Tampa Bar Mitzvah at Rodeph Sholom

I was talking to a client yesterday and realized that I had neglected to post pictures from my last Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Tampa. Rodeph Sholom is the oldest congregation in the city and they have a historical marker plaque out front that tells about the original temple. (There's nothing I love more than a good historical plaque and I have been known to pull the car over on trips every time I see one.)

I'll post a few images over the next couple of days but I wanted to get this one on the website right away because it's one of my favorites. This is the Bar Mitzvah boy's sister who was holding the candle during the Havdalah to mark the end of the Shabbat.

One of the unexpected pleasures of being a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah photographer in Tampa is the privilege of being a witness to these wonderful traditions. It's a real pleasure to be allowed inside a gathering of family and friends and be a part of these special moments.

I love my job. :)

For more examples of my Bar Mitzvah photography, visit my website at www.boorayperry.com.

How to take better pictures: Composition

Today I want to talk about some basics of good photography. We're going to talk about composition because most people would be amazed at how much their photographs would improve if they just paid a little more attention to composition. It doesn't matter if you are using an expensive DSLR, a moderate Point-and-Shoot or a camera phone because composition has nothing to do with technology. If you want to take better pictures, start with a few simple techniques...

I think that most people tend to fall into the trap of thinking that a good picture should be a close-up. Parents in particular ride that "zoom" button like their waiting for an elevator. Close-ups are good, sure, but we need to capture more... we need to show enviroment, situation and motion. We need to expand beyond the retorical and into the reality of space and how it effects us. We need to stop writing "we" and trying to sound all pretentious and educated and... and... stuff. Still reading? Good job! I stopped about three sentences ago.

It's not artsy or visionary or anything like that. It's simple and it looks like this:

Why does this picture work? First, the subject is placed at the correct spot in the picture. How do you know where the correct spot is? Like this:

There's a name for this little diagram but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I want you to look it up for yourself in case there's a pop quiz. Also, it's possible I forgot it. Anyway, take any picture and draw two sets of lines on it. Where the lines meet is where you want something important. (Boy, I am laying down the smack with the technical terms!) It's true, very rarely do you want the subject of your picture in the dead center. The picture will almost always be more interesting if you place them off center at one of the intersections (or close to one). It doesn't have to be the whole subject either... maybe it's a close up and you just place the center of their forehead at an intersection. Doesn't matter as long as you place something there. This takes no artistic talent whatsoever and while you may have to remind yourself to do it at first, eventually it will become second nature and you will just naturally compose this way. Also, if you play tic-tac-toe you should always start at a corner (that's a freebie right there). The other thing you can work on is tilting the camera:

Notice how the slide starts in the top right corner and runs across the picture to the bottom left corner? Why do you think that is? Well, it's so that the slide will look as long as possible and also because straight lines that cut your picture in half are death. Pure death. Most of the time. (I should take this moment to mention that I could be wrong about all of this... but I could be a friggin' GENIUS!) Tilt the camera. Tilt it a lot. Spend a whole day taking pictures and tilting the camera. You will be amazed at how much more fun your pictures will be. Suddenly there will be motion where there was stillness, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Which brings us to the third thing that makes this picture work: Incredibly cute little girl.

Whenever possible, try to take pictures of children who are incredibly cute. Precious. Breathtakingly, heartachingly, sweet.

So, that's it for today. Remember: work the hot spots, tilt the camera, drink plenty of fluids and eat some fiber every morning. You'll thank me later.

Booray Perry is a photographer in Tampa FL

Wedding pictures on CD

I've written before about the different types of wedding photographers (shoot-and-burn vs. prints) and I've written about why you should get a professional wedding album Today I want to talk about why you should get a CD of all your images from a photographer who makes albums.

This topic came to mind earlier this week when a client brought me her wedding pictures. She was married up north and used a shoot-and-burn photographer. Now she wants a professional album made from the images.

In case you don't know, a shoot-and-burn photographer is one who just delivers your wedding pictures on disc and doesn't offer prints or albums.

Anyway, I've been looking at the pictures and they need a lot of work. It's not unusual for wedding pictures to need a lot of work because a typical wedding day is shot under so many changing conditions... but these pictures need more than usual. That got me to thinking about how I deliver my images on disc.

The difference between using a shoot-and-burn photographer and using someone like me is that I'm hoping to sell you prints or an album even if you have already said that you just want the disk. Knowing that I may be making an album out of the images will affect the way I work right down the line. I will work harder to get the images right in the camera and I will work harder to get the images right for your disk because I know that these are the images that I will have to pull from if you want an album and the better they are now the less work I will have to do in retouch on your album.

Also, when I am shooting the wedding I am on the lookout for pictures that will make good background images on a page or serve to tie together different parts of the wedding. These are pictures I need for good album design but if I never made albums I wouldn't shoot them.

