anne+sean’s port townsend wedding was pure M.A.G.I.C. it was almost impossible to pick my favorite part. it could be the fun speakeasy theme or the amazing design by matthew parker or even the beautiful view from the clam cannery… nah, my favorite part of the whole day would have to be the love and chemistry anne+sean have for each other. i know, i know, how cheesy, but seriously! just look at the photos!

Don’t have a macro lens?  Some lenses have a “macro” setting and even though it won’t get you super close like an actual macro lens, you can still try your hand at shooting in macro.  Just try shooting as close as possible and focus on the little details.  If you have a macro lens, even better!

You could take a picture of a vintage camera, like this…

or with macro you could get real close and shoot a fun picture like this:

You could photograph this pretty pretty globe…

or you could get even closer and focus on where you live (yay Fort Worth, Texas!!)

You could take a picture of a guitar… (guitars are cool, just sayin’)

or you could capture some up-close details.  (my rockstar B approves these photos!)  ;)

Next time you’re out and about with your camera, take a closer look at the details around you… what kind of things would you shoot in macro?

Happy shooting! xoxo Brandy

The next Shooting in Manual class (aka Photo 101) starts March 1, 2012.  Want to learn how to use that amazing camera of yours?   Register for the next class and join in on the fun!   xoxo Brandy

for meesha+alex

Instead I would have epic battles with my pop up flash and get super mad when my pictures of the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disney turned out blurry.  Then I bought my first DSLR and was determined to learn to shoot in manual.  Well, I sorta kinda had to since I wanted to be a wedding photographer. In that situation, you can’t have your camera running all willy nilly.  As it turned out, taking my camera off automatic and going into manual mode wasn’t near as tragic as I used to think.  It’s actually really easy once you understand the basics.

Still not feeling it?  Here’s 8 reasons to learn to shoot in manual (or as I like to call it… how to take great pictures!)

1.  Play with lights (say ooh and ahh)

Create gorgeous surreal photos of color and light with everyday lights, like these Christmas lights hung in a cluster on a window.  Shooting in manual let’s you paint with light, blur lights out of focus (aka bokeh) behind your subject and opens up a world of creative fun.

2.  Motion blur

Love motion blur!  Especially with lights like this midway photo from the State Fair of Texas.  When shooting in automatic mode, you might get some motion blur by accident – when you turn off the flash and the camera needs more light.  But what if you want to do it on purpose?  By using a tripod and shooting in manual you can capture awesome motion blur.  If you have a steady hand you can also get blur hand holding the camera, like the following two photos.

3.  Panning

Panning is a form of motion blur, in which the subject is in focus but the background around the subject is in motion and blurred. This picture was taken in the middle of the Hoh Rainforest outside Forks, Washington.  This is a sorta crazy way of panning since it is a spinning self portrait.  Yep, I was holding the camera out and spinning in circles.

3.  Create stunning silhouettes.

If you let your camera have all the fun, you’ll never capture silhouettes since automatic settings always assume you need more light and will adjust accordingly (hello, pop up flash or blurry photos!)  But learn to shoot in manual and you can capture beautiful silhouettes like this one…

4.  Sunflare

Someone once told me to never ever ever point my camera at the sun.  But what’s the fun in that?  Well granted you don’t want to take pictures of just the sun in the sky (wait a min, I might be guilty of that too heh) but combine the sun with your subject, adjust the settings and tada, sunflare!  By shooting in manual mode you can capture sunflare on purpose, like this image of the tree sculpture at the Modern in Fort Worth.  Oh, do I love sunflare.  But yeah, try not to stare at the sun while composing the shot. Trust me.

5.  Say goodbye to harsh on-camera flash (when you don’t really need it)

Oh on-camera flash, love it or hate it.  Sometimes it’s the only way to get the shot.  More often though, it just pops up all over the place because your camera thinks it needs the extra light.  Shooting in manual puts you in control, giving you other choices to not use flash.

If you’re shooting inside with some window light in automatic, you’ll probably get a picture like this:

See the harsh light and shadow from the on-camera flash?  My skin is extra shiny and you can see all kinds of imperfections.  The colors are also more muted, my eyes are just about the same color blue.  Talk about deer in headlights look!

But guess what?  You can take the exact same picture (same location, camera and lens) in manual mode and get softer, more flattering natural light.  Notice the color in my eyes… you can see varying shades of color.  Ditching the flash by shooting in manual mode is a surefire way to start taking better pictures.

6.  Pick your focus point

One of the best parts about shooting in manual mode is the ability to choose what you want to be in focus.  In automatic your camera usually picks whatever it wants.  But shoot in manual and you can focus on something in the background or the subject on the left or right of the photo, oh the possibilities.

7.  Bring out your subject with blurred, creamy backgrounds

When you pick a wide open aperture… the more blurred the background will become, like this purple flower above.  This is one of my favorite reasons for shooting in manual mode.  In the following photo, Brandon and I are both standing about 10 feet from a brightly colored graffiti wall.  By blurring the background you get a wash of colors that compliment your subject.  :)

8.  Capture dreamy, sun-kissed photos by shooting with backlight

The opposite of creating a silhouette, dreamy sun-kissed photos can be captured with the sun or other bright light behind your subject.  If you’re shooting in automatic the camera will think there is too much light and make the image more dark.  But if you focus on just the right spot and set your exposure in manual, you can get this wonderful hazy light filled image.

I’m a super visual learner so I hope these examples helped you too!  Do you have an awesome camera but haven’t learned to really use it?  Why not boss your camera around and call the shots?  You’ll love the pictures you get when shooting in manual!

When I started shooting weddings, I knew it was a *must* to shoot with a set of smaller memory cards.  This way if something happened with one card, the whole day (6-8 hours of shooting) would not be lost.  For weddings, we would each fill up a set of 10 – 4GB memory cards (shooting in RAW)  since our camera’s RAW files are crazy big and take up lots of space.  That being said, you could still fit a high (risky) number of JPG images on that same 4GB card.  So for JPG shooting I would recommend 2GB or smaller cards or you could deliberately switch out cards to keep from taking all pics on the same card.  We do that when we’re shooting in JPG on our 5DMii cameras with the 4GB cards.

Of course, shooting with smaller memory cards means having more to keep up with (and lose!)  To keep up with all our cards we use Think Tank’s Pixel Pockets.  I LOVE my Pixel Pocket except I don’t trust that plastic strap to hang it on stuff (say, me?) No way Jose, that baby stays in my camera bag.  The Pixel Pockets are pretty awesome though.  There are 3 different sizes / kinds to choose from.  B and I both have a blue 10 card Pixel Pocket. There’s also a 6 card holder and then the Pixel Wee (the cute red one) holds 6 cards.  Now the blue ones are actually designed to hold compact flash cards (out of their little plastic case.)  Only the red Pixel Wee holds SD cards (and only 3 of them.)  However if you keep your SD cards in their plastic case, they fit in the compact flash spots perfectly.

Remember, digital cameras are amazing but don’t shoot all your pictures on the same card! Shoot over several cards during vacation / big events and back up often when possible.  You’ll be glad you did!  Questions?  Feel free to comment!  xoxo Brandy

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