Another option to the first look on your wedding

On your wedding day, your photographers will want to know if you would like to have a first look. A first look is when the bride and groom see each other for the first time before the wedding ceremony. It goes against tradition, but it also makes for an amazing moment to capture. It also is great for portraits to get done before the ceremony instead of rushing them within an hour after the ceremony. There are a lot of advantages of having a first look on your wedding day. There are also a ton of reasons why people don't want to have first looks. We understand both sides.

A possible alternative idea to the first look is doing a little prayer or saying some words of encouragement behind a door before the ceremony. That will just give you goosebumps to hear each others voice and to touch hands on your wedding day. You won't be able to see each other, but you could hold hands and say a few words before you walk down the aisle.

It has always been an amazing and emotional moment. The anticipation to see each other for the first time is high and the little hints of his voice or his touch will get you both eager to see each other when the ceremony begins.

The images are also amazing that are captured from that moment. If a first look is not in the cards, then this option could be something that you consider.

Chris + Kelly | Engagement session at Marian Bear Park after the rains

El Nino gave Southern California a beating for the last few days. Once the skies cleared we were able to get together with Chris and Kelly to hold their engagement session at Marian Bear Park. We will be their wedding photographers and videographers for their wedding in early February. We are almost there!

Marian Bear Park looked a little different than usual with puddles all over and a stream of water that was blocking some paths. Trees were knocked over, but it still left some amazing photos to be taken.

Check out some of the photos that we captured of this amazing couple.

With some of the puddles around, we just decided to use them in our favor and get a few reflection photos. It barely rains in San Diego, but when it does, we might as well use it to our advantage.

With some of the trees on the ground, it made for a good spot to sit down and rest.

We loved working with Chris and Kelly and can't wait for their big day. They will be getting married in a couple of weeks in Pacific Beach and we cannot wait to see the amazing photos that we will capture from their day.

Engagement Session Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

Engagement Location: Marian Bear Park

Do you need a wedding photographer?

Vogue just put out an article that said that wedding photographers are no longer needed in the world today. It was listed in their Top 10 Rules to Break for weddings. Do you need a wedding photographer? We are wedding photographers and we should be telling you yes, but it really is up to you and what you want to invest in for the future.

If you are just thinking about facebook and social media, you will get a ton of photos from your friends taking photos off of their phone. The photos could be good or they could be a terrible mess. Even the casual hobby photographer can come away with a terrible mess on a wedding day with their camera.

A wedding photographer is skilled at their position and they know what to expect going into a wedding. They are prepared for any situation and will be able to capture it with their gear. If the lighting is not right for a cell phone to take the photo, the photographer will have the proper gear to capture the moment.

When you book a photographer, they are their to piece together the whole event as an art form. It won't be a couple of snap shots off of a phone, but it will be beautiful work put together from throughout the day.

Your wedding is only going to happen once and it goes by so fast that you will want someone to be able to capture every single piece of it. All the planning that has been done for that day and it is over in an instant.

Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Blog post of wedding shown above: Beautiful wedding at White House Event Center

Jim + Isa | Engagement photography at Solana Beach during the rain

  Last week was full of crazy rain and a few tornado alerts were popping up across San Diego. As we were driving out to this engagement session, we knew that the rain could be a huge problem, but we were going to have the session anyway. We planned on keeping it indoors.

We started out at a small winery in Solana Beach off of Cedros and we started our session in the little parking area that was covered. We liked the purple bricks and used it to start our session to stay dry.

The winery we held the session at was small, but we found some great moments in there despite the tight area. Jim and Isa were amazing and had a glass of wine and enjoyed their time with each other.

Our first attempt to shoot outside after the winery had a lot of rain pouring down and we had to hurry to get some cover. We used that little moment to get a few sweet moments.

As the rain let up, we noticed that we could have an awesome sunset and we were just hoping that the rain would hold off long enough to get some awesome photos.

The rain held off and the sunset was incredible.

