In San Fran right now - THANK YOU and Bridal Session!

[Mike Fulton]

Well I am just about wrapping up a post wedding event with a wedding client from Sat. here in San Fran. A couple days ago I put out a call for HELP from photographers in the local area to assist us in finding areas that would suit our needs for images which the couple wanted/needed. Some of course would scream San Fran and others would not but they wanted them all to be different.

I just wanted to personally thank everyone who called or PMed or got a hold of me somehow with the information (you know who you are) I simply could not have done it without all of you.


Besides needing to find a good place for Steak and Seafood for tonights dinner, I think we got everything else under control :)

A few quick images which I have not really processed much due to my laptop (can't tell what the colors look like) so these are almost straight out of the camera! I will have to wait till I get home to really get after these!

Again THANK YOU ALL!!!!!

The Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/SF-005.jpg

Muir Redwood Forest (yes we hiked for over 5 hours) I was wearing flip flops and the bride of course in her white gown. While lots of work some of the images I have are AMAZING, I simply can't wait to get home and process them! This is one of the basic shots, while the trees were much smaller up in the hiking trails there were no people and we could get off the trail and really explore the area and find interesting places to shoot.
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/rw-005.jpg



Again THANK YOU ALL Who helped out!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I could have meet some San Fran people in the process, but maybe next time!

[kamarola]

wow, shots look great especially the 2nd. would definately like to see more. cant believe you guys hiked 5 hours (especially with the bride in a wedding dress).

[LeesaB]

WOW..stunning...the colors in 1 are awesome..and 2 is like breath taking..

What a challange..FOR HER, lol, in a dress hiking all that way.

Can't wait to see what else you have..I love the dark coloring of the dress in 1, how did you do that/

[Mike Fulton]

...cant believe you guys hiked 5 hours (especially with the bride in a wedding dress).
Thanks and for our post wedding day events we do something of this nature alot. Its fun, its exciting, and well the images usually speak for themselves. While hiking that far is out of the norm we do normally go to any length to capture the images we and the client wants. This client is a super good friend so it helped as well.

....What a challange..FOR HER, lol, in a dress hiking all that way.

HA! What about me, I am a fat butted photographer, hiking excercise has not been in my life for oh lets say 15 years :) Just waking up from a nap my body is telling me I am a fat butted photographer also, I AM SORE :)


Can't wait to see what else you have..I love the dark coloring of the dress in 1, how did you do that/
No Photoshop done, she has a BLACK wedding gown also we shot with throughout the city. So that dress I did nothing too, it is truly that color!

[00silvergt]

Wow, those are nice...enjoy SF. It's a great city to visit, I can never get tired of it, even though I visit everyday!

[Mike Fulton]

Here is another one from the redwood forest I thought was kinda cool!

http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/rw-004.jpg

[popawalker]

fantastic shots Mike. that first one is as stunning as the cemetary shots. Have a safe trip back home to Texas.
Steve

[Kai]

I love the Redwood forest shots. Those are amazing. I wish I had picture like that of me in a wedding dress. Amazing, beautiful, great composition..... I can keep on going.

[Scarlett Nic]

Fabulous forrest images. I cant wait to see more when you post them.
Nic

[Stavhp]

wow
brilliant colours in these shots!!!

[Buckeye1]

Exceptional images! Mike, those should be 30x40 wall portraits! What kind of lighting did you use?

[islandphoto]

1 is phenominal!!! You didn't do anything in photoshop? What were your settings?

[motogeno]

Mike, those are really wonderful! Can't wait to see some more, fully pp'd. #3 is my favorite, but I'll have to see the finished products before I really pick a favorite. I just love how much your subject in 3 stands out so well being so small amongst the giant trees.

[kamarola]

i know i already replied, but the 3rd picture you posted is the most stunning photo i've ever seen, wedding or not. like, jaw-dropping stunning! i give you major props and must know the settings and lens for that shot, and/or any post processing filters added.

the b&g must be sooo happy they got you as their photographer ^_~

[Mike Fulton]

Thanks everyone for the kinds words, I should get home (FINALLY) late tonight and I can get some more work done on these at that time.

