Dustin Francis' Blog

Rachel + Jeff | Engagement

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:10:23 +0000

I made my way out to the west side of the state to meet up with Rachel and Jeff for their engagement session. We shot around a few blocks downtown Kalamazoo before getting chilly. I think my favorite thing from their session was the way they looked at one another. They truly adore one another and sometimes it was hard not to smile too much while shooting. I am happy to be photographing their wedding on New Years Eve this year…it’s going to be a blast with these two! Thanks for braving the cold and snow Rachel and Jeff…enjoy your pics!

Briana + Chris | Engagement

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:38:04 +0000

I met up with Briana and Chris for a quick winter engagement session in Okemos. We didn’t have to travel far to get to our location:) It was one of those sunny winter days and fortunately, wasn’t too cold. Briana and Chris will be getting married this July in Charlevoix at the wonderful Castle Farms. I’m stoked to be photographing such a sweet and fun couple in such a beautiful location. Thanks for a fun time you two!

I LOVE MY NEW BUSINESS CARDS!!!

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:57:45 +0000

That’s right folks, I picked up my new letterpress business cards yesterday and they are super funky-funky-fresh. Actually, they are delicate, pretty, and timeless…exactly what I strive for with my branding and imagery. These beauties were printed by a local letterpress vendor who I can not recommend enough. Elevated Press is run by a husband and wife team here in Ann Arbor and Michelle and Pete are such kind, easy going people making everything about the process organic and fun. I really do love giving my money to local businesses and I love it even more when they are as great as Elevated Press! If you are a bride or groom in need of some gorgeous save-the-dates, invitations, thank you cards, or anything else that is letterpress papery goodness, contact Michelle over at Elevated Press and sit back and wait to be amazed at what she can create for you!

Here are the details…

220# Crane’s Lettra Duplex 100% cotton paper

Silver ink (Pantone 877) Love that it prints a beautiful gray with the tiniest bit of shimmer.

Double sided with my logo on one side and contact info on the other The logo side has a deeper impression, really making my logo pop.

3.5″ x 2″ Standard business cards size.

What’s a post about my cards without pics?!?

In case you’re not too familiar with letterpress, you really do need to SEE and FEEL them to appreciate their beauty

Let’s Chat!

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:47:49 +0000

I receive about 5-10 emails a week from photographers asking all sorts of questions. I love to teach and share, but a lot of the emails I receive (about 90%) are from photographers out of state. It is really hard and time consuming to get back to everyone and I feel bad that I can’t, as I LOVE to share, teach, and help people so that they can get to where they want I will still be putting on my Shareshop, later this year, but one thing I’ve been doing for a couple years now, is helping people out through the internet…thanks to apps like iChat and Skype. I’m thinking about starting to offer 90 minute sessions using iChat, so that those people that are not close to me, but really still want to learn, can.

I need some guinea pigs, that would be willing to receive a free 60 minute one-on-one session in return for feedback on ways I can offer more value to those who seek out my help. Here are the details:

•5 people…the first 5 people to respond to this post using my contact link at the top

•60 minutes one-one-one with me

•I will cover whatever you like with no hidden secrets

•Takes place over iChat (iChat is the most powerful app for teaching/helping online…sorry if you don’t have a Mac) *internet speed can be a factor*

•No charge in exchange for good feedback

I will update this post when I have received the first 5 contacts, but please feel free to leave a comment with any words you may have and/or if this is something you are interested in Chat with you soon!

5 GUINEA PIGS FOUND!!!!!

Standout SALE!

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:14:24 +0000

To put it simply, my lab is having a sale for one of my favorite items, so I’m passing on the savings to all my lovely clients! These are 1.5″ standouts, which is a beautiful print flush-mounted to lightweight black board. I like these much more than framed prints and you can put them in more locations due to the lightweight and shape. Hang them on a wall, put them on a floating shelf, set them on a table…do whatever you want with them. If you want a BIG print, now is the time to get it!

There are 6 sizes available!

16×20 – $75

16×24 – $100

20×24 -$120

20×30 – $155

24×36 – $190

30×40 – $250

Here are some standouts from Cheryl and Matt’s awesome wedding!

* Sale is valid now until 12pm on January 12th. CLICK HERE to go to my proofing website. If you would like a standout and your gallery is not live yet, please email me. *

Lunch Time…

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:46:27 +0000

Here’s what I made for lunch today. A little penne pasta in a light cream sauce with some bell peppers peppers and chicken…mmmmm.

