Services:

"We capture every angle"

Stacey & Kelly - your husband and wife photography team. We specialize in capturing the excitement of your engagement, preserving the romantic moments of your wedding day, and using innovative ideas to “Trash the Wedding Dress”. www.discoverybaystudios.com

Artistic, Unique, Personable, Professional & Affordable - Serving the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Discovery Bay Studios is a husband and wife photography team who operate out of their home studio. As romantics at heart we understand the importance of fine wedding photography and would like to help couples treasure their wedding day photographs forever.

Stacey and Kelly will personally shoot your wedding. We work as a team to get different points of view. This helps with redundancy too. In the event of equipment malfunction the other shooter is always ready.

When the situation calls for it, Kelly is great at arranging poses. This frees up Stacey to get creative with specialty lenses and camera settings. We get all of the safe shots and then push the envelope to get amazing images that you will see nowhere else.

In addition to weddings we also photograph portraits, sports, events, and shoot for the local Brentwood Press newspaper.

Click here to view my video.

Heaven Scent Florals

I have worked with Stacey and Kelly of Discovery Bay Studios on location weddings. The last one was on Pebble Beach in Monterey Calif. Beach weddings can have their own set of unique challenges, such as wind, sudden lighting changes due to clouds, too much sunlight reflecting off the water and sand, just to name a few. Stacey and Kelly can think on their feet quickly in the midst of ever-changing conditions to get you the perfect shot. An added bonus is the great communication of a husband and wife team. I am very pleased with the photos they have taken of my floral creations. Kelly Cook owner of Heaven Scent Florals

Who is Discovery Bay Studios?

A wedding photography business owned and operated by Stacey and Kelly Chance. We are a husband and wife photography team who use the latest technology and trends to capture beautiful wedding images.

Our biggest thrill is hearing couples rave about their new wedding photos. The money is nice, but knowing that we helped capture life’s most important memories for a loving couple can’t be matched. Our sincere hope is that you will cherish your photos forever.

What is your photography style?

We are photojournalistic style photographers, but use some traditional methods as necessary. Traditional photography is giving way to the unobtrusive photojournalistic style usually preferred by today’s younger couples. We enjoy capturing the wedding day as it unfolds, but if we see an instance where we may be of some help we don’t hesitate to politely offer suggestions.

Who will shoot the wedding?

Stacey and Kelly will personally shoot your wedding. We work as a team to get different points of view. You get two photographers for the price of one! This helps with redundancy too. In the event of equipment malfunction the other shooter is always ready.

When the situation calls for it, Kelly is great at arranging poses. This frees up Stacey to get creative with specialty lenses and camera settings. We get all of the safe shots and then push the envelope to get you wedding shots that you will see nowhere else.

How will you make it easy for friends and family to order prints?

Normally within two weeks of your wedding select images are posted to an online photo album/gallery. Your music video slideshow is often posted right there too. We will email you the link so you can share with friends and family. This makes it easy for everyone who attended the wedding to view and/or order their own prints without bothering you.

How do you offer a high quality product while keeping your rates so low?

We don’t have a large advertising budget. Most of our business comes from happy client referrals. We work hard to please our clients so they tell their friends!

And as with most industries today, technology is changing the photography industry. We pride ourselves in staying on the leading edge of advances and using it to an advantage. Much of the transaction and communication process is done through our user friendly website. We also invested in the latest digital camera equipment with specialty lenses best suited for wedding photography.

We concentrate on what we do best, getting spectacular images and then enhancing them even more using the latest software such as Photoshop. The efficiency of delivering your images online and on discs makes things simpler and less expensive.

We can help you with prints and albums if you don’t have the desire or time. But since you own all of the original images it can be more convenient and less expensive for you to order prints online or through a retailer such as Costco. And there are so many quality online options for designing your album that many couples choose to do it themselves and save a bundle!

Why can’t I just have “Uncle Charlie” shoot my wedding to save money?

Using a friend or family member to take pictures at your expensive wedding may not be such a good idea. $10,000 is considered the minimum amount of camera equipment required to properly shoot a wedding. “Uncle Charlie” may have good intentions and a nice new camera, but here are a few points to consider before risking your precious wedding memories and inconveniencing “Uncle Charlie”.

• Does he have professional wedding specific camera equipment capable of quality photographs in all lighting conditions?
• Does he have backup cameras, lenses, batteries, memory, etc?
• Does he know all of the “must have” shots that are required during the wedding day?
• Does he know the best angles, positions, and how to anticipate each important event?
• Does he know how to pose large groups?
• Does he know how to create romantic couple portraits?
• When the going gets tough during a long day of shooting will he be committed to getting you the best shots possible? Or maybe it’s just time for a drink?
• Will he add a professional presence to your wedding and will he know when to offer experienced advice when things don’t go so smoothly?
• Does he know Photoshop and which effects are best suited to particular images?
• Is he willing to spend hours and hours poring over hundreds or thousands of images and then deliver the images in a convenient presentation for you?
• Are you willing to accept snapshots of your expensive wedding versus professionally crafted photographs with a style of their own?

