Cathi and Derek were married at The Inn at Cherry Creek, which is a beautiful boutique hotel located in the center of the Cherry Creek shopping district.  Cathi and Derek had some AMAZING hand-made items, such as a bouquet made from paper, felt coursages and boutonniers, books for the guests and map-wrapped centerpieces!  The ceremony was beautiful and all the guest had such a fabulous time dancing the night away AND singing karaoke!

Thanks to Heather Lilly Photography for assisting me!  And, thank you to Cathi and Derek for having me photograph your special day, we had a great time!!

Seriously, I am completely ecstatic and thrilled to get this!!  I have worked really hard for the past five years developing a strong brand backed by top-notch customer service (in my opinion) and have had some absolutely amazing clients to help me along the way, thank you!!

Along with the award, I will be featured in the Stiletto Women’s Magazine and will make sure to pass on the link once it is published.

First, Destination Inspirations is a fabulous blog about inspiring destination weddings from around the world.  I was honored to have them feature Danielle and Dave’s Jamaica wedding!!  Here is the link to the BLOG POST.  Thank you Jessica for sharing my work with others, much appreciated!!

Next, was a branding/marketing feature on the Pursuit 31 blog.  Pursuit 31 has an amazing mission…keep God, families and marriages your number one priority in life.  When running a small business sometimes it is difficult to remember that the important things in your life should always remain #1.  When Karen asked me to share about my branding, I was beyond thrilled.  I really enjoy sharing about my business and what a better platform to show people the goods of KDP.  :-)  Here is a link to that BLOG POST.

Lastly, was a personal interview at LSI (Learn Shoot Inspire).  LSI is an amazing group of photographers, who mostly specialize in kiddo and newborn photography, however, there are a few of us wedding photographers.  :-)  I LOVE doing personal interviews…seems I always learn a little something about myself when really thinking about my answers.  I had a fun time pulling up some of my favorite images to showcase, too!  If you want to learn about the person behind KDP, here is the link to the BLOG POST.

Big shout-out to everyone who took the time to ask me to contribute to their blogs.  I am super honored and LOVE each and everyone of you, you are doing a fantastic job!!  Keep on doing what you are doing!!

This year the couple had PERFECT weather to race 2+ miles while stopping at different businesses to complete a set of tasks.  I was stationed at the start line, Happy Cakes Bakeshop, Menchies Frozen Yogurt and Plum Sage Flowers.  I had a BLAST photographing the couples as they raced through their tasks!  Even got to see a photo-finish for third place, which was oh so exciting!!

Congrats again to everyone who participated!  Below are a few images from the race…however, if you’d like to see the entire photo album, just visit the Facebook album Hitched in the Highlands.

Julie was sooooo much fun to photograph!  I think she has a little model inside her!  She was game for anything, which always is fun for a photographer!!  Also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Tina of Worthwhile Style who was Julie’s stylist for her shoot.  Julie…you look fantastic!!

Brides…if you are in need of a planner, don’t hesitate to call Julie, she will take good care of you and your big day!  Here is a link to Bliss Elevated Facebook Page.

Here is the direct link to my article:  http://learnshootinspire.com/2012/02/16/inspiring-interview-with-keri-doolittle-photography/

1.  By now, everyone has probably heard of Square.  If not, it is a mobile credit card processing gadget.  Go to their website to get a FREE Square, connect up your banking account and you are ready to process credit cards!  Simple.  I believe you can also get SQUARE at Target.

2.  Photogene.  This is the app/software I use to edit my photos on my iPad.  These are never the final edits, but when I am creating a client slide-show from my RAW images, this app will do the trick!  NOTE:  If you are looking for a CF card reader for the iPad, this is what I use:  CF Card Reader for iPad.

3.  Easy Release – Model Release App.  I am NOTORIOUS for forgetting my model release form.  It is built into my contract for my wedding clients, but for my portrait clients, everyone should be signing a model release form.  Now, there is no need to print out papers and bring it on-site.  Just use this model release app for your iPad and you are SET!!

4.  PadFolios.  To be completely honest, I have never used this app.  I have gone to client meet-up’s and have used my iPad for a slideshow, but didn’t think it was as effective as my albums.  The albums are a lot larger with awesome image quality, printed on high-end paper.  Those still seem to be the best “wow” factor, in my opinion, but if you want a completely digital portfolio, this might be the app to get.

And, for those of you wanting to know where I got the awesome prop holding up the postcard, the glass milk-vase was purchased at Sundance and  the light-up branches were purchased in Michigan (don’t know the store name), but THESE are similar.

Keri Doolittle is a Denver Wedding Photographer who specializes in local and Rocky Mountain weddings, along will destination wedding photography.

Whenever I am shooting with my off-camera flash set up, I kind of get a feel for where my settings should be by taking a few images of the sky.  I want to obtain that really dark blue sky that will set the background for my image.  I took a series of three pictures, in manual, and here is what I came up with:

Now, I know I wanted to be at 1/200th, because I wanted to cut out a lot of my ambient light, since it was SO bright outside.  When using your flash, remember these two things:  Aperture controls your flash and shutter controls your ambient.  So, once I had a general idea of where I liked my settings, I set up my flash unit, as pictured below:

I am actually bouncing my flash BACK INTO my umbrella and then onto the subject.  Next, I had Ryland stand in that general area that is circled above and these are my results:

As you can see, the flash eliminates a lot of harsh shadows that are caused by the sun and also lets a lot more light into your subjects eyes.  If I were to add or do anything different to this shoot, I would have added a reflector, camera-left, and reflected a little more light onto the subject.  But, with no one around to hold my reflector except for a few 3 year olds playing on the swings, I made do with what I had.  :-)  Would love to hear any feedback below!

