Friday, May 30, 2008

Ashley and Chris

I was honored to photograph Ashley and Chris for their engagement not long ago. We had just the most beautiful night-no wind and pretty blue skies!

Before our session, Ashley emailed me that she wanted to take engagement pictures with a horse and a sunset! I love it when couples have a vision of something they would like to try and do to personalize their portraits! Ashley's brother Tyler has a horse and we were able to get some really beautiful images of the couple with the horse! I used off camera flash thanks to Ashley's Mom Rachel who held the light for me. I was a bit worried that the flash would spook the horse, but it was no problem, thankfully!

I think the next one might be my favorite of the night!

After the horse shots we got some fun images with the couple by this fence!

In the Bride-to-be's back yard. The wedding will also be held here!

A nice traditional portrait of the couple.

We went to the down town park where there is a new little bridge that was a fun spot for a picture.

The tulips were beautiful!

Ashley and Chris, I am so excited for your wedding in a few months! Thanks for all the fun!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I love the bridge shot with the sun shining! So pretty!

J said...

Wow...beautiful images...your clients must be stoked!

Anonymous said...

BEAUTIFUL WORK!!!

Sarah said...

Wow, you are good, Vanessa!

Abby said...

Beautiful picture Vanessa!

Emily said...

Hey Vanessa, beautiful pictures as always, I think the pictures outside are always my favorite, you cant beat the sky as a backdrop. I love you very much sister!

Anonymous said...

hi vanessa. i contacted you last week regarding photos for our family (we live in KC, have fam in iowa....). i mentioned i'm also an aspiring photographer. i'm dying to get more info on how you did that horse image at dusk with her mom holding the light. what kind of light do you use? i'd love to learn how to shoot better at that time of day. the effect is awesome. you are so talented!!

allyson =)

Vanessa Bartels said...

Thanks, Allyson! Last summer I had the opportunity to go to a workshop that has changed the way I use lighting forever. It's called OneLight Workshop. For these pictures, I metered for the background (sky) so that would show the sunset. I then attached my SB800 speed light to my camera using a cord and just adjusted the flash on manual power until my couple was properly exposed. The bride's Mom held the light up high and to the side so I didn't have that "on-camera-flash" look to the images. Also, a good online resource for lighting techniques is www.strobist.com. Have fun experimenting!!

Anonymous said...

that onelight workshop looks incredible!! how did you get in on one?? they seem to all be FULL!! i need a good learning experience like that....

i'll be checkin in on you! what inspiration!