Santa Cruz Photographer for Weddings, Families, Commercial, Food, Lifestyle and More!
Hey you. Yeah, you. Thanks for visiting my blog. Check here often for the latest and greatest photos by Chris Schmauch. I shoot weddings, food, architecture, families, events, models, products... well you get the point, I love it all!
Click on the "Categories" link up top to find posts related to certain types of photography. Most of my stuff is restaurant-related (architecture & food) or people-related (weddings, engagements, families, etc.)
Click the "portfolio" link to visit www.GoodEyePhotography.com, where you can order prints from over 130,000 photos in my always-expanding archive.
Oh, a little about me: I'm 32, happily married with two little girls, and am passionate about both Photography and Design (hence the business name). I'm a Nikon shooter, love both Macs and PCs, have that type of personality that gets along with anyone, am totally unflappable, and, well, I'm pretty good at what I do.
Visit often, and if you need to book me, don't hesitate to call: 408.431.4808!
I’ve been hearing about this frozen yogurt place for a while now, but it’s hard to get excited about “another” froyo place, I mean the opening of these places is practically an epidemic. But I recently had the opportunity to shoot Fraiche in downtown Palo Alto, and I’ve gotta say this stuff is pretty good. And it looks great as well (as you can see)!
August 28, 2010 - 6:26 pm [...] Fraiche Yogurt in Palo Alto. I’d actually met her before when I took some photos of her place back in April. She’s promoting her baked goods right now, and as I pushed a sample into my mouth I can say [...]
“Sweet 16” just doesn’t seem to apply for guys… Sporting a nifty fedora and surrounded by at least a hundred of his mates, Austin had a hell of a 16th birthday at Illusions in Palo Alto. Lots of dancing, hangin’ out, and even several breakdancing performances by Freestyle Express. Oh, and Austin is quite the dancer himself, I can see why he wanted the breakdancers to come to his party. Happy birthday buddy, I’m sure you had a blast, hope you like the photos. Slideshow of my faves below, all the rest are here.
[slidepress gallery=’austins-sick-16th’]
It was a rainy weekend in San Jose, but luckily Rachel and Thomas had the foresight to have their ceremony and reception indoors at the historic San Jose Woman’s Club. The lovely couple had a Celtic/Scottish theme (the entire wedding party wearing dresses & kilts), and I’m sorry guys, but I think those legs need to see some sunshine… Being as Rachel and Thomas are highly educated, well traveled, and therefore love books – the centerpieces of each table were actually beautiful old novels (that they’d scrounged up at untold numbers of used book stores) and postcards from places they’ve traveled together. The nice thing about this wedding was everything was adorned with meaning, no decorations were frivolous. Congrats guys, I hope you enjoy the photos. I’ve included some of my favorites in the slideshow below, all the rest are here.
[slidepress gallery=’rachel-and-thomas’]
What to do when the Sea Otter Classic people don’t have any good press images to use on the cover of your magazine? You look for other sources, of course! My fellow photographer/buddy Sam Fontejon is an avid sports enthusiast, and actually participates in the Sea Otter Classic every year, so I figured using some of his original artwork to depict the upcoming event was more than relevant. Not only does Sam excel at hurtling down mountains at breakneck speeds with astonished, goofy-faced expressions (amazed you made this jump, Sam?), but he’s a fantastic photographer in his own right, and often accompanies me on important shoots.
For this shot, Sam (the subject) set up two off-camera Nikon-SB-900 speedlights, one with a red gel. He used a Nikon D700 with a 50mm/1.4 lens. Sam set up the shot, then sped down the hill for his friend Raymond T. Mah to actually pull the trigger.
Thanks for the shot Sam, it made for a great cover!
David Kinch’s Manresa is a Los Gatos fine dining icon; anyone who calls themselves a “foodie” in the Bay Area has visited the Michelin-rated restaurant at least once. David’s menu is constantly changing, depending on whatever’s “growing in the garden.” The restaurant is not huge, but boasts an intimate, classy atmosphere (dare I call it romantic?). From the Persian rugs to the exotic mix of dark woods, you’ll feel at home when dining at Manresa. I hope you enjoy the interiors below from the quick 20 minute photo shoot.
