Excerpt taken from the back cover of the book.

View Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories at Amazon.com.

Doing this is quite simple actually and can be done with one light source. The light source should be placed behind the top part of the Bible. This will cause the ring to cast a shadow on the pages of the Bible that is shaped like a heart.

If you are making this image with a wedding ring, consider opening the Bible to a page that is significant for the couple.

• White reflects a natural fill-light and is great for outdoor portraits and product photography.
• Silver increases specular highlights and causes the image to be more contrasted.
• Black blocks or subtracts light.
• Gold produces a warm, golden fill-light and is great for sunset or indoor portraits.
• Translucent is used to diffuse light. It makes the light more even on the subject.

View the 40-Inch 5-in-1 Reflector at Amazon.com.

Traditional

This style is mostly or completely planned and posed. The photographer shoots very little candid shots and usually doesn’t stick around for very long after all of the “traditional” photos are taken (i.e. the kiss, formal group portraits, first dance, cutting the cake, etc.)

Photojournalism

The photojournalism approach to wedding photography is perfect for those who like to blend in and catch candid moments that happen naturally. A photojournalistic wedding photographer doesn’t pose many photos, if any at all.

Portrait Journalism

Portrait journalism is somewhere between the traditional and photojournalism styles. This type of wedding photographer will pose shots such as bridal portraits, formal group portraits, and romantic portraits. They will also be ready to catch many candid moments as well!

There is no right or wrong style of wedding photography. When choosing a style, take your personality into consideration. A shy person would probably be more comfortable with the photojournalism style while a very outgoing person would be better suited to shoot in a traditional or portrait journalistic style.

The picture had been sent to family and friends, posted on her blog, and also posted on a few social networking websites.

Read the full story here.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

To view some of the Fashion 360 images from the red carpet event, go to 2009 MTV Movie Awards | Fashion 360 at MTV.com. A few of the celebrities you will find there are Megan Fox, Miley Cyrus, and Paris Hilton and her boyfriend, Doug Reinhardt. Be aware that the images may take a few moments to load.

It’s a good idea for people who are just starting out to learn on a lower level camera, like the D40, in order to learn the basic functions of a digital SLR camera without being overwhelmed.

Notable features:

• 6.1-megapixel
• Kit includes 3x 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens
• 2.5-inch LCD with three display options; built-in flash and hot shoe
• Shoot at up to 2.5 frames per second
• Powered by one rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL9 (included)

View the Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit at Amazon.com.

It’s really cool and something that you should definitely check out!

National Geographic’s Infinite Photograph

• Select the teeth with whichever tool is easiest for you. I use the Polygonal Lasso Tool.

• Reduce the saturation of the selection to tone down color stains on the teeth. I don’t desaturate completely because it tends to look less natural that way.
• Create a new curves adjustment layer for the selection and move the center point on the diagonal line toward the top-left corner just a little bit.

• To that same adjustment layer, use the Gaussian Blur filter just enough to smooth out any “rough” edges around the teeth (seen below) that the brightening caused.

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Here is some of the information that you should gather:

Basic Information

• Date of the wedding.
• Date of the reception. (It’s doesn’t hurt to ask this just to be safe!)
• Bride’s name (first and last), cell phone number, email.
• Groom’s name (first and last), cell phone number, email.
• Rehearsal date, address, and time.
• Ceremony: name of location, address, phone number, contact name (manager or owner), and specific times (arrival, beginning, ending, departure).
• Reception: name of location, address, phone number, contact name (manager or owner), and specific times (arrival, beginning).
• Officiator name, phone number, and email.
• Coordinator (if applicable) name, phone number, and email.
• Dressing rooms (if photographer is requested to be present there) address, phone number, and specific times.
• One or two emergency contacts for the wedding day (name, relation, cell phone number).
• Honeymoon dates. This is so that you don’t try to contact them about their pictures during these dates.

Other Information

• About how many hours will the photographer be required from arrival to departure?
• About how many guests will be attending?
• Rules during the ceremony (flash, moving around, where you can and can’t go, how close you can get).
• Unusual traditions or special requests.

View the Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control at Amazon.com.

How to create a silhouette:

• Make sure the background is lighter than the foreground. Exposing for the background, if it’s lighter, will cause the foreground to be shadowed.
• Do not point the lens directly at the sun. Something you might want to try is positioning yourself or your subject so that the light source is right behind them. This will create a glow all around the edges of the subject.
• Use a high f-stop (narrow aperture) so that both the background and the foreground elements are in focus.

The Nikon D5000 is sold as body-only for $729, as a kit with an 18mm to 55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR lens for $849, or as a two-lens kit with a 55mm to 200mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens in addition to the 18mm to 55mm for $1,100.

Notable features:

• 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor
• D-Movie Mode with sound
• Vari-angle color LCD monitor
• 19 Auto-exposure Scene Modes
• One-button Live View
• 11-point Autofocus System with 3D Focus Tracking
• GPS Geo-tagging

View the Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera at Amazon.com.

