I began with digital, and one of the things that I have struggled with is how to get accurate and consistent color in the digital “darkroom”.  With the auto white balance settings of most modern cameras easily fooled by scenes with artificial light, I spent hours fiddling with the white balance sliders trying to correct for the camera’s skewed vision.  I needed something that would make color correction quick and easy.

That’s when I found the ColorRight Max tool.  The ColorRight Max disc is two tools in one.  The first tool allows you to take the white balance from a scene the way that traditional white balance tools work.  Simply take a shot with the disc held up to your camera lens, and use the shot to set the custom white balance on your camera.  Flip the ColorRight over, however, and you find a white balance target a variety of colors that allow you to choose from 8 different white balance zones to suit your preferences.

I use the ColorRight as a white balance target.  During a shoot, I leave the camera on the Auto White Balance setting.  Whenever I move into an area with different lighting, I shoot the ColorRight target.  With its quick release lanyard, it’s a cinch to take it from around my neck and move it into the frame.  It takes 5 seconds.  Then, when I’m processing the photos, I use the eyedropper tool in my RAW  processing software to select the zone in the target frame that gives me the color that I want.  Unlike other white balance tools, the different zones of the ColorRight tool allow me to process the photos with a slightly warmer than neutral skintone that I prefer.  It’s that easy!

On a portrait shoot, I ask the client to hold the ColorRight while I shoot a test frame.

Then, in my RAW processing software, I use the eyedropper tool to select from the 8 different white balance zones:

Compared to the Auto White Balance setting of my Canon camera:

At a wedding, I have to deal with multiple types of light throughout the day.  Five seconds with the ColorRight in each of these settings yields accurate, consistent color that is easy to achieve.  Where the ColorRight really shines for me is in the too-warm artificial light that you find in most household lamps.

I’m a big fan of tools that help me spend less time in front of my computer.  That means I’m a big fan of the ColoRight tool.  The one small knock I have against the tool is that it is made of thin glass, as I found out when mine shattered in my camera bag.

Despite the early demise of mine, I still wholeheartedly recommend the ColoRight Max.  I bought mine from the ColorRight website: http://www.colorright.com/

–Jamison Wexler

Put on your pith helmet and EXPLORE!

I’ve photographed weddings at a LOT of country clubs. You know the kind with a pretty little gazebo out back that they have designated as the photo area. If I can share a little secret with the hundreds of millions of people on the internet…I don’t like gazebos very much. So I always try to arrive at a location a little early and explore. When I get to the bride’s parent’s house where she and the girls are getting ready, the first thing I ask is if I can look around the house, and I look into every room. When I arrive at a new hotel, I do the same thing. Since I am not a gazebo photographer, I am looking for locations ha are unique to the venue, and different from what other photographers are capturing there. Spots with great light, but more importantly with a great story to tell about the location…or just an interesting background to make the photo look cool. I look for interesting geometric shapes, or interesting colors. Most of all, I look for places that I’m pretty sure no other photographer has ever used!

I took this photo at College Ave United Methodist Church in Somerville MA. This church was probably built around the 1920’s and was definitely in need of a little updating. When I arrived, however, I put on my pith helmet, and discovered several very cool locations, my favorite of which was an 80 year old gym on the third floor.

This wedding was at a conference center with a pretty little garden area that was just a little plain. After doing all of the family photos in the garden area, I asked the bridesmaids to bustle the bride’s dress, and followed a little path to the back of the building, where I found…a dumpster!

This wedding was at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem MA during a blizzard. I had just finished up with the family photos and was about to head on to the ceremony when nature called. Answering the call, I noticed this cool opaque window and asked the bride in to the Men’s room.

Another weather snafu on this wedding day, this time it was rainy and we were stuck inside the country club. Adjacent to the bridal suite was the ladies locker room, and, after sending a bridesmaid inside to make sure the coast was clear, I found this cool little ottoman in front of the antique looking wooden lockers.

This wedding took place at a resort on the Cape. I convinced them to wander across to the little cluster of shops across the street from the resort where they were married. The shop outsides provided great backgrounds, but it was this little ice cream shop that caught my eye. I poked my head in and was instantly invited in by the owner.

