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Gala event for the Decatur Area Arts Council

edvydas — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:34:40 +0000

Cute and stylish table settings

Well, there you go.

Another huge event that I did not even know existed before this evening. That was a huge advantage that I never realized I had with newspapers I worked for in cities I lived — I always knew about the big events. At times, I wonder where my attention sits (actually, I know the answer to that one — brides and grooms!)

This time it was the Corks and Forks 2010 in Decatur, Illinois.

Now for those of you familiar with the extravaganza, you could wonder how I missed it before this year.

WOW!

I pulled up the parking lot at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel and could not believe what I was seeing. A sea of cars — and only a little bit of space left open. I’ve never seen an event there that even came close to filling the parking lots.

More than 700 people attending the special fund-raising event for the Decatur Area Arts Council on Thursday night — to sample fare from at least 24 vendors that I counted.

The food and the wine sampling was awesome!

And so were the attendees who were there not only to have fun (and food and fantastic wine) but also to help raising funding for the Arts Council. Cakes, mini-tacos, chocolate-covered strawberries and the best vineyards in the area.

And, of course, the people attending were the best of the best!

Please enjoy a few images from the evenings event (and look for some more to come.)

Thank you Lori and Bert for your invite for the evening!

I had planned to show off a couple of photos, but I think this quick video will do this event better justice.

This is a lo-res version and I’ll have the hi resolution version up online on our Facebook page of www.facebook.com/emcphotography later this weekend.

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Oh, my! Where did our standards go. . .

edvydas — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:58:02 +0000

Believe it or not, this has nothing to do with morals or values or anything like that.

It has to do with what people perceive as “good photography.” I’m constantly amazed at what people can accept as good images.

I recently was sent a video that was both funny and sad at the same time. Funny, because it a good representation of what comes from choosing a “cheap” photographer and sad because these “pro” photographers actually thought it was a good image to give something that was out of focus. Wow! Even sadder, if their claim is that they have shot hundreds of weddings with this standard, why weren’t they getting more complaints? Just watch and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Now — whether or not you agree with the verdict and such, this is a fascinating lesson in photography. And there are points I agree with and points that I very much disagree with in terms of what the judge said! But, the judge is still attempting to apply a standard to the photography.

In my photography classes at Richland Community College I define good photography. And I have to — otherwise it is a bit tough to judge images for grading. Here’s a simple way — does the image succeed in communicating? Does it tell you something? And how well does it do the job? A sharp, technically correct image will easily tell a story. A blurry, out-of-focus image may give you an idea but it rarely tells a story.

At one point in time, before the digital age, it was common to shoot fewer images. After all, who had the money to spend thousands of dollars on using lots of film. I’m not advocating that we head back in time whatsoever. What I am advocating is that we start learning how to edit and throw away bad images. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but the out-of-focus and badly posed image of your daughter’s most precious wedding is just not a good way to remember the event. Cheapness has a cost.

Another, Wow! How can anyone actually call themselves a professional and not even know what equipment or lenses they are shooting with? Or what effect cheap equipment has on the final images? If you spend any time on sites such as Flickr you will see some absolutely wonderful images. And even more not so wonderful images.

I’m constantly amazed at what some people will accept — and that I can’t even get to the point of being able to show! I had a bride and groom several weeks back absolutely gushing over an engagement photos a friend shot. It was blurry (motion blur) and it had things growing out of their heads. I’ve always thought that flag poles should stay in the ground and not grow out of a person’s head. Ouch! And, to top it all off, it was greenish! And this is where it gets difficult, how do you tell someone that a shot is bad when they think it is wonderful?

If you want to learn more, you are also very welcome to come to one of our seminars on basic photography.

Give a call to Richland Community College (217) 875-7211, ext. 265 -or to the Decatur Arts Council (217-423-3194) to see what I’m up to in teaching!

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HDR Imaging — A different way to capture images

edvydas — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:25:24 +0000

When teaching photography classes, I teach the absolute importance of getting exposures correct.

After all, you can immediately tell when there is a problem with an image due to bad exposure. It looks too light or too dark. And you can tell when someone has attempted to correct the problem (or let the “auto” mode on their computer software correct it.) The pictures start getting this grainy appearance. And programs like Adobe Photoshop can only make so many changes to an image before things start falling apart.

