Robert Lance Photo Art BLOG

The Real Finn & Rey GET MARRIED

7/26/2016

Here's proof that a foreverafter is in the cards for our new favorite "far, far away" duo. If this couple can pull it off this cool at the break of interstellar war, then there's still hope in the galaxy, guys. The Real Finn & Rey just got married, and I got to take pictures of it!

Destination: Newport Beach, CA. The happy couple got married inside a temple, where cameras weren't allowed. But here they are immediately after, just glowing. Now, we had decided in advance that we would split the day up and do a formal shoot on a different day prior to the wedding. This would allow us to get to more locations that we wouldn't have had the time to shoot at during the hustle of the wedding day. First we shot outside in an absolutely gorgeous garden with a vast view of the coast:

We really lucked out on this location! It was noon and the sun was directly overhead but we were able to use a scrim and shade to subdue the harsh light, and fill it in with the off-camera flash in a softbox. The result: magical! Of course, the couple is radiant as well.

One of my absolute favorite shots below. Vic knows the pose. I mean, how could you not strike a pose with a view like that?

Julianne, looking like a princess/model. Obligatory editorial color grade applied. This is one of those shots where a scrim was needed to tame the harsh light. Another one of my favorite shots where the stars aligned right when I hit the shutter.

We then shot later in the evening just before sunset, for some more magic. Down at the historic Heisler Park in Laguna Beach, CA. At this point, the ambient light was purely mood lighting. So you can really see here how the flash was absolutely necessary for all of the shots to work.

These two shots above were the only two premeditated concepts I dreamt up for Vic & Julianne's formal shoot.. They nailed it. I love the beautiful contrast of skin tones for Vic's shot!

Working title for above image: OMGFINN&REYomgOMGomg!!!!!1amirite???.jpeg

Above: another one of my favorites. This is what I mean about mood lighting!

And there ya have it. Hope you got your Finn & Rey fix. It's been such a pleasure shooting this couple. I'm gonna miss them—done about 5 shoots for them now. They tell me that there will be more Finn & Rey cosplay in the future, as well as other new ones! So stay tuned for more of these guys!!

MORE FUN PHOTOS BELOW:

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Ingrid at the Beach

5/28/2016

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Ingrid is seriously SO much fun to work with—she's got enthusiasm to the moon. And she is now my second returning customer! Earlier this year we did a business headshot session, but this time around she wanted a a different look to promote a brand new new business of hers. The cowboy look was all her vision, and it worked incredibly well on the beach!

I was super happy with how the lighting turned out! We used the gorgeous sunset which served as a backlight, and illuminated the airborne particles of water and dust in the air to create an ethereal cloud as a backdrop. And we filled in the light with a perfectly positioned softbox flash to get that outdoor studio look! The setup produced one of my favorite results yet, straight-out-of-camera, and made editing really fun (and easy)! —▙

The only natural-light photo of the set.

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Julianne & Baby Girl

5/22/2016

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I've already got returning customers!! Julianne's engagement photo session and super viral Star Wars Cosplay shoot of Rey were a hit, and now she is an official "client". After she saw a shoot I did earlier this year, of another mommy & daughter, she wanted a shoot exactly like it.

Her little baby girl was an absolute delight to shoot, as she was the first time around. You'll remember her as "Baby-8".

There's nothing like a mommy-daughter photoshoot!

I'm so thrilled to shoot Julianne & Vic's wedding. In fact I'm flying out to California tomorrow for the formals and reception later this week! We'll be shooting bridals around the beautiful Laguna Beach--really looking forward to that! Stay tuned! —▙

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The Real Finn and Rey

4/5/2016

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UPDATE:

This shoot has gotten SO MUCH press I can't even believe it! None of us quite expected it. It's been featured by Cosmopolitan, ABC News, Kotaku, BuzzFeed, Good Morning America, PetaPixel, Daily Mail, Yahoo, Fashionably Geek, and SO MANY MORE! It was obviously awesome to be praised by the likes of Cosmo and other big outlets. But some of my favorite press was by DigitalRev & SLR Lounge. They are both fantastic communities for photographers, so it was very humbling to be heralded by their editorial staff run by some of the top pro photographers in the world! And now back to the article...

