Weddings & Couples » Elizabeth Halford Photography {the blog}

Category Archives: Weddings & Couples

Beloved

November 14, 2011 Posted in Family, Kids, Teens, Taking Pictures, Weddings & Couples

I’ve promised for a long time that I’m going to talk about Beloved. I mentioned it last week in this post about using the Beloved concept for the first time in a family session and it was very successful. I discovered Beloved by way of The Rock n Roll Bride blog when blogger Kat and...

13 comments

Rhondaelderphotography - November 14, 2011 - 1:11 pm

Great article. So inspiring to get out of the box. Thanks for enlightening us on “Beloved”. Loved the shoot that Marianne did for you and your dear one.

Stacy Woodward Morin - November 14, 2011 - 1:21 pm

I loved this ! Thank you for sharing!!!! You are gorgeous!

Dawn Merritt - November 14, 2011 - 2:11 pm

Elizabeth, thank you so much for this!! After many years of reserving my passion for photography to my personal life only, I am now considering making it a business and this describes my vision perfectly! Well, maybe not the “feel each other’s beingness”… but the results for sure. ;) I also knew about the “Beloved” concept from Brook Snow’s blog, but there seems to be a lot of mystery regarding Jesh’s methods and his website is vague. I use open ended questions that invite people to have natural, unguarded expressions and when the right people come along, it’s *magic* to see connections made. I am definitely interested in learning more… thanks so much for all of the helpful information you share with us.

Angela Kroeker - November 14, 2011 - 2:38 pm

Thank you so much for sharing! I have such a passion for doing Anniversary shoots, would love to shoot them all the time! I think marriage is a gift and people are forgetting to put their relationship first in life. This is something I am going to look into, I love capturing people as they are! THANKS!

dawn rowell - November 14, 2011 - 2:39 pm

Thank you for sharing! Great insight to a great idea. Let things happen naturally:) You and your husband’s shoot was great too!

dawn rowell - November 14, 2011 - 2:39 pm

Thank you for sharing! Great insight to a great idea. Let things happen naturally:) You and your husband’s shoot was great too!

Brooke Snow - November 14, 2011 - 8:42 pm

Hooray! I’m so happy that you blogged about your beloved experience! It truly has been the “missing piece” in photography for me. I have already adapted it into so many different kinds of shoots: family, solo, couples, and even commercial! with great success. I’m so excited to see how people’s images change when they start to integrate these great principles! Thanks for sharing! and thanks for the link, my friend :) Always a pleasure to read your blog!

Brittany Miller - November 18, 2011 - 3:06 pm

Love the images
AND i LOVE your leapord scarf! Where did u get your scarf from?

Brittany Miller - November 18, 2011 - 3:06 pm

Love the images
AND i LOVE your leapord scarf! Where did u get your scarf from?

Anonymous - November 23, 2011 - 3:41 am

yeah, I’m pretty sure my husband would NEVER go for this. If a photographer told him to “feel his beingness” he would probably make some smart-ass comment or fake a fart. He’s not a brute – it would just be his way of expressing his thought of “this is stupid”.

Don’t even get me started how hard it was to keep him polite in our first childbirth-preparedness class. LOL

Anonymous - November 23, 2011 - 3:42 am

I didn’t mean to sound negative… I just mean, the beloved thing is probably not for everyone. I’m sure you already know that.

Anonymous - November 23, 2011 - 7:12 am

Yes, but THAT is his beingness :) My husband is the same. We were downright rowdy during our Beloved session. We laughed and I’m pretty sure he probably farted at least once. Beloved is about photographing who people really are so unless someone hates themselves, Beloved really is for everyone :)

Arika - December 22, 2011 - 5:48 pm

Ok, I know I’m supposed to be focused on the photography and emotion, but I just kept thinking…. she dropped off her 3 kids (and has a stomach like that?!!?). :) Damn girl, now you’re in inspiration in too many ways!

Product Review – The Beloved Field Guide by Jesh de Rox

May 26, 2011 Posted in Weddings & Couples

My Beloved Field Guide from Jesh de Rox came recently and I’ve been asked for a review so here goes. The Beloved Field Guide is a box of 30 fine art prints with text on the back. The first few give an overview of Jesh’s vision for the Beloved ‘movement’. The rest of the cards...