But there is one way around this — and depending on whom you speak with, it is either the greatest thing since sliced bread or just another tool of the devil. It is called High Dynamic Range photography (HDR for short).

I enjoy playing with it. What you actually do when creating an HDR image is take multiple photos of the exact same thing at different exposures. And then combine the results in programs such as Photoshop or Photomatix.

Let me explain further — when you normally shoot an image you create a single exposure. HDR depends upon your taking more images — one that is at what can be considered the correct exposure, another over exposed and then another even more overexposed. Then going the other direction and creating one that is under exposed and then even more underexposed. Five photos seems to be the common number but you can create with as few as three or as many as nine.

It does take a special program to combine the images — and I prefer Photomatix to Photoshop for this currently, but some of the changes coming to Photoshop may change my mind on this.

Now — the ideal way to capture these types of images is using a tripod. I have some strange aversion to using tripods (I think I’ve actually lost too many of them) so I try to find ways around this. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But I find that it is possible to create something a bit different.

I’m going to post a bit more on this on my next blog, but here are some teaser photos taken this past week while on our pilgrimage to the annual WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) conference in Las Vegas! And I’ll explain further the remark of “greatest thing since sliced bread or another tool of the devil!”

If you’d like to see more, please visit our main website at EMC Photography or at Flickr

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Special New Year for Bloomington couple

edvydas — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:55:27 +0000

The day started as beautiful but cold — and stayed that way the whole way.

But you never would have guessed that if you were with us at the gorgeous Chateau Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington. We found ourselves spending a warm and cosy day working ourselves into our usual shooting frenzy on a wedding day.

Shooting our second wedding of the new year, we chronicled the day of Adrienne and Nicholas — a fabulous and fun couple. And met lots and lots of really cool people who were both family and friends of the newlyweds.

The day was the culmination of lots and lots of planning by Adrienne who found herself working without her groom — as he was away at US Army training! So, this date became even more special as he made it go right to get leave at the right time, not an easy task when part of the Armed Forces.

We are tossing up a few of the images from that day, please enjoy! We will have the full set of photos in about three weeks up and running.

Adrienne and Nicholas twirled their way through their first dance as a married couple at the Chateau Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington, Illinois.

Nicholas gets a joyful and tearful hug from his new mom, Adrienne's mother, during the wedding ceremony.

Nicholas gives his bride a kiss and a dip at the Chateau.

Nick and his crew of wild and crazy groomsmen and ushers.

Adrienne and her gals made the beautiful halls of the Chateau pale in comparison.

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Giving a camera gift, Part 1

edvydas — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:52:40 +0000

Buying a digital camera as a present – part 1

As a professional photographer and educator, I always get questioned on what camera I recommend. During this time of the year, the question arises even more often.

I’ve spent many years dodging the question – with the statement of “that depends” followed by saying I don’t know enough about lower price models to be a good judge.

But after having taught as many students as I have both in classes and in seminars – I think it’s about time that I come up with a better answer.

Unfortunately, the answer to the question means other questions must be asked. And even though answering a question with another question is considered a bit rude, I have to ask “who is getting the camera?”

Cameras are like shoes, you won’t wear the same shoes climbing Mount Everest as you would attending a formal ballroom dance. You need appropriate shoes AND ensure they fit you correctly. Why anyone would think that one camera is “the best” is silly.

This also means that I still won’t answer the question directly – but I’m going to give you some working guidelines today and follow it up with some more specific tips in the next few blogs.

And keep in mind – this means you actually have to find something that fits the person getting the camera. No laziness allowed. Which means this is all about them and not you.

So . . .

How well does the person getting the camera understand photography?
How much of “techie” is the person getting the camera?
Does the person understand anything about computers (yes – computers, not cameras!)
What kind of images does the person usually shoot (vacation landscapes, portraits, candid, flowers)
Do they like to print their images? How big do they like to print their images?
1. Do they post lots of the images to the web? Facebook? MySpace? Etc.?
2. Do they give friends pictures or show them off?
3. Do they take the camera everywhere with them?
4. Do they like challenges or do they prefer to take the easy road?
5. Are they willing to learn? (yes, are they REALLY willing to learn and WANT to learn)

Let’s take a look at these one by one (or maybe a bit faster)

Regardless of what a salesperson might say, if you are spending more than $150 on a camera you really should have some concept of photography. Not because you plan to make a career of it, but because you will have to understand all the features that come with the camera. Five years ago $150 would not buy you much feature-wise. Now, you can get so lost in the camera features that you forget to take the picture!