Let me introduce you to Finn and Rey! No, not the ones from the latest Star Wars movie. The actual REAL Finn and Rey! They are a super geeky (awesome) couple engaged to be married this May. And they're cosplayers.

For this shoot, we went all the way to the desert planet of Jakku, which is located about an hour and a half South of Salt Lake City, Utah. Their cosplay is legit! Not only because they look the part in their hand-made costumes, but they've also got a real live BB-8 (baby-8)!

The little astromech droid was such a trooper. There was wind, sun, and sand in the eyes, but she loved every minute of it! Planet Jakku wasn't an easy trip for what turned out to be an all-day photoshoot. Off-roading (in sedans) and severely misleading GPS systems left us feeling at times like Captain Solo without hyperdrive. But we made it, it was worth it, and we've got stories to tell. Oh yeah, and if you're looking for planet Jakku, it's actually located at the Little Sahara in central Utah.

Seriously though, how awesome is this little family? I met "Finn and Rey" earlier this year and did their engagement session and a sweet mommy-daughter shoot (stay tuned for that). As Star Wars' biggest fan myself, I was super thrilled to discover that they were doing this cosplay! They were a huge hit at this year's Salt Lake FanXperience, and have been getting loads of international press.

I'm looking forward to shooting their wedding in May! Word has it that some of these cosplay photos will make it into their wedding display. RAD!

Rey's staff makes an obvious selfie stick.

And now—what we've all been waiting for... It's crossed everyone's minds, right? Finn and Rey getting together? THEY NEED TO! Well if you are like me, and are dying to see how (or if) it all goes down, then scroll down and receive your fix!

Hey thanks for reading, everyone! I've timed this shoot and post with the DVD/BluRay release of Star Wars Episode 7. May you all have happy watching parties, and live long and prosper! —▙

(EDIT: Yes, that was a joke.)

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WELCOME!! — Photography by Robert Lance Montgomery

3/5/2016

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Hello and welcome! My name is Robert Lance Montgomery, and I'm a photographer (now). I've been playing with cameras for two years, taking pictures of my family and friends, and I've really liked doing it! My "real" job, however, is composing music for film and video games, and you can hear all that stuff here at my other website. So why start a new business? Well, when I'm not writing tunes I can't actually turn off my creative — a malady which has resulted in this new business I call Robert Lance Photo Art.

So... open for business! I am now accepting $ from people who'd like to step in front of my camera!

I am super proud to kick off my new site and blog with a photoshoot of my stunning wife, and number one fan. She supports me in all of my ventures and is my trusty sidekick — so this one's for her. It just so happens she makes a great model! Her gorgeous porcelain skin does not need editing, and as such, these images are really just slightly retouched and relit, then color-graded. The process during the shoot was nothing out of the ordinary for us: just getting a shot in here and there while corralling the baby away from the lighting stand. This is a great shoot to start with as it demonstrates my favorite setting for a portrait session: a dark room with a single light. In this case, a single flash in a softbox positioned precisely, and set very close to the subject's face for nice soft light.

My breathtaking wife. Low key portraits. Softbox directly to the side on the first image. On the second, rim light added camera right to accent jawbone.

For the photogs and interested parties, I use both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Lightroom to develop RAW, relight, and color grade, then into Photoshop for final retouches and color tweaks. I am actually quite experienced in Photoshop, as I have been using it for 22 years. My friends know this well, as I have impishly used it to put their heads on other people's bodies, and so forth. But I am now reserving those skills for a higher purpose than what I have heretofore managed, by making photos look great.

Thanks for reading my first blog post! Questions and comments are more than welcome. If you'd like to schedule a shoot or ask me questions privately, refer to any of the links on my "Booking" page. BTW, I do engagements and wedding photography too, and shoot here in Utah and anywhere in the world I am wanted! Till next time! —▙

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