The Wedding Photographer

Indoor Ambient Lighting

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:48:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Flash and Ambient Lighting for Digital Wedding Photography, by Mark Chen. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

More often than not, a nice photo opportunity presents itself in an indoor environment—only to be spoiled when the photographer shines a bright flash on it. The shot looks nothing like what was there because the burst of flash altered the reality of that brief moment. Using bounce flash (rather than direct flash) can drastically reduce these disappointments—but not entirely.

TURN OFF THAT FLASH!
Sometimes, the best strategy is simply turning off the flash. Image 8-1 is an excellent example of this technique. When the bride and her bridesmaids were busy straightening out the gown, the light was mesmerizing. I quickly switched off the flash and made sure my shutter speed was not dangerously low. In this case, the reading was 1/60 second with an aperture of f/3.2 at ISO 500. Making these shots is very liberating—there’s no waiting for the flash to recharge, so you can just shoot away!

IMAGE 8-1. Ambient light only.

For the sake of comparison, look at image 8-2. This was shot in the same surroundings but with bounce flash. It’s not bad, but it’s not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as image 8-1.

IMAGE 8-2. Ambient light with the addition of bounce flash.

WHITE BALANCE ISSUES
Some might argue that image 8-1 has an “incorrect” white balance. I oppose this notion of a “correct” white balance. I do not believe that the white balance should be viewed as an absolute setting. In my opinion, it’s a matter of personal taste.

In the case of image 8-1, preserving the yellow hue from the incandescent lights gave the shot a mysterious look, which I like. (Of course, I cannot dismiss those who think otherwise; for them, I have a remedy: a Camera Raw adjustment technique, which is outlined in the next chapter.)

ALTAR SHOTS
Eighty percent of churches forbid the use of flash during the ceremony. In my career, I have also encountered churches that either limit the photographer to three shots or forbid professional photography altogether. The churches that forbid flash often ask the photographer to stay far away, so flash would not work too well anyway. In these cases, using the ambient lighting becomes essential.

IMAGE 8-3. At many churches, flash is not permitted during the ceremony.

Image 8-3 was shot in a rather bright church, where the shutter speed was maintained at 1/125 second. Don’t get cocky now and hand-hold the camera, though! Making a shot like this will require a telephoto lens, which means slight camera movements will be accentuated. A tripod is necessary for an image like this. On top of that, if the lighting is predominately incandescent, it is not a bad idea to set the white balance as such.

TRACKING
Since the shutter is slow, why not do some tracking as the subjects move? Tracking involves setting the shutter slow, say, between 1/30 and 1/4 second, then panning along with the subject’s movement while you are shooting. Image 8-4 is a successful case. Tracking with your camera on a tripod requires the smoothest of tripod heads; any tripod head that produces jerking motions will not do. After shelving three tripod heads, I finally discovered Manfrotto’s Hydrostatic Ball Head. The Teflon-coated heads and hydraulic locking mechanism give a deep “gray area” between lock and release, so panning can be done with adequate and smooth resistance. A common mistake is to start the panning motion after the shutter is pressed. Instead, start panning then shoot consecutive shots (consider shooting in “rapid” mode).

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Watch your shutter speed. Some of us may brag about how we can hold the camera steady at 1/15 second—but remember that brides move!
To boost the shutter speed to a comfortable level, first use a larger aperture.
When a large aperture will not suffice, increase the ISO setting—but don’t go beyond the bare necessity. High ISO settings are becoming more usable on state-of-the-art camera models, but they are still quality busters.
For this technique, shooting RAW is not just the default, it is an absolute must.
Tripods are essential for altar shots with telephoto lenses. To avoid motion blur from subject movement, keep the shutter speed above 1/30 second.
Smooth tripod heads are essential for tracking.

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Know Your Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:50:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Wedding Photojournalism: The Business of Aesthetics, by Paul D. Van Hoy II. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Even if you’re an established professional wedding photographer with a couple seasons to your credit, client consultations can still be hit and miss—which means you could be leaving a lot of money on the table. The best way to ensure your business’s continued growth is by upping your consultation IQ and becoming a strong closer!

CONSULTING WITH CLIENTS
Consulting with prospective clients often proves to be a precarious game of cat and mouse. For beginning professionals, consultations are as nerve-racking as tightrope walking over a pit of angry alligators. No kidding—some of my first sessions were so awkward and uncomfortable that I seriously reconsidered whether wedding photography was the right profession for me.

Fourteen seasons later, I’ve concluded that the key to becoming an effective closer is control; you must know how to establish and maintain it at all times. When I say take control, I mean lead the pacing and progression of the consultation from start to finish. This doesn’t mean that you should bully or browbeat your clients. Rather, you must be personable and charismatic—and above all, a good communicator.

Whether you’re a wallflower or a social butterfly, I believe that everyone possesses the ability to be charming and engaging. The real challenge is being able to win over the many types of clients who might come through your door. This means that, beyond being personable and persuasive, you must also be able to accurately read your clients so that you can quickly “change up” your approach to suit a variety of interactive scenarios.

What's your primary style? Posed and formal, relaxed, photojournalistic, creative, artistic, candid, or traditional?

One way to build confidence and overall preparedness is to be preemptive; know what questions your clients are likely to ask you—and, more importantly, know which ones they’re unlikely to ask. Be prepared for those curveballs. Having a well-practiced repertoire of rebuttals and redirections is essential to becoming an effective closer.

It’s common for brides to come prepared with their bulging three-ring binders (I jokingly refer to them as “matrimony manifestos”), complete with a copy of “Questions To Ask Your Photographer.” Here’s a sample of some of the stock questions you may be asked:

• What’s your primary style? Formal, relaxed, photojournalistic, creative, artistic, candid, traditional?

• Do you shoot in color or black & white? Or both? Do you shoot in a digital format that can create both color and black & white versions of the same picture?

• What kind of input can we have on the direction of the shots? Can we give you a shot list?

• Are you the wedding photographer who will actually take our pictures? If not, can we meet the person who will be?

• Can we meet any assistants who will also be taking our pictures?

• How many times have you worked as a wedding photographer? How many events were similar to the size and formality of our wedding?

• How many other events will you also photograph that weekend?

• What kind of equipment will you bring with you? How intrusive will lighting, tripods, other equipment or assistants be?

You should familiarize yourself with these questions so that you will be able to provide full, detailed answers upon request—but never let your client lead the session with their list of questions. An invaluable tip here is to be informative while remaining conversational; satisfy these questions before they’re asked. This is a hallmark of a seasoned professional.

By providing a thorough and comprehensive breakdown of your services you will demonstrate to clients that you have a sincere interest in allaying their questions and concerns—and, more importantly, that you identify with them. I strive to go above and beyond just answering the cursory questions like, “Do you bring backup equipment to every wedding?” I make it a point to introduce new questions for my clients to ask of other photographers they might interview after their session with me. I inform them on a range of topics from the importance of shooting in RAW to why a legitimate professional wedding photographer should carry liability insurance.

As much as I would like to secure a signed contract and be the last photographer my couples meet with, I will actually urge them to consult with other professionals before making their final decision.

You might be scratching your head and thinking that this tactic completely undermines the desired outcome, but I’ve found it to be a highly effective psychological strategy. Attempting to close clients on the day of the consultation can be off-putting; it may seem pushy or desperate. Even if I feel that I’ve won the couple’s favor, I grant them time to weigh their options. I tell them that I understand that selecting the right wedding photographer is a significant decision not to be made in haste, and that they should meet with others and give themselves ample time to determine which photographer is right for them. Last but not least, I alleviate assumed pressures and deadlines for issuing a decision by letting brides know that, as a courtesy, I will tentatively hold their date until I receive a definite yes or no from them.

Playing it cool is a definite winning strategy for closing prospective clients; it conveys that you have a great deal of confidence and trust in your own work and professionalism, which inspires reciprocal confidence and trust from your clients.

Never regard clients as customers. Some photographers feel most comfortable getting down to business the very moment a couple passes through their door. For me, it’s common to spend the first fifteen to thirty minutes engaging the clients on a personal level. I’m genuinely interested in learning about the lives of those who may potentially commission me to document their special day. Be sure to inquire about their careers, educational backgrounds, personal interests, passions, avocations, etc.—and don’t forget to ask about how they met! The answers you receive to these questions will break the ice and open the door to discourse.

Do you know what the average bride in your regional market expects to pay for her wedding photography? Do you know what inclusions and amenities she expects in a basic or premium wedding package?

The more you know about your clients, the easier it will be to develop a personal connection. While professionalism, quality, and price are all determining factors, clients are far more likely to book with a photographer they like and feel a strong rapport with.

My best advice is to abandon premeditated sales pitches—and to stop relying on an encyclopedic set of albums to distract your clients and spare you from the awkwardness of making small-talk. Trust me, if a bride schedules a consultation session, she is already familiar with your photographs; she’s interested in familiarizing herself with you, the photographer. Yes, she’s interested in learning more about your packages and philosophies, but ultimately she wants to find out more about your personality. Will you contribute to the stress and chaos of the wedding day, or are you the calming type who has a knack for diffusing stressful situations? Are you likely to have positive interactions with her wedding party, family, and guests, or will you be the aloof type that avoids eye contact and incites awkwardness in others?

So, when it comes time for your next consultation, proceed as you would if you were casually meeting with old acquaintances to help them choose the best wedding photographer and demonstrate how you fit that profile. Be genuine and forthcoming; satisfy all their questions and concerns in a conversational context. Your goal should not be slam-dunking a pair of prospects, it should be to make new friends and share your profession—and your passion for it—with a captive audience.

DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT BRIDES WANT?
Do you know what the average bride, in your regional market, expects to pay for her wedding photographer? Do you know what inclusions and amenities she expects in a basic or premium wedding package? Do you know how your business model (i.e., the services and products you offer as well as your pricing/packaging structure) is perceived by prospective clients?

Knowing your audience is one of the most critical, yet often overlooked, aspects of building a successful enterprise. Gaining awareness of what appeals to prospective clients can help you align your business model so that you can increase your yearly bookings and ramp up your yearly revenue. It can also help you get a leg up on your competition and take over that number-one spot within your local market.

I workshop with a lot of wedding photographers who understand technical aspects of image-making and the logistics of business. When it comes to relating to clients and their concerns, though, they often return a blank, confused look—much like your clients would if you tried to engage them on the topic of color space.

Simply stated, most wedding photographers understand the business relationship from the photographer to the client, but not the reverse—from the client to the photographer.

So, how does one gain access to the client’s perspective and all the valuable insights they have to offer by way of critical and candid discourse? You simply ask.

During my consultation sessions, I always make it a point to ask, “Have you had an opportunity to speak with or meet any other local wedding photographers?” If they have, I follow up with, “What was your experience/interaction with that individual like?” Quite honestly, if they were head-over-heels for another photographer, they know your audience wouldn’t be sitting on my couch looking for something they had already found elsewhere.

If you’re hesitant to ask these questions, fearing they might come across as prying or offensive, don’t be. In my fourteen years of experience, I can’t recall a single occasion when I offended a client by asking these questions. Some might feel more comfortable withholding the names of those they’ve met with, but generally clients will talk freely and openly about their interactions and experiences with other professionals.

