Photography 101 workshop - Glenwood Square - Yakima, WA - July 17, 2011

 Attention fellow photography lovers!! If you follow us on facebook or twitter then you've already heard about the awesome opportunity coming up next month.... a photography workshop for beginners! Where else in town can you go for a hands on digital photography class like this? We run into so many people that have DSLR cameras and don't know how to use them... so we just want to help people out and give them some basic knowledge to get going!! Just in the first week since we've announced this workshop we've gotten a great response from people interested in attending.... so don't wait to register, space is limited!!! If July 17th doesn't work for you, email us {info@memorymp.com} so you can be the first to know about the next 101 class. {tentatively scheduled for January 2012} - we've already got some people on board for the next one, which is awesome!

REGISTER HERE for Photography 101 on July 17, 2011: http://memorymp.com/#/photography-101-workshop/

Who: Anyone who has a love for photography and is ready to take their skill to the next level. Must have a digital SLR or the intention of getting one.

What: Build an understanding of your camera and of photography that will help you capture the images you have always wanted. This includes the basics of camera function, posing and lighting.

Cost: $35 per person. Space is limited.

What to expect: A casual, creative atmosphere of photography discussion. Notes, refreshments and door prizes are provided - just bring yourself & your camera!!!

More Info: This workshop is aimed at the beginner photographer, and everyone is welcome! We'll be going over the three major areas that I feel amateurs need the most help with: Exposure, focus, and composition. When these fundamentals are mastered, it sets the stage for a photographer to focus on being creative and making interesting and high quality images. As full time wedding and portrait photographers, this workshop is our way of giving back to our community. Please contact us with any questions! info@memorymp.com

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American Homestead Wedding:: Pat + Katie

click play to watch the slideshow...

Click Here to access the gallery of all wedding images to view or purchase.

Pat and Katie Bauer | Saturday, June 18, 2011 | Yakima, WA    
This Couple's Wedding Vendors:
Ceremony Venue: American Homestead

Photographer: Memory Montage Photography
Flowers: Melia's Floral
DJ: Entertainment Plus
Cake: Wendy Guske
Wedding Colors: Green + Blue

You can view more of our Yakima Wedding Photography on our portfolio site Pin It Now!

Apple Green Wedding at Apple Tree Golf Course - Yakima, WA

This is the first wedding reception I've ever been too where the room {or tent} smelled like the theme of the wedding.... green apple! Between the green apple martinis & the green apple candies at the candy table, that tent smelled yummy! :)

I LOVED the decor at this wedding.... so many great little black white and green details for me to photograph!!

You can view more of our Yakima Wedding Photography on our portfolio site. Pin It Now!

Tuesday Tips for Photographers: A free business tool!!

Welcome to Tuesday Tips! - Free weekly advice and HOW TOs for photographers. Be sure and stop by our blog each Tuesday & please share this resource with your photography friends as well!

Have you heard of dropbox?? I was first introduced to it early last year, and it's proven to be helpful time and time again. Dropbox is basically a way of sharing your files with multiple computers. Once you have dropbox downloaded on your computer, you can put files in there and share them with other computers, other people, and access your files on your smart phone.

As a photographer, dropbox is perfect for me! Sometimes there are just too many files or too many images that I need to share with my associate photographers or with my clients, so instead of emailing them or making a disc I just stick them in dropbox and share the folder! It's instant, it's easy! Also, when I need to have documents with me all the time, I can see them on my phone with the dropbox app.

ALWAYS HAVE YOUR STUFF WHEN YOU NEED IT. Follow this link to watch a video and sign up! http://db.tt/ioQheCi

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Do you have a question that you'd like answered in a future Tuesday Tips post? Email your questions to Amy: info@memorymp.com - Thanks!
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Yakima Wedding Cakes: Cake Kiss!!

Today I want to highligh this awesome Yakima cake artist: Cake kiss!!! I met Alena and tried her cakes at the Central Washington Bridal Show this year, and they are to die for. I just remember her samples being so cute, and the flavors were some of the most unique and delicious I've ever had! This month we had the privilege of photographing her cake & cupcakes at a cascade garden wedding!!

Here is some more info from Alena, cake artist with Cake Kiss of Yakima!!

"I just started my business  in January of this year. I consider it my passion volcano, I have loved beautiful cakes from childhood and I'm glad that I pursued it, I never dreamed to have arrived here. I was born and raised in Yakima (and am stuck in Yakima ). I have been decorating most of my life, and currently I am the Wilton cake instructor at the Cake Decorator Shoppe and have been for the last 8 years,and I have Shirley O'Hare of Shirley's Cakes to thank for the years of encouragement in this direction of my life. I am married to an amazing man who supports me in all that I do, going on 12 years now, and have beautiful daughters as well. I cherish my family above all else in life, followed by creating memorable cakes."