April 1, 2010 - 8:17 am - These look fantastic. I really like how you've captured that infinite horizon effect with the shot showing the wine bottle rack.
The Grill on the Alley, nestled next to Downtown San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel, oozes with class and sports a menu that will satisfy any discerning meat ‘n’ potatoes-loving connoisseur. I always enjoy shooting here, whether it’s food or interiors. When it comes to slabs of beef, The Grill keeps it simple. Meat, broccoli, and beer – three food groups taken care of. Manager John Price hopes to win some kind of award with corporate by submitting these photos. I’m satisfied with a simple free lunch. Goof luck John!
I’m used to dealing with first time bride and grooms, so I was delighted when I was hired to capture the memories of a 50 year wedding anniversary! Draped in Philipino ceremonial garb, Salvador and Lydia renewed their vows to each other in front of friends and family at Le Rivage hotel in Sacramento. The main room was expertly decorated, and Design With Florae created some amazing floral table arrangements that had just the right amount of class. The highlight of the evening was watching a slideshow of their lives; you could see the emotion shining on everyone’s faces. Please take a moment to scroll through some of my favorites from the evening – slideshow is at the bottom, or all printable photos can be found here.
Design With Florae
[slidepress gallery=’salvador-and-lydia-50th-anniversary’]
April 21, 2010 - 7:49 pm - There is a black and white photo that was taken of my father and me. I'd like to purchase a copy of it if possible. However it's not one that is shown through the blog. Let me know if I can order it. Thanks! Christina
Nestled on 28 acres of extremely private property in Portola Valley is a living relic from the roaring ’20s, and its name is Villa Lauriston. I won’t go into the history of the house as there are books published about it, but it was literally built from the ground it majestically sits upon. All the rock was excavated from a quarry up the hill and hand-chiseled into what would become garden walls, bridges, walkways and of course the house itself. I was tasked by the owner to photograph all the rooms and the surrounding ponds, vineyard, pathways and all the details in-between. Of course I used my own HDR technique extensively for many of the photos, especially the interiors – which made the shooting process MUCH quicker than using artificial lights for each shot. In fact, I completed shooting the entire project in a little less than four hours!
The goal of this shoot was to capture the property at its peak, the result of 15 years of immense restorative efforts by the owner. He wanted professional photography to preserve the place as he lived in it and would like to remember it. He’ll create his own book with the results of my photos and his writing. It was nice to have an emotional connection with the project, which I definitely took to heart. Below are some of my favorite photos from the shoot, but of course you can check out all the exterior and interior photos if you like as well.
[slidepress gallery=’villa-lauriston’]
March 31, 2010 - 7:12 am - Those shots look really nice. Did you use your bracketing tool for the indoor shots?
March 31, 2010 - 4:44 pm - Thanks :) Read the description and find out!
August 16, 2010 - 12:33 pm [...] in March, I shot ground-based interiors and exteriors for this client – it’s an amazing house set on 20 acres of property near Skyline Blvd. [...]
January 20, 2011 - 10:43 am [...] a lot of real estate photography. Ok, well I shot this beach house recently. And of course this really, really sexy mansion in Portola Valley, but mostly it’s not something I’m asked to do much. Maybe I’m too expensive, I [...]
Sent Sovi's Owner and Chef, Josiah Slone, whipping me into shape...
I love shooting Josiah’s culinary creations. I can make 100 photos by cropping various portions of each dish, he has such a fine attention to detail. Here’s just a few from our marathon Spring Menu session. All the photos from the shoot are here. A few stills and a slideshow of my favorites are below.
[slidepress gallery=’sent-sovi-spring-menu-2010′]
March 31, 2010 - 7:14 am - Incredible attention to detail. Nothing out of the ordinary catching my eye (not even a green spec out of place on that hamburger looking thing). I am still seeing a couple of religious artifacts on that scallop though.
