John Burchell Photography

Google has some really wonderful tools. I discovered how to create a “customized search engine” and found this very helpful while studying and learning about taking better photos. Anyone can create their own search engine from here: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/, but if you’re looking for one that gives great results for tips on the internet for taking better photos, you can use the one I set up.

I’ve been using this for a while and I really get what I’m looking for quick, as long as I’m looking for tips and ideas to make my photos Better.

I’m not a huge fan of prepared lists because they can take away from my creativity. When I have to concentrate on a list of traditional photos I tend to lose a bit of creative sight. Most photographers will end up taking those photos anyway but making them an absolute requirement takes a lot away from the photojournalistic approach. But there are a list of “Must-Have” shots that I figure are automatic and go without saying, but here is the list of all the photographs to get.

Bride dressing for ceremony, dress on chair/bed, full-length solo, with parents, with mother/father seperately, with sisters/brothers, grandparents, flower girl. Bride with maid of honor, with attendants.

Groom Garter toss, getting dressed, full-length solo, with parents, mother/father seperately, with grandparents, sisters/brothers, with best man and groomsmen.

Ceremony Groom and Brides parents being seated, bridesmaids walking down the aisle, flower girl, ring bearer walking down aisle. Bride and father approahcing altar. Bride’s father giving her hand to the groom. Exchanging vows, unity candle, ring ceremony, the kiss, Mr. & Mrs. walking down the aisle.

Ring-Bearers/Flower Girls These jobs are very important and we must get these. I know I already mentioned them, but these wind up to be so much fun!

Recessional Formal bride and groom. Newlyweds together, with parents, with entire bridal party. Close-ups of bride and groom clasped hands with ring.

Reception Receiving line, guests and bridal party. Cake table, cutting the cake, feeding the cake. Best man toast. Newlyweds toasting each other. Cake and punch servers. Musicians. Newlyweds first dance, guests dancing, father daughter dance, bouquet toss, groom removing garter, tossing the garter. Newlyweds getting into limousine/carriage, newlyweds in limousine/carriage.

Last weekend, I assisted Larry Foster on another beautiful wedding that took place at the crystal bridge, Downtown Oklahoma City.  He managed to get several really awesome artful photos and I think the bride and the groom were happy.  I didn’t have the opportunity to take any photos this time, there just wasn’t really enough room for a second photographer during the ceremony.   Also, the area where the ceremony was held was very dark, almost no ambient light whatsoever.

There was beautiful food, an great looking unique cake design, dancing, laughing and a great time.  It was a fun wedding to be able to attend.  The bride and groom posed for the final shot, which was taken outside.  It was really great the weather wasn’t too cold for them to come out for that photograph, because that one turned out really well!

In my searchings on the internet, I came across a cake decorator named Erica in the Edmond, Ok area.  She had a simple ad posted and I contacted her.  She sent me some photos of her cakes and I was totally impressed!

Now, I’ve been to a few weddings and I’ve seen a few cakes and those are a couple of really creative designs.  Erica seems like a neat lady and I’m sure she’d love to hear from you if you’re going to be needing a cake for your wedding, engagement, baby shower or anniversary.  She is currently working on her own website, but I’ve got her contact info below.  She’s also studying to be a graphics designer, something that will probably help with her creativity in designing her cakes.  She also said she’s making a three-tiered cake this weekend for a 50th wedding anniversary. 

I’ll be looking forward to getting some photos of that for her before it’s all gone.

If you want to get in touch with Erica, here’s her contact info and a few more of her delicious looking cakes:

Erica
Reach her by email at: cravincake@cox.net
or reach her by phone at:  405-641-0676

I am doing 43 things.

My profile on www.LinkedIn.com for anyone interested in staying in contact with me or anyone interested in joining my network.

I’ve had a LinkedIn profile now for quite some time. A collegue of mine had sent me an invitation so I went ahead and created a profile, with the absolute bare minimum of information at first, because I didn’t know how much SPAM I was going to start receiving. So far, it’s been completely spam free. I haven’t looked at it in a couple of years until recently another colleque sent me another invitation to join his network. I’ve been hearing the buzz about the linkedin website and I didn’t really see why I should join it till I read this article by Ben Worthen on the Wall Street Journal Biztech Blog site.

According to the article: “LinkedIn is also a good way to solve problems that you don’t know how to answer. If you need help with a marketing problem, for example, but don’t have a relationship with anyone in your company’s marketing department, you can find out what friends or friends-of-friends have that expertise. It’s the equivalent of asking your friends if they know a good dentist, says Luo, only faster.”

I know personal referrals aren’t 100% always great, but they are light years ahead of calling someone at random out of the phone book.

I’ve added myself on a cool new website as a Freelance Photographer

If you’ve landed here from the Freelance Photographer, FreelanceDesigners.com site, you’re currently in my BLOG section. If you’re interested in viewing some of my work, please visit my New Website http://www.JohnBurchell.com page where you’ll find all the info you need about me.

Whether you need a photographer for your wedding, your portraits or commercial needs, or if you’re another photographer, I hope you find my site, my Blog and my Gallery exciting and full of useful information.

Just a few off the last memory card…

I recently found an excellent multi-part article, originally posted by range, over at http://thememoirs.org, titled “Understanding modern HDR Photography, a set of tools, links examples and explanations”.   I’ve never seen such a complete and concise article anywhere else that covers the topic as well.  The article goes into many great topics including the functionality of modern Digital Cameras, their ability to capture the range of color, how the technology works and some techniques using software to extend the range of digital cameras to produce absolutely stunning results.

“Although the meaning of dynamic range for a real-world scene is simply the ratio between lightest and darkest regions (contrast ratio)” He mentions, “its definition becomes more complicated when describing measurement devices such as digital cameras and scanners.”

And the several articles the cites and posts go to great lengths to clarify those definitions.

No matter what your skill level is, this article will definitely provide something useful that will help you master the light and color of anything you might be photographing with a modern digital camera.  I would consider this article a MUST READ for anyone that works with digital images.  Bookmark this article and check it frequently for any future posts on this topic.