We’re sharing a rare “gear review” today of what we like to use for close up detail shots- Hoya macro filters!

We can’t stress enough how much we worry about catching “G.A.S.” – gear acquirement syndrome, the bane of the photographer’s bank account. That said, we thought we’d share some helpful tools with you that we can’t imagine working without now. Better still, especially in terms of photography gear, these will not break the bank!

When we’re working, it’s important for us to keep things as simple as possible when it comes to gear. It helps us concentrate more on creating beautiful images and less on the equipment we’re using to create them. The Contax 645 is our go-to camera for most of our work, but like most people who shoot with a Contax, we almost never take off our 80mm f2 Zeiss lens.
This becomes a problem when wanting to photograph details of the wedding day up close. Not because detail pictures on film don’t work, but because the focusing distance on the lens is too short.

Enter the solution:

The Hoya 72mm 3x macro filter kit

These filters have helped us work quickly and efficiently while still keeping things “simple.” More importantly, while still enabling us to get up close to get the shots we need. We can’t recommend them enough!

Pssst… if you’re looking for an affordable alternative to a proper macro lens for your DSLR, such as Canon’s (excellent) 100mm L series lens, these are a great addition to your bag that won’t cost close to $1000. If your lens has a 72mm filter thread (such as the Canon 50mm 1.2 L, the 35mm 1.4 L, or the 135mm f2 L), these will work with it! Just remember, you don’t have to shoot wide open with these.

Go easy on yourself – we usually shoot rings at f4-f5.6. Stopping down your aperture will help make sure your image will stay sharp.

I took them out this morning to take some photos for this blog post on our 5D Mark III & 50mm 1.2 lens (with 72mm filter thread).

Here is the mistake most people make when using them, and what usually happens when trying to shoot wide open, using the +4 filter here:

Here is the result when stopped down to 5.6:

Again, this time at f2:

Again at f5.6:

The kit comes with a +1, +2, and +4 filter.
Here is a comparison, +4 left, +1 right:

And a comparison from a real wedding, +1 left, +4 right:

Here is a crop comparison:
100%

1:3 crop

And finally, two digital shots, both straight out of the camera, the 50mm 1.2 L with a +2 filter ($$) to the left, and a shot from the 100mm f2.8 L macro lens from Canon ($$$) on the right.

We hope this has helped you! Let us know how you like them if you decide to purchase them. Here’s the link again:

Hoya Macro Filters on Amazon

… and a few more photos using the macro filters. Enjoy!

xoxo Michael and Carina

Virginia wedding photographers | Destination wedding photographers | Fine art wedding photographers | film wedding photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

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A cellphone pic from our beach. #nofilter

Wow. Almost half of 2014 has just flown by.

The past couple of months have been a whirlwind of weddings, engagement sessions, and other photo projects.

Some of you might already know, but Carina (she wouldn’t write this but she’s not writing this, so I can say it) recently finished almost 2 years of college wrapped up in one, in addition to being a full time photographer, all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

You might say I’m a teeny bit proud of the woman I’m lucky enough to call my wife.

This past weekend, we had a chance to take a bit of a breather so we drove to “our secret beach.” It’s a beach near where I grew up, that’s all I’ll say. (The locals try and keep it a secret, so I wouldn’t want to spoil it for them).

We picnicked and sat out in the sun. We talked about a lot of things that had nothing to do with photography, such as the enigma that is a Japanese mochi.

Inevitably though, this isn’t just a job – it’s our passion. We sat down and looked back at where we were 6 months ago, and the goals we had then.

-To continue getting our work published. So far, so good!
- To do “more styled shoots.” Hmmm, this has definitely changed. I think we’re not as into doing “more,” we just want to do one or two really amazing ones!! And it’s happening!
- Our branding has gotten a little more ironed out, thanks to help from a designer!
- Do more things that cause us to get excited about our business. Does eating a whole box of Japanese mochi at the beach count? No? If not, maybe flying to California and doing a workshop with Erich McVey does? Or shooting like 90% of a wedding on film? #thathappened

These were our goals and so far, we can’t begin to express how thankful we are to be meeting them head on and accomplishing them. We’re living our dream and it’s not always easy, but it’s definitely worth it to us. Our biggest blessings have been our couples this year. You guys can’t imagine how thankful we are to know you.
It’s such an amazing feeling to meet someone and for them to say to you, in other words, “Yes, I’m going to trust you with the telling of the visual story of the most sacred, most important day of our lives to our children and grandchildren.” To the couples whose weddings we’ve photographed thus far in 2014- Xi and Wesley, Kim and Brian, Emily and Jason, Kelsi and Michael, and Joy and Brian – each of your weddings was such a joy to document and we can’t thank you enough for the opportunity.