9 comments

Kristine - May 26, 2011 - 9:29 pm

Thanks for the review, Elizabeth. I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t exactly worth what he was charging.

bella rose photography - May 27, 2011 - 1:28 am

Thank you for this review. I have been wondering what the field guide really looked like and if it was worth the value. I was totally on the fence about whether or not to invest in it and your review made my mind up for me. :)

Jpmealy - May 27, 2011 - 2:00 am

Thanks, as always, for your honest review. I’ve read what other photographers were saying about the “Beloved” movement on some forums and it pretty much lines up with what you wrote here.

Tara (tjmcraephotography) - May 27, 2011 - 2:58 am

I was one of the posters looking forward to your review, so thank you! It wasn’t something I was going to rush out and buy but that has certainly sealed it for me. :)

Nicole Voth - May 27, 2011 - 5:41 am

Thanks for the information. I’ve also been looking at this product wondering exactly what was provided to be worth the cost, so I”m glad to have it unwrapped so to speak ;)

Vivian - June 16, 2011 - 10:56 pm

I signed up for the Rock the Shot Forum based on this review. But instead of a billion great ideas, I only see 6 responses to the original thread post…

Anonymous - June 16, 2011 - 11:08 pm

Hi Vivian it’s been a few months since then and yes, I know that thread has 6 responses. There was another on this topic that also had great ideas with links off-shooting to others but I can’t locate that. The point I was making was that we can get this same support from putting our own heads together :) It’s so wonderful that people trust me enough to actually follow this up with an action like you have taken and sometimes, I forget that people listen so intently to me :) If you would like me to personally refund that trial month, I would do so but highly suggest that you continue to explore all that a forum like RTS has to offer in the meantime.

Ale - July 13, 2011 - 6:15 pm

Thank you so much! I was looking for some real feedback about this pricey product!

Jessi Irving - August 8, 2011 - 6:49 am

SO glad I found your review too… I would have been pissed if I had of received a little box full of cards. $300 is ridiculous!

Wedding Wrap-Up – the 70-200mm, the 5D and the 7D

May 17, 2011 Posted in Full Frame, Lenses, Session Wrap-Ups, Weddings & Couples

Wow. Saturday’s wedding was impeccable. Utter perfection. So much smiling that my face hurt by the end of the day. And by the end of a day of editing, even more so. Have you ever smiled so much while editing that you needed a jaw massage? All of the shots I wanted to display are...

14 comments

Mary Wernke - May 17, 2011 - 8:31 am

I know we cannot download shots, but I’d like to learn from others somethings unrelated to the photography, so I’ll interject here. We are creating a community center and want to have a dance floor like in #66 (?) where you can pick up and lay down the floor in large 4X4 tiles. Affordable suggestions?

I have always wanted to do the word balloon idea, where you used the heart-shaped chalkboards. I have searched Google and eBay to no avail. Other ideas?

Anonymous - May 17, 2011 - 11:19 am

Hello! I suppose the floor came from a dance floor company supplied by the marquee company? The chalkboards were from a local nick-nack shop I love. What country are you in?

Mary Wernke - May 17, 2011 - 11:52 am

I am in the U.S. We don’t have much money for the teen center dance floor, so we will have to make our own. I just wanted a good idea on how they are made.

Lea Hartman - May 17, 2011 - 12:04 pm

Beautiful. So simple and elegant.

Guest - May 17, 2011 - 12:16 pm

Ok. Here is a dumb question about the full frame… I have a crop sensor and know when I print I have to be mindful of making sure there is ”crop room” in the photo I took. BUT, is it true – or rumor – that on a full frame camera you that you do not need crop room… What you photograph is the photo no matter the size? Is that why you said you used it for your tight shots? Hope that made sense. Would love to buy a 5d (classic) but if I still have to make sure to have the extra room factored in, then maybe I will hold off…

Alisha Norman - May 17, 2011 - 12:27 pm

May I ask what you set your ISO to on each?

Han - May 17, 2011 - 6:30 pm

where do you hire your lenses from? £80 for a weekend sounds fantastic!

Anonymous - May 17, 2011 - 7:21 pm

hireacamera.com. They’re great!

Fiona - May 18, 2011 - 12:12 am

HI, these are beautiful and so useful knowing the details, thank you. Can i just ask, do you always use the same B&W preset/edit per session? That is, do you stay consistent with your B&W look for a session or can you have some B&W with a different colour tone?

Kellytonks - May 18, 2011 - 11:14 pm

Elizabeth, did you use OW’s velvateen?

Anonymous - May 20, 2011 - 6:50 am

Good eye! :) Yes and I use it for these situations almost exclusively. It’s perfect. A side note, though: no presets are ever a one-click solution for me. I still do my own tweaks on the sliders to perfect it for my photo.

