That’s why on top of all the other renovations we made to our studio—literally—are 28 SunPower solar panels. They are the most efficient panels in the business, and will help us save money and cut way down on greenhouse gas emissions.

I don’t want to bore you with too many numbers, but this is pretty impressive: the panels will offset our power costs by $300 a month. Over the next twenty-five years, we’ll save a whopping $92,000.

But the environmental benefits are even more amazing. By installing those 28 solar panels, we’re saving the equivalent of driving a car 354,000 miles. We’re saving the amount of CO² produced by 3,400 trees. Imagine if a family that never recycled anything started recycling all their cans and bottles and paper. Twenty-five years later, they have saved 98,400 pounds of solid waste from ending up in landfills. That’s the equivalent of how much energy we’re saving!

With all the lights and equipment we need to use, photography shoots can suck up a lot of energy. But we believe creating a beautiful photograph shouldn’t come at the expense of the natural environment. The new solar panels help us give back to the planet while bringing our power bill down—a real win-win!

We decided to go with SunPower because they have been around for over 25 years and offer the most efficient solar panels on the planet. They’re so efficient that they even generate power on cloudy days! The panels sit low over the roof, and their sleek design makes them barely noticeable. We don’t have to put in any extra effort at all. And whenever I want to see something that will make me smile, I can just pull up the SunPower app on my iPad to see how much energy we’re saving.

Come visit our newly renovated studio to see all the improvements we’ve made, inside and out!

But the good news is that our studio renovation is finally complete! Champagne all around, please! Happy New Year!!!

We decided to go through the remodeling process because we wanted to be able use the studio as an elegant backdrop in photos. Renovation of this proportion usually takes 6 months, but we
completed a majority of it in just under 3 months because we are utilizing the space as a studio and can’t have such a long downtime. We had to be extremely creative in making the renovations in sections.

We did all the interior design ourselves, and we’re so please with how it turned out! The studio used to be really dark, but now light pours in from skylights and windows. Glass doors open onto the yard, creating a flow between indoor/outdoor living space.

We created more light by adding 7 new skylights, and a bunch of new windows. We also installed at least 60+ new light fixtures into the studio, most of which are LED (energy efficient and non-toxic).

The interior has a wedding theme with a glamorous, contemporary, warm and extremely sexy feel. The furniture is modern and cozy, the perfect place for couples who are getting married to get comfortable, have some wine and cheese, and chat with us about their plans.

The fireplace is elongated, see-through and set into beautifully curved tiles, bordered by wood. The other side has a large black granite surround, sitting on a sensual red wall. The see-through fireplace is fun because it’s essentially 2 fireplaces in one.

The salon also received a facelift with new light fixtures, glass French doors and new flooring.

With its beautiful lighting, flowing design, comfortable furnishings and elegant touches throughout the space, visitors tell us the new studio has the feel of a high-end lounge.

What does this mean for your business? You can bet your potential customers are carefully comparing you with your competition. If you want to capture their attention, you’ll need to find that extra thing that will separate you from the pack.

The best new way to draw in potential clients is with a video testimonial. Written testimonials, as you may have noticed, are overused and overabused. Many websites have them, and while visitors may take the time to scan the page, the information doesn’t really sink in. It’s nothing like staring into the eyes of someone who is raving about the person or company the viewer is considering. It’s an easy sell, and the best part is that you don’t need to brag about yourself.

Video testimonials are a great marketing tool to separate you from a million other competitors. We recently put one together for Terel Beppu, a real estate agent with Intero Real Estate. There are currently NO other realtors who are doing this, so it really makes him stand out from the crowd.

The video shares stories from actual clients who worked with Terel, and shows several families in the houses he helped them purchase. The impact of their statements is much greater than it would be in a block of text; you can see their faces and really tell how much they mean what they say.

The video also shows Terel in action, his demeanor, his professionalism and ethics. You get to know his personality well even before meeting him, and to see how dedicated he is to what he does. What is it like to work with Terel?

Because they can present a ton of information in just a short time in an interesting way, video testimonials are much more effective than plain old text. They are great for all kinds of businesses and products, and can even be made for dating services, showcasing a person and his or her personality.

Oh, and I should mention one more thing about the Pew survey: 71% of adults watch videos online. If you post it, they will watch.

But thanks to technology, this problem can be a thing of the past. Nowadays, when companies book our services for group pictures, they prefer to have us take individual shots and merge them together with a little help from Photoshop.

It creates a unique look that is absolutely stunning, and has several benefits:

1. No one will be unhappy with the final result anymore. Because they were photographed individually, each person can select their best photo out of 10-30 photographs taken.
   

