Eliot Khuner Photography

My now wife and I got the chance to work with Eliot for our wedding this last November in San Francisco. Our wedding was in the Presidio and we took roughly a 3 hour photo session before the wedding.
Eliot is an amazing photographer and we were really lucky to work with him. He had knowledge all over the City to take pictures, was able to get our stubborn nieces and nephews to smile, took great shots of our guests and took what I think are the best wedding photos I’ve ever seen (that last part could be because my wife is in the shots).
We hope to work with him sometime in the future when we have children.
If you get the chance — book Eliot!

Eliot came to our apartment to do a family photo shoot/​engagement photo session. He was professional and lovely the entire time. He made us feel so relaxed and comfortable. I could tell right away that he had an artist’s eye and is also very tuned into the personalities he is photographing. Our photos are exactly our style, and at the same time, far beyond what we could have imagined ourselves. He was quite patient working with us to get our cat in some of the photos, which is no easy feat!
These are photos we will cherish for our entire lives. They captured a moment in time eloquently, and we are grateful to Eliot for making this so possible. We are looking forward to having him as our wedding photographer.
If you are looking for someone who is an absolute joy to work with and produces impeccable photos, Eliot is it.

Many years later, our wedding photos continue to delight us. Even though 21^st century digital camera technology has turned all of us into «photographers», not everyone has the skills to capture a once-​in-​a-​lifetime moment of magic. That’s why Eliot was worth every penny. Our son and his fiancé are planning their 2015 wedding and a few minutes on Eliot’s website is proof that his photography skills are still outpacing the competition.
A bit of advice about wedding expenses: Remember, a month after the wedding, your flowers will be long gone and your expensive dress will be in a fancy storage box under your bed but your beautiful wedding photos will be with you forever.

I needed a professional picture for a speaking engagement. All the pictures I had were at least 5 or 10 years old and I hadn’t worked with a professional photographer before. I also needed the picture fairly quickly. Eliot was amazing: he traveled to the city on a Saturday morning, the images were on-​line (in a secure environment) the next day, I selected a couple of pictures and Eliot did the editing within 24 hours. I didn’t really know what I wanted and Eliot guided me in the right direction during the photo shoot. Also, I remember the inspector Colombo moment: when Eliot had packed all his photography gear and was about to leave my apartment, he took one last picture of me (I was completely relaxed because the shoot was over) and that happened to be one of the best pictures of the shoot.
I would highly recommend Eliot to anyone who needs a professional head shot.

Eliot is an amazing photographer with a gift for lighting! My husband hired him to take photos at my surprise 40^th birthday party. Not only did Eliot take great candids, but he suggested and took wonderful posed shots of groups from different parts of my life. He also took photos of the house where the event was hosted, the dinner table and menu and musicians, which were important elements of the wonderful evening my husband painstakingly planned. Importantly, Eliot made sure I wasn’t doing my often captured ‘head tilt’ and that I looked wonderful in the photos! He truly captured the feeling of the evening which was a special, fun and memorable event with close friends. It was one of those times you really want to have a camera to ensure the moments are documented, but to have a professional photographer who really knows and cares about what he is doing was truly the icing on my cake of an evening.

Eliot recently did photos of our family. He picked a great location and did a wonderful job helping us to feel at ease and to take a variety of poses. He also did a great job getting some good expressions out of the baby, whose expression was hard to capture, since it changes every 5 seconds. We were very impressed with the number of good shots that he got, and ended up ordering far more photos than we had thought that we would before the photo shoot — the grandparents will be very happy with the pics of the baby! I highly recommend him for family portraits, and will recommend him to my friends looking for a wedding photographer, too.

I wanted to take some photos aroudn the UC Berkeley campus which I never got to do while I was a student there. I asked many friends and family for recommendations and my classmate Karen highly recommended Eliot. He lives in Berkeley and is so familiar with the campus that it was perfect! I haven’t had professional pictures taken in over 10 years I never been comfortable in front of a camera and I really have no good idaes for posing but Eliot helped me a lot on how to pose, where to look, how to position from my s houlders to my feet and in which direction! I felt very comfortable. he is very patient and very professional!
I didn’t feel rushed and I had a lot of fun with the photo shoot! All of my photos were amazing!!! i had a hard time choosing! I love them all! I have recommended Eliot to friends and family and look forward in the future to more photos from Eliot who is truly a professional photographer.