That said, we have some mid-year goals we’d like to put out in the open for everyone to see. I guess putting it out there will give us less room to just “not” let it happen. We believe in prayer but love the old proverb, “Pray, but move your feet.” We’re putting it out there, too, because perhaps you might be just the one to help us achieve one of these goals! Okay, let’s be honest. None of our dreams would be possible without you guys. Every time someone asks us to take a photo of them, that’s them reaffirming our passion. We’ve limited this to “business goals,” just for the sake of keeping it short and sweet.

I have to thank Kat of Dear Sweetheart Events for putting her “DSE Bucket List” out for everyone to see, as it really inspired us to do the same.

1) We really want to shoot a wedding in Italy. Rome is the city where we honeymooned, and we loved it so much we went back the next year, and the year after that. Everything in the city practically glows; Roman photographers must not have an idea of what “bad light” is. Italy is the same way – it’s almost impossible to go wrong. Imagine a bride + groom being photographed in Italy… Now imagine a bride + groom on FILM in Italy… now we’re talking. Next year, we will be in Europe during the latter part of the summer. Like, it’s happening, no doubt about it. So if you’re planning a wedding in Rome or somewhere else in Italy for Summer 2015, please send us a message! Also places where we’d love to shoot a wedding: Germany (wir sprechen so wie so Deutsch, und ein bisschen Bayerisch auch), Greece, Austria, England, and France – we know with your help, we can make it happen! We actually just recently received an inquiry for Australia but were booked for another wedding. Still, what a great feeling just to be considered!!

2) There are still some amazing venues we’d love to shoot at in or near Virginia, too. We’d love to shoot a wedding at Pippin Hill, the Mill at Fine Creek, Keswick Hall, and the Clifton Inn. We’ve photographed at Keswick Vineyards, the Tide’s Inn, the Williamsburg Winery and the Inn at Warner Hall before, love all of these venues and would be absolutely thrilled to photograph more weddings there!

3) Get published in Southern Weddings. Hey, we can dream, right? We’d like to believe it’s going to happen someday.

4) Be featured on Style Me Pretty. This is happening!

5) Shoot more and more film. We love film so much that we don’t care that it costs an arm and a leg… it’s worth it. We’ve found it’s where our personalities, our style, and our photography skills just fit. Yes, it’s just a medium… but it’s our medium.

6) Attend a fine art wedding photography workshop. This is also happening!

7) Give back. We’d really like to be as much a blessing to others as so many are to us. Not only our clients, but other vendors, too. Almost every single person we’ve been blessed to work with leaves us feeling more blessed and better than before. We’d love to do and be the same way with other wedding professionals.
Also with photographers who might not be as far along in their journey – we love mentoring and offering opportunities for photographers to come learn whatever we can offer them. Their success becomes our success. We’ve been there before, ourselves, and know what it’s like… and we remember the people who helped us on our way.

We don’t expect all of these things to happen right away… or in 6 months… or even a year. Maybe some won’t happen at all. But none of these things are impossible. Now it’s out there for everyone to know and if it’s supposed to happen, it will. In the meantime, we will keep loving each other… keep living our dreams… and while we pray, we’ll move our feet.

xoxo Michael & Carina

PS. Thanks so much for reading. If you’re a photographer and this helped inspire you, please share one of your biggest goals or “the next big step” you’d like to take in your business in the comments below!

The post Moving Our Feet | Goals | Michael and Carina Photography appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

We love our clients and we really want to give them images that stand out, while at the same time offering an *experience* with us.

We’ve grown a lot in the past year and we’ve learned a lot too.

But as far as we’ve come, there is still much – so much – we want to learn.

That’s why this year, we decided to build on what we know. We want to really take things to the next level… whatever that means.
It sounds cliche’, but we mean it.

There were a couple of workshops we looked at, and thanks to the advice of a friend, we were finally able to decide on one!

