I found out about a week before the shoot that Amy, our “bride” for the day, was the owner and teacher of Premiere Danse studio. So, after thinking about what I could do with that info, I drew a little thumbnail of something that popped into my head. It was a bride jumping in a flowing fashion over a cake. But how would I pull that off? I thought about a few lighting scenarios including thoughts about how the cake would need lit as well. After considering everything, I knew that I would need my big dog Alien Bee light for some added power. There was just no other way to stop the motion of a full deal jump.

Jump ahead to the shoot itself. The day started with Amy getting a little trim of her hair, then some make up. We added in a groom, some cake, a limo, an awesome location and flowers. Voilá, we had all the makings of a wedding day. I started with a few simple photos in the ballroom of the Cork Factory. I lit the couple in the first set with a hair light, camera right. A main light, above. A reflector, below. And a light through a soft box, off camera left to light the cake. After a few more locations in the ballroom, we made our way to a room in the hotel. Then outside for a few rainy shots with the limo.

After all of that was done, I decided it was time to try this jumping shot. I set up a light off camera right behind the cake and bride to light a little of the cake and give some separation off the back of the bride. I had another flash off camera left and behind through a soft box pointed directly at the cake. Then I had my main light (the Alien Bee) camera left above the bride to get enough light above her when she jumped. I had someone stand in to check the light. Then I had her do a test jump to see how she moved through the frame. Then I snapped one off and was so close on the first shot. The second shot was pretty close as well. On the third shot I thought I clipped her toe in the frame as she moved through so fast, but then when the preview came up after a second I knew I nailed it. So, without further ado here are few photos along with an awesome video put together by my man Noah Stoner of the behind the scenes. He did such an awesome job and was all over the place. Then skip to the bottom to see “The Shot”.

Setup: Melissa Miville and Katie Slauch from Stylish Occasions
Location: Jill Fanning and the Cork Factory Hotel
Cake: Megan and Scott Smith from Monkey & Me Sweets
Dress: In White Bridal Boutique
Linens: Special Occasions & Queen St. Linens
Flowers: By Splints and Daisies
Make-Up: Patricia Solis of Elegant Xpressions
Hair: Dianna Allen
Limo: Kevin Bippus from Expressions Limousines
Video: Noah Stoner

See more photos from this session at my Facebook Fan Page.

Awesome Video by Noah Stoner

MiVille Photography Behind The Scenes from noah stoner on Vimeo.

A little trim

Make up time

Kevin’s limo is awesome!

The Monkey & Me Sweets team

Melissa adding some finishing touches

The Happy Couple

The bride and her cake

Is the phone attached to you?

Naughty time in the bedroom

Clean up time

Alone time in the limo

Leap of Faith

Do you own a new advanced camera or DSLR? We’ll make you feel comfortable with all the buttons and settings. Do you need to learn how to “See The Light”? We’ll show you what “Good Light” really is and how to find it.

Join us on August 14 from 1pm-4pm, at the all new Candy Factory, 323 North Queen St., Lancaster, PA, for a hands on photography workshop. This workshop will concentrate on available light photography, how to modify it and work flow afterwards.

Some of the specific topics covered will be Camera Basics/Shooting in Manual while using the RAW format. Artistry with composition, seeing the light and creativity. We’ll have modifiers ready to show you how to move and shape the light. Work Flow in post production using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. The workshop will include 2 models so that everyone gets some time to pick up their cameras and shoot. Isn’t that really what it’s all about?

At only $99 for this 3 hour workshop, you will be enrolled in an intense training class. This workshop will be based on seeing “The Light” and is open to photographers of all levels. Make an investment in your education today! We are planning on making this a bi-monthly workshop, so keep an eye out for each new session and the type of training we’ll be working on.

We are having a special to kick off the whole thing. If you sign up by July 31st, 2010 we will give you a spot for 50% OFF. That’s right, only $49.50 for an intense 3 hour photography workshop. So, spread the word and sign up today. You can email us directly at GoboPW@yahoo.com or head to GoboPW.com and fill out the Contact page. We look forward to seeing you there.

It was then time to head up to the 5th floor of Adorama where they have a classroom setting. A couple of us road up in the elevator with Jessica and when we got to the 5th floor we realized that the classroom lights were off and it seemed locked. So, Jessica stayed up and the rest of us went back down in the elevator at which point we heard her say that she got it figured out. But, it was too late. So, we hit the next floor thinking we’d just be able to head back up the stairs instead of riding all the way back down to the 1st floor. We got off on the 4th, then a security guard let us into the stairs, which were only opened with a key card. So, we didn’t realize we would need another key card to open the 5th floor door from the inside of the stairwell too. We were trapped, in the Adorama stairs. We tried banging on the doors, but they were too thick and then tried calling a few numbers we had. Nothing seemed to work and then finally one of the girls working on the 4th floor must have heard us and opened things up for us. We finally took our seats in the classroom while Jessica downloaded her card of images. We were then joined by more winners that won the opportunity to see her work flow and ask some more questions of her. We got to see her work flow and how she goes about toning of images. It was very insightful and a great time. I was truly blessed to have won this opportunity. A big thanks to Jessica, check out her Shootsac and to Adorama for hosting it. It was a great time!