The answers you receive will provide you with a more precise idea of the couple’s decision-making criteria. Are they most concerned with price, product, or personality—the personal connection they feel toward their wedding photographer? The feedback you receive will help you focus on the topics most relevant to your client’s list of concerns.

UNDERSTANDING THE COMPETITION
Equally important to gaining awareness of your audience is having understanding of your competition and how you rank among it (in your own eyes). If you haven’t already, you should acquaint yourself with the other professionals—their portfolios and business models—within two hundred miles of your studio/area of coverage.

If you can find out who you’re up against and learn their strengths and weaknesses, you can even the playing field, so to speak, by emphasizing aspects of your business (shooting style, product quality, packaging, pricing structure, etc.) that might rank favorably over your competition and help persuade the client to select you.

CONCLUSION
The bottom line is this: although you may know the ins and outs of what you’re selling, unless you know whom you’re selling to, you may be fighting a frustrating and futile battle. (As my grandfather used to say, you might be trying to sell snow cones to Eskimos.) It’s very easy to sell people what they want—and finding out what they want is as easy as paying attention to your audience and asking a few simple questions.

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Profitable Wedding Photography in Any Market

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:21:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book How to Create a High-Profit Photography Business in Any Market (2nd ed.). It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Like many other photographers, one of my first paid assignments was photographing a wedding. For those getting into the photography business, weddings are generally the first step, as all you need is a camera, a flash unit, and hopefully a backup system.

On the other hand, it’s not unusual for a photographer to stop doing weddings once they have enough other work to keep the studio busy. I find it rather strange that weddings are the first thing many photographers start with, but it is also the first thing many of them stop doing. For some photographers, it’s almost like a badge of honor to be able to say, “I no longer photograph weddings.”

Weddings are not for everyone, that’s for sure. Why do some photographers love doing weddings, while others quit the moment they have enough other work? Having excellent photography skills is only a small part of being a successful wedding photographer. In this section, I will explain what works for us.

Wedding photography is a common entry point for those looking to dive into photography as a career.

THE TYPE OF CLIENT
As I have mentioned throughout this text, you need to determine the type of client you want to attract. Whether you are doing fire hall/VFW-hall weddings or country club and high-end hotel weddings will be determined by many factors. Price, photography skills, studio décor, phone skills, and service will all play a big part in the type of clients you attract. Don’t forget: you must have a very pleasant, likeable personality to convince the bride you are just the person she is looking for. If she doesn’t like you, she’ll never book the wedding with you, regardless of how beautiful the photography is.

TELEPHONE SKILLS
Almost all wedding bookings start with the telephone. Of course, we already know that good telephone skills are essential—not only for weddings but across the board. You simply must have a person with excellent skills on the telephone.

When a bridal client calls, the first question they usually ask is how much you charge to photograph a wedding. I believe they don’t know what else to ask, so they start out with the price question. Many times they will ask for a price before they even know if you are available!

We’ll assume that you are not a low-end wedding photographer and that the prices you are charging are for the average to higher-end client. The best way to deal with a wedding call is to engage the caller with questions about their upcoming wedding. Our end of the conversation with our prospective wedding clients goes something like this: “Congratulations, Lisa, on your upcoming wedding. What is the date? Where are you getting married? Where will the reception be held?”

By engaging the caller with questions, you can determine if they are going to be interested in your services. If they are calling in response to your Yellow Pages ad, chances are they will select a wedding photographer based on price and nothing else. They are looking for what I call the “BBD” (bigger, better deal). Quality and service are not important—they just want the cheapest photographer they can find.

On the other hand, when a bride calls and does not ask about pricing but wants to come into your studio to view your work and meet with you, chances are she is serious about professional wedding photography. Her main concern is not price but quality—and your reputation. These are the clients you want.

CONSULTATION
When the client comes into the studio, show them two or three completed albums. We use flush-mounted albums from Capri Albums from New York for our studio samples. They are very upscale and beautiful. While the client is viewing the albums, point out what makes your photography worth your higher prices. Photo examples of excellent posing and natural lighting should be present in your studio sample albums. After all, if the client can’t see what makes your pictures different from a lower-cost studio’s images, then there is no reason for them to pay the difference. Since all brides are different, find out what type of photography the client likes best and focus on the work that suits her tastes.

Showing prospective clients samples of your work from past weddings is important for helping them to determine whether or not your style suits their tastes.

If the bride decides she wants to book you, be certain that she fully understands all of your payment procedures and policies. Try to keep it all very simple. Clients get uneasy about any transaction they don’t fully understand. On a related note, be sure to take notes on anything that you will need to know on the wedding day. Issues such as divorced or deceased parents are things that you should be aware of ahead of time.

We require approximately 15 to 20 percent of the total price as a deposit or retainer to hold the date. Any refunds are handled on an individual basis depending upon the circumstances, and I can honestly say that, at our studio, cancellations are rare.

About a week prior to the wedding we call the bride to confirm everything. We remind her of the times that have been agreed upon and emphasize to her that being on time will make everything less stressful. The key to a good day with a bride is giving her as much information as you can. You know from experience about how long everything will take and how to make things run smoothly.

Often, my assistant takes a shot like this from the balcony. Shooting with an assistant during the ceremony is important, since you can't be in two places at once.

THE WEDDING DAY
I photograph weddings with an assistant. You certainly can do it on your own, but why knock yourself out? My assistant works on the candid photos while I concentrate on the posed ones. It’s a good combination and a good way to offer a better product.

Before the Ceremony. On the day of the wedding, my assistant and I arrive approximately fifteen minutes before the agreed-upon time, dressed in black tuxedos. The vehicle that we arrive in has been cleaned, and we look totally professional. Image is everything!

When we arrive at our first destination of the day, I look for areas where I can photograph the bride with window light. Use your flash as little as possible: this will separate your work from the competition.

The Ceremony. During the ceremony, having an assistant gives you the opportunity to photograph the wedding from different areas of the couple’s venue. We have some beautiful photographs where the bride and groom are coming down the aisle after the ceremony—I shoot images from their level, and my assistant takes the same shots from up in the balcony. I just don’t think it’s possible to cover a wedding as well with one person as you can with two.

After the Ceremony. After the ceremony, we generally do the posed photographs of the family members. I find it best to start with the grandparents, then photograph the parents and family members, and then handle any other special groups the bride and groom may want photographed. We finish this sequence with photographs of the bride and groom. Keeping things moving and being quick is the key. Depending on the size of the wedding party, you should be able to do all of the groups and bride and groom shots in about forty-five minutes.

After the ceremony, many couples want to go to an outdoor location for more photographs. To make your outdoor photographs look their very best, be sure to use a long lens so that the backgrounds will be out of focus. This will make the bride and groom really stand out.

The Reception. Once you get to the reception, most of the hard work is behind you. Most receptions last at least three to four hours, and we usually stay most of the evening, since our pricing is set up to cover a ten- to twelve-hour day. Many studios charge by the amount of time the bride has booked. Although there is certainly nothing wrong with that practice, I have never charged that way; I think it would just cause problems—after all, anyone who has done their fair share of weddings knows that things usually do not go as planned time-wise. I don’t want to have to approach the bride during the reception and remind her that she only booked us for the eight-hour coverage, so we will be leaving shortly.

I know of one photographer who stays for only the first thirty minutes of the reception. Of course, the bride knows all of this beforehand, and the photographer arranges for her to get everything over in the first thirty minutes—the toast, dancing with dad, cutting the cake, you name it—just so he can go home early! If it’s working for him, great. I know one thing for sure: if my daughter went shopping for a wedding photographer and he told her he would be leaving the reception after thirty minutes, he wouldn’t be hired.

LENS SELECTION
I recommend that you have available several different types of lenses to use during the wedding day. Use lenses that the amateurs at the wedding probably don’t own; using a very long lens or a fish-eye lens, for instance, will make your photographs look different than all the rest. You do not want your pictures to look like they were taken by the guests. Creating unique photographs will pay dividends later when the bride orders her final album.

One way that we ensure that our images stand out from the rest is by using double lighting. Double lighting requires two flashes, a radio transmitter, radio receiver, and a light stand (or better still, an assistant). To create this look, simply hook up your on-camera flash to a radio flash transmitter. Your second flash, which can be up to one hundred feet away, should be wired to the radio flash receiver. When you push the button on your camera and your transmitter is turned on, it fires the flash on the camera and sends a signal to the receiver, and the second flash goes off as well. Having an assistant hold the light and move it around is better than putting it on a light stand. You can create some really neat effects using this system. You can backlight a couple at a reception or light a large hall, which can be difficult with just one flash. You control both lights from the camera and can fire just one or both, simultaneously. Most major camera stores carry the equipment needed to double light. Be aware that achieving good results will take practice and a thorough understanding of your flash equipment. One final tip: be sure that both of your flash units have the same output. This will make things much simpler.

AFTER THE WEDDING DAY
Good service is just as important as good photography in the wedding business. Regardless of how you are showing your images, they should have their proofs or CD/DVD within three weeks. Once the order is placed, be sure to deliver it within twelve weeks.

PRICING
Wedding photography can be very lucrative if it’s properly priced. Unfortunately, the wedding industry is filled with photographers who give us all a bad name. If you are going to be a serious player, you need to learn as much as you possibly can about posing, lighting, and customer service. To make serious money, everything must be top notch in your operation. You want people to be proud when they say, almost bragging, “Williams Photography is photographing my wedding!” Building a reputation takes time, but it will be well worth it. Whatever pricing strategy you decide on, it’s a good idea to have a statement on your wedding contracts noting that your current prices are not good forever. I have had wedding clients come in five years after their wedding to order pictures.

In my experience, you’ll have more problems with wedding clients than any other demographic—and most of the time, it’s the parents (who were never in the studio before the wedding to discuss prices, procedures, and delivery times) who cause the problems. If the bride and groom both have divorced parents, you can actually be dealing with four, five, or even six individuals, each with their opinions on what you should be charging! Be sure to have everything in writing.

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Photographing the Reception

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:12:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Wedding Photographer's Handbook (2nd ed.) It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Since the bride and groom are so preoccupied at the reception, they actually get to see very little of it and therefore depend on your pictures to provide memories. You will want to photograph as many of the details and events of the reception as possible. Be sure to make several good overviews of the decorated room. This should be done just before the guests enter, when the candles on the tables are lit and everything looks perfect.

Be sure to photograph the details—table bouquets, place settings, name cards, etc. These things help enrich the finished wedding album.

The photo opportunities at the reception are endless. As the reception goes on and guests relax, the opportunities for great pictures will increase. Be aware of the bride and groom all the time, as they are the central players. Fast lenses and a higher-than-normal ISO settings will help you to work unobserved.

Be prepared for the scheduled events at the reception—the bouquet toss, removing the garter, the toasts, the first dance, and so on. If you have done sufficient preparation, you will know where and when each of these events will take place and you’ll be prepared to light and photograph each one. Often, the reception is best lit with a number of corner-mounted umbrellas, triggered by your on-camera flash. That way, anything within the perimeter of your lights can be photographed by strobe. Be certain you meter various areas within your lighting perimeter so that you know what your exposure will be everywhere within the reception area.

