Lauren & Michael Sacred Heart Church & Springfield Marriott wedding reception

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September 28, 2013 was the date for Lauren and Michael’s wedding and reception. The day started off at sacred heart Church on Chestnut St in Springfield. The setting was a beautiful warm fall day with a blue sky and a few clouds to accent. The bride Lauren and her girls arrived in a deluxe Peter Pan tour bus, and were escorted inside the church to stay out of view of Michael the groom. The mass was celebrated by Fr. George Farland, and as usual for him, it was a quick celebration of marriage.

Before Lauren and Michael knew it, they were walking back up the aisle and outside for a receiving line, feeling more relaxed than when they first entered the church. After the receiving line, a special means of transportation to the Marriott was waiting for them. An awesome horse drawn coach awaited Lauren & Michael to escort them to their reception in style, while the bridal party partied in the tour bus slowly following them to the Marriott in downtown Springfield. Their arrival was grand, with many spectators on hand, some complete strangers just in awe of the unusual site of a bride and groom arriving by horse and buggy.

Into the stately lobby we proceeded to take a few formal photos and then upstairs to the 6th floor for outside photographs on the Marriott’s wonderful outdoor terrace with downtown Springfield skyline as a background. Soon it was time for the reception, and the introductions were done by the band Live Radio, providing the entertainment for the evening. Lauren and Michael proudly entered the grand ballroom preceded by their wedding party, and went into their first dance, toasts and dinner. The evening was a fun filled time with dancing and partying, everyone had a great time. Please enjoy some of Lauren and Michael’s wedding photography that we were honored to do for them.

Laura & Tom’s Log Cabin wedding

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Laura & Tom’s wedding and reception took place on the afternoon of September 21, 2013 at the Log Cabin in Holyoke Massachusetts. Our relationship with them started when I did their engagement session at Stanley Park in Westfield, Massachusetts almost a year to the date to their wedding day. They were a fun couple, and very easy to work with, see the sun glasses pose… I knew at that time their wedding pictures were going to be awesome. It helps when a couple is enthusiastic about their photos. September 21st turned out to be an overcast day with showers in the area. The couple decided to have the ceremony out doors and chance it with the weather. Their bet paid off, the ceremony went off without a hitch. The beautiful Log Cabin vista was the background for the ceremony and some dark ominous clouds lay in the distance creating a beautiful contrast to the fall sky.

After the ceremony, during the formals a shower came through and we had to go inside, but it was brief and we were back outside taking advantage of the vista again. We got some dramatic shots of the dark threatening sky, just before we went inside to start the reception coverage. All throughout the evening the events flowed flawlessly and the dance floor was packed thanks to Marx Entertainment. We topped off the evening with some outdoor scenes featuring the couple posing by the new fire place added by the Log Cabin earlier this year. Please enjoy the photos of Laura and Tom’s fantastic day.

Shannon & Henry Stanley Park wedding and St Ann’s Country Club Reception

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On September 20, 2013 Shannon & Henry had their ceremony at Stanley park in Westfield, Ma. My daughter Julie assisted me as the second photographer. Shannon and Henry met as volunteer fire fighters, Henry being Shannon’s boss, and their relationship grew from there. The ceremony was beautiful, under a beautiful fall sky, unfortunately the park organist did not show and it looked like there would be no music for the ceremony. Henry would have none of that, being thech savvy, Henry had his trusty IPhone with the ceremony music play list backed up, after a few downloads he was good to go. The IPhone was plugged into the JP’s audio system and the day was saved. Shannon had no idea at the time of the issue, and looked lovey as she walked on the flag stone path to the group of family and friends waiting. The reception was held at The St Anne country Club in Feeding Hills, Ma. Dinner was great and the room was decorated nicely with a table for fallen vets and MIA’s. I have never seen this tribute before, but Shannon being in the military felt it was appropriate at her wedding reception. Greg Belise of Absolute Entertainment did an outstanding job as MC and DJ, and provided music which kept the dance floor full the entire evening. Enjoy the images of Shannon and Henry’s wedding day.

 

Kristen & Shane’s Sacred Heart ceremony & Log Cabin reception

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How to take great digital photographs

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David, owner of Portraits by David

David, owner of Portraits by David

Understanding Shutter Speed and Aperture

The first in a series on taking great digital photographs

Taking a great digital photograph can be easy if you understand a few important things. First, you must have a camera that allows manual settings if you ever want to produce great digital images. What I mean by manual settings is the ability to control your exposure manually, not relying on the camera to set your exposure.

manual setting

manual setting

Sometimes you will get a great shot using program mode or shutter and aperture modes, must very seldom will the camera select the correct exposure due to back lighting and other conditions. In future articles, I will discuss ISO, histograms, highlight/shadow etc.

There are two important pieces to exposure, and understanding each one and how it affects the exposure is basic to taking great photographs. They are shutter speed and aperture. Shutter speed is the time of the exposure, or the amount of time the shutter stays open.

shutter dial

Aperture is the opening in the lens that controls the amount of light entering when the shutter is open. Unless both settings are set to the correct amount for the lighting condition, your exposure will be off either a little or a lot depending on the ambient light that is lighting the scene and subject.

aperture ring

Consider shutter and aperture this way: A faucet with running water. Turning the faucet on and off is like the shutter, the amount of time it is open would be the shutter speed. The opening the water comes out of is the aperture. The amount or pressure of the water is like the light the aperture lets in your lens. Perfect exposure is the right combination of both. Shutter speed is the time the faucet is open, aperture in the amount or water pressure coming out.

Shutter speeds are times for example, 1 second, ½ second, ¼ second. 1/8 second, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/120, 1/500, 1/100 second etc. Apertures are called f stops and have the letter f as a prefix, for example f1.4, f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16, f22, f32. A correct exposure is a combination of each of these. Now, you need to know that the larger the f number or aperture, the smaller the hole is that lets light in, and the greater the focus range or depth of field will be. The longer the shutter speed is for example 1 second, the more time the shutter is open. Tripods should be used at 1/30 and longer shutter speeds to reduce camera shake and blurred images, unless you are real steady or braced well.

Now, let’s look at a sample exposure taken outdoors in direct sun, not the best idea for good photos of people, but ok for landscapes and nature. I recommend a low ISO in direct sun such as 250 or 300 to allow the shutter and aperture ranges to be able to capture a good image. If you shoot at ISO 800 or 1000 outside in sunlight you may exceed your cameras ability to capture a properly exposed image. Try 1/500 at f11 and see how the image looks, or use a hand held light meter to get a preliminary exposure index. If the image looks too dark, lower your shutter speed to 1/250 and or open your aperture to a lower number like f8, or you can up your ISO to 400 J

See there are many things that can affect your exposure. Experiment, practice until you feel comfortable with shutter speed and aperture settings, and play with ISO, then we will look at histograms, your cameras way of showing you if you are spot on or over or under exposed.