Shot this as a backdrop for the album

Shot this as a backdrop for the album
Originally uploaded by Tim Broyer

A little more natural light...

Natural Light

As I progress through the images from my last wedding, I was struck by a certain image. It's Ace, the ring bearer, from Angel and Derek's wedding. The shot was totally spur of the moment, but none the less, it's a keeper. More important to me is it's a natural light shot at low apeture. Not the easy shot to pull off in setting light.

Certainly not the best photos I've ever taken but it has spurred me to do more with natural light. Seems I've been consumed with off-camera lighting (thanks Strobist) but I also need to balance it with some good old fashion natural light. I'm thinking self-assigned natural light projects coming soon.










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Angel & Derek Quick Peek!

Wonderful wedding this past weekend with close friends Angel & Derek. I came home with a ton of photos and have been combing through them ever so slowly. Here's a quick peek at several photos I've worked on the last few days.
The cake image has no real special effects to it. Pretty much straight out of the camera.

The mirror shot has been desaturated and slightly softened. One of my favorite shots from the getting ready set.

Princess brides maid. I softened the skin a tad on this photo.

The ceremony. No special effects here either.

I like this one too. It has a desaturated effect I call midnight. A free action I downloaded from Action Central.

Cropped to 5x5 and I added an "Angel Glow" as well as a tiny bit of skin softening. I also added two strokes of the wedding colors.

A black and white candid. I love the way B&W enchances an image. This is a good photo in color but a great photo in B&W.

A little softening here and sharpen the eyes.

I'll be out of pocket the next few days. No emails, blog posts or photos as I take a short vacation (after a wedding on Saturday) with the family. Happy Fourth of July!

Brandon's smile

Yesterday was perhaps one of the best day's I ever had behind the lens of a camera. Several months ago I came across a website called NC Heart Gallery. They team up photographers with kids awaiting adoption. The goal is to produce a portrait for the young person's file that perhaps will catch the eye of a prospective new parent. They also display the work around the state.

I knew as I progressed my photography business that some type of charitable work would become a regular part of it. I also knew I wanted to be involved with helping children somehow. When I came across the NC Heart Gallery site, I submitted my name as a photographer who is willing to help but I never heard anything back from them until last month.

It all came together yesterday when I met Brandon at a small city park in Durham, NC. I was a little nervous and didn't know what to expect. Filicia with the Durham County Dept of Social Services was there as well and it was a good thing since my light stand broke. She ended up being my assistant!

Brandon is a very handsome and quiet boy. It took me a little bit to draw him out. His voice was very soft. His demeanor was calm and shy but I think he thoroughly enjoyed having his picture taken. I was able to get the occasional smile when I showed him the previews from the back of the camera. He's a big fan of football and basketball. In retrospect, I wish I had brought a little more gear and perhaps an assistant to make more of a "production" out of the shoot. A couple of props to help illustrate him would have been nice too. The attention from having your photo taken is certainly a confidence boost for kids.

I did come away with several good portraits. I'm going to have some printed and forwarded on to Brandon so he can pass them out to his friends and foster parents. It was a very rewarding day and I look forward to photographing more kids for the NC Heart Gallery. Yesterday, I found out how good a fit the NC Heart Gallery is for me.

I enjoyed every minute of my session with Brandon and I can't wait to see his smile in the NC Heart Gallery.

I've been asked to not display the photo of Brandon for privacy reasons and such it has been removed. Rest assured it's a nice portrait of a fine young man.

The Jess Torpey Project

First, I hope Jess doesn't read my blog as I want it to be a surprize for him. Jess is my friend and co-worker at News 14. He's been there since day one and is now leaving for a sweet job outside of Philly. We'll miss him for sure. He is also the last original member of the morning news crew. That now makes me the longest running member of the morning team.

Anyway, Jess agreed to a portrait. I got the practice and he get's a nice going away present as well. I'm also taking some shots of him working and plan to produce a two minute soundslides presentation. I recorded a two minute weather yesterday, thinking that the audio from a weathercast would make a nice background to the show.

He's leaving in a couple weeks, so I have some time to put it together. My way of saying goodbye to Jess.

