Wedding Mentorship with Johnny Waller {Teaching}

Last week we had the amazing opportunity to work with Johnny and Amber Waller (of Johnny Waller Productions) in our very first wedding mentorship program.  Johnny is an extremely talented videographer, and also a talented photographer, but he had never photographed a wedding before.  Weddings are a HUGE deal, so he asked Kevin and I if we would mentor him through his first wedding experience.  Kevin and I have mentored photographers before, but this was our first on-the-job wedding mentor experience, and it was a great success!

We met with Johnny beforehand and talked through the wedding day, details to be prepared for, and strategies for achieving the best images.  Then, on the day of the wedding, we were Johnny's wingmen and resource for all things wedding.  We second shot with him, but he took the starring role as lead photographer with his clients.  We were there for reassurance, guidance, comfort, and coverage.  We were there for technical assistance, posing suggestions and troubleshooting.  Basically, we were there to try and make Johnny's wedding as relaxing as possible for Johnny and the bride and groom.We absolutely love Johnny and his beautiful bride, Amber, and appreciate them asking us along to their wedding at the gorgeous Planterra.  Check out the image below that Johnny shot of Michael and Sarah before the ceremony.  Man, we love his style!  :)

If you are a photographer (or if you know a photographer) that would like more information on our mentorship programs, please contact us at info@ignitedphotography.com or 248.670.6346.  Our programs are custom designed to the needs of our photographers.  Email or call us today.

~ Kevin & Heather

Destination Florida - Eads Wedding / Julie Story

As you may have heard, we recently had the awesome opportunity to travel down to Florida on what we are considering our first destination wedding.  We've had a few Midwest 'destination' weddings that were quite a good distance but still drivable.   Clearwater, Florida may "technically" be drivable, but we chose the easy way out and flew.  LOL

Our connection to this wedding was a fellow photographer who happened to be best friends with the groom and was thus chosen to be the Best Maid.  Her name is Julie Story and we met her through a professional photography message board we are actively a part of, called Showiteers (a networking group associated with the website design program SHOWIT).  Back in late Spring she posted that she was looking for a photographer from our group to be the photographer for Ricky and Leann's wedding when she was unable to photograph because of her wedding responsibilities.  A large number of photographers responded and Julie narrowed down the group to her top 5 favorites.  Ricky and Leann then took those 5, looked at them all independently and came back together with their favorite.  Lucky us - they both chose us first!

We had an amazing time there staying with Julie Story.  She was an absolute riot to hang out with and a branding/marketing/social media genius!  We already knew she was gifted in these areas, but after hanging out with her for a weekend, our own business outlook was inspired, adjusted and re-energized!  If you own your own business it is DEFINITELY worth getting to know her for all aspects of branding and marketing.  Just make sure you tell her that Kevin and Heather sent you!

 

Below is a short, high-speed video we shot of our trip.  We would have loved to have shot more footage while we were in Clearwater, but we got so caught up in the busyness, business and fun of it that we forgot to turn on the GoPro video camera.  Oops!  :)

(Caution - you might need to take some motion-sickness medicine before you watch this)  LOL

Check back in soon for a few teasers from Ricky and Leann's big day! 

~ Kevin & Heather

Behind the Scenes with Sam Cullen

Welcome to a quick behind-the-scenes tour of our portrait session with Sam Cullen.

Sam hired us a week ago to photograph her senior year dance individual portraits.  Here we will give you a little taste of what it's like to spend an evening with Kevin and Heather Autry.  Enjoy!

How we got the shot:

We set up our strobe at about a 45 degree angle to camera right.  Typically we use our 24x36' softbox attached to our strobe, but the wind was too gusty this evening.  Even without it we were able to acheive the look we were aiming for.  After we decided what sort of 'look' we wanted with this image, we used our lightmeter to get our camera and strobe setttings just right the first time.  We ended up with f11 and a shutter speed of 1/100 at ISO 100 and strobe at aproximately 1/3 power.

Gear used:

Camera - Canon 5D MKII

Lens - Canon 24-70mm f2.8

Light - White Lightning x3200

Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358

Editing:

Cropped

Slight contrast boost

How we got the shot:

With this next shot we wanted a bit more of a dramatic look, so we changed our settings to f14, shutter 1/100, ISO 100 with strobe power just over 1/3 power.  Our strobe was set at about 45 degree angle to Sam again and we had her jump away from us as we shot.  We metered to strategically capture the gorgeous setting sun.  To heighten the perspective, I took this image while laying in the grass.

It's always fun sharing the shot to show the beauty of the imagery right in the camera.

Gear used:

Camera - Canon 5D MKII

Lens - Canon 16-35mm f2.8

Lighting - White Lightning x3200

Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358

Editing:

Slight vibrance boost

How we got the shot:

Getting down and dirty is all part of the job.  At this location however, it was awkward dodging all of the goose "gifts" - hazards of the job.  (lol)  With this shot it was getting later so our aperture could be quite a bit more open: f3.5, shutter 1/160, ISO 400 and strobe power at about 1/16th.

Gear used:

Camera - Canon 5D MKII

Lens - Canon 16-35mm f2.8

Lighting - White Lightning x3200

Lightmeter - Sekonic L-358

Editing:

Levels adjusted

Cropped

How we got the shot:

Sam's good friend and fellow dancer, Alissa Maedel, was on hand for inspiration and for her technical eye.  We were glad she was there because although I LOVE dance, I am not a trained dancer and couldn't instruct Sam on her form.  Photography we can do.  Dance, not so much.   

Our gear, editing and set-up for this shot were all the same as above. 

~Heather