How to avoid red-eye:

• Don’t use direct flash. Bounce the flash off a smooth, light surface so that the light is coming from another direction.
• Don’t use flash at all. Use other artificial lighting or ambient light. Having a wider aperture is good when using ambient light because it will allow more light into the lens.
• Have the subject look somewhere other than directly at the camera. If you still want it to appear as if the subject is looking at the camera, having them look at your shoulder will do the trick.
• Utilize the red-eye reducer that many cameras have built-in. What this feature does is fire one or more short blasts of light to reduce the size of the subjects’ pupils right before taking the photo.
• Use photo-editing software to remove the red-eye. I don’t suggest this, but it’s an option. What happens is the red glow is replaced with black. This tool is not perfect, so it could end up creating a huge black spot where the eye is supposed to be.

All weddings are different, but there are some moments that happen in most weddings that you must not miss.

Before the Ceremony

• The dress hanging up and a close-up of any unique detail on the dress
• The bride getting ready (makeup, hair, jewelry, dress, shoes)
• Others getting ready
• Details like flowers, shoes, jewelry, the rings
• Portrait of the bride
• The groom getting ready (tie, cuff links)
• Portrait of the groom

The Ceremony

• The groom waiting for the bride
• The officiator
• The best man and maid of honor coming down the aisle
• Each groomsman and bridesmaid coming down the aisle
• The ring bearer and flower girl
• The bride and her escort coming down the aisle
• Wide-angle view of the ceremony location
• The vows (smiles, tears, reactions from guests, etc.)
• Any special musician, singer, speaker, etc.
• Putting on the rings
• The kiss!
• The bride and groom coming down the aisle

After the Ceremony

• The receiving line
• Signing of the marriage license
• Formal group photos
• Romantic bride and groom photos

The Reception

• Details like food, centerpieces, the cake, decor
• The wedding party entering the reception
• Toasts
• Cutting of the cake
• The first dance
• Dances with parents
• Bouquet toss
• Garter removal

This list assumes a “traditional” wedding and not all weddings are going to be traditional. This is why it is so important to speak with the bride and groom and find out exactly what is going to happen and when so that you can be prepared for anything!

1. Before you photograph a wedding on your own, try to find an experienced wedding photographer that is willing to let you tag along and watch or even better, be a second shooter. As much as you might research wedding photography beforehand, there is nothing like actually getting out there and doing it. Having hands-on experience as a second shooter before you take on a wedding as the main photographer allows you to really know what the job is like.

2. Have the bride and groom make a “Wish List” of moments that they absolutely do not want you to miss.

3. If it’s possible, physically go to each location before the day of the wedding. Not only will it help you with being able to find the exact location when you need to in a hurry, you will also get a feel for the layout, lighting, background, etc.

4. Bring backup equipment (camera, battery, memory card, etc.) Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Don’t let the day of the wedding be the day that your equipment stops working and you don’t have a backup plan.

5. Consider enlisting the help of a second shooter if you are the main photographer of a wedding. It helps with catching special moments that are happening elsewhere while you are focused on something else. It’s also nice to get many different angles, especially during the ceremony.

6. Shoot in RAW and JPEG. Yes, it requires a lot of memory (always bring a lot of memory), but it’s worth it when you’re post-processing!

7. Smile! It will make everyone feel more comfortable, which makes for better photos.

8. It’s important to be confident, especially when directing posed photos. If you’re confident in yourself, others will have confidence in you as well.

9. Don’t forget to take photos of the small details like the detail of the wedding dress, the bride’s shoes, the rings, flowers, etc. A lot of money is spent on the small details, so the couple is probably going to want to remember exactly how beautiful they are.

10. Capture candid moments! A wedding is a celebration of love, not a day set aside to dress up and pose for the camera. While getting some posed photos is great, try to also shoot some real emotion like laughter and tears.

11. Introduce yourself to all the other hired help like the wedding coordinator, officiator, DJ, caterers, etc. In my experience, these people have been so helpful! The DJ has always been especially helpful because they usually let the photographer know what is about to happen before they announce it.

12. As soon as the wedding is over, immediately save all the original files to a disc and store it in a safe place. Make two copies even! This is to avoid losing everything in case your computer crashes while you’re post-processing the photos.

As the wedding photographer, you probably don’t have much (or any) say in any of the details for the wedding. But it’s still a good idea to speak with the bride and groom about this often overlooked detail. Before the day of the wedding (and hopefully before any concrete plans are made), discuss with them the importance of choosing a good dressing room.

Choosing a Dressing Room

The perfect dressing room is big and has a lot of room for a lot of people to move around in. Not only will the bride and her bridesmaids be getting ready in there, there will probably be frequent visits from family members and friends… and of course, the photographer will be there too!

Lighting

Big north-facing windows are preferred because natural light is the best kind of light to work with. Drape the windows with a light gauzy fabric so that the natural light will be diffused evenly. If big windows are not possible, place candles and strings of holiday lights around the room.

