Bluebonnets

Spring is, by far, my favorite season. After a cold winter, God's creation begins to show signs of new life. The greens, yellows, reds, oranges, pinks, and blues fill the land with color, and in my case photographic opportunities. Texas's state flower is the bluebonnet, and (after heavy showers) around late February early April, they start popping up. I felt so inspired by these colors, that I took my wife and our nephew out to get a few shots. 

Roland Photography

iPhoneography

In today's society we have so many devices. There are MP3 players, tracking devices, and handheld game consoles. My personal favorite of all that continues to improve is the iPhone. It lets you talk to people face to face, you can surf the internet, play games, listen to music, make videos and of course, take pictures.

Since the iPhone, there have been many applications to make its camera even better. To name a few: camera+,   snapseed, hipstamatic, there's even a photoshop app. However, someone should see your pictures, if you're going to make a big effort in making them look better, right? Instagram was the number one app of 2011. Instagram is where I enjoy sharing my pictures. It's like twitter except with pictures.

Let me share a little tutorial on iPhoneography. First off remember the rule of thirds. Determine your subject and shoot.

If you were to draw a tic-tac-toe diagram, you would notice that each subject is placed so that it crosses a vertical and horizontal line. It's that simple. Let's get into the wow factor. You want your pictures to pop and that is where those apps can come in handy. Find a free, or a cheap app. If you want to spend some money, that's up to you. The examples I mentioned range from free to $4.99. Here is an example of a before and after picture I took of my wife and our dog.

                                    BEFORE                                                     AFTER     

In this picture I did a very simple edit, but made sure that the colors in it popped. I used camera+ and by adding a bit of clarity, and about 36% of the HDR effect I was able to get the wow shot I was looking for.

Despite the great things it offers, there is only so much you can do with your iPhone. Photojojo.com has some camera lenses that stick magnetically to your iPhone (don't expect to use your flash when using these lenses because it's covered by the lens). The only thing that can hold you back from having great iPhone photos is not taking any. 

The fisheye lens is meant to create a wide panoramic, or hemispherical image. In this photo, I am able to see more of the sky and ground. Without the fisheye lens, I would probably see the building and only some sky. 

This wide-angle lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photo. 

(Wide-angle Lens)

The macro lens is close up photography of small objects.

(Macro Lens)

The great thing about all these applications is that it makes any ordinary photo into an amazing one with just a few quick selections. You can become a pro in no time! Have fun!

Teresa and Adrian

Brides and Spring Weddings

The time is right around the corner. The weather is getting warmer, and the days are getting longer. Birds start singing their love song and ladies begin to flutter their eyelashes while men flash their masculinity.

I'm talking about spring.  And spring is the season for weddings.

If you're a bride, I want to help you get ready for your spring wedding.

You want to start off with a plan, and the best way to do that is with a wedding planner. I'm not talking about a professional wedding planner. I'm talking about a fabricated construction of your own wedding day. This can be bought, or even have your personal notes jotted in a notebook. This will allow you to write down the wedding date, your budget, guest, set up appointments, and much more. You can find a free planner at weddingwire.com

Try to decide on a date quickly. Once the date is resolved, the next thing to figure out is the budget. If you don't set a budget you will easily spend what you never intended to spend. costofwedding.com states the average wedding cost is $26,542!! That's too rich for my blood.

My wife and I had a budget of $10,000. With the help of friends and family we were able to pay it off cash. The greatest thing about having a wedding is not taking the bill to the honeymoon. When paying cash for your wedding, you take the worry of financial dilemma away while you are carried over the threshold by your groom into your new home.

Location would be the next step. Do you want a destination wedding in Hawaii, or something simple in a small chapel? Choosing the location will allow your childhood dreams become a reality. You'll begin to see how flower placement would look, the colors of your bridesmaids dresses, and your father walking you down the aisle.

At this point you have probably decided your colors. You probably decided these as a young girl, or you and your fiance decided them after the engagement. You know the color of bridesmaid dresses, flowers, bouquets, and probably what you would like to see your prince wearing. (My wife allowed me to pick the color for my best men and myself, but she picked the color of my grooms men vests and morning ties.)

Here is where you may want to take into consideration of hiring a professional wedding planner. You can always google wedding planners if you don't already know one. (Facebook is also a good place to look for wedding planners as well.)

A wedding planner will help you organize your wedding. From working with the colors you provide to coaching the wedding party in what to do and when.

Wedding planners also have great sources for photographers, videographers, and disc jockeys. They sometimes have contracts with freelancers and use them frequently, and have a good relationship sharing business references. Photo, video, and disc jockeys are where most couples will spend more of their investment.

Being a photographer made my decision in hiring a photographer a priority. We hired a friend of mine named Enrique Alonzo (enriquealonzo.com) He did a phenomenal job on our wedding pictures and the extras that came in our package were remarkable.  Photographers, videographers, and disk jockeys can all be googled as well, and if you're looking for a photographer, I hear Roland Photography (rolandresendez.com)  does a great job with his clients and makes them feel important and takes much interest in them!

The most important thing to remember: your wedding day is a very special day. It's the one day in your whole life, when you can completely be selfish and get exactly what you want....and get away with it. Congratulations!

Valentine's Day Pictures

It's that time of the year again where love is in the air, and the smell of roses and chocolate fill the rooms. This Valentine's Day while you're showing love and affection it's a great time to explore the possibilities of capturing the wonderful moments spent together. Weather it's out in a restaurant, a walk in the park, or if you're that lucky girl who has that charmer of a guy, who offers the whole shebang, you're going to want to remember those enchanting memories.
We all have a phone with a camera on it, and most of us have a point and shoot camera. As Chase Jarvis says, The best camera is the one that's with you. It's always a little difficult to take a picture of yourself and your friend while you're holding the camera. This method usually takes 3 tries and sometimes more when one, or the other is not satisfied with the facial expression. One is probably also embarrassed to ask a stranger to take their picture. It's always weird standing in front of an unknown person, and hiring a professional photographer is not an option.
Favorably I hope to help you capture those moments for free, because everybody likes free pictures.
First off you want to make sure you're dressed for the occasion. Young couples like to dress alike. Weather it be the same color shirts, same design or, same colored shoes. If you're the collage student you're leaning more towards the classy mature look, but you want to show your swag. As for the older couples, you may just want to look nice and impress only that special one.
Secondly is where you want to take your pictures. Location. Location. Location. Location isn't always the case for businesses. In pictures you want to make sure your background is gorgeous. In San Antonio, Tx it's been raining, so the choice of being inside, or outside is a factor. On the other had. Everything is now green. Winter flowers are still in bloom. Spring flowers are confused about what season it is and have begun to sprout. Also, make sure lighting is on your side. Shooting into direct sunlight will cause you to look as a silhouette. Unless that's what you're looking for. Try not to take a picture looking directly into the sun. That always make us squint, and depending on where the sun is, it will cause harsh shadows under the eyes. The best position is when the sun is behind our shoulder, to our side, or my favorite, shoot in the shade. If you're shooting at night make sure you're in a well lighted area. You would be surprised how awesome parking lot shots turn out. Just make sure the cars behind you are at a distant, and there are no light posts extruding out of your head.
And of course, thirdly. Who takes the picture? This is the difficult part. If you've mastered the art of taking pictures of yourself and someone else while keeping both in the frame, my hat's off to you. But if you haven't I suggest using a tripod. If you don't have one, or don't want to buy on you can always prop your camera on something. Most cameras have a self-timer setting. All you have to do is set up your camera, make sure everything that you want in the frame is in the frame and nothing you don't want in the frame isn't in the frame. Set the timer, run to your partner and smile pretty.