2. It’s easier for everyone to find the time to show up for the photo shoot. Scheduling a group of busy professionals is exponentially harder than individuals.
   

3. If a team member is added or removed from the team, there’s no need to schedule EVERYONE for another group photo. We simply book a shoot with the new person, and add them to the shot.
   

4. It’s so much easier and quicker to set up the shot, because the amount of space needed to take this type of group photo can be 10-20 times smaller than for a traditional group shot.
   

5. The same individual pictures can be inserted into various group pictures, so if someone works in more than one department, we can use the same portrait in multiple departments of a corporation!
   

6. And of course, it looks super cool. We play with the arrangement, and add in shadows and lighting techniques, so it appears that everyone was in the same place at the same time, and just magically happened to all look amazing!

The one drawback of this technique is that it costs more to take group portraits like this. However, the cost can easily be mitigated over 1-2 years with the time and cost savings of scheduling individually and not having to do retakes.

Clients often tell us they are so happy that they chose to do their company photos this way, and they will never go back. It’s easier for the employees, and everyone is happy with the results. If you want a group photo you’ll actually be proud to post on your website and hang in your office, consider trading in the traditional technique for our more modern
method.

A lot of couples ask for shots of their wedding rings, and brides who wear tiaras or other heirloom pieces passed down from generation to generation will ask us to photograph them.

Using a close-up macro lens is important for jewelry shots, of course, but lighting is the ultimate key. Natural lighting tends to work badly for ring shots, due to a reflective blend of colors that can mottle the jewelry. To really make the jewels sparkle, close-up photographs tend to need a LOT of light and they need to be well-placed lights.

For example, couple of weeks ago, we shot a wedding at the Ranch Golf Club in San Jose. The wedding colors were purple and green, and the bride’s flower of choice was purple tulips. When we shoot up-close with petals, getting the lighting right is super important—the rings in the purple flower would look dingy and purple, had the setting not been backlit with well-placed lights and reflected back. This shot took us just a few minutes, but could easily be used by a jewelry company for a full two-page spread advertising in a fashion magazine!!!

One of my other favorite jewelry shots was from a wedding at Far Niente, an amazing high-end winery in Napa. The winery has huge wine caves built into the hills, and their wines are in the hundreds. They do not usually hold weddings in the vineyard, but since the groom works there, they made an exception. The couple’s love is in its early phases now, but will age like a fine wine, so we honored the occasion and the spectacular setting by showing the rings against the ripening grapes.

The natural light outdoors made for great wedding shots, but we used lights for the ring pictures. Like the tulip photograph, this was especially important, because the light going through things like leaves and petals can leave a weird tint on the metal and jewels. By carefully lighting the rings in this shot, we made them sparkle and really pop against the green leaves and purple grapes.

One more that I LOVE is this stack of rings. This is from another incredible wedding, this time at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite. The groom has a son and daughter, and they decided to buy them rings for the wedding too, so that the wedding was not just about the couple, but also about the memorable and meaningful new bond between the kids and their step-mom. Isn’t that sweet?! It totally melted my heart. We stacked the rings together to show how the family’s rings were a symbol of their togetherness—all the separate rings became one.

Below is some of our commercial photography work, photographed for Brilliant Earth, a San Francisco conflict-free gem company that sells wedding rings to couples who are concerned about the source of their diamonds. As you can see, the type of work is not much different from the personal jewelry shots!!

When couples ask us to photograph their rings, we always look for creative ways to tell a story with the picture—it shouldn’t look like an ad for a jewelry store; it is personal and real. And it should definitely have the right lighting. ☺

We were photographing Leica’s microscopes, C&D’s wafer cleaner and robots. Leica’s heavy microscope was relocated into C&D’s clean room in San Jose to be photographed. We did both photo and video for this product shoot. With both medium, we had to bring double amount of strong lights to ensure that the background stays white instead of ugly gray.

However, this year is different. Whole Foods Market raised the stakes on me on multiple fronts! Switching out hundreds of employees during business hours require significant coordination and they can only do it in the late evening.

Not only do we have to content with horrible light, we had to work in the the loading dock. This time, a rickety ladder became my only source of support that I hold on to my dear life. Beneath me, a large garbage container filled with organic fish, meat, vegetable and eggs, ready to sniff my non-organic diet. Yes, it probably wouldn’t surprise you that I have only 15 minutes. You really don’t want to photograph a large group in more than 5 minutes anyway as people do get restless. And you’d think a photographer’s work is glamourous.

