Portrait Jewelry

I love wearing my photo jewelry! These pieces are all handmade, waterproof, and UV resistant. You can order jewelry from any session image or from your own photo. Click on the catalog above to view the full line of jewelry I offer.

LA Shop Reflector Stand Review: Atlanta GA Photographer

One of the cool things about being a photographer is getting to know other photographers -- and getting to play with their equipment! On Saturday, my friends Jennifer from Whistling Girl Photography and Christie from Christie Lynn Photography and I spent an afternoon shooting in studio. We practiced lighting patterns, experimented with backgrounds, and set up the equipment for Jennifer's shoot that evening.

Plus, we had a good opportunity to work with my new toy, this reflector stand.

8 1/2 ft Photography Lighting Telescopic Reflector Stand

SKU: 01RST001-HFS-280

I got the stand from the LA Shop, who sent it to me for review. Here's one of my favorite shots using the reflector as part of the lighting setup:

And a BTS (behind-the scene) shot:

And the lighting setup:

As you can see, the key light did most of the work, but the reflector helped fill in a bit of the shadow on the short side of the model's face. I love using reflectors as fill, but (unlike this time), I'm usually alone and have to do all the lighting work myself. So, having a reflector stand has been wonderful. 

The stand itself is nice -- better than my other Westcott stands and spring loaded as well. You can use the stand as a regular light stand if you aren't using it to hold a reflector. The grip holder could have been made of sturdier plastic, but it worked fine. The arm is very light and there are little clips on the arm to hold your reflector. But, I just used my own clamps instead. The reflector stand doesn't come with a reflector, but the LA Shop sells this 5-in-one Reflector which would work well. I'm not really font of the round reflectors, so this rectangular one is nice -- and at a great price.

The one thing I should have had was this Sandbag for Boom Arm. It would have come in handy since my reflector was held up by my clamps and it needed a counterweight. Also, it would have been nice if the reflector stand had come with directions. It's pretty simple once you figure it out, but I didn't know how to put it together at first and it was a little confusing.

Some other things at the LA Shop I think would be worth a try:

10x20 Muslin Background (Just drooling over this.) -- all of their backgrounds are reasonably-priced

Carrying Case for light stands and tripods 

Workshoppin' it! | Atlanta GA Photography Workshops

Photographer Marchet Butler teaches Atlanta GA Photography Workshops

I'm so excited to show off some of the photos from Saturday's Day of Photography Workshops. We had such a great time getting deep into composition, camera controls, and light. Our models were great--posing for us and letting us take the time get camera settings right! We shot both indoor and outdoors with natural light, and even had enough time to take eachother's headshots.

As you will notice, I keep workshop sizes small (only 2 to 5 participants), and that's on purpose. When I taught larger workshops, I felt that the students didn't have the time and one-on-one attention that they really needed to come away from the day feeling successful. Here are some comments from the participants:

"I thought Marchet did a fantastic job! I learned so much both in terminology and hands on. It's great to have a packet of information to leave the workshop with."

"I considered myself an intermediate photographer but was so surprised at how much additional info I learned. The instruction helped put it all together. Love that I have materials to take home."

I will be teaching another Day of Photography workshops in January, and I am so excited to offer an additional Advanced Photography workshop as well. Please contact me for more details!

My First Wedding: Sneak Peek

One of my good friends asked me to shoot her daughter's wedding. Although I was a little nervous about accepting, I knew it would have to happen eventually (me shooting a wedding), and I felt confident enough in my experience to do it. The couple were married at the Birmingham Alabama Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a gorgeous overcast day and though it threatened to rain (and did as soon as we were done shooting), the wedding turned out wonderfully. Here is a sneak peek at some of my favorites so far.