Kits55

I sent him an email and asked if the IR photos are done in Photoshop or were a lens on his camera. Hopefully he will answer me back so I can see how and if the pictures can be changed. Thanks again for your help! I promise to update everyone once I hear back from him.

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I think the B&W infrared looks fine. Are you OK with those? I hate the false color IR he has done. I'm definitely OK with the black and white IR but also hate the color IR he's done. I mean would have preferred (i'm not sure how to make that a "stronger" statement) that he take them all normally and THEN in post production gotten all fancy. I suppose if he doesn't save the originals it wouldn't have helped at all anyway. I'd tell him to make all the false colors B&W. Yes, I tink that's what I"ll do. I know he'll fight me on that for the page with me, my sister, and mom because it'll be the same tone. I guess one of my biggest mistakes was not looking through old albums he had but I didn't really intend to get an album from him when we first started out (because of the price) Also, it shouldn't matter which image is stonger. You should have the pictures in your book you are comfortable with. I also didn't want the sexy images in my album. It's the book I'm sharing with my grandparents & future kids. I'm sure if my photographer made the album I would have had to fight her on putting the sexy images in my book. She sounded pissed that I didn't put them in the albums I made originally (which we intended for our parents.) That is such a huge turn off. It's YOUR book, not hers. It's not her kids that have to look at sexy pictures of her and her husband (if she's married)! Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan The other thing I don't understand is if he did actually have an IR camera, why didn't he have his assistant shooting regular images at the time he was using it? To the best of my knowledge, his assistant was shooting in full color but he only gave us a limited number of images (at least from what I can tell). He never did get back to me about how many pictures they took total. These are the only IR images in your book, right? Or did he do this your entire wedding? Yes, these are the only color IR photos in our book but ALL Of the pictures of the resort itself are color IR. What?!? Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan from this post on his site, I would have expected images like this. "Even today, a lot of the work I will present to you will be in B&W, because that's the way I sometimes prefer to see my subjects. You will rarely see a straightforward, ordinary, color photograph from me. When you do see color, it will be muted. Or saturated. Or tweaked and twisted around... " Yeah, in a sense. We went to his studio to view more pictures than the ones just on his website were not shown the "funky" ones. We told him verbally at that time that what we wanted was full color pictures and he said that he likes to use different angles, lighting, etc for his pictures. I'm totally not blaming because maybe if I had not taken what he showed us at face value and rather instead focused on what his website is saying then I would have realized. I just thought that the photos on his website were what he was talking about. Quote: Originally Posted by ehegwer I'm getting into this discussion a bit late - but here my 2¢ Yes, some photographers use an IR camera No - hardly anyone uses those on the lens filters anymore Most of those images looked like they have been heavily Photoshopped using TRA actions. But... When shooting outdoors, in full sun, on the beach, traditional Photojournalistic techniques don't always work. What I'm talking about is that magazine style look where the background is blurry, and the subjects are sharp and in focus. That is accomplished using a big aperture (f1.2, f1.8, f2.. What this does is lets in a ton of light to the camera. In bright conditions - like a beach this means the sky and surf are blown out, or at least the colors are washed out. Many photographers turn to the actions to hide these defects (and make the image more dramatic). He did tell me that it would be difficult on the beach with my white dress but some of our other pictures turned out amazing! Maybe it was how many clouds were around at the moment he snapped the shot. I wish I knew more about this and if I can do anything about it. I have been meaning to pick up Photoshop while I'm out of the country but I just haven't installed it on our laptop yet. If this is the case, the colors aren't recorded in the camera, and even the original digital negatives won't be much help - as I suspect is the case. I was afraid of this! Feel free to PM me and PLEASE keep us posted! Hope it all works out for you. I'll PM you soon with a few more questions Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Just to clarify what eric just posted. TRA= totally rad actions. It's a set of popular photoshop actions. You press play & you modify your image. You can get a vintage look, infrared look, etc. They can be nice used tastefully, but tacky in the wrong hands He very likely used the action to make IR. But, just from what he is saying about you only having two choices, it makes me think he possibly had an IR camera. Thanks for the TRA clarification! haha I've known those letters to stand for "The Right Approach" but knew that wasn't what it was. Do you think maybe because it would take a lot of time to UN-do IR in Photoshop that he's just telling me I only have two choices? The more informed I am before I contact him the more I'll probably be able to find out. *fingers crossed*

