I am second…

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Melissa Brown

A few shots of the I am second fundraiser from last night. Love meeting new people! At events like this, you can’t be afraid to stop people. Being shy will not get you anywhere, step in and interrupt, take the photo and move on to the next group!

Sunlight- again use the sunny 16 rule. If it’s bright sun, F-16 or higher… the lower the ISO is typically more desired, but feel free to bump it up if you have issues getting a decent exposure. If all else fails bracket…. try several test shots with different exposures til you find the best option.

I used a free Gritty HDR action on this last photo. Gives the photo a nice effect I think. See a few posts back to find this action.

Concert lighting. Is very difficult to shoot in. Turn off the flash. Use an ISO of 100 or 200 then a shutter speed ranging on your meter. High ISO’s also work sometimes, but can become too grainy so most avoid them.

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Kayla and Adrian

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Honestly, this was probably my most challenging wedding. The best and smoothest option is to always plan for an hour at least for the family/bridal party photos. The more photos the couple wants the more time they will take to stage. We managed to pull it off, but all at once would have allowed me, the photographer, to be more creative. The wedding ceremony was held at Watermark Community Church.

I like to photograph the bride from the back when she walks in… something about the way the dress moves that I love.

Gorgeous industrial look in the chapel. Love the big window, they have a screen to diffuse some of the incoming light. This window could be a huge challenge on a sunny day, with the couples being back-lit. As a member of this particular church, they have strict guidelines on who they will allow to rent the chapel for ceremonies. If you have an interest, please contact the church for those guidelines.

The reception was held at the Hilton Anatole. Very large hotel, with many ballrooms. I would love to have taken more time to explore and photograph couples in this large hotel. They have several large lobbies that are great for photos. Have your bride contact the hotel to see about using the lobby for portrait sessions.

The ballrooms at places like the Anatole, tend to set the dark mood lighting for the evening. I will typically go without diffusion on my flash, and get the best lighting when bouncing off the ceiling whenever possible. The above was photographed, by bouncing my flash off the ceiling and letting it fall to light the subject. This allows the light to be softer, and very illuminating in most cases.

Again I’ll say it, candid’s are your best friend. I know of a lot of photographers that take the fly on the wall approach. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to disturb people enjoying your party? Who knows. I prefer to stop people, or stalk the bride and groom for the night, especially if I am without an assistant. People love photos of themselves with their friends. So do your best to follow the bride and get tons of candid photos.

These types of candid photos are what I like to call a money shot. Just family and friends having a great time.

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Amy and Nathan

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Last Saturday, Amy and Nathan tied the Knot. :) The wedding was at the SMU Perkins Chapel. Beautiful wedding, I love it when I meet new couples that are relaxed and just ready to enjoy the day. Everything went very smoothly. But what you are really here for is the photography so let’s get on with it.

This Chapel just has the Best lighting of any chapel I’ve ever been in. The light comes in from all sides and makes for some gorgeous photography. It is also one of the easiest to shoot and follow the no flash guidelines that almost all chapels require. I’ve only found one chapel that allowed me to use flash during the ceremony. I was so very greatful because they had set the lights so low that nothing was going to come out otherwise.

On this last shot I added the soft bleach action. Can be found at Deviant art.

Here is the shot without the action.

Another thing to be noted, I shot these in front of the chapel in High sun. In order to shoot in that much sun, you really need to be on a manual mode. Use the Sunny 16 rule, f-stop of f16 or higher to shoot in sun. I also turned the subject around and made these more of an artistic shot. Sometimes a reflector under the eyes will help, but sunny shots are very contrasty. It’s better to just be artist and not worry about faces in these types of circumstances. Most Photographers won’t bother, but I wanted to give it a try. I aim to not be afraid of the sun.

And Reception at the Avanti Restaurant in downtown Dallas.

I absolutely loved the restaurant where they held the reception. Also some great shots.

The shot above was actually inspired by the Bride. I love to ask if they have any ideas they’d like to try. Most cases they say No, but on a rare occasion someone has something great in mind. I do my best to not shoot the typical ring shot. I’ll usually take it if they ask, but as jewelry photographer I love to find ways to accent the rings. Granted, I could make this even better with some strobes, but still nice with flash and available light.

Candid’s are your best friend. If you can catch that perfect moment. This is the groom with his Step mother.

Another great Candid. Just be ready and available! The Best man was swinging him around and just happened to snap this off with the perfect timing.

And the exit. Happy shooting. More events this weekend so check back next week for more photos!

For some reason the window won’t pop up on this post. Sorry for the inconvenience. I’ve tried to correct it, but I’m not having much luck.

