Wedding Photographer Las Vegas - Deacon Tyler

Studio boudoir session

Posted by admin on 17 Dec ’11

This session is the entire reason I shoot boudoir. It’s not only a beautiful and artistic form of photography, there’s something about a well done session that is so rewarding and inspiring. It's also a testament to how important it is to establish a rapport between client and photographer and within minutes of her arrival, we were laughing and joking around with our client….and her mother and aunt! It may be the first time a client has brought family to the studio, but it was not awkward at all – in fact, I'm going to go so far as to say it's a pretty good idea to have a familiar face around

Really, this was in my top five favorite studio sessions of the year and today I received a call from our client thanking us for our services, which literally made my entire day!

I had a lot of fun with lighting this time around and did a few unique setups; rather than set up a beauty dish or softbox like I normally do, I wanted something with even smoother coverage, so I positioned a 30" reflector in front of our model and an unmodified strobe behind her. The strobe behind her acted as a hair light, but the light bouncing off of the reflector acted as a main light and gave this snappy contrast to the skin, with a nice delineation of light and shadow without any excess light spillage and a secondary strobe to light up part of the background.

Next up, I set up a couple of strobes from behind a sheer white curtain and we shot a few bridal boudoir images and wrapped up with some backlit diffusion screen shots. I made a little sandwich of light by throwing in a softbox on either side of her to add in definition and did the last few shots as silhouettes.

Much of the magic of shooting in studio is the creative ways to manipulate light and I really loved how everything turned out. Best of all though was our client's patience; I always joke that shooting in studio is 80% lighting and 20% photography, which isn't usually a problem, except we had a little (BIG) issue with our heater and our studio space was around 50 degrees the whole time. But her natural photogenic nature and grace really showed through and you'd never know from the shots that we were all freezing!

For this shoot, Sarah did more of a 'sultry' and glamorous style of hair and makeup, which turned out beautifully and her eye makeup is to die for!

In Studio boudoir session

Posted by admin on 15 Dec ’11

Another nice boudoir shoot at our studio; it’s funny – whenever we’ve worked with celebrities in the past, they usually book under a friend or publicist’s name and so as soon as our client walked in, there was a solid four seconds that I thought she was Christie Brinkley! Even after we started the shoot, Sarah and I kept whispering “does Christie Brinkley have a younger sister???”.

We didn’t try to reinvent the wheel on this one – sometimes a client’s natural beauty is enough all by itself; we kept it simple and for the majority of the shots, I used the big ol’ softbox suspended precariously on a boom arm with a 22″ beauty dish for front fill and occasionally a 32″ reflector. While octagonal softboxes are more popular, there’s something about a long rectangular softbox I’ve always liked – the even coverage makes skin look like porcelain and there’s an otherworldly quality to the catchlights in the eyes.

As always, Sarah did a fantastic job with makeup; we went with a ‘soft’, natural look with one of the smoothest coverages and best skin matching I’ve ever seen!

In studio baby portrait session

Posted by admin on 3 Dec ’11

This is so ridiculously cute that I can barely come up with words to describe it without screaming “awwwwwwwww” with a wild bug eyed look. Little Andrew was absolutely adorable during his recent Christmas portrait session at our studio and we finally got to use our ‘Tiny Tim’ set towards the end, complete with a rug made entirely out of socks (I know, right?!), shabby chic bench, wainscot paneling and hardwood floors. I could practically hear Andrew shout “Gawd breff us, ev’ry one – ‘specially mistah Scrooge”.

There’s a secret to working with older babies that are on the move – be patient and they’re going to do something adorable. right at the end of the shoot, Andrew grabbed a big push broom that was clear on the other side of the studio and began sweeping, all on his own (and we weren’t about to turn down a free studio cleaning)

That last shot wins all on it’s own though.

“Darn kids – get off my lawn!”

In studio boudoir photography session

Posted by admin on 3 Dec ’11

Boudoir is not only a celebration of physical beauty, it’s a celebration of vitality and health. When shooting boudoir, our preferred style is a ‘classical art gallery’ approach and when we met with our client, she mirrored this sentiment and I knew right at that moment that we were going to have an amazing shoot. I’d been dying to shoot boudoir at our new studio location and the added space and high ceilings really made this a treat. The brown set we built literally minutes before she arrived and I went with a ‘distressed leather’ fabric and matching peel and stick tiles (and we originally went there to snag some black and white checkerboard tiles for a totally different concept, but changed our minds as soon as I saw how warm and classical the brown tones looked!)

