I am so excited to report that, for the second year in a row, Boutwell Studio has been included in Junebug Weddings Best of the Best list!  It is a great list indeed and I am thrilled to be included.  Check it out for a little dose of inspiration!

(Note: If you're a bride or client - feel free to ignore this post. We will resume our normally scheduled programming soon!)

Hey there fellow photographers and cameraphiles! Some of you may have heard the rumor that I switched (back) to Nikon.... well, it's true!

I've gotten a lot of emails asking me to explain why, so i thought I'd use this opportunity to do a little explaining and to liquidate my Canon gear.

First up... why did I switch?  Actually, I started shooting weddings on Nikon gear. At the time, it was the best digital solution out there and I never really had too many complaints.  But Canon released the 20d and it offered better high ISO capabilities and more megapixels at a much better price-point.  So began my 6 year affair with Canon...

Canon was good to me, especially back in the day when I rocked a cropped sensor and a 35mm lens for 90% of my shoots. It was simple, reliable and dependable.  Then I got a 5d.  The 5d offered great high ISO features, a full frame, a nice big LCD and the worst focusing system money could buy. :(

Let me preface this next part by saying that I am a hard-core stickler for sharp images; "A little soft," or "a little back-focused" is not ok by me.  It's tack sharp or it get's the hose. So, as you can imagine, the 5d became quite a handicap for me.  But, nonetheless, I figured out that if I only shot on One Shot and kept my aperture up, I could make in-focus photos.

Despite my near-constant frustration with Canon, I held out for the mythical 5d Mark II - a camera that promised even better ISO, an even bigger sensor, an even fancier LCD and (you guessed it), the same crappy focusing system. At that point, Canon had me by the you-know-whats (I don't actually have you-know-whats... it's a euphemism, silly) - I had *thousands* invested in lenses (see below). So I shot my 5d Mark II for the entire 2009 wedding season.... on One-Shot.... using a high aperture... constantly cussing under my breath.

So, there you have it! Canon is a great system.... I will miss some of the lenses and the way the bodies feel in my hands (I still think Nikons are made for a man's hands and mine don't quite fit around the grip right).  But, at the end of the day, I am a stickler for focus and Canon just didn't deliver. 

Now for Part Two of this post....

It's true! It's true! After a loooong hiatus from workshops, I am ready to give it another go! I am so happy to announce that, this January, I will be partnering with the lovely ladies at The Wedding Chicks (plus a little appearance by my darling hubby, the TRA Guru) to teach a one-and-a-half day photography workshop in Orange County, CA.

Why The Wedding Chicks? Because they are at the forefront of the bridal blog movement; because they see hundreds of wedding photos a day; because they are tuned in to wedding photography trends long before they ever reach critical mass; and because they have great style, great attitudes and are generally delightful ladies.

Hey all! It's time for another installment of tips and tricks :) Andrea Dozier asked me to chat a little bit about how I travel for weddings.  Thanks for reading Andrea!

This past season, I travelled for nearly half of my weddings and, since I had a brand new nursing baby, that meant he came along as well.  It was definitely a challenge (and I thank my lucky stars that Doug was able to come along and help with the baby).  But after a full season of juggling the baby, my equipment and the never-ending pile of work back home, I have a pretty good system/

Firstly, when it comes to equipment, I travel LIGHT.  I take two bodies (one to shoot with and one for back-up) and a nice range of lenses, usually a 28mm, a 45 TS-E, a 24-105 (for groups), a 50 1.2 and my 70-200 f/2.8.  I also bring two 580 EX Speedlights and my battery chargers.  That's it.

Everything goes in the Tamarac 5263 CyberPro Express case, which also holds my MacBook Pro.  I am a firm believe that you should NEVER check your equipment.  Between loss, theft and damage, there are just too many risks with checking your cameras.  So, I take this bag as my carry-on, which just barely fits in the overhead bin (and good luck actually lifting it in to the bin! Ladies, I recommend a short skirt and big smile on travel day ;) )

If you're lucky (and crazy!) enough to travel with a little one I highly recommend the Ergo Baby Carrier.  Yes, it's ugly and would go dandily with a pair of Birkenstocks, but it is THE best way to carry a baby through an airport. With the Ergo, I can wear Max and drag my equipment behind me. Wear sparkly earrings (ladies) or a fancy bowtie (men) and your baby will be happy as a clam.

Secondly, I like to stay connected while I travel.  One unforeseen cost of doing a lot of destination weddings is that you are missing out on office time.  The emails pile up, the voicemails start rolling in and you have no way to connect with your clients.  Next thing you know, you are a week behind and it's time to get on another plane.  I take my laptop and my iPhone with me whenever I travel.