And finally, for you to ask “Uncle Charlie” to take on such a monumental chore he must be considered very close to you. If he is so close, doesn’t he deserve to relax as a guest during your wedding and enjoy the celebration? Please avoid headaches and disappointment by properly budgeting your wedding to allow for professional photographers.

Tips for Great Wedding Day Photographs
(These are not hard and fast rules, but merely helpful suggestions)
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Creative and Romantic Portraits

Please plan on at least an hour for your couple shots. The best time for light is morning or evening, about 30 minutes before sunset. Noon sun is tough to work with unless we find good shade.

Once we find a nice spot for lighting and background feel free to dance around, kiss, hug, play, and chase each other, etc. Go ahead and “ham” it up and do some dramatic poses if you like. But try not to look at the camera. Pretend the two of you are alone. When walking, hold hands and lean in once in a while for a kiss without stopping.

We may suggest a few poses. If you have an idea, no matter how silly it may seem, please share it with us. Your idea may just turn into a photographic masterpiece, or lead us in a direction which will.

When you kiss don’t tilt your heads too much. Try to kiss straight on so that both faces have a better chance of being shown. Also, kiss very slowly, pausing with your lips just an inch apart. Relax your face muscles, don’t pucker or smile. Also relax your hands, drape them over your partner. Hands say a lot in a photograph.

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Group Photos

If possible, please plan on using a nice outside location with enough shade to cover everyone in the group. Avoid distracting backgrounds and make sure everyone is in the shade.

Make a list of who is in each shot. It can help to have someone from your family handle the list to keep track of everyone. Tell your relatives in advance that they need to be there at a certain time, and then tell them again on the wedding day. You should plan on at least 30 minutes to get all of the group shots.

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The Dressing Room

Many photos are normally taken in the dressing room so take care to make it look great. Light some candles or decorate with Christmas lights. Get rid of trash, empty boxes, and every day clothes like blue jeans. Messes are ok, as long as they are wedding related.

Try to choose a larger dressing room with lots of natural light, preferably a north facing window. Avoid sunlight beaming into your room. Use diffusing curtains or sheets to cover the window if necessary.

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Reception Area Decoration

Decorate the reception area as well. Hang Christmas lights or rope lights. This will give some background light so that flash pictures won’t have a completely black background.

If you are having an outdoor reception, placing your dance floor under a tent will make a big difference because we can bounce our flash up into the tent roof and make a much more even light than what we would get with direct flash. A tent also gives you a structure to hang the small lights in the roof which create a mellow warm background light. Outdoors... paper lanterns are beautiful and mason jars with candles inside look wonderful hanging in the trees.

Please ask your DJ to not use strobe lights or moving lights on the dance floor. This can ruin many photos of the dancing. Light in the background is great, but not on the people dancing.

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Putting on Your Rings

To keep from blocking the camera you should hold the ring so that your fingers are on the top and bottom instead of on the sides of the ring. This turns your hand so that the ring is visible from the sides and now your photographer and your guests can see it go on.

Also, avoid holding your free hand out and grabbing your partner's wrist so that you can push the ring on better. If you feel it is necessary, try putting your hand under your partner's hand and grabbing on from below. This keeps your wrist down below so it doesn't block the shot. Practice this a couple of times and you will see that it is possible to put the rings on while still leaving the sides open to a clear shot for your photographer, and a great view for your guests.

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Lighting the Unity Candles

These are usually placed at the back of the altar. Consider placing the candles out on the side of the altar so that you can stand facing the crowd when you light them. This gives your photographers a much better chance of getting a shot and it allows your guests to see what you are doing.

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Bouquet Toss

Don't rush. Take a minute to play with your crowd. This gives us time to get a shot of you holding the flowers and looking back over your shoulder at all the gang getting lined up. Before you throw, I recommend chasing off all the little kids because they will almost always beat your bridesmaids and friends out of the flowers.

Look up and make sure you don't have anything low like lights and ceiling fans that are going to block your flowers before they get to the crowd. When you throw, be ready to call for a “do-over” if it doesn't go as planned.

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Dancing

During the formal dances you should ignore the photographer. However, later in the evening feel free to ham it up for us. If you and your wedding party would occasionally turn and dance facing us we can get some great shots.

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Food

It is customary to feed the photographers if we will be there for more than four hours. If we can be seated not too far away from your table we can continue to get candid shots.

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Discovery Bay Studios Wedding Photography
www.discoverybaystudios.com
Phone (925) 216-4454