Recent layouts- scroll back through this post to see the progress that you can make on NOBS. My work has improved a lot thanks to the caring and helpful attitudes of everyone on this forum.

A few images from a recent wedding last week. Go back and look at my earliest images posted in this thread to see the progress that NOBS can offer to you.

From an engagement session in December 2007.

My YouTube channel link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bellavitastudiosfw

These are all things that I learned on NOBS over the past two years. Read the whole thread to see some before NOBS and after NOBS images.

More...

Kris,
Nice stuff & very inspirational.
Thanks

Thanks Jack! Did you go from the beginning of the thread and see the crap that I did about 2-3 years ago? YIKES.

These are the kinds of lighting issues that you learn here. When you CAN use natural light and what the limits are, how to make flash look not so obvious, etc.

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When you learn how to mix ambient light and flash, you can get some great low light exposures that show off a reception hall or DJ. Sending these images to the various vendors gets your name in front of potential clients when the vendors put your images on their website- watermarked with your web address of course.

Most vendors have horrendous photos on their websites- p/s with blast-o-flash... This is a great opportunity to network- but you have to show their venue or their work very well. Most receptions are low light situations, so learning how to deal with that is very important. This is one of the many invaluable skills that I have learned through NOBS.

I used to really struggle with getting good exposures in low light situations. Learning why there is a difference in 2.8 lenses vs. 4.0 lenses made a huge difference for me. My fellow NOBS members were very helpful in explaining what differences I would see for my money. Having their invaluable advice before making a purchase was exactly what I needed. I have spent WAY LESS TIME in post production based on taking this advice and purchasing a 70-200/f2.8 lens for weddings. I am getting much better exposurse now and am, for the most part, nailing my exposures- straight out of camera. The time saved in post production can be spent in marketing or shooting more, which makes me more money. I am explaining this to anyone who is thinking of joining NOBS and isn't sure if it's worth the money. YES, IT IS.

So here are some examples of SOOC exposures (some with crops or soft focus but the exposure is SOOC) from a wedding yesterday. I spent 4-5 hours culling these down and doing the post production work today. That's it. Now two hours or so to design the album and order it and I'm done. How much time are YOU spending on wedding work? If it's more than this, you should join NOBS! I used to spend WEEKS agonizing over wedding photo post production. Not anymore.

Here are some more from yesterday's wedding. Many of these images and the approach to composition were influenced by my fellow NOBS members.

If you want to see some progress of what NOBS has taught me over the past two years here, read this thread from page one. I even included some of my old images for comparison!

That last one is Greg, another NOBS member. He tagged along with me to second shoot and learn more about wedding photography. A lot of NOBS members help each other this way.

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I am posting these because NOBS has helped me learn how to relate to brides. This particular bride said she had a bad experience with a previous wedding photographer at her sister's wedding a few years ago... That wedding photographer had not taken any formal portraits or getting ready candids of the mother and sisters with the bride. The family felt hurt because the mother and daughters are very close.

NOBS has helped me learn what to say to a bride in a consultation and in a planning session before the wedding- what questions to ask, what to cover, how to explain it, etc.

Because I knew this going in, I was able to make sure I was there to cover these things and make the family very happy with the coverage. Happy clients=$$$ and referrals!

Where do I join?!?! Oh wait. I am already a member! Thanks for the inspiration! These are also the reasons I joined.

This bride called me today when she got home from her honeymoon to thank me for being everywhere on the wedding day and staying level headed in the middle of chaos. She apologized for not thanking me at the end of the reception. How sweet! I rarely have clients think to do that- on the wedding night or even later.

She was shocked that the proofs were online before they even got home from the honeymoon. I don't want to start a precedent with THAT but it did feel good to crank a wedding out asap.

Stuff from this past weekend's wedding...

And some more...