Alex the Photo Blog

Last month I got to have fun with a couple of newly engagedes (is that a word?) in Kennesaw Mountain Park.  The weather was perfect and judging by the overflowing of traffic, everyone in the city was out for a stroll.  Alex and Ryan are one of those couples that knew from the start that they’d end up together.  They’ll be getting married in January- just a year from having met.  It’s pretty amazing to spend time with a couple as sweet and sure of their love as they are.  Plus they were a heck of a lot of fun to hang out with.  I’m really excited for their Roswell wedding!

“Hey- let’s see if he’s tickelish!”

Keri and I have received an awesome response to our Save the Date.  People have been asking me how we did it, so I figured I’d post about it. It was incredibly simple for those that have not seen a stop-motion video before.   First off- there was no video footage whatsoever.  The entire thing was completed using still photos. All one really needs is a camera.

For the footage of Keri and I, we had our good friend Curt come over with some props to snap the shots and help with art direction. I set up a black backdrop in the living room for our “studio.” Then we set my camera on a tripod so we knew it would be in the same spot the entire time. I also had a wireless flash set up to light the entire scene (detailed info for the photo nerds below). That’s all it was. Just lots of pictures in a row like a flip-book. If I were to do it again, I would have done it outside because we could only snap photos as fast as the flash could recycle. Otherwise, we could have had it look a little smoother. In the end, we walked away with 1,500 photos. I cut it down to about 1,000 for the final version (took out extra takes).

You’ll see below here a shot without any editing but with the nerdy info. You can see the black cloth in the background.

For most of the shots, they’re more zoomed in so I didn’t have to do much in post-production.  For the full length shots (the park scene), I had to take them into photoshop and black out the sides as seen here.  I also added the hearts for fun.

For the chalkboard scenes I set up a chalkboard from my kitchen (Ikea) on an easel outside in the shade.  I made sure to tape everything down so it didn’t move from frame to frame.  I also taped down my tripod for the camera.  I made sure to position the camera close enough to where I didn’t see the edges of the chalkboard (less work to do in post).  Those scenes were really simple too.  All I did was take a picture, have Keri draw one letter, take a picture, another letter, and so on.  The lighting stayed mostly constant but with the outdoor light, the white balance changed a bit because of clouds and sun.

All in all it took about four hours for the live action scenes, 2 hours for the chalk scenes, and about 6 hours of post production in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.  Not a bad weekend project and the outcome was perfect.  Feel free to leave comments below if you have additional questions!  I’m off today at 3 to take pictures of International Pillowfight Day at Freedom Park.Expect pictures on the blog!

Here is something fun that Keri and I just couldn’t wait to show you.  It’s the Save the Date video for our wedding! Unfortunately, we cannot invite everyone who reads the blog.  However, we did want to share the video.  We hope you like it!

I’ve owned the domain since college.  Three years ago I re-upped it’s registration and I contracted my good friend Greg Vilines at Webnormous to begin work on the site.   Then a combination of producing an album, playing in a band, get married, and having his house burn down slowed Greg’s progress on the site a bit.  A combination of helping with the album, buying a house, running a photo business, general laziness, and getting engaged slowed me down too.  I know my excuses aren’t as valid as a house fire, but regardless of the timing, it is finally LIVE!

Greg built the whole thing from scratch and he did a damn good job on it.  I know I was a difficult client at times but in the end we got it all worked out.  There will be a few tweaks made in the coming months, but since it’s 99% done, we figured why not launch it?  This will be a soft opening for my six blog readers and facebook friends until I get it 100% finished.

Keep in mind the new site isn’t going to be a replacement for the blog- just think of it as a “best of Alex the Photo Guy.”  I’ll still keep you up to date with my crazy photo antics here on the blog, so don’t stop reading!

Let me know what you think!  Many thanks again to Greg who did all the hard work.  All I did was take a few photos.  If you need a website, let me know and I’ll get you in contact with Webnormous.

By the time this blog post actually goes up, they’ll already have been married, but going along with the theme of getting my blog up to date, you get to see things backward.   These were definitely taken as their engagement photos to be published in their guestbook.  The official wedding pictures are far superior and were taken by Brandelyn Lee Photography.  They can be found here.   One day I hope to be half as good as Brandy.  I’ve been looking at her work before I even bought my first digital.

First try…

Second try…