Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | July 26th, 2010
Just two teasers…rest coming as soon as Lauren finishes editing some of the AWESOME images we captured last weekend.
Oh, and notice the new logo watermark? 
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | July 25th, 2010
We changed our name (and website) to Mike + Lauren (Mike “plus” Lauren)! With the name change comes some new products and FREE products!!! Yes, FREE product!!! First I’ll explain a few changes that have transpired over the last two weeks, then I’ll talk about the FREE products and how to get yours!
First, new branding! The name has been Mike Richards Photography but what is a husband and wife team in just my name? Now that our new company name is Mike + Lauren, we needed a new logo and something a little more unisex. Lauren and I worked hard to create a new logo, I had thought about bringing in some outside help but we are both creative people, so we figured we’d give it a go.
We think the logo is pretty sweet, don’t you?!
Next up, gallery wrapped canvases!!! Gallery wrapped canvases are an awesome way to show-off your beautiful engagement or wedding photos! In our studio, we currently have 4 – 24×36″ and 2 – 16×24″ canvas prints hanging on the walls and they really draw a lot of attention. We’ve always had clients ask about them but we’ve never really offered them for sale…for us, they were just a way for us to show off our work. Not any more! Now, you can have your beautiful photos taken by us blown up on a small or HUGE canvas ranging from 8×10″ to 30×40″!
Our gallery wrapped canvases feature a 1.5″ wrap on the sides of the frame so that the image continues on all sides of the canvas, whereas some canvases only display the image on the front and the sides are generally black. The quality is also unbeatable! A lot of print companies are offering canvases along side their normal paper prints but as pro-photographers we can order from companies that the general public doesn’t have access to. Our canvas company is a canvas printing company and the only other printing they offer is specialized metal prints. This provides the best quality, depth in color tone and overall longevity. Below is a couple of photos of a few of our beautiful canvases.
A 24×36″ canvas along side 2-16×24″ canvases.
Three 24×36″ canvases.
1.5″ Gallery Wrap (notice how image continues on sides of canvas).
Now, we can’t launch a new site, new branding and canvases without something for FREE, can we?! So until August 31st, any client who books us to photograph their wedding will receive a FREE 16×24″ gallery wrapped canvas! The image for this canvas is of course picked by you and can be used on any photo you like from either an engagement session, after session or wedding.
Lauren and I are both so excited for some more amazing stuff to come!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | July 11th, 2010
Over the past two years my wife and I have sort of considered ourselves a photography team but juggling work and quality time with our 4yr old daughter has been somewhat challenging. We’re lucky to have such a supportive family that has done everything they can to help us realize our dream of becoming a full-time photography team. I have worked with a lot of people over my career and while I have met some amazing photographers, none of them compliment me quite like my wife. Her style is similar to mine but just different enough to give us that something special and extra.
So, as a client you may be asking yourself, what this means for you? Well basically, there is no more booking Mike Richards and needing to pay additional money to have a second photographer at your event. From now on, if you book a package through Mike Richards Photography, you will receive both Mike & Lauren! My wife has become great friends with most of my brides and I can see the importance to a bride to have a female photographer around. During the getting ready process there is a comfort level that the bride desires and while most male photographers are respectful in this area, a bride will always be more comfortable when working with a female during this time.
Plus, I like to think I understand men and how much they HATE having their photos taken. So, what does this mean for the guys out there? You can ask any groom that has ever worked with me and they will tell you that I make the guys feel comfortable while capturing moments. And I also make them look like they should be in GQ!
One of the most important things my wife and I have learned through this photography journey is that uncomfortable people make uncomfortable photos! Lauren and I as a team will hands down provide better coverage of your day than any single photographer could ever dream of.
Over the years the largest single picture request we have received is the photo of the groom’s emotion as the bride walks down the isle and of course, the photo of the bride’s emotion at that exact same time. This is VERY difficult for a single photographer to capture. Not with us! Lauren generally focuses on the groom and I generally focus on the bride. We cover the entire day as a team supporting one another every step of the way! We have already shot over 100 weddings together, and many on our own individually. We’re so happy to say t hat from this point forward we’ll be there together as a team for every event!
Along with this change we’ve completely revamped our website to include some of our favorite recent work.
The updated website can be found at the same web address, http://mike-richards.com. Enjoy!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 28th, 2010
Okay, a couple of months back I post my first ever full black and white gallery here on my blog. I got a LOT of very positive feedback on the post so I wanted to go back and play with some of the images in color. Now my original idea was to re-post the entire blog posting but in my “new” color editing method. However, I don’t have the time to re-edit every picture so I picked a set.
*Remember, this is only trial editing, not what a client receives from me…yet!
Black & White
Color
Feedback is appreciated on the two versions. I LOVE both versions and I guess I am not really looking for critiques on either image, just looking for your feedback on the new color editing.
Cheers!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 23rd, 2010
I shot this engagement session with a friend who is really new to the industry and wanted me to come out and give him a hand with his first engagement session. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about the couple other than that they are AWESOME and TOTALLY up for anything!