This June we will be flying out to California to join the fantastic Erich and Amy McVey of Erich McVey Photography for a fine art photography workshop. We’re looking forward to meeting some of the nicest, most inspiring people… not just Amy and Erich… but top vendors from the wedding industry and some of the best up and coming photographers from across the country for what is sure to be an amazing experience. Also, a little vacation on the Pacific Coast of California sounds nice too.
A google search of “Elk, California,” (where we will be staying), yields these results…

Imagine the photoshoot possibilities!! *swooooooon…*

To say we’re excited is an understatement.

We can’t wait to get inspired, take amazing photographs, build relationships with wonderful people, and bring back all of what we learn to Virginia.

Thank you guys for encouraging us and believing in us… you know who you are.

xoxo Michael and Carina

Erich McVey Photography | Erich McVey Workshop

The post Furthering Our Education + Big Trip | Erich McVey Workshop appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

We are so excited to announce something that we have been doing for the past several months and that have gotten popular without us blogging about or advertising a single session:

Skype Mentoring Sessions for Photographers!

Well, they are too much fun to keep secret any longer, and we’d love the opportunity to do more of them.

Over the past several months, we’ve connected with photographers from Conneticut to California via Skype. We’ve answered questions about film, guided photographers step-by-step and in real-time through our editing process, reviewed portfolios, and more, all without our clients leaving their living rooms.

It’s a relaxed atmosphere and so much fun. We don’t pretend to be know-it-alls; we just want to help and we share what has worked for us, and what hasn’t worked for us.

For about 2-3 hours we’re a completely open book.

After the mentoring session is over, we keep in touch and offer feedback on how you are putting what you’ve learned into practice.

For the 2-3 hour runtime, your investment is $300. Custom pricing is available for shorter (1 hour) Skype sessions but usually 3 hours is the ideal time frame.

All you need is a pen, paper, a list of your questions, a cup of coffee, and a Skype account (preferably with mic AND webcam).

Whether you want to talk all about film, or the business of shooting & sharing, we’re looking forward to hearing from you! For more info, feel free to write us at info@www.michaelandcarina.com.

xoxo Michael and Carina

PS. Read a review of a Skype mentoring session here!

The post Special Announcement | Skype Mentoring Sessions for Photographers appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

If you’d like to book us for a mentoring session, (where you can ask unlimited questions), we’re available in person or via Skype! Contact us for more info.

On average, how many images do you hand over for photo sessions and weddings?
Hi Kristen! It depends on the wedding, but an average amount is probably between 600-700 images for a full day wedding and about 100 for photo sessions.

I’d love to know more about your process regarding OCF during receptions? What’s your set up during that time? Do you use any diffusers on your off camera flash? Thanks!

Hello Lindsey! We love shooting with natural light, but unfortunately that isn’t always possible in receptions
(unless you’re comfortable with grainy/grainy black and white images – in which case go for it!). Flash to the rescue! We wrote a blog about how we utilize flash here. Sometimes we do use diffusors – we love our Wescott Rapidbox! It comes in handy especially when you cannot bounce the flash (like with dark ceilings) and is ridiculously easy to setup and break down. It depends on the situation. Personally, I (Mike) like the look of a bounced flash with a bare flash behind the subject as a rim light (as seen above, Canon 5d Mark III, 50mm 1.2 lens at f1.2, 2 Canon 600s, one on camera @1/32 bounced and one on a stand about 15 feet behind the subject @1/128). When we do use OCF we try to keep everything consistent by shooting “wide open” like we normally do.

I remember you sharing at the end of 2013 that one of your goals had been to “make it” as a photography team. I’d love to know how you jumped in and booked those first few weddings! Thanks – love your work!
Hi Allison, we kind of started from nothing in August 2012 when we moved to the USA. For a while, we didn’t get a single inquiry. To be completely honest, the first people who booked us found us on Craigslist. They didn’t pay a lot for us, but we did everything we could to make them feel that they did. Those first bookings yielded numerous referrals as a result, and so on, and so on… Over and over again, we’ve realized how important it is to treat your clients not just like “clients” but like people. We have paid for advertising and never received a single booking that way, except for one very small bridal show. Maybe it works better for other people. Most of our bookings come from either referrals or Google.
And thank you!

