My all time favorite  type of wedding photography is the bridal. These were done in my studio this Tuesday of this week. In the studio, I have full control over the lighting. I wanted something elegant, classical, fun, and sensual. I was happy with the way they turned out.

The process is never ending, from these I’ve gotten some new ideas I want to try. I have a wedding this weekend. so I’ll be posting some more.

Studio work Omaha

Fun picture of bride

Black and white Sensual Bride

Me and Hanson Fong

I spent the last three days in a small class with Hanson Fong in Freemont Nebraska. It was a class filled with information that I can’t wait to use at my next wedding. Mr. Fong spent most of the time on posing everything  from the bride, to  groups. It is amazing how he sees people and backgrounds. I’ll be working on what he taught, and hopefully it will all sink in. Check out my next wedding in July, and please let me know if you see any difference.   Well, I need to get make to work, I need to get something’s done before I go to bed.

Where do I start? My story starts a few months back, when I was surfing the web and came across the work of vibrant photography out of Australia. His bridals portraits are breath taking. His bridals portraits are outside, and he uses a portable power supply with a studio flash with a Beauty Dish Reflector. Because, studio flashes do have high speed sync (HSS), many of his work is taken around f 16. I was thinking I could do that if I had that equipment, I have a set of White Lightening flashes that I’m very happy with so I thought I would look in to an  AlienBee with a Vagabond II portable power supply .

So, I order them; than I find this video on YouTube called “Alien Bees & Others – High Speed Sync – Oh yea!” I’m thinking,  jackpot! I have it made HSS with a system I just ordered, and all I’ll need to buy is a Radiopopper JrX receiver and I’ll have it all.

I also, shot weddings and have set of Radiopopper’s PX system which I just love. I can’t wait!

I love my radiopopper

So, when I tried HSS with my Alien Bee and Radiopopper, sometimes it would work and sometimes it won’t. I was convinced, that it MOST have something to do with the switches settings on the Radiopopper JrX. I tried every switch combination I could think of and it would not work. I called the people at Radiopopper so see how they did it. One thing I do like about the Radiopopper’s is the help, I’ve always talked with a real person, or they have called be back. I’m getting off track, the people at Radiopopper, said they have some bad news for me because they could not get it to work anymore either, and if I found a way to get to work consistently to let them know.

When I went back and looked at my images and the images that were in the “Alien Bees & Others – High Speed Sync – Oh yea!” video they all had one thing in common. HSS only works when the lens was fully open. On my 70 – 200mm f 2.8 lens; HSS only works at f 2.8 and won’t work at any aperture above f 2.8.

HSS at only one aperture is limiting, but it’s much more freedom than I had before. What good is high speed sync anyway? The biggest advantage is when using a flash outside. The flash controls the light on your subject, and the shutter speed controls the ambient light. So, at high speeds you can get a deep blue sky.

The bottom line is HSS with Alien Bees and the Radiopopper PX transmitter and JrX receiver does work but only at the widest opening of the lens.

Let me go over that worked for me:

AlienBee 1600 – I was shooting outside, so I had lamp tracking off, but I have checked this with lamp tracking on and off, it does not make a difference.

Connected to a Radiopopper JrX receiver (studio) using the mini jack not the phone cord.

JrX receiver – Channel 07, Group 00, Error Checking Enabled, AB Model Lamp Track disabled.

Radiopopper PX transmitter – Channel 07 which was triggered by a Canon ST-E2 Transmitter  in HSS mode.

Canon 7D – ISO 200 / f 2.8.

Please let me know if this help, I would love to hear back from you.

High speed scnc in Omaha

beautiful girl

Yesterday I tested some new equipments: an Alien Bees B1600, Radiopopper JrX , and Vagabond II power supply. All of these were taken in manual exposure at 1/250 f 4.0. I tried to get the Highspeed Sync to work, but it would it. It working earlier in the studio. I really did not need, but I wanted to play with it.

I was lucky to have a beautiful model Gayle from Council Bluffs to help. I know it’s looks easy to take beautiful images of a beautiful model (which it is). My main thoughts were on light control, which I was very happy with. I have more work to do and images to take with the Highspeed Sync . I’ll post those when it get it to work and more images.

country girl

Plattsmouth engagement

The wedding day was so beautiful. For a photographer that means that the sun is out, clear skies and it’s not too hot or too cold. As an added bonus the church was gorgeous inside and out. The inside had plenty of natural light and the outside had several nice places to take pictures.

Plus, I know I always say this but I do have the happiest clients. Everyone was so nice, the kids need not even cry during the service. The only bad thing I could say about it is I wish all my weddings were so easy.

Some fun things that happened were the groom had upgraded the brides ring set without her knowing it, as you can see in images below. Another nice thing was the reception was in the same building, so I did not have to pack and unpack. Well I hope you enjoy the images. I can’t wait for my next wedding will be at St. Patrick’s Church Of Gretna.

Beautiful bride

Fine art wedding photography

professional wedding photography at night

The next day I had an enegement couple. The weather was much nicer. These images were all done in just out my studio. One of one things that excited me about these two was their passion one another.   I’m looking forward to their wedding day, it very easy to photograph them, because they are always natural with each other and need very little direction

  I did my first wedding of the year this last weekend. What a nice couple. The service was at First Lutheran Church of Papillion with the reception at the Patriot Club on Offutt AFB.  The weather was better than I thought. They actually got a flower for me, I think that is so nice.

Classic engagement

Last night I did some studio engagement with the couple that had their first set of engagement  taken down town about a week before Christmas (see 27 Jan posting). I had a fun time with them, what a fun couple. We started by doing one that they had requested, it’s the black and white below, then we did some classic ones, and finally we just played around (high key images).

Dramatic black and white engagement photo

Plus, I got to play with some of my new photography tools, and a new computer (the old one crashed). I’m looking forward to photographing their wedding; they have some GREAT ideas that will make it unique.

I have a wedding this weekend, and if the weather can hold out should be fantastic. I have some ideas that I think will be fun.

Oh, by the way I finished my Master’s degree from Bellevue University about two weeks ago.  My web sites were put on hold while I finished up my degree, so now that I’m done check my sites over the next month or two.  One will get spruced up while the other will get a face lift, tummy tuck, and flash augmentation.

Fun engagement photos

 I’ve been so bless to have couples that are willing to try new things. Take for example, this couple. I wanted to do some engagement portraits at night at the Gene Leahy Mall while all the Christmas lights are on. The plus side is that they would be unique and colorful and no crowds the down side is that is late, dark cold, and would be demanding on any couple.

 No question about it this couple is in love! We all had fun and they never complained about the cold or my bad jokes. I’ll have to say with all the snow we got lately I just had to take some snow pictures.  I did use flashes to supplement the night light.

 I’ll be doing some studio work with this couple in February. So please check back to see some more images.