We even were able  to get down to the beach to take some photos. Since it was raining out, the beach was all ours. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLg95oV2pXs

Engagement Photographer: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Solana Beach | Carruth Cellars | Fletcher Cove

Tips when having a photographer during your proposal

Where are you going to drop down on a knee and propose to your lady? In San Diego, there are a number of beautiful locations that you can propose and save that magic moment.

If you want a photographer, here are some things that you want to make sure that you keep in mind.

Make sure that there is good light where you want to propose

A lot of times during these proposals the photographer has to be hiding around the corner at some location and won't be able to set up a solid flash to get everything just the way you like.

Make sure that you have a schedule that works out well and are at your location at that exact time. We like to have people schedule out their time right at sunset. Check what time sunset is and have it all scheduled by that time.

Schedule out your plan up to the proposal

The last thing you need is to run over time on your schedule and start rushing as your time gets closer. You don't need to add any more stress to your proposal. Leave extra time on your schedule to make sure that you are not left in a hurry.

Be in solid communication with you photographer before the proposal day

Make sure that the location is clear. Make sure that the time is clear. Make sure that the photographer knows exactly how the plan is going to go and when you are going to drop down on a knee.

If possible, let the photographer know exactly where you will be facing in order for the photographer to get in proper position for the money shot.

Hold the pose on a knee for your proposal

Just hold the pose.  Don't drop down and jump right back up. Stay down there long enough to get a few solid images. We are not saying that you should be down on the knee for a few minutes, just give it a few seconds before you come up to hug and kiss your lady.

Hire a photographer

You will want someone to capture this moment. It is a big day in your life and you will want someone to be there to capture the moment properly. Don't have your friends do it on their phone. Have a pro ready to capture your day.

What to do when in rains in SoCal during your engagement session

What do you do when it actually starts to rain in Southern California during your engagement session? It never rains in Southern California. At least that is what everyone else in the world thinks. For the very few moments that the weather does bring down some rain, we have to be prepared. Usually your photographer will give you a heads up on the upcoming weather for the day in advance and it will give you a chance to reschedule the appointment or to just continue on with the day.

Normally, we would recommend to continue on with the session and if the day gets too full of rain, then we will work on doing another session.

In SoCal, there are usually different pockets in which the weather will be good enough for you to go outside and get some shots. There were a number of clients in which we rescheduled, but at the time of their appointment it was beautiful and sunny outside. That is just that SoCal weather that we all know to love.

Find a cute indoor location like a winery or coffee shop

If you do decide to brave the elements, there are a few things that you need to be prepped with. As far as location, find a cute spot indoors in which your photographer can work with. For our clients yesterday we had chosen a little winery and coffee shop in Solana Beach.

Since the rain is out, those locations should be pretty empty. Just call to make sure that it will be OK to take some photos at the location before you walk in.

Bring proper rain gear

You will want to have an umbrella. Also, make sure that it is nice and big and that two people can stand under it at a time. At some point, your photographer would likely want you to go out in the rain and take some photos.

Bring some towels and a change of clothes. If you don't expect to get wet, you likely are going into the shoot with the wrong attitude and it might be better for you to reschedule. You are going to get wet.

Bring makeup

Since you likely are going to get wet, you are going to want to be able to touch up from time to time.

Be ready to move quickly

In San Diego, you have to be ready to move. There is going to be a pocket of time in which there will be no rain and you can get to that dream location that you were wanting. When that pocket hits, be ready to move and get to that location. Keep your indoor location near that outdoor location that you want to move to.

We did an engagement shoot yesterday in the middle of El Nino and we found a pocket of time to shoot and came away with some great images at the beach. Here is a quick share from that shoot:

Just know that you will get some great images with a good photographer. They will be able to make some magic happen indoors and outdoors with you and they will be prepped for the day.

Engagement session photographer: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Fletcher Cove, Solana Beach

Beautiful Baby Portraits

Dean and Jasmine have brought a beautiful baby into the world and we were given the opportunity to take portraits for the little one. We did our session at their house in order to make things comfortable for them and really make it comfortable for the little one. As long as the little one was comfortable and in a surrounding that was good, then we would be able to take some really awesome photos with the family and with the new little cub that they brought in.