The reception calls upon all of your skills and instincts—and things happen quickly. Don’t get caught with an important event coming up and only two frames left in the camera. Use two camera bodies and always have plenty of exposures available, even if it means changing CF cards before you’re ready to. People are having a great time, so be cautious about intruding upon events. Observe the flow of the reception and carefully choose your vantage point for each shot. Be sure to coordinate your efforts with the wedding planner or banquet manager. He or she can run interference for you as well as cue you when certain events are about to occur, often not letting the event begin until you are ready.

Photojournalists know how to get the shot without alerting the people being photographed. Some photographers walk around the reception with their camera held low but with both hands in position on the camera so that they can instantly raise the camera to eye level, frame the image, and shoot. Others use a wide-angle lens set to wide-area autofocus in one of the camera’s autoexposure modes. With the camera at waist or hip height, the photographer will then wander around, mingling with the guests. When a shot seems to be taking place, they will aim the camera up toward the people’s faces and fire, never even looking through the viewfinder.

The final shot of the day will be the couple leaving the reception. Like so many events at the reception, planned or spontaneous, it is best to have as many angles of the event as possible, which is why so many wedding photographers work with a shooting partner or assistants.

LIGHTING
Pole Lighting. Many photographers employ an assistant at the reception to walk around with a barebulb flash on a monopod. The strobe is slaved and can be triggered by an on-camera radio transmitter or flash. The pole light can be positioned anywhere near the subjects and can be set to overpower the on-camera flash by 1 stop so that it becomes a main light. Your assistant should be well versed in the types of lighting you like to create with this rig. For instance, if he or she is at a 45-degree angle to the subject and the light is held about four feet over the subjects’ head height, the resulting lighting will resemble Rembrandt-style side lighting. If you prefer to backlight your subjects, then your assistant can position himself behind the group to create a rim-lighting effect. When taking an exposure, read the room light first and set the flash output to the same aperture as the existing light exposure. That way, the flash will not overpower the room lights.

Wide-angle lenses are not only ideal for incorporating large groups in the scene but also for incorporating the scene into the portrait. This image was made with a Canon EF17–40mm f/4L USM at 17mm. The photographer, Dan Doke, says of this image, “I had been photographing a wedding party and posed a group adjacent to the New England Aquarium where the wedding was held. I was drawn to the skyline background. With my camera on a tripod I shot in Av mode and varied the aperture from f/5.6 to f/8. The exposure time was 1.3 seconds at ISO 500. I used a Quantum flash with a Freewire slave. My assistant held the second light and umbrella 45 degrees off to the right and feathered it to create a constant exposure. The flash was set for f/5.6 and I shot a test first. I love it when city lights and the sky are about the same intensity.” Note the total lack of distortion of the subjects by keeping them well away from the frame edges.

Videographer’s Lighting. If a wedding video is being produced, you will have the luxury of the videographer rigging and lighting the reception hall with hot lights—usually quartz halogen lights, which are very bright and will make your reception photography much easier. The only problem is that you will have to adjust your white balance to compensate for the change in color temperature of the quartz lights.

Handheld Video Lights. Many of the Australian wedding photographers, like David Williams and Yervant, use handheld battery-powered video lights as accent or fill lights. Williams uses a low-wattage light, around 15–20 watts, for just a little light to add mood or color or accent to a scene. Yervant uses a 100-watt Lowel Light that will overpower the room light, depending on the distance at which it is used. The effects are quite beautiful and, because you can change your white balance on the fly, the color balance will be superb and match the room lighting. Sometimes the photographers will hold the light themselves, and other times they’ll give it to an assistant if a certain lighting effect is desired. One of the great things about these lights is that you can see the effect you will get in the viewfinder. Also, since the light units are small and maneuverable, you can feather them easily, using the more dynamic edge of the light.

RINGS
The bride and groom usually love their new rings and will want a close-up shot that includes them. This is a great detail image in the album. You can use any attractive pose, but remember that hands are difficult to pose. If you want a really close-up image of the rings, you will need a macro lens and you will probably have to light the scene with flash or video light, unless you make the shot outdoors, in strong window light, or using strong available room light.

The ring exchange during the wedding ceremony is very difficult to capture. Having two shooters helps, but even then you might get blocked out by the bride, groom, or minister. This is a good one, indeed. Photo by Nick Adams.

THE CAKE-CUTTING
One of the key shots at the reception is the cutting of the wedding cake. This is often a good opportunity to make an overhead group shot of the crowd surrounding the bride and groom. Bring along a stepladder for these types of shots. A second shooter is a good idea in these situations so that details and priceless moments won’t be missed. Also, be sure to get a still life of the cake before it is cut. Both the couple and the baker/caterer will want to see a beautiful shot of their creation.

THE FIRST DANCE
The first dance is an important moment in the reception and one that you will want to document thoroughly. Don’t turn it into a cliché. Just observe and try to shoot it with multiple shooters so as not to miss the good expressions. You will be rewarded with emotion-filled, joyful moments.

One trick you can use is to tell the couple beforehand, “Look at me and smile.” That will keep you from having to circle the couple on the dance floor until you get both of them looking at you for the “first dance” shot. Or you can tell them, “Just look at each other and don’t worry about me, I’ll get the shot.”

Often, photographers will photograph the first dance by whatever available light exists (often spotlights) on the dance floor. This is possible with fast lenses and fast ISOs. Just as frequently, the photographer will use bounce flash and a slow shutter speed to record the ambient light in the room and the surrounding faces watching the couple’s first dance. The bounce flash will freeze the couple, but there is often some blurring due to the slow shutter speed.

Usually, it is best to photograph the first dance as a vertical, including some of the dance floor and surroundings for ambience.

THE BOUQUET TOSS
The bouquet toss is one of the more memorable shots and always looks best when it’s spontaneous. You need plenty of depth of field, which almost dictates a wide-angle lens. You’ll want to show not only the bride but also the expectant faces in the background, which usually necessitates two shooters. Although you can use available light, the shot is usually best done with two flashes—one on the bride and one on the ladies hoping to catch for the bouquet. Your timing has to be excellent as the bride will often “fake out” the group (and you), just for laughs. Try to get the bouquet as it leaves the bride’s hands.

The bouquet toss is often filled with trickery as the bride tries to “fake out” the ladies behind her. Here, Mark Cafiero captured a lovely bride in the middle of a belly laugh. Mark fired a bounce flash at the bride and relied on enough ambient light to light the waiting young brides-to-be. Mark made the shot with a Canon EOS 20D and 24mm lens at 1/50 second at f/3.5 at ISO 400 with the bounce flash held slightly to camera right. Mark was standing on a chair to get above the scene for a better overall view.

TABLE SHOTS
Table shots are the bane of every wedding photographer’s day. They rarely turn out well, are often never ordered, and are tedious to make. If your couple absolutely wants table shots, ask them to accompany you from table to table. They can greet their guests, and it will make the posing quick and painless. You might also consider talking the couple into one big group shot that encompasses nearly everyone at the reception. These are always fun to participate in and to photograph.

LITTLE ONES
One of the best opportunities for great pictures comes from spending some time with the smallest attendees and attendants: the flower girls and ring bearers. They are thrilled with the pageantry of the wedding day and their involvement often offers a multitude of picture opportunities.

The little ones are especially fragile on the wedding day and will present some wonderful photo opportunities. Photograph by Marcus Bell.

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The Pre-Wedding Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Brett Florens' Guide to Photographing Weddings. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Once you have sent your quote to a potential client, more often than not they will want to meet with you to have a hands-on look at a portfolio, perhaps a completed album, and also to suss out whether they feel comfortable with you as a person or not. This is where you need to close the deal. They already know what you propose to charge and have probably seen your online portfolio. It’s your approach, ideas, and personality that are going to get them to sign on the dotted line and pay the deposit.

Available light, ISO 400 f/5.6 at 1/125 second, M mode, Nikkor 70–200mm f/2.8 lens. Carefree and dreamy, the engagement session captures the day-to-day romance that is felt between couples about to be wed.

Remember that you will be spending a lot of time with this couple on their day; being friendly, engaging, and taking time to listen to their needs and questions should make them feel comfortable being around you. A photographer who seems arrogant and unfriendly will not be a popular choice—no matter how brilliant his images may be. Dedicate at least an hour to this meeting, and don’t take calls or chat to other clients during this time. It is important to make them feel that they are the only clients you’ve ever had. They must feel that their wedding is as important to you as it is to them. Be careful not to oversell yourself; they are there because they already like your work, so it is unnecessary to go on about how fantastic your work is! Of course, on the other end of the scale, you need to appear to be confident and enthusiastic about your images. Showing them a recently completed album should solidify their confidence in your ability to produce a hot-shot album from start to finish; they’ll know that they are not being fooled by a portfolio of thirty outstanding shots from, perhaps, a choice of a hundred different weddings.

Interact with your clients and show a real interest in their choice of wedding venue and the other suppliers that they have chosen. Let them know if you have worked at their proposed venue before and, if possible, show them images of previous weddings at that venue. This is also an opportunity to show them other peripheral products such as framed images, canvases, and various album choices; these might become add-ons to the package that they choose.

Once the couple have decided to employ you to photograph their wedding, you may want to plan an additional meeting closer to the date to discuss timing and finer details. Discuss, and even advise, the time of the service relative to sunset, as well as the timing of hair and makeup prior to your arrival, letting the client know how far you expect them to be ready when you get to them. I like to have at least an hour and a half with the bride before the ceremony, and I require that she is 80 percent ready when I get to the venue where she is getting dressed. This means that she needs to make sure in advance that the hairdresser and makeup artist will not leave her for last. It is pointless for the photographer to arrive before the ceremony when all he can photograph is a stressed bride in curlers! Inquire as to whether the groom requires preparation shots, too. More often than not, the groom and his best men have something relaxing planned for the morning of the wedding, be it surfing, golfing, or quad-biking. If the package allows the time, these are great shots to add depth to the album.

Make sure that you get all the contact details from the bride and groom, as well as their parents’ details if possible. It is also useful to have the details of all the other vendors that you will be working with. After a few years in the business, you will have the inside scoop on which vendors are always running late, which are pedantic about time, and what their work is like.

Also important to discuss with the bridal couple are their expectations with regard to the images that they want shot. Going through your portfolio together, they will give you a feel as to what images they would ideally like. This is also a good time to choose the venue for the bridal shoot, obviously within a reasonable proximity to the reception venue.

Explain to them, at this stage, that good images do take a certain amount of time and that time management on the wedding day is important. Chatting too long after the service with guests, while the light is fading fast, will necessitate a nudge from you. It’s good to let them know that you will help them to stick to a schedule to optimize the opportunity for outstanding images. The bridal shoot is usually in the region of one hour, and allowances for this must be made prior to the wedding so that the couple ensures that guests are entertained with cocktails or snacks during the time that they are away from them.

Elinchrom 600RX Monolight, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/125 second, M mode, Nikkor 24–70mm f/2.8 lens. From the same engagement shoot as the image on the previous page, this shot shows a completely different side of the couple, expressing their interest in fashion and editorial-style images.

You will need to inform them of the postproduction process, which will involve image enhancement, color management, conversion of raw images, the resizing of images for printing, and the construction of the album. Give them a timeline for when they can expect the finished product. If they are going to be involved in the choosing of the images for the album, then appointments must be made. Bear in mind that client involvement may increase production time and should be incorporated into your costs.