Camera geekery: I did a combination of a three and four light setup with a big ol’ softbox suspended horizontally about ten feet above her head to use as a hair light, 22″ silver beauty dish as main light, we alternated between a 5 foot reflector and another rectangular softbox for a fill light, a snooted bare strobe for the background and the occasional gridded strobe to add a little snap to her hair.

But the real beauty is our model – her class and elegance cannot be put into words; right from the word ‘go’, her poses and confidence were absolutely inspiring! My partner Sarah provided makeup for the shoot and it just looked amazing – we went with warm bronzy tones around the eyes and nice understated sculpting around the cheekbones and I love how everything turned out.

We’re already planning another shoot and I can’t wait!

But wait, there’s more: Facebook!

Posted by admin on 2 Dec ’11

Brittani Taylor of Youtube fame would give a big smile right about now and say “On Facebook! In m’fan page!” but you’ll just have to trust that I’m smiling right now when I invite you to like our Facebook company page here: http://www.facebook.com/DTylerPhoto

For years I’ve had little tips and ideas floating in my head that I always said I would put in my great American novel “next year”. Since many “next years” have come and gone, I decided to start spoon feeding them into said Facebook page. Everything from very important tips to exclusive Facebook promotions, it’s most definitely (possibly) worth a peek

And for the truly brave, join me on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/DTyler.Photography (and yes, I really did begin a sentence with a conjunction – it’s a brave new world!)

- D

Nelson’s Landing Engagement Photography – Zoran & Chantal

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

It’s always double cool when our clients have imdb pages Some of you might remember Zoran from Season 3 Episode 14 of the X-Files (yes, I used to watch X-files and so did you!), Butterfly Effect 2, Stargate SG-1, etc, so the geek in me was really looking forward to their shoot. Zoran also once shared an onscreen kiss with Erica Durance (Lois Lane from Smallville) which is SO worth mentioning because OMG I’m a huge fan (ahem, of Smallville of course…). They were almost married in Las Vegas, but at the last minute switched to their hometown of Vancouver British Columbia, which is going to be even more amazing, but we still ended up with some great engagement shots with them and had an amazing time!

We chose Nelson’s Landing in Nelson, NV for their engagement shoot, which looks pretty amazing either in the early morning or just before sunset (time of day is critical for a photoshoot by the way and my motto has always been ‘never schedule photography around your day – schedule your day around photography’!) and as the overcast clouds parted towards the end of the shoot, we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen in a long time. I also saw a small wild tarantula trying to cross the road, so the next time you see me there, I’ll probably be wearing duct tape around my ankles so the little buggers can’t crawl up my trousers…

This was also the first time I’ve ever used lighting on an entire airplane – well, half of an airplane – well, a leftover prop from the movie 200 Miles to Graceland. I’ve always thought that was the ginchiest part about Nelson’s landing – an actual airplane sitcking out of the ground! On the flipside, it usually never looks that great to me in photographs, so for the airplane shots we did a three light setup with a beauty dish and one big strobe as the main light, another strobe for Chantal’s hair and then a third strobe shooting on one side of the plane to create a bit more shadow and light for contrast. The end result really brought out some depth to the plane and they ended up as some of my favorite shots.

Engagement photography with Adam & Tricia – “Tangled up in you”

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

Adam and Tricia are so important to us – they're future wedding clients, but they've quickly become some of our best friends as well. I always talk about how important it is to build a relationship with your wedding photographer – put down the email and pick up a phone, grab dinner and hang out. I've never seen this as 'mixing business with pleasure', because my business IS my pleasure and we love LOVE working with these two!

After their engagement session at Red Rock Casino and Fremont street, I decided we simply MUST do a family shoot with them as well – Adam and Tricia's little Boston Terrier Sophie is far too adorable and photogenic not too and pets are such an important part of the family dynamic as well (Adam also operates the largest website dedicated to Boston Terriers as well – www.ibostonterrier.com . I chose Floyd Lamb, as I wanted to get at least one more shoot before the rest of the leaves fell off the branches and I think we hit it right in time! For these shoots we used a combination of softboxes with bare strobes as accent lights and our hugely obnoxious on location studio strobes to fill in the shadows

Calico Basin Engagement Photography

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

Sarah and I always get the strangest looks whenever we shoot portrait photography on location – if I could put it to words, the looks would say 'overkill much?' For even the simplest of shoots, we carry at least two cameras, eight lenses, five speedlights, softboxes, beauty dishes, light stands and gigantic studio strobes with battery packs, which Sarah pushes in this giant metal cart, like we're some kind of high tech hobo bag people.