This wedding took place at a reception venue that was lovely, but a little plain. As I was exploring, however, I found a hall that led to a dance club at the back of the building. The staff was just setting up for the night, and were gracious enough to let us in!

This reception took place at the Ballroom Veronique, which has no shortage of wonderful locations. I wanted to create a contrast to the elegance of the location, though, and decided to look around a bit. In the staff hallway behind the ballroom, I found the Laundromat.

As you can see, if you are looking to create memorable and unique portraits on a couple’s wedding day, it pays to explore. And here’s another little secret: you have an all access pass in a white dress following behind you. People can’t say no to a bride on her wedding day! So get out there and explore. You’ll be surprised what you find.

PS – those of you joining us for the next shoot, I will be discussing the details of what I look for in a great indoor location, and what I do when my exploration is fruitless! Can’t wait to see you all.

~ Jamison Wexler

We are excited to announce that the next ShootStyle workshop will take place on Sunday, May 16, 2009, from 1pm to 7pm at the Hampton Inn in Worcester, MA.

There’s an old saying in New England.  “Don’t like the weather? Wait 5 minutes.”  So what do you do when Hurricane Destructosaurus blows into town on your couple’s beautiful wedding day?  Or what do you do when your bride, planning her October wedding in June, decides that picture time should happen at 7:00pm?

In this workshop, Jamie Wexler will show you some tips and tricks for creating great photos indoors and after dark.  With a practical, hands-on approach, he’ll show you what to look for in a great indoor location and quick and easy ways to use indoor lighting in a way that adds interest.  Finally, he’ll show you where to look for really cool locations and interesting lighting in the most boring of venues.

The workshop will begin with an hour-long presentation by Jamie.  Participants will then have a chance to work with models and ShootStyle members at a suitably difficult location to put the tips and tricks to work.  Then we’ll all regroup to review our photos together and talk about out the shoot.

The cost is $45 and is limited to the first 16 people who sign up.  Click here to secure your place: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/635067504

Want to come to the workshop for free?  We are offering 4 slots to photographers who are willing to participant in the model shoot in front of the camera!  You would get to participate in all of the other aspects of the workshop, slipping into your model shoes just for the model shoot portion.  Since this workshop is focused on creating bridal portraits we’re looking for female models.  Shoot us an email at jamie@jamisonwexler.com if interested.

But what about when we get to the reception and the available light is too low?  Or just plain ugly?  In settings like this we have to create the best light for our photos.  For most of us, creating light begins with an on-camera flash.

In my first years I just used an on-camera light, bounced when possible, even in the darkest of receptions. I achieved a look that I see over and over: well lit subjects with black hole (or worse, ugly orangy tungsten) backgrounds.

Photographs like this:

In the above photo, the subject is well lit, with flattering, diffused light from my flash, but the background is dark and orange.

So one day, for kicks, I arrived at the reception site early and set up a battery powered monolight that I kept in the car for formals. I didn’t replace the light from my on-camera flash, but used it in conjunction with the flash. The monolight lifted the ambient levels in the room while my on-camera flash still lit the subject. Processing that wedding was a revelation. Instead of dark hole or ugly orange backgrounds, I had well lit backgrounds that showed off the rest of the room.

Photographs like this:

To better illustrate the difference, here are a couple of photos that I took in quick succession.  In the first of each of these photos, I only used an on-camera flash, in the second I used the on-camera flash plus an off-camera flash:

On-camera + off-camera:

Just on-camera:

On-camera + off-camera:

Just on-camera:

As you can see, the advantage of using off-camera lights during the reception is the ability to create lighting which allows you to see what is going on in the background and also to get rid of the ugly orange!

Now that you know the advantages of off-camera reception lighting, let’s take a look at how I do it.
1) I start by finding the optimal location for my light placement. For most rooms, I like to place my lights in two opposite corners of the room.

2) I set the power on the light to a level that I think will be correct based on the size of the room. For the average ballroom I typically find it to be 1/8 to 1/4 power. Keep in mind that I don’t mind shooting at ISO 800-1600 all evening. My goal is to have an exposure of f4 in the middle of the room.