I love threads like this! 1. How old are you? 26 2. At what age did you/will you get married? 26 3. Do you have children? No 4. Did you think you would marry the person you are with now? Yes. We went through some rough spots but I knew. 5. Were you ever engaged or married to someone other than the person you are with now? No 6. Do you want a garden wedding, beach wedding, or the traditional church wedding? beach 7. Where did you/will you get married? Secrets Maroma Beach 8. First dance - classic waltz, slow and sexy, or fast and spicy? Slow because we didn't have time to "Rock the Reception" 9. How many guests did you/will you have? 18 including 2 photogs we flew down 10. Do you want/did you have an extravagant wedding or a simple wedding? extravagant details but simple in size, tradition, and ceremony 11. Vows - traditional or something you make up on your own? traditional. We tried to do the sand ceremony but the resort messed it up a bit. 12. How many layers of cake did you/will you have? 2 13. Is/was your wedding/reception at a hotel? Resort, and yes 14. When did you/will you get married - sunrise, mid-day, sunset? A couple of hours before sunset 15. Did you/will you have your reception outdoors or indoors? Outdoor ceremony despite everyone being sand blasted on the beach, moved the reception indoors 16. Plan every detail down to the napkins or let someone else decide? COLOR="red"]I am the ultimate micro manager so I planned down every detail (except how to be on time!)[/color] 17. How did/will the bride enter? from the corner of Building 17 and down the sand with my dad 18. Song to walk down the aisle to: Canon in D 19. Song to make your exit: Wedding March 20. Will you/did you have a solemn ceremony or a light one? Light for sure 21. At what age did you think you would get married? 25 22. Who to invite - practically everyone or a select few? a select few 23. Wedding menu - fine dining or simply delicious? Fine Dining 24. Champagne or red wine? I can't drink so neither 25. Honeymoon right after the wedding, awhile after the wedding, or no honeymoon? We had a weddingmoon, so right after the wedding 26. Was your/will your honeymoon be at a place special to you both or somewhere brand new to you both? New to us both but we loved it 27. Who will pay for the bills? We paid but my parents helped out a little bit. Guests paid for their own travel and stay. 28. Living together: Not before marriage or absolutely before marriage? Absolutely! 29. Anything else about marriage you'd like to say? I got the best one out there!