Don’t expect the user’s manuals to be of any real help in learning the cameras. I’ve long since discovered that users just plain don’t get what the manual is talking about. Manuals, almost without fail, assume the person who now owns the camera understands words like exposure, white balance, bracketing, etc.

Sales people are generally not much more useful . I once even overheard a sales person telling a person that bracketing means the camera automatically shoots three photos at different white balances and then chose the best exposure from the three. The customer just nodded. I was a bit preoccupied at the time, so I’ve always wondered if the customer was nodding to humor the salesperson or actually believing it.

Just so you know, bracketing means you have the camera intentionally take one picture at what it thinks is correct and then intentionally shoots two more images, one that is overexposed and one that is underexposed. You can have a different type of bracketing that also involves white balance. But, the two are not related and the camera definitely does not choose the “correct” exposure.

This actually leads to question 2, do they understand technology? Are they willing to learn technology? You definitely don’t need an engineering degree to understand a camera – but you have to have the patience to learn it.

If you know the person can’t program their DVR, then don’t be mean to them and give them something far more complicated. They’ll get frustrated and end up blaming the camera for being a bad camera. And it probably isn’t. Most technological problems arise from the user and not the machine. Yeah, no one wants to hear that line.

Next question – do they know computers? You see, digital cameras and their products are designed to be used with computers. This has been known to shock some of my seminar students.

And if you buy a camera for someone who thinks their computer can blow up the world (Yes!! There are still some people who think that!) don’t expect them to jump up and down about the concept of editing their photos, downloading, uploading, posting photos, etc. If they are having problems mastering email . . . .

Now – if you’ve gotten through all of that, well, does the person who actually like to shoot photos? Look at their walls of their home – are there pictures there? How big or small are they? Do you see any albums? Do they give away photos? Some people think that art on the wall means a painting of someone else’s family or a few weeds strategically placed.

I know several people who have great cameras but don’t use them. No real interest. Or they hide their photos, perhaps thinking they might run away if left in the open. . .

That does not mean you don’t get them a camera – just don’t get the latest, greatest $800 camera out there. They would probably be happy with one costing less than $100 that doesn’t do everything.

Now, as to where they might go with the camera. If you want a camera to go almost everywhere with you, you probably don’t want a digital SLR. They’re just too bulky. Now, they will produce the best images (and we’ll address why in a later blog) but if you want something portable it’s just not a good idea.

Even when working as a news photographer I did not continuously carry a camera on my person. I have to confess, my dates had no clue that I had a full camera bag in my trunk on the off chance that a disaster might occur near me that I would shoot.

On the other hand, I would have loved to have a small digital camera with me at other times.

Finally – and I probably should have put this one as the first – are they willing and interested in learning more? They have to be willing to learn . . . they have to be willing to experience new things. Age is not a barrier at all – I’ve had students from ten years old to 75 years old.

Don’t ever assume they will want to learn . . . there are those who don’t really want to learn. Or think they can’t.

Get them a set of disposable film cameras and they might be just as happy.

In the next couple of blogs, we’ll take a better look at other camera details that will help you decide what you need to get them and why

So, my answer to question of what is the best camera is still – it depends, but I think I’ll now begin to say it depends on who the camera is for and what they will do with it.

That sounds a bit better.

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Working for Breast Cancer Donations

Krystal — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:37:11 +0000

We’re going to try something a bit different this coming October 11 (a Sunday) when we work with an organization to raise money for breast cancer research.
And our goal is to be exhausted by the end of the day. We are taking appointments for Family Portrait sessions on that day and then donating the entire proceeds of the session fee to breast cancer research.

If you want to know more about who we are working with, check out the following link Images for a Cure. We know of only one other area photographer participating as I write this blog, hopefully there will be more in the near future.

There are hundreds of photographers who have signed up nationwide and we are proud to be a part of that group. Krystal has an aunt who survived breast cancer and losing her would have been horrible. She has been there for us many times and we want to do something to help see that the threat that loomed before her does not loom before anyone else.