Life's a beach

I love the beach. The three of us headed down the beach this past weekend for some well needed R&R. It was a nice break in the middle of all the stuff we have going on as a family. I witnessed two weddings on the beach and it was neat to watch another photographer in action. Of course, I was mentally critiquing and wondering how I would do things. One thing for sure, I wouldn't wear shoes so I could get right in the water with the couple too. I picture a shot of the bride and groom embracing in the water with the sun and surf behind them....

I'm starting to take bookings for 2008! That's a good sign and I need to sit down and plan out my availability.








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Matt & Rene's gallery is up!

Matt and Rene's gallery is up. I'm still tweaking my slideshow software but overall I'm really pleased with it.

I'm off to the beach for the weekend. That should get some cool shots!


















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Katherine & Russ Gallery is up! And who is Dave Hill?

I have posted Katherine & Russ' wedding gallery up here: http://www.timbroyer.com/clients/KR070608/

Some of the images of the children are really great although on my uncalibrated monitor at work, they look a little flat. There is such a huge difference in monitors and the colors they show. Heck, there are books on the subject. Suffice to say, the proof is in the prints. Online media will never out due prints when it comes to color, sharpness and quality.



Who is Dave Hill? He's an award winning advertising photographer who's work you've probably scene in Nike ads or sports magazines etc... He has this unique post-process that leads to a saturated, contrasty look. The image here is my first attempt to duplicate his look and feel but my attempt isn't as edgy as his. Imitation is a sincere form of flattery. I'm going to continue experimenting with this look and perhaps stumble blindly upon my own unique look.












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The Bouquet

The bouquet is such a pivotal part of a wedding ceremony. As a photographer, it's a great accessory or perhaps even the focal point of the photo. It makes for great color in an otherwise black and white environment.

What does it symbolize? Wikipedia lists them as having dated back to medieval times. Whatever their origin, I like them and make concerted efforts to incorporate them into several artistic shots throughout a wedding.

Nervous bride

Rene was just a little nervous be she stepped out of the dressing room and onto the ceremony. This was literally a quick snap with the camera. I converted it to black and white while in RAW format. Just something about it that draws me to this picture.

Stay tuned for more from Rene & Matt.




















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It's getting hot in here, so hot

Katherine and Russ this past Friday. It was a hot one. Temps were in the 90's with some thick humidity. No problem. Drink some extra water and get the job done. Here are a couple favorites from this small, but very nice wedding at the Apex B&B Inn.








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Losing my mind: a cycling self portrait

I assigned myself a cycling self portrait project where I wanted to incorporate my new audio recorder, test some audio editing software, play with some software called Soundslides and also use off-camera flash. All while riding my bike. I strapped everything in a large back-pack and braved the 95 degree temps for three hours. The trail is perhaps one of my all-time favorites but it's slated to be bulldozed into a golf course. I'm sad about that because I've enjoyed these woods for nine years and pretty much rode out there once a week, usually Friday's by myself or with an occasional friend. I'll miss these trails. It's like losing a friend.

So, it's a self-portrait of sorts in a multi-media way. I hope to incorporate more audio into my photography.

Link > Losing my mind.

Lawn & Landscape Magazine: Sam Lang

I had the pleasure of shooting Sam Lang recently for Lawn & Landscape Magazine. Sam is the founder of Fairway Green, a very successful landscaping company in the Raleigh-Durham area. Sam is being featured in the July issue of the magazine, specifically the cover and the feature article. Sam is a leader in the industry and is highly regarded as a leader and innovator.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about this shoot as it was tough to schedule with Sam and I didn't feel a connection. We met at his home and we quickly hit it off and had a pleasant conversation as I proceeded to photograph him for the next hour. I'm quite pleased with the results and I hope the editor is too.

All shots with a Nikon 28-70 f2.8, one SB-24 fired into a softlighter umbrella via pocket wizards.

Online gallery for Nancy & Tommy

I've finished processing all of Nancy & Tommy's photos. This particular one is rather lucky as they were kissing when I went for the bouquet. I used a selective toning process to highlight the flowers.

I used a new Flash software called Soundslides to produce it. It's the best Flash gallery I've ran across yet.
http://timbroyer.com/clients/nancy_tommy07