Lancaster Wedding Portrait Photographer Miville Photography » Uncategorized

Our New Home

Michael Miville — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:01:05 +0000

Today is the Grand Opening in downtown Lancaster of our new office space, The Candy Factory. I’m so happy that our businesses have gotten to a point where office space has become necessary. It’s very exciting and scary at the same time. I will have some landscape photography showing inside as well as a photo, which may be one of my best ever, that I took the other week at our faux bridal shoot. I haven’t revealed the photo anywhere. So, if you’ve got a little time tonight, you should come say hi and check out our new space. It looks like it’s going to be a wonderful night to walk around downtown Lancaster on a First Friday. We hope to see you out.

The location is 323 N. Queen St., Lancaster, PA 17603.

Candy, candy candy!

300 Block of North Queen

The space before anyone moved in.

Cool seating area

Mel testing our new chair and desk

Check it out

Michael Miville — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:29:17 +0000

Hey everyone, I just wanted to send out a few quick things and send you in the direction of an awesome photog to check out. First, no I’m not slacking on putting up blog posts. I just literally don’t have the time at the moment. I’ve been so busy photographing and trying to get caught up on post work that I just haven’t been able to write one. Stay tuned in the following weeks however, I’ve got some fun Get To Know You sessions, family sessions and stuff that even amazed me when I looked down at the camera. It’s been a busy summer and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down until late October. So, keep checking back, I will get back on my Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule next week.

In the meantime, this is Chase Jarvis.

He is truly one of my photographer inspirations at the moment. Capturing still photos as well as video. I must say that not only is he someone I look up to photographically, but he just seems to have way too much fun doing it all. If I only had half of his energy and vision I’d consider myself an elite photographer. He inspires so many people and this past weekend I had the opportunity to try something truly amazing and it was inspired by him. So, thank you Chase!

Check him out at ChaseJarvis.com and his Chase Jarvis blog, also check out his book The Best Camera and his iPhone app.

Photo courtesy of Frederick Van Johnson’s website.

Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner

Michael Miville — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:32:04 +0000

Sorry, no real blog post today, just too busy trying to catch up. But I wanted to update you on something pretty awesome that just happened to me yesterday. I entered a contest the other week put on by this awesome photographer Jessica Claire. The winners get the opportunity to go on a photo walkabout with Jessica and a couple of models in NYC followed by a short processing class with a Q&A. I’m sure thousands entered, simply because she has a pretty big following. Not only does she have that following because of her photography but also because of her line of photography equipment bags called Shootsacs.

I was going through my email yesterday and came across what I thought looked like an ad for a Shootsac and without fully reading it, I deleted it. A few minutes later I got an email from someone on Facebook congratulating me on winning the Jessica Claire Walkabout and Classroom and as another winner she would meet me in NYC. I am pretty skeptical and almost thought that was spam because I didn’t recognize the name at first. After thinking about what she was talking about for a couple of minutes, I decided to go back to the original email that I deleted from Shootsac. I pulled it out of the trash and that’s when I realized I had been one of the lucky 15 winners. I was blown away and I’m totally stoked to go hang in NYC with Jessica and some other really good photogs. I plan to take plenty of pictures and some video which I’ll share when I return. The walkabout is on June 28th and is sponsored and hosted by Adorama, so I’m sure they’ll have some gear to check out.

Keep checking the blog to see some pictures of the walkabout. You can also check out the Shootsac Blog which shows my name on the list of winners. I still can’t believe it’s on there. Have a great Friday everyone!

The Raven

Michael Miville — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:07:47 +0000

I’ve been photographing some organization events that I can’t really talk about. However, I have been given permission to share a few photos of Super Bowl winning coach from the Baltimore Ravens, Brian Billick from an event in Gettysburg, PA. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Gettysburg and we started out at Devil’s Den on Little Round Top. A tour guide was giving us a great history lesson of the locations while we overlooked the rocky yet beautiful terrain. The trees, flowers and grasses were all in full bloom and the landscape was pure Pennsylvania goodness. We headed out across Hancock Ave. through some of the monuments and statues with a couple of quick stops for more history lessons.

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

Wedding of Maria & Troy

Michael Miville — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:37:07 +0000

Malvern, PA in the Philadelphia region was the backdrop for Maria & Troy. The wedding ceremony was held at St. Philips and James catholic church in Exton, PA followed by a beautiful reception at the Hall at St. Peter’s Church in Malvern. The weather was beautiful with breaks of sun through the clouds and just a little sprinkle now and again to keep it from getting too hot.