Check out some of the great photos from their session:

We used one of the baskets that they had and stuffed it down with some pillows and a comfortable blanket and put baby right in and it is like he rested on a cloud. We kept a heater on to keep him warm and comfortable. 

Of course we had to take photos with mom and dad. They had a rocking chair and a white wall, so we made it work out beautifully. We had some of our favorite photos from that little rocking chair against a white wall. Check out some of the photos from there:   

We had an awesome time with Dean and Jasmine.

San Diego Baby Portraits photographer: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

From the photobooth

Just some quick photos from the booth. We created the backdrop with pallets for our secret santa party and let everyone take some photos with our camera. We put up the lights and let people go with it. Here are some of the photos. 

Next time, we want to get a trigger for the camera and place it on a tripod so that people can just hit the button while they are in front of the camera. We also will set up our wifi card so that they can see the output on an iPad. It should make the booth more fun for everyone.

Military Homecoming at Camp Pendleton

  We were given the honor to capture a military homecoming over the weekend at Camp Pendleton. The skies had a few clouds up there and the rain would eventually come later in the evening.

It was a little chilly when the clouds would cover up the sun, but when the sun came, Laura was loving it. We all were loving it. 

Laura had not seen her husband Heath for over 7 months and today was the day that she was going to see him again. There was a lot of waiting and texting back and forth with him to see when he would be coming out. 

This is what Laura looked like when she saw that they were all marching in. I think she was a little excited.   

Together again...

After the reunion, we wanted to do a mini portrait session with the two for their big day. We found a little spot by the parking lot to get away for about 15 minutes and captured a few moments of the two. 

Military homecoming photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Camp Pendleton

Should you have a first look on your wedding?

Have you thought about having a first look on your wedding day? More and more brides have jumped on the idea of having a first look on their wedding day.  It is another magical moment to add on the wedding day and photographers love it because they are able to do bride and groom portraits done early.

A first look is when the bride and groom see each other for the first time all dressed up looking fabulous and it would take place before the wedding ceremony. Instead of the tradition first time meeting at the aisle, the two meet each other at a different location.

For our most recent first look, the groom met his bride in her room as she was waiting for him. After all the anticipation, the first moment that they get to meet is amazing.

Check out some of the photos from our recent first look:

 

There are many different ways that it can be done as well. You can let the photographer set it up or if you have an idea for how you would like to roll out, then you can just let the photographers know how you want it all to play out.

Another version of the first look could also work well with the father of the bride. His baby daughter is getting married and he has as much anticipation in seeing her as well.

First looks bring some amazing moments that you can always cherish and it always looks beautiful in the photos.

Where should you have your engagement session?

As a wedding photographer, we get this question a lot: Where should we have our engagement session? 

Our best answer would be that it would be a place that you are comfortable in. A place that you are familiar with.

We usually like to recommend a location in which the couple had their first date or any other location that has some sort of significance for the couple.

San Diego has a number of great locations to do an engagement session. Balboa Park is always a favorite location to take photos. The architecture of the buildings is so amazing and there are a number of different locations in which you could take amazing photos.

Any place that has great architecture, the photos are going to turn out amazing. The Salk Institute in La Jolla is a great spot to take photos as well, but you have to be a little more sneaky about it there. Professional photographers are not allowed to take photos there. So you just

The beach is always another favorite for couples. How can you go wrong out there?

Couples also like to change things up and get more greenery in their photos, so they choose a spot around Miramar Lake or Lake Hodges.

There are a number of great looking places like that is Southern California. Some other places that could make for some amazing photos are in a library or in a movie theater. We have taken photos on Montgomery Air Field.

The locations are endless. Take some time to select the best location that fits you. We could take photos at a Starbucks and feel great about it.

There are definitely some locations that we would love to take photos at though. If you are interested in going out to them, then let us know and we can work out a better deal with you.

Here is our dream list at the moment:

San Juan Capistrano Mission Inside of a library Inside of a hangar

We also are interested in doing more theme type photography. At the moment we want to do a shoot that incorporates Star Wars in the engagement shoot.

