Southern California Fine Art Wedding Photographer - SherriJ

Before and After Edit Samples

sjphoto — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:45:10 +0000

I didn’t realize until recently, some people may not be aware of my special talents. Now, I’m not talking about my double jointed arm, my psychic abilities when playing rock -paper-scissor, or even my ability to correctly estimate the number of jolly rancher candies in a 3 foot jar (all true stories)… but another photography related talent of mine is the ability to edit like nobody’s business! I’ve been editing for fun since I discovered photoshop back in 2005… and since 2007 I started doing it professionally. I’ve kinda kept this a secret, but it’s really something unique I want to share in today’s post! One of the great things about choosing me as your wedding photographer, is not only having your wedding day documented with emotional moments, detailed shots, and beautiful lighting… but all of your final images will get a little extra TLC to look amazing! Here’s some of my edit samples below.

I try to shoot right in camera, but sometimes I have an “oops” moment and miss the exposure. This doesn’t happen often, but when and if it does, it’s not a big deal. One of the benifits with shooting in RAW is the ability to adjust exposure a couple stops without damaging the detail. The image above is a basic edit for exposure and color. Edit time= 5 seconds in Lightroom.

Even gorgeous brides can use a little beauty retouching. The shot above has been color corrected, the skin smoothed out on her forehead and under her eyes, then some highlights in the eyes and hair were added for extra detailing. Edit time= 5 seconds in Lightroom plus 5 minutes in Photoshop.

One of the popular trends lately has been vintage processing. This kind of edit adds a yellow tint to the image to warm up the temperature and also flattens out the highlights and shadows to look faded. The image above is also rotated clockwise a little bit and cropped to straighten the horizon line. Edit time= 10 seconds in Lightroom plus 5 seconds in Photoshop with a preset action I developed.

Last but not least, another common edit is the removal of distracting objects. The need for this can happen a lot during the ceremony pictures, when I have little space and control of what angles I can shoot. In the picture above, I was standing at a 45 degree angle behind the alter, photographing towards the guests. The microphone was blocking the bride’s beautiful veil and one of her bridesmaids was in the background. By removing these two things and replacing the texture by cloning the background, the focus is now back on the bride and her expression as she was reading her vows. What a great moment! Edit time= 15 minutes in Photoshop.

Smog Shoppe Wedding

sjphoto — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:19:46 +0000

A few times a year, I have the pleasure of second shooting a wedding for my fellow photo buddies… which can be really cool because I have freedom to take fun pictures and get a different perspective than I normally experience on a wedding day. Here’s some pictures of a wedding I shot back in September with the talented Dana Grant at the Smog Shoppe in Culver City. The location is pretty unique in a few ways… like keeping the original charm and architecture of the building including rolling garage doors and parking markings on the cement, to adding unique touches like the full wall of succulents both inside and out! The Smog Shoppe is definitely a venue for someone looking for a place that is both memorable and unique.

2012 Client Welcome Packets

sjphoto — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:47:31 +0000

Hi everyone! This year has taken off to a great start. I want to share with you today, one of the new things I have in store for my awesome clients of 2012! Introducing, the Client Welcome Packet! This packet is loaded with helpful information and easy step-by-step planning resources for your wedding. After you’ve chosen to book (*wink wink) with me, I’ll send you this packet to help welcome you to the SJP Photo family! For my clients who’ve chosen booked within the past couple of weeks, lookout for one of these in your mailbox!

Contents include:
1) Welcome Letter
2) Mini Inspire Guide to help with portrait wall displays
3) Studio FAQ including The Photobooth, The First Look Moment, tips to help you with Formal Portraits on your wedding day, and much more!
4) Engagement Session Information
5) Last but not least, you will also receive a copy of your contract.

If you’re recently engaged and are looking for your wedding photographer, contact me asap! I am half booked for the season, but hopefully I still have your date available! To reach me, you can comment below, click the link above in the menu that says “Contact”, or send me a smoke signal, and I will get back to you in a flash! (Of course, I’m totally kidding about the smoke signal. That’s not very safe.)

Best of Weddings Award

sjphoto — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:07:31 +0000

I’ve kinda been MIA this past month, with the wedding season slowing down. I didn’t realized how long it’s been, until I saw my last post was in early November! Well, I’m still around, working on some personal projects and revamping my camera bag and skills. I’ve spent about $3,800 for new gear! (A very merry christmas to self!!) I’ll post an update on exactly what I got later…

But for now, I want to take this time to share some recent news from TheKnot. We’ve been voted “Best of Weddings” for 2012! Thank you sooo much for everyone who voted! I’m really grateful for the new friends/clients I met in 2011, and I’m really looking forward to a wonderful New Year in 2012. If you’re recently engaged and looking for vendors, I highly recommend checking out one of my favorite wedding planning sites, TheKnot.com!