If you’d like to see more stills from the video, head over to my Facebook Fan page.

Jessica on the streets

Mary & Pax

Jessica Claire NYC Workshop from Michael Miville on Vimeo.

Such an awesome couple!

Be sure to check out my other site iPhone Faces which Jessica was cool enough to let me snap a few of her for.

We arrived at the new Gettysburg Battlefield Museum heading into one of the rooms to meet up with Brian Billick. To my surprise he was already hanging out. After a few snacks and something to drink, Brian sat down in front of the dozen guys to talk about his experiences in the NFL and how he was able to motivate a bunch of millionaires to go bang heads with each other. He was so animated and such a great speaker. I am so lucky to be able to have this opportunity. After his conversation, I was able to snap a few portraits of him and then it was off to watch a quick movie about Gettysburg and check out the Cyclorama. It was a wonderful experience and I feel blessed to be able to have been a part of this day.

Little Round Top

Looking over Devil’s Den

Super Bowl winning coach Brian Billick

Such an animated speaker

Simple portrait of the coach

Movie time

Up close and personal with the Cyclorama

Abe Lincoln Statue

The MFD is a calculation that lets you know how close you can get to your subject before your camera won’t be able to focus on your subject. The formulation basically states that your camera will be able to focus by a distance noted on your lens from the focal plane to the subject. The focal plane being the sensor in most cases. So, if your lens is 6 inches long and says you have an MFD of 12 inches, then you should be able to get the end of your lens 6 inches from your subject. The MFD may not be noted on the lens itself and you may need to look it up in the manual that came with your lens. However, as a general rule, most of the time you can physically get closer with a lens that has a shorter focal length. For example I can get .28m (11 inches) from my subject with my 17-40mm lens but I can only physically get 1.5m (4 ft 11 inches) from my subject with my 70-200mm lens. Keep in mind that the further away you are using a telephoto lens, the better your chances are for camera shake.

Below is how my MFD is noted on my 24-70mm lens .38m/1.3ft

The MFD is very important to know for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it’s good to know that all of your lenses have an MFD so that you can keep it in the back of your mind while taking photos. If your camera won’t focus it may just be that you are simply too close for the lens. Another reason it’s good to know is so you can decide which lens may be best when photographing your subject. You want to photograph a bug, but don’t want to disturb it, so you’ll need something with a longer focal distance and need to move back from the subject because it may not be able to get withing 4 feet of your subject.

I also want to make everyone aware that the same minimum focusing distance even holds true for point and shoot cameras. Most people don’t realize that there is an MFD on point and shoots. You may think that the closer you get with your P&S camera to your subject that that is the only way to make it bigger in the viewfinder. Concern isn’t taken in worrying if it will be in focus. The closer you get the better the chances are that you may not be able to focus on your subject and will get very out of focus pictures.

I’ve found that some point and shoots, using auto focus, will still take the photo even if the picture isn’t in focus. If you are too close with a P&S it will focus in and out before just taking the picture without making sure the photo is even in focus. Most DSLR’s won’t allow for the photo to be taken when it’s in Auto Focus mode. You can manually override this by switching to manual focus if you want your photo to be out of focus for an artistic effect or if you want to make sure you the focus is set properly.

A tip is to make sure that you get back far enough away from your subject so that you don’t have to worry about if your camera will focus or not and then zoom in to the point you’d like. Then make sure that your auto focus feature lights up in green, red or whatever color through the viewfinder before snapping that picture. Also, make sure you have an idea of your MFD so you can start out in a position that you won’t have to worry about dealing with your MFD. It will make sure that you have sharp, crisp and in focus pictures every time. Now get out there and take great pictures.

Mondays will be “Session Day” and will include a recent session that I thought was fun and had some great images. It will allow me to showcase some of my work and give a few details about the session and how much fun it was.

Wednesday will be a tip of the week. I will use this day to give a tip, trick or let you know about a really interesting website, piece of photo gear or podcast that I’ve found. It will be a fun way for you to keep up to date with the ever changing photo world. I’ll also let you know of any new products I’ve seen or are now offering and how you can get your hands on them.

Friday will be a “Guest Blogger” day and I will introduce you to friends of mine who will be talking about a range of subjects. They may talk about their life, their passions or anything that comes out that they want to discuss.

I’d like to thank everyone who is a fan of Miville Photography on Facebook. The other day I hit 400 fans, which is a huge milestone. So, I decided to give out a thank you to one lucky fan for reaching this milestone. I decided a $75 gift certificate towards a portrait session would be a nice thank you for following me and being a fan. The winner, chosen at random, happened to be a friend from high school. I recently connected with this person through Facebook and I’m excited for the photo session.

Congratulations to Jess Wilson of East Earl, PA. I look forward to photographing you and your family, especially when your new addition arrives next month.

I hope everyone continues to follow me on Facebook. Please tell your friends and hopefully if we get to 500 fans I may give out another thank you gift. Follow me on Facebook and be a fan of Miville Photography on Facebook.

This session has closed. Thank you all for your patronage.

Enjoy the photos and if you have an iPhone and you’d like to get involved with your free session, please go to the iPhone Faces Project website, go to the contact section and fill it out for more information. Or you can fill out the contact form on this website, just make sure to mention the iPhone Faces Project.

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