3) I take a couple of test shots to determine the correct exposure at various places in the room. By breaking the room into exposure “zones”, I can quickly adjust my exposure based on where the person I am aiming the camera at is standing in relation to the lights. If the subject is closer to the lights, I use a smaller aperture…farther away from the lights, I use a bigger aperture. So if I am at f4 in the middle of the room, as the subject moves closer to the lights in either direction, I might change to f5.6, then to f8, etc.

In my head the room looks something like this (NOT to scale):

That’s it! Since both the flash power and the camera are set to manual, the only variable is the distance of the subject to the light. Much easier than fighting your TTL all night!

Here are a couple of examples from weddings this year:

This room was gorgeous but it was also a lighting nightmare!  It had 30 foot ceilings of dark wood, dark wood paneling on the walls, and dark lighting. A friend of mine compared it to the elevator in the Haunted Mansion at Disney World – and he was spot on!

Here’s a photo with just the ambient light (f1.4, 1/50, ISO3200)!

So given how we’ve been taught to bounce to avoid direct flash, I bounced over my shoulder off of the granite part of the wall above the wood. FEC at +2, 1/25, f4 ISO3200. Here’s the most my on-camera flash could give me:

Note the video light from the videographer lighting the speaker’s face. Not exactly album material.

Luckily I had arrived at the venue early, had scoped out the room, and had taken a couple of minutes to devise a lighting strategy. Here’s what I came up with:

I lit the room from both sides with small Sunpak flashes (a 383 on the left, and a 120j on the right), both set to 1/4 power. I fired them with my skyport trigger plugged into the PC socket of my camera, with my on-camera 580ex bounced off the flip-up card providing fill.

Here’s what the same scene looked like straight out of camera with the lights (1/60, f4, ISO1600):

And a couple of finished images from receptions at this venue:

So my strategy is to use the off-camera flashes to light the room and my on-camera flash to light what I am shooting.

I had a very similar room the week before.  It was an old barn converted to a reception hall. It was dark with a dark wood ceiling. There were balconies to get the flashes up high, but beams running throughout the room, so I had to be careful of shadows. My solution was to place the flashes on the balcony at a level that was below the ceiling beams, aimed straight at the support beams. This ensured that any shadow cast by the beam fell on the next beam over, instead of on a person in my photo.

Here are a couple of images with the setup:

and here’s the diagram of that room.

Every room is different, but with a little experimentation, it’s easy to devise a lighting strategy that will add a little extra pep to your reception images.

~Jamie Wexler

The Barn is located on an expansive property that borders fields with actual cows in them. It is on this well landscaped property that couples who choose to hold their ceremony at Gibbet Hill pledge their love. Located just below the barn on the lawn, the wedding party make their way down a granite staircase and across the grass to a picturesque spot facing the hills. To the right is a small pond shaded by a large oak tree. And the animals are on hand to celebrate as well. At a recent wedding I photographed, the cows were watching the ceremony from the hill. As the couple enjoyed their first kiss as husband and wife, the cows mooed their approval to the delight of all gathered.

After the ceremony, the guests are ushered up to a large, covered deck off the barn where appetizers and cocktails are elegantly presented. When the weather is nice, the deck is open on three sides and offers beautiful views of the hills. When the weather changes, the deck can be enclosed to keep the revelers warm and dry.

When it’s time for the reception to start, everyone is invited into the barn itself. Inside the barn is the picture of rustic elegance. Chandeliers are hung between the old wood beams of the original barn. Steps lead up to a pair of balconies on either side of the room. A large dance floor ensures that all the guests can shake their money makers, and the expansive main floor provides room for the guest tables. Since everything is all in one room, it feels very cozy without being crowded. And the food is delicious!

One of the most interesting features of the property, however, requires a short hike. Up behind the cow fields is the ruins of an ancient castle. People with a large budget for their event can actually rent out the castle ruins for their reception, but anyone can use them for photos. And what a cool and romantic photo spot it is – with its large stone towers, walls overgrown with ivy, and roofless great hall, with the remains of huge stone fireplaces on either side. If you have ever wanted to be Cinderella on your wedding day, the ruins are the place to make that dream come true!

As a whole, The Barn at Gibbet Hill offers a uniquely New England location for an elegant, rural wedding celebration.

~Jamie Wexler