Closer to the day of the wedding, you may be expected to deal with phone calls from an anxious bride needing answers to a dozen questions. Obviously, this is also a time to put the bride at ease and confirm her feeling of confidence in you. You also may be asked to attend the rehearsal at the church. If you feel that you want to charge for your time at this rehearsal, then you must make it known before attending. At an early stage in your career, it may be beneficial to attend; the rehearsals are often set for the same time of day as the ceremony, so you will have a good opportunity to see what the lighting conditions are like and to scout out the ceremony venue for photo opportunities.

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Using Existing Light Outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Existing Light Techniques for Wedding and Portrait Photography, by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Nature provides every lighting variation imaginable—that’s why so many images are made with it. Often, the light is so good that there is just no improving on it.

For example, I used to work for a major West Coast publishing company that specialized in automotive magazines. One of the studios we used for photographing cars was massive, with a ceiling that was between three and four stories high. Below the ceiling was a giant scrim suspended on cables so that each of the four corners could be lowered or raised independently. Enormous banks of incandescent lights were bounced into the scrim to produce a huge milky-white highlight the length of the car—a trademark of automotive photography. Despite the availability of this space, if time and the weather were on their side, the staff photographers would invariably opt to photograph the car at twilight, when the setting sun, minutes after sunset, creates a massive skylight in the Western sky. No matter how big or well equipped the studio, nature’s light is far superior in both quantity and quality (although it fades rather quickly).

This is the classic Southern California wedding portrait, complete with the kelp necklace on the surfer groom. The light is exquisite because there are buildings to either side blocking the overhead light. The color coordination is also perfect. Photo by Mark Weisberg.

In order to harness the power of natural light, one must be aware of its various personalities. Unlike the studio, where you can set the lights to obtain any effect you want, in nature you must use the light that you find or find ways to modify it to suit your needs.

Avoid Direct Sunlight
By far the best place to make outdoor images is away from direct sunlight. Look for a clearing in the woods, where the trees block the overhead light from hitting the subject. From the clearing to the side, diffused light will filter in, producing better modeling on the face than in an open area (where the light is overhead in nature and leaves deep shadows in the eye sockets and under the nose and chin of the subjects).

Kevin Jairaj, who makes it a habit to look for good directional lighting, recommends looking for an outdoor portico, where light from above is blocked by a roofline or other architectural elements. This allows soft directional light to spill in from the sides, usually through open columns that provide beautiful compositional elements. Depending on how you position your subjects in relation to this directional light, it can be frontal or side-lighting—but it always has a singular and well-defined source point. Kevin says, “When outdoors, I love shooting under awnings or building tops where I am able to see the light coming in from one side. I normally place the bride so that her face is turned into the directional light producing soft Rembrandt lighting on her face.”

Midday light doesn't have to be harsh, especially where tall buildings block the direct light. The lighting is, however, still overhead in such situations. Knowing this helped Mike Cólon, who waited until the bride's head was raised, taking advantageof the soft overhead light.

Working at Midday
Working at midday is a necessity for wedding photographers, as most ceremonies are during the middle of the day.

The best system if working at midday is to work in shade exclusively. Try to find locations where the background has sunlight on dark foliage and where the difference between the background exposure and the subject exposure is not too great—no more than 2.5 stops.

Fuzzy Deunkel is a master of working in any lighting situation. For this image, he posed his subject on a front porch and and masterfully redirected light onto his subject, making it look as though she was photographed in a studio with a full complement of lights.

It is often impossible to avoid photographing out in the open sunlight on wedding days. In this case, the best strategy is to use the sun as a backlight and bias the exposure towards the shadow side(s) of the subject(s). This is where it’s advisable to bring along an assistant who can flash a reflector into the shadow side of your couple to fill in the effects of the backlighting. A reflector is most effective when held below waist height and angled to bounce the overhead backlight back up onto the subject. Moving the reflector around and up and down will give you an idea of how much light it can reflect and where to position it. In bright situations, use a white reflector, so as not to overpower the natural light. In very soft light, use a gold or silver reflector for increased efficiency.

It is important to check the background while composing a portrait in direct sunlight. Since there is considerably more light than in a portrait made in the shade, the tendency is to use an average shutter speed like 1/250 second with a smaller-than-usual aperture like f/11. Small apertures will sharpen the background and distract from your subject. Preview the depth of field to analyze the background. Use a faster shutter speed and wider lens aperture to minimize background effects in these situations. The faster shutter speeds may also make it impossible to use flash, so have reflectors at the ready.

Low-Angle Sunlight
If the sun is low in the sky, you can use cross lighting to get good modeling on your subject. To do this, simply turn your subject into the light so as not to create deep shadows along laugh lines and in eye sockets. (Note: If photographing a group, be sure to position your subjects so that one person’s head doesn’t block the light from striking the face of the person next to him or her.) In this scenario, there must be adequate fill-in from the shadow side of camera to ensure that the shadows don’t go dead. This is often done using a flash set to about a stop less than the daylight exposure. Of course, a reflector can also be employed (and carefully placed) to bounce the direct sunlight back into the shadow side of the face. Again, it’s always best to use an assistant in this situation.

After Sunset
As many of the great photographs in this book illustrate, the best time of day for making great pictures is just after the sun has set. At this time, the sky becomes a huge softbox and the effect of the lighting on your subjects is soft and even, with no harsh shadows.

There are, however, two problems with working with this great light. First, it’s dim. You will need to use medium to fast ISOs combined with slow shutter speeds. In these situations, selecting an image-stabilization lens will expand your options by allowing you to handhold at extremely slow shutter speeds like 1/4 or 1/8 second.

The second problem in working with this light is that twilight does not produce catchlights, the white specular highlights in the eyes of the subjects that make them sparkle with life. For this reason, most photographers augment the twilight with flash, either barebulb or softbox-mounted. The flash can be up to two stops less in intensity than the skylight and still produce good eye fill-in and bright catchlights.

Controlling the Background
For a portrait made in the shade, the best type of background is monochromatic. If the background is all the same color, the subjects will stand out from it. Problems arise when there are patches of sunlight in the background. To minimize these, you can shoot at a wide lens aperture and use the shallow depth of field to blur out the background. When working outdoors, some photographers also control the background by placing more space between it and the subject, throwing the background further out of focus.

Another way to minimize a distracting background is in postproduction retouching and printing. By burning-in or diffusing the background, you can make it darker, softer, or otherwise less noticeable. This technique is really simple in Photoshop, since it’s fairly easy to select the subjects, invert the selection so that the background is selected, and perform all sorts of manipulations on it. You can also add a vignette of any color to visually subdue the background. On outdoor shoots in particular, one thing you must especially watch out for is subject separation from the background. A dark-haired subject against a dark-green forest background will not separate, creating a tonal merger. Adding a back-side or edge reflector to kick some light onto the hair would be a logical solution to such a problem.

Cool Skin Tones
If your subject is standing in a grove of trees and is surrounded by foliage, there is a good chance green (or cyan from the open sky) will be reflected onto their skin tones. This can be hard to detect, since your eyes will adjust to the off-color rendering. The best strategy is to check the coloration in the shadow areas of the face. If the color of the light is neutral, you will see gray in the shadows; if not, you will see either green or cyan.

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Basic Portrait Lighting Setups

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:29:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Wedding Photography: Advanced Techniques for Digital Photographers, by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

BROAD AND SHORT LIGHTING
There are two basic types of portrait lighting: broad lighting and short lighting. Broad lighting means that the main light is illuminating the side of the face that is turned toward the camera. Broad lighting is used less frequently than short lighting because it flattens and de-emphasizes facial contours. It is often used to widen a thin or long face. Short lighting means that the main light is illuminating the side of the face turned away from the camera. Short lighting emphasizes facial contours and can be used to narrow a round or wide face. When used with a weak fill light, short lighting produces a dramatic effect with bold highlights and deep shadows.

BASIC PORTRAIT LIGHTING SETUPS
While it may prove difficult or even impossible to replicate any one of the five basic portrait lighting setups on the day of the wedding, it is still a good idea to know what they are and how to achieve them. Each of the lighting patterns takes its personality from the placement of the main light. The concept of single-source lighting is important. The sun is the primary light source in all of nature; all other light sources are subordinate to it. This is the rule of the main light in the studio; like the sun, it is the single light to which any other lights are subordinate.

Paramount Lighting. Paramount lighting, sometimes called butterfly lighting or glamour lighting, is a lighting pattern that produces a symmetrical, butterfly-shaped shadow directly beneath the subject’s nose. It emphasizes cheekbones and good skin. It is generally not used on men because it tends to hollow out cheeks and eye sockets too much.

For this style, the main light is placed high and directly in front of the subject’s face, parallel to the vertical line of the subject’s nose. Since the light must be high and close to the subject to produce the wanted butterfly shadow, it should not be used on women with deep eye sockets, or very little light will illuminate the eyes.

The fill light is placed at the subject’s head height directly under the main light. Since both the main and fill lights are on the same side of the camera, a reflector must be used opposite these lights and in close to the subject to fill in the deep shadows on the neck and shaded cheek. The hair light, which is always used opposite the main light, should light the hair only and not skim onto the face of the subject. The background light, used low and behind the subject, should form a semi-circle of illumination on the seamless background (if using one) so that the tone of the background grows gradually darker toward the edges of the frame.

Loop Lighting. Loop lighting is a minor variation of Paramount lighting. The main light is lowered and moved more to the side of the subject so that the shadow under the nose becomes a small loop on the shadow side of the face. This is one of the more commonly used lighting setups and is ideal for people with average, oval-shaped faces.

Loop lighting is an intermediate pattern between butterfly and Rembrandt lighting. The main light is high and to one side of the model’s face, but not as high as in the butterfly pattern, nor as low as in the Rembrandt pattern. Here no fill light was used in order to keep the light dramatic. Photograph by JB Sallee.

The fill light is moved to the opposite side of the camera from the main light in loop lighting. It is used close to the camera lens. In order to maintain the one-light character of the portrait, it is important that the fill light not cast a shadow of its own. To determine if the fill light is doing its job, you need to evaluate it from the camera position. Check to see if the fill light is casting a shadow of its own by looking through the viewfinder. In loop lighting, the hair light and background lights are used the same way they are in Paramount lighting.

Rembrandt Lighting. Rembrandt or 45-degree lighting is characterized by a small, triangular highlight on the shadowed cheek of the subject. It takes its name from the famous Dutch painter who used window light to illuminate his subjects. This lighting is dramatic and more often used with masculine subjects. Rembrandt lighting is often used with a weak fill light to accentuate the shadow-side highlight.

This is a beautiful image made with a single softbox and no fill. The lighting is true Rembrandt-style with a perfect triangular highlight on the shadow side of her face. Note, too, the elegant posing of the hands. Photograph by Cherie Steinberg Coté.

For Rembrandt lighting, the main light is moved lower and farther to the side than in loop and Paramount lighting. In fact, the main light comes almost from the subject’s side, depending on how far his or her head is turned away from the camera.

The fill light is used in the same manner as it is for loop lighting. The hair light, however, is often used a little closer to the subject for more brilliant highlights in the hair. The background light is in the standard position.

