Bridal Portraits inside a hotel bathroom

This image was taken of my beautiful bride April Howell yesterday about 1 hour before she married her husband Delano. This was taken while she was finishing up her make up.  I used the light from the hotel bathroom to light her face and just asked her to turn and look to her left a little.  I shot this with my 85mm, and then in Photoshop I blackened the sides of the image a little to blend out some of the background from behind her.  It's like doing a portrait session in the middle of a lot of wedding day action!  You are beautiful April!

Next Workshop- Las Vegas, Nevada- right after WPPI

Camera settings: Nikon D700, 1/200 sec at f/2.2, 85mm at ISO 1250, flash did not fire.  Taken at 5:22pm on February 15, 2013 by Jason Lanier.

Jason Lanier Shooting Bridals at the Eiffel Tower in Paris

This is a production still of the Bridal shoot I did that the Eiffel Tower on Thursday of last week.  I was lucky to be able to shoot two models, Ashley and Farrah, and we had an awesome time.  It's always been a dream to shoot in Paris and this was definitely the case with this shoot.  Thanks to all who made it happen!

The Many Different Sides of a Bride

This sequence was shot in succession in the Bridal Room with my bride Alvina back earlier this month in Los Angeles, CA.  I egged her on a little bit and captured this sequence which I just loved.  Hope you like it!

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Smoking Hot- Portraits of a bride smoking a cigarette

Ever seen a picture of a bride smoking a cigarette? Ever think it could look hot? Well...I had to give it a try..

Disclaimer- I don't condone smoking and I think it's a very addictive habit that gets a hold on smokers. Please don't smoke!

That being said, Christine is in the process of quitting smoking...and during our bridal shoot she took a smoking break. We had already moved into this warehouse to do the shoot and when she lit up I had to throw her against this natural light pouring in from above. The first picture below is my favorite because I love the smoke that is going all the way up to the top of the picture. We took some more shots with the cigarette that I will share later...but I have to admit I ended up loving these because they are so unique...it's the first time I've ever shot a bride smoking....pretty hot.

Drowning in Sugar Cane

Ever wonder how tall the sugar cane is in Hawaii? You might drive past it and think, "That looks big.." but you never realize how tall or big it is until you put a bride in the middle of it to give you some perspective. These shots below were the first time I ever took a bride into the middle of the sugar cane....and I love the feeling of capturing her walking through this world of huge plants....it's almost like a Jurassic Park moment in that everything is so much larger than the bride.

The other thing we immediately noticed was the temperature change. It was literally about 15 degrees hotter inside the sugar cane than it was when we were shooting on the road. Part of it was the wind but a big part was just being enveloped by these plants. It was awesome!

Shooting with a million dollar view

We continued our shoot by finding this beautiful cliff with a mulit-million dollar view. If I could place a house anywhere in the world...this would definitely be one of the spots. Again the wind was a major factor but we used to our advantage and I was very happy with the results. I hope you enjoy!

Old Maui Church Bridal Shoot on the ocean

These images were taken from my second bridal shoot with the beautiful Jacqueline Linn. This church is located on Maui and is virtually the hardest place on the entire island to reach....you aren't even allowed to go their in your rental car. It's in a tiny village that can't have more than 100 people living there...and you find an old church with an unbelievable view of the ocean in the background. It is a wonderful place to shoot and we have a great time. I hope you enjoy!

Highlights, Lowlights, and everything in between

We ended our shoot outside on the road in the sugar cane that surrounded the abandoned building we were shooting at...and it was beautiful. I always look for conflicting things and can still come together to make a picture very dynamic but symmetrical at the same time. The picture below for example has a vanishing point that leads directly to the bride...both from the ground and the sky...so all the attention goes straight to her.

The other thing I like to do is draw some contrast with the bride. Sometimes a big white dress can drown out the person wearing it....that is the main reason I love to show some of the bride's legs in the pictures that you see. It makes the images much more dynamic and instead of just a straight white highlights of a wedding dress...you have the contrast of the brides legs...makes for a much more interesting picture. The key is getting your highlights and lowlights to come together to make everything work. It's like a salad where there are a lot of different ingredients but they can come together to make something that tastes great.

So Beautiful- bridal shoot in an abandoned house

Click to view!

Check out the video of my shoot in the abandoned house in North Carolina!  The video contains the first walk through I did of the house when I discovered it, footage of me working with and shooting the bride, and 9 shots from the shoot that I love.  I hope you enjoy...this was one of my all time favorite shoots and I have to thank Christine again for making it possible.  Thanks Christine...you did great!

California Dreaming

I went out on a bridal shoot yesterday that was fantastic.  The weather in California right now is so amazing and it really is gorgeous out here.  This shot was taken 30 minutes from my house in the mountains above the wine country where I live.  

I've been challenging myself to really find some great areas without having to drive 200 miles....and I realized I chose to live where I live because it's so beautiful...so I will be featuring a lot of shots from around my home area of Temecula because it is so beautiful out here. 

Please click on the picture to view...it's much better larger and when compressed to the small size you lose so much color.  Enjoy!