Quote: Originally Posted by Tlseege Hmmm... I don't think I've ever seen a filter for a camera that could do that kind of work... because each image is a little differently done. It looks to me like post processing. I can actually almost name you some Photoshop Actions which would do the exact effects. So, hopefully he does have plain edits. If so, and he gives them to you and they are lack luster, feel free to send me a few of them and I can do some color pops to them. Then you could end up with some beautiful color photography like you wanted. Thank you so much! That is incredibly kind of you! I am getting excited thinking about trying to figure out if these edits are from the lens or done in PS. Quote: Originally Posted by Tammy Host really, he didnt like EM's pics? weird I know! It was the shock of the year. I was so ready for him to love them too because I had been raving about them for a while before we got a chance to sit down and look at them. Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I've heard of many people having an old camera turned into an infrared camera. That could be what he did & in that case you won't be able to do a lot with the images. I think they will look much nicer in B&W at least though & get rid of that brown/ mint green. If these are irreparably "damaged" shall I say; I am taking your advice and changing them into black and white. Quote: Originally Posted by Sheeoni Bad internet =.=;;; sorry for dbl post While I am re-reading, I noticed you said he shot them in "infrared" which seems like baloney. If that is ACTUALLY the case, and it does that weird color-sucking-out thing, then the next best thing would be to have these changed into black and white or sepia tones.. if you have any pics of your sister's dress or the correct colors of some things, the only salvation those pictures may have if NONE of them have original color counterparts is that someone very good with photoshop does some color correction/substitution for you.. but that would take skills. Why would someone intentionally experiment like that, especially when you had a clear idea from the example on his site, what you would have wanted? I think that's a selfish thing to do, considering all of those photos could have been taken normally and with a bit of time in post processing, he could have done similar (if not identical) things. I would love to say he's bluffing about the photos being taken in infrared, but based on some of the things you've said, now I'm not so sure. At any rate, I'm sorry you're disappointed. I'm not an expert but I like to play with photoshop, and if you'd like, I can try to help the way Tlseege has offered and do the color pops as well. The thing about seeing his pictures before we booked him...we actually went to his apartment because it's also his "studio" and saw hundreds of his photos and clearly remember liking every image he showed us. Thanks everyone for the offers and information! Now I feel better armed to deal with this. Down below is actually part of the last email he sent me and shows the frequency with which he uses the "it's a stronger image" card. Also, I may have mis-interpreted the email regarding the infrared so please let me know if I did fail to understand it! On page 211, image 569 isn't going to fit the space the current ceremony photo takes up, as it's a vertical. You and Chris also look happy in the current photo. I think it's a stronger image. There are more images that are horizontal orientation than this one...plus I don't think it's very flattering of the judge, or us! The bottom left swap in the TTD spread is really quite a change. I think I understand why you want to, but the photo that's currently there is a lot stronger. What I want instead of the lower left hand picture of us kissing against the tree with DH without his shirt on is one of us kissing, cropped in closer, WITH DH's shirt on and standing apart from the tree which I think is "stronger" (and more suitable to show my grandpa and small children On page 214, again, I'm not sure what you're asking for. Perhaps it's because all of the photos are in infrared. The choices are either black & white or false color, like in the main image. I can't turn that into a normal color photograph. I like the contrast of the main photo to the others, being a mix of false color and black & white IR. 6516 is IR. That is a full color image.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the filter was on the lens because he made reference to the fact that he can't change the pictures at all because that's how they were taken. I actually wanted Elizabeth Medina but FI didn't like her images and she didn't email me back after 1-2 emails so I just kept looking. Now I am kicking myself so much! I also have a list of things that I wish I had done while looking for a photog and in guiding a him more clearly. I was really excited because even with paying everything for the two of them we still came out spending less money than if we had paid for a local photog. I never really looked at RM photogs besides Elizabeth Medina. I sure wish we had! I admit I got a great deal for my BD photos but he didn't try to be artistic with those so I am really taken aback that he did so many "artistic" ones for our wedding. Thanks Morgan!

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan send him this Morgan, you are too funny!! This had me laughing so hard! Yes, he is still planning on giving us a disc with unedited photos but because he used a filter on so many of them I'm not sure just how clean they will be! I feel that from the moment we hired him he's been all about getting great work for his portfolio and not about making the bride happy. I loved his passion, his years of work plus his degree in photography and I do think he does great work. I am at a loss now. I think I may just tell him that I'll still pay for his album but that I want our unedited photos and be done with him. I know a DIY album may not turn out as nicely as one from him but I refuse to use the gross ones with black water and weird dresses.

Here is a smattering of photos that show what the filters make our pictures look like. I really can't understand why he would make sky and water look black when Mexico is so vivid. I understand he wants to add our wedding to his portfolio but from what I read online Photoshop can create these looks. The fourth one down is the one my mom's dress should be black and my sister's dress should be bright fuchsia. Maybe I am not artistic enough but these are not what the ones in his portfolio looked liked and I discussed in emails prior to our wedding that we were choosing him because he is the only photog who's work we saw that used bright color. I also told him that I was picking Costa Rica or Mexico for the color and background.

