Jennifer & Andrew - Wedding Engagement @ Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh

What better way to create summer in March in Pittsburgh?  Visit the Phipps Conservatory and enjoy the beauty, warmth, and amazing color!  Jennifer, Andrew, and I visited the Conservatory to photograph their wedding engagement photos and the setting could not have been better.  We were blessed with an amazing sun that poured into the glass roof and windows of the conservatory.

Too often when photographing an engagement session in Pittsburgh, weather is a major factor.  However, the beauty of the conservatory would make even the worst weather day in Pittsburgh seem beautiful.  The color, settings, architecture, and light provided an amazing setting for an engagement portrait shoot.

Pittsburgh Wedding Photography

One of the best parts about an engagement session at the conservatory is that the couple is able to enjoy the beauty of the conservatory at the same time.

Every aspect of the conservatory brings hope of an upcoming spring and summer  to the Pittsburgh native as we finish off another harsh winter.

Please enjoy the engagement show that captures their love and smiles.

Engagement Photography Pittsburgh

Phipps Conservatory Pittsburgh Photographer

Jennifer Andrew Engagement @ Phipps in Pittsburgh from Frank Kendralla on Vimeo.

High School Senior Portraits and Weddings by dr Frank

Contact dr Frank to photograph your wedding, portraits, or special event.

Visit dr Frank's portfolio site for more fun, exciting, and colorful photographs of weddings in and around Pittsburgh, PA 

Alissa & Tim Wedding Engagement Show - Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers

I had the honor of photographing the engagement pictures of Alissa and Tim.  As always, I had a great time.  The pictures were taken in Butler County in a quiet beautiful park off 228 near Mars, PA.  Their wedding is later this year at Victory Family Church in Cranberry Twp.  A reception will follow at Shadow Lakes in Aliquippa, PA. 


Untitled from Frank Kendralla on Vimeo.

Suzanne and Sean Engagement Photos

On a chilly October day, Suzanne and Sean braved the weather and added fun and laughter to an overcast day in Pittsburgh.  I had a blast shooting their engagement pictures for their wedding in 2010.

Images taken with the Nikon D300 and the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8

Suzanne and Sean Engagement Pix from Frank Kendralla on Vimeo.

Emily & Matt - Engagement Session

Emily and Matt will be married later this fall with the wedding ceremony to be held at the United Presbyterian Church with a wedding reception to follow at the Fez in Hopewell twp. PA. We had a great time shooting their ‘engagement’ portraits at the North Park in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.

A few of the photos were taken on Marshall Island, which created a great backdrop for the portraits. The sun was setting over the water and it created a great back lighting situation. Emily looked beautiful with the light causing her beautiful hair to glow in the setting sun.

After a few shots on Marshall Island, we headed off to a second destination in North Park, the ‘School House’. It is an old shelter with tremendous character. I found it earlier in the day when I was driving through the park looking for buildings with character. Inside the shelter are two stone fireplaces with an amazing look. Under the shelter were many arched entranceways that enabled creating great images a ‘breeze’.

Emily and Matt are faithful Pittsburghers and brought along their Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys to wear in few portraits.

I had a tremendous time spending a couple hours with Emily and Matt, discussing the wedding and taking a few fun portraits.

The images were shot with the Nikon D300 and a variety of lenses including the Nikon 70-300 vr, Tamron 70-200 and 17-55 f/2.8. The lighting was an off camera SB800 shot through a white umbrella.

As always, get out and capture the beauty of life, 'one click at a time'.

Outdoor portraits continued Preserving the background

This is a continuation from yesterday's post. In this first picture I did not want to miss the beautiful sky created from the sunset.

I set the camera in manual mode and pointed the camera at the sky to check the exposure. Remembering the exposure I set-up the flash off the camera and pointed it to my subject. I lowered the output of the flash [Nikon SB-800] by a few stops. [I had to experiment with the settings to ensure proper exposure.] The camera was set to commander mode which enabled me to fire the SB-800 remotely using the on board flash as a 'trigger' flash for the SB-800. If your camera does not have this capability, there are other affordable alternatives. Years ago, I purchased a small 'remote' simple flash from Ritz for $20 or less that fired when another strobe fired. You could not modify the output but it was great to use for fill flash. Another alternative is to use a cable that connects your camera to your flash which enables off camera flash capabilities. [I will discuss this technique in future posts.]

The final settings on the camera was f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 400. I shot this using my Tamron 17-50 mm f/2.8 @ 17mm.

In this image I experimented with my flash off camera on a light stand I had it positioned to my left pointed to the subjects. The camera settings are very similar to the first picture.

19mm, f/6.3 @ 1/250 sec, ISO 800.

Have fun and experiment with light.

Sara & Dustin Engagement shoot

I had a great time shooting the engagement pictures of Sara and Dustin this past week. Their wedding is scheduled for June 09. The weather was beautiful and we could not ask for better conditions.

This is one of many images I took during the shoot. I took it along the shores of Lake Erie [Cleveland side]. The sunset was beautiful and glistened off the lake. To obtain the silhouette, I exposed for the sky and shot in manual.




The second image is exposed in the same manner but the color was modified in Lightroom. Notice the bird flying over head.




















The third image I converted to a B&W in Lightroom and added some -[negative] clarity to soften the image.