Mosaic Photo | Blog

Wedding portraits and reception coverage

At Mosaic Photo, our mindset is client driven. We have a wedding price list that we use as a starting point. While this price list offers three options that are fitting for the majority of situations, we work with our clients to make sure they have the perfect wedding package.

Eric and Anna had a very small, intimate ceremony. To keep that intimate atmosphere, they didn’t have us cover the ceremony.  We worked with them, deciding to take the formal portraits at the Crestview Country Club, where the reception was being held. After the portraits, I stayed and covered the reception.

These are a few of my favorite wedding photos from Eric and Anna’s day.

We can design and host an e-card for you

With a lot of engagement sessions, I’ve been creating save the date cards for the couples as well. We’ve been incorporating the primary colors of the wedding. Another cool thing we’ve been doing to save on printing and mailing is to do an e-card. We can host the image on our site, allowing for the card to be sent as an embedded picture, not an attachment. Even if the e-cards only go to a percentage of your expected guests, it can help your budget.

Andi and Cole had their engagement photos done, and here is the save the date card we came up with.

I got to take engagement photos for a good friend.

My best friend growing up recently got engaged! We did everything together as kids. Everything from playing baseball on one of the worst little league teams of all time, to spending whole summers in the swimming pool.  And now I’m excited he found someone as cool as he is.

This was a very fun engagement portrait session. We started off in Oak Park and ended up in Old Town. Oak Park is always interesting, as it has a Frisbee disc golf course. There are usually a few interesting characters to navigate around, and this time was no exception. There were a couple of guys in an intense game of frolf. Apparently, we were right next to the 18th hole (which is complete with a tricky water hazard). As we were walking away from taking a picture overlooking the pond, we see one of the discers wading waist-deep into the water. Mind you, part of the pond was still frozen over. Anyways, the scenery rarely disappoints and makes for some good portrait settings.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the shoot:

…and you can too!

We’re really not that egotistical, but there are things that we do at Mosaic Photo that we like. If we didn’t, we would probably change. Some things on this list are conscious, purposeful choices. Others are traits. Regardless, these are a few things that make us effective and distinct. Keep them in mind in case you need a wedding or portrait photographer.

1. Ordering with ease: Our simple, easy to use Sharing Gallery is a great tool for  viewing and ordering pictures. It’s the easiest and most convenient solution we could think of to get prints to our clients.
   
2. Reasonable print prices: We decided to make prints affordable in order for our clients to be able to get as many prints as they fancy. While we don’t blame studios for charging $10 for a 4×6, we can’t justify it.
3. Active communication: Instead of having our potential wedding photography clients pour through some proprietary questionnaire, we take them out for coffee and have a conversation about what types of photos they like.
4. We come to you: We shoot on location so the setting is more meaningful and memorable. The neighborhood park or your backyard can make for a background that is part of your story.
5. Scouting: We always make sure we know the location. A week before a wedding, we go to the venue and check lighting at the time of day of the event. 
6. Flattering Light: Lighting is one of the biggest difference between  an amateur photograph and a professional one.

If you like these things too, and are looking for a wedding or portrait photographer, send us an email at info[at]themosaicphoto.com.

We like black and white photos.

Black and white photos are always some of our favorites at Mosaic Photo. Classic and timeless, black and white photographs are elegant and versatile. Black and white photos are mentioned here, with more examples and details in this post.

The black and white processing places the emphasis on the photo directly on the subject. Stripped down, the emphasis of a black and white photo becomes the main element of the image. Interplay between the people in the photo and with the surroundings demands attention.

There are a few ways that we process black and white photos. The first is a straight black and white conversion. We take our raw file from the camera (we shoot in color of course), and desaturate it, resulting in a mild, serene mood. Great for candid moments. These images are examples of this type of processing.

My personal favorite are black and white photos with very strong contrast. The high contrast gives a unique, modern look. Dark blacks and bright highlights characterize this look.

Finally, we have a process that mimics an old, aged black and white photograph.

View all posts in the Photographic Style Series, or see the index for the series.

Using the videographer’s light.

At the Preston-Larson wedding, the videographer was using a continuous light on his camera. For a few shots, I had adjust what I was doing because of this, like not drag the shutter on some of the shots. But the hot-light also lent itself to some nice lighting. Here are a couple of examples from the toasts, with the videographer’s light as the main light:

Also, there was a tradition, so they said, of having to wear the cowboy hat to be able to give a toast.

More from this wedding later.