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Category Archives: For Photographers

The FILM Show

In March this year I was part of a…very different experience, hosting the FILM Show, which will “air” in a couple of months. I spent 10 days or so with a bunch of amazing photographers in a house in Vegas. We shot some stuff on film, but more than anything we shared a lot of… baggage. It was actually quite amazing and I can’t WAIT for the thing to air. Here’s an image I shot when we got a chance to shoot the real wedding of Sara Byrne and Dylan Howell. I haven’t been more excited about a set of wedding images in years. And I get excited every week.

If you’re interested in the FILM show before this year’s season airs, I recommend you watch last year’s season. Signing up is free.

http://framednetwork.com/

June 13, 2013 - 11:03 pm

monix - lovely!!!

June 13, 2013 - 11:13 pm

Stefan Hellberg - Fantastiskt Jonas!

June 13, 2013 - 11:23 pm

Veronica Varos - Beautiful. Looking forward to seeing the show.

June 13, 2013 - 11:27 pm

Jenny Karlsson - Gorgeous Jonas! Can’t wait to watch the FILM Show.

June 14, 2013 - 12:04 am

Rebecca - Fantastiskt !

June 14, 2013 - 12:07 am

Jakob - Umm. Yeah.

June 14, 2013 - 12:23 am

Ryan Brenizer - Hard to find a more luminous bride. Can’t wait to watch.

June 14, 2013 - 12:34 am

Tim Bishop - Wow I love this photo, such gorgeous bokeh and perfect exposure! I’m out this weekend with my Dad’s old camera with some kodak 400, can’t wait to see what comes out!

June 14, 2013 - 12:39 am

Amanda Basteen - Sara is gorgeous! Great shot Jonas

June 14, 2013 - 12:42 am

Nessa - So much love for this photo, this wedding, and this girl.

June 14, 2013 - 12:47 am

jay rowden - dreamy DoF mate – love it!! You can’t beat film

June 14, 2013 - 12:56 am

Gian Carlo - AHHHHHHHHHHHH !that is freaking awesome

June 14, 2013 - 1:22 am

Paul Krol - That bokeh is darned pretty, but Sara steals the show.

June 14, 2013 - 2:20 am

Serena Severtson - Love this so much. Sara, you’re just stunning! :)

June 14, 2013 - 2:26 am

Benj Haisch - So pumped to see these!

June 14, 2013 - 2:26 am

Kelcey M - I can not wait for framed network to start again! Lovely photo, im excited to watch how you work!

June 14, 2013 - 2:26 am

Alper - woah! looooove the bokeh! and well. Sara is so beautiful here! :D

June 14, 2013 - 2:52 am

Tuomas - Can’t wait to see the new season!

June 14, 2013 - 3:41 am

Mike Byrne - Wow, Jonas – that is just stunning. I can’t wait to see the rest of them!

June 14, 2013 - 3:57 am

Kyle - Ethereal

June 14, 2013 - 5:28 am

Kaley - Absolutely stunning! Sara made a gorgeous bride and this light and exposure is perfection.

June 14, 2013 - 6:06 am

Helen Selmeczy - Breathtakingly beautiful!

June 14, 2013 - 8:20 am

Josie - My goodness that’s beautiful

June 14, 2013 - 9:05 am

Gui - What a beautiful image. Can’t wait to see the rest.

June 14, 2013 - 12:27 pm

Mary Sylvia - Daaaaammmmmmmnnnn.

June 16, 2013 - 3:41 am

Val - Absolutely stunning! Truly it was very inspirational,

June 16, 2013 - 3:13 pm

jennifer armstrong - yup, that’s true beauty. The bride. And the capture.

June 16, 2013 - 5:02 pm

Jakub - 36 x 24, splendid

June 16, 2013 - 7:20 pm

Luke - Beautiful light and frame Jonas.

June 17, 2013 - 9:29 pm

Rachel Manns - This is a great shot. The backlighting is beautiful and her pose is perfect. Great work!

June 18, 2013 - 3:36 am

Rebecca - Beautiful, beautiful photograph! I love the increibly narrow depth of field, beautiful bokeh but above all her expression!