How did you begin with to get to know your cameras? I feel that there is so much I should know and try so that I lose my excitement soon. And there is a friends child I was asked to take photos from, but it feels a like a big task, although I know it is just for fun, can you give me some starter tips? =)
Sure thing, Maria! It’s important not to overwhelm yourself, and it’s easy to do – I know, I’ve been there. We’ve been there. Our solution was to give ourselves assignments with constraints (Tyler, if you’re reading this, this goes back to our conversation over dinner). Find something or someone you love shooting, take one camera, one lens, and take a series of portraits but limit yourself to 10 photos – that’s one example of a project where you’re limiting yourself and causing yourself to be more creative in the process. It causes you to think more about what you’re doing. You also usually end up discovering new ways of doing things that help you grow as a photographer. When it comes to shooting with people, if you need help, one of our favorite books might come in handy!

We don’t photograph children often, but we used to! (You probably know I (Mike) used to be a kindergarten teacher). One thing that is really important is to get on their level. Don’t just photograph them from above. Talk to them and get them comfortable on camera (if they are old enough to comprehend you), don’t feel like you have to jump into shooting. It helps if you try and see the world through their eyes and let them know you take them seriously. Be playful with them, especially younger children. Older children can be directed a bit more when it comes to posing, but it hardly ever works with younger children so why force it? Keep it light-hearted and easy-going and you should be fine!

hi michael & carina!! =) my question is: how did you start attracting brides in your business? what’s the best way to get WOM marketing going during slow spells if you shoot mostly portraits but would like to move to weddings? thanks so much!
Hi Paulina! There are a bunch of things you can do, but we’d say the first step is to figure out what type of client you’d like to attract. Who is your ideal client? Is your brand attractive to your ideal client? Once you figure that out, it’s easy to get in touch with a few clients by using social media – giveaways get a lot of attention. It doesn’t mean you have to give away a whole wedding- you could give away a “wedding planning kit” or a gift card to Starbucks. Once a client books you, just treat them like you’d want to be treated by your photographer. J

Hi friends! You knew this question would come from me : How do you get ALL of your images to look so consistent! No matter where the shoot is, what the subject looks like..it’s consistent! Your work is so beautiful!
Hello Katrina! Thanks so much – your feedback means the world to us! Shooting A LOT – even in “slow periods” helps you develop your own style. We have to remind ourselves of that just as much as anyone when we’re tempted to sit behind our computer all day answering emails or pinning on Pinterest boards. You should never be bored or complacent with your work, but even if you push yourself, shooting a lot just naturally helps you develop common threads of consistency in your work.
We also always look for the “perfect light” which helps our subjects glow.

Hey guys!! My dream is to shoot film and have it become part of my brand (still saving my pennies!). Hybrid shooting sounds really appealing to me and I love your work so much! Can you go over the benefits of being a hybrid shooter? I’m sure you’ve answered this before, but how often do you shoot film during a wedding and at what points throughout the day do you pull out your digital camera? One more!! How much extra are your expenses for one wedding since you’ve incorporated film vs. digital only…did you have to raise your prices? Thank y’all so much!
Shooting film can be expensive but it is SO worth it if it’s your passion. We just are happier and more satisfied with our work. Shooting a mix of film and digital naturally helps you save money, but that’s not the number one reason why we love it. Film is lovely, but that doesn’t mean “digital is dead.” Shooting digital in dark situations can really help where you’d be wringing your hands with most color films. That usually determines where we shoot film. If we want color images in dark situations, we use our digital cameras. In most situations where we can use natural light, we love shooting film. Our cost varies depending on how much film we shoot, but at the last wedding we photographed total film costs were well over $600 – and that’s nothing compared to some photographers we know. We shot film for a long time at a personal cost. We did this simply to become more experienced with it. If that’s really not an option for you, sometimes you might consider shooting with someone on a “test” basis, waiving the session fee and just charging the overhead for film instead. In September 2013 we changed our pricing structure to reflect the amount of film we shoot.

