Michael & Olivia

The Engagement

Naples, Florida

We did Michael & Olivia's engagement photos in March of 2022 at one of their favorite beaches (it's a secret beach I swore not to share, so I won't say it here, but it's on the Naples coast!). Their engagement photos were a mix of greenery and beach photos with a sprinkling of black and white, since both Michael & Olivia are a fan of classic photos and music! During the photoshoot, they danced to Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble & competed against each other in an intense game of Connect-4. A bit of backstory - Michael had gifted Olivia a Connect-4 set while they were dating since it was one of their favorite games, & I asked them to bring the set to the photoshoot! Olivia let Michael win, of course.

Photography Tip: Church Lighting

Many churches, while absolutely beautiful, employ stained glass or tinted windows to add to the church's atmosphere or to prevent the space from overheating. While the lighting is beautiful in person, it can leave a bride with a blue-tinted face or affect group photos if the couple wants them inside the church. This was the case at Michael and Olivia's wedding; the windows had a teal tint that affected the photos. A few tips for adjusting for church lighting:

Tip 1) In person: Shoot with flash - Try to adjust for the colors as much as possible in person with manual settings or shooting with flash. The flash will counteract the tinted light as much as you can and also provide you with a clearer RAW image to manipulate later.

Tip 2) In post: Color Curves - adjust the color curves in Lightroom. In Adobe's Lightroom program, you can manually alter each color curve. This means that you can shift its hue (across the red-green spectrum), saturation (color intensity), and luminance (brightness). If the image is tinted with blue, I may go into the blue color curve and desaturate it or replace it with a warmer tone if possible. You can also use image warmth and vibrance to affect the colors.

Tip 3) When all else fails: B&W - Now if you've gotten a client gallery that has a lot of black and white photos, I'm not saying that is because of bad lighting. Sometimes B&W photos just capture the couple or the moment better! However, before scrapping a photo that may be precious to a couple due to colorful or tinted lighting, try it in black and white. So long as the light is there and the rest of the photo is worth keeping, B&W should have you covered!