Stuart Doughty - May 22, 2011 - 5:28 pm

Quick question. What mode do you shoot in mainly for your wedding shoots, Aperture, Shutter or Manual?

Anonymous - May 24, 2011 - 8:43 pm

Aperture. Have just started using it more frequently and love it so!

Luciliam - May 26, 2011 - 6:27 pm

Wonderful, wonderful weeding and photos!!! I LOVED it!!! Congratulations!

Hampshire Couples Photography – Darren & Kori

April 21, 2011 Posted in Weddings & Couples

For more information about my photography services, visit www.GlacierCake.com Edited with MCP Actions Fusion Set

7 comments

Hampshire Wedding Photographer – Craig & Caroline

April 4, 2011 Posted in Weddings & Couples

Visit www.glaciercake.com for information about my engagement & wedding photography Edited with MCP Actions’ Fusion set for Photoshop

no comments

7 Tips for Wedding Portfolio Building

December 30, 2010 Posted in The Business of Photography, Weddings & Couples

Following up from this post from last week called How to build your photography portfolio, I had a question from a reader about how aspiring wedding photographers should build their ‘folios. And it’s a great question because that’s a whole ‘nuther can of worms. I did my first wedding for free. I knew the couple,...

9 comments

Jana - December 30, 2010 - 8:48 pm

Elizabeth-do you know what a good amount is to charge for a first wedding? I’ve been approached to do one (my very first wedding), but she wants images on disc so she can design her own album. I am struggling with this big time!

elizabethhalford - December 30, 2010 - 9:32 pm

@Jana: I’d say a few hundred. Then use the money to create a beautiful press printed album you can share with prospective couples. I use templates from The Album Cafe and printing depends on where you are in the world.

Jana - January 1, 2011 - 6:20 pm

Thank you Elizabeth! Sounds great!
(ps I just love all you do! found you through dps). you rock!

Anonymous - May 26, 2011 - 10:43 am

Hi Elizabeth, I remember reading this post a while back and are now being asked to do peoples weddings off the back of other images I have done. My question revolves around insurance… I don’t really want to pass that cost onto a single couple as it would be very unfair of me to get them to cover a years protection for me for their one day. How have you managed the insurance side should anything go wrong? Thanks

Anonymous - May 26, 2011 - 10:49 am

Well yes any photographer should have insurance before even leaving the house with their gear. It’s just part of the overhead of running the business. You’re not specifically charging a couple for insurance any more than you’re charging them for your gear or for the gigs you’ll be taking up in your hard drive. It’s just all wrapped up in the amount you have to charge to make a profit after everything that it actually costs you to do a wedding.

Anonymous - May 26, 2011 - 12:52 pm

Thanks for the reply. I expect that being a pro photographer you already have the liability and indemnity insurances in place that cover weddings as well as your other work. I was coming from a “first timer” point of view where I don’t expect to be doing many weddings at first and don’t have a client base that makes me need the insurance packages… the two insurances mentioned tally to over £200 (this I may add is without the gear insurance I am currently paying). Just seems to be a pretty steep price to pay out for a day but one that is – unfortunate for my profits – necessary!

Anonymous - May 26, 2011 - 6:51 pm

Oh yes I see. Well if you’re just doing it as a favour, you could get a signed statement that they can’t hold you liable for damage, but then if the damage is your fault, you’re…well…liable. And if you want to cover your back, you’ll have to pay for insurance.

Mark Jones - May 27, 2011 - 11:02 am

Ok, that sounds a better plan! Thanks :)

Alora Wilson - May 29, 2011 - 1:19 am

How do you “watermark” your photos on a disc and make them ready to be uploaded on the internet. I’d rather do that then prints all the time

Hampshire Wedding Photographer – Jonathan and Anna

November 27, 2010 Posted in Weddings & Couples

I love that my wedding packages include an engagement session. It’s a great thing for the couple to do in that boring in-between time (everything’s booked now just wait wait wait). And it gives us a chance to get to know each other a little better before the big day. Processed with MCP Actions, Eye...

2 comments

What’s in my Wedding Contract

November 2, 2010 Posted in The Business of Photography, Weddings & Couples

After writing about wedding client expectations, lots of readers wanted to know what is included in my wedding contract. So here ya go! Names of bride & groom: Date of wedding: Location: Time & Location of bridal preparations: Agreed location of portrait shoot (private shoot after ceremony): This is the session with just me and...

5 comments