While we'd probably get by with a big reflector and some patience, there's just something I love about the crisp 'snap' of studio level lighting and I've always loved how it enables us to employ shooting methods that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

We shot this engagement photography session at Calico Basin with a beautiful couple getting married next year in Boston and I loved their interaction – it's everything an engagement session should be; cheerful, romantic and loving. Victoria's blue shirt and curly locks REALLY lifted the two of them out of the background and actually complimented her beau's chocolate coloured sweater, binding the two of them with complimentary but not overpowering colours.

A good rule of thumb when you're shooting in autumn nature is to wear something on the opposite colour spectrum from your background. When shooting in the morning, pastel blues look great, pink looks great, white with blue jeans works and a bright (not olive) green looks wonderful as well. In the afternoon/late evening, the right shade of red adds a pop of colour.

I loved this shoot though – autumn is such a good time for outdoor photography!!

LED Unplugged Promo Shots & Product Photography

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

Here's some recent promo and product shots that we did for Kevin Cordova of LED Unplugged and DJs To You fame, both in our photography studio and also at the Revere Golf Club. I'm mesmerized by uplighting – well placed uplighting not only transforms the ambiance of a venue, but it has a dramatic and noticeable effect on your wedding or reception photography as well!

We also used Kevin's lighted cubes as props in one of our favorite fashion shoots of last year!

Las Vegas wedding photography – Jonathon & Mballu

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

Family Photography collage!

Posted by admin on 28 Nov ’11

From family shoots to babies, November has been our busiest month and I'm a little behind on blogging, so I'm going to start this party out right with a little portrait collage. On my Facebook page, I recently called family photography 'soul renewing' and it's so true!

“Thank you” :)

Posted by admin on 16 Nov ’11

They say that Las Vegas is a town where magic occurs and anything can happen, but it took me three full years before I really understood what that meant. As the 2011 wedding season draws to a close (and believe me, we have blog posts to make that are truly mind blowing), I want to take a moment out and thank everyone out there for supporting us throughout the years; at the end of 2010, I wrote that 2011 would be our best year yet and it was. 2012 is going to be even more incredible!

Our art and style have changed and grown significantly in these last few years and I feel that the magic of Las Vegas and the variety of people we meet and work with is inspiring to our evolution as artists and also people. So many shoots from 2011 stand out in my mind as truly incredible that if I were to sit here and type my gratitude all night, I'd still have barely touched the tip of a very large iceberg.

As I write this, we're preparing for the grand opening party of our new, bigger and so much better photography studio – almost 2,000 square feet of awesome and it is one of those times where the support and love of our clients and fellow professionals in Las Vegas humbles me and I'm filled with a gratitude and warmth that words alone cannot describe. They call Las Vegas 'sin city', but if support, love, camaraderie and friendship is a sin, than we are the worst offenders.

John Donne once wrote "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent" and it has become my motto and mantra moving forward. I think the Beatles said it best though: "I get by with a little help from my friends". I mentioned before that when I was injured a while ago, I was taken aback by the outpouring of support we received from our fellow photographers and once more as we prepare to party our collective hindquarters off, how everyone came together to make this a grand opening celebration like we have never had before.

Just a small list of credits include uplighting, furniture and music by Kevin Cordova of DJs To You and LED Unplugged, photobooth by Shutterbooth Las Vegas and dozens of faces that I can't wait to see again – from clients both past and future to so many of the colleagues that I respect so much.

I'm gushing here – I tend to gush – but in short, THANK YOU ALL. If you're reading this, I thank you for caring enough to get to know us; like I've always said: photography is not a one-off business transaction; I model my company off of the belief that photography is about building and maintaining relationships with my clients – my clients are my friends. While it was once said that you should never mix business and pleasure, my business IS my pleasure and that is the secret of our success, longevity and why I wake up every morning with a smile on my face. I look forward to working with you all.

-Deacon M. Tyler

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