Diane & Robert :: Wedding

To the Bride & Groom, I'll have you to know that for the last 20 hours I've had "The Electric Slide" PERMANENTLY seared into my brain while edited these. :P. STILL, still I hear it! Ahhhhhhhh!

Thanks for the great time Diane and Rob. Sweet wedding with lots of emotion and great people there to enjoy it with you. Glad I was a part. I even stole a handful of M&M's from the crazy awesome candy bar. YAY!! The Palm Event Center never lets down.

Very good photographer friend whom I respect like no other, Evan Baines came out to shoot along side me on this one. Evan is from Nashville and was a HUGE treat to have around for a few days as we gallivanted around The Bay looking for stuff to shoot. You can find his take on the day here on this slide show link below. My man did good!!

The Baines take

Big thanks yoos to Kristy for helping out as assistant as well. Really appreciate the help on this wedding. Enjoy the shots folks and congrats once again to Diane & Rob.


Venue :: Palm Event Center (Pleasanton Ca.)

Wedding Dress :: Trudys Bridal

Wedding Cake :: Sugar Butter Flour

Hotel :: The Rose (Pleasanton CA.)

Second Photographer :: "The Incomparable" Evan Baines















This is the Father and Mother of the groom. I blatantly lied and told them their son wanted this shot and had them pose for it. I'm sorry I lied but come on, how awesome is this? ;) 16 x 20 anyone?



Honorable mention: I can't say enough how much I WISH I had taken this shot. It was Evan's and it was glorious:

Candice & Aubrey :: Wedding

A lot can be said about the awesomeness of this wedding. Total party. Complete party. Crazy party. It was a mounds of awesome. Like if it was an ice cream flavor at BaskinRobins, it would be just called "Awesome Flavor". Candice and Aubrey were are some of the coolest clients I've ever had. Yall brought it.

What made this wedding even more epic is the fact that 2 of my best photog buds came out and played as well. BIG thanks to both Ed Pingol and Tony Hoffer. Neither need much introduction as you've seen their faces on my blog before. You've both made this couples wedding pictures beyond anything dreamed for. You can see Tony's take on the day on his blog. Thanks so much for the help guys. EPIC!

Friends and family of Candice and Aubrey, feel free to say hello to the newlyweds in the comment section. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. Take and happy Friday.

Wedding Venue: The Bellevue Club

~Sam

WWSU:: Get Lighroom, Get Presetopia!

My newest blog series! WWSU - What Would Sam Use. Look for monthly updates. YAY!

Abobe Lightroom

In my endeavor to help the photographers with their passion for the art, here is some more secret sauce to making the awesome. For a photographer, good workflow software is crucial. Adobe Lightroom is argued to be the best their is. Simple layout, easy navigation and HUGE on after effect. My photo edits are almost purely finished with Adobe Lightroom. Yes, it's that awesome.
For the total newbie, here are a plethra of video classrooms on youtube that will get you going in no time: ImanewbieandIhatereadingmanualsandneedvideoslikesamtolearn

Presets and Presetopia

The magic of LR is that once you've dialed in a "look" you like on any particular photo, that "look" can be saved as a preset and used on ANY photo you'd like from there. Though it my need some tweeking here and there as from from picutre to picture you'll find presets will save you buckets of time. Don't wanna go through the litany of creating you own preset? I HAVE YOUR SOLUTION : Presetopia

All images below are from the genius that is Spencer Boerup Photography located in Tucson. All these images were also doesed with the magic of presetopia. Pure awesome.
In his 75 preset pack you'll find an insane amount of options to make your images go from drab to fab. Check out this link to see some before and after results he has. Lots of diffent looks to just one photo: Samples. What you see below are the results of almost 1 click from the original. He convientanly has insrutctions on installing along with how-to's and a 12 minute instuctional video. Easy, easy.
For all my blog readers he has graciously provided a $5 off coupon for the purchase of his 75 preset pack. Use this code: samgotthehookup

YAY for Lightroom. YAY for Presetopia!


OMG, HOW COOL IS THIS SHOT!!
1. Hot Punch!
2. Warm/Blue Heavy
3. Vignette +3

1. Backlight +3
2. Warm/Purple Heavy
3. Sharpen +1
4. Portrait Punch



1. Backlight +2
2. Warm/Blue Heavy

1. Hot Punch!
2. Vignette +2

1. Super Velvia
2. Increase in standard color temperature