Matthew Saville » Reception Photos

Wedding Photos In Temecula

Matthew Saville — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:36:43 +0000

This wedding actually starts with the rehearsal dinner. It’s wonderful to be invited into people’s lives for two days straight, and to try and “see” creatively… BTW, check out the work of this awesome stylist! I’ve never seen hair used so creatively. Gonna try and get his info…

Take care,
=Matt=

View the matthewsaville.com portfolio

Wedding Photos From Estancia La Jolla

Matthew Saville — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:23:51 +0000

Every wedding I’ve shot so far this year has been right up my alley. THANK YOU, brides and grooms, for finding me and letting me photograph your big day! I’m always thrilled when a couple talks about making time to shoot portraits when the light is perfect.

The rest of 2010 is looking awesome too. Not as many weddings as years past, (TYVM, economic disaster!) but literally every single wedding is going to have some awesome outdoorsy portraits that I’m pretty excited about.

Waiting on some film to come back from last week’s engagement session, then I’ll blog that, but in the meantime here is a wedding from Estancia La Jolla. Ironically even though I live in OC, I know the La Jolla area like the back of my hand, and it was really weird to photograph a wedding just a hundred yards from the pharmaceutical research labs where I worked in construction, years ago. (UCSD, Scripps, etc.) So thrilled for the opportunity to shoot a wedding day this beautiful…

Let me know if you’d like to know what went into a particular image. Or if you just have a favorite or a critique. Joy always tells me that I have such weird taste, and my favorite images are never other people’s favorite images. So, when I say I’d love to hear people tell me which images they like, (and why?) …I’m not just fishing for compliments. If you want to just say “nice photo!” that’s cool, but it doesnt’ pay my bills ya know? I’d love any input on why a photo works, or doesn’t, etc… Thanks! :-)

Take care,
=Matt=

www.matthewsaville.com

Ritz Carlton Wedding Photos With The Becker

Matthew Saville — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:17:22 +0000

Thank you [B]ecker for the opportunity to 2nd shoot and expand my artistic horizons at the Ritz on Saturday. I love to see other pros like [b] doing their thing, it’s magic how he works his subjects and keeps them relaxed in front of the camera. If you’re a photographer with even the slightest taste for going into business, you need to get into The [b] School. Honestly, it is the only professional community I recommend, period. I contribute there regularly too, and it’s the first place I turn to when looking for 2nd shooters and assistants…

Also had a great time with Melissa Brandman; thanks for letting me try out your new 50 AFS!

Crazy fog rolled in RIGHT before the ceremony, in the middle of an otherwise gorgeous warm afternoon. So weird, but the bizarre light afforded some killer images! Cool diffused light = flippin’ sweet B&W images.

For photographers: All images shot on my D300, in-camera JPG and almost straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) since that’s how Becker rolls. Lenses used: Nikon 17-35 2.8, Sigma 50-150 2.8, Nikon 50 1.4 AFS, Nikon 300mm 2.8 AFS, (Becker’s massive tele; he used to shoot Nikon) …And last but not least, my two favorite manual focus lenses the Nikon 24 2.8 AIS and Tamron 90mm 2.5 Macro. Used a tripod a lot of the time. The reception lighting rimlight was a remote SB800 commanded by my pop-up flash. Yes, I used a pop-up flash in front of Becker. That’s how I roll. :-P

=Matt=

(Props to [b] for finding this amazing LIGHT and relaxing the bride for this candid pose!)

www.matthewsaville.com

Photos at Wayfarers Chapel, Terranea Resort, & Trump Golf Course

Matthew Saville — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:40:36 +0000

I love big wedding days that feel like an adventure. For some reason I’ve already shot five weddings this year, and they’ve all been pretty incredible adventures what with rain, rain, rain, a tsunami warning, and funnel clouds. Of course the good part about getting married during this risky time of year is that you CAN be rewarded with some amazing images if the weather is juuuust right. Dramatic clouds and dramatic light are so much more exciting!

Anyways this wedding day started at Terranea Resort, then continued to Wayfarer’s Chapel, and wrapped up with a reception at Trump Golf Course. …And Donald Trump himself dropped by. If you don’t believe me, just scroll down! Oh and our awesome friend Kacee Geoffroy did Suzanne’s makeup, BTW. Kacee is awesome! I said that already… Note to self: hook up Kacee with pictures for her portfolio…

I’ll pipe down and let the light and the expressions speak for themselves…

=Matt=

(Photographers- all images were made on a Nikon D300 and the following lenses: Nikon 24 2.8 AIS, Sigma 50-150 2.8 HSM, Nikon 85 1.8 AFD, and the Tamron 90mm f/2.5 (also manual focus) I shot 100% RAW and processed the images in Bridge CS3 95%, with a couple touch ups plus the sharpening / watermark for blogging. :-)

www.matthewsaville.com

New Tivoli Terrace Wedding Photos

Matthew Saville — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:14:28 +0000

In keeping with the excitement of last weekend’s tsunami warning during a beach wedding in Dana Point, yesterday’s Laguna Beach wedding at Tivoli Terrace involved water spouts / funnel clouds. Yikes!

But the wedding and the photos turned out beautifully. I love photographing weddings around this area, especially around this time of year! The hillsides are gorgeous and green, and the weather, even though scary, affords so many opportunities for amazing pictures. And of course Tivoli is such a cute, intimate little wedding venue. The combination of beautiful light and happy, energized people always equals MANY great moments to capture. I’ll shut up and get to the images now… These are quick edit proofs straight outta bridge with no “photoshop”…

Many thanks to Alice Hu and Evonne Wong for assisting me yesterday… I’m excited to go through your photos next!