Follow our facebook page to see the latest themed worked we are looking to do is. We usually will offer to do those shoots for a very discounted rate.

What awesome and unique locations can you think of for an engagement shoot?

How to download images from your gallery

In order to download your images at the highest resolution possible, there are a couple of options that we have made available on your galleries. There is a "DOWNLOAD ALL" button at the top of your galleries that you can select. It will ask for an email address and it will return to you a link that you can select in order to download the images.

If you would just like to download a single image, you can select the button on the bottom right and it will download that image at the highest resolution.

If you right click and download the image, it may not give you the highest quality that is available. Make sure to download the highest resolution possible before sending them in to print.

Cheers,

Ernie and Fiona Padaon Be Still Photography

Beautiful Wedding at the White House Event Center

What an amazing wedding we had with Ray and Lupe back in November. They are some of the most amazing couples and we had a blast with them throughout their day. Their wedding took place at the White House Event Center in Anaheim and it was a perfect day. Here are some of the details from the wedding. Lupe had a gorgeous dress and the bridesmaids had beautiful red dresses.

The sparkles on the shoes and the jewelry was amazing. We couldn't go without getting the details of her perfume as well. That would be Miss Dior!

The White House Event Center was an awesome venue to work with.

Instead of having a wedding cake, Lupe and Ray went with cupcakes from Frosted. They looked so delicious!  

Ray and Lupe decided to do a first look at the venue and it was absolutely breathtaking. Eyes were getting a little moist in the room when the two of them had their first look. They decided to do the first look in private and Ray would walk into the room where Lupe was waiting for him. Here is what transpired!

Since Lupe's dad still had not seen her yet in her wedding dress, we did a first look with him to follow. It was amazing! How are you supposed to take photos with tears of joy coming down your eyes? This first look with her dad was just as good as the first look with her soon to be husband.

After the first look, we went out to the Long Beach Lighthouse to do portraits. Portraits is probably our favorite time.

Wedding Details Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Event Coordinator: Patricia Flores MUA: Karna Solorzano Wedding Florist: 800rosebig Cake Artist: Frosted Caterer: White House Event Center Portrait Location: Long Beach Lighthouse Wedding Venue: White House Event Center

Trash the dress shoot at La Jolla Shores

  Today is the anniversary for our good friends, Kenny and Ashley Robbins. We didn't get the opportunity to shoot their wedding, but they did ask us to do a trash the dress shoot with them over a year ago.

Check out some of the images from that day with a little extra retouching added. Our editing has grown a little since we did the shoot with them, so we wanted to enhance the photos a bit with our latest touch ups.

We went with the Robbins out to La Jolla Shores for the shoot and had an amazing time. You can check out some of the amazing images we got from the day. The skies were amazing when we went out for the shoot. The light was perfect.

We were able to get so many amazing photos down on the rocks by the water.

At one point we did get into the water and had some fun with that.

We will end it with the silhouette shot of the two of them and the sunset behind them. 

Trash the Dress Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: La Jolla Shores | La Jolla, CA

Craig + Stephanie | Family Portraits at San Juan Capistrano

We were recently up in Orange County at San Juan Capistrano to do a family shoot with Craig and Stephanie. It is always a challenge to get the little ones to smile in front of the camera, but after a little warming up we were able to get a few smiles. They were a bit shy to take a few photos, but even the "shy" photos turned out great.

Their daughter had an amazing dress and she loved showing it off by spinning. Of course we made the most of that when we could.

The bricks by the movie theater made for a nice color and texture to use for the family. Loved getting the shots there with them.

Since it is fall, there were a few leaves on the ground. There is not going to be a ton of leaves in Southern California, but when we were able to find an alley with a few, the kids were ready to toss it around. The train brings a nice color for the photos.

To go on train tracks or to not go on train tracks.... we seem to lean on going on the tracks every time.

Family portrait photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: San Juan Capistrano

Christmas portraits with snow.... snow in San Diego?

