I wish I could take more credit for the golf shot on this post, but I can’t. Leslie had a distinct look and feel she wanted to accomplish and I simply made her vision a reality. Location, wardrobe, even the exact pose they are doing, was all set up by Leslie. All I did was add in lighting to make them pop out from the background on the cloudy grey day and add a vintage/aged look to the edit.

Drew and Leslie both work in the iconic downtown Lafayette courthouse. The last image (image 4) was shot inside in the rotunda at night. The simple dramatic look of the image was due to circumstance. Only the security lights were turned on. So what you see is only my studio strobe light.

-Michael

UPDATE: Tami and Andrew’s personalized website is now live! Sit back and enjoy a few more favorites in the introductory slideshow, see the Signature Print, and click the “Purchase Images” link to register to be notified as soon as the album design and proofs go live.

Tami and Andrew’s wedding brings a close to my wedding season for the year. What a great wedding to end on! Tami and Drew were friends of friends when they first hired me a year ago. Today I am privileged to just call them friends.

If Tami or Andrew were nervous at all on the day neither of them showed any of it. I don’t think they would have been rattled even if the day had gone off schedule, but of course it never did… unless you count the unity candle near miss, but Tami was not about to walk away from the altar without lighting that bad boy!

The Lafayette Country Club blew me away this weekend. I have known the venue to be visually quite beautiful, and the shots I get are always great in there. What caught me off guard this time was the food and service. I have always attended buffet style weddings at the club in the past. The plated service was something else entirely. It was some of the best catering I have had in Lafayette or Indy. Oh, and of course the flash mob for Tami was a great personal touch.

Stay tuned to this post. At the end of the week we will have a link for Tami and Andrew’s personalized web page with a slide show of more images including the flash mob, toasts, and more!

-Michael

The props that Mari and Don brought on their session helped to tell their story and make the session a personal one. Don once took Mari on a picnic in horticulture park, so we recreated that event in the same park. The little details of the basket and pumpkin help sell the scene. As you can tell from the uniform, Don is in the Army. While Don was away they wrote letters. Mari is holding Don’s letters to her in the last few shots. Add to these emotional items a little bit of studio light, a killer fall sunset and you get some powerful, romantic images.

-Michael

Working with lens flare is a bit like working with a wild animal. You never are quite sure what the light is going to do. Sure, if you know what you are doing the results can be mostly predictable, but there is always an unknown element that surprises. If you follow my work over the past year you may have noticed the increased prevalence of lens flare and back lighting in my work. As I have become more and more experienced at controlling and predicting shooting and editing with this style in mind, I’m loving the results I am getting more and more. Riley’s senior portraits are some of my favorites yet with these particular techniques.

-Michael

UPDATE: Mitzi and Ron’s personal website is up. See more favorites, their Signature Edition Print, and click the “Purchase Images” link to see the Engagement Session images and register to see all of the photos when they go online. You’ll also be notified as soon as the album design is available to view.

The combination of Mitzi and Ron’s families mingling together in one house was powerful. Last Saturday there was way too much food for the kitchen, and the aromas filled the house. Way too many people for the space, and the hum of conversation and laughter was constant. No matter where you went you could not escape the sense of family, family, family. I have been a fan of the backyard weddings since the very first wedding I shot years ago, and after last weekend I am an even bigger fan.

Stay tuned to this post as the weeks go by. We will have a personalized web page up with a slideshow on Friday, followed by an album design 10 days after that.

-Michael

We encourage every wedding couple to do  an engagement session with the photographer that will be shooting their wedding. Not only will the couple learn the way that we shoot and a few common positions, but almost as important, I as the photographer learn the way the couple photographs.

Chelsea and Jason are from Lafayette but they currently live in St. Louis. So this week, when we sat down to go over last minute plans and changes, I requested (ok maybe I insisted a little bit) that they do a mini engagement shoot. On this shoot I learned that Chelsea may be an outgoing talkative person, but is shy in front of the camera. Yet, when Jason is in a shot with her she relaxes quite a lot, and when she looks at Jason and not  directly at the camera she is even more relaxed. The things learned between both parties go a long way to working smoothly on the big day. So no matter if you hire me, Dave or anyone else, take the time and do an engagement shoot with them. You will be glad you did.

Here are a few favorite images from Chelsea and Jason’s mini engagement shoot. All images were taken in the same two blocks of downtown in 45mins. Crazy huh?

-Michael

A local musician and friend of the studio, Chris June, helped a great deal with the renovation of our space, pulling the millions of staples from the wood floor in the studio. The best way we can say ‘thank you’ is with a hook up on press photos for his new solo project.

Chris came in with fairly specific ideas of what he wanted. This is always great for me. It frees up my brain to simply worry about light, angles, and composition. Chris wanted a shot showing himself simply playing for himself, maybe before a gig. Our dressing room has a “green room” feel to it, so I dragged the large softbox over and lit it up! Shooting candid shots in a mirror is a common wedding tool for us. Using the mirror here not only added striking visual interest from the circle shape of the mirror, it also added a candid, voyeuristic feel that sells the mood Chris wanted.

The third shot is a pose that Chris had wanted to use, and I liked it. Originally it was more militaristic,but  as most poses go on a photo shoot the planned one evolved and fell into something similar but slightly more natural.

Check out Chris’s new tunes at his web page.

-Michael

The downtown area here is so great for taking a quick photo walk. For this session we went down Main Street just across the walking bridge to Tapawingo Park, a great location for shooting kids and families. I love working in spots where you can get many different looks in the same place. Simply changing an angle or walking 20 feet can get a whole new feel. Tapawingo does exactly this.

I have shot there many times now and I keep finding new little spots. My big discovery on this shoot was simply a picnic table with that was catching a nice balance of direct highlights and soft bounced light. The result being even shadows on most of the face with a large highlight, giving the faces some shape and warmth.

-Michael

I have been wanting to do a project in HDR for a long time now, so when Kyle Burke of 838 sign co. came to me with this truck shoot, it sounded like the perfect candidate. Being the owner of a sign shop, Kyle is always looking for ways to stand out and grab attention. An HDR image will get you attention for sure, so I knew he would like the results.

What HDR does is combine images from multiple exposures to more accurately represent what the human eye sees. This particular image combined 12 different exposures into one 16bit file (as apposed to the standard 8bit). The result is a photo that looks like you can almost step into it. To give some context a standard full-size RAW file from our cameras are 27MB while this HDR image is 88MB. The web resolution you are seeing simply does not do the image quality justice!

The results are way better then my expectations, and I look forward to doing more HDR projects in the future.

-Michael Dick