New Family Portraits: More in 2012 !

I still consider myself an architectural photographer.  The merging of great design detailing, material, texture and light are all deeply inspiring to me, and creating photographs of beautiful 3 dimensional spaces is a unique thrill.  However, something has been crystalizing for me lately: what began as simply photographing family & friends for fun has slowly begun to teach me how much I LOVE working with people! It fills me with incomparable joy to capture a fleeting smile; to make someone feel their beauty -- and truly -- there is little on the planet more beautiful and precious to me than a pure smile which radiates from a person's eyes and outward onto his or her face.  As I photograph, a smile grows on MY face as people relax into having fun, and again I'm sure people laugh at me as I edit and smile stupidly at my monitor.  It is great fun!

Yes... I love it.  More of this in 2012, please!

Instagram: Sharpening Capture Skills on the Fly

The year 2011 introduced me to a powerful little app called Instagram. I first explored the genius of this simple app with the limitations of an iPod Touch camera, which, unbeknownst to me at the time, isn't even rated with pixels, but rather based on lesser graphics for video.  Not the best for clean, crisp images, but it forced me to really think about the basics of composition in a tiny square, and I found I could still capture compelling images (half of the images above are from my iPod, half from the iPhone 4s).

If you are even mildly interested in bettering your photographic skills, I swear by this simple technology as a way to explore your eye and sharpen your skills at composition.  I am constantly impressed at how this technology is inspiring me - and some 12 million others - to see the 3 dimensions of our every day world through new eyes; to see beauty, backlight, pattern and shadow as more than just passing parts of our periphery, but as subjects of composition and interest in their own right.

If you're in Denver, grab your iPhone or iPod and join us for our our first Instameet on Sunday, January 15th - base of the Clocktower on 16th Street at 2pm.  

Follow @merrittphoto on Instagram for more details!

Holiday Portraits!

It's not too late!!

A few sessions remain (including a few weekend spots) for a joyful holiday portrait photo shoot (in the Denver area).

Ask about our special holiday package!

Intimate Telluride Wedding

Simple, lovely details and a backdrop of magical fall color and light made this lovely, intimate wedding in Telluride, Colorado a joy to photograph.  I love my job!!

Scene on Site | Take 2

On a recent, whirlwind trip through Telluride, I found a few moments between photographing weddings to capture some moments of the gorgeous autumn up there.  I feel so lucky to have lived in such a spectacular place!

Enjoy!

 

 

Painting with Light

Warning: These photographs aren't for everyone.
But if you're among the curious... I'd like to share!  There's something I find enormously compelling and peaceful about leaving the exposure open just long enough to "paint" the sensor with a swath of light dotted foliage.  Resulting streaks of color appear painterly, but are completely the result of photographic processes.  I'm going to include a few sets here from my favorite experiments with this method.  Enjoy!

Jewelry Photography | Lauren Harper Collection (new)

Photographing precious gemstones and couture jewelry presents a unique set of challenges.  This most recent shoot for the Lauren Harper Collection was highly satisfying; even more satisfying was hearing joy from an ecstatic client!

Capture Philosophy | Photo Tip 04: Finding Portrait Light on Location

A week or so ago, I had the opportunity to work with talented Denver studio portrait photographer, Mark Pells, on an ambitious headshot project for the theatre department at my son's school.  

As a completely self-taught photographer and a HUGE fan of natural light, it was fascinating to watch Mark create magic with his studio lights.  I found it most interesting to learn that I am often drawn to or actively seeking out  the very conditions in the field, which he sought to create in the studio.

Thought I'd share a few of my personal favorite conditions through examples, in case you're curious to experiment the next time you're out photographing your family and friends.  

These are all photos I took on a single walk with my son on a bright, sunny afternoon in Denver (as you can see in the first photo below).  These photos were all taken with a 100mm macro lens with a Canon 5D, set on aperture priority (all shots are between apertures of 2.8 and 4.5).

Often, it is instinct for us to want to place our subjects in the sun.  But beware!  Direct sunlight can be a great dramatic tool when used intentionally, or with reflectors, fill light, etc., but if you are out with your camera and don't have such accessories (which I did not use for the shot above), not only will your subject likely be squinting, direct sunlight will create harsh shadows that generally aren't as flattering for skin tones, facial features, etc.  Thus, it is usually better to take the subject out of direct sunlight...

Once you take your subject out of the direct light, you'll have better luck getting even skin tones.  In this photo, light bouncing around from north and east facing windows at a coffee shop provided gorgeous, flattering conditions in the afternoon.  I simply exposed the shot to feature the correct amount of light in his eye and let the camera and natural light do the rest.  You can actually see the north facing windows reflected in his eye. 

In this shot, I asked my subject to stand in a spot of reflected light -- sunlight that was bouncing off the windows of a building across from us.  Beams of reflected light are fun to experiment with, and are a bit easier on the subject's gaze.  As you can see, while it still casts some dramatic shadows, it also can create fun magic in the eyes.

One of my favorite things to look for is nice, subtle bouncing light that is slightly weighted in its direction.  By that I mean that the light is essentially coming more from one side than the other creating a nice broad highlight on one side of the face, in this case, the side towards camera.  A darker background pops his face as the main focus of the composition.

These last two photos are shot on the same long wooden bench, but facing opposite directions.  In this first one, there is only indirect light on my subject, but an open area of VERY bright light behind him.  I exposed for his face (so essentially you'd need to OVERexpose if you were using a camera that meters for an overall scene), and I let the background go white.

For this photo, we switched positions so that the brighter area is now behind me (the camera), and it's a little easier to get a traditional photo with a nice tonal range, great skin tones and no hot spots.
And of course it never hurts to capture an impish grin :)
Happy shooting!!