VSCO FILM – HOW I EDIT MY IMAGES

I get a lot of emails about how I get my digital images to look the way they do. The truth is that most of it is done in camera, properly exposed images shot in good light is what makes a good image, not the processing. With that said though, I do edit my images. Ever since VSCO film was released in 2011, I have used their presets for all my editing, I rarely even open photoshop these days.

VSCO Film 1,2 and 3 are presets for Lightroom and Photoshop. The three packs have a number of presets made to mimic different film stocks. I use all three packs, which presets I use generally depends on my own mood, i have used and use pretty much all of the presets, but I rarely use more than one colour and one black and white preset per wedding or shoot.

Pack 1 has the most classic looks, pack 2 have a few more dramatic looks and pack 3 are presets made to look like instant film (polaroid).

Not only has VSCO helped me speed up my processing immensly, it has made me happy with my processing. I generally don’t  have to tweak my images at all after I’ve applied the different presets and for someone who shoots as much as i do, that’s amazing.

I also use another product from VSCO called VSCO Keys. VSCO Film cut my editing time in half, when I started using VSCO Keys, my editing time was cut in half again. In short VSCO Keys are keyboard shortcuts for Lightroom and using it has helped me speed things up dramatically.

My favourite presets are Fuji 400, Fuji 800Z, T-Max 3200 ++, Ilford Delta 3200 ++, Superia 100 and Portra 400 NC ++. I use the presets in pack 3 for flavour and mainly on individual shots.

You can buy all film packs and VSCO Keys here.

These images were processed with VSCO Film Pack 01 

These images were edited with VSCO Film Pack 2.

These images were processed with VSCO Film Pack 3

Material Connection Disclosure

May 29, 2013 - 4:01 pm

Mel Silva - These images are just stunning!!!

May 29, 2013 - 4:11 pm

Tyler - Thanks for sharing Jonas. Great to see some of your older images come back to life through a current post. Lovely rooftop on image #2!

May 29, 2013 - 4:12 pm

Danielle S - I just fell in love with photography again.

May 29, 2013 - 4:17 pm

Mindy Lamprecht - LOVE LOVED thanks for sharing.

May 29, 2013 - 4:18 pm

Kyz - LOVE IT – AHHHrr sigh!

May 29, 2013 - 4:18 pm

Caroline Dixey - Thank you for breaking down the individual characteristics of each package. I have been thinking about #2 & 3 recently, but after reading your description, and seeing samples of your work with the three packs side by side helped a lot!

May 29, 2013 - 4:23 pm

pande kadek heryana - all your work is inspiring jonas. Love and proud of you sir

May 29, 2013 - 4:24 pm

wilma - thanks for sharing… love the collection of images too. Inspiring as always.

May 29, 2013 - 4:30 pm

snappystreet - Thank you so much for this insight! I love your photography work, and you have such an eye for capturing all of those special moments.

I’m currently only using VSCO for Instagram shots at the moment, and am really enjoying the outcome, so on reading this post, it has intrigued me to investigate this a little further to extend to my other photography as well, so thank you!

May 29, 2013 - 4:32 pm

Lina, Ditt Bröllop - Kan inte sluta titta om och om igen på dessa bilder. De är konst.

May 29, 2013 - 5:05 pm

Stefan - almost stunning imagerie and the presets are very nice!

May 29, 2013 - 6:17 pm

Mia - Åhhh jag blir liksom lite lycklig av dina bilder. Lite kär och lite hänförd. Du är otrolig!

May 29, 2013 - 6:43 pm

barbara di cretico - thank you for your generosity Jonas. but no filter can give us your poetry

May 29, 2013 - 6:45 pm

David - Thanks for sharing Jonas, inspiring as always. However, one thing that would be more interesting to hear about would be your social skills with the couples. How do you connect and communicate to get those shots, the presence, the looks? I would love to read a post on that. Sincerely, David

May 29, 2013 - 7:15 pm

Rebecca - Fantastiska bilder !

May 29, 2013 - 8:31 pm

Anna - Simply beautiful!

May 29, 2013 - 8:40 pm

Michelle Ellis - Do you shoot much film? I’m just curious… after all, if you’re editing your digital work to look like film…

May 29, 2013 - 8:47 pm

Lennart Isaksson - Jonas. My God…What an fantastic collection of images. I’m more moved by your take on people than VSCO, and I think your compositions is so aligned with that feeling. Simple and complicated at the same time. I’m also amazed how honest you are with things like post processing, your work and all this feedback to other photographers, whom you inspire SO much. You (and a few others) take wedding photography to a whole new level. It’s so inspiring. Anders Zorn comes to my mind. It’s a compliment I hope. L x

May 29, 2013 - 9:09 pm

Tim Matthews - Such inspiring photography, every shot a work of art. Thank you for sharing.