Finally, I have to always remember that every picture I take has the potential to be printed by me with my name on it. If I didn't print my pictures then this wouldn't be a concern because my name isn't on the images that are on a disk. But knowing that I may be asked to print any image and it will be displayed with my signature is a different level of responsibility. Now, every image has the potential to be a showcase for my work and reputation. That's strong incentive to do a good job.

There are some good shoot-and-burn photographers out there, certainly. But I have never seen a top-level wedding photographer who doesn't offer prints and albums.

Booray Perry is a Tampa wedding photographer. See his work here.

Lutz Wedding Photography

Last weekend I photographed a small wedding in Lutz. One of the challenges of a small wedding is that they are typically held in small venues. Rarely will you be in a big, stain-glassed cathedral. That's okay though because there are lots of places you can take interesting pictures, you just have to look around.

The boys got dressed upstairs in the back of the church. There was a tight staircase leading up to the room they were in which was perfect for the group shot.

I love a good "fish-out-of-water" picture and the church had a big kitchen. I love this picture because it's foreshadowing of things to come.... domestic bliss, etc..

Another shot in the kitchen. I love the red floor.

Windows can be your best friend when you don't have much available for background. Here, the bride is having glitter applied to her eyes.

Studio portrait? No, I just turned out the lights in the room and lowered my shutter speed so that the room went completely black. Then I posed her in front of a window.

As always, you can see a lot more photography from Tampa weddings on my website: www.boorayperry.com

Portrait Session in Ybor City

Last week I headed down to Ybor City in Tampa to photograph Ashley. Ashley is a singer and musician so we decided to incorporate her guitar into some of the shots. From the very beginning I knew that it was going to be a great session because she is very easy-going, fun and inventive with her posing. I don't think I gave her detailed direction the entire time.... I just took pictures while she did whatever she wanted.

This picture was taken just as the sun was starting to set which gave me the great glow off the railroad tracks. I used off-camera lighting for the entire shoot so that I could have more control over the shadows. If I had to pick just one image from the day to keep it would probably be this one. Notice how the tracks curve down and lead to Ashley? This is a great trick to use when framing people for portraits.

Still at the railroad tracks. I cropped the tracks out of the shot because they were just too distracting to the final image.

I'm usually not a big fan of "selective color" in my photographs. I feel that it's been overused by photographers (especially wedding photographers.) Just because you can make something in the picture be in color while everything else is black and white doesn't mean you should. For this picture against a graffiti covered wall, I think it works. Usually, the thing that's in color stands out and becomes the focus of the picture. The difference is that in this picture, the color tends to make the black and white stand out because it is behind her.

My original intention was to have a sunset shoot but Ashley was running late and it got dark on us. So, I quickly started looking for ways we could turn the night to our advantage. In Tampa Bay there isn't a much better place for night photography than Ybor City with the lights and old Tampa feel (I love cobblestones). So, I put Ashley in the middle of the street, pulled out a second flash (lucky for me I tend to over-pack for photo shoots) and started taking pictures. As you can imagine, a picture like this takes a little more work than the others from the session. I have one flash to my left shooting through an umbrella and another on the ground under a car behind Ashley (see the bright flash on the right side?). Ideally I would have preferred to not have that back flash show so bright but I was hampered by space and the lack of a second tripod (wasn't planning for night shoot, remember?). Still, it works because it could just be light from a car. It makes a big difference in the picture because it puts a rim light on her legs.

Ashley changed outfits again (by the way, can I just say that the restrooms in the 15th street parking garage are cleaner than my house? Nice surprise...) and we moved to the curb. Careful observers might notice something missing from the guitar in this shot. It was distracting to me so I took it out with Photoshop.

It was getting late and we were ready to wrap but Ashley still had some stamina so we walked down to the main drag for a few more quick shots. I like this one because I was only using one flash but the car behind Ashley on the street acted like a rim light (see the nice halo of light around her head?).

Sweaty and tired, we called it a night. It was a fantastic shoot and a lot of fun! As always, you can see more wedding photography and portrait photography on my website.

How to make your photographer happy

This post should really be called, "How to make ME happy," since I can't presume to speak for all photographers.

Yesterday I had two client meetings. One was with a bride who has already booked me for her wedding and the other was with a potential client for dance recital pictures. Both of these meetings made me happy because in both cases I was talking to someone who "gets it."

My bride said, "I told my fiancee' that he could pick out everything he wanted for the wedding as long as I could pick out two things: The Dress and The Photographer." I can't tell you how great it is when I am working with someone who has a passion about the pictures that matchs my own. I'm fortunate that I still get excited with every job but when I'm working with someone who is equally excited and involved in the process I'm practically giddy.

