Friday, June 24, 2011

Picking the Right Photographer and Printing Service, Destination Weddings

 

Ok so you have spent a lot of time researching photographers, meeting photographers and back to researching photographers. You finally found a photographer you like and then you make the decision to book them. They offer a DVD of all images and that is just what you want, or is it. Yes its great to have the images so you can post on the internet and FB but if you want them only to do your own printing because its cheaper here is something to consider.

As a professional photographer I have specially calibrated my computer and monitors to match my labs printers. What I see on my monitor assures how the prints will look when I get them back from the lab. As you can see in the image below the difference from one photo kiosk to another can really make your images look bad! Not only are the skin tones off, but look at the back ground wallpaper. Something to also consider is that most photographers have a lab of choice they work with and because of that relationship they have gained a trust in the products and print quality.

I do offer the DVD or CD of images but highly recommend that any prints should be purchased through our studio for the highest quality available. The choice is always up to the client and how they feel about getting the best quality for the money or the most photos for the money. 

I can’t speak for other photographers but there certainly is a reason why quality cost more. I thought this post would be of interest to some, so please enjoy   

 

kiosk printing and photography

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Stacy and PJ Get Married, Photography by Local Visalia, Fresno, Tulare, Exeter Wedding Photographer Troy Wegner. Reception Was at The Grand 1401 in Fresno.

First off congratulations to Stacy and PJ on their incredible wedding. We had beautiful cool weather and a location that rivaled any state park. Your pictures came out amazing.

I want to say thank you to all the vendors that helped to make this wedding such a great success.

First off and in no particular order is Fowler Floral, they had made a beautiful bouquet that was just awesome. All the flowers and corsages  were not only fresh but full of colors!  Designed by Talene Kasparian-Cleveland what a really beautiful job. Kudos  to you at Fowler Floral. 2nd was the Cake, this cake was gorgeous and had beautiful details that went to the brides Asian roots. In the pictures you may see the coolness of the cake and how having it tie into who you are so subtly makes it even more sentimental. The cake was done by Randie at the Hula Girl Cakes. Many fabulous cakes have come from the Hula Girl, keep up the fantastic job Randie. The wedding dress came from Glamour Closet, and what Bride to be hasn't heard of them? This was absolutely the right dress for Stacy. She couldn’t have looked more beautiful in any other dress! The Dress was finessed in alterations by Mrs. Yoko Miyoshi.  For the reception venue they chose The Grand 1401. The ball room on the lower floor was absolutely beautiful with all the red trim and decorations. Keeping the reception moving was My Dance DJ  what a great job of running the up lighting  and making sure the music was pumping. Lastly I want to personally thank the Bedrosian family (National Raisin Company)for opening up their home and allowing my crew and self to photograph the wedding party at there residence.  Your home was lovely and your hospitality was very gracious to say the least, thank you! A big thank you to my assistant photographer David Donovan, always enjoy working with you buddy. Lastly of course all photography and style by Troy Wegner Photography.

I know if you were to use any one of these vendors in your wedding or event you would be satisfied with the product or service they provide to you. With so many vendors to choose from it can really be overwhelming.  I would encourage you to take a look for yourself.

Please enjoy some of my photography from Stacy and PJ’s wedding below. If you would like a complimentary wedding consultation to discuss your plans please contact me and we can arrange a time. 2twphoto@gmail.com Thank you……………. 

 

Fresno wedding photographerwedding flowers

wedding rings, dresslocal wedding photography

Saturday, May 7, 2011

High School Senior Photography, Visalia, Fresno, Tulare, Exeter Troy Wegner Photography, Prom,


We had an awesome time shooting with Bianca. Its all about having fun, keeping in real and letting the senior show their individual personality. Bianca came prepared, she had her outfits picked out and ready to go. We ended up using a few locations I had scouted out and they really worked out well for her. Though we did not have a sky full of dramatic clouds to shoot as a back drop (my favorite) we did end up catching a sunset.

If you have a Senior or will be having a senior next year, give us a call or email. Its never to late to have professional Senior pictures done.
Slideshow
If your play back is choppy it may be your computer or connection is not fast enough. I uploaded a HD version to my hosting site. Enjoy

(Click Here) to view the images with a rockin slideshow.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Visalia, Fresno Wedding and Portrait Photographer, Printing Aspect Ratios

Aspect Ratio
...or why can't I print a full frame image on standard paper sizes

“As a photographer, we are faced with losing parts of our images when printing them out depending on the size of the print. Customers too wonder why they can not have the entire image on there print. The frustration this causes can not be avoided. I came across this great example and wanted to share it with you. I hope this information can and will allow you to see image size versus the crop a print may receive to your printed products.” Troy Wegner

   

Aspect Ratio is the ratio of the short size of an image to the long side of the image. We talk about it all the time without realizing it. When you get a 4x6 inch print you are describing the aspect ratio of that print: 4x6 (or 2x3, or 1x1.5). The length long side of the image is 1.5 times the length of the short size.

This happens to be the aspect ratio of most digital SLR cameras. These cameras evolved from 35mm film SLR cameras. 35mm film actually measures 24mm x 36mm (do the math, that translates to 2x3 or 1x1.5). Hence a 4x6 print can show the entire frame from a 35mm slide/negative or from most DSLR cameras. I say most because Olympus has SLR cameras with a 3:4 ratio, and most compact digital cameras are also in the 3:4 ratio. But that is not typical for DSLR cameras. I will talk about 3:4 ratio at the end of this discussion.