Eliot was our photographer for our wedding on 6.7.08 but I just started Unilocaling so here it is… I can’t forget to give Eliot credit where credit is due.
After interviewing several photographers, Eliot was the best person for the job… to capture a day’s worth of memories to be shared with family and friends for a lifetime. He was very knowledgable, professsional, and friendly. After our engagement photo session, we were very pleased with the outcome. He took over a thousand photos in just a couple hours. Even more amazing was the outcome of our wedding photos. We have received so many compliments on them and the album turned out just the way we wanted it. Eliot worked with us through countless hours to get each page laid out just right. We look forward to using Eliot again for our family portraits in the future. You can tell he’s truly passionate about what he does. Many thanks Eliot!

My wife and I were looking for a photographer for our wedding and we came across Eliot. We sent up a meeting and we immediately cast away the 4 or 5 previous people we meet with and went with Eliot. He took care of us and put my wife at ease. He did a fantastic job at our wedding and engagement session. He has a great eye and on our day of the event he captured nearly everyone at the wedding in the best natural setting. Remember its your wedding so I would recommend going with nothing less than a pro it makes all the difference in the world. Also Eliot just finished our album and it is great.

I Can’t say enough GREAT things about Eliot’s work. He photographed our wedding in september, and his capturing of that day and the people there was FABULOUS!
Now, given that a wedding is a highly charged event, you might think anything looks good, but I’ve heard plenty of complaints from people who hired pros and were, uh duh, unimpressed. Well, not only myself but all my friends family and guests all think his photos are fabulous.
It’s a big expense hiring a pro, and we almost didnt do it, being pretty squeezed for cash at this low-​key do-​it-​yourself event (this was not the flash, blingbling wedding, more like a family picnic) But I am really glad we did, not least since he captured moments I forgot had even happened — no matter how hard you try to focus, at a moment like getting married, everything becomes blur… so being able to look back over the day really gives us wonderful memories. and nice gifs too, since we now have beautiful portraits not jsut of us but also everyone we love.
on a professional note, he was on time, took note of the surroundings, made sure to get photos of each and every guest as asked, even thought to take shots of each table so we knew who was where. that kind of thinking shows a pro. not to mention the quality of the images!
worth every dollar, and memories for a lifetime.
thank you eliot!

We first came across Eliot’s website a couple of years ago when we were considering having photos done for our parents. However, we never quite got around to putting our plan into action. After getting engaged, the first photographer that came to mind was Eliot. We had been impressed with the amount of information about photography on his site, as well as his photographic philosophy and desire to capture people in a natural state that really allows their personality to come through. We were impressed with his use of lighting and attention to detail. Unlike other photographers that we looked at, he captured the moment in his photos without being overly artsy or gimmicky.
During our engagement session, Eliot was easy to work with and helped put us at ease resulting in some lovely, natural shots. We were happy to discover that many of the photos Eliot took were very good, and some were truly outstanding. We did the photo shoot in Berkeley where Eliot is located. We shot at multiple sites and at the end Eliot took us on a mini driving tour of Berkeley. It was a fun morning and made us confident that we had made the right decision in choosing Eliot to photograph our wedding.
The day of the wedding, Eliot arrived and did his thing, capturing the groom before the wedding, as well as guests arriving. He even managed a few quick shots in the bride’s room despite the fact that we had originally opted to skip those photos. Additionally, he took a variety of shots that would work well as extra images in an album (i.e. the tables, rings, champagne glasses, garden setting of wedding).
We got the photos immediately. Eliot had asked us to bring an external hard drive to the wedding so that he could download the photos to it as soon as he was done taking them. He did this and the evening of the wedding, we had the photos and could review them at our leisure.
All and all, Eliot was not only fun to work with, but also took some beautiful photos and managed to document our wedding in a thorough yet unobtrusive manner ultimately providing us with some stunning images with which to remember our wedding day.