This is brilliant!!! First thank you sooo much for your time. Here’s my questions… What medium format film cameras would you recommend starting off with? What is the one thing you wish you knew when you first started shooting film? Lastly what kind of scanner do you like best? XxX
Hi there! We love our Contax 645s but they are hard to come by and/or very expensive. We hear great things about the Mamiya 645 and have personally shot with a Pentax 6×7. I wish I had known more how badly sunflare can affect a film negative. We once shot a whole test session on three rolls of film (luckily, as I said, it was a test session) and basically destroyed 2 of the rolls with too much sunflare. I also wish we had reached out to our developers personally early on for feedback. Be sure to reach out to your lab when you start shooting film, explain to them where you’re coming from, what you’re looking for… usually they are FULL of information and love helping! As for scanners, it depends on the film. We love the soft contrasts you can get with Portra 800 inside on a Noritsu scanner but we also love the deep, three-dimensional effect Frontier scanners have on Fuji400h outside:

Thank you guys for all of your great questions! We love interacting with y’all! We have a few blog posts in mind for the immediate future, but if there’s anything you’d like to see in more detail feel free to make a suggestion in the comment box below!

xoxo Michael & Carina

The post Mentoring | Photography Questions Answered | Michael and Carina Photography appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

 The technical questions, the business questions… Please no more than three questions per person! :) 

Michael and Carina Photography

The post Ask Us Anything | Q + A Volume II | Michael and Carina Photography appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

PASS Mobile App For Clients from Showit on Vimeo.

Ya’ll know that we’re so-called shoot and share photographers. We love including all the images and reproduction rights when giving our clients the images. It’s more of an all-inclusive experience and just better suits the way we like to do business.
That’s because we love for our couples to share their photos with all of their friends and family. That makes everybody excited ; it’s kind of like word of mouth. We’re big fans of that.
The past year or so PASS has made “shooting and sharing” super easy, super fun and super elegant for us. PASS is a free image sharing software that displays and stores the images. This brilliant software was created by photographers just like us, so it makes sense that we would love it!

You can share images for up to 30 days at no cost. You can upgrade galleries for a low yearly fee and images are guaranteed to be saved in the cloud for up to 10 years! What a huge security blanket for us and our clients!
No need to worry about getting a scratch in that CD or losing that USB stick. And even your family and friends that maybe could not make it to the wedding can be part of it by browsing all the photographs. You and your loved ones can even order (really affordable) prints directly to your doorstep through it.
Plus it just looks sexy!

NOW there is also a PASS app for your smartphone! We downloaded it yesterday and are loving it so far!
It has all the perks the online gallery has (storing, displaying, sharing, print ordering), but it’s on your phone. So it’s portable. You can show your friends your favorite wedding images at dinner. Or if you’re traveling and you just want to go back to those beautiful moments, you can.

As a photographer, PASS might not be for everyone, but it has definitely done wonders for our business. Talk about simplifying your life!! You can use the app to show clients examples of your work. We intend to do so for sure! It is very sleek and simple.

The images load quickly and are beautifully crisp and accurate in color. It looks just as beautiful as on the computer screen. We are in love and highly recommend getting the new app!

Android

IOS

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Your wedding ring. It’s a symbol of something timeless. Of wholeness, completeness.

You’ll wear it until you pass it on to your descendants.

The wedding ring is something which couples normally budget for in their weddings and usually, (unless it’s inherited), don’t flinch at investing a good deal into it.

It’s something that will last forever and will forever hold the two of you together as it reminds you of your bond with your spouse.

There’s one other thing that you could apply that description to with your wedding… you can guess what it is.

We don’t mean to step on anybody’s toes or upset anybody – this is just us explaining why we price our collections.

We get many wedding inquiries – and we get excited about each and every one. The excitement of newly engaged couples is so special!

Hearing about the venue and the love story behind it all makes us smile when we open up the email.

When we get an inquiry from a couple that is genuinely excited to meet us, we get excited too. Knowing you are entrusted with capturing the most important day of their lives is…incredible.

When we receive inquiries, the first thing we like to do is invite you out for coffee. It’s a trade – we buy you coffee, you tell us your love story.

We love getting to know you and making sure we’re a right fit.

One thing we hear of sometimes, not from “our” couples, of course, is that wedding photography is overpriced.

Your investment with us really is an “investment.” Documenting one of the most important days of your lives is something you invest in not only for yourselves, but for your children… and their children.

Our couples know the value of what they are investing in even though sometimes we work out payment plans, they love the images we create enough to see the value in them.

But for some, wedding photography pricing is just, across the board, too high.