I am so excited to share this news!!  I recently found out that I am a finalist in the Stiletto Woman in Business Awards.  Out of nearly 300 submissions I am honored to be recognized in three categories…Artistic Entrepreneur of the Year, Blogger of the Year and Photography Business of the Year.  Here is a link to all the finalists (congrats to all!):  SWIBA Finalists.  The winners in each category will be announced at the SWIBA conference on March 17th in Atlanta, GA.  The conference is open for all to attend and it has some amazing guest speakers, so take a look.

To give you a brief background, Stiletto Woman Magazine was founded by Karlena Wallace in 2009 as a new media portal to empower everyday women.  StilletoWoman.com launched a series of affiliate blogs designed to support our mission and the diverse lives of these women in business (Stiletto Business, Stiletto Money, Stiletto Health are just to name a few).

I am extremely honored to have been nominated and will keep you all posted with the outcome on March 17th!!!

Keri Doolittle is a Denver Wedding Photographer who specializes in local and Rocky Mountain weddings, along will destination wedding photography.

The reflector that I use is called a “5 in 1 collapsible reflector“, which takes a little practice collapsing.  :-)

So, I decided to take out my best 5-year old model and show you the difference between reflected and non-reflected images.  All of the images below are SOOC (straight-out-of-camera, no editing done) and were taken at 12:30 PM on a bright and sunny day here in beautiful Denver, CO.

When looking at the images below, make sure to look at the eyes and shadows.  Using the reflector simply eliminates big shadows under the eyes and helps the whites of the eyes “pop” a little more, saving me a TON of time in post-editing.  Colors seem to be a bit more vibrant, too.  The two comparisons below are using the SILVER side of the reflector.

The next two examples are using the GOLD side of the reflector, which helps warm up the image a bit.  One thing I wanted to point out in these images was Ryland in the very last photo…when you are using your reflector, you can TOTALLY blind your subject by reflecting light back into their faces, so make sure you feather the light…either step back further (which I couldn’t do, since I was both shooting and holding) or don’t shine it directly at their faces, maybe shine it a little lower.  This will eliminate them from squinting so much.  In the last comparison, I really eliminated some hot-spots (look at the snow and his jacket), which also will help in post-processing.

The next step in shooting during harsh hours of the day is using your OFF CAMERA FLASH!!!  You will LOVE the before and after shots of this test, which will be posted SOON!!!  :-)

Keri Doolittle is a Denver Wedding Photographer who specializes in local and Rocky Mountain weddings, along will destination wedding photography.

To add to the weekend, Happy Cakes Bakeshop supplied the yummy cupcakes and Garter Glitz was on-hand to display their lovely hand-made garters.

Thanks to Cate and all the staff at Little White Dress for inviting me to come photograph this weekend, I had a GREAT time!!

NOTE:  If the blog looks slightly different, I moved my blog over to a WordPress blog rather than my old Moveable Type Blog.  I used my tech-savvy skills and completed the transfer all by myself, so proud!  :-)  For those of you who subscribe to my RSS feed, you may have to update the URL to get the new feed, so just click on the SUBSCRIBE link on the menu above to get the new feed on your Google Reader.

I thought I would I start my blogging off by offering some tips for wedding-day photography that will help your day go as smoothly as possible.

1.  The Golden Hour…the Golden Hour is defined as the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset.  This is when we get some BEAUTIFUL light for portraits.  To find out when sunset is on your wedding day, I like to use this SUNSET LINK.  This will allow your photographer to work with the best possible lighting conditions…here is an example of an image taken during The Golden Hour:

2.  Professional Hair and Make-up.  I think it is very important to hire a make-up artist (MUA) on the day of your wedding.  They are very professional and knowledgeable about what looks good on camera.  They know how much is too much!  It is also very important for your MUA to apply your make-up in the best natural light possible because your make-up can look completely different under the florescent lighting of a bathroom compared to outside.  I always like to position my bride close to a large window or sliding glass door when they are applying make-up to get the best possible “getting-ready” shots.

3.  Organized Timeline and The First Look.  I stress to all my brides and grooms how important it is to have a solid wedding day timeline confirmed with all vendors involved.  If you have a wedding planner (also highly encouraged), then he/she will be able to coordinate your day with all wedding vendors.  When meeting my brides and grooms for the first time, I always encourage doing a “First Look”.  Having a First Look before walking down the aisle will allow the bride and groom to have an intimate moment, by themselves, to talk and compliment each other on how fantastic they look and maybe to shed a tear or two.  It alleviates stress and also frees up a ton of time after the ceremony for the bride and groom to enjoy cocktail hour with guests they haven’t seen in a long time.

4.  Relax and HAVE FUN!!  I have had some AMAZING brides and grooms over the past 5 years (wow, 5 years, that is crazy) and I adore each and every one of them.  Take time to pamper yourself, go to the spa, delegate items on your “to-do” list and have some wine.  Fellas, go and get a professional shave, play some Wii and enjoy chillin’ with your buddies.  This will be one of the best days of your lives and I am happy to document everything that you have worked so hard to plan!