Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday, Riddick!

Happy Halloween (since I seldom update my blog on Saturdays), and Happy First Birthday Riddick!  Goodness, I'm still up after a long night of editing.  I figure it would be appropriate to update my blog with halloween themed photos before the weekend.  Hope you enjoy them! :)

The birthday was a halloween-themed birthday and was decked out in killer decor.  The cake was incredible!  The knife handle has the shape of a One.  Too cool!  Will have to find out the place Kathy picked it up.  You can't really see them as well, but the cupcakes had brain-shaped frosting.



Genius!  They made the fingers with string cheese and bell peppers and the monster teeth with apples and almonds.  Then the name labels for the drinks!



A brain carved out of a watermelon.  They don't mess around.



This was the real cake that he got to dig his hands into.  Babies + messy food = priceless!



Kisses with mom.  He's making a kissy face. :)  He practically imitated a lot of the mouth shapes we made throughout the day to entertain and keep his attention.



Cute moment with grandpa.  Taken by Jacob.



The entire gang.  Love all the different costumes.



The next photo is of Riddick's auntie and uncle, who helped make it all possible.  :)  I met Michelle and Adam as models on a photography workshop with Scott Robert.  We even had to do the Scott Robert signature pose for the memories.  They still got it!  ;)  Also, the photo in the back is Riddick's dad's.  He's a photographer himself and had tons of awesome photography around his house.



It was so good seeing old friends and making new ones.  Definitely a pleasure getting to shoot this birthday with them!  Hope this gave you some creative halloween party ideas.  If you need photography coverage for an event, let us know (jacob@estherjulee.com). :)

As for the update on the costume.  Now I am even more confused.  I'm an owner of a brand new sewing machine, and I have no idea how to operate it, starting with threading the thing.  I have tons of fabric and all sorts of crazy miscellaneous items I've never owned, but not a clue what to do with any of it. :)  The ideas are there... I assure you.  I just can't quite execute them... well... yet.  I have a backup, too, so we'll see how it all goes.  I'll update with photos next week.  Saturday, I'm hoping to go out and photograph the foliage before all the colors disappear.  It's about time for another photo adventure!

Sidenote:  Halloween-themed weddings don't look as cheesy as they sound.  But I probably wouldn't do it for my own wedding.  Cool to see though

Befores and Afters.

I received a client inquiry earlier this week asking what the difference is between source files and artistically retouched images.  After responding to her email, I wanted to share a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes when I'm not shooting.  I would say 98% of the images that are posted on my website or blog have all been retouched to some extent.

I never consider source files straight out of the camera finished work.  After the shoot, I spend in-studio time on each individual image to tweak and enhance the colors and character in them.  When I'm in one of my pickier moods, sometimes it can even take up to a few hours on one photo to get the exact result I had envisioned.  Isn't that insane?!  Good Lawd, I need some helpers.

Some photographers are beginning to go in the route of outsourcing the post-processing part of their job.  Maybe one day that will be an option for me, because I absolutely love shooting way more than editing.  Right now I like having a lot more control over the entire process, beginning with shooting all the way to the end product.

Take a look!



Above is a set of images in various lighting situations (1. indoor, 2. sunset, 3. outdoor on cloudy day, 4. indoor reception lighting). :)  The photos on the left are still technically sound, but even though it's necessary to understand lighting to optimize each photo in-camera, post-production/digital retouching is necessary to give the photos the estherjulee signature look and feel.  ;)

We may start considering offering "shoot and burn" packages that consists of just photo coverage throughout the day with DVD of set number of source file images for folks who are not looking for artistic photos but just want the day documented.  It may be a good alternative for brides on a budget, but will it bring the overall quality of our photography go down?  Something to think about.

Are the prices of some wedding photographers too good to be true?  Here's an interesting article that talks about shoot and burn weddings.  Thoughts?

The Kwons Lifestyle Session.

Meet the Kwons! Last Friday, I had the great pleasure of shooting a lifestyle session with the Kwons to mark little Teddy's 100th day (Baek-il). In Korean culture, it's quite a big deal to celebrate the 100th day (even 100th day in dating). Here are just a few photos from the session.



So adorable! He's the same size as his dolls.. or even smaller! ;)



Already a brave's fan at such a young age.



New sheriff in town. We went through several wardrobe changes, but he was a good sport about it.





Time for a little stroll in the park.