Our photographer used different filters for many of our pictures which I just found out because we're trying to put our wedding album together. I don't know enough about Photoshop or photo post production to know if I can change the look to real, full color through Photoshop or a similar program. He used an Infrared filter that makes pictures look black and white (I want them in color for our album). He also used some type of infrared filter that makes black look mint green and fuchsia look white. I truly hate these ones! Is there anything I can do with these photos (I have some on a disc) to make them look normal? I didn't go to Mexico for washed out, mis-colored photos! He gave me photos of the resort where all water, sky, and trees are black while everything else in the picture is a deep, mocca brown. I just want normal pictures!

I know where I'm staying for my next Mexico vacation. I could never find really great pics of Le Blanc when I was doing research. Thanks for the posting the pictures!

island princess- so hot!! Your photog did an amazing color with the light and angle! I can't imagine how steamy the real TTD pics will be!

Quote: Originally Posted by mlynnea Absolutely! It's starting to feel real now. It's going to be so beautiful. I think I am using the same photographer as you too Kits (Cecilia Dumas). I love her portfolio and can't wait to see what she does with our wedding. Thanks again! 6 months and counting.... I used a photographer that I flew in but I know a ton of girls have used Cecilia Dumas. But of course you might not know that since I STILL haven't gotten my review posted on here. I have heard that Cecilia is great to work with and takes fantastic pictures. I see that you are from St. Paul, is that the MN St. Paul? I grew up in MN and lived there until college. I can't wait to visit in a month! I love nothing more than the leaves along the St. Croix in fall!

Mlynnea, glad to be of service Are you getting more excited now that you set your ceremony time?

Quote: Originally Posted by jmb0902 AH I was SO excited to see this - I am so glad someone has used it! Everything you did turned out amazing! Hi JMB! I am so glad you found my thread! I wanted you to know that I did actually use your template. People think it's really cool, as do I! I think yours look cooler but I totally love the template! It's definitely one of my favorite on BDW! Thanks again for sharing and thanks for the compliments Quote: Originally Posted by Bali83 I saw the template for the invitation but am actually interested in the flower graphic...I'd appreciate any help you can give me Thanks!! ooohhh, I get it now! The flower is actually a custom stamp that I had made. I think I was on drugs when I developed the whole concept. I knew what I was looking for and couldn't find it over a couple of months of searching. Then I finally found some info online that I could use any piece of paper or image to create my own design. I knew I had found some online retailers that create custom stamps from black and white images. I searched 8 different scrapbook stores for paper with a pattern I loved. I found a few and then I had to scan the paper. The scanned image was opened in Photoshop and changed to black and white. Then we had to isolate the image and clean it up a bit (took about 9 hours). THEN I sent the 300dpi image to the stamp creator and the stamp was born. Haha, that was really long winded but to the make the story short I don't have the stamp because it's somewhere back in the US and I'm in Africa now. Sorry I can't be more help. I may have the image somewhere still if you think you want to order your own stamp.

Here is the planning thread that I got the template from. It's from Amyh. My fiance did pretty much all of the cutting and he may have modified a few things but I think it was pretty easy for him. Also a note: if you are going to use metallic papers when you use the tape/glue make sure that you do it along the edges of both pieces of paper that you are sticking together. We only did it on the pockets (not the pockets AND the back) and most of ours fell off in the mail. It was also freezing cold which took the stickiness away but just a little tip! Amyh may have mentioned that in her thread too. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t17565 (you'll find the template link in post #1)

wow! These are amazing! I would be so elated to get these as an invitee!! Wonderful job! I have not seen boxed invites before! You may become a new DIY hero on BDW!

