CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-23 22:31:03 (6 comments, 9 reshares, 62 +1s)

A story of an amazing girl, a terrible day, and timely celebrity intervention. If you've ever read anything on my blog, read this. http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/05/kelsies-story-young-beautiful-alive/

2013-05-23 17:05:01 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

The only thing "being a professional photographer" means is that, if you stop taking photos, eventually you will starve to death. It's an unfortunate quirk of language that it gets conflated with "being a photographer who acts professionally."

2013-05-22 21:38:38 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

A few days ago I posted a piece sung by my amazing friend Kelsie. Well, you are going to want to click this link. Finally her incredible (untrained!) voice was combined with a studio, and it's beautiful. She was in an extremely severe car accident this past week, and I'm so glad we still have her personality and talent in the world.

PS: You are REALLY going to want to take note of the top comment.

Lana Del Rey- Young and Beautiful cover

2013-05-22 03:49:57 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

"Anything for the shot," I say.

"Wait," you ask. "Would that include dodging swords?"

Now you know. Shot at 12mm, which is kind of like using a pencil for wrangling 'gators.

At +Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver

#vancouverwedding #asianwedding #martialarts #kungfu  

2013-05-20 15:54:17 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 57 +1s)

So happy to have a photo chosen in the first major Engagement session contest I've seen, the Junebug Weddings  Best of the Best. More than 4,000 entries from top photographers around the world were submitted. My main goal in most engagement sessions is to learn more about the couple and make them comfortable in front of the camera, rather than to create crazy art, so I'm glad to see the crazy art that sometimes happens along the way be rewarded!

2013-05-18 17:51:15 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 26 +1s)

Always fun to land in the US after being in airplane mode for a few days…

2013-05-16 09:46:36 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 30 +1s)

Apparently the sun also rises.

Headed to Vancouver again! Very happy déjà vu.

2013-05-16 02:32:15 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 77 +1s)

Apparently vertical photos look really good in the new Google+ layout. Generally I prefer to take horizontal, as that's how the eye sees, but I figured I'd try one out.

2013-05-15 19:10:18 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 49 +1s)

Looks better here: http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/05/a-hard-nights-day/

A hidden advantage of the Nikon D4′s live view — being able to compose a shot like this without burning out your retinas. ISO 100, 1/8000th, f/8 — the sun, it don’t mess around.

#engagementphotography #weddingphotography  

2013-05-15 04:42:48 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Claudia and I are on +The Huffington Post! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/wedding-photoshoot_n_3275888.html

2013-05-13 19:32:03 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

The "double hug" is always a good get for a wedding photojournalist -- emotion + timing + anticipation + layering + using the frame. But the double hug with identical twins? Score!

2013-05-13 01:56:14 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

A pretty lady at ISO 10,000 with the 6D in extremely low light (EV-1)

2013-05-12 23:36:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Back to answering Tumblr questions now that I've gotten the search working properly. This was a particularly good one: http://ryanbrenizer.tumblr.com/post/50298800835/your-top-5-photographers-influencers-go

2013-05-12 15:30:50 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

I'm playing around with the 6D, and loving the WiFi capabilities. It works so much better than the Eye-Fi card, that's going to be the thing that will make me keep it. Might add a cheapo zoom and it's perfect for Photobooths.

2013-05-12 00:56:53 (42 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Darn, it might be a little better than the 5DIII, but Canon still hasn't figure out how to have Nikon's extremely clean shadow areas, which allows you to dramatically underexpose an image and bring it back in post, making for incredible native dynamic range where you can expose for a scene's highlights and then pull up the shadows. This is 3.5 stops up from ISO 100, which something like the D800 wouldn't even break a sweat at.

2013-05-10 15:47:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

April and Rich got married, and it was fantastic. See the full post here! http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/05/westminster-hotel-wedding-april-and-rich/

2013-05-09 02:39:20 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 37 +1s)

Looks best here: http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/05/a-new-york-story/

I try to be a storyteller, but it’s an amorphous thing. We all have a story, sure, but what was the story of your today? Was it just some stuff that happened? Was it something you learned? Something you felt? What will the story be when you look back on it later?

