Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sarah and Grant's Wedding - Gardendale, AL

Sarah and Grant's wedding was a blast! We had a great time shooting with Sarah and Grant for their engagements, so we knew the wedding would be fun. Grant and his groomsment had fun cutting up before the ceremony, and the bridesmaids all looked stunning in their dresses...but none of them held a candle to Sarah in her wedding dress...sorry ladies :) Some of the things we liked the most from this wedding: the yellow rose and note Grant had delivered to Sarah before they saw each other, the brick backdrop on the stage in the sanctuary, the purple stained glass windows in the fellowship hall, the Texas Longhorns garter, a really nice videographer who was fun to work with... we could go on and on. Sarah and Grant, congratulations, and we wish you the best as you start your marriage together. We hope you enjoy the slideshow of some of our favorites above. All of your pictures are online in your gallery which can be accessed by going to http://www.nexisphotography.com/, clicking on "Client Proofing" and then looking for your gallery.

- M&L

Monday, September 21, 2009

Che' and Brandon's Wedding - Montgomery, AL

Che' and Brandon's wedding was beautiful, classy, fun...and just flat out awesome! We had a great time being a part of this wedding, and were thoroughly entertained by the bridesmaids and groomsmen who are some of the funniest and nicest people we've met! We even booked one of Che's bridesmaids for a wedding next year...so we hope to see many of them again soon! The wedding and reception took place at the Capital City Club in the RSA Tower in Downtown Montgomery. As always, the CCC is a beautiful venue, and this wedding was no exception. Che' and Brandon were married at the foot of the winding staircase and then danced the night away with their friends and family before being sent off in style with a horse drawn carriage. We want to wish Che' and Brandon the very best as they start their new life as one. We also want to say to Brandon, a proud Naval Officer, that we appreciate his service and dedication to the country we all love. We hope you enjoy the slideshow of some of our favorites above. All of Che' and Brandon's wedding pictures are online in their gallery which can be accessed by going to http://www.nexisphotography.com/ and clicking on "Client Proofing" then looking for their gallery.

All the best guys...and thanks again for having us!
- M&L

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Digital SLR Tip #2 - Understanding Aperture and Depth of Field

Understanding aperture values is one of the most important aspects of photography. The aperture will determine how much light your lens will let in during the exposure (taking a picture) and also plays a major role in depth of field. Depth of field essentially means how much of the picture is in sharp focus from the closest item to your camera, to the furthest away item from your camera. Depth of field is very important because sometimes you may want deeper depth of field; for example, taking a picture of someone in front of a building where you want both the person and the building to be in focus. Other times you may want a shallow depth of field; for example, when you want to take a picture of a flower and have everything in the background out of focus. In order to understand how you can manipulate your depth of field, you must first understand aperture values.

What is aperture? Aperture is defined as 1. an adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens. The diameter of such an opening is often expressed as an f-number. You’ve probably seen values like f/3.5 – f/5.6 on your lens, or heard people talking about f-stops. Well hang in there and I’ll explain what all those numbers mean…once you wrap your head around the concept, its really not that complicated. First you need to see what the f-stop values are for you to better understand the numbers.

Each one of these numbers represents a full-stop. So moving from an f/1.4 to an f/1.6 is a full-stop, and moving from an f/8 to an f/9 is also a full stop. Each time you move a full stop the light let in changes significantly. The smaller the f-number the more light is let in, the larger the f-number the less light is let in. In addition to the amount of light being let in, don’t forget about depth of field. The smaller the f-number, the shallower the depth of field, the larger the f-number the deeper the depth of field. You can always stop down the aperture to let in less light, so any lens can be stopped down to f/22. However, going the other direction in order to let more light in is a different story. Most consumer level lenses will have a maximum (widest open) aperture of f/3.5. Professional level lenses typically have a maximum aperture value of f/2.8 or lower and will be much more expensive than consumer lenses. This is why professional photographers can shoot indoors with no flash and still have enough light for a proper exposure. With most consumer level SLR cameras and lenses you'll need a flash to give you enough light in a moderate to dimly lit room.

While you continue to learn, try shooting in aperture priority and experimenting with depth of field. While in aperture priority your camera will select the shutter speed in order to (or try to) properly expose the picture…so all you have to worry about is adjusting your aperture values. In the next tip we’ll talk about shutter speed!

Become a fan of Nexis Photography on Facebook!
Post comments to let us know if these tips are helpful to you...and feel free to ask any questions you may have!

-M&L

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Digital SLR Tip #1 - Never EVER, use auto mode!

For those of you who don't follow us on Facebook, we are going to be posting basic SLR tips to help the average consumer educate themselves and take better pictures. If you have additional questions regarding these tips, simply post a comment on facebook and we'll do our best to answer your questions. So without further delay...here is your first tip!

Tip #1 - Never EVER, use auto mode!

Auto mode will get you the very least out of your SLR camera because the camera is making all of the decisions for you. Sure it is easier, but if you allow your camera to do all of the decision making, then all of your pictures will look the same, and more often than not, will just look like snapshots without anything dynamic. When your camera is in full auto mode, the camera is determining 3 main components that translate into what it thinks is the right exposure: aperature, shutter speed, and ISO (I'll provide info on these items individually in future tips). At the very least as you are learning, switch your camera over to Aperature Priority (depending on your camera model, it may be the setting that has an "A"...refer to your camera's user manual.

When your camera is in Aperature Priority, YOU not the camera, will determine the camera's aperature setting...and your camera will determine the shutter speed and ISO in order to try to come up with the correct exposure. Experiment with different aperature values as you take pictures and see if you can notice the differences in the photos. I'll post more on what aperature values are and how they affect your pictures in the next tip!

Stay tuned and in the mean time, practice shooting!

- M&L