• Bart Leger Photography Blog
  • Bart Leger Photography Blog

Chad and Taylor’s Wedding in DeRidder

August 1st, 2010

I had a great time with Chad and Taylor last weekend for their beautiful wedding in DeRidder, LA. Everyone had done a great job getting the church ready and we just had fun as the day unfolded. Chad, Taylor – here are a few sneak peeks at some of your awesome images from your special day.

Picture of bride sitting on the altar
A Special Day
Bride and Groom at the altar

Wedding Day

Bride and Groom in front of church door

My Love

Bride and Groom kissing under tree

The Embrace

Groom kissing bride on the forehead

I Love You

The wedding took place at the First United Methodist Church in DeRidder, LA. This was a great venue with the wonderful altar and the stained glass all around the building. It made for great photographs and wonderful memories.

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Renting a Specialty Lens – Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Review

July 8th, 2010

Can you really have enough lenses? Well, ask the typical photo enthusiast or working pro and their answer will be, “Of course not!” The reality is certain lenses work better for a particular subject or type of photography. If you’re wanting to take close-up shots of a flower, or insect, a macro lens is what you need. If you’re into landscapes or real estate photography, then wide-angle or tilt-shift lenses will be the lens of choice. What about wildlife photography? The choice here is a telephoto lens such as a 400mm or even that awesome 800mm lens to reach out there and touch that wary bird or wild animal. Weddings? What would a wedding be without the 70-200 F2.8? Not as exciting, that’s for sure.

Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Lens

But how can the emerging pro or serious enthusiast afford all those lenses? The answer is rent. That’s right. Gain access to the fast, expensive glass without the enormous price tag and without it sitting in your camera bag for weeks or months on end between uses. For my last wedding I rented Canon’s EF 70-200mm F2.8 IS USM beauty. This particular model has been around for a while and is still a workhorse (for my next wedding in a couple of weeks I will be using Canon’s new version of this lens and will post a review to let you know how it performed) and a staple of wedding photographers and many portrait photographers. Nikon also has a similar lens in a similar configuration.

As I said, this lens can truly be considered a professional workhorse. The lens is fast at F2.8 and the image stabilization feature helps you shoot at slower shutter speeds when pressed for good lighting and still get fairly sharp images. The F2.8L combined with sharp optics and image stabilization make this lens a go-to lens when the shot is critical. During the ceremony when many churches do not allow flash photography, this is the lens that allows me to continue shooting and not create a distraction. It’s also great if the church has a balcony and you have access. This is a perfect use for this lens to zoom in on the action at the altar and get crisp shots even in low light.

I especially love this lens for my portrait photography. Shooting between F2.8 and F4.0 with the lens racked out to 180-200mm causes the background to melt away into a creamy blur creating beautiful bokeh on background highlights. This truly is a must have lens.

Beautiful Blur

To rent this or other lenses or simply to see what there is available, click on this link to BorrowLenses and check it out. Let me know what you think.

Follow me on Twitter, or “Like” our fan page on Facebook.

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Take Care of the LCD – Photography Tips

July 7th, 2010

OK, I realize I’m keeping it simple, but we’re starting with the basics. Be patient, we will will get into a wide variety of tips from camera settings, composition, exposure, software tips, etc, eventually. Click our RSS feed button to the left and keep up with the latest tips.

Today’s tip will cover protecting the most vulnerable parts of your camera, the LCD screen, for one. Your LCD could be called your “window to the world.” This little piece of glass real estate gives you instant feedback as to what your lens saw when you pressed the shutter release. It also is the way you interact with your camera’s menu commands. Here are just a few tips to keep your LCD screen safe:

  1. Keep it clean. Use the same cleaning equipment you use on your lens (never tissue or paper towels as they can scratch your lens and LCD). You can even use the cleaning cloth that comes with eyeglasses. A cool little gadget that I use is called SPUDZ. It is a microfiber cleaning cloth with an integral pouch and clip. You can find them at most camera shops or online at places like B&H Photo and Video.
  2. Cover it. You can use screen protector film sheets like those used for protecting touchscreens for PDA’s or cell phones. They attach by way of static electricity and will not harm your LCD. They are easily removed and replaced when worn.
  3. Avoid leaving your camera in the car for extended periods of time. Glove compartments and trunks are solar ovens that can reach temperatures much higher than the outside temperature.

That’s it for today from Lake Charles Family Photographers. Keep coming back for more tips. Please follow us on twitter or “Like” us on facebook to stay current with our posts and/or click on the RSS feed button to the left.