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HDR Photoshop actions

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Today I’ve been playing with the HDR action I found online for free. You can find it here: HDR. I also modified mine, bc I do not like the noise, so I deleted the Noise section and the merge layer section within the action. If you click the side arrow so it points down you can make adjustments on the contents within the actions.

I also tend to take the layers before I save my final file, and bring down the opacity some.

One of the layers even has an adjustment section and you can paint back in with black or white, if you’d like to remove the action from any part of the photo. I know this is very confusing.. I’m assuming you have some previous photoshop knowledge. There are a lot of free actions that can be found online. Search google. Sometimes you have to go through and try them out, if you hate them, no problem just hit delete! :)

Happy shooting.

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In Honor of Bob Bob

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Wednesday my grandfather, Bob Bob passed away. I had just gotten to see him in August, though it was still a rough day. Bret took the day off and cheered me up. Glad he did. Here are some Photos for the day…. We went to a park in Richardson and took some photos meant for desktop wallpaper. They can also be found here if you’d like to order a print: Zenfolio

This one is blurry on purpose. It was a happy accident… I almost deleted it then thought. Wait it’s meant to be a desktop wallpaper, how perfect that it is out of focus… sometimes it’s just the nice melding of colors that makes for a great desktop. I took one that was in focus as well… If you are curious and would like to see follow the link above.

This lighthouse photo was taken in Delaware, near where my Bob Bob lived. He loved to fish and visit spots like these. They have a nice painting of a lighthouse much like this in their house.

More flowers on my walk.

If you’d like any of these for a desktop wallpaper, I will give you your choice of your favorite one. Send me an email : ebonyblancimages@gmail.com

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Always take the photo

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Some people think that if they don’t have that amazing camera they want, then they shouldn’t take the photo. I firmly believe if you think it’s great take it anyways. Especially if you have a phone that takes great photos like the iPhone does. You never have to miss that special, or sweet moment. The most likely scenario being that you will be more likely to show it off, as you will always have it with you on your Phone.

Here are a few of my most recent shots with my iPhone, using an app called Hipstamatic .

Now this photo is very sweet, but she totally caught me…. this is what I actually wanted to catch. Fortunately, I managed….

Very sweet, unsuspecting… she was watching her kitty from the table.

Here is one of my before photos, before I turned on the Hipstamatic app. I did enhance this a little in Photoshop. But overall, the color and available light filled this picture well. It’s not large enough to print really big, but a small print perhaps. This is funny, because again: I was trying to catch the sweetness of the shot above. Don’t be afraid to keep trying should it not come right away. Kids are sly, they like to move around a lot.

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A Contest as a way to kick off the launch of our new site!

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Melissa Brown

I’m excited to launch a new website, so to give you all a good reason to check it out, I’ve started a Contest!

Come to ebonyblanc.com and click on ‘contact’. Send me a message asking to enter. Be sure to give your name, email and phone number so I can reach you. While you are there, check out my site, samples and pricing.

What: We will be giving away 5 session coupons, possibly more! Some of these coupons will have free sessions, some will be half price.

When: We will determine the winner on Oct 20th!

How: We’ll pick winners at random. They’ll be notified by email, so make sure your spam filter accepts emails from: ebonyblancimages@gmail.com

Eligibility: This time, the contest is for expecting moms and parents with a child under 12 months of age. We’ll be happy to work mom, dad and siblings into a few shots with the baby too. If time allows we will do one or two family shots.

Questions: Email Melissa Brown: ebonyblancimages@gmail.com or call: 972-454-0865

If you would like to schedule a session quicker than the contest ends, then feel free to schedule now. If you win we will apply your coupon to your print order.

FB fans get an extra 10% off their sessions even with the coupons. And if you sign up a friend for a session, you get a free 5×7.

*Reminder Click on an image if you’d like to see it larger*

Posted in Children, Maternity and Newborn | Leave a comment

Tara and Jeff

Posted on September 23, 2010 by Melissa Brown

These are some of the best photos from a recent wedding. We started the day off at the Sheraton Dallas.

Then headed to the Church: Walnut Hill United Methodist Church.

Reception: Hackberry Creek Country Club. I really recommend Hackberry for events! They had a beautiful venue with great options for photography.

Posted in Bridal, Events, Wedding | Leave a comment

Welcome to the new Ebony Blanc Images’ Blog!

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Melissa Brown

Welcome to the Ebony Blanc Images Blog!  I am Melissa Brown and this is my photo blog. I work around Dallas, Richardson and sometimes Houston. I am excited to share my events with you, and give you a more detailed idea of how we work. I am new at this blog thing, but I will try to post often. I would love to hear your feedback. Enjoy!

If you would like to see an image larger please click on the image for the window to pop up!


Posted in Bridal, Children, Events, Maternity and Newborn, Sports, Uncategorized, Wedding | Leave a comment