I always have a tough time shooting the interiors of really dark places – not that’s it’s a technical challenge, it’s just that it’s so easy to bring out details that you really don’t want to see in a dark place. For example, when someone paints their ceiling black, it’s because there’s nothing up there that’s supposed to attract your attention. But when you’re shooting and processing using a High Dynamic Range workflow, it’s all too easy to show detail where, well, you just shouldn’t.
In fact, this is the main problem with 99% of HDR photos you see on Flickr and other photo communities. It’s like everyone’s playing with the latest Photoshop plugin, completely overdoing it. Next thing you know, the “new look” is quickly poo-pooed by mainstream professionals because all the average joes are out there destroying the art of it. In reality, it’s just another tool to use or abuse (drop shadow, anyone?). I’ll be the first to admit I’ve gone overkill with the process, and it’s literally taken me years to reign myself in, to gain finesse and discipline and skill with this process. I’m still learning, as is any honest photographer throughout their career, but I feel safe in claiming that I’m at least above average in its execution. But hey, kind reader, you be the judge. This topic more than deserves its own post – I’ll put that on my mental to-do list for 2010.
Back to Kaama – this place has some amazing woodwork, and the decor is classy, yet welcoming. It’s got long comfy seats, encouraging groups to sit, mingle, eat and drink in a social way. There’s lots of round elements, and no corners you can hide in and sip your martini while nervously scanning the crowd. Kaama oozes with intimacy.; prepare to interact with friends and strangers alike when you arrive.
For this assignment, I was taking more of an architectural approach to the photos. Even though it’s quite dark inside, I wanted to show off the understated glamour a little – there’s lots of reflective surfaces, a variety of natural carved wood, creative lighting, and splashes of color and texture to make it all exciting. I hope the photos communicate the kind of place it is. Enjoy my favorites below, the full gallery is here.
If you’ll recall from my last cover, it’s good to envision the the final product of the mag – the proportions, negative space for coverlines, etc – when shooting your subject. But more often than not, the photos gracing many, many magazine covers were never shot with that intent. Usally Art Directors are sourcing images from the past, whether through stock agencies or internal archives – looking for an image that’s appropriate for the current project.
That being said, I shot this beautifully-prepared scallop dish by Shokolaat almost six months ago for an advertising campaign. At the time I didn’t know I’d be using the image for The Wave’s Spring Dining issue cover, but here we are, using it this very day!
So what’s the take-home lesson for today? Shoot everything like it’s going to end up on a magazine cover! Well, not really – but it doesn’t hurt to think this way, you never know how your images will be used in the future.
March 22, 2010 - 4:28 pm - I think I can make out the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus in that seared scallop. She's caressing him with her hand as he looks up at her. Amazing. Miguel
It seems like all my posts lately are related to Kaama Lounge – well there’s a lot going on there, with it being a hot new restaurant ‘n’ all. Here’s a few photos from a VIP party held the night before the place opened. Slideshow below (click it, neat!), all 166 printable photos here.
[slidepress gallery=’kaama-vip-party’]
I love beer. I love burgers. I love restaurants that excel in both departments. Enter Firehouse Brewery, anchored on Murphy Street in downtown Sunnyvale for several years now. The General Manager (Leticia Jensen) was kind enough to meet up with me before the craziness of St. Patrick’s Day was upon us to get a few food shots done. This is comfort food, so just relax. Yesterday I shot Siam Taste, which is across the street, maybe I should just hit up all the restaurants on this avenue and be done with it!
March 17, 2010 - 6:08 am - Great shots. Those mussels look fantastic. I really like the arrangement of the beers and that lemon wedge gives the photo some character. I wonder if you could use an atomizer to spray fine mist on the glasses to give them that extra cold look.
March 17, 2010 - 7:13 am - good call mig - what i really need is an atomizer-spray-spraying-assistant. You game?
March 17, 2010 - 11:44 am - Yes. I am game for the atomizing position. My atomizer is filled with a solution of glycerin and water to great a longer lasting effect. How will I commute from Norway?
