beach wedding photography | Sacramento Wedding Photographer Charleton Churchill Blog

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Tags: Akiko Suzuki,beach wedding photography,Escala Garden,Four Season's Biltmore,Four Season's Biltmore Wedding Photographer,Four Seasons Biltmore Weddings,Four Seasons Wedding Photography,La Marina,La Pacifica Ballroom and Terrace,Loggia Ballroom,Loggia Terrace,Mariposa Garden,Mark Eddie,Monte Vista Lawn,Montecito Biltmore Resort,Montecito Wedding Photographer,Montecito Wedding Photography,Palmera Garden,Santa Barbara Wedding Four Seasons Wedding Photographer,Santa Barbara Wedding Photographer,Santa Barbara Wedding Photography,Santa Barbara Weddings

Sue Franzoia - Charleton, you captured the sheer JOY and emotions of Lindsey and Justin getting married. The photographs are stunning and reflect the true LOVE these two share. Wonderful lifetime memories.January 2, 2012 – 7:33 am

kris - I smiled, I laughed, I cried……yes, at the wedding and then again today while viewing these photographs. I love the way you allow us to “re-live” the day through your fantastic photography! Thanks again Charleton!January 2, 2012 – 6:45 pm

Charleton Churchill - Thank you Sue for the comments. I wish I could have added more to the blog! There were so many great photographs that day.March 6, 2012 – 8:41 pm

Charleton Churchill - Thanks Kris, the photographer (me) cried as well. Many great moments throughout the day. THanks to Nancy Nerhan for wonderful hospitality and service at the Oceano Hotel!March 6, 2012 – 8:44 pm

05.01.11

Santa Barbara Wedding Photographer, Four Seasons Resort, Ronnie and Jessea

Santa Barbara Four Seasons Weddings Photographer
Santa Barbara Biltmore Wedding Photography

Beach Weddings are always amazing! This beach wedding was in Santa Barbara at the high class Four Season Resort. Ronnie and Jessea married early in the morning alongside the oceanfront beach. The bride and groom prepared themselves in the suites near the Escala Garden. As the trolley drove up, the bride stepped off, and onto the beach to see her groom for the first time (they opted not to do the first look before the ceremony). Everyone applauded as they gave their vows before all to become husband and wife, very emotional and happy. Many family and friends joined in celebration as they danced together with hugs, laughs, and love. Toasts were given in the Loggia Ballroom. I was able to capture some images with the small amount of time we had with the bride and groom for their time. I had found this abandoned washed up boat along the shoreline of the four seasons resort. It looked pretty fresh, with muddy salt water inside of it. I asked the bride and groom if they could stand on top of the boat for a photograph. I had done my research and saw no boat on any photographer’s website, and I thought, what foolish photographer wouldn’t have photographed this boat with the bride and groom. It turns out, the boat had just recently washed ashore, and I was the only one to capture the boat with the bride and groom at the four seasons resort before they hauled it off. This photograph at the resort is truly unique.

Wedding Photographer: Charleton Churchill Photography

Wedding Ceremony: Santa Barbara Four Seasons Biltmore

Wedding Reception: Montecito Biltmore Grand Room

Catering: Santa Barbara Four Season’s Catering

DJ: Mark Eddie

Wedding Consultant: Akiko Suzuki

Hair: Montecito Salon by Elana Cantrelle

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Tags: 5dm2,beach wedding photography,canon 5dm2,exploring with photoshop,Photoshop CS4,Photoshop CS5,Sacramento Wedding Photographer,special effects with photshop,tips and tricks,Wedding,Wedding Photography

Sunshine - Soooooooooo many great shots here…Love the lamp picture!!!!May 2, 2011 – 8:17 am

Kathy - I love them all, especially the ones on the boatMay 2, 2011 – 10:12 pm

Charleton - I love this Santa Barbara wedding on the beach! Some great images, and the boat of course was a great find! I can’t believe other photographers have not photographed couples on that boat yet? Maybe after they have seen the image, you will start to see more!September 12, 2011 – 1:10 pm

01.16.11

Exploring with Photoshop, Sacramento & Bay Area Wedding Photographer

Here’s an image I shot earlier in December 2010. This couple had their wedding on the beach of Carmel. You can view the images on my blog last month. This image goes beyond a photographer’s time for required editing of wedding images. Typically, I edit the images with color toning and lighting, remove major distractions, sharpen, etc., and make them print ready. If a couple wants full treatment of a photograph, designed with special effects, like the one below, I charge by the hour. And usually I can get a few images per hour done. This one below was done exploring and playing around with Photoshop.

I often read books on photography, lighting, bios on artists, and other valuable artistic inspirations to keep myself learning. I even try to listen to bands whose true intention is to create art, even if I don’t like the music. Pushing myself beyond my own knowledge is the key! If you want to grow in your knowledge, you need to be reading and learning! I think that’s why I like the North Face’s motto: Never stop exploring! I’m a mountain climber, so I apply this to my whole life!

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Tags: Adobe Photoshop CS5,beach wedding photography,Before and after,Dodger Stadium,instructions,Los Angeles Engagement Session,Los Angeles Photographer,Los Angeles Wedding Photographer,Malibu Wedding Photographer,photographer,Photography 101,Photoshop CS4,Santa Monica Wedding Photographer,Tutorial

10.21.10

Before and After – from Camera to Photoshop process – Photography tips 101

Ok, here are both images….I’ll explain now how I got from this in-camera shot to the finished image you see here!

Before I explain these photography tips, if you don’t have Photoshop, or you’re not a photographer, this may sound gibberish to you, but I’ll explain it as best I can.

So, basically, all I did was walk up to the TOP of the LA Dodger stadium (uhh very scary). The field was covered in white tarp (because it was raining) so I couldn’t shoot towards the field, very ugly. I had to compose the shot with the stadium seats in view to capture the essence of the stadium. I was shooting the canon 5d mark2 with the 24-70mm canon L lens, very wide. I brought out my off camera flash, canon 580ex2, and underexposed the ambient sky, and exposed my flash for the subjects, in this case the engaged couple, Cary and Anissa. I was actually going to turn this image into a spotlight effect, but it turned out better this way.

I went back home and uploaded the image I knew I liked, and fixed it up in RAW. I dodged and burned this image in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I have CS5, but some of my plug-ins do not work in CS5 yet, so CS5 plug-in people, word on behalf of us photographers, get your plug-in’s updated.

As you can see, the stadium in the BEFORE image was underexposed, and I dodged (brightened) the stadium seats and used the sponge tool (saturation) to bring out more colors in my seating. In one tweek, I had brightened them too much, and I didn’t like it. I burned (darkened) the seats back down a little. I don’t like to overuse to sponge tool in my images because it looks too fake sometimes, but in this image, it was totally appropriate. I then dodged the sky in a layered light view so that it didn’t look like one glob of darkness, cloudy and all. I sharpened the whole image only so much, and then smoothed out the couple. I also pushed the contrast a little to make the darks darker and the lights lighter. Lastly, I used a plug-in that brings in more definition to the image, and then adjust it down a little. I added a slight vignette, and that was it!

Charleton Churchill Photography Tips

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