Thanks Alena for your awesome cakes!

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WALLA WALLA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER // Ben + Kate

Click play to watch their video...

Click here to access the gallery of all wedding images to view or purchase.

 

Ben and Kate VanDonge | Saturday, June 4, 2011 | Walla Walla, WA  

This Couple's Wedding Vendors:

Ceremony Venue: Winn Homestead

Photographer: Memory Montage Photography

Flowers: Amore Flowers

Wedding Dress: Princess Bridal

Cake: Brights Candy Shop

Wedding Bands: Falkenberg's

Wedding Colors: Blue and Purple

You can view more of our Washington Wedding Photography on our portfolio site

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A Cascade Garden Yakima Wedding:: Beth & Axel!!!!

Click play to watch the video...

Click here to access the gallery of all wedding images to view or purchase.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Axel + Beth
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Yakima, WA   

This Couple's Yakima
Wedding Vendors: 

Ceremony Venue: Cascade Garden 

Photographer: Memory Montage Photography

Flowers: John Gasperetti's Floral Design

DJ: Entertainment Plus

Bridal Makeup: Studio 16

 Bridal Hair: Studio 16

 Wedding Dress: Fashion Corner

Cake: Cake Kiss

 Catering: Catering Creations by Toni

 Wedding Colors: Sage Green

 You can view more of our Yakima Wedding Photography on our portfolio site

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Results of the SUMMER 2011 Portrait Session GIVEAWAY!!!

To kick off the first day of summer, we are giving away a complimentary portrait session. We were blown away with the response throughout the duration of the giveaway.... 78 entires!!!!

And the winner is.....
Allison Hovorka!! Entry #70!

THANK YOU for everyone who entered the contest... stay tuned for future giveaways with Memory Montage Photography!!!
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Tuesday Tips for Photographers: Protecting Your Photos

Welcome to Tuesday Tips! - Free weekly advice and HOW TOs for photographers. Be sure and stop by our blog each Tuesday & please share this resource with your photographer friends as well!

 {the montage office space}

The question we were asked is, "What's a good way for everyone to protect their photos from computers crashing?" The simple answer is, never trust one computer alone, always have backup. In addition to taking preventative measures to keep your computer healthy like getting the updates, being wise about downloads, using antivirus software (we use AVG, it's free).... you ALWAYS need to have a backup or redundancy. My husband has an IT degree, but that still can't save us from computer hard drives failing occasionally - sometimes they just do.

If you're a photographer, this is what I suggest to protect your photos:
1. Load your memory cards onto the computer AS SOON as you get home.
2. Although you may be editing your photos from your main computer, make a copy of the files on an external hard drive. This way, if your main computer crashes, you're not without your images.
3. For additional security to protect from fire & theft, you could make a copy of the files and store them somewhere offsite (either on a hard drive stored outside your home, with online hosting, or on a drive in a firesafe box.)

That is the simple way to protect yourself. If you're doing photography full time, here's a look into our data storage and server setup - how we store, protect and backup our images in case of computer or power failure:



If you need more help with your photography business, consider one of our mentoring sessions where we can work with you one-on-one.

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Do you have a question that you'd like answered in a future Tuesday Tips post? Email your questions to Amy: info@memorymp.com - Thanks!
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Wedding Shoes!

A bride's shoe choice is yet another colorful and creative way to add style and uniqueness to the wedding day. Crazy wedding shoes may not add comfort, but they sure do add pizazz in the photos! I'm not a huge shoe person myself, but I do love to photograph them. I'm always excited to see what colors and styles the brides choose. Lucky me, I get to photograph the details like these while Tavis takes candids of the people. :) Here are some of my favorites!

Which shoes are your favorite? Leave me a comment!!

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Tuesday Tips for Photographers: Adjusting your camera settings.

Welcome to Tuesday Tips! - Free weekly advice and HOW TOs for photographers. Be sure and stop by our blog each Tuesday & please share this resource with your photographer friends as well!