They aren’t simple questions, and that’s just a random day … a Wednesday, even. How do you tell the story of a place like New York? There have been thousands upon thousands of attempts, and they scratch just the surface’s surface of the complexity and the dynamics of this crazy town. Last night I saw a beautiful woman walk by openly sobbing. That, I thought, was a New York story. In the small town I grew up in, we keep our tears and our strangers separate. In New York, people’s pain is in your point, and the pain itself is part of the point. Thegrind of Ne... more »

2013-05-06 15:56:06 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 63 +1s)

I would not completely mind if all ceremonies looked like this.

2013-05-05 14:38:29 (9 comments, 2 reshares, 40 +1s)

What we must remember as photographers that while we try our hardest to bring technical perfection to an image, there are other elements that are far more important: Emotion, storytelling, that perfect moment. At this moment, a groomsman was readying himself to jump into the groom's arms on the dance floor. Connection, emotion, action.

This photo was taken at an adjusted ISO of 72,400.

I knew I wanted to get a lot of frames to tell the story of running and jumping, but I was shooting in a dark, hard-to-light area, so I knew my flash couldn't keep up. I had my shutter speed at 1/250th to catch action, I had my aperture at f/2.5 so as not to be too shallow, so the only place to go up was ISO. I set my flash to a bit lower power setting to catch more frames, but still it had been working hard so it didn't catch very many. And the adjusted ISO of the non-fired frames brings us... more »

2013-05-03 21:10:25 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 46 +1s)

Looks better here: www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/05/a-matter-of-perspective/

I can’t wait to tell this full story once I’m done processing all the photos, but for now all I’ll say is that this fantastic bride had a heck of a week…

2013-05-01 02:31:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I am about to answer the 40 or so questions in my Tumblr inbox. Feel free to ask me anything!

2013-04-30 20:56:47 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Anyone recognize this photo? #prettycool  

2013-04-30 13:33:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Starting the day with a one-on-one instruction session! Getting my teach on…

2013-04-29 00:26:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Watching Vampire Weekend (and a surprise opening by Fred Armisen channeling Johnny Rotten)

2013-04-22 18:33:31 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

I'm on a pre-Canada Photo Convention posting frenzy! Here's another bit of architecture helped by Lightroom 5's new auto straightening tool.

2013-04-22 14:37:40 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 34 +1s)

Speaking of … here's a 56-image method image of Caitlin and Charlie. Blossom explosion. One of the wider ones I've done, equivalent to a 22mm f/0.36. www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/04/blossom-explosion/

2013-04-22 14:37:14 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 29 +1s)

A 35-image Brenizer method of multiple people trying the Brenizer method, by Brenizer. Brenzception.

2013-04-19 20:40:17 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

My recap of the London and NYC workshops is on the blog! See more photos here: http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/04/ryan-brenizer-workshops-early-2013-recap/

2013-04-18 21:14:04 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

One of the best things about this past weekend's workshops was re-connecting with some of my amazing couples, such as Elizabeth and Anthony. I'll have a full recap of this winter's workshops soon, but here's a taste.

Shot with the Sigma 35 … I'm spinning a lot of plates, but I'll have a review one day. Optically, it's astonishingly good. www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/898836-REG/Sigma_340306_35mm_f_1_4_DG_HSM.html/BI/6962/KBID/7503

2013-04-17 04:49:26 (7 comments, 5 reshares, 49 +1s)

OK, the Lightroom auto-straighten is finally one magic Adobe tool that works at least as well as advertised. T and I were in the +Musée d'Orsay  and wanted to get a silhouette, so we set up my OM-D and had a random tourist take it. You can't really expect them to get perfect perspective. The only edit between the top and bottom photo is clicking the "auto upright" button."

2013-04-16 16:22:01 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)

32-image panorama of the Louvre on the OM-D.

2013-04-14 12:51:55 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Business day today at the workshop. It makes me think: I'd love to hear a panel discussion of photographers who were once very successful and now are not. What happened? What factors were internal versus external? (I know many workshops are given by people who meet this description, but they don't really use that as a selling point)

2013-04-12 17:30:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 29 +1s)

On the blog: Annie and Bill's wedding at The Foundry! http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/04/foundry-wedding-annie-and-bill/ #weddingphotography  

2013-04-10 20:47:03 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 40 +1s)

Currently the front page image on +The Huffington Post weddings! Pretty cool.