May 29, 2013 - 9:11 pm

David - VSCO = icing. Your photography = cake.

May 29, 2013 - 9:29 pm

morgan sikkerboel - a beautiful collection of images. the bride in the pink-ish dress is still my favorite bride of yours. stunning.

also, the grim reaper is hot shit.

May 29, 2013 - 10:39 pm

Sara - Stunning. Do you use a ND filter for some of the landscape shots? Specifically for the first and fourth landscape-orientated images. I love the one where the couple is seemingly walking into a storm.

May 29, 2013 - 11:19 pm

Mercedes - These are beautiful as always, Jonas. Thanks for sharing your insight and a little about how you do things.

May 30, 2013 - 12:43 am

Caroline - Very cool! I’ve been back and forth on picking up one of these sets, it’s quite nice to see which shots you edited using which packs. It’s hard, I tend to lean toward making your own presets instead of adopting already made ones. But if it saves you time… well, time saving in editing is a big deal.

I always love the feel of your weddings. It’s a lot of lovely quiet moments.

May 30, 2013 - 2:17 am

Belinda - Ahhh, my love for your photographs is renewed. Thank you! I will look into this VSCO. ;)

May 30, 2013 - 4:51 am

erica - otroliga bilder!

May 30, 2013 - 4:53 am

erica - oh, haha.. lovely pictures! wrote in swedish XD

May 30, 2013 - 5:04 am

JC Vogt - AHHH! The one of the left is the best! Sweet work, man. Really nice stuff.

http://jonaspeterson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/vscofilm01_jonaspeterson037.jpg

May 30, 2013 - 5:44 am

Erika - These are so, so, gorgeous! I have drooling over VSCO presents for a while now and holding off thinking I should just stick with making my own presets but this pretty well just sold me.

May 30, 2013 - 9:47 am

Khrist Way - Wow. Fantastic works!
Allow me to use them for wallpaper.

May 30, 2013 - 12:04 pm

Peter - Thank you for sharing this info it’s been very helpful.

May 30, 2013 - 7:11 pm

Bek - you’re a bloody legend!

May 31, 2013 - 4:51 am

R Villetto - I use VSCO too… But damn, your work blows me away!

May 31, 2013 - 5:30 am

Clara - Hej Jonas!
Jag har precis fått upp ett massivt intresse för fotografering. Jag är fortfarande världens rookie, men tycker att det är så fantastiskt kul och vill satsa alltmer. Nu satt jag och letade efter fotobloggar och råkade hamna på din. Jag är en person som läser bloggar och ALDRIG kommenterar, men jag bara måste tala om för dig att dessa bilder fick mig att tappa andan! Jag vet inte hur jag ska beskriva känslan som nyss uppstod, men det liksom tryckte i bröstet på mig, på ett sätt som både kändes bra och dåligt. Du är en stor konstnär och dina bilder tog mig fullkomligt med storm. Tack! Du har härmed en ny läsare.

Vänliga hälsningar,
Clara Sundh

May 31, 2013 - 3:06 pm

Melissa - Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos!

June 1, 2013 - 2:41 am

Anna - Thank you for sharing this! I like the idea of how most of the work is done in the camera, that’s how it should be. You are by far my biggest inspiration for photography. You’re even making weddings and love look pretty wonderful to me, and that’s something no one has been able to do before. And let me tell you, you certainly see things others don’t. So you just keep taking care of that gift you have :)

June 1, 2013 - 6:08 am

Kayla F - May I just say that you completely had me fooled! I could have sworn you were a FILM photographer!!! Goes to show you have an amazing talent. :D

June 3, 2013 - 2:35 pm

D Withers - It’s a shame cause I looked up to you thinking you edited everything yourself from the ground up. The fact you use presets that have been designed by other people is unfortunate.

June 3, 2013 - 3:36 pm

bryan - bahahah D Withers! Whaaaaaat?!

June 4, 2013 - 8:59 am

Delia - I love using VSCO – gosh, these images are just so so beautiful!

