42.
The answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.
Ok, now you know all that you need to about that. But, in answering emails in our inbox, we have noticed that there was a lot of interest in us, Crystal and Rachel. We’re a little perplexed by it, but we figured we’d write up a little blog post answering lots of emails about us and the ways we do things.
Who are we?
We’re Crystal and Rachel. We’re both photographers in Utah who specialize in weddings and portrait sessions. We shoot both natural light, as well as studio light and also off-camera flash. We just love light and we’re light-junkies, so we shoot any kind that we can.
What do we shoot with?
We both shoot Canon. Crystal started with a Nikon d70, but then moved over to a Canon XSi, and then moved to a 40D, and is currently shooting a 5D Mark II with a 60D backup. Rachel started with a Canon XT and used that baby for quite awhile, before deciding to move to a 5D Mark II. She currently shoots 2 5D Mark IIs.
Crystal would call herself a prime girl. She LOVES her 50 1.2 L lens, it is almost always on her camera. The bokeh and speed of focus on that lens is insane. Her second favorite is probably her 135 2.0 L. The sharpness and bokeh on that lens is divine.
Rachel likes the dramatic ends of the spectrum. Her favorite lens is her 70-200 2.8 L is ii. She even uses this lens at family sessions at 200 mm. She loves the fact she can use that combo to get great bokeh, but still get a family of 8 in tack sharp focus. Her second favorite lens is probably the 16-35 2.8 L, because she loves the look of 16 mm on a full-frame camera. Lots of storytelling drama!
In our combined bags we have 2 of each of the following lenses: 24-70 2.8 L, 70-200 2.8 L is ii, 50 1.2 L, 85 1.2 L, 16-35 2.8 L, 135 2.0 L, 100 mm L macro, and then we have a lonely 24 mm 3.5 L tilt-shift lens. We have 3 5d Mark iis between us and 4 flashes. (2 580 ex ii and 2 430 ex iis) We also have 3 video lights that we use too. We have Radio Poppers for our flashes. We also keep Pez dispensers for kids (and adults who need candy therapy) in our bags too. We have collapsable Gary Fongs, and Mennon White Balance lens caps, as well as Lastolite EZ Balance card. As you can see, we really believe in setting custom white balances.
How do we like working as a partnership?
We LOVE it. We feel like it keeps us fresh and sharp in our skills, as we each help the other constantly to learn and grow. We are able to dissect the session afterwards and figure out what really worked for us and why and what we felt did not work and how to avoid that situation again in the future. Another great benefit is when something goes pear-shaped, we are able to quickly brainstorm our way through solutions and keep each other calm. We have personalities that are similar enough to get along really well, but different enough that we each have strengths that help the other. Crystal is crazy creative and sees a very broad picture and keeps us innovative and interesting. Rachel is detail-oriented and likes to know the technicals and dot the Is and cross the Ts. When we work together, we feel that it helps us be dynamic and different, both in our Pure Photography and Design and in with Pure Photoshop Actions. And one of the best parts is that we are both easy-going enough that we just don’t fight. Even when the stress level is high, we still coast along happily. (I think the fact we’ve been a partnership for almost 3 years and have not fought it pretty cool. Better track record than even with our husbands! 
) So, short? Partnership? Two-thumbs up!
Who do we like to use for X, Y, and Z?
Some of our favorite vendors:
Prints? Color Inc., Millers, and Bay Photo.
Albums? Graphi Studios, KISS Wedding Books, and Bay Photo.
Canvases? Pro DPI, Canvas on Demand Pro, and Pixel2Canvas.
Business cards? Moo
What lighting do we use?
We love natural light, for sure. But we also love to bend and tweak and enhance where we can and when it looks right. So we have 4 speedlights (2 580 ex ii and 2 430 exii) and we use Radio Poppers for them. We like to gel them when we shoot outdoors to give a nice, subtle hairlight that we can control. Indoors we use Alien Bees (we have an 800 and a 400, currently.) We have A Paul C. Buff 60×30 softbox and a Wescott 50×50 umbrella-mount softbox. If we use the Alien Bees outdoors (and it is becoming rarer, since we started using Radio Poppers), then we bring our beauty dish and a Vagabond II power pack. But that is a pretty heavy set up, so we tend to just use the speedlights. When we first started with wireless OCF, we used Cactus triggers by Gadget Infinity. They are a great way to economically start out with wireless triggers and off-camera light.
What software do we use to edit our photos?
We both use Adobe Photoshop CS5. We’ve used lots of different versions through the years (and have most of them–and Elements versions–loaded onto our computers to test each action set in.) We love the flexibility and power that the full version of Photoshop has. We realize there is a steep pricetag at the outset, but the upgrade cost is really pretty reasonable. Rachel started with Elements (Elements 5, when it first came out, back in the day), and moved up .
Are we Mac or PC?
We both started out as PC, but have both recently migrated to Mac. We are not anti-PC at all. Running a pretty fast PC never tripped us up too much, but we love our Macs. We won’t get into a discussion of which is best or not, because they both have their uses. But we felt that since we worked with customers who used both platforms, we needed to be familiar and proficient in each.
What do we recommend for shooting weddings?
We get this question a lot. We know it is not feasible to rush out and drop $10K on gear. So at the very least we would say that having the 24-70 and 70-200 (or lenses that cover that range) lenses would be critical. This way you can cover the wedding without being too far back or too close up to “get the shot.” We also recommend at least 1 flash and the knowledge of how to use it, because wedding lighting can need supplementation. And finally, we feel strongly that you have a back-up camera, because you can’t leave in the middle if your camera has a fault. We also recommend shooting on a lot of smaller cards (we like 4 GB) as opposed to one really large card, since if the card goes corrupt in-camera, you only lose a small portion of the images, rather than the whole wedding.
These are just some of the questions we are routinely asked. As we think of more, we will come up with more blog posts to help people understand how and why we do what we do. We don’t claim to be the experts or have THE answer, but rather, we just find that this way works for us and for our personalities!
Girls your New blog is amazing! Its so cute and so you! I cant wait to see what all you girls come up with this year thanks for Helping EVERYONE all the time and taking time away from your families for your fans/clients!