Happy Holidays! xoxo

Update… feeling some love over at WeddingWire.com as well!

Best of 2011

sjphoto — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 05:29:22 +0000

Angela and Eugene’s Wedding, Rancho Del Cielo. Malibu, CA

Shana and Brandon’s Wedding at Gainey Winery. Los Olivos, CA

Laura + Chris’ Wedding, Santa Barbara Zoo

Kelly and David’s Destination Wedding: Yosemite, CA

Anne and Peter’s Wedding, Verandas Manhattan Beach

Jen and Rylan’s Wedding, Seven Oaks Country Club, Bakersfield

Reagan and Ken’s Wedding, Sherwood Oaks Country Club

Monina and Matt’s Wedding, Calamigos Equestrian Center Burbank

Karina and Kevin’s Wedding, Malibou Lake

Tara and Timmy’s Backyard wedding

Tina and Armando’s Wedding, Sportsman Lodge

Melissa + Ray’s Wedding, Walnut Grove. Moorpark, CA

Manami + Nick’s Wedding, Museum of Art Long Beach

Danielle and Gabriel’s Photobooth

Engagements

Personal: My engagement at Joshua Tree

Bridal Photoshoot: Las Vegas

Portrait: Paul Kenny

Sony E3 for Playstation, Jane’s Addiction

Mindy: Feather’s Photoshoot (unblogged)

Aurora + James: Engagement Long Beach

sjphoto — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 23:31:20 +0000

I met Aurora and James last month as they began planning their September 2012 wedding at a villa in San Juan Capistranio. They had only been engaged a month, and I was so thrilled photography was a high priority on their list of things to book first! Their ideas for an intimate wedding with lots of handmade details, made my heart happy. Aurora and James met in Long Beach and are planning to relocate at the end of the month to be closer to James’ new office. To celebrate this time in their life and how they met, they chose to have their engagement session at the Queen Mary and a nearby lighthouse!

I actually photographed the Queen Mary a couple of month ago for one of my architectural projects… during that shoot I learned the hotel was recently the location of choice of a Victoria Secret Campaign. CLICK HERE to watch the behind the scenes video of that. As we walked around the ship, we found so many great locations! The following 2 shots below was one of my favorite location finds… angel wings!

We were about to leave the Queen Mary and head over to our second location, when James found this amazing photo spot! I love how you can see the sign, boats, and the lighting on their faces is just beautiful!

Location #2 was across the river at a lighthouse. There were lots of people around, so we had to wait for just the right moment to get these shots.

Honeymoon in Paradise: Personal

sjphoto — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:00:11 +0000

While I was busy in the world of wedding planning, my fiance Mat was doing some research for our honeymoon. After talking with a few people, he decided to book us a dream vacation to Bora Bora and Moorea. Both are places I’ve never heard of before, and if you haven’t either, imagine an island where the sun warms your skin, a rainbow of tropical fish, sea turtles, and other marine life swim in crystal clear water, and you can walk barefoot along white sandy powder beaches, while sipping on the juice of some freshly fallen coconuts. Something I thought only possible in postcards, was my dream turned reality for the past 2 weeks in French Polynesia! Our first stop: Bora Bora, (aka the second most expensive place you can travel to in the world.)

Most of the resorts on Bora Bora are only accessible by taking a plane to the main island of Tahiti, then a small prop plane to the island. From there, you then take a small boat to your oasis in the middle of the Pacific. We stayed at place called Le Meridian, which had some cool over-the-water bungalows with glass floors to see into the water, a sea turtle sanctuary, and private lagoon for snorkeling.

We stayed for a few days, and on our last day we woke up to a double rainbow sunrise. It was so magical!

Some underwater screen shots from the Go Pro camera, swimming with black tipped sharks, sea turtles at the turtle sanctuary, chopping into some fresh coconuts for a snack, our amazing glimpse of a humpback whale and her calf, ended with a uber rare shot of a manta ray (these things have a wingspan of 15 feet!)

The second half of our honeymoon was spent on the remote island of Moorea. Here, we explored more of the local life.

