Salt Lake Wedding and Portrait Photography
Archive for May, 2009
May 28, 2009 at 8:06 pm · Filed under HDR, Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, Vignettes, personal work, portrait photography
This morning I had a wonderful session with Dominique. I don’t want to spoil the fun and tell you about her until I finish her full post next week, but isn’t she beautiful? I love her long blond hair and bright eyes.
Also, I am SO BEHIND on getting pictures up of my many adventures. If I remember correctly, I still haven’t done a full post from when I went to San Diego. Someone please get on my case and tell me to get those up! I think part of the reason it’s taken me a while is that I’m experimenting with HDR photography and it takes longer to prepare the images, plus there’s a learning curve in how to make the images look good. Anyways, here’s an HDR image from my Route 66 detour a couple weeks ago and one from my Memorial Day weekend vacation up in Eden, UT.
As for me, I’m heading to Moab first thing tomorrow morning. More HDR pictures to come!
May 19, 2009 at 10:47 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, commercial photography, portrait photography
This last Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to join my friend, Natalie, in a shoot for the clothing company Lady Noir. Despite the fact that we met at Natalie’s house at 5:45 in the morning and that we were literally attacked by gnats & mosquitos at the end, it was a pretty fantastic way to start my day 
I loved it because Natalie was using my 17-55 f/2.8 lens. Now, if you’re not a photographer, you may not know that that is an awesome lens. I probably use that lens 90% of the time for shoots like this — it’s my staple. Instead, I stood back and used my 50 f/1.4 and my 70-200 f/2.8. It was challenging yet refreshing to get different angles and perspectives with my typically supplementary lenses as my main eyes. I also had to compose outside-the-box if Natalie or Tiffany (the hair and makeup stylist) were in my shot. It was awesome! I loved it.
To see Natalie’s images, CLICK HERE. It’s fun to see the differences in our images and style.
May 18, 2009 at 10:02 am · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, Vignettes, portrait photography
I loved photographing Stephanie. Besides the fact that her red hair is killer and she looks like a porcelain doll, she was so natural in front of the camera. I could have photographed her for hours. As it is, I could hardly narrow down her images to these 45. Yes, you heard me right. 45 images of Stephanie right here!
I met Stephanie at church when I was in LA. LA is quite a big city, so it’s not the easiest to make friends. Right away, Stephanie invited me to go kayaking with her roommates and their friends (I have to add that I went rollerblading and hung out with her roommates on other occasions as well – awesome girls). All I can say is, she is as nice as she is beautiful and smart. She’s either going to go to dental hygienist school or nursing school, both amazing professions. Some might ask, why not go into modeling? 
Thanks Stephanie!
May 14, 2009 at 10:21 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, baby photography, portrait photography
The ironic thing about Zane is that his middle name is Charles, which would mean he is the third baby with the name Charles that I have photographed in a row! How funny is that?
Anyways, this little man is full of fantastic facial expressions: great yawns, pensive eyes, angry cries, darling dimples. He had them all. But I loved every minute. I even got one of his older brother who was jumping off the walls (I guess he needed a little attention).
Anyways, I’m so grateful that I was able to photograph Zane while he was still ‘fresh’ and tiny.
May 11, 2009 at 5:49 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, baby photography, portrait photography
I actually took this photo of Stephanie this morning. I was so excited about them, I had to post one of them for all of you
And, isn’t Zane a cutie? I love capturing baby yawns! Stay tuned for their full posts coming by the end of the week….
May 10, 2009 at 2:49 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, children photography
Yesterday evening, I got a knock on my front door. Expecting my friend Corbin, I was surprised to see a father and his son. The dad said “My son Max is dying to know who lives in your treehouse and how they get up there.” I am not one to be quick on my toes, so I couldn’t think of an amazing story to tell this kid. I actually had never even been up there myself, so I suggested we find a ladder and take a look.
Max was thrilled. Being his first time climbing up a ladder, his enthusiasm and curiosity were written all over his face as he stumbled up each step. Max asked question after question about the treehouse and his dad answered with as much excitement. It was fun to be a part of Max’s adventure.
Max’s dad made the comment, ‘too bad I don’t have a camera with me.’ Good thing I am a photographer so I could capture this fun moment for them. I’m grateful they allowed me to show these on my blog. Thanks guys!
May 8, 2009 at 6:50 pm · Filed under 31 days to a better blog, Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, how-to
I have been asked what I do to my images. Truth is, not much….but sometimes it’s the small things that make the biggest impact. To utilize these 10 steps in your workflow, you will need both Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Kevin Kubota’s actions (if you prefer).
I use Lightroom for the basic proof edit. Simple and quick is best.
Then, I only use Photoshop for final touches, like for client orders, albums, and my blog.
1- As you can see, the original is ok, but it lacks contrast and pizazz. After downloading the images onto my hard drive, I import them into Lightroom, set to apply a preset I made (I use it every time I import).
2- Upon importing into LR, it automatically adds +.33 exposure, 21 fill light, 9 blacks, and a vignette. Not bad, eh? This works for me if I’ve taken a ‘perfect’ image. Find what works for your camera and create a preset out of it. It will make a great starting point for your editing process.
