch outside of San Miguel, California is also a really amazing venue.

Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse

And if you're looking for the perfect cabin-y, Colorado-Style wedding in California, here is a Colorado-Style wedding venue in California. (A home away from home for some...) This rustic wedding location is just outside Santa Barbara. It's called the Figueroa Mountain Farmhouse and has all the privacy and views one could ever want!

San Diego Lavender Fields

Keys Creek Lavender Fields outside of San Diego is the best place for engagement photos in San Diego!

I'll definitely keep adding to this list as I find the best California Wedding Venues.

 - Megan Blaine -

BlainePhotography
www.blainephoto.com
blainephotoblog.com

Ruins as a Wedding Venue

Haiku Mill (Maui) 

There is something just so romantic about architectural ruins. They feel like pieces of history that the earth is slowly taking back and absorbing into itself. I think that's what gives them this feeling of zen, of one-ness, and of a larger perspective that we're all in this journey together.  Somehow it symbolically reminds me of two people coming together and creating a new family unit. Check out these pictures of the Haiku Mill ruins in Maui.  (Click to enlarge the photo collages.)

This is one of those locations you look at and think, how is this place even real? This incredible wedding venue is perfect for a night time wedding, with the ample uplighting on the stone walls covered in vines. And is open to the twinkling night sky.

On site there is a little cottage to get ready in. You can just picture a happy bride with her mother helping her into her flowy wedding gown in this eclectic, vintage-y room. 

I'm terribly sad this place doesn't allow ouside Vendors like me because I would LOVE to photograph here. But please make sure you mention that you were referred from Megan Blaine at Blaine Photography if you decided to book your wedding at the ruins at Haiku Mill. For more photos, and information, check out their website HERE.

The 2011 site fee for Haiku Mill is less than $6000, which is SUCH a deal for this place. The site fee includes the day before the wedding for the rehearsal and the day of the wedding from 10am-10pm. It holds up to 100 guests.

Megan Blaine
Blaine Photography
323-893-2345