I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed working with these two!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 23rd, 2010
First off, I want to let everyone know that Kristen is my first 2011 senior and wow, what a way to start off the year! Kristen is the current Miss Teen Daytona Beach and after working with her for 5 minutes, I could see why!
Congrats Kristen on all your amazing accomplishments and I wish you the best!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 17th, 2010
Valerie was another client that booked me over the phone. We started photographing Valerie at one of my favorite hotels in Orlando, The Portofino Bay Hotel. Valerie is one of the sweetest girls you could ever meet and her groom Sandro is a ultra nice guy and they are a match made in heaven.
It was also a great wedding for me because I had two of my best friends from England in town and they joined me on the wedding. We got a chance to play around shooting and understanding each others styles which is a GREAT thing because………………THEY INVITED ME TO SHOOT A WEDDING WITH THEM IN ENGLAND IN SEPTEMBER!!!!! That’s right folks, as of September, I will be an International Wedding Photographer!
Congrats to Valerie and Sandro! Your wedding was absolutely beautiful and Valerie’s dress is probably one of my favorite I’ve ever photographed!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 8th, 2010
I shot this engagement party for another photographer who couldn’t make it so I don’t know too much about the couple and it is really ashame, they are AMAZING!! They are actually the perfect couple for me but they’ve already got a photographer so no worries.
I had a blast for the few hours that we spent together and they are so easy to photograph! Well, here are a few of my favs!
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 4th, 2010
Ceremony Location: Paradise Cove
Reception Location: Paradise Cove
Heather and Steve were absolutely incredible! Steve is one of those grooms who doesn’t mind getting his photo taken and was all about making my job as easy as possible. Heather, well, as I said when I posted their engagement session, has one of the most beautiful smiles I’ve come across. You could see the love they had for each other when they both cried as she walked down the isle.
It rained hard for a little while before the ceremony and just like I thought, it stopped 5 mins before and allowed me to capture one of the best, hurricane’esk ceremonies I’ve ever photographed!
Well congrats Heather and Steve, I wish you both all the best the world has to offer!
Probably my favorite shoe shot of all time!
Remember the tears I wrote about?
Posted by: Mike Richards Photography | June 2nd, 2010
I often get asked by other photographers how I get my images so well exposed. It’s no secret…off-camera flash! I know so many photographers who refuse to use off-camera flash and while people like Jerry Ghionis and Jim Garner produce amazing results, I just find that for me, off-camera flash is the way to go.
Over the past couple of years I have relied heavily on Pocket Wizards (PW) to do all of my off-camera lighting. I always found PW very reliable though I’ve seen some people comment on reliability out doors but I’ve never experienced those problems; in fact, I used them across a large lake once and was at least 500′ from the wizard and it never failed once.
So, what’s up with this review? Well over the past couple of months I have become very interested in what RadioPopper had to offer. I tried the new MiniTTL PW’s and really didn’t like them so I went back to what I knew, Plus and Plus II. Since PW’s worked so well for me, why would I change? Because, I am all about giving my clients the best available results!
I purchased a VERY expensive RadioPopper set-up so that I knew that I was getting the best that RadioPopper had to offer. Well, I received them today and this begins my mini review and first look.
Taking them out of the box you immediately realize how much smaller they are than PWs.
The new brackets for speedlights like the Nikon SB-800 is amazing! I love how compact and well built it is. And the transmitter is so small and is really out of the way when mounted.
Dual Nikon SB-800 flashes mounted to a flat bracket. This bracket is installed on a monopod or lightstand as needed.
I did have a little trouble at first getting things dialed in but it was mostly because I had to understand groups and that the speedlights were controlled, not by the transmitter but by the on-camera flash. Then, I did have to call RadioPopper because I was having some trouble decreasing the power on my alien bee studio lights.
(With that said, RadioPopper is SOOOO easy to get a hold of and their staff is quite knowledgeable! The rep on the phone was able to correct my mistakes and had me shooting within minutes.)
On to the results. My first few shots were all test shots and trying to understand how I could control an off-camera speedlight, while also controlling my favorite studio style strobes, Alien Bees! I am still in disbelief that I can control all of my lighting from the back of my camera. Over the past few years I have had to put lights up and down and adjust to get things dialed in. Now, if its too much or too little, a quick adjustment on the camera and I can keep shooting.
I do have a test subject at home that lately has been happy to be my little model. So I took my daughter out front, put her up on the mailbox and within 10 shots I had it all dialed in…with settings that I normally wouldn’t use.
Here is the 10th shot!
Settings? f2.8 . ISO 100 . 1/8000th of a second
So the question, am I in love? Am I happy that I sold all of my PWs only days before a wedding and swapped to something I was unfamiliar with? YES! Reading the manual is a bit like trying to decipher some Egyptian code. But within seconds of speaking with RadioPopper representatives and what I know of off-camera flash, I already feel as comfortable with these RadioPoppers as I did PWs. I am so excited for the next day of shooting and I hope to update this post after the weekend to let you know how well they worked for me!
****Note, I did have these overnighted so that I would receive days before the wedding to really get familiar with them. I NEVER go to a wedding unprepared!****
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