Haha! Chicken nuggets vs. a Big Mac! I am just as indecisive as you it sounds like!! It took me over three months to find and decide on which resort to have our wedding at. And OF COURSE I kept second guessing myself until it actually happened. I am so indecisive that sometimes I'll just ask my husband if I should have a cookie or whatever it might be. It's really sad! We chose a legal ceremony and I was VERY adamant about having a legal ceremony in Mexico. I really wanted to be married on April 25 because it was one year since we were engaged. I usually don't like same date big events BUT I did want something easy to remember since I'm not always the best at remembering dates! haha For Mexico and at our particular resort (secrets maroma beach) it was a pretty simple occasion. We DID have to be at the resort three FULL business days before the actual wedding day. We DID have to have blood tests but they were quick and painless (they took blood from the brachial artery as opposed to just a simple finger prick) even though the resort doctor showed up about an hour late. We had our blood tests on a Thursday and got married on a Friday. I think we possibly could have arrived at our resort on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. I think the main reason for the three day rule is because the blood tests can take longer to process at certain times? At our resort we did NOT need any extra paperwork or anything to make our marriage legal. We only needed our passports. I have NO idea how we got away with that considering that some girls need practically their entire life stories. I also did not want our guests to ever find out that we had legally wed either before or after our Mexico ceremony. I know that no one would have found out if we didn't want people to but I felt like I was cheating myself and them if we had a symbolic ceremony. If I could do it all over again I would still have a legal ceremony although I would be more prepared for sure! Because you may be getting married at resort that requires a lot of paperwork for legal ceremonies it will be up to you whether you have the time and inclination to get all of the paperwork processed. I will say that it only took about 2 months for us to receive our English translated marriage license. Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way!

Thanks everyone for the compliments! I have had so much help from others on here that I wanted to give back. My hair flower and feather is made by Mariell. There are variations on this page...the three bottom ones. Mariell - Wholesale Bridal Jewelry, Headpieces, Gloves, Tiaras, Veils

Yes, I think the biggest fault is not having the contract with very specific items in it. I don't know that a contract would have been good enough in my case because I completely failed to realize what the most important things would be to me until AFTER the wedding. At the time my main concern was having CDs with high res images on them but I would not have known enough to be specific in the size of image I was referring to. I have sent him an email and I am waiting to hear back and see how much he is willing to do.

I got married at Secrets Maroma this past April. I would highly recommend it as a wedding location and especially to say that the Ocean Front rooms are totally worth the extra price! Our room was always kept, neat, tidy, and very clean. Cecilia can be a little slow on the response time for emails but I thought she was still a good WC. The videographer that is included in the Ultimate package is definitely worth the extra cost for the package, in my opinion. I love the location and beach at SMB. The resort was pretty busy when we were there but we never had to wait in line at the restaurants and no reservations were required. There are also no wristbands needed and the service was EXCELLENT. If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me. I don't have my review up yet.

I am excited to read reviews about Roatan as it was recommended as a beautiful place to get married by a Honduran I met. I am already married but eager for our next big trip!

That's the heck of it. He said he would give us the new CD WITH the album that we order. So he's totally playing games now which makes me even more angry.

Thank you SO much for the insight into the metallic papers and lucite cover! I REALLY appreciate your thoughts and reviews. You completely answered my unspoken question regarding the sheen of the entire page. Also, good to know about the silk and canvas. Silk sounds so wonderful! It's a difficult decision for me because on one hand I want the more "trendy" look because we like modern/contemporary and I suspect that we will always favor that over a more classic or traditional look. BUT I do want something that will look good in 80 years and will still be classy. Your input really helps. Thanks again!

He hasn't really explained the deposit. The deposit was to reserve the date of our wedding with him. I then asked if that could be used towards the purchase of any albums. He said yes. Now that he wants an album of his own to show he doesn't want to let us apply the deposit towards the double album purchase.

He is charging it to us at his cost, which is $445. Then he also wants us to buy one for ourselves at the same price. BUT the thing is that he's not allowing us to use our $500 deposit so the way I see it; it's now just being pocketed by him.

I love the idea of the luggage tag STDs. Man, all the awesome ideas on here make me want to re-do our wedding!!