Eddie & Leslie - Engagement @ Balboa Park

Met up with Eddie & Leslie at Balboa Park to take their engagement photos. Leslie looked really nice in her new white dress and Eddie's smile just wouldn't stop. It was quite obvious during the photo shoot how in love Eddie is with Leslie and it shows in the photos. They are planning on having their wedding later this year in beautiful Hawaii and I wish them all the best in their future to come.
Below are a few images from their shoot.

Tom & Sarah - Engagement @ La Jolla Cove, San Diego, CA

Spent some time with Tom & Sarah shooting their engagement photos down in the La Jolla Cove area. They both did an awesome job and we had a good time seeking out some spots to take some photos. Actually went to school with Tom's younger brother Kevin for quite a few years. It was cool to catch up with Tom and how his family is doing. I'm really looking forward to photographing Tom & Sarah's upcoming wedding. Below are a few images I selected to share from their photo shoot.

Jimmy & Crystal's Wedding Book

Video of Jimmy & Crystal's wedding book that was hand made by West Coast Albums. John Hildebrand and myself photographed this wedding and John spent some serious time on putting together their wedding book. The finished results are very impressive and the quality of the entire book is worth every penny. John made this really cool video to give everyone an idea of the work we do and the great work that West Cost Albums produces.

Jimmy and Crystal's Wedding Book from H2 Weddings on Vimeo.

HDR Portraits

Photographed my youngest brother Jordan doing what he loves most, playing the guitar. Jordan has been playing guitar since he was around 11 and he has definitely acquired his own style of playing. Whether it be on acoustic or electric Jordan surely knows his way around a guitar.
Cruised over to his house to try and get some worthy HDR images of him in his own environment. For those of you who have never heard of HDR, do a quick Google search on it and you will get plenty of info on it. Numerous folks have lots of info on the whole process. In a nut shell, HDR blends numerous exposures into one final image. Reason for doing this is because it gives you a very large tonal range and it looks very cool. Some love it and some hate, but, you can't win them all can you. This is just a tool and should not be used to excess.
HDR is typically best used for landscapes or objects that are not moving. Because we are taking more than one image anything that does move will give off a ghostly appearance and not look right. This can be corrected in Photo Shop, but, you might as well get the shot right the first time.
From my past experience and images I have seen online, HDR is not a friend to skin tones. Finding ways around the skin tone problem is what I am after.
Below are a few examples of what my final results were from the shoot. The color images actually didn't look half bad, but, in the end I decided to apply an action to get this sepia look. Jordan did an awesome job of staying completely still for the 3 exposures for each of the images. I had a few where you could see his hand or head moving to much so they were deleted. Had Jordan just hold his breath for these 3 images and try to not move at all. His room had very little ambient light coming in through the window so the exposures were going to be quite slow. Only other tool that was used was the "Transform" tool to "Skew" the walls and posters to get them all nice and straight.
For anyone that has any questions on HDR or photography please send me an email, I am here to help.

Camera Data
Canon 5D
F-stop f4
Exposure 1/3, 1/13, 1.3
ISO 160

Camera Data
Canon 5D
F-stop f4
Exposure .5, 1/8, 2
ISO 160

Camera Data
Canon 5D
F-stop f4
Exposure 1/8, 1/30, .5
ISO 160

Beverly Hills Birthday Party

Photographed a birthday party up in Beverly Hills, CA over the weekend. Actually left Oceanside three and half hours prior to the event thinking this would give me plenty of time before to set up. Of course not.., L.A. always has surprises for you. Showed up at the exact scheduled time, so everything worked out in the end. Got just a little stressed out there for a minute.. Next time I will give myself 5 hours....
Shawn & Caroline the hosts of the party threw a very nice gathering and had all their family & friends attend. I was very impressed with huge selection of fruits & desserts set up on the dining room table. Must have taken over 100+ details shots of all the selections. My favorite had to have been a tray full of mini bavarian cakes. I would have accepted some of those as partial payment..
All in all looks as though everyone had a really good time and I hope they enjoy the images. Below are a handful of images from the event.

Hunter is Home

Jeff & Becky (my brother & sister-in-law) invited the family over to see Hunter in her new surroundings. Nana (my Mom) got the best pictures of the night while holding her on the couch. It also gave Becky some time to have some dinner before getting back to feeding the little one. My other two nieces Makena & Madison were both there and it was very cool to see them interact with little Hunter. Below are a few images from the get together.

Grandma Barros & Sister Emma

Drove up to Murrieta, CA to photograph Michele's Grandma and her Grandma's sister Emma. Emma had been visiting from Sacramento and they wanted some images before she headed back up north. We set up a few shots in the front and backyard of Christina's beautiful house (Michele's Aunt). Extra special thanks to Michele and Christina for assisting me! Shooting at 11:00am in Murrieta there is definitely a lot of sun to deal with and I needed some help diffusing it out. Michele is camera left in the first image holding a umbrella over their heads. Below are a few images from the photo shoot.

Thought I would grab a quick shot with the ladies.