I have not been home since the 20th of July so after I re-intoduce myself to my pets I will start processing :)

[megansmom]

Wow, I love all 3 images you've posted. The last one (3rd one) is like a work of art. Where in SF is the Redwood forest? It looks like a scene straight out of Lord of the Rings. Very fantasy feel.

[Mike Fulton]

Thanks again for the kind words, I have so many images I have not even had time to go through them all yet, but here are a few more.

Here is one more I processed to give it a more lonely feeling to it! Hope you like it I know it is different.
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/rw-003.jpg


Guarding the Gate "ruins"
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/gate-001.jpg

http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/gate-002.jpg

And of course "THE ROAD" of San Fran!!!
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/SF-002.jpg

The group we had around us while shooting here, had to capture an image of them it was simply too fun not too!
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/SF-003.jpg

[gheesom]

as usual Mike, Simply Stunning. That first one with the golden gate bridge in it is fantastic, timeless. Love it.

[motogeno]

Thanks again for the kind words, I have so many images I have not even had time to go through them all yet, but here are a few more.

Here is one more I processed to give it a more lonely feeling to it! Hope you like it I know it is different.
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/rw-003.jpg


Guarding the Gate "ruins"
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/gate-001.jpg

http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/gate-002.jpg

And of course "THE ROAD" of San Fran!!!
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/SF-002.jpg

The group we had around us while shooting here, had to capture an image of them it was simply too fun not too!
http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/SF-003.jpg
Now that's an entourage! That had to be quite an undertaking with all of those people! I cannot believe that bride wanted pictures in her dress behind prison bars!!! Crazy! The third one is still my favorite, maybe of all that I've seen from you. It's just really stunning. I wanted to ask, how did you light her? It isn't apparent to me that you used flash, although I know you did as she stands out so well and your background is not blown out. And since you use speedlights, they have to see each other to pick up the signals, but it seems by looking at it that they would be obstructed by the leaves and trees.

[Mike Fulton]

I wanted to ask, how did you light her? It isn't apparent to me that you used flash, although I know you did as she stands out so well and your background is not blown out. And since you use speedlights, they have to see each other to pick up the signals, but it seems by looking at it that they would be obstructed by the leaves and trees.
She was lite using Pocket Wizards attached to my 580ex flash units. We simply were shooting too far apart and in way too many unique situations for the IR system to work effectively. Also since each techinque works on different camera settings (meaning IR system you shoot wide open in the f/stop area and super fast shutter speeds and the PW method works off tiny f/stops and only upto 1/250 of a second in shutter I perfered to use the PW's since I wanted everything in focus in the background and foreground).

Having the groom hold the lightstick and him being a very talented photographer himself it was great having someone who knew flash units to adjust the power as needed which is the draw back of using PW over the IR system of Canon/Nikon.

Many of the images were lite only with natural light but if there was light added to the image it was done with canon 580ex flash units on a mono pod attached to a PocketWizard.

Thanks for the questions and glad you enjoy the images, I have a ton more hopefully I can get around to processing more and posting them.

[motogeno]

She was lite using Pocket Wizards attached to my 580ex flash units. We simply were shooting too far apart and in way too many unique situations for the IR system to work effectively. Also since each techinque works on different camera settings (meaning IR system you shoot wide open in the f/stop area and super fast shutter speeds and the PW method works off tiny f/stops and only upto 1/250 of a second in shutter I perfered to use the PW's since I wanted everything in focus in the background and foreground).

Having the groom hold the lightstick and him being a very talented photographer himself it was great having someone who knew flash units to adjust the power as needed which is the draw back of using PW over the IR system of Canon/Nikon.

Many of the images were lite only with natural light but if there was light added to the image it was done with canon 580ex flash units on a mono pod attached to a PocketWizard.

Thanks for the questions and glad you enjoy the images, I have a ton more hopefully I can get around to processing more and posting them.
Thanks for the answer Mike, and it all makes sense now. I was wondering how you made the IR work for the speedlights, but now I see! And I thought you swore by ETTL, lol!!!:lol: You're a master for sure!