  It is that Christmas season, so we had to figure out a way to make snow! That isn't really easy in San Diego, but we had a few tricks up our sleeves.

We tested it out with our little munchkins at the studio and I think they had a blast. Our snow....... mashed potato flakes!

It looked absolutely amazing for the session. Just try to keep it out of your eyes. Our little kids wanted to use the "snow" and just toss it right up in the air!

Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Be Still Photog

Family portraits at Stone Brewery

  Last week, we did family portraits at Stone Brewery. A brewery is not exactly the first place that you would think about doing a portrait session, but think about the close availability of brews right after the session.

You can even have a brew during the session. This is perfect for all the gentleman that are not stoked on having their photos taken (almost every guy).

Stone Brewery up in Escondido has a number of great locations to take photos as long as there is not a mass group of people sitting in the garden area.

At some point, I would love to do some engagement photos and a wedding there. It seems like a great spot if there is not a lot of people around.

We went at a random hour and had nice access to the area to have our portrait session with the family. Check out some of the photos of the little children with their Christmas lights and all:

Family Portrait Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Stone Brewery | Escondido, CA

Here are some of the misc shots that I didn't even use on the blog, so I will just drop them right here for you. It just didn't feel right having a beer photo next to the children. :

Fun family portraits at Old Poway Park

Old Poway Park never seems to fail. It is just an amazing location to capture portraits. You have to be willing to work around the other photographers that are there and also have to be willing to have photos that have the same backdrop as everyone else, but it still is an amazing location. The train tracks and the red box car are always used for portraits. There is also a ton of shaded area that can be used to get some good looks. We will be back at Old Poway Park again soon. We know that we will get some amazing shots when we get back out there again .

We did a Christmas themed shoot with this awesome family and they were so much fun. We did their Christmas photos last year and it is so fun to see the twins grow up. They stole the show for the portrait session this year. They were so much more comfortable with the camera and loved every second of being photographed. Can't wait to work with them again next year for their Christmas portraits!

Family Portrait Location:  Old Poway Park Family Portrait Photographers: Be Still Photog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

Testing out double exposure on wedding photos

I have always loved the look of double exposures. Some people believe it is over the top for wedding photography and some people believe that it is taboo to do it through photoshop, but in the end it is all about the art that we are putting out. This is our art form and if we believe that it looks amazing and the customers believe that it looks amazing, then we will keep rolling with it.

This is our first attempts at some double exposures through photoshop from a wedding that we did a little while back. The flowers that were used on the yellow image is from her bouquet.

The pink flowers was from an image that was from unsplash. I just wanted to see what it would look like with some pink colors mixed in there.

We had done it in black and white as well, but in the end we stuck with the colors for the image. We will mess with doing these things more and hopefully we can perfect it to become something that we deliver to clients every time.

Here are some of the images that we created:

Wedding Photographers: Be Still Photography | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon

Capturing the extra details during portrait sessions

Something that we have been doing more and more of during our portrait sessions is taking photos of the surrounding area. It is just that added detail that can be used perfectly for blogging with the photos. It is not exactly something that the clients are going to purchase to put on the wall, but it is something that they will look over and remember what the trees looked like that day or to have that extra detail of a building or anything else like that. I think that extra detail is nice to have and I have seen some other great photographers add that detail to their blogging. It is something that we do during our weddings anyway and it is good practice to keep doing it during portrait sessions.

Even if you don't use them for your portrait sessions blog or anything else like that, you still have an awesome image that you can use for something else.

We just recently did some portraits at the Stone Brewery in Escondido. Since we arrived a little earlier than the family, we started taking some photos of the little details around the shooting areas that we were going to be at.

Here are just a few of the images from the details:

We will be posting that family shoot soon and you can see how we integrate some of these photos into the blog.

If we actually shot a wedding at the location, we likely would have added a lot more of the details around. It is an awesome location and we cannot wait till we capture a wedding there.

Photographers: Be Still Phtoog | Ernie Padaon | Fiona Padaon Location: Stone Brewery | Escondido, CA

Check out our main page here: Be Still Photog