I second shot on this wedding with Laura Ryan back in October. I loved shooting at Gurney’s Inn. Its an awesome venue right on the beach! We had a little rain in the afternoon, but it cleared in time for us to do some shots outside and to hang out by the bon-fire after the reception. It was a VERY fun wedding.
I was so happy that the rain held up for the bonfire at the end of the night, it was alot of fun and added a very unique element to the wedding day!
I met with a client last week who asked me if I could help her out with getting a good picture of her engagement ring. She really wanted a nice shot of the ring to send to her grandmother who lives overseas. She didnt want to wait to get the ring photographed at the engagemkent session, so I gave her some advice and the shots came out great!
I thought I would share with my readers this little tutorial on how to get an awesome shot of your engagement ring with a simple point and shoot camera. You should be able to do this with any late model digital camera! For this tutorial I used a Canon A590 Is (here is a great review on the camera), its a cheap little camera cost about $125 bucks, perfect camera for my tutorial.
1. Kill the flash!!! Most point and shoot cameras have the option of turning off the flash, this is the first thing you want to do. You want to find an icon on the camera that looks similar to this 
Direct flash on to your ring is going to make it look washed out so we want to use ambient light or something that isnt as harsh as the on camera flash.
2. Finding good light is going to be the key in getting a good shot of your ring. In my tutorial I used the inside of my refridgerator. I cleared off a shelf close to the light bulb and took my shot. If you dont like the idea of shooting in your fridge, take a look around you -there is light sources everywhere, you just need to find it. A lamp, a flashlight, the sun, look around and see what looks flattering to you.
3. Next you want to think about how you want to display the ring for the shot. I recommend taking the ring off your hand it makes it so much easier to get close to the ring with the camera and allows you to use a backgrund that will make the ring POP!! In my tutorial I used a red rose and placed the ring in between the pedals. If you do a search online you can find some other ring photos to give you inspiration.
4. Now we need to get the camera in Macro Mode. Macro mode allows you to get close to the subject and magnify it to fill the frame. Macro Mode is usually shown on your camera as a little flower that looks like this: 
4. Now that you have everything setup, go snap a few photos of your ring, try taking the photos from different angles and views, take the best ones and start sharing them with your friends and family!
This is the shot I took of my wifes engagement ring for this tutorial useing a Canon a590IS Point and Shoot camera. 
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Contact me directly if you need some help!
I found a great wesbsite this past weekend- gettingmarriedonlongisland.com This is a website geared specifically to Long Island brides! It offers unique advice, tips, and all around great info. Although it is geared towards the Long Island bride, I am sure brides from all over will find a benefit to reading the posts on this blog as well!
The author of the blog Claudia Copquin is a well-known name in the bridal industry. She was the managing editor of Newsday’s Long Island Weddings, and she is now the senior editor for the national bridal website www.Chatterberries.com – She is an expert in the industry and a great resource for brides everywhere!
CONTEST HAS ENDED – THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST. PLEASE KEEP A LOOK OUT FOR THE 2011 DESTINATION WEDDING CONTEST! BE SURE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG FOR UPDATES!
The holidays are here and its the time of year that I like to give!! Some of you may remember the fresh faces contest I ran earlier this year, we had a ball doing the contest and some lucky families receieved great family portraits. This Holiday season I want to run another contest to give away a free wedding package to one lucky couple!
I am looking for a couple with a really great love story. How did met? How did he propose? What made you decide to spend the rest of you lives together! What kind of obstacles have you gone through to make this wedding happen! Let me here your stories! Im looking for a story that is truly touching that my blog readers will love! The best story is going to win the following -
This Package is Valued at $3300.
How to qualify:
Please send a recent photo of you and your fiance with your LOVE STORY and why you should be the winner of this package! Please also tell me your wedding date, and ceremony/reception locations. Please send your entry to info@joesanphoto.com by January 16th 2010.
I will be choosing a winner On January 16, 2010 – So please have your entries in By then.
Please contact me with any questions you may have, If you happen to know someone who can use a free photography package, please feel free to pass this on!
Winners will be required to sign a contract and a model release, and agree to have your picture and story posted on my blog. If wedding is not on Long Island, travel fees May apply. Contest is not open to current clients. you can not have a photographer booked for the day, and I will be your sole photographer. To shoot your wedding I must have the day available, So if your date falls on a day that I am booked you will not be eligible for a prize. The contest holds no cash value and winnings are not redeemable for cash.
