Engagement Album Design

I just finished the 2nd engagment photo album this weekend. I'm using two different vendors for the publishing the book. One has really good quality but customization in their layout is limited. The other has greater control/customization but does not offer as much options for the paper type and album cover.

JP

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear family and friends!

I hope everyone has a safe and good Happy Thanksgiving. =)

Since this starts the Christmas Holiday season, I decided to post the Top 10 Things To Do/Wishlist in my Life:

1. Visit Ireland/Scotland/Wales (not necessarily in that order). Have a pint at a pub in any of these locals!
2. Learn the guitar.
3. Swim with the Dolphins.
4. Visit Yellowstone Park.
5. Sip some latte on a street side cafe in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the view.
6. Visit Normandy beach & monument.
7. Get my Motorcyle license.
8. Visit the Grand Canyon.
9. Attend PMA or WPPI in 2009.
10. Create a full size photo website like Jay Reilly.

Good Bless,
JP

More Actions & Great Song from the 90's

So I'm, um, pretty stoked about this new technique that I mentioned in the previous post. I went back to a wedding that I did from 2006 using my Canon 5D and 10D. Basically I re-did the best ones in Lightroom 2 using the RAW (for non-Canon users' this is the *.CRW format). After applying white balance and exposure adjustments, I exported them as jpegs to a new folder. What I was trying to do (experimenting really) is to get as much consistency in all the shots using a very dramatic style. While I was doing this, I've had this song in my head for the past week. Its the "How do you talk to an angel" from the The Heights. Just as a slight tanget this song is one of favorite songs from the 90's. The video and song itself reminds of all the great songs from 80's. For those interested you can see a rip of the video on YouTube here . Now bringing it back to the original topic, here are some of the images I edited and posted on my regular johnpaulphotography.com site.

JP

Awesome Photographer I met on the phone at work....

Quick update, I met this awesome new photographer from Texas. Her name is Cortney of Cortney Russell Photography. As a practical, techy person I'm pretty grounded and rational. But I also have my spiritual side being a Catholic. The reason why I bring this up is that sometimes things happen for a reason (more on this below). Other times its just a random convergence of events.

Well today was a reflection of the former rather than the latter. As a photographer running his own photography business, I've admired a certain style of photos that appear to become popular with photographers' and the masses. An example of this is one of favorite photography site Jay Reilly who has some of the most stunning, vibrant photos I've ever seen. Well I've been trying to figure out how he does it. If you look at his blog on his before and after shots, he obviously does some great post-processing, editing on his photos. I've seen the after results but could never quite figure out how he did it?! Well enter my phone conversation with Cortney at work today. I saw some of her awesome photos. They look really similar to Jay's style. Without getting into the details, Cortney showed me how she was to able to add that special "pop" in her photos. Using her tip, you can turn a "good" photo into a "great" photo! Here's the caveat: You still need to have a photo that is relatively well composed with good exposure/contrast. That's half of the formula. The rest of it is using this tip, and Bingo!, an award winning photo. I experimented with this technique and here is the result. I hope to bring this level of work to all photos in the future. Let me know what y'all think.

Oh here's the final photo with all the touchups & border of Mae a beautiful model I worked with back in August.


-JP

Holiday Season Blitz!

Hey everyone! Yup its that time of year. The holiday season. The Madness. The Business. The STRESS! But hold on! Its also one of the best times of the year. I'm not talking about shopping or gifts. I'm talking about spending time with family and friends. Every year, I also polish off the dust from Christmas DVD collection. Yes I will be watching "Its a Wonderful Life!" "Christmas Vacation" "A Christmas Carol" "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" just to name my favorites. I'm also hoping to add some new equipment to my Nikon system. Namely the Nikon D90 or D300 with maybe a couple nice, fast Nikkor lenses. Please Santa, I hope your listening or reading this blog because I've been extra nice this year! =) I should be able posting an update of my Nikon system for those of you interested in my Photography equipment setup. Lastly I just sent out an email to all my friends and family inviting them to schedule a family holiday photo session. I'd love to see them all, plus I could use the practice with family portaits. heh. Dat's all for now....

"Look Daddy! Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings!" -Quote from Its a Wonderful Life!

~JP

Trailer: Nikon School: A Hands-On Guide to Creative Lighting

For all my Nikon Pro Photographer Friends,

You have to check out this intro video. It gives a teasing glimpse of the potential for using the CLS as a great portable lighting system without the burden of hauling studio lights, portable power supply on any location photoshoot. I'll see if I can get the full video posted on my blog for everyone to access.

Cheers,
JP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BALBUEPR8_I



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Historic date today!

Hey all,

Yea today is very important day in America. No matter who you like, Democrat or Republican, today's vote will affect the direction of this country for the next 4 years (compared to the disaster of the current administration's past 8 years). So go out there and vote! God Bless America.

JP