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So, you just picked up your first DSLR. You don't know much about photography or the camera, so you start with the little green square (auto). What's wrong with auto? Well, if you're shooting on auto, the camera is making all of the decisions for you, and has to guess what is best for the situation. Since every situation is different, your photos are inconsistent and may not turn out like you'd want them to. So you start messing around with the different camera modes.... but you still want MORE, right? Shoot on manual mode!! I went straight from auto to manual so quite honestly when people are talking about other modes, I'm not always sure which settings each mode allows you to change. I love manual because then I can be in control of it ALL. :) 

My shot process: (shooting with natural light)

• 5D mk ii constants
• Metering mode: evaluative
• White balance: auto
• Single shot (not continuous)
• Flash Exposure Comp = 0
• Center focus 
• RAW images only
• 5D mk ii variables
• shutter speed
• aperture
• ISO

When I go to take a photo, I first think about aperature. What should my Fstop be for my subject(s)? In normal outdoor scenarios, I usually stay right around 3.2 - For a larger group I'll bump it to 3.5 or 4.... in low light situations or for more DOF I'll make it 2.0-2.8 (depending on the lens obviously.) Also, with each lens I've found there to be a "sweet spot" - with my 2.8 lenses, my sharpest images are at 3.2. With my 50mm 1.2L lens, I can get away with a sharp 1.8 or 2.0 photo.

Then I think about my ISO. Though the ISO is helpful artificial light in some circumstances, I don't want to use it unless I have to. During the day in the shade my ISO is always at 100. If we're in a lot of shade or as it gets closer to sunset, I'll bump it as high as 1600 if necessary. Indoors, I take full advantage of the ISO to give me light, and may use it up to 2500 or 3200 - (be careful though, the 5D is much better with noise than a Rebel, for example)

Finally, I'll adjust my shutter speed accordingly to create the right amount of light for the photo. Ideally, I like to keep my shutter speed between 1/125-1/250 if possible. I find that this range produces the sharpest images.

There are times that these "steps" will happen out of order. Sometimes I'll put my shutter speed at a higher priority than the ISO. For example, when the subjects are walking or moving, then I want to make sure I have the right shutter speed FIRST, and then adjust the other settings. If my shutter speed is too slow, then they'll be blurry for sure. As you become more familiar with your manual settings, you can start prioritizing the order you change them as well.

 ^^^ let me walk you through my shot process with this example. We're in Seattle, it's the afternoon, cloud cover. {my ISO stays at 100} I'm shooting with the 70-200 2.8L, so my favorite "sweet spot" is at 3.2 {because of the range of this lens, there is still plenty of DOF even at 3.2 - see behind the popcorn stand} To nail the exposure, I adjusted my shutter speed to 1/320, which works out perfectly for their fast moving poses that they're doing.

^^^ Here is another example from last weekend's wedding. This time I was indoors in a church that had some light coming through the windows. I knew that I had a lot of light to compensate for, so I started with ISO-2000. I brought the shutter as slow as I felt comfortable with for more light {1/100} and then brought the aperture to 2.5. Even with these settings, I had to drastically change the image during post processing. :) Here's the picture SOOC, I can't even believe I'm showing you this! At least it shows the power of good post processing, right??

If you need more help with your camera settings, consider one of our mentoring sessions where we can work with you one-on-one.

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Do you have a question that you'd like answered in a future Tuesday Tips post? Email your questions to Amy: info@memorymp.com - Thanks! Pin It Now!

Amy + Saul {wedding sneak peek}

Saturday, June 11, 2011. A spectacular sunny day at Mt. Rainier. Two happy people tie the knot with an intimate ceremony at Copper Creek. Honestly, I left this wedding feeling SO encouraged. Blessed. Happy. Thankful.... It was a combination of feeling so happy for this couple, being blessed with their friendship, and being so thankful to have a job that I sincerely love. It was an honor to be a part of their wedding day... with less than 15 friends and family in attendance, they chose us to capture and share their day with them.

Most of the weddings we shoot are fast paced, lots of guests, and the bride is forced to go in a million directions with lots of people and lots of things going on. I just expect that the couple won't pay any attention to us and will forget that we're there most of the time, no big deal. This time though, everything seemed calm and relaxed. We had many chances to talk with this couple and their family and get to know all of them. We felt so welcome and included in the entire wedding. Right when we showed up, Amy gave us a welcome gift with fun things from Prosser {their home} & from Mt. Rainier. All throughout the day they were so hospitable making sure we had plenty to eat, drink, and they even sent us home with some of the homemade tomales!{yum}

Overall, this was a very fun filled memorable day for Tavis and me. By the evening Tavis was complaining that his cheeks were hurting from smiling and laughing so much.... which I've never heard him say before :) Amy and Saul are the nicest, most caring couple... it just blew me away how good they were to us. It truly was an honor to spend the day with them, they're both so great!!! Here are a few sneak peek photos of the day. We spent a couple hours at Mt. Rainier National Park which gave me soooo many great pictures to choose from it was hard not to post more. :)

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