LOS ANGELES WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - RUSTIN MICHAEL BLOG » Rustin Michael is a Los Angeles based wedding and portrait photographer

This past Saturday I enjoyed shooting James & Jessica’s twilight wedding ceremony at The Reef in Long Beach. The Reef has a beautiful view of Long Beach, I just wish the outdoor ceremony would have been scheduled before sunset so I could have brought some of that into the background of many of my images. I was still able to get some incredible images from their wedding day.

The day started off with me capturing Jessica and her girls getting ready at her parent’s house in Montebello, CA. Keep reading below for some of my favorites from their wedding day.

Jessica making sure her girls are ready before getting her dress on.

I love these next images of Jessica getting ready with her mom’s help.

A quick portrait of Jessica just before leaving her parent’s house

James all ready for the big day.

We stopped by a park near Jessica’s parent’s house for some shots Jessica’s side of the family and her girls.

James and his guys in Long Beach.

The twilight ceremony.

James & Jessica

I love this shot!

Some amazing images from the first dance.

A quick candid from the toasts.

The Father/Daughter & Mother/Son dance with Jessica’s sister providing the music. Such a beautiful moment.

A little fun

Jessica & James and their guests.

A few last portraits before departing.

Some details

I just wanted to give everyone a couple updates regarding my website and blog.

- I added my previous post Before & After Examples to the links section on my blog listed as “Before & After”

- I launched a new section of my Weddings Website called Featured Couples. It is is under the portfolio section of my website. Make sure you go and check it out. I should be adding a couple more shoots in this section in the near future.

Anytime you see an image posted here on my blog or up on my website it been touched by Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is an amazing tool when used properly. Many times I use it for something as simple as resizing, adding my website address, and doing a little sharpening to the image. Other times I use it to adjust the color & contrast of the image to make it look more accurate to real life. Most of the time when I am shooting I already have in mind what I want the final print to look like. Photoshop allows me to bring to life what I originally envisioned when taking the image. Photoshop can also be used to soften lines around the eyes, remove stray hairs, soften shiny foreheads, remove blemishes and distracting elements from images. These are the types of things I do when an image is ordered for your album or as a print through my online store.

Even though Photoshop is an amazing tool I still strive to get a near perfect image at the time of capture. Every minute I spend in Photoshop is one less minute I get with my family.

Below are a few examples of images straight out of the camera like my clients get on their DVDs or you see on my online store, roll your mouse over the image to see what spending a little time in Photoshop can do. If you are viewing this post on Google reader or some other feed please jump over to my blog so the rollover images will work.

If you follow me on Twitter of Facebook you may have noticed I was at a workshop most days last week. Last week I attended the Newport Beach Fast Track Photographer Workshop taught by Dane Sanders. Dane is a true leader in the wedding photography industry and someone I am blessed to call a friend.

All I can say about the workshop is WOW! Last week I met so many great new friends and had the chance to spend some time with old ones. Dane’s Fast Track Photographer Workshop is not your typical photography workshop. Although we briefly talked about exposure which is controlled by ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, the workshop was really about life. It was like learning how to control exposure for life. It was great to see my friends make some big commitments that I know they will deliver on. I was challenged to really commit to my vision and plan so I can reach the goals I have for my life and family. I highly recommend attending Dane’s workshop.

The workshop took place at Dane’s awesome new Newport Beach studio.

We did spend a little time shooting at the workshop. We were each given a 3 minute chunk of time to shoot as lead photographer. Everyone of us became a teacher and a student as we shot. I learned so much from watching others and how they interacted with our models, Lindye & Winn. Hopefully everyone picked up a few things from me. Here are some of my favorite images from the shoot.

One last shot of all of us while we were out shooting.