With Rembrandt lighting, kickers are often used to delineate the sides of the face. As with all front-facing lights, avoid shining them directly into the lens. The best way to check for this is to place your hand between the subject and the camera on the axis of the kicker. If your hand casts a shadow on the lens, then the kicker is shining directly into the lens and should be adjusted.

Split Lighting. Split lighting occurs when the main light illuminates only half the face. It is an ideal slimming light. It can also be used with a weak fill to hide facial irregularities. Split lighting can also be used with no fill light for dramatic effect.

In split lighting, the main light is moved farther to the side of the subject and lower. In some cases, the main light may be slightly behind the subject, depending on how far the subject is turned from the camera. The fill light, hair light, and background light are used normally for split lighting.

Cherie Steinberg Coté photographed this unusual bridal veil, and hat. Because of the size of the hat, the rounded softbox was lowered to a little above face height, producing a hybrid split lighting. The close proximity and softness of the light caused the light to wrap around the contours of the bride’s face with no shadow edges. The position of the main light and the turn of the head dictates the type of lighting pattern that will be produced.

In this exceptional image by Dan Doke, the bride was lit with a modified profile-lighting pattern. The head was not fully turned in the traditional profile pose and, as a result, the main light is not a true backlight, although it is behind the bride.

Profile or Rim Lighting. Profile or rim lighting is used when the subject’s head is turned 90 degrees away from the camera lens. It is a dramatic style of lighting used to accent elegant features. It is used less frequently now than in the past, but it is still a stylish look.

In rim lighting, the main light is placed behind the subject so that it illuminates the profile of the subject and leaves a polished highlight along the edge of the face. The main light will also highlight the hair and neck of the subject. Care should be taken so that the accent of the light is centered on the face and not so much on the hair or neck.

The fill light is moved to the same side of the camera as the main light and a reflector is used to fill in the shadows. An optional hair light can be used on the opposite side of the main light for better tonal separation of the hair from the background. The background light is used normally.

ADAPTING THE FORMAL LIGHTING PATTERNS TO SUIT THE SITUATION
While the basic lighting patterns do not have to be used with absolute precision, it is essential to know what they are and how to achieve them. If, for instance, you are photographing your bride and groom outdoors, you can position a single main light to produce the desired lighting pattern and ratio, then use the ambient light (shade or backlighting) as the fill light. No other lights are needed to produce every one of the five basic portrait lighting setups. The use of reflectors, instead of an independent fill light or kickers, may accomplish much the same results in terms of controlling light.

You can also create an elegant profile of the bride with a single flash used as a backlight, outlining the edges of her face, neck, and the wedding veil. With the daylight as fill, only one light is required to produce an elegant, classically lit portrait.

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The Team Approach to Large Weddings

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:16:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Tucci and Usmani's The Business of Photography, by Damon Tucci and Rosena Usmani. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Once in a while, we have we have been fortunate enough to photograph celebrity clients. I have photographed sports legends Marshall Faulk and Horace Grant and one of the Backstreet Boys, Howie Dorough. I have also been fortunate enough to photograph some ostentatious, million-dollar events. These events can be very exciting, and they can also be very lucrative. They require a totally different mind-set. The stakes are higher, and so is the pressure. Perform well on the right one, and that can be your ticket in to the rich and famous. Fall on your face, and you’ll never work in this town again.

Here is how I have tackled such events: When doing these large jobs, the lead photographer must perform almost as a director. I employ a team of four or more. I am fortunate to have been in this business for a while, and I have a large pool of friends/colleagues I can call on to form the dream team for these events. Our fees are upward of $20,000 for these types of events. That gives us the budget to staff accordingly.

It’s better to have more hands on deck than less.There are a lot of balls to juggle when you are working these events. There are many times when important events are simultaneously going on in different locations. Typically, I stick to the bride and have other staff members photograph the group, capture detail shots, etc.

Let’s not forget Indian and Jewish ceremonies. The largest, most lucrative events I have photographed were Indian andJewish events. Indian events are a wonderful departure from traditional Christian ceremonies. The colors are vibrant, and the customs and rituals are fascinating. Indian weddings usually last three days or more and pay accordingly. Jewish weddings are rich in tradition. They are wonderful celebrations of life. The families are very close and, in my experience, they are a lot of fun. I love being in the middle of the hora with a fisheye lens on my camera—it’s like shooting a rock concert.

Both of these events require a rudimentary knowledge of the cultures to capture them effectively. While I was working at Disney, they had a rabbi come in and teach the non-Jewish photographers about the important elements of a Jewish wedding. You can also find out a lot of information online or check out Photographing Jewish Weddings (Stan Turkel; Amherst Media, 2009). My experience with Indian events was a little different. A young couple came to me for my contemporary style.

Many mainstream Indian photographers are very traditional in their approach. They tend to cater to the parents rather than the bride and groom. Anyway, I explained that I knew little about their culture but was up for the challenge. They assigned me a family member to help guide me on the must-have shots.That was many Indian events ago. Eventually, I got the hang of it, even though in my experience all of the Indian events I have photographed are a little different.

The bottom line is that both of these events are very lucrative and very enjoyable. Both cultures place a very high value on family and photographs. These are tight-knit communities, and if you do a great job for one of these clients, chances are you will be receiving calls from their friends soon.

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Verbal Cues Point to Priceless Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:08:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Advanced Wedding Photojournalism: Professional Techniques for Digital Photographers, by Tracy Dorr. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

At most weddings, you won’t know anyone other than the bride. That means you won’t know the relationships and drama associated with each guest. This can make it hard to distinguish key players amidst a crowd of hundreds. This is an especially important point to remember: it’s not enough to concentrate on taking great photojournalistic portraits, it is also important to remember who you are eventually selling these portraits to. You could create an absolutely award-winning portrait, but if the subject is the groom’s ex-girlfriend, it won’t make you any money. The bride won’t even want the proof. What couples do want are excellent informal portraits of their closest friends and family—images that they can treasure over time. Listening and observing body language can key you in to who those people are.

VERBAL INDICATORS
Eavesdropping, though socially taboo, is usually a pretty good idea in these situations. People aren’t going to stop their conversation to clue you in, so pay attention. Note the conversations around you—especially those with humorous stories; these are likely to incite great expressions. If you hear key phrases like, “I haven’t seen you in such a long time!” or “I can’t tell you how proud of you I am right now,” highly charged emotions are likely to follow. If you hear the bride’s mother say to the bride, “If your father were here, he would be so proud!” and her voice has a slight falter of emotion, find the bride. She’s likely to follow that meaningful phrase with a hug or a few tears. And if the bride is tearing up, you know that Mom won’t be able to help herself. Basically, as soon as you hear, “Your father would be so proud,” you have an idea of where the conversation is heading and you know what reaction is likely to follow. There’s no downtime when you’re shooting people photojournalistically!

“You Look So Beautiful!”
There are some “traditional” verbal indicators to be on the lookout for—expected behaviors that are controlled by societal constraints. In polite Western society, for instance, when people see the bride, they are rather expected to say something like, “You look so beautiful!” The compliments a bride will receive on her wedding day can be overwhelming and exciting. Be ready to capture how she reacts to that. Whenever you hear a complimentary phrase, get ready.

“I’m So Glad You Made It!”
This phrase has two implications for the bride or groom: the person they’re saying it to is of high importance to them and/or is an out-of-town guest that they have not seen in a long time. Either way, it’s a good indication that this is a key player you should keep your eye on throughout the rest of the day.

“That Means So Much To Me!”
If you hear this phrase, it’s a tip-off that a compliment has just been given. Everyone appreciates a flattering remark, so there will be some kind of positive reaction to this nicety. That means there will also be a great opportunity for a photojournalistic portrait.

Compliments to the bride on any aspect of the wedding will reinforce to her the success of the day. It very important to the bride that the day goes well, so you will see the relief and pleasure on her face following that sort of compliment. It is also a common prompt for the hugging to begin—and where there’s action, there’s the opportunity for further emotional displays.

“Oh My God!”
This phrase is so universal that you know everyone will use it—and use it for a huge variety of reasons. It could refer to a guest or parent’s reaction to how beautiful the bride looks. It could suggest nervousness and excitement. This phrase is less of a sure thing, but it occurs with such frequency that it provides you with a plethora of opportunities to key in on a subject for a portrait.

Often, the phrase precedes the kind of emotional reaction that causes other people to get involved. For example, during the morning preparations, let’s say the bride is opening a gift that her husband-to-be has sent as a surprise. She opens the small, carefully wrapped box and says in a low voice (or a high-pitched squeal), “Oh, my God!” This suggests the bride is shocked and overwhelmed, giving you your first photo opportunity: the bride’s reaction. Additionally, you know that all of the other bridesmaids are immediately going to crowd around to get a look at the gift. The air will be filled with excitement—everyone will be laughing, smiling, and talking, which means more great emotionally charged moments for you to capture.

When you hear “Oh my God,” all you’ll need to do is zoom in on the bride first, then zoom out to include the two people nearest to the bride, and finally pull back to show the rest of the girls and see whose reaction stands out to you. Be aware of the entire group at all times and look for their crucial reactions. Seek out movement and reactions laced with emotion.

The aforementioned phrases are usually good indicators that an emotionally charged moment is about to occur. Learning to predict when these moments are likely to happen is the most significant element in learning to photograph with emotional integrity and lasting impact.

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Creating Effective Group Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:19:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book The Best of Wedding Photojournalism (2nd ed.), by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Formal group portraits fall outside the area of interest of most photojournalists. However, they are still an integral part of almost every wedding. Most wedding photojournalists don’t exhibit their formal groups, but they do include them in their albums—usually because brides expect certain group portraits. Even purists will oblige the request for these images, but they will add the special twist that takes the images out of the realm of traditional wedding coverage.

Groups should be fun. Here, Marcus Bell gets photographed by the groomsmen with their point-and-shoot digital cameras.

Types of Groups
You will want to photograph the groom and his groomsmen, the bride and her bridesmaids, as well as the complete wedding party in one group. Depending on the wishes of the bride, you may also need to photograph family formals, extended families, or a giant group shot including all of the guests.

Opt for something completely unexpected. Incorporate the environment or architecture, or ask the group to do something uncharacteristic. Even though this is a “posed” shot, it does not have to represent a pause in the flow of the wedding day; it can be fun. You can get a wonderful group image if you exercise a little imagination.

Backgrounds
While it might be tempting to find a great background and shoot all of your groups using it, the effect will be monotonous when viewed in the album. Look for several interesting backgrounds, even if they are only ten or twenty feet apart. This will add visual interest to the finished album.

Composition
Successfully designing groups of people depends on your ability to manage the lines and shapes within the composition. The more you learn to recognize these key elements, the more they will become an integral part of your compositions—and the more dynamic your group portraits will be.

Groupings
Couples. The simplest of groups is two people. Whether the group is a bride and groom, mom and dad, or the best man and the maid of honor, the basic building blocks call for one person slightly higher than the other. A good starting point is to position the mouth of the higher person parallel to the forehead or eyes of the lower person.

Although they can be posed in parallel position, a more interesting dynamic with two people can be achieved by having them pose at 45-degree angles to each other, so their shoulders face in toward one another. With this pose, you can create a number of variations by moving them closer or farther apart.

