Candice & Aubrey :: Wedding

A lot can be said about the awesomeness of this wedding. Total party. Complete party. Crazy party. It was a mounds of awesome. Like if it was an ice cream flavor at BaskinRobins, it would be just called "Awesome Flavor". Candice and Aubrey were are some of the coolest clients I've ever had. Yall brought it.

What made this wedding even more epic is the fact that 2 of my best photog buds came out and played as well. BIG thanks to both Ed Pingol and Tony Hoffer. Neither need much introduction as you've seen their faces on my blog before. You've both made this couples wedding pictures beyond anything dreamed for. You can see Tony's take on the day on his blog. Thanks so much for the help guys. EPIC!

Friends and family of Candice and Aubrey, feel free to say hello to the newlyweds in the comment section. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Take and happy Friday.

Wedding Venue: The Bellevue Club

~Sam

WWSU:: Get Lighroom, Get Presetopia!

My newest blog series! WWSU - What Would Sam Use. Look for monthly updates. YAY!

Abobe Lightroom

In my endeavor to help the photographers with their passion for the art, here is some more secret sauce to making the awesome. For a photographer, good workflow software is crucial. Adobe Lightroom is argued to be the best their is. Simple layout, easy navigation and HUGE on after effect. My photo edits are almost purely finished with Adobe Lightroom. Yes, it's that awesome.
For the total newbie, here are a plethra of video classrooms on youtube that will get you going in no time: ImanewbieandIhatereadingmanualsandneedvideoslikesamtolearn

Presets and Presetopia

The magic of LR is that once you've dialed in a "look" you like on any particular photo, that "look" can be saved as a preset and used on ANY photo you'd like from there. Though it my need some tweeking here and there as from from picutre to picture you'll find presets will save you buckets of time. Don't wanna go through the litany of creating you own preset? I HAVE YOUR SOLUTION : Presetopia

All images below are from the genius that is Spencer Boerup Photography located in Tucson. All these images were also doesed with the magic of presetopia. Pure awesome.
In his 75 preset pack you'll find an insane amount of options to make your images go from drab to fab. Check out this link to see some before and after results he has. Lots of diffent looks to just one photo: Samples. What you see below are the results of almost 1 click from the original. He convientanly has insrutctions on installing along with how-to's and a 12 minute instuctional video. Easy, easy.
For all my blog readers he has graciously provided a $5 off coupon for the purchase of his 75 preset pack. Use this code: samgotthehookup

YAY for Lightroom. YAY for Presetopia!


OMG, HOW COOL IS THIS SHOT!!
1. Hot Punch!
2. Warm/Blue Heavy
3. Vignette +3

1. Backlight +3
2. Warm/Purple Heavy
3. Sharpen +1
4. Portrait Punch



1. Backlight +2
2. Warm/Blue Heavy

1. Hot Punch!
2. Vignette +2

1. Super Velvia
2. Increase in standard color temperature

Steph Velez :: Senior Session

Look who's graduating! Stephanie has been a dear friend to my wife and I for MANY year. She is a doll. Smart, sassy and she can sannnnng. She and her mom Lu sang at, get this, MY wedding! This girl's got talent. I'm officially putting it out there that if any dude are interested in Steph, they must come through my wife and I for full approval first. After us you have to deal with Lu. ;) We love you and are soooo proud of you sweetheart. Go get em girl.

~Sam

Janice & Lee :: Seattle Engagement

Such natural chemistry. THAT'S what makes this set so special. I'll have the awesome privilege of shooting Janice and Lee's wedding in September in Seattle. Excited for them as it's destined to be quite a wedding. They will be married at Farm Kitchen in Poulsbo WA. (stones throw from Seattle). Looks like such a charming location.

So I flew up and back the SAME day for their engagement session in Seattle. I literally arrived, shot, ate Pho, (what else do you eat when in Seattle) and flew home. :) loved my time their and LOVED this session through and through. I know I've said that some couple look like they stepped out of a magazine but come on.....these guys! Like peanut butter and jelly how fitting they are together. SO fun shooting for them.

I also had the distinct privilege of shooting along side one of Seattle's best! I'm not talking coffee either. My buddy, Sergio Mottola, came out to play on this one. This dude is pure talent. He's steadily holdin it down and is a force to be reckoned with. He'll be shooting this one with me in September. Have a look at his work and his take on the day. Prepare for the awesome: Serg

Look out for a wedding or 2 to be blogged within the next few days. Thanks again, and enjoy your week folks. :)

~Sam













I thought of this shot on the plane ride over. Seattle. Starbucks. Peets. Coffee, get it?

Adobe Photoshop & Post Processing

I'm going to deviate from my normal type of blog post of showcasing pics from recent sessions. Today I want to let you in on some of the secret sauce that goes into making awesome photography. What can make a photo go from dud to stud? What can give you the extra POP an already good photo doesn't have. If I can name 1 single tool that has single handily change the photographic medium it would UNEQUIVOCALLY be Adobe Photoshop.

Photographers have always had a degree of "photoshop" applied to their images as long as cameras have been around. The darkroom was the photoshop of it's day. Many WELL know photographers spent MUCH time in what is known as "post processing" to really make an image shine. Today the darkroom is still very active albeit not as subscribed to by as many in contrast to the "digital darkroom" found on any computer. In short, post processing has never been easier nor more fluid then it is today. The post processing/photoshop capabilities are absolutely endless. Painfully however, with such ease also comes the innumerable amount of BAD attempts at the craft of post processing. If you have some time to kill and don't mind your ribs hurting for about an hour, hop over to the cesspool of mediocrity that is PhotoshopDisasters.com It's not bad, it's OMG bad. It's in my bookmarks :)

I recently did a model shoot that ended in a historic graveyard just on the outskirts of Sacramento. The photo in my header was one of my favorites from the day in way of composition, posing and message. The image you see is almost SOOC, (straight out of camera). I have VERY little to no photoshop work done to it at all. I had some extremely talented photographer friends have at it with their take on my "graveyard" shot of Chantal our model. I LOVE these renditions. All of them VERY creative and so different from the starting image I presented. After viewing, please clinck on their names and visit their sites. You'll leave inspired.

Their take:



Rian Flynn (My favorite in the set. I LOVE what he did)
Jim (notice the green grass she sits on. Very clever and story telling)
Richard Lavigne, (Dig his desaturated, low contrast look)

Tony Hoffer, (this guy needs no intro from me. Hoff always brings it)
Diane Stredicke (Diane's take is a close second for me. I really like this rendition)
Zoltan Kenwell (this one is SO awesome. I LOVE IT)

Sam Obeid (did deviate much from what I did. I like :) Steven Bonnau (Check out that sky. So angry and fitting IMO, you never would have guessed it was a 70* day.
Corazon Photography (The tones and the dead grass in this one stand it out amoung the rest)
Trent Ferguson (Trent rounds us off with a well done B&W. Excellant)