Wedding Songs: A first dance resource

When we were getting married the only decision I found extremely hard to make, and so let Kel decide, was our wedding song. Growing up I had all these visions of " Etta James", "Frank Sinatra, "The Spice Girls"( hey they were cool to preteens in the 90's) singing away as my new husband and I danced a perfectly choreographed dance in front of a ballroom of people. I had a really big imagination.  When the day actually came I couldn't decide if classic was to cliche. I was also worried that if we went mainstream in a few years I would hate the song. I think I was reading into the song too much (thanks a lot JLO, the Wedding Planner scarred me) In the end we went with one of Kel's favorite songs by the "Black Keys" and I'm happy to say I still love that song.

Here are some random ideas trending on twitter that might help you pick your wedding song.

* A thousand years: Cristina Perri

* I won't give up: Jason Mraz

* I want to grow old with you: Westlife ( for notebook lovers)

* Kiss me : ed sheeran

* Marry Me: Train

* Stay: Rihanna

* Strange & Beautiful: Aqualung (classic)

* Here comes your man: Meghan Smith

* All I know: five for fighting

* I do: Colbie Caillat

* Crash Into Me: Dave Matthews Band (classic)

*Cowboys and angels: Dustin Lynch ( for a country vibe)

I hope you find your perfect first dance!

European Photography Adventure: You say Venezia I say Venice

Once in awhile you visit a place that makes you feel like you stepped right out of one of your dreams. Venice is one such place. From the first moment I saw it I knew I would have to come back. It was surreal that people actually got to live somewhere so beautiful, that this wasn't disneyland. Wandering through the tiny alley ways their is a darkness about the city that transports you back in time. It is a toss up as to what is more beautiful Venice by day or by night.  Now my favorite city, I  hope we can go back someday and enjoy another bottle of Prosecco on a street that dead ends on a canal.  Maybe even for a wedding. Can you imagine how beautiful the wedding photography would be!!!

Photography 101: First steps into the LIGHT

Have you ever been on vacation and taken a picture of something amazing? Have you ever felt guilty because right after, you turned around to see a big sign with a big X through it saying "no flash photography"? Pretty sure we have all been in that boat. Whenever that happened to me I would look both ways and high tail it out of that room for fear a security guard would be on to my ruining of an ancient masterpiece.

Well I am here to help you take images of the masterpieces in these great places, like the Louvre, sin flash. Flash of course has its place but in most situations the natural light is so beautiful that that flash is not necessary. Although your camera will always tell you otherwise. Here are some tips to help you take control and avoid the guilt.

The first way of taking control of your camera is by understanding how to control the light. To do this we need to have an understanding of ISO. ISO is what, when you used to buy film, was the film speed. When you bought  film for your camera it would have an ISO number. That ISO number in digital photography  is telling you how sensitive to  light the sensor is. A simple way to put controlling ISO is the brighter the environment the lower the number you want to select. The darker the environment the higher the number you want to select. The higher your ISO the more light your allowing into your camera through the sensor allowing you to use a faster shutter speed. Pretty great right? ISO is essential in low light situations. The important thing you need to remember though is that the higher you go the more noise you introduce into the image. Noise is the grain in the background of an image. I personally don't mind a little of that natural noise. I feel it can be an interesting artistic effect. That being said there are different levels of that noise you really don't want to go past. On a lower end DSLR such as my Canon Rebel XSI I find anything higher then 800 on the ISO introduces way to much noise to my image. On a 5D mark ii or a 7D I would not push my camera past 2500 on the ISO. A high performance camera such as the  5D mark iii has ISO capabilities that are incredible allowing you to push your camera to the ISO 6000 range and still attaining good results. 

So how can you do this? Take your camera and identify where the ISO button is ( this will then bring up ISO numbers on your LCD screen or on an SLR within your view finder that you can scroll through and select)

Look at the situation you are in. For example are you on a bright sunny beach at 12:00 pm? In that situation what kind of ISO would you choose? ….If I was in that situation I would probably choose an ISO of around 100 because a lot of light is already coming into my camera. Now what choice would you make in  a dimly lit restaurant or coffee shop. You may then choose to raise that ISO to try and capture as much of the ambient light in the room to make your exposure. Depending on how dark the room is, and if there is any window light, you would probably choose to be in the 800 or higher range. Always be looking for available light to illuminate your subject though. ( Natural light for me is always best)