Murphy Street, the one-block heart of downtown Sunnyvale, is getting totally remodeled right now. To the casual passer-by, it looks like a serious construction zone. But the businesses are still open, and there’s some true gems – new and old. One such jewel is Siam Taste, and although there’s nothing extraordinary going on from a windowshopper’s perspective, the food is simply amazing. Cat brought out dish after dish of the tasty Thai food. I yanked the plastic protective tabletop off to reveal the beautiful multicolored / metallic tablecloth beneath, which made for some very interesting color and texture in the photos. Between the table pattern and the dishes, there’s a lot going on (and I tend to prefer “visual simplicity”) but for this place, it just worked. Enjoy my favorite photos in the slideshow below, or click here for all the photos from the shoot.
[slidepress gallery=’siam-taste-food’]
March 18, 2010 - 9:26 pm - stunning work! love it!!
August 31, 2010 - 8:34 pm [...] Day was upon us to get a few food shots done. This is comfort food, so just relax. Yesterday I shot Siam Taste, which is across the street, maybe I should just hit up all the restaurants on this avenue and be [...]
Kaama Lounge is almost open, here’s a few shots from the “Friends and Family” event – a chance to to the food and cocktails and generate a buzz in anticipation of the grand opening! Everyone had fun, and I enjoyed getting some nice shots of the guests and staff! Slideshow below. All 93 photos here.
[slidepress gallery=’kaama-lounge-friends-and-family’]
Today I met up with Wayne and family at the Coyote Creek trail head in Morgan Hill for their family portrait session. It was a nostalgic trip as I used to live a stone’s throw from where we met, and we couldn’t have chosen a better time of year for the area. Instead of dry fields of brown grass, everything was lush and green from the recent storms. Luckily this sweet family was as adventurous as they were friendly, and followed me through poisoned oak and abandoned buildings alike to get some great shots! Since Wayne is an officer of the law I felt relatively sure we wouldn’t be fined for any mild trespassing we may have been guilty of. Enjoy the photos, I posted my favorites in a slideshow below! All 93 photos from the session can be viewed here.
[slidepress gallery=’farquhar-family’]
July 26, 2010 - 12:32 pm [...] love. Rachel wanted a rustic feel to their engagement photos, and had seen some photos form a previous family shoot that had the setting she was envisioning. We both battled traffic (them from Sacramento, me from [...]
October 14, 2010 - 10:09 am [...] Why it’s cool & how I got it: There’s a couple things I love about this shot – first, the lighting IMO is perfect. It’s soft and natural, like you’d get in a studio environment – but we’re next to a creek in the woods! The second thing I love is the subjects are totally at ease, comfortable and happy. The pose is interesting, the grass in the foreground and background add depth to the composition – and the quality of light adds some mystery and interest without being distracting. Your eye clearly keeps coming back to the subjects, which all command equal interest, yet the varying heights keeps the photo from looking too linear or structured. Like the natural setting, the composition is natural and organic. Oh, and they’re a great-looking family aren’t they? Click here to see more photos of the Farquhars. [...]
In my last post, I showed some select shots from the first shoot with Matt Mermod, the Executive Chef at soon-to-be-open Kaama Lounge in San Jose. We were experimenting with high-speed (1/800 sec) food photography, which is fun, but a little stressful for the photographer (aka me) as I really only had one chance to get the shot, as whatever we were pouring inevitably ruined the dish. But anyone who knows me understands I crave the challenge and love to try new techniques and creative ideas. Well the first shoot was such a smashing success (according to all involved) we immediately got back into it for some more dishes. There’s really only one “money”action shot (above), and I’ve decided this is a special niche of photography I’ll call “food porn.” If you can’t figure it out, well, ask a friend.
For this shoot, I opted out of my usual studio strobes in lieu of my Foursquare softbox powered by four nikon SB-800 speedlites, and another gridded sb-600 as off-axis fill where needed. The speedlites are ideal for high-speed photography, which I needed to capture the motion in these shots. Most were around 1/800 sec @ F7.1 or so. Studio strobes max out at 1/250th sec sync, and I was concerned that this just wasn’t enough for our needs.
Here’s a slideshow of my favorite photos from the shoot. All the photos can be seen here.
