Siesta Key Beach Portraits - Parzych Family

All 21 members (wow!) of the Parzych Family met us on Siesta Key last night for some family portraits. After two days of rain, we lucked out with a nice night (although it was a little bit windy and chilly). This was the largest group we've ever captured and they were tons of fun! The kids were great and everybody had a great time!

Here are a few (ok, a lot) of our favorite photos from their session:

View their full gallery here. Do you have a large family get together planned in the Sarasota area? Check out our Siesta Key Beach Portrait Package to find out how you can capture memories like these for your family!  Contact us today to book your family beach portrait session!

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Jason Talks Gear - Bokeh

This is part of a series of blog entries written by Jason about the more technical side of Jason Scott Photography. 

Bokeh is a photography term for background blur. The ability to create background blur is a key difference between amateur and professional photographers.

Bokeh is important because it separates the subject from the background. This creates dramatic looking photographs, but requires VERY expensive lenses.

Many photo studios recognize the aesthetic look of dramatic bokeh but don't want to invest in expenive cameras and lenses. So, it is typical for a studio have a “fake” blurry background printed on a sheet or wall. Chances are, that “fake” background makes it look like they have much better equipment.

Creating bokeh is easy. It is simply a function of using wider apertures (lower f numbers) at any given focal length and subject distance. So, how do you shoot at wider apertures? You propably can't with the lens you have! Lenses with wider apertures can cost ten times more than non-professional lenses.

Holiday time is the best time to experiment with bokeh. Christmas lights make very cool out-of-focus backgrounds. Each point of light becomes a soft round disc. 

You can change the shape of those background lights by adding a shape stencil to the front of your lens. Allyson got me a Creative Bokeh Kit for my birthday last December and we've had a lot of fun taking photos of Christmas lights. These kits make a great holiday gift for anyone who loves photography. We have a lot of fun making hearts, stars, and snowflakes.  

Here are a few fun examples of creative holiday bokeh:

We use bokeh at weddings to soften backgrounds and focus attention on the subjects of the photos. This not only removes background distracitons, it also gives the photograph a buttery, three dimentional look and feel. The bokeh creates a "wow" factor that can't otherwize be captured. It is the difference between a photo you like and photo you love. 

Here are a few more examples of great bokeh at weddings:

To find out more about the professional gear we use when we photograph Sarasota Weddings and Siesta Key Beach Portraits, click here.

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Happy Holidays from Jason Scott Photography!

We'd like to take a moment before all the holiday festivities begin to wish all of our friends, family, customers, fans, and followers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2012 was a great year for us and we aren't done yet! We've got three more giant family beach portrait sessions coming up in the next week to finish off the year! (Stay tuned to the blog for photos after the New Year!)

We look forward to capturing memories for many more families and couples in 2013 and beyond!

Happy Holidays!

-Jason, Allyson, and Badger

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Siesta Key Beach Portraits - Lisa and Jenn

Lisa and Jenn drove down to Siesta Key from Orlando last week with their adorable dog. We lucked out with a gorgeous sunset and great weather for their beach portrait session!

Here are a couple of our favorite photos from their session:

Check out our Siesta Key Beach Portrait Package to find out how you can capture memories like these for your family! We're happy to come straight to your location to make it easy for you! Contact us today to book your family beach portrait session!

PS - Don't forget, you can also follow this blog on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or through your favorite feed reader

Siesta Key Beach Portraits - Maiolo Family

This photo shoot was back in October, but we've been holding off on posting it until now so we wouldn't reveal anybody's Christmas card photos (including our own)!

Ever since we convinced my family to sit for a photo together in Myrtle Beach over the summer, we've been looking forward to doing the same with Jason's side of the family. The last time we all were in a photo together, our youngest nephew wasn't even born yet! It was definitely time for an update!

A big THANK YOU to our friend Adam for pushing the button on many of these and to everybody for coordinating and making this happen!

Here are a few of our favorites:

View our full gallery here. Check out our Siesta Key Beach Portrait Collection to find out more! Contact us today to book your family beach portrait sitting!

PS - Don't forget, you can also follow this blog on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or through your favorite feed reader

Last Chance to Order Discounted Holiday Cards from Tiny Prints!

Tiny Prints is keeping the deals coming by offering 25% Off Sale through the weekend. So you still have time to get a great deal on the best personalized holiday cards, Christmas cards, Hanukkah cards, holiday party invitations, custom photo gifts, and everything else on their site.

For the rest of the weekend, when you checkout, just use the promo code WKDSALE1112 to get 25% whatever you just created.

If you're a Tiny Prints regular, you don't need us to tell you how incredible their stuff is. If you are not familiar with them, now is the time to check them out. Their site is easy to use and you can personalize all of the cards, invitations, gifts and more with your own text, pictures, and personality.

There has never been a better time to buy from Tiny Prints and this sale ends Sunday at midnight Pacific Time, so check them out today.

You can also order holiday cards directly through our website and save 20% off all orders over $25 with coupon code "holiday2012." This discount is good until December 31!

There is still plenty of time left to place your card and gift orders through our site:

With 6-10 business day shipping, order by December 5 to get it in time for Christmas.

With 3-5 business day shipping, order by December 12.

With 2 day shipping, order by December 17.

With next day shipping, order by December 18.

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