The value of beautiful wedding photos speak for themselves. Their permanence. It’s what we first fell in love with about photography. It’s what still amazes us about photography. Our photos of our travels in Egypt years ago still take us back, even on a cold day like today, to a crowded Egyptian bazaar, with sand in our mouths and eyes, the scent of saffron and other spices mixing with the fumes of the diesel engines of Nile cruise ships in our noses.

2010

Memory is transient; photos remain.

That’s priceless.

Your investment includes a lot that most people don’t automatically think of, as well.

When you invest with us, you’re investing in:

• - hours of work on the wedding day, the day of your engagement session
• - oh, we forgot to mention… the engagement session which we include in our wedding collections
• - hours of work planning, emailing, location scouting, communicating, editing, retouching, saving, delivering behind the scenes
• - $$,$$$.$$+++ worth of professional photography equipment (we won’t go too much into detail but the lens we use just for lovely ringshots like the one above costs almost $1,000.00).
• - professional insurance for said camera equipment
• - professional, up-to-date editing software (and the training & experience of using it)
• - liability insurance
• - legal fees for contracts, etc.
• - Federal, state, county taxes
• - fees for an accountant to help us with taxes
• - $$$.$$+ worth of film for each engagement session and wedding
• - $$$$.$$ ++ invested in training so we can offer the best to our clients
• - terabytes of harddrives and online hosting to preserve and protect your images if you should lose them
• - online, instantly downloadable galleries
• - website fees
• - a reliable vehicle to make sure we are there on the big day
• - travel
• - funds we continually invest in our business to help make it successful

… the list goes on.

We love what we do. There couldn’t be a better career for us. We definitely don’t mind working.

But it is a business. Just because it’s a creative business doesn’t mean that the work put into it is of less value than the effort put into any other line of work. Michael recently had to stop by the dentist… when he got the bill he joked with the dentist, “Maybe you could use my teeth for your portfolio? I have a lot of friends that would love to book you and could get you some great exposure!” lol

Aside from the expenses mentioned, we have commitments and responsibilities like anyone else. Photography is how we pay our bills – one day we’d like to start a family, too. In the meantime we’d like to buy groceries.

And one thing we cannot do is justify offering arbitrary discounts to clients who like our work, but who don’t like the idea of investing in it.

A friend of ours mentioned once that she estimated she had given away…. given away, as in donated… over $5,000.00 to clients in “discounts” in the space of one year.

Imagine if you felt pressured to do the same to survive?

It’s not fair to us, nor to our clients who already have invested in our work. More importantly, it’s not fair to the family we hope to have someday (whom we are trying to save for now!).

Please understand… this isn’t about any specific person. And we know some people honestly just can’t afford what we offer. It’s tough to get a message from a person excited about our work but who “just can’t afford it.”

If we can’t be there for your wedding, we always try and make ourselves available for a couple session, bridal portrait session, or an engagement session.

At the same time, we’re also not the most expensive photographers out there, and as we value your experience over any kind of sales, we really try to make sure you get the most out of your experience with us.

This is just an explanation as to why our prices are the way they are.

This is also a big, big thank you to all of our clients who value our work. We are so honored to know each and everyone of you. When we had to raise our pricing last year literally so we could continue to survive on photography, we were quite nervous… terrified is perhaps a better word.

A week later, Andrew and Jessica, Kim and Brian, and Cameron and Julia all met with us and booked us for their big day.

(Photographers take note – don’t doubt the value of your work! Your clients are out there and they’ll love your work so you should too!)

We’re humbled and blessed to know all of you – all of our clients – and can’t thank you enough for inviting us to be part of your weddings.

xoxo

Carina (& Michael)

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers

The post Understanding Wedding Photography Pricing | All about your Investment | Virginia Wedding Photographers appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.

Yesterday we asked followers on Facebook and Instagram to ask us your questions and promised we’d answer them today! So here goes… 

Contax 645 with our favorite lens, the Zeiss 80mm f2.0; fuji400h film developed by Richard Photo Lab

Britta asked: 
What are your favorite lenses to work with? Do you prefer film or digital?

Hi Britta! We love the mix of working with film and digital and the flexibility it gives us. Outside with plenty of natural light, we love shooting with film. Inside at a ballroom reception, we might shoot 1 or 2 rolls of Ilford 3200 film for a soft, grainy black and white look that evokes (at least to us) a sense of timelessness. That said, we love shooting digital inside with several speedlights to really capture the energy that erupts out on a dance floor. Being hybrid shooters really has its benefits. <3

Our favorite lens is definitely the 80mm f2 Zeiss lens on the Contax 645!