Clutter

Clutter and messes are good… if they are wedding related! Dresses should be hanging up or laid out and not wrapped in plastic and shoes should be unpacked and ready to wear (i.e. tags and stickers taken off). Unsightly packaging like shoe boxes, plastic bags, and the cardboard boxes from the florist should be somewhere other than the dressing room. Flowers look great when placed in vases around the room. Non-wedding related clothes like blue jeans and tennis shoes should be out of sight.

Brides will usually do whatever it takes to help make their photos beautiful. Advice on choosing a dressing room should be given to the bride and groom as soon as possible so that they may plan accordingly.

That is the great thing about Google’s Picasa. It’s free!

Click here to download Picasa 3 for FREE from Google!

Picasa doesn’t have nearly as many features as Photoshop, but there are a few useful tools that it does have that are split into three categories: Basic Fixes, Tuning, and Effects.

Basic Fixes: Commonly needed fixes

• Redeye. Even though it’s better to try prevent red-eye from happening in the first place, sometimes it’s unavoidable.
• I’m Feeling Lucky. This is a automatic one-click ”fix” for lighting and color. Using tools that auto-fix things don’t always work properly and may make the photo a weird color or too light or dark.
• Auto Contrast and Auto Color. If “I’m Feeling Lucky” doesn’t work the way it should, try Auto Contrast and Auto Color separately.
• Retouch. This tool is for fixing blemishes or other imperfections in the photograph.

Tuning: Finely-tuned lighting and color fixes

• Highlights and Shadows. The good thing about this tool is that you can control how much or how little to use it. Using both acts as a manual contrast adjustment!
• Color Temperature. Different types of lighting can cause color casts in your photos. This tool is a manual adjustment of the color cast to make it look more natural.

Effects: Fun and useful image processing

• Sharpen. Sharpening a photo should be the very last step before you are finished editing. Try not to over-sharpen!
• Sepia and Black & White. These effects are best used with the manual adjustment of Highlights and Shadows to increase the contrast.

Above are some of the most useful tools that Picasa has to offer. Some of the other tools that Picasa has include Text, Fill Light, Warmify, Tint, Saturation, etc.

Download Picasa and give it a try if you haven’t. It’s free after all!

Here is how to create the Orton Effect with Adobe Photoshop:

• Open your photo in Adobe Photoshop and do any other editing that you would like done before you continue with this tutorial.

• Right-click on the background layer and choose “Layer From Background”. Rename this layer and name it “Screen”. (Note: Do not change the blending mode of this layer until you have duplicated it in the step below.)
• Duplicate that layer and call this layer “Blur”.
• Change the blending mode of the “Screen” layer to “Screen”.

• Select the ”Blur” layer and in the menu, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur the layer enough so that you can make out the shapes, but not the detail.

• Change the blending mode of the blurred layer to “Multiply”.

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Here is how to create a vignette in Adobe Photoshop:

• Open the photo that you would like to use in Photoshop.

• Do any editing to the photo that you would like done before you create the vignette.
• In the layers panel, click the icon for “Create new fill or adjustment layer” and choose the option for “Curves”.
• Pull the center of the line down just a little bit to the bottom right until you reach your desired darkness for the vignette. Click OK.

• Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool in the toolbar and surround your subject with it.

• Right-click in the selected area and choose “Fill”. Fill with black color, normal blending, and 100% opacity.
• Now deselect the area and you will see an obvious division between the lighter and darker parts of the photograph.

• Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Pull the radius arrow to the right until you get a smooth transition on the layer mask between the light and dark areas.
• If you want to see the difference that you just made by creating a vignette, you can hide the vignette by clicking the small eye next to the adjustment layer in the layers panel.

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Here is how to do selective coloring using layers in Adobe Photoshop:

• First, pick which photo you want to edit and decide which part(s) of the photo will remain in color and which will be made black and white.

• Open the photo in Photoshop (or another photo editing program that allows you to manipulate layers.)
• Do any cropping or other editing that you would like done to the photo before proceeding with this tutorial.
• When you are ready to begin, make a copy of the background layer. Do this by right-clicking the background layer in the layers panel and choosing “Duplicate Layer”.
• Give the duplicate layer any name you wish or just use the name that Photoshop provides as default.
• Select the original background layer because this is the layer that you will be editing first.
• Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. This will remove color from the original background layer.
• Now the original background layer is desaturated and the duplicate background layer is in color. Select the duplicate layer in the layers panel because you will now be working with this layer.
• Add a layer mask to the duplicate layer. To do this, press the ALT key and click the “Add Layer Mask” icon in the layers panel. The icon is a little rectangle with a circle inside.
• There will now be a black box next to the saturated layer in the layers panel.
• Choose the brush tool and make sure that the foreground color is set to white. Opacity needs to be 100%.
• Make sure that the layer mask is selected and then ”paint” over the parts of the picture that you want to be in color. Painting white on the layer mask will make the color under it appear.

• White spots will appear on the black box that is next to the saturated layer.

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