Aditi + Nitin | Propsal

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:02:40 +0000

Nitin and Aditi ended their ‘09 with a BANG!!! Nitin proposed to Aditi around 3:30 yesterday afternoon in Nichols Arb by the river and boy was it awesome! I LOVED everything about it. Nitin contacted me last week and we worked out the details on how to execute this great plan he had. One of my favorite parts was all the thought that he put into the planning and he really thought about what would mean a lot to his fiance. It was clearly evident he has a warm heart and that he adores Aditi in every way. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for allowing me to be a part of this Congrats to Aditi, Nitin, and their families! What a great way to end the year!

Nitin brought along hot cocoa to keep them warm…LOVE IT!

After a little hot cocoa, it was time to pop the question

I LOVE all the emotion in these images…so real…

What a gorgeous ring…

I think this image sums up the way Nitin felt…pure joy!

The newly engaged!

Here’s where it all went down…Nichols Arboretum…the red circle is where Nitin proposed.

Oh yeah, I GOT IT ON VIDEO!!!!! I’m no videographer, but I did manage to bring along my point and shoot and set it up, to capture the whole proposal as it happened. There’s very little audio content other than the water and ducks, but here it is in motion and from a different angle

Before and After | 1

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:16:55 +0000

People frequently ask what my style is. Most times I answer the question by giving them the link to my blog and telling them to define it in their own words. My goal, is to create simple, clean, emotional, and timeless imagery. When I press the shutter, I am creating the image then and there. What I do when I am in front my computer, is simply to “finish” the image. I also have a very simple approach when it comes to finishing my images. 99% of my images are in “straight” color or black and white. You can venture through the pages of my blog and see how I got to where I am today and while I am slowly tweaking my processing style, my intent will remain the same. While style’s change over the years, I simply want my images to remain timeless.

With that said, there are basically three steps in the process with the final one being the one of the images you see on my blog as well as what anyone who orders a print receives. The first step would be straight out of camera. Personally, I do almost everything manually. I shoot in manual mode, selecting the aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I choose the white balance for the current lighting environment and I also select one of the 51 AF points my camera has to have the camera automatically focus on, but only when I press a separate button to activate the autofocus. I then press the shutter button and voila, I have created an image or if you prefer, I have captured a moment in time. Here is an image from Cara + Joe’s Engagement session straight out of camera (SOC).

The second step is the “proofing” step. This is adjusting things such as; color, contrast, exposure, highlights and shadows. This gets the image most of the way there. These are the images that will be viewed in a gallery from an engagement session or a wedding and delivered to the client. I also refer to these as Digital Negatives. Here is the image in proof form…

The final step is my favorite and most fun to do…to FINISH the image for however it’s going to be displayed. With this step, things like; eyes, skin, specific colors, and sharpness are all adjusted. Every image ordered, receives these types of adjustments and each image is even sized and sharpened based on the print size ordered, to make sure it looks great! Here is the final web or print form of the image…

Here’s another image. Straight our of camera…

Proof form…

And in print form. I converted the image to black and white to help keep the viewer focused on the emotion of the image. I will also convert images to black and white if there are distracting colors in the image. I frequently convert recessional, first dance and other images with a bit more emotion to black and white.

Straight out of camera…

Proof form…

And in final print/web form…

One last one for now. Straight out of camera…

Proof…

Final…

I will try and do one of these every couple months.

Lindsay + Justin | Engagement

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:50:35 +0000

Lindsay and Justin were one of my last fall sessions of the year. With all the rain and wind that we had here, that really changed the leaves and “fall color” quite a bit, there was still a good amount in some areas. We met right down the street from where I first met them at Mill Race in Northville. If I remember correctly, we finished the session just as it began to rain…glad it held of for our time there. Enjoy your pics and Happy Holidays to you and everyone reading else reading this

Laura + Bart | Engagement

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:30:57 +0000

Laura and Bart were a riot to photograph around Ann Arbor…there was plenty of laughing, smiling, and joking going on. I got a great feel for the two of them and am excited about how much fun I know we will all have on their bug day in June. They live a couple miles away from me, so naturally, we stuck around Ann Arbor for the shoot. They took me to a parking structure I almost never go in/on, that had some of the best views of the city I have seen and we also ended at the Black Pearl, which I have also never been to…thanks for the first’s you two. All in all, another fun fall engagement session!