photography Archive - I Still Love You by Melissa Esplin

Archive for the ‘photography’ Category

We Bought A Photobooth

January 5th, 2015

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It’s like one of those things that you say that elicits a cocked head and a, “What?”. Like we bought a zoo or something. Except infinitely sillier and minus the animal poop.

In October of this year Alix and I (along with our men) bought an open-concept photobooth. Alix is heavily involved in the event planning scene in the Utah and Salt Lake valleys. Both of us have been sorely disappointed in poor branding, terrible exposures and bulky equipment. Especially when it came down to the Secret Garden event back in January.

If you want something done right, you better do it yourself! So SaltyBooth was born: A utah-based photo booth business run by event experts.

Since getting our photobooth, we’ve had a ton of fun. Lots of late night photo sessions sorting out branding and layouts. It’s resulted in lots of family photos. An excellent perk of the new job, I might add.

We set up the booth for our Christmas cards (which are turning out to be more like New Year’s cards – EEP!). The image quality was nice enough for us to get a 11×14 canvas of the above amazingness. I can’t tell you how thrilled that makes me!

For Halloween we started a new tradition: Pic or Treat. Take a pic or grab a treat. It was a huge hit! Parents could get a great photo of their kids in costume and teens. . . teens squeal over any opportunity for a good selfie!

We had our first event last month with a handful of bloggers. The reception was more than we could have hoped for. Since then we’ve had our second event and booked several more. Get in touch if you’re looking for a photo booth rental for your next event! Here’s why what we offer is better than anything you’ll see locally:

We understand events and the blogging industry (amazing images are everything)
If you hire us, you get a calligrapher/designer and an event planner to make your booth awesomesauce
Users won’t be able to resist sharing their images across social platforms (Integrated Twitter, Facebook and Twitter, SMS and email sharing)
Instant gratification with a ridiculously amazing photo printer (we only use the best)
Our rockin’ lighting system allows you to get fabulous photos every time, even if the lighting at your event sucks
Our open-concept booth takes up very little space and it’s all-in-0ne so no bulky equipment to trip over
We’re really fun!

image by Alix | business cards by engrave jet

Email us at infoATsaltyboothDOTcom to book us for your next event.

Halloween Part II: Pic-Or-Treat

November 4th, 2014

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We bought a photobooth. It’s possibly one of the more exciting things we’ve purchased to date. More details forthcoming.

So to test out the booth, I decided that we would open our home to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters to something a little different: Pic-Or-Treat. I have every intention to make this an annual thing at our house. Kids could choose a treat or a pic. We had lots of fun seeing all the costumes and getting the parents involved in the whole thing.

Please ignore the fact that I wrote the ‘A’ backwards!

My favorite part: knowing that I could give our neighborhood parents something priceless: great photos of them with their kids on Halloween. It’s not often that I get to get in on a photo with my kids. And I have all sorts of photo equipment set up that would allow me to do so! Being able to give kids (especially those with food allergies) and their parents something to cherish was such a thrill. It was a great success, too! The little kids loved it. The teens? Oh!! The teens LOVED it.

As far as the nuts and bolts of it went, I set up a backdrop with a black sheet, then taped sliver and black fringe in front. I also lettered out some little signs and props for those without costumes to use in the photos as well. The whole thing came together rather quickly and made a huge impact on those who came to our door.

Felix isn’t one to get in on the photo thing much, but he was so enthusiastic about getting in on the fun. Even though we didn’t end up taking him trick-0r-treating, he had a lot of fun entertaining all the kids that came through the door. He also had his fair share of fun eating tasty treats (as you can see from the above photo).

If you’re looking to rent a photobooth like this for a future event, feel free to get in touch!

Photography for Sewers at Sewing Summit

September 24th, 2013

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I had a fabulous time at Sewing Summit this year.

Can we all just geek out together right now? I met Heather Bailey (like the Heather Bailey)! She’s just as beautiful, inspirational and genuine as she is creative. I love her even more after spending time with her.

Of all of the keynote speakers of all of the conferences I’ve been to, she’s the first to actually participate in the conference. It shows how invested she is in the sewing community. I love that. I had a great time gleaning a few tips on sewing with leather, finding that balance lives where the unicorns live and learning to adopt centimeters in pattern drafting (and sewing).

My presentation went well. I had slides with notes, but of course I misplaced my notes right before the class so there were a few key tips that I forgot to touch on (always happens).

Here’s a re-cap of the slide portion of my 2-hour presentation at Sewing Summit. I may be many things, but there’s one hat I don’t wear. I’m not a professional photographer. When asked if I’m a photographer, I correct and say, “I’m a photography enthusiast.”

That said, I do know how to use my camera in manual mode. It never leaves manual mode unless someone else is shooting my camera for me. I’m going to share with you some things that I’ve learned about photography that I picked up in my college photography class and with nearly 7 years of blogging.

(more…)

DIY: The Studio

July 16th, 2012

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Over the weekend I worked my tail off painting the office/studio white. It was originally a buttercup yellow, which didn’t jive well with my plans for being the computer/photography studio. It was a ton of work, but I’m really happy with the room! I have yet to really organize it and make it look pretty, but I thought I would share with you what I did.

Maybe you can do something similar, too?

I just used a basic bright white (no pigments added) for the paint in a satin finish. Come to think of it, I probably could have gone for a semi-gloss, but what’s done is done. With the white paint already on the walls, it took all of two seconds and $10 to create a virtually seamless white studio.

I realized that the corner of the room was really going to be the best place I’ll have in the room (and the house) for lighting and space for a permanent photo backdrop, so I set out to buy some plywood and paint it white for a little platform. Lo and behold, while I was browsing Ikea’s As Is department, I came across their corner table top in white. It’s a much warmer white than I’ve used on the walls, but for $10, my work was done! I may recover this thing with a white vinyl in the future, but for now, it works.

Now I’m just struggling to get my dual monitors to have the same white balance. It’s incredibly hard to process my photos with the screens so different from one another. I’ve spent hours trying to calibrate them to be exactly the same, but my iMac’s screen is natively darker and warmer than the LED monitor. Chris doesn’t notice, but it’s a crazy difference to me. I need to get over it though.

I also had a heck of a time trying to get Felix to sit still for more than half a second so I could snap a couple shots of these adorable kiddos. Finally a little Mac plug kept him occupied enough. Penelope was accommodating, though.

I’ve been through so many different photography backgrounds in the last two years!! Let’s see what we’ve had:

Ugly closet doors.
White curtains on a rod.
Grey yardage sewn to a curtain rod.
White unprinted vinyl tethered to the ceiling.
White walls and a white faux floor.

I think that last one should do the trick. I hope.

Thrifty: Shoes & White Balance

May 25th, 2012

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Yesterday I talked a bit about how I need to go out of my comfort zone a bit more when it comes to clothing. I do have some pretty awesome out-there clothes.

Like these shoes for example. Sarah thrifted them and gave them to me. They’re ridiculous and awesome at the same time. They’re also pretty dang comfortable, yet I’ve only dared to wear them once. I’m definitely going to wear them again and show you. Promise.

Also, have you noticed the all-over-the-place white balance around here? Maybe I’m the only one that’s bothered by it? Well, I lost the white insert to my Balens cap, so I’ve been winging it. Until today, when a nice package arrived on my doorstep. I ordered a really cheap white balance lens cap
from Amazon for $11. I highly recommend it.

The white balance on this sucker is a bit blue. But I think I’m okay with it (this is straight out of the camera). Thoughts?

Have you found any cheap tools that have changed your life? I’d love to hear about them.

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