The meeting with the potential client went well (I hope!). One of the things that no one mentions about being a photographer is that it's almost like going on job interviews every week. Unlike a business where you just deliver a quote and wait and see, photography is more personal and subjective. You never know what will be the deciding factor when someone is picking their photographer. Your images play a big role but so does your pricing, personality, client relations, customer service, etc. Yesterday's meeting made me happy not because I think I'll get the job (I have no idea) but because of something that the client said about my blog. She said that she saw my pictures and decided to contact me after reading my post about wedding albums. "I liked your philosophy," she said.

I never know if anyone is reading what I write and I have no idea if the like what they read so it was great to hear that someone had read that post and got from it a sense of what I am "about." One of the reasons I write this blog is so that people can get a sense of who I am. It made me happy to see that at least one person did.

Now, because I can't resist posting pictures, here are a few family pictures from a recent shoot. Enjoy!

Please visit www.boorayperry.com to see some of the best wedding photography in Tampa.

Why you want a wedding album

One of the trends that I have noticed with the digital age is that people are starting to forgo the album in favor of the Hi-res DVD of images. It's only natural to assume that a generation raised with computers is content to view all their wedding pictures on a screen.

I think this is a mistake for several reasons.

But, before I tell you why you should be buying a wedding album, first let me come clean about the price. Wedding albums are the most expensive product that I sell. They are the most expensive to produce, the most time consuming to create and the lowest profit margin of anything I sell... and yet I really want you to buy one. Why? Why do I care what you buy? Shouldn't I want you to purchase the items that bring me more profit for less work?

No. I want you to buy a custom album and here's why:

1. It's an event.
An event? What does that mean? Well, it means that when you have an album you pull it out whenever you are talking about your wedding with friends and relatives. You turn the pages... point at pictures... tell stories about the day. It's a shared experience. Compare that to clicking through pictures on your computer screen. An album is tangible, you hold it in your hand and connect to it.

2. It's just long enough.
I may give you 10 pictures of the Father/Daughter dance but it only takes one to convey the moment. Less really is more when it comes to wedding photography. Sure, it's nice to have 700 images on a disk but it's too many for browsing or telling a story. An album collects only the very best images from the day and uses them to tell the story of your wedding. One red rose is simple, elegant and beautiful. Five-hundred red roses is just a mass of flowers.

3. It's an heirloom.
100 years from now your album will be sitting on your granddaughter's bookshelf. When she plans her wedding she will pull it out and show her fiance'. It will connect her to you in a way that a disk of images never will. She will one day give it to her daughter...

4. It's the best showcase for my work.
A flush-mount, leather clad, custom designed album is the absolute best way to present my images of your wedding. The pages are photographic paper and the prints are hand re-touched by me to perfection. I'm proud of what I do. I work very hard at it. I like to think that people who see my work will see it in the way it's intended to be seen. I know... seems a little selfish... but it's impossible to be a great photographer without having a passion for the art and that passion doesn't stop the day after your wedding.

Whenever I think of a client showing her wedding pictures to someone on a computer monitor that hasn't been hardware calibrated I cringe. You see, no two monitors are calibrated the same so what you see on your monitor is almost definitely not what the picture really looks like. Wanna test it? Print a picture and hold it up next to the same picture on your screen and see if the colors match. Trust me, they won't. This is the reason that professional photographers have an expensive little gadget that they attach to the front of their computer monitor every month. This gadget runs a test and then calibrates their monitor to true color. That's how I know that what I see on my screen is exactly what the print will look like.

I can't tell you how many times I have been at someones home or office and been amazed that they ever hired me since they viewed my website on a computer that turned everything green. Go into Best Buy and look at the TV wall. Look at the three most expensive televisions in the place and I'll bet the picture doesn't look the same on all three.

The only way to truly see a picture the way it was intended to be seen is to print it. And it needs to be printed by a professional lab, not the ink jet printer on your desk and not the 1-hour printer at the drugstore. I have a giant, professional, $1000+ photographic printer and I still don't use it for client prints (I use it for promotional material and test prints).

It's your wedding! You spent all that money and all that time in preparation... it deserves to be preserved in a way that is beautiful and tangible. When you take out a leather 12x12 album of your wedding day you are presenting the day in the finest way possible. It's a once in a lifetime moment and deserves an appropriate showcase.

This is why I offer payment plans on my albums when needed. If I have a couple who wants an album but can't afford it right now, I'll work out a payment plan because I want them to have an album. I don't care that it's hours and hours of work. It's worth it to know that all the hard-work and time I put into capturing the emotion of the day will be forever preserved in the most fitting way possible. I guarantee you that on your 50th anniversary, at the big party with your children and grandchildren, when everyone is gathered around your album laughing and telling you how beautiful you looked, you won't be thinking, "Gee, that was a waste of money."

Get an album. You'll thank me later. :)

Booray Perry Photography produces stunning wedding albums in Tampa