Now, did you think we are done? Would corporate want a photo of their employees in a loading dock? Here’s the final shot after hours and hours of photoshop, removing the rails at the bottom and the background. Groan, I hate fingers…

Most shots by the window tend to have reflections and worse, the outside tends to be completely white. Using off-camera flash enables us to capture a scene that has sunlight splattering all over WHITE tiles without overblowing it.

Learnt more about decks than I’ll need in a lifetime. Did you know that composite decks comes in many forms. The latest ones are made from PVCs and do not fade, highly stain resistent and lasts forever!

The end result is a potpourri of colors, textures, grains and beautiful structure that demands a composite of the decks into this,

They serve 16 variety of pizzas. We photographed only 11 of their pizzas and 7 other dishes, total of 18, all in under 2 full days. For a normal shoot, this may take all the way up to 3 days. Most restaurant owners are astounded by how long food photography and styling takes until they experience the process. In extreme cases such as the BigMac^TM by McDonald’s, would take one full day to photograph that single image.

Why does it take hours or days to photograph food? Isn’t it just clicking the shutter? Some reasons aren’t just the photography itself but a team, working together to create the perfect images to represent your company, as much as a perfect logo to showcase what you believe in.

1. Composition of the photograph. Knowing where the image will end up, allow us to compose the shots to the final composition. If you look at this shot, the area where they want the photo is extremely horizontal. Where most photos are 4×6″, this is a 4×14″ !!! Without compositing for this shot, the image will not fit at all in the space allocated. A close working relationship with the graphic designer is necessary.
   
   Notice how we leave space on the right for the bottom of a coke glass and allow the “Order Online” promotion to seep into the image without disrupting the image of the pizza. Pizza Chicago’s new website (like what you see in the image below) should be online soon.

(Click image to Enlarge)


2. Marketing direction determines the lighting, props and the environment on how the product should be photographed under. We used the pans used by the restaurant, creating a rustic and homey look, and we photographed the pizzas on the same table that their customers will see in the restaurant instead of a white background or a beautiful wood table, like what we did for Sam’s BarBeQue in San Jose.
   
   Since these are deep-dish pizzas, we have to showcase how thick the pans and hence, how thick the pizzas are. Only by going lower on the shot can we achieve that.
3. Photographed food sells better. Go to a restaurant and open up a restaurant menu. Nine times out of ten, you’ll point to a photo (if there is one) of a dish that looks delicious and say, “I want that”.
   Understanding this point allows the owner to either select the dishes that they want to sell more or the food item that are more colorful and attractive.



4. Lighting. The make-it or break-it to a food photograph. Mediocre lighting technique makes the food photos look like it was photograph for facebook and yelp. It makes the food and restaurant look cheap and that they can’t afford a food photographer. Check out the salad below, the greens, rings of onions and tomatoes screams freshness and glows in the light. There is a definite wow factor that makes you want to eat the menu photos! Setting up each shot and moving lights around for the next shot can take some time to gobo, flag, reflect, etc.
5. Food Stylist Since we’ve worked closely with numerous food stylists, we have a great idea of how to coordinate the dishes coming out of the kitchen, styling, photographing, review process. Everything becomes smooth and the owner learns a great deal on how to present their food after the shoot. In this case, Juan of Pizza Chicago decided he now wants all their Cookieza (A buttery chocolate chip cookie baked when ordered, topped with a Haagen-Daz vanilla ice-cream & drizzled with caramel sauce) to now come with a cute mint behind the ice-cream.
   
   Depending on how crucial the image is, we can spend hours arranging each sesame on a bun to ensure the perfect look to the image. Understanding composition and art appreciation goes a long way here. Beyond the rules on “hero” food item, separation, etc., there are many other things that comes into play, such as market trends, colors, etc.



6. Review and approval of images – With new technology, we can now wirelessly photograph the food and then immediately upon clicking the shutter, see the photographs. However, this also means that the lighting for the photographs need to be spectacular that they come out fantastic, straight out of the camera. These images in this blog are nearly all straight out of camera, what the owner saw during the shoot itself. Without this process, it’s going to be a shoot in the dark. Why would you pay someone money to photograph your food when you don’t even know if the image will turn out well.

Investment in time and money on better food photographs yields a high ROI (Return On Investment). Images that you get from a food photographer will pay itself back, years and years after the initial investment. These images ends up on the menu, website, reviews sites, brochures, banners, tradeshow booths, coupons, etc.

Staying ahead of the curve with marketing and smart investments will allow a restaurant or a food company to be extremely successful.