Amanda asked:
How do you save your photos to upload for facebook?

Oh, the love-hate relationships we’ve all experienced with how Facebook resizes images upon uploading, right? We use the same program we use for blogging to resize and sharpen our images: Blogstomp. It’s a wonderful addition to the photographer’s “spend less time at the desk, more time shooting” arsenal. Also a great way to get sharp images on Facebook is to resize them for Facebook and save them as a .png file in Photoshop. Photographer Trevor Dayley has a great article on uploading to Facebook on FStoppers.
We hope this helps! We know how much this can be a pain!

Elke asked:
Would you want come (back) to Germany to photograph the weddings of your old friends? 

Elke, without a doubt, yes! We’d be honored to! Send us an email so we can set up a Skype date! Let’s chat!

Serena wrote:
Hey you two! 
My question(s) is/are:
why did you move to the US and how did you start your own business in the states?
I am asking because I am going through the same right now and wonder how you got the attention of potential clients, how long it took, how you promoted yourselves, if you had a regular job in the beginning … since it is quite hard to get noticed in a big forest of photographers around here.
Looking forward to your reply!
Best wishes and lots of success,
Serena

Well, those are some fun ones! And what a sweet note, thank you! The short answer to why we moved back to the USA is because we could! Haha! Seriously though, we had started getting used to the idea of settling down in Germany when Carina’s greencard was finally approved – three years after we applied for it!
One of the conditions of accepting a greencard is having a US address, so we decided to give it a shot. We gave ourselves 3 months to see if we could make it… and we’re so blessed to still be here a year and a half later!
As far as when we first moved here, how we got the word out about ourselves… Well that’s the thing… aside from admittedly one or two Craigslist ads (there we admitted it, guilty), we reached out to other vendors and tried to help promote them as much as possible. Specifically vendors with a similar target market to our own. Reaching out to them and being genuine about it got us referrals.
The first clients we booked didn’t invest an arm and a leg in our services… but we tried our best to make them feel like they did.
You don’t need to drive yourself crazy trying to book more clients, trying to book more clients…
One bride led to five referrals here, another led to three referrals there… and it just went on from there.
Just get one client… and don’t concentrate on promoting yourself, concentrate on being a good photographer and a genuinely good person!
All you need is one client for you to treat as genuinely as possible… a client to go the extra mile for (which you want to do for all of them!)… underpromising, overdelivering..
And then you won’t need to promote yourself. They’ll take care of that for you.

John asked:
How do you deal with the following issues that could occur during engagement shoots/weddings:
1) Extreme difference in height between the two subjects.
2) harsh light
3) lack of light in a dark room or outside at night.

1. Some people might feel differently but we’re of the opinion that our clients are who they are… we accept them for it and embrace it! When you’re taking photos of a couple with a big difference in height, I’d probably say try less to worry about their height difference and more about composing in a manner complimentary to them!
Granted, poses where the couple is leaning over towards each other, a cute one where she’s on her tiptoes giving him a kiss, or where he is sitting and she’s leaning up against him, those are fine for some shots and put them on a pretty even ground. I’m guessing though they’re aware of their height difference! Imagine how unnatural it would seem if the couple was separated by several noticeable inches in height in real life… then, all of a sudden they look the same in photos where they are standing! Just go for natural, loving shots like you would with anyone else!
2. Easy answer is shoot film <3 We love shooting film in harsh light because of its dynamic range. But even with digital photography, there are some basics to shooting in harsh light that help photos stand out. And no, it doesn’t necessarily mean “FULL RETREAT! BACK TO OPEN SHADE, NOW!”

• Shoot with their backs to the sun to avoid squinty eyes and blown out details on the dress. Having the sun at their back also creates a nice highlight on their hair and shoulders. You might just want to put your lens hood on, though!
• If you can control the situation, such as during portraits at the wedding, it helps to look for natural reflectors (or bring your own for an assistant to hold). Some of our favorite natural reflectors are walls, cement walkways, sides of white delivery vans.
•  Shoot closeup, on a longer focal length, and with a shallow depth of field. Shooting a couple posing in harsh light on a 24mm focal length in the early afternoon might yield some interesting results, but put on a 135mm lens at f2, and get up close… and the subjects just glow!