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How to make a raincoat for your camera

July 3rd, 2010

Your digital camera is a delicate piece of electronic equipment and needs to be cared for properly. Today’s tip will cover a few ways to ensure your camera will be protected from the elements. Developing goods habits for taking care of your camera should help you keep your expensive investment working properly.

One of the main threats to digital cameras is the environment. Severe heat and cold, rain and dust can wreak havoc on your camera. However, some of the best photographic moments may happen during less than optimal conditions. So what do you do? First, take some simple precautions.

Depending on your location, humidity may be a problem. Your lens may fog the moment you go outdoors. If this is the case, you simply need  to plan ahead of time. If your camera is indoors in the air conditioning and you want to take a picture outside when the humidity is high, you may want to take your camera outside a while before you’re ready and allow it to acclimate to the humidity. That way the fogging on the lens and eyepiece should clear up after a few minutes. By all means do not take off your lens when you first go out because your sensor will then fog up and this may create problems with moisture inside your camera.

What about when it’s raining? Well, if it’s not raining too hard and you have someone else available, just have them hold an umbrella over you so your hands can be free to shoot. If you don’t have an assistant, or if you want to stay out in the rain for some time, you can try making a raincoat for your camera.

For this you will need a 2 gallon “Ziploc” – type plastic bag and a lens hood. Your lens may have come with a lens hood. If not, you can pick one up on the Internet specifically for your brand and model lens. Here are the instructions:

  1. Lay the bag flat and place the lens hood on the bottom of the bag so that exactly half the hood straddles the bottom edge of the bag.
  2. Trace around the lens hood with a felt-tip pen to make a half-circle. Keeping the bag flat, use an Xacto knife, scissors, or a utility knife to follow the traced half-circle and cut out an opening for the lens hood through both layers of the bag. After you have cut the half-circle, open up the bag and you will see that it forms a full circle
  3. Now place the camera in the bag (with the lens hood attached to the front of your lens) and push the lens hood through the hole in the bottom.
  4. Tape the plastic bag to the lens hood so that water or debris can’t leak in. (the picture below shows taping to the lens, but it will be better to tape to the lens hood.)
How to protect your camera in the rain

illustration of camera raincoat

While you’re carrying the camera, keep the bag zipped shut. When you are ready to take a picture, hold the camera so the rain won’t come into the bag, unzip it, and reach inside to hold the camera. Be sure to pull the bag over your wrist. You can make a few of these raincoats ahead of time and keep them in your camera bag  just in case.

No Fear! Go out and make great pictures.

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Follow us on twitter at: http://twitter.com/B_Leger_Photo

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Why Choose a Professional Wedding Photographer?

July 2nd, 2010

It’s your special day. You’ve made sure the venue will be breathtaking. The cake will be magnificent. The decorations will fit your color scheme perfectly. You’ve asked a friend with a nice camera to capture your once in a lifetime images of your wonderful day. Whoa… What’s wrong with this picture? Well, for one, your friend should be able to join you in celebrating your joyous day as a guest, not a worker. Secondly, the only tangible thing from that day besides your relationship that will last for decades to come are your wedding portraits. Do you really want to trust your once in a lifetime memories to someone who has never shot a wedding before, or even if they have a website and call themselves a professional, who do not have liability insurance or professional affiliations  to capture your special images?

Why not check out the Professional Photographers of America wedding site that can help you with some of your wedding details. Click here to navigate to the site. You can also check out out Lake Charles Wedding Photographers portfolio here at Bart Leger Photography.

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Destination Wedding – Orlando – Lake Charles Wedding Photographers

July 2nd, 2010

What a great couple. Lawrence and Jessica were married near Orlando, FL a few weeks ago and we had the privilege to capture their memories of their wedding. Here are a few of their images.

Bride and Groom at the lake - Orlando Wedding picture

By the Lake

Picture of bride with flowing veil

Blowing in the breeze

Bride and groom picture with backlight

Young love

I just love the beautiful backlighting in this shot above. I believe it is becoming one of our signature shots for our weddings and portrait clients. Let me know what you think.

Image of bride groom walking away

On our Way

Picture of bride and groom in church

Timeless love

We just finished another bridal session of a beautiful young bride and can’t wait to show you a few shots from her session. It will have to wait until after the wedding though.

Get in touch with us about photographing your wedding or other special event. We are Lake Charles Wedding Photographers whose goal is to capture the real you.

