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No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Photographing boudoir photos as a Christian male is a unique situation. Not only does the bride-to-be have to be 100% comfortable with you photographing her in her skippies, but as the photographer and as a man, you have to be 100% sure that your intentions are only to capture photos the best you can, and not let any sort of sexual temptation come into your mind or heart.

Obviously there is a lot of flesh being shown, so my motivation has to be pure. As a wedding photographer, I’ve done a good dozen of these shoots and even if they start off a little awkward, we always end up laughing and having a great time. I always insist they have a female friend present, if nothing else to act as a chaperone for both of us. What I’ve come to find out about myself is that when I have a camera in my hands, my focus is on the picture, not on the person. I can’t say that’s how I would have acted even 5 years ago. So I feel blessed to be able to do these sort of shoots for my clients, while reserving my other feelings for my fiancé betrothed.

So Nikon has finally announced it’s D4 and D800 cameras. I have roughly 140,000 shots with my D700 and it’s certainly paid for itself. Nothing wrong with it. So that begs the question… do I need to upgrade? Mind you there is a HUGE difference between need and want. But since my camera is well-used, I owe it to my clients to have a camera which is still fresh enough not to break anytime soon. And to stay at the top of the game, I need something with the latest technology in order to at least match my competition

Roughly:

Nikon D800
36mp
ISO 6400 (same as D700, on paper)
4fps (great for capturing turtle races)
HD video

Nikon D4
16mp
ISO 12,500
11fps (great for catching a bouquet toss)
HD video

So if I was a 100% Landscape photographer making millions on photos like this one, then the D800 is absolutely the right choice. Large photos which I can crop and still blow up to billboard size. Same if I was a strictly studio/product photographer. Now while I do all these things, what generates the most income is weddings. And to me the perfect wedding camera would be:

20mp
ISO 100,000
8fps
No video

I don’t want 36mp which would generate 50meg RAW files. If I shot 1000 photos at a wedding, that would be like 50gig worth of data, and then putting that into Lightroom, it would just choke going from photo to photo. So that would be overkill.

So both of Nikon’s new cameras are in the middle of what I want most. I’m tempted to get a used D3s because then I’d have the FPS speed, the much better ISO than the D700. But I also heard the D800 has this new face-recognition feature which helps meter on someone’s face when it recognizes it. That might be pretty cool too since I typically shoot in Aperture-priority at weddings. No, not Manual. Don’t make me go off on you for explaining why you shouldn’t do that.

Thoughts?

7 years ago this morning we drove into the local hospital where Wyatt was going to be born. Yes, Wyatt. It was the name we had agreed upon months before. And then on the way there after some silence his mom says, “I don’t think I like the name Wyatt anymore.” “okay, what do you like?” I reply. “I think I like the name Dylan”. “Dillion?” “No Dylan, with a Y”…. at this point, obviously the mom had this in mind for a while, so there was no chance of me asking her to change her mind to what I wanted, "Xander Bronson". So a couple hours later, Dylan came out. He wasn’t necessarily mellow to start with, which as you can see hasn’t changed a bit.

He’s my best buddy. I love him. And tonight we celebrate 7 amazing, life-changing years. I’m so proud to be his Dad.

Happy Birthday Dylan

I bought a Beauty Dish for my Alien Bee AB800 because I thought it would make any photo of me look beautiful. WRONG. This thing makes me look scruffy, unwashed, tired and in need a haircut. Wait… all of those are true.

I had every hopes of creating a Super Bowl Disco J photo before yesterday’s big game, but just ran out of time. Plus the field I was going to use had a huge soccer goal in front of the goal post so that thwarted my plan. PLUS, it was too windy. I tested my Alien Bees in the back yard with their Giant Octabox on it, and even with a 25lb sandbag, it was still tipping over. So I tested them inside my sunroom on myself along with a 22” beauty dish. I’m still working on just how to use the beauty dish with the grid, kicker lights, etc. I just need a model to sit down for an hour or two and practice.

Shoot on Wednesday got postponed. Engagement on Thursday. Wedding in 19 days.

I know some wedding photographers who photograph nothing but weddings. They see it as a business and they’re good at what they do. But I think it’s important to understand other aspects of photography in order to do them all better. For instance if you’re good with landscape photography, you’ll understand composition a little better as well as horizons, light, foreground/background, etc. Macros for ring shots, family photos to help with formal photos, etc.

So what does photographing models have to do with wedding photography? Well, a good model will know how to pose. So if posing people isn’t your strong point, then watch how they move, watch how they use emotion, expression and pose to make themselves look flattering. A great model knows how to take the attention off themselves and sell something. Jewlery, a hair design, clothing… not themselves. They’re just there to model something else. That’s why when I see models do nude photoshoots… just what are you modeling? Skin cream?

Tiffany was one of the first models I photographed back in 2009. I met her while doing a boudoir shoot; she was their makeup artist. She also likes to design clothes, so she contacted me and we headed up into the burnt hills of Santa Barbara and had a great time doing fun shots like this.

Now that I own a couple Alien Bees and a 22” Beauty Dish with honeycomb grid and sock, I’m hoping to get a little more experience in the beauty/glamour department. I have one model shoot scheduled for next Thursday after work down at the beach and I’m hoping to know what I’m doing by then. Anyone want to come and hold a reflector?