So, what happens when you want to make an enlargement from your DSLR image? If you make an 8x12 enlargement you will get the full frame. Everything you originally saw in the image. But, you might be saying, most frames are available in 5x7 or 8x10 sizes. What happens when I make a 5x7 or 8x10 print? What happens is that you either have to crop off parts of the original image, or you have to print with uneven borders (the borders on the long dimension will be wider than those on the short sides. The physical dimensions/aspect ratio of the image and the frame are not the same. Something has to go.

Here is an illustration:

aspect_ratio1

The red line indicates the full 1x1.5 ratio of the DSLR original file. The other lines show the area of the image that will be included in various size prints.

The green lines shows the crop for an 8x10 or 16x20 (1x1.25 aspect ratio). Notice that a relatively large section of the original will be cropped out to make an 8x10 print.

The blue lines show the crop area for a 5x7 print (almost the full frame).

The yellow lines show the approximate crop area for an 8.5x11 or 11x14 print.

As mentioned above, there is an alternate way to print. You can have uneven borders, as illustrated below:

aspectratio2

Here you are printing the full image frame (shown by the green lines) on 8x10 paper (red outline) at a size of about 6.67 inches by 10 inches, leaving a wide white border along the long dimensions of the print.

Another illustration:

aspectratio3

The red frame shows the full image as captured by the camera. The green frame shows the part of the image that can be printed as an 8x10 inch print. Of course that green frame can be moved left or right in the image for the best composition.

Another way to think about this is to divide the long dimension of your original image by the short dimension and then divide the long/short dimension of your frame size and see if they match up. For example, take your original image that is 2:3 ratio. Divide 2 into 3 and you get 1.5. Now take your frame size. First we will try an 8x12 frame. 12 divided by 8 equals 1.5. The number is the same. The original image will scale to 8x12 with no cropping necessary. Second we will try an 8x10 frame. 10 divided by 8 equals 1.25. This does not match the original 1.5, so the image cannot be scaled to 8x10 without cropping.

One more illustration:

crop_aspect

Note the black diagonal line from corner to corner of the image. That shows various crops within the image that will maintain the 1:1.5 aspect ratio. The green border and diagonal line indicate the available 8x10 (1:1.25) crops available from this image. Any rectangle who's corners fall on the diagonal green line can be a 8x10 crop from the image.

Here are the some common aspect ratios and print sizes:

Aspect Ratio
Sample Print sizes (no cropping required)

1:1.5
2x3, 4x6, 8x12, 16x24, 20x30, 32x48

1:1.25
4x5, 8x10, 16x20, 24x 30, 32x50

1:1.3
11x14

1:1.4
5x7

3:4 Ratio -- or the 4/3 system
Traditionally, televisions and personal computers have had screens with a 4:3 (width to height) aspect ratio. Computer screens have come in 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, etc. As compact digital cameras were being developed the 4:3 ratio was adopted by most manufacturers. This way digital camera images fit the computer screens. But they don't fit traditional photographic printing paper sizes.

Here is a 4:3 aspect ratio image with 8x10 (green) and 5x7 (blue) crop guides on it.

4_3_aspect

The 4:3 aspect ratio translates to 1:33333 and gives you un cropped print sizes like 10.5x14, 9.6x12.8, 9x12, 7.5x10, or 4.5x6. Not your typical print sizes. But these do work well for online, full-screen presentation.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Visalia Fresno Best Wedding Photographer, The Latest In Top Wedding Dress Designs, Wedding Gowns And Picking A Wedding Dress

Wedding Dress, wedding flowers

      When it comes to one of the most important purchases you can make for your wedding day it has got to be the dress. Because if you don’t look good in your dress or you feel you don’t look good, you will become more self conscious and worried through out the whole day. When really, you should be loving every moment your wedding day provides. You find yourself looking into every mirror or window reflection wondering if this or that is sticking out or worst yet falling out, yikes. All your worries and uncomfortable pokes will show on your face and body language as the wedding photographer (me) has been taking pictures non stop.  My job is to capture your whole day, and to show you looking the most gorgeous and beautiful you have ever looked in your life!

The incredibly gorgeous self confidence that a Bride has and shows when she is in her wedding dress makes for beautiful pictures. However, if you are uncomfortable wearing the dress and you bought it because the dress was on sale and made the budget well “your bad”. So consideration to style and comfort are a must. As a photographer I have seen what a cheap dress has done to a Brides self confidence.

Just as picking out the right dress is vitally important so is picking the right photographer. All I can say is shopping a photographer solely on price to fit in the budget  you may be getting exactly what you are paying for, a cheap photographer. When all the food has been eaten, the cake is gone, the flowers have withered away, the tuxes have been returned, the one thing that will remain and remain for your lifetime are your pictures. Please pick your photographer with the same discretion you have for your wedding dress. Sometimes you find a dress that is just a little bit more money than you would like to pay but it is “the perfect one”, so you end up buying it and spending a bit more. You are now thinking where can I cut back on the other wedding items to get the money back into the budget for everything else. Your Photography really should be the last item to cut from. In fact a lot of Brides will cut from everything else so they can add money to get the best Photographer. Your pictures will last forever…………           

Here is a link to some of the newest wedding dress designs as well as some of the top wedding dress and gown makers. I really hope the information has been helpful and has offered something for you to consider.

A link to wedding dress designs, “click this link”