2013-04-08 02:55:22 (12 comments, 2 reshares, 58 +1s)

My first double exposure from a session today in D.C.! Thanks to +Sara Byrne for making me get off my butt and try this.

2013-04-03 20:36:42 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

Whenever I look back through old archives, I am reminded that if there is such a thing as a naturally excellent photographer (and I have my doubts about that), I was not one. Wherever I am now is the result of many many thousands of hours of hard work, and a relentless drive for improvement along the way -- and my journey is still in its early stages, with, I hope, many decades left to go.

Still, some photos from years past transcended the moment, such as this one of Alison and Noah from 2007 that still gets me.

2013-03-28 18:13:10 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

PRICE CHANGE AND CLARIFICATION FOR THE APRIL NYC WORKSHOP: http://ryanbrenizer.com/workshops

Ah, human nature. I revamped my workshops to make them a lot more helpful to a wider range of people, to focus on the things that I can teach uniquely well … but I also realized that, ironically, it would sound less attractive to people -- no matter how much it will help, no one wants to sit in a room all day and listen to lectures.

So, a couple things: I believe in this workshop structure even though it seeks to teach useful knowledge instead of "How to be fabulous," so I want to stick with it. But to make it more attractive I am lowering the Day 2 price to $500 and the two day price (with portfolio review) to $1000.

But also, I may have simply inadequately described Day 2, because it is NOT a day of boring lectures. Essentially, Day 1 is about Being a BetterP... more »

2013-03-27 18:20:07 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 32 +1s)

Anna and Steven had a fantastic wedding at Steiner Studios: see it here! http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/03/stage-6-at-steiner-studios-wedding-anna-and-steven/

2013-03-25 18:30:41 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 23 +1s)

NYC WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED April 13-14! I've used everything I've learned this winter to revamp my workshops to be even more packed with information -- so that if your brains don't explode you'll walk out with useful information as a photographer and businessperson. To do that, I've targeted each day -- the first is about being a better photographer, and the second is about building a better business, and people can attend one or both days.

More info here: http://ryanbrenizer.com/workshops

2013-03-21 23:59:32 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

If you have a big screen, I now have a big cover photo: https://plus.google.com/110492963926129353210/posts

2013-03-20 23:53:49 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 34 +1s)

Scott and Stephanie's wedding at Abigail Kirsch at the Tappan Hill Mansion is on the blog! http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/03/tappan-hill-wedding-stephanie-and-scott/

2013-03-16 18:13:37 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 64 +1s)

More fun in the desert with Kelsie

2013-03-15 17:01:25 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 55 +1s)

I mostly shot 6x7 polaroids out in the desert this year just to simplify and do something different. Of course you'd all have to come over to my house to see those, so I replicated it with some Method action. This comes out to be about a 60mm f/1, while the 110mm f/2.8 on the RZ ends up being the 35mm equivalent of a 54mm f/1.4.

2013-03-15 16:46:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

I did a quick panorama as the crowd was still filing in before my talk at WPPI yesterday -- by the end people were sitting on the floor and spilling out the door. I can't tell you what a huge honor that was, because just from the people I talked to beforehand, it seemed about 80-90 percent of attendees had made their flight plans before the schedules were released and were leaving before my talk. Thank you so much to everyone who came -- don't forget to use your iPhone app to leave a speaker evaluation!

2013-03-06 17:14:39 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

My American photo Top 10 selection is on the Web! http://www.americanphotomag.com/photo-gallery/2013/03/ryan-brenizer-best-wedding-photographers-2013

2013-03-06 15:51:16 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Sara and Alex's wedding at Bayard's Events and Catering is on the blog! http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/03/bayards-wedding-sara-and-alex/

2013-03-04 21:33:19 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Megan Duffy and Michael Kinney's Mad Men-themed engagement shoot is up at Grace Ormonde Wedding Style! http://www.weddingstylemagazine.com/mad-men-or-mad-love

2013-03-01 17:13:51 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 46 +1s)

More play with Claudia, and a treatise on slowing down: http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/03/more-play-and-slowing-down/

2013-02-26 19:19:36 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 47 +1s)

How do you shoot a bridal model's actual bridal session without it looking like just another one of her model shoots? We played, a lot. http://www.ryanbrenizer.com/2013/02/come-with-me/ 

2013-02-19 03:50:23 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Beginning our European adventure!