Now take your knowledge of ISO and practice it this way. On a Canon Camera the dial ( as we talked about here) is marked P, TV, AV, M, B. Turn the Dial so that it is set on P for Program. This is your first step towards taking control of your cameras brain. When you are on this mode you are fully in control of all decisions regarding the ISO ( your flash will never pop up automatically). Your camera is still in control of all other things regarding exposure but it is starting to listen to your advice. So give yourself an assignment. Go into different environments with different lighting situations and challenge yourself to decide what the best ISO for the situation would be.Choose that setting and snap away. you may be surprised with how much better your results will already be, then when you were on FULL AUTO. In most low light situations, such as receptions, restaurants, etc.., you will have to take advantage of off camera lighting. For now though work on mastering your skills with ISO.

In this example we only had one tungsten light on the cup's right on the ceiling to illuminate it. I wanted to imitate being stuck taking an image at a table in a restaurant. The result is okay but I find it too grainy and I don't have the ability to get more of the writing on the cup sharp because there is such a lack of light. In this situation moving the subject closer to the light or using off camera lighting ( a more advanced technique)  would have worked the best.

 Here are some images from the Louvre in Paris. I had to fight Ms. Mona Lisas Flashing Paparazzi for 10 minutes to the front of the pack to take this image. Thanks to the beautiful light no flash was required.

 NEWS FLASH: Due to a number of requests we are excited to announce that we are creating an online workshop in the new year. We have found that so many people love photography and have either invested in a gorgeous camera for themselves or were gifted one. The problem is you have this beautiful toy with so much potential but the manual puts you to sleep. That's where we come in. We are hoping to create a curriculum that involves understanding your camera, understanding light, posing techniques, and basics of editing your images. Our goal is to help you become a photographer in whatever capcacity that might beWe will be limiting the class size so that we are able to have time to answer, and help, all who are involved so please let me know if this would be something you would be interested in by leaving a comment below or e-mail us: whitney@whitneylanephotography.com

Music: A Friday Random Post

There are a few things in life that will make people realize just how weird I really am. Kel would interject here and say their are A LOT of things. One of those things is always music. I have had people walk in on me dancing to ridiculous songs more times then I can count. That is always such an awkward moment where you don't know if you should keep dancing like a maniac with hopes that they will join in, or if you should act like it never even happened. You know what I mean. That moment your husband walks in on you practicing your 'Gagnam style skills', or no one but you got the memo that it was "Hammertime". Admit it you've  all  been there!

Here are some musical thoughts to help you have a great weekend.  "Word to your mother"...............

Still a problem nine years later

Source: imgur.com via Shanna on Pinterest

Source: onestophumour.com via Whitney Lane on Pinterest

Source: weknowmemes.com via Dawn on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Whitney Lane on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Joy on Pinterest

Tiffany, Lifestyle Photography I Ravenna, Italy

  The air was warm, the pomegranates were hanging from the trees and the beautiful yellow and red light was dancing across the the ancient walled city of Ravenna Italy.  We made  our way to  Italy in late September  to photograph Tiffany for a lifestyle portrait session. Dodging Vespas, and bicycles on narrow streets we admired the historic piazzas, and cooled off with some incredible gelato.  Tiffany was great with her laid back attitude fitting right into the italian lifestyle. Sitting on ancient steps we were not the only ones taken by her, other photographers came up and took her photo as well, which just made us all laugh harder. A talented graphic designer she has made italy her home this last year and is soaking up every minute of it. I am looking forward to showing another project we worked on for my website while we were with Tiffany in Italy soon!
For now here is the lovely and ever classic Tiffany...

Tiffany their are no words

Here is a little behind the scenes of Kel ...yes he had been backpacking..and yes those were the only clean clothes he had that day. Gotta love him

If anyone is looking for a graphic designer and would like Tiffany's information please message me below in the comments section or e-mail me at whitney@whitneylanephotography.com

Photography 101: Those First Steps

Over the last year I have had many requests by mom's, fellow bloggers, and hobbyists for some photography tips. I have been a bit nervous to do this because I know that my way of photography is not the only way, and is not necessarily the best way. It's what works for me. Learning photography can be very daunting and I made a lot of mistakes. One thing I realized though is that their are a few things over time that finally click ( pun intended) and you have that beautiful aha moment where the mystery of the camera is no longer so complicated. So I am going to throw everyone a lollipop and try to break down some of the basics of photography so that everyone can reach their own aha moments faster then I did.

 To start I want to break down the camera. The first thing we always want to do is pick up the camera and start shooting. It is so important though to understand what you are trying to control with the camera so that you achieve the results and look you want. 