Should we do an engagement session? Absolutely! When you book your wedding package with me, I automatically include a 1 hour “get to know you” session. I call t a get to know you session because it is our time to bond and get to know each other a little bit before the wedding! Its a great time to talk and get comfortable with each other so on the day of the wedding we all know what to expect and no ice will need to be broken! On top of it all, you are going to get some awesome pictures too!
So where should we shoot our engagement session? I suggest a place that holds some meaning to the two of you as couple. Maybe where you first met, or where he proposed, Try to think of a place that you feel you would LOVE to have your photos taken, if you cant think of anything, let me know I have some great ideas!
What should we wear for our engagement session? I recommennd you dress comfortable, photos always come out better when you are relaxed and feel comfortable. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes that you dont mind getting a little messy, especially if we are doing a beach shoot! Jeans and a nice shirt always looks good – BUT on the other hand this session is about you as a couple so if you like to wear matching pink polka-dots or even your pajamas go for it! I want to capture the essence of you!!
Can we bring a prop? You sure can, I had one couple bring a tandem Bicycle as a prop and the shoot was a blast! Props can be a lot of fun, especially if it has meaning to you guys!
I hope you found this short post helpful, I wanted to answer some of the questions that brides normally ask me about E-sessions. They really are alot of fun and a great way to get some casual photos of yourselves and since they come free with every wedding package you book with me it makes it even better!
Planning on having a guest sign in book at your wedding? Why not use a beautiful sign in book custom designed with pictures from your engagement session! These books are the same style and quality as the entry -level albums that I offer! Not only do they offer a unique way to show off your awesome engagement photos but most of all its a great way to preserve the memories of your engagement and your wedding day!
Here is a sample of a book that I recently designed for one of my 2010 couples
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Here are a few shots of a sample album!
Contest has ended. Thank you for your interst.
I was sitting around this weekend looking back at all of the venues I shot at this year, I shot at so many cool locations this year but the one place that really left a huge impression on me was the west sayville country club. I have quite a few weddings scheduled at WSCC next year and thought I’d do a little write up. I may do more of these write ups in the future, I enjoy looking back at all of these weddings!
This is a great venue for photos, beautiful views of the bay and the golf course make for excellent backdrops to your wedding photos – But when you take a walk over to the maritime museum on the other side of the property, a whole other world of photographic possibilities open up!! Everyone loves the building with the green door!
Inside the house is gorgeous. Beautiful staircases, fireplaces, and chandeliers it all makes for a warm and comfortable environment. I also love how the dance floor is seperate from the main dining room. Kind of gives all the guests different placed to hang out. While you are out on the dance floor side of the house and look out one of the numerous windows, you get stunning views of the bay and the golf course, and if you catch the sunsetting – it is just amazing..
Another thing about the WSCC that I like is the food, I eat a lot of catered foods, at least 3 times a month.. and I can say WSCC and pretty all of the venues run by Lessings have a great food! Not only is the food awesome, but the service is great too. The waitstaff treat us (vendors) like guests, and the bartenders always have a smile on. Good food and good service is always good.
I cannot not wait to shoot at the West Sayville Country Club again in 2010!
These are 2 shots I was looking at this weekend, that had me thinking of this venue. You can also check out my original post from this wedding here 
These shots was taken while working with Laura Ryan.
So this year Around the holidays I really wanted to do something special for a charity in my area to help those who are in need. I decided to participate in cans for comments.
How does it work?
For every comment you leave on my any of my blog posts, I will donate one can of food to Island Harvest. Just poke around the blog, and if you see a photo that you like, leave a comment! Simple?
Something as simple as writing a small sentence on my blog will help feed a hungry family this year!!!
I hope to see alot of people leaving comments!! The week of Christmas I will tally up the new comments and donate the cans! !
Thank you all for your support!!
What an awesome wedding! I truly had an awesome time at this wedding. We started the day off at St. Lukes Church in Whitestone, then we headed on over to the Jericho terrace.
Here are some of my personal favorites – Also check out the awesome slideshow with some more awesome photos from the day! It can also be found at the bottom of this post.
They had this awesome rolls royce- one of the nicest ones I’ve seen this year. 
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