3. Use some off camera flash! As photographers, it’s good to know what to do when it gets dark! Throwing a couple of speed lights up on stands helps you take control of the situation and will help your images stand out, too! If you don’t have a flash handy, you can always get creative with sparklers, streetlights, candles, etc… but if you’re a photographer, it’s a good idea to have at least one flash! Two or three is even better! Getting this action at the ballroom reception that night wouldn’t have been possible without flash.

Lina asked:
Questions about film.. I want to start shooting film. What camera would you recommend for a beginner, what printing lab and maybe some film roll suggestions?

Sounds exciting! YAAAY! We love it when photographers want to begin experimenting with film! It depends on what you shoot now, but the Canon Elan-7 for example would work with your Canon EF lenses, if you shoot Canon. The Canon AE-1 is older and takes FD mount lenses, (i.e., not current model Canon lenses), but it’s an amazing camera to work with and has a build quality that puts cameras today to shame. Also, it looks awesome.
If you’re just getting started, Kodak Portra 400 is a great option; Fuji400h is our favorite but a bit trickier when you’re exposing it. Indie Film Lab offers very competitive rates and Film Box Lab does an awesome job as well. Richard Photo Lab does amazing work and they have amazingly fast turnaround times, but they can be pricey.

Emma asked:
When you shoot film for an entire wedding, how many photos do they receive? Do you cull them?

Hi Emma, we definitely cull the images but we do find that the keeper rate is somehow much higher when the photos cost several dollars apiece to develop! Shooting film really forces you to think each time you press the shutter button. But of course, there are always still the odd photos of someone blinking, and those are removed in the culling process. In the end the couple usually receives several hundred photos.

Matoli asked:
 Do you and Carina also shoot digital during the wedding? Or solely film? If you shoot digital also, how do you make sure they look consistent with film images? Actions? Presets?

Hello Matoli! We shoot a mix of film and digital throughout the wedding. It begins mainly film, and then as the evening draws we rely more and more on our digital cameras. We also shoot a mix of film and digital even during the portraits though. We spent the better part of last year working on our own presets, but the best “film” preset we’ve found that also helps our workflow is the “Kodak Portra 400 Mastin Labs” preset for Lightroom 4. Our own presets reflect our favorite film more, Fuji400h. Although we hear Mastin Labs is coming out with a fuji400h preset soon…

We don’t just apply them and batch edit; we try and match the look of a digital image to a film image in similar light by opening a second window in Lightroom and basing our edit on the matching film scan.
Also, we really try to concentrate on giving the “film look” to images where we would also normally shoot film in a similar lighting situation. We don’t worry so much about matching every single detail of a dance shot where we use flash to how that would look with film, as we never shoot film with off camera flash. We still apply the same basic adjustments to said images, we just don’t try to painstakingly match them to images which don’t exist. We feel how we edit them is consistent for our look!

Kristine asked:
How do you go about getting your soft creamy, and classy look digitally?
We like to think a lot of getting the “soft” look digitally comes in camera and how you expose. Finding the right light and using natural reflectors helps you a long way, more than editing ever could! We like to expose for the shadows of our subjects, turn down highlights in post, push the blacks bar up (+++) and the contrast bar too when we’re editing.

This shot of Annika was taken on a 5D camera with a 50mm 1.2 lens and was shot wide open. Instead of a natural reflector we opted for the white side of our 3-in-1 reflector. 

We also shoot at relatively wide apertures, from f1.2 – f4 is where we stay. Finding the right background, such as where sunlight is coming in through the leaves, helps lend an image bokeh similar to shooting on medium format when shot wide open. More important than how you edit an image is definitely finding the right light. We love shooting on gravel paths for example, because they reflect light beautifully on to ours subjects faces!

Just keep shooting and while it’s easy to get distracted by others work and it’s good to be inspired, be sure to let your own creativity, your own clients and your own love of photography inspire you too!

–

Thank you guys so much for taking the time to ask us what was on your mind!

Please let us know if we missed anything! <3

Until next time,

xoxo Michael and Carina

Destination Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Virginia Wedding Photographers

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Virginia Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photographers

The post Ask Us Anything | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography appeared first on Virginia + Destination Fine Art Wedding Photographers.