I asked Eliot to photograph my family and my two busy boys. Instead of making them stand still and force a smile, he had them climbing rocks, running in fallen leaves, rolling around on the grass, and laughing, so that he captured not only their beautiful and natural smiles, but he also captured their individual personalities in the images — the serious one and the silly one. Now all I have to do is choose my favorites from over 800 images that he took during our photo shoot.
I am very impressed with his work, his style and his results.

I’ve now worked with Eliot Khuner at 2 fundraising events, and he is one of the best event photographers I’ve ever dealt with. I work for a nonprofit arts organization, and one of our board members recommended him, so I decided to give him a try. Eliot really knows how to get you the kind of photos you need, even under very crowded, difficult circumstances (weird lighting, hordes of people surrounding your subject, etc.). He is personable and fun without being intrusive, and he puts people at ease, which is one of the keys to getting good photos. He takes direction very well, but he also knows how to roam around on his own and look for good photo opps.
Eliot also really went the extra mile for me by staying late at the event so I could select photos to send to the press the next day. Then he stayed up still later at his studio after the event (which didn’t end until midnight) so that he could transfer my photos and get them ready for others to view. He could not have been more accommodating and helpful. A true professional, and a truly nice person. I highly recommend him for any kind of event.

I came to Eliot interested in pictures for my website and new theatrical and commercial shots.
I’ve had good and bad experiences with different photographers. One photographer did excellent work but was ridiculously expensive. The one I used after that was very affordable but they were so bad I didn’t even reproduce them. I thought it was clear from that point on; thinking good pictures cost lots of money and crappy ones are cheap. Then I went to a photographer that made me look quite distinctive but when I looked at her portfolio, it was apparent that a look and style had been projected upon me.
I met Eliot at his studio in Berkeley with an armful of outfits and props (scarves, hats, etc.). I laid them out and after listening to my ideas about the shoot, he made his suggestions. The Diet Pepsi he offered me has stuck in my mind for some reason… Maybe because I was thirsty.
We hopped in the car and headed to the planned location. We hadn’t yet arrived when Eliot noticed an interesting spot to take some pictures. He asked me if I was interested, I said Yes, and we pulled over.
It is hard to explain how well a professional does their work. Especially an artist. But I can recall moments that assured me that my comfort was very important. When I needed to be smiling or cheerful in a shot, instead of Eliot telling dumb jokes, he asked me questions about my interests and life, about what’s going on, and commented on things that were going on around us. Just pleasant things that made me smile. Later, when I looked at the photos, the affect was amazing. Natural smiles from an engaged person instead of «acting happy» smiles.
Honestly I was worried about time. Eliot told me that we had a couple hours and I wasn’t sure if that would be enough time. Well I was wrong. We took hundreds of pictures in one hour and realized that we had everything we needed and headed back to the studio. I wasn’t even worn out.
Later, I sat down with Eliot at his studio and we walked through the pictures. Again, he gave suggestions (with explanations) but ultimately it was up to me. I took his advice.
Looking at all the pictures, I wasn’t only pleased that I looked good, I was happy that they looked like me. Eliot captured what I had brought to the shoot. I’m not an expert on photography but I would consider that one of the best qualities you can have.
I am pleased. My expectations were exceeded. My agent is thrilled.

Took pictures with Jill K. Eliot was very nice, patient and took his time explaining what he was doing and why he was doing it. He definitely knows his lighting and that’s probably the most difficult aspect of photography.
It was a fun experience and he made us feel comfortable. The pictures themselves came out very well. He used the lighting to tone down the sharp contrast between Jill and my skin shades.
Finally, he’s full of energy and I think that is conveyed in his pictures and engaging conversations.
Highly recommended for wedding studio photography.

thanks to Unilocal,eliot, a bay area based photographer, offered to take pictures of us! seemed like a perfect opportunity to take some nice pictures, since we had just become engaged. so, one foggy morning, we made our way to his studio.
eliot was funny and engaging from the moment we met. we talked about everything from stem cell research to searcn engine optimization to the biz of photography, while learning a lot about photography in the process! he definitely knows his stuff and is very talented photographer.
altogether, it was a great experience, and i would definitely recommend him for great shots. i really liked his candid shots, which, even though they were in a studio, looked very natural. the only thing i would do differently is change up some of our poses, as some of them definitely looked better than others!
note: for more samples of his work, check out my link: