Wedding photography – lighting large groups
Wedding photography - lighting large groups
Weddings are one of those occasions when families and friends come together from far and wide. An opportunity to see people they might rarely see otherwise. So it is an important task of any wedding photographer to record this - to get photographs of the various family groups. This photo is the pull-back shot from one of the big groups I had to photograph at an Indian wedding this weekend. Now, everyone who has been to an Indian wedding, knows that they are sprawling events. There's lots going on and it can be slightly chaotic at times. Read more inside...wedding photography – a photo-journalistic style, or more posed?
Wedding photography - a photo-journalistic style ... or more posed?
A photographer who attended the recent flash photography workshop here in New York, asked me an interesting question regarding my wedding photography style. His observation was about how I seemed to consistently get such well-timed un-posed and natural looking images with my wedding photography. Since my explanation seemed to surprise him, and even bordered on being a real aha! moment for him, I thought it could serve as an article here which might interest other wedding photographers. When asked by photographers Read more inside...a rainy-day wedding
a rainy-day wedding
A lighting strike in the background as a groomsman makes a mad dash across the rain-soaked path ... this about sums up the weather we had on Saturday's wedding. What you can't see in this image is his umbrella being pulled away from him by the gusting wind. Here is the shot I was aiming for when I got that lighting strike in the frame ... Read more inside...wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off
wedding portraits: finding something to bounce your flash off
One of the frequent questions that come up, is what to do when there is nothing to bounce your flash off. When working indoors and there are bounce-able surfaces around me, my first instinct is to use on-camera bounce flash. It is easy to use, and the results can look surprisingly good, especially if you consider the minimal effort that went into it. No extra gear to carry around and set up. But when there is nothing to bounce flash off, you have to adapt your technique ... Read more inside...Wedding photography – Dealing with the videographer’s light
Wedding photography - Dealing with the videographer's light
With wedding receptions, we're most often working within a very warm spectrum. There are tungsten (incandescent) lights all around. (**) There is candle light. There might be twinkling lights as decoration ... and there is the videographer's light. The videographer's light will be Tungsten balanced, even if it is an LED video light that they are using. (***) So while a wedding photographer might be using a lot of flash to dominate the lighting .. and settle for Cloudy or Flash WB, there is often a conflict of interest Read more inside...photography: looking at the available light
photography - looking for, and using the available light
Let me say this out straight – I hate gazebos. I hate gazebos and fountains and I especially hate having to photograph a couple at whatever landmark/feature that a reception venue has, where every other couple from the last five years has been photographed. There, I’ve said it. I feel better now, with that weight off my shoulders. Wedding portaits should be about capturing the romance, and capturing the relationship between the couple. I want to show how much they are in love with each other, rather than the wooden structure Read more inside...2010 overview – my favorite wedding photographs
best wedding images of 2010 – New Jersey wedding photographer
There seems to be a pattern here - 2010 was another crazy-busy year for me. Photographing weddings, portrait sessions, maintaining this website and writing another book ... all this added up to a full calendar and not much sleep. It is always a rewarding experience as a wedding photographer to work with wonderful brides and groom and their families. So, as a wrap-up of the year – and also to show off a bit – here is a slide show of some of my favorite wedding and engagement session images of 2010. (Oh, and you had Read more inside...using the new Nikon D3100 for its video capability
Melissa & Dennis - their wedding day from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.