3- I added a little more to the Exposure and Recovery.
4- Time to export my images. I have 3 separate export presets that export the files to different folders, including renaming them properly. One is for my high res images, another is for my proofing site, and the last is for the web. Lightroom makes it easy to keep everything separate and it does it all at the same time!
5- Now for the Photoshop fun. Fill flash and Smokeless burning are two of my most used actions. (They are in Kevin Kubota’s action set, but I’ll show you how to do it yourself) Basically, with the fill flash, make an adjustment curves layer, bring up the middle. Click ok. Fill the mask in black. Then, select the brush tool. Stop recording. You will paint with the brush at a low opacity (I use 13%) with soft edges.
Set them up as quick keys!
6- Paint in your image where you want to fill in light. I typically paint in faces. The beauty of this is that I also adjust the color once I’ve painted (this is how to really get awesome skin tones). Double-click the curves layer. Command-1 is Red, Command-2 is Green, Command-3 is Blue. Mostly these will be ’slight’ adjustments, but adjust according to each image. I usually take out a little bit of red, but I also add yellow or magenta if necessary. See what kind of color casts your camera has and correct them. The skin is the most important color of your image.
7- Sometimes I will have a layer just for eyes to brighten them up.
8- As you can see, I used fill flash for her face, eyes, and a little bit of the trees above. I used the burn curve just for the grass. My goal is to have the eyes drawn to their faces, so sometimes I use the burn tool a lot. If your image isn’t light enough or dark enough, just add another layer on top of the one you created.
9- Here is my image with my adjustment layers.
10- Then, I use an action from Kevin Kubota called daily multi-vitamin. It just adds a little more pop to my image.
The trick with all this is to find a system that works for you. This typically takes me about 2 minutes, but remember I’m only doing it to a handful of images. I like enhancing without overdoing.
What did you find helpful about this tutorial? What questions do you have? What is something you like to do that’s different than what I do? I’d love to hear your comments
May 7, 2009 at 6:02 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio
Three Winks Studio and the Brad Metcalf Gallery are teaming up to give a lucky bride & groom a killer deal!
We are giving someone $500 off when they book Three Winks Studio AND the Brad Metcalf Gallery for their wedding and/or reception.
That’s $500 you can use towards:
- a beautiful, custom-made album of your awesome wedding images
- a large gallery wrap for your wall from your wedding — a work of art
- buying the wedding dress you actually want
- another day on your honeymoon
- new furniture to decorate your home
The list could go on and on with ways you can use $500. We all know that money is tight these days so this is a perfect opportunity for any bride in the Salt Lake area who will be getting married in the year 2009.
The Brad Metcalf Gallery is located next to downtown Salt Lake with a view of the State Capitol Building and the LDS Temple from its rooftop. It features art from local artists Jenevieve Hubbard, Wynter Jones, Wendy Mesquita, Mason Fetzer, Julie Pattee, and Brad Metcalf (art displayed now is subject to change). The space is VERY flexible and can be arranged any way. If you love art and are looking for a small venue (50-100 guests) for your wedding or reception, the Brad Metcalf Gallery is PERFECT for you!
Here’s how you can qualify to receive this offer:
1. Leave a comment in this post with your name, blog address, and a reason explaining how awesome you are.
2. Make a post on your blog saying that you entered our contest. (make sure to include a link to this post!)
3. Email stacy@threewinksstudio.com with a picture of you and your fiancé.
4. Spread the word. We need at least 15 contestants!
5. Contest will close Sunday, May 23rd where the contestants will be narrowed down and voting will begin.
6. Family, friends, and blog viewers will vote on who they think should get the $500 off.
1st place will get $500 off
2nd place will get a free guest sign-in book (compliments of Three Winks Studio)
3rd place will get a free 11×14 (compliments of Three Winks Studio)
Full day Wedding Coverage starts at $1,200 and Gallery Rental is $1,000. Take off $500 and you’re still under 2k. This is a no-brainer.
May 6, 2009 at 8:34 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio
Today is Day 1 of ‘31 Days to a Better Blog Challenge‘. I figure there are always ways I can improve my business and since my blog is a big part of my image, this is exactly what I need to do. I want to share each step with you so feel free to give me any feedback, comments, support, or critiques. I’m doing this to make my blog BETTER for all of YOU.
Today’s task was to write an Elevator Pitch for my blog. “An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds or 100-150 words).” – Wikipedia
Here is my Elevator Pitch:
Sometimes in this hectic world it’s hard to recognize that beauty surrounds us every day. So take a break from life to revitalize your senses: FEEL love, TASTE happiness, HEAR inspiration, SEE differently, TOUCH your soul. The Three Winks Studio Blog is for anyone who wants to step away from the mundane to experience how extraordinary life really is. With photographs, how-to tips, music, food, and fun, refresh your life today.
May 4, 2009 at 4:41 pm · Filed under Stacy Young, Three Winks Studio, personal work
In conjunction with a series of square images I’ve done, I took some close ups of beautiful desert flowers. What do you think? Which ones are worthy of being printed on a 20×20 gallery wrap?
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