Please call us or email us and set up a time to not only get a family heirloom created, but to make a fantastic donation to a fantastic group of people. As a bonus, we’ll discount our canvas wrap prints for you from that day’s shoots. We are located in Clinton, but as we are on-location photographers we will travel. We only have a limited number of session available so don’t wait too long to contact us.

We can be reached by phone at 217-542-1602 or at www.edvydasphoto.com.

Click here for more info

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Training a whole new group of photographers. . .

edvydas — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:34:15 +0000

Wow!!!!

I looked out onto a classroom that was completely full today! It seemed like every seat was filled and that is absolutely thrilling to be an instructor when that happens.

If you are wondering what I am babbling about – along with our business I also teach at Richland Community College in Decatur, Illinois. This is my fourth year as an adjunct (that means part-time in college-speak) faculty member.

I am so excited about this semester coming up that I can barely hold myself together. The world of digital photography continues to change so fast and so wildly that it is hard to keep up – and I have to say, when you teach photography it forces you to keep up!

When I started four years ago Photoshop CS2 was the modern program – and now we are on Photoshop CS4. No one had even heard of what has become an industry standard, Photoshop Lightroom. Cameras were topping out at 6 mB. And who would have even begun to think that digital SLRs would be producing videos that rival cameras that costs thousands more? And that just scratches the surface.

But – one of the coolest things about all this technology and all these advances, all they do is allow a photographer to do a better job faster. I don’t think there will ever come a time when photographers are not part our lives. No matter the advances of camera, it still takes a human to create an image.

I have yet to see a camera that captures the quality of the light (as I heard my friend Bob Davis say more than a few times this summer) without a photographer first seeing or creating it. Nor have I ever seen a camera pose a person so they look thin or eliminate that horrible double-chin. And lots of other things.

I have the perfect image that I’ve posted with this blog to talk about the quality of light as this gorgeous couple I shot in Bel Air, Maryland illustrates. Cool – and they were fun to work with to boot!

If I ever get a camera that can do this without my input, well, I can hang up my Nikons and fade into the sunset.

And I look forward to working with this newest crop of budding photographers on just this kind of an adventure.

Now – if only I had actually taken a photo of that classroom today! Maybe for the next post…

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Premier showing

Krystal — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:10:26 +0000

We had a great time south of Champaign with one of our wedding couples and their families, with their help we turned their two car garage into a 14 seat viewing area to see their photographs projected on the wall. It was a great time, and seeing the kids see themselves on the ‘big’ screen was great!

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traditions…

emcphotography — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:48:41 +0000

Something Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

The tradition of the bride wearing something old (for continuity), new (optimism for the future), borrowed (happiness), and blue (fidelity, good fortune, and love) on her wedding day stems from an Old English rhyme. The “something borrowed” comes from the superstition that happiness rubs off, so the bride borrowed something from a happily married woman. “Something blue” comes from the notion that the shade denotes fidelity, purity and love.

There’s also a fifth, though often dropped, line of the rhyme: “A penny in your shoe” (or, in England, a sixpence). Each is said to help ensure a lifetime of fortune.

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Why should we do a photography blog?

edvydas — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:52:41 +0000

. . . Ed’s thoughts

It’s been a long time coming for us – but we decided that we needed to spend some time both presenting photography advice, looking at some how-to’s in photography and telling you about some of the wonderful people we meet when out shooting. I have a different outlook on photography than many photographers — as I also teach photography at Richland Community College part-time. Plus, as anyone who knows me, once I start talking on some topics, you just can’t easily quiet me down.

Now, I’ll give you a warning, we’ll be talking about people all over the Illinois area — which happens to be the main area that we cover. We consider our communities to be Clinton, Bloomington, Champaign, Peoria, Springfield and Decatur — and pretty much everything in between.

And who knows, either Krystal or I might pop up with our opinions and thoughts on other things. Hey, that’s what a blog is all about, isn’t it?

So, here’s to the future! Oh, just so you know, all the blogs and such will be archived on our actual blog site of www.emcweddingphotography.com/weddingthoughts. So if you see this somewhere else, just follow the link back. And you can also join us on Facebook (EMC Photography Designer Portraits and Weddings.)