[slidepress gallery=’kaama-lounge-food-action-2′]
I met with Executive Chef Matt Mermod at Kaama Lounge, which is slated to open in the next couple of weeks at 385 S. Winchester Blvd., near Santana Row in San Jose. We wanted to do something a little different from the norm with the food shots – somehow make them more dynamic with action – pouring, shaking, splashing, sprinkling – whatever made sense!
For this shoot, I opted out of my usual studio strobes in lieu of my Foursquare softbox powered by four nikon SB-800 speedlites, and another gridded sb-600 as off-axis fill where needed. The speedlites are ideal for high-speed photography, which I needed to capture the motion in these shots. Most were around 1/800 sec @ F7.1 or so. Studio strobes max out at 1/250th sec sync, and I was concerned that this just wasn’t enough for our needs.
The shrimp is doing a little balancing act magic here. Any ideas how I did this?
Dropping some glaze on…
I had Chef Matt and Sous Chef Megan pouring glaze and sprinkling pistachios over this delicious lamb dish.
Shaving fresh chocolate over these lovely little treats…
Here’s a slideshow of my favorite photos from the shoot. All the photos can be seen here.
[slidepress gallery=’kaama-lounge-food-action’]
March 12, 2010 - 10:25 am - these action shots are great! Man, I'd love to have chocolate sprinkled all over me too! Great job man. Taking food shots to a new level.
March 11, 2010 - 11:06 pm [...] Kaama Lounge (Food Action!) [...]
I’ve known Jenn & Johnny for a looong time, and was honored when they asked me to capture their wedding day. They are a lovely couple, and the camera adores them. Luckily they aren’t camera shy, and were willing to play around with my creative whims. They had a small wedding at a friend’s house in Los Altos; an intimate, classy setting that we’ll all remember forever. The shot I used on the back cover above (inspired by my awesome assistant for the day Sam Fontejon) really captures the mood for the day. Click the full-screen link on the slideshow below to check out J&J’s album proof – it’s not final, but I wanted to share with the world… love you guys!
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I’m lucky enough to be in a position where I can both photograph and design magazine covers, but in the real world it typically doesn’t happen this way. Often the magazine art director (AD) isn’t even involved in the shoot – they simply receive the end result and need to “make it work.”
When I wear my photographer hat, my natural inclination is to get nice, tight shots of a subject – to save myself from having to crop later. However, when the art director receives these files, he or she is left with little room to work with, potentially having to either force a re-shoot or simply end with a less-than-ideal cover. Here’s the limiting factors or barriers that can arise between the photographer and the AD:
In this article, I’ll discuss these potential barriers and how they can be avoided in the photographer –> art director workflow.
Most photos produced by digital SLRs have a length to width ratio of approximately 2:3 – or 4×6, like the common print size. Although magazines vary widely in dimension, they tend to be closer to square than this wide rectangle proportion. If you’re into TV, allow me this analogy – cameras create a “widescreen HD” image but magazines tend to be more “standard def.” But instead of the infamous black bars, photos going on magazine covers are going to be seriously cropped!
What’s this mean to the photographer? You have to zoom out, my friends. Imagine the top and bottom of the image in your frame getting completely lopped off, so all your relevant content needs to be within that inner 4:5 ratio area. It feels really unnatural and uncreative from the photography standpoint, but trust me you’ll stay on the AD’s Christmas Card list if you follow these simple tips!
Not only do you need to consider the top and bottom areas being cropped off, but you need to allow even MORE space for the magazine trim (bleed area) and coverlines, which I’ll get to next.
As you can see on the image to the right, pasting the original photo into the layout reveals how much is getting cut off on the top/bottom once the image is scaled to match the width of the cover.
The black bar shows the magazine’s “bleed” area – the part that will get trimmed off by the printer. Any photo/graphics that extend to the trim edge need to actually extend past this edge to avoid blank white paper showing along the edges in the final product. The bleed area on this particular magazine is pretty big (3/8″), but it’s typically about 1/8″ for most print media.