Starting at the brides house with my friend and fellow photog Olé from PhotOle Photography, we captured some details of the girls getting ready and then some portraits of Maria with all of her girls. I then sent Olé ahead to capture some photos of the guys.

The wedding was as emotional as it was beautiful. With some family trauma months before the wedding, tears were shed but everyone made it through the beautiful catholic ceremony. After we went to the grotto behind the church for a few pictures and then found a little grungy run down motel on the way to the reception for some great photos of the bride and groom.

The reception location was beautiful and set so far back in the woods that even the limo’s got turned around at one point. But the bride and groom joined the hors d’oeuvre hour before being introduced by one of Maria’s radio DJ coworkers from 105.7 The X. A little dinner, cake and dances was what this night offered before I took them outside for a night cap of photos. Then it was on with the bands and singers, performing a bunch of songs for the bride and groom. Then the groom himself got up with his band and jammed out a little. It was gorgeous night and I was happy to be a part of it.

Runner moonlighting as a beautiful bride

Maria

Macro Ring shot without a Macro Lens

Troy

Cut out in the brick church entrance

Cool grungy location… check!

Yummy Cake

Cover Art

HDR from Lightroom into Photomatix Pro

Michael Miville — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:56:24 +0000

Today’s tutorial is a little trip using Lightroom to process some desert photos into an HDR image of the Palouse Falls region in Washington State. I start out with 3 photos with different exposures that I started in Lightroom and exported using the PhotoMatix Pro plug-in. The nice thing about doing it this way is that once you save the file out of PMP it opens right back up into Lightroom next to the images you were using to create it. It’s a pretty quick and simple process, so check out the 4 photos below that I used to start out, then the video and at the bottom is the final image.

From these

PhotoMatix Pro tutorial using Lightroom from Michael Miville on Vimeo.

To this

Dillingham Family Portraits

Michael Miville — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:19:58 +0000

I’ve known Steven for some time now. A while back he asked me to get some family portraits of him and his family. With both of our crazy schedules, we managed to nail down a date and location in the Lancaster area. I met up with them at the park right behind their home which was beautiful with some rock faces, a stream, walking path, grassy areas and a play set. It worked out great and gave us some fun things to walk around and do. I would say some of the family was a little hesitant to do this, until I ended up climbing up the rocks to get some pics of them. Things loosened up a bit after that.

I started out with them by the rock face area where I had them standing by the rocks and then had Matigan climb up to the top of the rocks for a few portraits before I got up to photograph down on them. We then walked back to the stream before getting a few photos in the grass. Eventually we made our to the playset which was a lot of fun. In retrospect, I think I should have just done the whole session on the play set. Well, at least started there. Everyone had such a great time there.

We were working on finishing up when the sky decided to open up on us. It was pouring buckets and I’m typically fine with a little rain on my equipment, that’s what it should be able to handle. However, it was coming down hard. Of course, it only lasted around 5 minutes and as soon as it was over, a beautiful double rainbow appeared. Of course you’ll have to go over to my Facebook Fan Page to see that pic. I was then able to capture a quick couple of pics with Steven and Kim before wrapping things up.

Simple Family Portrait

Connor and Matigan

Some tree fun

Play time

Ashlea & Shaun

I love this family portrait!

Steven & Kim

Philadelphia Portraits: Sensinger Family

Michael Miville — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:17:23 +0000

This family portrait session took place at the Valley Forge National Park in the Philadelphia, PA area. I talked to Holly, who set up the photo session for her parents, and we agreed that this location would be a beautiful one, since it was close to her parents home and because it was close to Ikea so I could head there with my family after the session. Holly was one of my brides back in 2008 and I’ve kept up with her and her husband since. This is my second time photographing them since their wedding and it’s fun every time, check out the fundraiser they attended last year, here. This time it included her brother, his wife and daughter along with her parents.