The laptop is great for checking emails, entertaining baby on the plane and for backing up your cards at the end of a shoot. If you're feeling particularly ambitious you can even drag it to the reception and show a same-day slideshow (although be careful, as guests are likely to fall in love and then it's back on a plane to shoot their wedding!)

I especially love the iPhone for traveling.  Aside from all the usual features like voicemail and email, it has GPS, which has served invaluable when I show up in a new city and have no idea where I am going.  And, when driving in those ever-so-creepy cabs all by myself, I've been known to obsessively follow my route to the hotel, just in case the Cabbie plans to dump me off in some ditch somewhere (I wish I was kidding right now....)  The iPhone also serves as an excellent chew toy for teething babies and, in a pinch, you can play Rockabye Baby tunes for the little one.

Some other things that keep me sane while traveling (in no particular order) -
-Virgin America (they are THE best in terms of service AND they have TVs, which make for happy babies)
-The Bumbleride Flyer Stroller (all the features of a big stroller, but it folds up small; plus, it comes in awesome colors!)
- The Bubbles App for the iPhone (fun for kids AND adults)
- The Shootsac (great lens bag and it folds flat in your luggage!)

So, there you have it! Tips and tricks for surviving destination weddings! 

Don't forget to leave any questions or ideas for future posts in the comment box below!

delightfully,
Chenin

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I get asked a lot about how I juggle motherhood, wifehood and my business; specifically, how I stay on top of my work while chasing after a baby (who is crawling everywhere now!) and still maintain my sanity (although that part is up for argument.)  My answer is always the same: YOU MUST HAVE A SYSTEM AND YOU MUST STICK TO IT!

Albums have always been the big item on my to-do list.  Between selecting the photos, editing the photos in Photoshop, laying out the album and proofing it to the client, album design is a multi-step process that seems to drag on and on.  But I have a serious system in place, which I never deviate from, and it really helps me to stay on top of the never-ending mountain of album to-dos.

In 2008, I designed, proofed, printed, ordered and shipped 44 albums; that doesn't include the roughly 20 albums from 2007 that had to be completed as well. To some that may sound like a lot, to others it may sound like a little, but when you keep in mind that I have no office staff (seriously, none - it sucks) and every last album page is designed free-hand in Photoshop, I think that's quite a mountain of work. So, what's the system? ....

Step One: I choose images by tagging them in PhotoMechanic.  Yes, I choose the images for my clients' albums.  Why? Because the vast majority of my clients are busy people, who are not artists and who are completely overwhelmed by sifting through 800 proofs to narrow it down to 70 or so favorites.  I firmly believe that this is a service to my clients and, absolutely, it means more work for me, but it means I can get started right away on a client's album and I can regulate my workload. Once I've selected the images for the album, I copy those in to an Album Edit folder.

Step Two: Photoshop the images in my Album Edit folder, using the Totally Rad Actions.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to have your 3-5 "looks" that you stick with when retouching images.  This avoids the inevitable "experimenting" with every action under the sun (which is time-consuming) and also helps to maintain continuity in the album. The images are saved as flattened jpegs in the Album Edit folder.

Step Three: Design the album. First, I create a spread in Photoshop (I automate this my creating actions that open a blank canvas at the appropriate size and resolution). Next, I pull the images that I want to include on that spread in to Photoshop. One by one, I drag those images on to my blank canvas and free transform the image to the appropriate size.  I use the grid to ensure that the images are all lined up and the same size.  Next, I save the album spread as a PSD, named 00-01, 02-03, 04-05, etc, in a folder called Album.

Step Four: Proof the album. I use Bridge to batch the album PSDs as JPEGS at 1600 px wide. These jpegs get put in a folder called Album Proof and then I use those jpegs to create a slideshow in SlideShareMax. SlideShareMax generates a link that I send to my client for their review. Along with the link to their album proposal, the client receives a pdf form where they indicate, page by page, whether to keep the design or whether to make a change.  If they choose to change something, there is room for them to write in their changes.  This form also includes all the leather choices, cover layouts and imprinting options and the client simply fills in which they choose. I allow one ROUND of changes to the album, each additional change is $50 per change.

Step Five: I make the clients' changes (to the layered PSD files in the Album folder) and then regenerate the Album Proof files and re-upload to SlideShareMax for the clients' final approval.

Step Six: I use Bridge to generate full-size JPEGS from the layered PSD files, which then get uploaded to Finao for printing and binding.

That's it! A typical album, from start to finish can be done in about 3-6 hours, depending on the size of the album and the number of changes requested by the client.

And since blog posts are boring without photos, here is an album I worked on last week from a lovely wedding at Montecito Country Club -



Now that wedding season is slowing down, I am desperately seeking blog content.  If you have questions, or topics you'd like me to blog about, feel free to leave them in the comments below! I am always happy to share the little tips and tricks that help me to keep balance in my personal life and success in my business!

delightfully,
Chenin

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