Would you hire a construction worker to put braces under a collapsing roof that had a tool box from the kids isle at Home Depot? No…of course not.  So why would you hire someone who uses consumer grade photography gear?  My point with this post is to enlighten brides, whether you book with me or not, it’s important to know what a photographer is using, that they have back-up gear, that they know how to use their gear fully and whether they have back-up’s of your files at home or not.

My Nikon Pro Equipment

Now of course, not everyone is going to have the above and I wouldn’t expect them too, this has taken years to acquire and some people do well with less or some have better.  The above includes twin Nikon D3 cameras, FIVE Nikon SB-900 flash units, the hebrew trinity of zoom lenses; the 14-24 2.8G, 24-70 2.8G & the 70-200 2.8G VRII and two primes lenses; Nikon 60 2.8 Micro & a Sigma 85 1.4. So what’s makes these items Pro? First the Nikon D3 cameras handle low-light exceptionally well and one of the biggest benefits besides sheer speed and quality is the dual card slots.  Most cameras today have a single card slot and if that card is to fail or become corrupt, unfortunately, your wedding images may not be retrievable.  With the pro bodies like the D3, the second card slot acts as a back-up to the first.  So every shot I take is saved two times!  Not only that but I shoot dual cameras, one is for wide and the other is for telephoto, then means that in the freak event that two cards fail in one camera, the entire wedding is being recorded by the other camera.

The lenses are considered pro, at least the ones with the gold rings because of their weather sealed bodies, fast apertures and coating for sharpness and flare resistance.  This may not make much sense to people who don’t know about camera but trust me, it makes a huge difference over kit lenses or anything else.  Each of my lenses serve a very specific purpose but in the event that I loose multiple lenses for whatever reason, I can still shoot the wedding without a problem…that’s what I call back-up.

Then I have 5, yes FIVE Nikon SB-900 flashes.  These are Nikon’s flagship flash units, they are powerful, soft and controllable.  They give a much better result that any other flash on the market that I’ve tried. Having 5, I can place them wherever I want and create “texture, dimension and mood” ~ Cliff Mautner.

Then at home, how are your files safe?  Well I have a Drobo unit with 4 hard drives, this is 4 redundant back ups of your files and on any wedding I haven’t completed, I back that up to another external drive.  Once files are completed, I upload full-resolution files to my online company that stores them for me.  Redundancy is key here folks.  Its the most important day of most people’s lives, why risk anything?

This session was a team effort, starting with a beautiful model, Kristina from Makeup by Kristina took Jackson’s beauty to whole new level with some awesome hair and stunning makeup! We took Jackson downtown where I had two assistants and we definitely needed two assistants as this was one of the biggest light setups I had ever tackled. In the end, the images captured were truly beautiful and when you nail it in camera, the need for photoshop is non-existant!

All photos were taken at night with a Nikon D3 and 70-200 2.8G VRII and the lighting was provided by a mix of Alien Bee B800′s, B1600′s and Nikon SB-900 speedlights.

The shadows on the wall and magenta color was controlled 100% by me. Using some of Joe McNally’s techniques that I’ve learned, I was able to use some railing to create interesting patterns on the wall.

Here I moved to small flash, Nikon SB-900′s were used to light the model.

The ability to get onto the roof of my building created some stunning images with the Orlando skyline in the background.  The compression from the lens brings everything close together and the small octabox on a large flash gave a punchy but some nice wrap on Jackson.

]]> http://mike-richards.com/theblog/?p=3464/feed/ 0 http://mike-richards.com/theblog/?p=3461 http://mike-richards.com/theblog/?p=3461#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:38:43 +0000 Mike Richards Photography http://mike-richards.com/theblog/?p=3461 Yes, I am WAYYYYY far behind on blogging. But I do have an excuse!   I spent the New Year up in NYC which was absolutely incredible and when I got back, I immediately moved into my new place in downtown Orlando, on Church St.  So yeah, it’s been a hectic few weeks.  Either way, I have about 4-6 sessions that I need to blog, everything from a wedding to a maternity session.

So this one frame is from a wedding in January at Disney and I just love the photo-journalistic feel of the image.  Katie and Cutter say goodbye to Katie’s mom as they pull off in a limo.

So much more to come!!!

I’m not really sure how to write this post without saying how much I love this couple, how amazing they are and how much they truly showed me what love is without it making me sound like this is my favorite couple of all time so I’ll just go out and say it, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS COUPLE, THEY ARE SO INCREDIBLE AND THE LOVE THEY SHARE IS SECOND TO NONE! They remind me so much of one of my other favorite couples of all time, Lauren and Jacob. Mary Frances and Dan truly showed me throughout the day why I photograph weddings and why I love what I do! All of my couples hold something special to me and none are better than the other, but sometimes, there are those couples that you truly connect with and feel a bond with and these two beautiful people are definitely them.  I wish you two all the happiness in the world and maybe someday we’ll meet up for a bite to eat or a drink.   Oh and this is only part 1…WOWZA!!!!

Mahlia and Patrick knew how important photography was and booked me for 12 hours of coverage, a first look, an engagement session and a Faux-To-Booth during the reception (those images to come later).  Kristina (my second shooter) and I had an amazing time in Harmony, FL and at the end of the day, we knew we captured some amazing images.  Congrats to you two!

More to come from Melissa and Angel’s Champions Gate wedding.

Joni and Junior had a destination wedding up in South Carolina, where Joni is from. Most guests traveled the 9 hrs from Orlando to Spartanburg to attend this beautiful wedding.

I have to say, Junior is probably one of the most easy going grooms I’ve had to date.   And after seeing Joni in her beautiful wedding dress, I can’t wait for their after session!