To create an intimate pose for two, try showing two profiles facing each other. One should still be higher than the other, allowing you to create an implied diagonal line between their eyes, which gives the portrait better visual dynamics. Since this type of image is usually fairly close up, make sure that the frontal planes of the subjects’ faces are roughly parallel so that you can hold sharp focus on both.

Trios. A group portrait of three is still small and intimate. It lends itself to a pyramid or diamond-shaped composition, or an inverted triangle, all of which are pleasing to the eye.

Turn the shoulders of those at both ends of the group in toward the center of the composition to loop the group together, ensuring that the viewer’s eye does not stray out of the frame. Once you add a third person, you will begin to notice the interplay of lines and shapes inherent in good group design. The graphic power of a well-defined diagonal line in a composition will compel the viewer to keep looking at the image.

Try different vantage points—a bird’s-eye view, for example. Cluster the group together, use a safe stepladder or other high vantage point, and you’ve got a lovely variation on the small group.

Even-Numbered Groups. You will find that even numbers of people are more difficult to pose than odd-numbered groupings. The reason is that the eye and brain tend to accept the disorder of odd-numbered objects more readily than even-numbered objects. (Note: As you add more people to a group, remember to do everything you can to keep the camera back parallel to the plane of the group to ensure everyone in the photograph is sharply focused.)

With four people, you can simply add a person to the existing poses for three described above. Be sure to keep the head height of the fourth person different from any of the others in the group. Also, be aware that you are now forming shapes with your composition—pyramids, extended triangles, diamonds, and curved lines.

The dark suits and hats contrast against the light colored wall, creating a composition that resembles musical notes on a score. The boy’s face, turned slightly toward the camera, adds an aura of solemnity to the observance. Bounce flash was fired at the taking aperture (f/2.8) to add highlights along the shoulders of the dark suits. This is an award-winning photograph by Michael Greenberg.

Larger Groups. With five or six people, you should begin to think in terms of creating linked subgroups. This is when a posing device like the armchair can come into play. An armchair is the perfect posing device for photographing up to about eight people. The chair is best positioned roughly 30 to 45 degrees to the camera. Whoever will occupy the seat (usually the bride) should be seated laterally across the seat cushion on the edge of the chair, so that their weight does not rest on the chair back. This promotes good sitting posture and narrows the lines of the waist and hips, for both men and women. With one person seated, you can then position the others close and on the arms of the chair, leaning in toward the central person. Sometimes only one arm of the armchair is used to create a more dynamic triangle shape.

What a wild and crazy group this is! It is completely unchoreographed in a wacky, vaudevillian way—groomsmen piggy backing bridesmaids, who buckle under the weight; guys dropping their trousers—it’s completely out of control. Yet, this is what it’s all about: having fun on a once-in-a-lifetime day. The photograph was made, and no doubt inspired, by the photographers, Jeff and Julia Woods.

Hands can be a problem in groups. Despite their small size, they attract visual attention— particularly against dark clothing. They can be especially troublesome in seated groups, where at first glance you might think there are more hands than there should be. A general rule of thumb is to either show all of the hand or show none of it. Don’t allow a thumb, or half a hand, or a few fingers to show. Hide as many hands as you can behind flowers, hats, or other people. Be aware of these potentially distracting elements, and look for them as part of your visual inspection of the frame before you make the exposure.

Really Big Groups. In really big groups, the use of different levels helps to create a sense of visual interest and lets the viewer’s gaze bounce from one face to another (as long as there is a logical and pleasing flow to the arrangement). The placement of faces, not bodies, dictates how pleasing and effective the composition will be.

Having the guests wave to the camera usually results in too many faces being lost behind raised arms. However, this is a good time for the bride to throw her bouquet. Ask her to throw it over her head into the crowd behind, mainly upward and slightly to the rear. Alternately, you might simply ask the couple to kiss and have all the guests watch them.

When you are photographing large groups, an assistant is invaluable for getting all of the people together and helping you to pose them. Keep in mind that it also takes less time to photograph one large group than it does to create a series of smaller groups, so it is usually time well spent (provided that the bride wants the groups done in this way).

This is a group of eleven groomsmen taken by Kevin Jairaj. If you let your eyes wander across the group, you will see three groups of three guys, plus a grouping of two on the far right side. This is intentionally done to subdivide the large group, preventing it from becoming a “team” photo all on one plane. Instead, it is a moody, introspective image of the young men, beautifully done with stage lighting and carefully composed to give the image rhythm and unity.

Focus and Depth of Field
As your groups get bigger, it’s important to keep your depth of field under control. The stepladder is an invaluable tool for larger groups; it lets you elevate the camera position and more easily keep the camera back parallel to the group for the most efficient focus. Another trick is to have the back row of the group lean in, while the front row leans back slightly. This creates a shallower subject plane that makes it easier to hold the focus across the entire group.

If you are short of space, use a wide-angle lens or a wide-angle camera (like the Brooks Veri-Wide, a 35mm panoramic camera with a rotating shutter). Wide-angle coverage results in the people at the front appearing larger than those at the back, which may be advantageous if the wedding party is at the front of the group. Make sure everyone is sharp. This is more of a certainty with a wide-angle lens and its inherent depth of field. Focus at a distance one-third of the way into the group. This should ensure that everyone is sharp at f/5.6 or f/8 with a wide-angle lens.

After You’ve Snapped the Shutter
Many wedding photographers will tell you that the best groups and formals are often taken seconds after you’ve told the people, “Thanks, I’ve got it.” Everyone relaxes and they revert to having a good time and being themselves. This is a great time to fire off a few more frames—you might get that great group shot or formal portrait that you didn’t get in the posed version.

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The Psychology of Album-Making

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Creative Wedding Album Design with Adobe Photoshop, by Mark Chen. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Designing a wedding album is a form of art, but you must also take the audience into account. After all, it is the newlyweds who will spend hours admiring your work. This actually creates a favorable situation: if we get to know the couple, we will know better what they are looking for. So let’s try to get into the psychology of the clients.

Make sure you showcase the full range of your creativity in your demos, then have your clients go through them. By observing their reactions, you will get a good sense of their taste. Ask them to voice their opinions.

Within limits, you can also have them involved in the creative process. For example, you may want to let the couple choose a certain number of the images that will be used.

Watch closely what they spent time and money on. The bride and groom are the lead characters in the album, but there will also be many supporting roles. If there was a fancy cake, show it off on a page. If the ceremony took place in the most grandiose church in town, make it a centerpiece on another page.

On top of the wedding photographer’s role as an artist, entrepreneur, and Photoshop master, he or she is also in the business of making people happy. You might find this a daunting task. It is. But once you get to know the psychology of your clients, you will have a much better chance of accomplishing the mission.

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The Key Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book The Best of Wedding Photography (3rd ed.), by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

As part of the wedding photography, there are some key images that every bride and groom will expect to see. Including these is important for creating an album that tells the whole story of the couple’s special day. The following are a few tips on what to shoot and some ideas for making the most of each moment as it happens.

ENGAGEMENT PORTRAIT
The engagement portrait is made prior to the hectic wedding day, providing the time to get something spectacular. Many photographers use this session as an opportunity to get to know the couple and to allow the couple to get to know them. Engagement portraits may involve great creativity and intimacy and are often made in the photographer’s studio or at some special location.

The engagement portrait has become an integral part of wedding packages. It gives the photographer a chance to work with the couple before the big day so that the trio may get used to each other. Photograph by Tom Muñoz.

AT THE BRIDE’S HOUSE
Typically, weddings begin with the bride getting ready. Find out what time you may arrive and be there a little early. You may have to wait a bit—there are a million details for the bride to attend to—but you might find ample opportunity for still lifes or family shots. When you get the okay to go up to the bedrooms, realize that it may be tense in there. Try to blend in and observe. Shots will present themselves, particularly with the mother and daughter or the bridesmaids.

BEFORE THE WEDDING
You do, of course, want to photograph the groom before the wedding. Some grooms are nervous, while others are gregarious—like it’s any other day. Regardless, there are ample picture opportunities before anyone else arrives. It’s also a great opportunity to do formal portraits of the groom, the groom and his dad, and the groom and his best man. A three-quarter-length portrait is a good choice—and you can include the architecture of the church or building if you want.

Being a fly on the wall as the bride is getting ready can lead to some great shots. Photograph by Ron Capobianco.

When photographing men, always check that the ties are properly knotted. If they are wearing vests, make sure that they are correctly buttoned and that the bottom button is undone.

Joe Photo tries to get a shot of the bride’s shoes as she’s getting ready. Be sure to make a nice shot like this if at all possible.

THE CEREMONY
Regardless of whether you’re a wedding photojournalist or a traditionalist, you must be discrete during the ceremony. Nobody wants to hear the “ca-chunk” of a camera or see a blinding flash as the couple exchange their vows. It’s better by far to work from a distance with a tripod-mounted 35mm camera with the motor off (or in quiet mode, if the camera has one), and to work by available light. Work quietly and unobserved—in short, be invisible. (Of course, it should be noted that recent SLRs—especially DSLRs—are much quieter than past cameras.)

Some of the events you will need to cover are: the bridesmaids and flower girls entering the church, the bride entering the church, the parents being escorted in, the bride’s dad “giving her away,” the first time the bride and groom meet at the altar, the minister or priest talking with them, the ring exchange, the exchange of vows, the kiss, the bride and groom turning to face the assembly, the bride and groom coming up the aisle, and any number of two dozen variations—plus all the surprises along the way. Note that this scenario applies only to a Christian wedding. Every religion has its own customs and traditions that you need to be familiar with before the wedding.

Some churches don’t allow any photography during the ceremony. You will, of course, know this if you’ve taken the time to visit the church prior to the wedding.

Regardless of your style of coverage, family groups are pictures that will be desired by all. You must find time to make the requisite group shots, but also be aware of shots that the bride may not have requested, but expects to see. The bride with her new parents and the groom with his are great shots, according to Monte Zucker, but are not ones that will necessarily be “on the list.”

FORMALS
Following the ceremony, you should be able to steal the bride and groom for about ten minutes—no more, or you will be taking too much of their time and the others in attendance will get a little edgy. Most photographers will get what they need in less than ten minutes.

In addition to a number of formal portraits of the couple—their first pictures as man and wife—you should try to make whatever obligatory group shots the bride has asked for. This may include a group portrait of the wedding party, a portrait with the bride’s family and the groom’s family, and so on.

If there are too many “must” shots to do in a short time, arrange to do some after the ceremony and some at the reception. This can be all thought out beforehand.

THE BRIDE AND GROOM
Generally speaking, this should be a romantic pose, with the couple looking at one another. While a formal pose or two is advisable, most couples will opt for the more romantic and emotional formal portraits. Be sure to highlight the dress, as it is a crucial element to formal portraits. Take pains to show the form as well as the details of the dress and train, if the dress has one. This is certainly true for the bride’s formal portrait, as well.

Make at least two formal portraits, a full-length shot and a three-quarter-length portrait. Details are important, so pose the couple. Make sure the bouquet is visible and have the bride closest to the camera. Have the groom place his arm around his bride but with his hand in the middle of her back. Have them lean in toward each other, with their weight on their back feet and a slight bend to their forward knees. Quick and easy!