Even though I shot this photo, I didn’t allow myself enough headroom (literally!) for all the shots – it’s very challenging to envision the final product, especially when you’re crunched on time (I only had 20 minutes with the players for this shoot!). So as a photographer, you have this crazy pressure to be creative, get the lighting perfect, interact with your subject(s) to get them to relax, AND think about how the stupid AD is going to lay out the final magazine cover… it can be challenging to say the least!
To make this particular shot work as a cover mockup I (with my AD hat on) had to scale the image UP and crop the foreground player (Jason Hernandez) off at the knees. Sorry Jason, my bad. The photographer might get ticked that their “art” was cropped by the “designer,” but that’s the risk you run when not taking all the magazine factors to heart. Here’s the “fixed” layout below.
In a perfect world, your photos are SO good they grace the covers of national magazines without a single coverline covering them up. But let’s be realistic people – even National Geographic has to cover up their photos a little bit. A creative workaround is to include negative space in your compositions – areas for your eyes to rest (for photos), OR areas for type-crazy AD’s to fill up with copy (text). When I was shooting the shot in the mockup above, I was thinking about negative space, but not the overall cropping – so that nice open space I left on the green grass for coverlines was lost when I had to scale the image to fit the players correctly. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right? Wrong.
Luckily I had another shot of a single player, Andre Luiz, kicking the ball towards me (I had protection). I left lots of open room around the edges of the frame (for cropping), and was able to include some decent amount of negative space (for coverlines). Plus, it had action, which is always a nice dynamic addition to grab potential readers’ attention.
The background has some distracting elements in it, but this was the best option I had at Stanton Field, and I didn’t want the sun (camera right) to be in Andre’s eyes. You can see on the final cover that the photo cropped really well; I was able to keep Andre’s whole body on the page, and doing some selective cutouts added some nice depth/3-dimensionality to the overall design. The aforementioned distracting background elements were easily masked out. Because Andre takes up a relatively small area on the cover, I was able to put the main coverline behind him, but make it very large. The ball, the V of the logo, and Andre’s body/leg position form a nice triangle to lead the eye and keep your attention on the page. And lastly, I was able to keep some of that nice negative space, even after adding the coverlines, which eases the eye and immediately draws your attention to that floating soccer ball.
Whenever you are shooting for a magazine cover, you need to consider the ratio and bleed of the magazine when choosing your photographic compositions. You need to include negative space around your subject for coverlines. Lastly you need to offer a variety of concepts for the AD to choose from. If you have 20 minutes to shoot (see the 38 photos from my shoot with the San Jose Earthquakes here), make sure you’ve already set up your lighting for the first concept before anyone arrives – use an assistant or innocent bystander as a temporary subject to dial in all your settings. This will maximize the time you have with your subject as well as communicate to everyone involved that you’re on top of things and are a true professional.
Force yourself to change the shoot before you run out of time – to try another idea. If you work smart and are prepared, use any extra time to do something off-the-wall or unexpected. Getting the main concepts out of the way will not only boost your confidence, but it gives you the opportunity to really flex your creative muscle, without the stress that forces you into cookie-cutter, tried-and-true (see: boring) solutions. You never know, something crazy from the very end of your shoot may actually work and end up on the cover – you never know.
Regardless, giving your AD options, and a variety of compositions, angles, etc. will make their job easier, and make it more likely you’ll be called back for future work, which is kinda the point of all this, right? Right. Thanks for reading.
March 3, 2010 - 8:41 am - cool write up. There is so much more to a cover pic than I ever thought. The negative space was a big ah ha for me.
May 24, 2010 - 9:47 pm [...] you’ll recall from my last cover, it’s good to envision the the final product of the mag – the proportions, negative [...]
February 20, 2017 - 1:11 am […] Photography – use your own images throughout the cover and inside page. You must arrange this if you have not yet done it. Room 62 is available every break and lunch and equipment is bookable through Miss Brown. Use this guide for taking photos. This is also a great guide for magazine cover photography: http://www.goodeyeblog.com/2010/03/tips-for-magazine-cover-photography-design-photography/ […]
by Chris Schmauch
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