lighting the wedding formals (part 3)
lighting the wedding formals
In the first of two postings on how I light the wedding formals, I showed how I use a single flashgun when photographing smaller formal groups indoors. The equipment is relatively simple then - a single flashgun (Q-flash) and a large 60" umbrella to give me good lighting. The flashgun that I use for these, is a Q-flash. Specifically the older T2 model since I only use them in manual mode here. When I have a larger group I use two of these flashguns - each with an umbrella. But more about that in a follow-up article coming up soon. What I wanted to Read more inside...Wedding photography – Retouching & style
Wedding photography - Retouching & style
My style in wedding photography veers towards the more straight-forward image - uncluttered and without much Photoshop work done. I really believe that the more you fudge with a photograph, the more likely it would not be as timeless as you might want it to be. Retouching styles become dated. So I tend towards the more straight-forward rendition of a photograph. That said, you can most definitely enhance the original photograph to make it really pop. Here is an example - a favorite image from a sequence taken during the romantic Read more inside...Bridal portraits with on-camera bounce flash
Bridal portraits with on-camera bounce flash
With the formal portraits of the bride & groom, and their families, I usually set up off-camera lighting. But I also try to bring in some variety to the portraits - and I shoot on-location portraits of the bride beforehand, just after prep. It's a good idea to get as much done as you can, earlier on in the day - just in case the time-line gets compressed and things don't quite follow the original plan. You'll be much happier then for having some solid portraits in your pocket. In this example, I wanted a few portraits of Michelle Read more inside...lighting the wedding formals (part 1)
lighting and photographing the wedding formals
With this, the first in a loose series on lighting and photographing the family formals at weddings, I would like to show that with a simple approach it is possible to get clean results that work every time. In lighting the formals, I don't try to get all Rembrandt, but prefer a fairly flat way of lighting everyone. I keep the lighting static for all the images, whether I am photographing one person or twenty. With time usually being a real constraint during the wedding day, there simply isn't the opportunity to play around too much Read more inside...when your flash fails to fire ..
[ click on the image to see a larger version ] What do you do with an image that is under-exposed but there is a certain moment that you love? Well, perhaps you get lucky that when you convert it to B&W and crank up the exposure and embrace the noise / digital grain ... and all this adds to the mood and in this case even poignancy of the moment. Here is the original unedited image of the bride dancing with her dad ... Read more inside...
Photographing the wedding processional
Photographing the wedding processional
The processional is technically probably the most difficult part of a wedding to shoot and get right. Light levels are low in cavernous churches, while people are walking towards you. Getting enough light on them, and having that light look good, as well as getting the image sharp .. that's a tall order. In the photo at the top, the adorable flower girl just had to stop and check in with dad half-way down the aisle. [ 1/80th @ f4 @ 1600 ISO // Nikon SB-900, Nikon D3, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 ] I use on-camera flash to photograph the Read more inside...destination wedding photography ..
destination wedding photography
A few times a year I'm fortunate enough to photograph a destination wedding, where I fly out to a more glamorous location than New Jersey. The Bahamas, Aruba, Jamaica, and even locations within the USA are choice destinations for couples who are looking to have their weddings in an exotic locale. The choice of equipment to fly out to photograph a destination wedding, as well as the way to transport them becomes a real concern. You have to have a flexible selection of gear with you, with a certain amount of redundancy in case something goes wrong Read more inside...wedding photography – and some homework ..
Some of the questions that I'm most often asked about here, relate to wedding photography. Advice on a whole range topics such as posing people, business advice, album design .. and sometimes even lighting. Amusingly enough, I sometimes get asked this a few days before the newbie wedding photographer is going to shoot a first wedding. Regardless of the photographer's experience level though, my advice is usually fairly succinct ... that it is indeed time to do some homework. Read more inside...
2008 overview – my favorite wedding images
As most of you already know, I work as a wedding photographer in New Jersey. This slideshow displays some of my favorite images from weddings I photographed in 2008. A number of the images where chosen because they I think they are beautiful to look at; others might evoke a fond memory of a cute moment; but they are all images that I am proud to have taken. I decided to limit it to 3 images per wedding, and with only a handful of photographs from engagement sessions. Read more inside...