THE BRIDE
To display the dress beautifully, the bride must stand well. Although you may only be taking a three-quarter-length or head-and-shoulders portrait, start the pose at the feet. When you arrange the bride’s feet with one foot forward of the other, the shoulders will naturally be at their most flattering, one higher than the other. Have her stand at an angle to the lens, with her weight on her back foot and her front knee slightly bent. The most feminine position for her head is to have it turned and tilted toward the higher shoulder. This places the entire body in an attractive S-curve, a classic bridal pose.

Have the bride hold her bouquet in the hand on the same side of her body as the foot that is extended. If the bouquet is held in the left hand, the right arm should come in to meet the other at wrist level. She should hold her bouquet a bit below waist level to show off the waistline of the dress, which is an important part of the dress design. Take photos showing the dress from all angles.

THE WEDDING PARTY
This is one formal group that does not have to be formal. I have seen group portraits of the wedding party done as a panoramic, with the bride, groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen doing a conga line down the beach, dresses held high out of the water and the men’s pant legs rolled up. And I have seen elegant, formal pyramid arrangements, where every bouquet and every pose is identical and beautiful. It all depends on your client and your tastes. It should be a portrait that you have fun doing. Most photographers opt for boy–girl arrangements, with the bride and groom somewhere central in the image. As with the bridal portrait, the bridesmaids should be in front of the groomsmen in order to highlight their dresses.

Titled The Pall Bearers, this image by J.B. Sallee is a tongue-in-cheek portrait of what the groom and his groomsmen might term “his last day of freedom.” In postproduction, the groomsmen were darkened to make the groom stand out.

LEAVING THE CHURCH
Predetermine the composition and exposure and be ready and waiting as the couple exits the church. If guests are throwing confetti or rice, don’t be afraid to choreograph the event in advance. You can alert guests to get ready and “release” on your count of three. Using a slow (1/30 second) shutter speed and flash, you will freeze the couple and the rice, but the moving objects will have a slightly blurred edge. If you’d rather just let the event happen, opt for a burst sequence using the camera’s fastest frame rate—up to eight frames per second with high-end DSLRs—and a wide-angle to short-telephoto zoom. Be alert for the unexpected, and consider having a second shooter cover events like this to better your odds of getting the key picture.

ROOM SETUP
Make a photograph of the reception site before the guests arrive. Photograph one table in the foreground and be sure to include the floral and lighting effects. Also, photograph a single place setting and a few other details. The bride will love them, and you’ll find use for them in the album design. The caterers, decorators, and other vendors will also appreciate a print that reflects their efforts. Some photographers try to include the bride and groom in the scene, which can be tricky—but their presence does add to the shot. Before the guests enter the reception area, for instance, Ken Sklute often photographs the bride and groom dancing slowly in the background and it is a nice touch.

THE RECEPTION
This is the time when most of your photojournalistic coverage will be made—and the possibilities are endless. As the reception goes on and guests relax, the opportunities for great pictures will increase. Be aware of the bride and groom all the time, as they are the central players. Fast zooms and fast telephoto lenses paired with fast film or high ISO settings will give you the best chance to work unobserved.

Be prepared for the scheduled events at the reception—the bouquet toss, removing the garter, the toasts, the first dance, and so on. If you have done your homework, you will know where and when each of these events will take place, and you will have prepared to light it and photograph it. Often, the reception is best lit with a number of corner-mounted umbrellas, triggered by your on-camera flash. That way, anything within the perimeter of your lights can be photographed by strobe. Be certain you meter various areas within your lighting perimeter so that you know what your exposure is everywhere on the floor.

The reception calls upon all of your skills and instincts. Things happen quickly, so don’t get caught with an important event coming up and only two frames left or a CF card that’s almost full. People are having a great time, so be cautious about intruding upon events. Try to observe the flow of the reception and anticipate the individual events before they happen. Coordinate your efforts with the person in charge, usually the wedding planner or banquet manager. He or she can run interference for you, as well as cue you when certain events are about to occur, often not letting the event begin until you are ready.

I have watched Joe Photo work a reception, and it is an amazing sight. He often uses his Nikon D1X and flash in bounce mode and works quickly and quietly. His Nikon Speedlite is outfitted with a small forward-facing internal reflector that redirects some of the bounce flash directly onto his subject, making the flash both key and fill light at once. If he is observed and noticed, he’ll often walk over and show the principals the image on the LCD, offer some thoughtful compliment about how good they all look, and quickly move on. Other times he just shoots, observes, and shoots some more. His intensity and concentration at the reception are keen and he comes away with priceless images—the rewards of good work habits.

RINGS
The bride and groom usually love their new rings and want a shot that includes them. A close-up of the couple’s hands displaying the rings makes a great detail image in the album. You can use any type of attractive pose, but remember that hands are difficult to pose. If you want a really close-up image of the rings, you will need a macro lens, and you will probably have to light the scene with flash—unless you make the shot outdoors or in good light.

Joe Photo always makes it a point to photograph the rings with the wedding invitation. That makes it imperative to carry a macro lens.

THE CAKE CUTTING
Cakes have gotten incredibly expensive—some cost more than $10,000! For this reason, a stand-alone portrait of the cake is a good idea, both for the cake-maker and for the bride and groom.

THE FIRST DANCE
One trick is to tell the couple beforehand, “Look at me and smile.” That will keep you from having to circle the couple until you get both of them looking at you for the first-dance shot. Or you can tell them, “Just look at each other and don’t worry about me, I’ll get the shot.”

Often, photographers will photograph the first dance by whatever available light exists (often spotlights) on the dance floor. This is possible with fast lenses and fast ISOs. Just as frequently, the photographer will use bounce flash and a slow shutter speed to record the ambient light in the room and the surrounding faces watching the couple’s first dance. The bounce flash will freeze the couple but there is often some blurring due to the slow shutter speed.

THE BOUQUET TOSS
Whether you’re a photojournalist or traditionalist, this shot looks best when it’s spontaneous. You need plenty of depth of field, which almost dictates a wide-angle lens. You’ll want to show not only the bride but also the faces in the background. Although you can use available light, the shot is usually best done with two flashes—one on the bride and one on the ladies waiting for the bouquet. Your timing has to be excellent, as the bride will often “fake out” the group just for laughs. This might fake you out, as well. Try to get the bouquet as it leaves the bride’s hands and before it is caught—and if your flash recycles fast enough, get a shot of the lucky lady who catches it.

TABLE SHOTS
Table shots don’t usually turn out well, are rarely ordered, and are tedious to make. If your couple absolutely wants table shots, ask them to accompany you from table to table. That way they can greet all of their guests, and it will make the posing quick and painless. Instead of table shots, consider one big group that encompasses nearly everyone at the reception.

LITTLE ONES
A great photo opportunity comes from spending time with the smallest attendees and attendants—the flower girls and ring bearers. They are thrilled with the pageantry of the wedding day and their involvement often offers a multitude of memorable shots.

The little ones are especially fragile on the wedding day and present some wonderful photo opportunities. Photograph by Marcus Bell.

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Why Is Wedding Photojournalism So Popular?

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Wedding Photographer's Handbook, by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

One of the reasons wedding photojournalism has taken off in popularity is that it emulates the style of photography seen in the bridal magazines, like Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Modern Bride, and Town & Country. Before brides even interview photographers, they have become familiar with this type of storytelling editorial imagery.

Even if a shot is scripted, its execution will be much less formal than in past years. This image by Brian Shindle captures a spontaneity that is quite appealing.

TRADITIONAL WEDDING IMAGES LACK VARIETY
A big reason for the backlash against traditional wedding photography is the “sameness” of it. When this type of scripted coverage is employed, similar if not identical shots will show up in many different albums done by like-minded photographers.

Another reason for the similarity is the types and numbers of formal group portraits. Even with the most elegant posing and lighting, shots can look similar if they are arranged similarly (e.g., bride and groom in the middle, bridesmaids and groomsmen staggered boy-girl to either side). In contrast, when a wedding photojournalist makes group portraits, he or she might make them from the top of a stairwell, or put all the subjects in profile marching down a beach, or have them do something otherwise unpredictable and different. This results in more personalized images and greater variety. Today’s bride doesn’t want “cookie-cutter” wedding photographs. She wants unique, heartfelt images that tell the story of her important day.

TRADITIONAL WEDDING IMAGES ARE MORE TIME-CONSUMING TO MAKE
Another potential drawback of the traditional type of wedding coverage is that all those carefully posed pictures take lots of time. In fact, the bigger the wedding, the bigger the bridal party and the bigger the list of “required” shots to make. As a result, the bride and groom can be missing for a good part of their wedding day while they are working with the photographer. The less formal approach leaves couples free to enjoy more of their day.

In this aspect, the photojournalistic system has mutual benefits. While the bride has more time to enjoy her day, the photographer also has more time to observe the subtleties of the wedding day and do his or her best work. I have heard many photographers say that brides and family have told them, “We don’t even want to know you’re there,” which is just fine for most wedding photojournalists.

So much of what is included in today’s wedding photographer’s skill set comes from the world of editorial and fashion. This shot by Becky Burgin is a classic fashion image treated with split-toning by printing master Robert Cavalli.

NO INTRUSION

Because the traditional photographer intrudes on the naturalness of the scene, the coverage is structured and in the view of many, fictional. When the photojournalist covers the same event, he or she does so without interference and intrusion, allowing the scene to unravel with all of the spontaneity and surprises that will occur at such wonderful events. As a result, the photographer tends to be quietly invisible, choosing to fade into the background so the subjects are not aware of his presence. The event itself then takes precedence over the directions and the resulting pictures are more spontaneous. Many wedding photojournalists even photograph groups with this non-intrusive approach, preferring to wait until things “happen.”

EMERGING STYLES
Despite the advantages of wedding photojournalism, photographers who still provide traditional coverage argue that the photojournalist’s coverage produces below-average photographs. Indeed, one must acknowledge that some of the most elegant features of traditional portraiture are being thrown out in this creative new approach. After all, the photojournalists can’t possibly be as in tune with posing and lighting principles as the masters of the traditional style. Even in many masterful bridal portraits taken by skilled photojournalists, the trained eye may observe poorly posed hands, a confused head-and-shoulders axis, unflattering overhead lighting, and so on. As a result, formal and casual techniques are intermixing more than ever, allowing both photographers and brides to benefit from the best of both styles.

This mixing is particularly evident in group portraiture. The near elimination of formal group portraiture in photojournalistic wedding coverage is now swinging back the other way. All types of wedding photographers are making more group portraits. The main reason for this is that groups sell, and sales mean increased profits. Also, failing to offer such coverage limits the photographer in his or her professional approach. As a result, photographers are offering brides more options, including posed formals. Because the choice is theirs, brides (and their parents) seem to be ordering them.

The difference between this shot and a traditionalist’s version of the same subject is that the photojournalist prefers to capture the unscripted action as it occurs, much like the stop-action coverage of a sports photographer. Photograph by Michael Schuhmann.

Marcus Bell can make himself disappear into the woodwork. Here an exhausted bride and groom take five without a hint that Bell is recording the scene.

The nature of formal photos is changing, as well, adapting more informal posing and lighting techniques in an effort to preserve the same carefree, relaxed attitude found in the rest of the album. You will also see group portraits made with much more style and elegance than the traditional, straight on-camera flash you saw in wedding groups only twenty years ago. Again, brides are demanding ever more sophistication in their photographs.