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Photography Classes – Individual and Group – Lake Charles

May 26th, 2010

Want to learn how to take better pictures of your family? Did you get a new camera for Christmas or your birthday and haven’t figured out all the buttons and cool features it has? Are you tired of simply taking snapshots and want your pictures to pop? Let us help you.

We are now offering individual and group photography classes in your own home or ours. You’ll learn the settings on your camera, learn when to use certain features of your camera to make better pictures, the difference between different lenses, and 10 tips for creating better pictures of your kids or grandkids.

Call today! We are only offering a limited number of classes due to our already busy schedule. Get in on the fun. Check out out website for details. Simply go to our homepage and click on Photography Classess/Private or Group ClassesLake Charles Family Photographers

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Camera Tips – Learn Your Camera

May 19th, 2010

So… you have a new digital camera. You’ve taken quite a few pictures and you would like to know a little more about how your camera works or how you can get more out of it. If you’re like most people, you might find yourself a little intimidated by all the settings and buttons. Or you’ve taken some pictures and wondered why they turned out green or your subjects look like a silhouette. Well, I will do my best to keep the posts coming with different photography tips on how to make better pictures in the days and weeks to come. Hopefully, in no time you will be surprising yourself at the awesome images you are creating not only of your precious family, but also the wonders of God’s creation.

The first tip we will cover will probably sound to you like a “duhhhh”, or you might say, “way to go, Captain Obvious”. But if most people are honest, they will have to admit they have not started out with this most obvious tip. Most of our cameras (even the relatively inexpensive ones) will probably have way more features than we might ever use. But we shortchange ourselves when we don’t utilize even the most basic capabilities of modern digital cameras to capture beautiful images throughout a wide range of photographic circumstances.

Here it is: Drum roll please…(how do you type a drum roll by the way?) READ THE OWNERS MANUAL. That’s right, the owners manual. Many are satisfied with simply pointing at their desired subject and clicking. That may be fine for the average snapshot here and there, but what if you have the family all together and want yourself included in the picture. Do you even know how to use your camera’s self-timer function? See what I mean.

So here it is: brew yourself a nice cup of tea, or whatever it is you enjoy, sit in your favorite chair, and read your camera manual from cover to cover. Now that you’re done with that, read it through the next time with your camera in your hand. Actually use your camera to perform the functions explained in the manual.

Get the most out of your camera. Use it often. Take it wherever you go. Don’t just take pictures, “make” great pictures.

bluebonnet in a field of green picture

Bluebonnets

Lake Charles Family Photographer Bart Leger Photography is still accepting appointments for our annual Baby and Child Portrait Contest. Reserve your session now for an opportunity to win up to $5000 for your family. 337-302-6624

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Robert & Destiny Engagement Portrait Session

May 16th, 2010

It all started with a phone call. Robert called and asked if we did photo sessions at the beach. I told him that we did and he proceeded to explain that this portrait session would be a little different. He was planning on proposing during our picture taking. Oh, wow. It took quite a bit to restrain my enthusiasm about the prospect of capturing this awesome once in a lifetime memorable moment in this couple’s life. To make it even more exciting, I had just acquired the Flip HD video camera and my mind began to reel with the possibilities. He already had the date in mind, so we locked in the time and planned on getting together later to plot our strategy.

At this planning session we came up with a signal that would let Robert know when to take out the ring and pop the question. Now, with all the details ironed out, we waited for the big day. We met at Prien Lake Park in Lake Charles, got acquainted for a few minutes and began shooting. Then, just at the right moment, I gave the signal and Robert began to pull the ring box out of his boot. The rest, we may say, took its natural course.

If you would like to see the video of their proposal and engagement portrait session you can view it on a previous post  here.

Below are just a few of the heirloom images created for Robert & Destiny by Lake Charles Family and Wedding Photographer, Bart Leger Photography.

Engagement Couple picture at Prien Lake Park

Engagement Couple portrait session at Prien Lake Park

Engagement Couple portrait session at Prien Lake Park

Engagement Couple portrait session at Prien Lake Park

Engagement Couple portrait session at Prien Lake Park

Call Bart Leger Photography today to capture your once in a lifetime memorable moments. 337-302-6624

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Robert & Destiny Engagement Video at Prien Lake Park- Lake Charles Wedding Photographer

May 13th, 2010

Engagement Portrait session at Prien Lake Park in Lake Charles, LA with Lake Charles Wedding Photographer Bart Leger Photography

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