Take care,
=Matt=

(Yes, that’s a water spout. Not common in So Cal, and the 1st I’ve ever seen in real life!)

(Thanks to ALICE for setting up this pic and letting me steal it with my 85 portrait lens… SO CUTE! (Those are the dog’s booties..)

www.matthewsaville.com

Recent Candid Wedding Photos

Matthew Saville — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:30:48 +0000

So, how about that daylight savings time, eh? I gotta say, sleeping in an extra hour this morning felt great! Okay who am I kidding, most days I sleep in an extra hour anyways. Or two. But before you say I have the easy life, let me remind you of every self-employed person’s affliction: every fleeting moment that we ARE awake, we work, or if we take time off, work is haunting the back of our mind…

Okay anyways, today was different and the extra hour DID feel good because I woke up relatively early (10:30?) and went to downtown LA for a photo shoot at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with some local Facebook friends. Thanks to Kevin, Lori, Joelle, Jeremy, Megan and Lissa+Dean for such a great afternoon! I’m looking through the photos now and I’ll put some up on Facebook soon!

Right now I want to share a few candid moments from a recent wedding. These images were edited “live” in front of last week’s Workflowshop class, actually. They can vouch- it didn’t take 30 minutes per image to get the job done… For my blog, I believe it is a good idea to show images that represent exactly what my clients get on their image disc, so these are “proof” images.

Anyways. Oooh, what’s this, a new Ryan Farish song on pandora? Okay I’m done typing, time for some relaxing music, and sleep.

Take care!
=Matt=

Wedding Photos from Tivoli Terrace…

Matthew Saville — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:05:20 +0000

Last weekend’s wedding was at Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach. I haven’t shot at this venue before, but I’m glad I had the opportunity and I’m excited to shoot there again soon! The lights are EVERYWHERE, and oh-so-beautiful.

To me, wedding portraits AND photojournalism are all about the light. Nothing magnifies a beautiful moment like dramatic light. I also like warm light, soft light, rim light, and light that transitions from warm to cool. As a wedding photographer with roots deep in nature / outdoor photography, I just really enjoy good light. Okay I’d better stop talking about light…

Photographers: As per the usual, most of these images are minimally edited, from a Nikon D300 and one of these three lenses- Sigma 50-150 2.8, Nikon 17-55 2.8, Nikon 85 1.8. Some shots were JPG, some were RAW. All were shot with Kelvin white balance, and various different metering and exposure settings. I talk a LOT about light, white balance, metering and exposure at my Workflowshop because I believe in-camera perfection is actually one of the BIGGEST (and most over-looked) factors in having a quick, enjoyable workflow.

Take care!
=Matt=

Another Wedding at the Fullerton Arboretum!

Matthew Saville — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:51:02 +0000

Really quick, here’s a few recent images from a wedding at the Arboretum, one of my favorite venues! Next up will be a new wedding venue I’ve never shot at before, Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach…

Take care everybody, and see you soon one way or another! I’m heading down to San Diego now for the SD Shootout, then this coming weekend I’m heading down to SD again for the Miramar Airshow and my autofocus / exposure workshop, and then Tuesday October 13th is the next So Cal Shootout, phew! That’s a lot of getting together…

=Matt=

(PS: As always, these images are minimally processed, with no more than a few seconds’ worth of clicking in Bridge, and some are straight out of the camera with the RAW or JPG default edits. I REALLY believe that in-camera capture AND computer “default” processing settings are a key element in achieving a happy workflow!)

I love shooting at the Fullerton Arboretum! Just look at how the light got all nice and warm as the ceremony progressed…

NO reflector! This was a light bounce I just stumbled upon…

Off-camera flash at the reception.

And of course, the obligatory tripod reception shot. This is with the default RAW settings, no adjustments.

Bok Tower Wedding Photos, Lake Wales Florida

Matthew Saville — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:33:14 +0000

Danielle and Eric’s wedding was simply gorgeous, and we definitely had an absolute miracle with the weather. Rain was at 100% prediction, every single hour of the day, a couple Saturdays ago. Somehow, magically, a couple hours before the ceremony the rain let up and gave us an entire afternoon without more than a couple drops.

The cloudy light was dreamy and soft, and I had the dreamy-soft bokeh of Eric’s superb 35 1.4 L to play with. I just love soft, quiet images. At this wedding in particular, I realized how it’s such an art form- quietly anticipating emotional moments, while simultaneously managing the light and your camera to try and make each image as dramatic as possible…

But, I’ll let the images do the talking!

By the way, if you’re thinking about getting married at Bok Tower, DO IT! And do yourself a huge favor, hire a photographer who LOVES the beauty of such a location as much as you do. I live on the west coast, (Yeah, the OTHER Orange County, to all you central Floridians!) …but I LOVE to travel. In fact the groom from this wedding is a great friend of mine and an amazing photographer; we shoot together around the country as a wedding photography team.

Click HERE to view a portfolio gallery with even more photos from Bok…

Take care!
=Matt=

If you’d like to get in touch with me about photographing your wedding, (brides) click HERE for a contact form and pricing..
If you’re a photographer and wanna chat about photography, click HERE!