I use Canon but the basics of Nikon should be very similar and you can refer to your camera guide to understand the differences.

The first thing that will help you understand your camera is understanding the little letters that go along with it. Full Auto , P, TV, AV, M, Bulb. ( P, S, A, M on Nikon) Now these are not only on DSLR cameras but pretty much any digital camera will give you the ability to change your camera mode to one of these settings ( even some phone cameras. So let's break them down.

Exposure : 

So basically when the exposure is correct the image should look exactly how you want it to look. Whatever you are trying to achieve. It is a way of controlling the light to do what you want. To do this we use 3 things ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture ( more about these later)

When you have your camera on full AUTO ( little green box on canon) you are giving the cameras little digital brain control. You are in effect trusting it to make all decisions for you. It is reading the light and deciding what it feels needs to be done to make what your focussing on properly exposed. The result sometimes can be very good. Other times especially in a difficult lighting situation it may make a decision that you do not agree with. The first step into taking control of your camera is learning to decide how you want the camera to read the light. 

I suggest though that you don't jump in all the way at first but rather understand how to use each component that makes up exposure. 

The first way to do that would be by using the mode P ( which I will get into next time)

Cuzco was my model for this quick project. Neither image is that good actually but you can see the differences in the decisions I made to control the light compared to the camera in a semi backlit situation.

As a project set your camera to full auto and look at different lighting situations. Using your own eye decide what you would want to be bright or in shadow or how you would like it to look what you would want to focus on. For example are you taking a landscape photo and want the mountains in focus and lit correctly? Or are you taking a photo of a girl in the field and want just her sharp and clear with the background blurred out. Then try using the camera and see if your minds think alike.

Hope that helps looking forward to the next instalment of Photography 101

Ciao

On Sewing Kits and Photo Albums

I have always liked the idea of creating gifts for people. When I was 8 years old I felt this crazy urge to create from scratch anniversary gifts for my parents. For some reason I thought, because I happened to own a mini sewing kit, I could create these amazing masterpieces. A beautiful pillow for my mom's bed and a tie to beat all ties for my dad. Turns out the Martha Stewart meets Mrs. Brady gene ( have you met my mom?) skipped a generation. In all honesty the tie for my dad looked more like the pillow then the pillow did. The pillow though did have an incredible picture of a cat on it.

Setting my craft skills aside I do love packaging up albums for clients. Thanks to Iris Books I had the pleasure of packaging up some BEA utiful albums for one of our clients. These albums are so classy and full of color that they make me want to do a happy dance. I feel strangely possessive of them like I want to decorate my whole house in colourful leather. With digital images causing a lot of people to forget to print off their wedding pictures, beautiful albums like this help you to get those images off your computer and out where you can see them.

A Rain Story I International Seattle Photographer

Tut Tut it looks like rain.......

That was all that was going through my head as we headed toward the black rain clouds encircling the area around Seattle. Little Nadine was such a trooper. Despite this being the first time meeting us she coped with the cold rain while running around, in the falling  leaves, with us. Rain can be a photographer's worst nightmare but this little girl made it all work out. Sloshing around puddles in her little pink gumboots, and trying her best to keep the umbrella upright kept us all laughing.

Enjoy

You guys are adorable 

Elisa + Greg Edmonton Alberta I Destination Wedding Photographer

It was love at first sight. For me that is. I arrived in Edmonton on a beautiful, sunny day and fell for Elisa and Greg right away. Elisa was so incredibly cute making all of her bridesmaids, and her two sweet girls feel special the morning of her wedding. Spinning in her dress in the living room she was the epitome of a fun bride.

  Greg appeared cool and collected while he patiently waited for his bride to arrive. He was all smiles for the new girls in his life as they walked down the aisle towards him.  The fun and laid back wedding party showed just what kind of people gravitate to this great couple. After limo rides, Starbucks, and champagne we arrived at the Enjoy Centre in St. Albert for the reception. The location was incredible with an amazing upstairs solarium. The modern, edgy restaurant was a perfect setting for some after dinner photographs. 

Thank-you so much for including us on your big day. We had such a great time getting to know the both of you.

Elisa... your gorgeous!

To see more of Elisa and Greg`s big day click Here or watch the slideshow below A big thank- you to:
The Enjoy Centre
Legends Limousine 
Kacey Clarke for Makeup
Brianna Rogers for Hair from Dandy Salon & Spa