One afternoon, we drove around the whole island and ran into this giant holding a pineapple. As legend has it, the statue is designed to be life-size of a man who lived on the island many years ago. They say he was so big, that if he wanted to travel from island to island he would just swim across.

During our whale excursion, we came across a documentary crew filming the new IMAX movie about the humpback whales. I learned a lot about whales that morning… like how mother whales give birth to their calves neat Tahiti in the warm waters. During the time they are with their babies, they don’t eat anything for months, since their food source is only the plankton that is found in the Arctic. They end up loosing a lot of their body weight. Our guide drove us around the waters all morning, and after about 3 hours, we finally saw the whales surfacing. I had my camera with me and got one lucky shot of a whale breaching out of the water! At the end of our boatride, we got to get into the water and swim with the whales! We were about 30 feet away from them at one point. It was so surreal to see them swim, but it was over faster than I could even comprehend what was going on! Thankfully we were able to get some shots of it on video. =)

Many things were checked off my “Life’s To-Do” adventures list during my honeymoon. It was really an amazing trip!

Our Wedding: Personal

sjphoto — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:57:44 +0000

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may know that I’ve been planning my own wedding for the past 10 months. Our wedding finally took place on October 2nd, 2011 at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu (exactly one week before our 3 year anniversary!) Now, looking back at our wedding day, I can definitely say it was awesome and really everything I could have hope for. I’m really looking forward to the new chapter in my life as a Mrs. =)

Our vendors
Venue: Calamigos Ranch, Malibu
Photography: Alison Yin
Florist: Exotic Green Garden
Hair/Makeup: Kelly Zhang
Dessert: Sprinkles Cupcakes
Graphic Design (all paper goods): Manami and Nick Leebert
Music: DJ Celeste Lear (Processional: Nick Drake “Cello Song,” Priscilla Ahn “Dream.” Post ceremony: The Who “Cant Explain.” First Dance Bride/ Groom: Chuck Barry “You Never Can Tell” (choreographed first dance from Pulp Fiction). Father/Daughter: Rascal Flatts “My Wish”, Mother/Son: Harry Connick Jr “It Had to be You.”)

Jen & Rylan: Married!

sjphoto — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:00:03 +0000

As a wedding photographer, getting to know my clients on a personal level is a priority of mine. Sometimes there is an instant connection and it makes for a beautiful match (and beautiful pictures)! As my clients share their wedding day visions with me, there can be sometimes things about them I find inspirational, like the way they interact with each other or the theme of a wedding with personal details. Little did I know at the time, that Jen and Rylan would become one of my dream clients!

Jen came to me last year as she started planning her September 2011 wedding, to take place at the Seven Oaks Country Club in Bakersfield. After searching high and low for wedding photographers in her area, she emailed to see if I would consider traveling to Bakersfield to photograph her wedding. I was so flattered at the thought, and of course photographing a wedding in a new location is awesome! After a brief chat on the phone, Jen decided to book me. For Jen and Rylan’s engagement session, they chose to come down to my favorite spot in Malibu. This was actually the first time we met in person. At the shoot, I got to know them both and started to fall in love… with Jen’s sweet disposition and Rylan’s stylish threads, it made my job look really easy!

Fast forward to September 24th, 2011, the day of Jen and Rylan’s wedding. They were surrounded by close friends and family who celebrated in their love. Everything about their wedding was absolutely dreamy! From the obviously beautiful things, like the delicate flower details of her Lazaro dress, crystal Jimmy Choo shoes, to his diamond edged wedding band (a Brad Pitt inspired design), a gorgeous pearl 5 tier wedding cake… to the more heartfelt moments of their beautiful sunset ceremony on the lawn, first dances, and crazy dance party that kept the night going… it was an absolute blast and emotional day. I’m so happy to end my season with one of my favorite weddings of the year!

Photography: SherriJ Photography
Venue: Seven Oaks Country Club, Bakersfield, CA
Florist: Flourishing Art
Planner: Flourishing Art – Olita Collins
Makeup: Frank Anthony
Videographer: Curtis Nemetz Productions
Dress: Lazaro
Bridesmaid/Flower girl dresses: Watters and Watters
DJ: Donald from Let the Music Play
Wedding cake: Gimmee Some Sugar

Michael + Adrian: Engagement at Griffith Observatory

sjphoto — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:11:40 +0000

Adrian and Michael met during college and have been together for the past 9 years. Tonight, we met up at the Griffith Observatory to capture their love during a fun engagement session with a beautiful sunset. And of course we did just that…. definitely in style!