June 5, 2013 - 9:34 am

samuel - Fotos Impresionantes

June 6, 2013 - 3:37 am

Andrew - Amazing work, the images have a completely unique and personal feel that I absolutely love. The beach photo above is completely surreal!

June 6, 2013 - 7:21 pm

Cam - Are you a sales rep for VSCO? Very strange post for you to make on a wedding photographers blog. I would have thought your methods of turning out beautiful pics was your intellectual property and not really of interest to your customers. Perhaps there is more money to be made promoting ones own brilliance and taking sponsorship deals.

June 10, 2013 - 9:02 pm

Liz Wan - Response to Cam: I don’t think it’s strange at all for Jonas to make this post, and I don’t think this post is about making money (although nothing wrong with that)…as Barbara Di Cretico pointed out in the earlier comments, “no filter can gives us your poetry” – Jonas is just being generous, unafraid to share because he understands that true photography isn’t all about pretty presets, if he gave everyone his kit and workflow, no one would still be able to make the same pictures he does. We are all unique in the way we see things!

June 11, 2013 - 9:58 am

David @ AiP Creative Photography - These photographs are wonderful expressions of art. I love each and every one!

June 15, 2013 - 8:35 pm

best man speech - Dude! This blog is awesome. How did you make it look this good .

June 19, 2013 - 2:36 am

Alena Heath - Well, there goes (insert cost of all three film packs)!! Thanks for sharing, this is amazing. I’m always blown away by not only your shots but your editing. Wanted to pick my favorite film pack to buy but now seeing your samples, I want them all! VSCO should pay you for all the business you just brought them :P

June 19, 2013 - 10:56 am

Anna - Thanks for sharing! I’ve been curious about your editing methods for like ever. I will say though, that just because you use VSCO doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of different ways you can change an image. You can’t possible click one preset and be done with it. Do you use the VSCO Toolkit as well or just make minor adjustments by hand? I’m also curious how you feel about clipping blacks and whites in the tone curve.

A Greater Story – Paris


A Greater Story is a two day workshop I’ve been working on for the last year. I even bought a fancy domain and everything. But since that site is a work in progress we’ll have to start here.

A Greater Story is a photography workshop, but you will walk away with more important things than settings and photoshop tricks, hopefully inspired to run a meaningful business and live the life you’ve always wanted.

Over the two days we will discuss a range of different subjects. I will share my story and show you how it affects everything I do. I have built a business and body of work completely based on who I am and the needs I have and I will try to push and challenge you to do the same. We will discuss how inspiration works, how to push through creative blocks and how telling a good story can change your business dramatically.

We will discuss – in detail – how storytelling impacts everything from branding to client interaction, pricing and sales.

I have in a very short amount of time built a highly successful photography business, but I’ve also made mistakes and I will take you through both the good and the bad. Today I’m one of the most booked destination wedding photographers in the world and we’ll talk about that aspect of my business too, the choices I’ve made to get to where I am today.

We will go through gear, software, workflow and post processing. We will also talk about your role as an artist, finding your voice (you already have one), social media, how to get published and a bunch of other things.

After the two days you will hopefully walk away inspired and reassured that you have what it takes to move your business – and your life – in the direction it needs.

WHEN: Paris, France (venue still to be confirmed) 25-26 June 2013

WHAT: Two day workshop, meet and greet drinks the night before the workshop, drinks, snacks and lunch both days and a dinner out on the town at the end of day two. You will also receive a number of discounts from suppliers I work with as well as books and inspiration material.

PRICE: $1950 AUD

HOW: To secure a spot, send an email with the subject “PARIS WORKSHOP” to mail [at] jonaspeterson.com. We will answer the emails in order and to secure your spot you will need to pay a non-refundable retainer of $1000 AUD. First come, first served. You can pay by credit card or paypal. The number of seats are limited to 15.

May 29, 2013 - 7:00 pm

Unaiz - Brilliant photographs..!

June 2, 2013 - 9:11 pm

Alison - Sounds so good. When are you going to present in Sydney or Melbourne? Pleaaasssseeeeee!!!

June 5, 2013 - 7:12 am

simon - Your work is incredible! Really impressive *doffs cap*

June 13, 2013 - 11:33 am

Kierstin - Yes, please please please do a workshop in Sydney!!!