We were lucky enough to pick a day that was beautiful looking outside, although don’t let the blue sky and green fool you. It was chilly that day. The wind was blowing and it was bitter cold. Typically I like to photograph in the shadows, but I was trying to keep them in the sun as much as possible to stay warm. We started the session out in the large grassy fields in the middle of the park, then making our way back toward the visitor center. When we made it back to the parking lot for the visitor center, I looked over and noticed a large beautiful orange rock face which we used for a few photos. Then it was time to take a little walk over to the visitor center and use some of the brick structure leading into the main entrance. Then finally we went into a small grassy area with lots of colorful trees and some flowers to finish things up. It was a great time, everyone was so easy going and I hope these photos fill their homes for years to come.

Grassy goodness

Into the light

Holly and Matt

Timeless Love

A little camera shy

I love this stone wall

Brick entrance to the visitor center

So adorable!

Lancaster Wedding Photography: Kayla & Randy

Michael Miville — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:32:26 +0000

I was the photographer for the Lancaster wedding of Kayla and Randy who’s engagement session you may remember from last year. It was a beautiful but extremely warm and humid day for their wedding. The flowers were so beautiful and well kept from Petals & Beans that they held up in the heat when we were outside for some photos of the bride and her bridesmaids. They even held up through the wedding and for more pictures of the wedding party. The bride and groom were so much fun and up for just about anything. I had both of them on a swing set, the groom in a tree and even stuffed them in some bushes at one point. The Lancaster church was in the Ronks area and the reception was in the Willow Street area.

The warm Lancaster day started out with the bride and bridesmaids. Getting the dress on for the bride wasn’t a problem, except for the zipper. I ended up having to help out her mom and a bridesmaid to zip the bride into her dress. It wasn’t tight, the zipper just seemed stuck and it was a real pain, but we got it. Then of course, I took them outside into the sweltering heat, but I managed to keep the in the shade as much as possible. After the girls, it was time to get the guys. Well, they were having a little issue with getting the tissues for their coat pockets folded, so I had to help them out with that. But again, I kept them in the shade as much as I could.

The wedding was simple and beautiful with lots of flowers lining the inside of the church. With a pastor who was very candid and fun, it kept the mood light and upbeat. The bride and groom then made their way through some bubbles and off to some pics in the church. I was coming up with some interesting set ups for in church photos and ended up drawing a crowd since no one there had seen a photographer really get into it like I do. It was a nice compliment. But I had to keep moving. We made our way to a second location in an elderly home with a beautiful courtyard that included water features, bridges, a gazebo, terrace, flowers, plants, benches and paths. It was beautiful! Kayla knew of the place since she used to work there. She even ran into some people she knew while were there.

Off to the reception and I was able to get into the room before the rest of the guests. Something I’ve never been able to do, so I took advantage and got some great pics of details that Kayla hand made. The reception was beautiful with some dinner, cake and dancing. Of course there was also the bouquet and garter, which after the groomsman who caught the garter put on the girl who caught the flowers, we found out they were cousins. Ooops. Some days I’m glad I’m not a DJ. But it was a fun time and I was very happy to get some great photos for such a nice couple.

Be sure to check out more photos on my Miville Photography facebook fan page and while you’re there, become a fan..

The bride and her flowers

Rings, beautiful rings and a little fun

Bridesmaids in the shade

Told them I would keep them in the shade

Kayla was such a beautiful bride

A classic look

Little smoke before hand

Fun with lighting

Love the colors of the bridesmaids dresses

One of my favorite shots

Told ya they were fun

Mmmm, cake!

Kayla designed and hand made all of the details

Watchin’ their first dance

Fun on the dance floor

The bride and groom getting down

Creating Action

Michael Miville — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:37:45 +0000

Being a photographer in a saturated Lancaster market of photographers allows me to teach some great stuff to others, and I just love teaching. Today’s tutorial is in video form. I figured it would be easiest to create a video on how to use Photoshop CS5 to create an action to watermark your images.

Why would you want to watermark your images? The main reason is so that when people see your photos, they know who took them and start to familiarize themselves with your work. The other reason is to make it a little more difficult for people to steal your images and claim them as their own. Now, if someone wants to use your images and claim that they took them, they’re going to figure out a way to clone out whatever watermark you put on. But, this just slows them down a bit, if nothing else.

Starting with the photo below I go through step by step in the tutorial on how to use the Actions palette in Photoshop. Now, I’m using Adobe Photoshop CS5 but creating and using actions has been around for a long time and doesn’t seem to work any different in CS5.

The Actions Palette in Photoshop CS5

Creating Photoshop Watermark Action for Photographers from Michael Miville on Vimeo.