[howzitboy]

Here is another one from the redwood forest I thought was kinda cool!

http://www.tricoastphoto.com/Post_Pics/abel-lisa/hm/rw-004.jpg

this one looks like a PP of A winning shot!! what an awesome, breathtakingly beautiful shot!!!! ill take a 20x30 for my wall *wink*

[Mike Fulton]

Thanks for the answer Mike, and it all makes sense now. I was wondering how you made the IR work for the speedlights, but now I see! And I thought you swore by ETTL, lol!!!:lol: You're a master for sure!
I do swear by them but they have their limits, with that said I would take ETTL anyday over PW's simply for the camera settings it allows me to have. Knowing those limits and working with the right tools to suit your needs is the key to photography. I wanted a good depth of field so PW's was a perfect choose for the situation. Now if I had my Quatums they would have worked even better but being that they are larger and we were traveling light they did not make the trip! :)

[Mike Fulton]

this one looks like a PP of A winning shot!! what an awesome, breathtakingly beautiful shot!!!! ill take a 20x30 for my wall *wink*
Thanks! While I have never entered anything into PPA since 99% of our images has the footprint of both myself and Cody (TriCoast) it is nice to feel I might have a merit here. I do not see me entering it since I feel the "Team" is more important than self-status but knowing I can capture a winning image for my client and for the TriCoast name is very important to me. I kinda like this image as well, my body is still so sore it is sad from the hike!:lol:

[Toogy]

Mike, love the shot on Lombard Street! How did you shoot that? you must have been elevated pretty high up somewhere?

[CatchingUp]

Great stuff Mike....really nice!! So...given your location...are you gearing up to try some bridal shots with the 'breeze of Dean' blowing in? Those could be interesting. :-)

[Mike Fulton]

Backing up and trying to answer some of these posts that I missed!

1 is phenominal!!! You didn't do anything in photoshop? What were your settings?
The 3rd image has some PS done to it but only basic stuff to darken it up some. The others have only some basic color correction. Setting off hand I am not sure but I was very under exposed on my camera settings allowing for the sun and blue sky to come through then used Pocket Wizards and wireless flash units to expose the subject correctly. What you see in the first ones are really just about SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera).

i know i already replied, but the 3rd picture you posted is the most stunning photo i've ever seen, wedding or not. like, jaw-dropping stunning! i give you major props and must know the settings and lens for that shot, and/or any post processing filters added.

the b&g must be sooo happy they got you as their photographer ^_~
Thanks again and I used a 5D for the camera and since my 16-35L f/2.8 is in the shop getting fixed I used our backup 17-40L f/4.0. However since I was using Pocket Wizards the higher f/stop did not hurt me at all and actually there is very little lens distortion with this lens so it worked out very well! No filters I do not even use UV on the end of my glass, simply just use the flare hoods for protection. The shot you speak of did not even have flash added really just natural lighting and posing well and of course the amazing redwoods which makes the portrait!

Wow, I love all 3 images you've posted. The last one (3rd one) is like a work of art. Where in SF is the Redwood forest? It looks like a scene straight out of Lord of the Rings. Very fantasy feel.
It is a tiny forest (well compared to the other Redwoods in the State East and North of San Fran) Muir Forest is about 40 mins outside of San Fran to the North of the Golden Gate Bridge. A short drive to be honest most of which takes you on Highway 1 winding through small cities till you get to the the forest. There is also Muir Beach on the way there which is a stunning beautiful beach so the entire area is wonderful for a photographer!

as usual Mike, Simply Stunning. That first one with the golden gate bridge in it is fantastic, timeless. Love it.
Thanks truly means a lot!

Mike, love the shot on Lombard Street! How did you shoot that? you must have been elevated pretty high up somewhere?
There on the streets are actual residences where people live (apartments/flats) I simply went up to the three floor asked the owner if I could use their balcony and shot away!

Great stuff Mike....really nice!! So...given your location...are you gearing up to try some bridal shots with the 'breeze of Dean' blowing in? Those could be interesting. :-)
Right its going to be quite scary I think! :)

[jamiewexler]

Really hot stuff Mike. I especially dig the first one!

[itsboutdapix]

These images are amazing to me. I love POTN because of this level of professionalism, thanks for sharing.

[00silvergt]

I love the Wide Angle you shoot at...nice. I would be too afraid to go that wide, but you can make it work with the composition.