Yes, the classic poses are fading in consideration of a more natural style. However, greater attention to posing fundamentals seems to be evident, as well. After all, these techniques represent time-honored ways of gracefully rendering the human form and revealing character. In the words of Monte Zucker, well known around the world for his traditional wedding portraits, “Photographers are well aware of this [divergence], so they’ve combined a little of both. My particular style of wedding photography still comes from the fact that I’m more interested in faces and feelings than I am in backgrounds and trends.”

The nature of formals is changing, incorporating elements of traditional styles with a more casual look. Here, an unusual pose and composition along with pristine lighting and exposure make this Drake Busath image an award winner.

This combined approach opens up the best of both worlds for the bride and groom. With an adherence to formal posing principles comes a type of classic elegance that is timeless, with the finely tuned skills of anticipation and observation, on the other hand, the photojournalistic coverage unearths more of the wedding day’s wonderful moments. By pairing both approaches, wedding photography is expanding its horizons, and the quality and character of wedding coverage is better today than at any time in the past.

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Successful Online Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Professional Marketing & Selling Techniques for Digital Wedding Photographers, by Jeff Hawkins and Kathleen Hawkins. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

SUCCESSFUL ONLINE MARKETING
How does a photographer capitalize on the rapid expansion of e-commerce and the popularity and effectiveness of an Internet presence?

Let’s begin with a typical example. Pretend for a moment that somewhere there is a small wedding photography company. The business owners would definitely want to create a website, because not having one would negatively impact their image and reputation, right? So the proprietors diligently create a small web page with their company name on it, complete with address and phone number. The page might even contain a picture of the crew donning an array of appropriate formal attire, with all their equipment close at hand. (Most small [and some large] company websites look just like the one described here.) They need to select a name for the website, and it just so happens that www.GetWeddingPhotos.com is available, so they register this name as their new website address.

Imagine that there’s a young bride in need of a wedding photographer in her metropolitan area. Unsure where to begin her search, she turns to the web. An experienced web surfer, she knows to first head to a popular search engine and type in a few words to get her started. She chooses “wedding” and “photographer” (try this yourself). Fortunately for the small company above, these words appear on the web page that they hastily designed, but according to the search engine, those same words also appear on about 38,300 other web pages. The site www.GetWeddingPhotos.com is somewhere on that list of 38,300.

Make it easy for your target clients to find your website, which should employ beautiful, up-to-date images.

With a lot of luck and some skillful application of key words (called metatags) that explicitly describe the site’s content, it might even appear somewhere in the first 2000 entries. Assuming our bride had the patience to go through several hundred options, she would quickly find that the majority of these websites were for photographers who lived and worked in other states. The moral of the story? Just because you put a website on the Internet does not mean that anyone will ever find it!

Well, our hypothetical wedding photography company learns quickly from its mistakes. In an attempt to solve their “lost website” problem, they opt to place their web address on their business cards and correspondence, so that people can easily get to www.GetWeddingPhotos.com. This is certainly something you should do—it’s a great idea. Don’t embarrass yourself, however, by handing out a business card featuring your web address, and then having a potential customer find only a one-page site with basic contact information (name, address, phone, etc.). That information was already on your business card. You just wasted their time, and they will repay you by taking their business elsewhere.

According to Dan Chuparkoff, an experienced software developer and website designer, there are five simple “P.I.E.C.E.s” to creating a successful website:

Purpose—Define the purpose of the site.
Identity—Determine a name for the site.
Essence—Choose the content’s depth and the frequency of changes.
Creation—Design the site with the help of an experienced web designer.
Enlighten—Begin to advertise to attract people to your site.

Purpose. The most common mistake made by business owners during website construction is that the purpose of the website is incorrectly gauged. The first question to ask yourself when creating a website is, “What is the purpose of my website?” Whatever your product may be, the answer to this question is, “To get customers.”

That much is simple, but it is easy to overlook the fact that the task of acquiring customers is broken up into two stages. These two stages are commonly referred to as advertising and sales. This may seem elementary, but failure to make this distinction is the most common mistake made in business-website development. Making this mistake will lead to wasted money and frustrated customers. The goal of advertising is, naturally, to somehow grab the attention of your potential customers. The goal of sales is, of course, to persuade these potential customers that your product is the best of all the available options. Which of these roles would a website service? Most people answer this question incorrectly.

A website is not an advertising vehicle. Rather, a website should be used as a tool to aid in the closing of a sale. There are many ways to draw people to your website, and some of them will be described in the following paragraphs. This having been said, however, the assumption must be made that there has been some previous interaction between you (or a studio representative) and viewers of your website. There will be a few exceptions to this rule—people who live in your town and want your services, who coincidentally type in exactly the right key words and stumble upon your Internet doorway, for example. As search engines on the web evolve and people become more experienced at performing searches, browsers will become more successful at finding what they are looking for. Unfortunately, as things are, you cannot rely on attracting clients in this way.

Viewers will most likely have decided to browse your site after:

1. Meeting with you and following your suggestion to check out the site.

2. Viewing an advertisement in a publication or on another website.

3. Making contact with a satisfied customer who recommended your services.

So, whether you design your site yourself or commission a web designer to complete the task, your site’s purpose should be clearly defined before you begin creating pages. At the very least, provide examples of your work or let visitors view a calendar of your availability. Ideally, your website should contain a completely painless way for visitors to purchase your product or register for your services while browsing the pages that you have provided. Use your website to give prospective customers information that gets you closer to a sale.

Identity. The next step in jumping on the e-commerce bandwagon is coming up with a skillfully chosen name for your website. This is commonly referred to as your “domain name.” The most obvious choice for a domain name is one that matches your existing company name. You can find out if a specific domain name is available by going to the website of an accredited registration service. There is a list of accredited services available at www.Internic.net. One of these registration services is www.Register.com. Try surfing over to the Register.com site to see if your own business name is available. If your business name is a registered trade name and it is already held by someone else as a domain name, you may have legal rights to that domain name. You may dispute such conflicts in a manner similar to disputing other trade-name violations.

If your first choice of names is unavailable, remember these tips when choosing a different name:

1. You may only use letters, numbers, and the hyphen character (-).

2. Avoid the use of homophones (“by” and “buy,” “for” and “four”). These add confusion when passing the site’s name along through word of mouth.

3. Keep in mind your company’s future growth when choosing a site name. The name www.JeffHawkinsPhotography.com is a good name for a wedding photojournalist’s site, but it would be slightly less suitable if used to promote the other consultative wedding services provided by the same business.

4. Somewhere near 99 percent of the words in the English language are already taken, so don’t expect your first choice to be available. Be prepared to spend some time looking for a name that isn’t already registered.

The task of acquiring customers is broken up into two stages. These two stages are commonly referred to as advertising and sales.

Essence. Here the task becomes more difficult. Determining the depth of your Internet presence can be more important than time spent on design and style. A prospective customer’s visit to your website will generally be their second instance of exposure to your company (the first having been an introduction via an advertisement or a personal endorsement of some kind).

Each time you require your target customer to spend time and energy to interact with you, a few more people will get bored, distracted, or will be somehow motivated to go elsewhere. It is important to make sure that your site isn’t an added stage in your selling process, without offering a clear benefit to the customer. Before you had a website, prospective clients would typically see your ad in a publication and be prompted to call you. The last thing you want to do is run an ad that instructs the user to check out your website, and then have your website do little more than prompt the user to give you a call for more information.

Create a website that works to bring prospective clients a little closer to buying your product or service. The most important thing to viewers of your site is immediate gratification. People want information immediately. They don’t want to wait to meet with you to find answers to their questions. Give viewers of your website as much information as you can possibly provide them. If you have ever received a request from a customer for your portfolio, your biography, or your references, then put these things on your site. If your website has convinced them that your service is the one for them, provide them with the opportunity to purchase or register for your services. This removes the opportunity for them to change their minds while they wait for your e-mail response or a scheduled appointment.

As suggested earlier, creating an online ordering system is the best way to profitably capitalize on the flow of traffic onto your site. For example, you can offer a program in which clients pay a set fee to have their images posted online. This will allow them and their friends and family from around the world to see the proofs and order images. Set a specific price for placing engagement proofs online and an additional price for wedding images. We also suggest that the photographer selection the prints and the length of online visibility. For more information on online ordering, try contacting www.MorePhotos.com, www.MarathonPress.com, or www.EventPix.com. The cost is minimal, and the response can be incredible.

Creation. In most cases, you will want the help of a consultative web designer to create an effective Internet presence that results in a positive user-experience and, more importantly, in increased sales. On the other hand, there are many tools available (such as Microsoft’s FrontPage) that will allow you to create and design a website on your own.

However, in order to add some of the really productive components, like online ordering, online registration, or an automated response system, you will probably benefit from at least consulting an experienced Internet professional. Enlisting the help of a designer will also free you from the pressure of trying to register your own domain name and trying to find a site-hosting service.

Hire an experienced web designer who can consistently update your website and optimize your key-word phrases and metatags to make your site as easy to find as possible.

Choosing a web designer is a difficult task that may take several attempts. Depending on the depth of your site’s content and the frequency of its changes, the fee for this service can range from just a few hundred dollars to several thousand. If you don’t have the benefit of a personal referral, the quickest way to find a web designer is by consulting your local Yellow Pages. A slightly better way is to search for “web designer” using a search engine like www.Yahoo.com. Remember that it’s not necessarily required that your designer live in the same city (or even country) as you. Contact with your site creator will most likely be conducted via e-mail and the Internet itself, anyway.

In the experience of professional web designer Dan Chuparkoff, these are the top things to consider when hiring an Internet site designer:

1. Look at the designer’s past work.

2. Have them create a low-cost prototype before committing to the entire project.

3. Discuss availability in the future to update information as it changes.

4. Get quotes from several different web designers (they will vary dramatically).

When designing (or when helping to design) your website, keep in mind that a well-planned, easy to navigate website is crucial to creating a pleasant user experience. Keep it simple, using common web standards and conventions.

Only use underlined text, for instance, if that text is a link to another page. Users of the Internet have been conditioned to expect certain things to happen when they browse a web page.

Capitalize on this fact. People know that when they see a tiny picture (commonly called a “thumbnail”), they can click on it to see that same picture in a larger size. Keep these conventions in mind, but don’t compromise your style and expression. Just as you would “dress for success” when meeting with a prospective client, your website should communicate exactly what your own professional appearance would have conveyed to the client in a face-to-face meeting.

Furthermore, remember that images are very important. Bridal couples are visiting your website to see your gallery and view your images. Excessive wording or a cluttered page will quickly bore the reader. Replace excessive wording with the images you choose to promote. Keep in mind that not everyone viewing your site has a modem or a computer that is as fast as yours. Always provide thumbnails to any large images on your site. This will considerably shorten the time it takes for your pages to load.

When you are finally finished with your site’s creation, test it on the slowest computer you can find, and with different web browsers. Try to determine if your prospective client would have been patient enough to wait for the whole page to load, and make sure that it loads correctly on all major browsers.

Enlighten. Finally, you must spread the word that you have a website and let people know what the site’s address is. After all, just because you have a website does not mean that everyone in the world will surf onto it.

Networking and word-of-mouth are still the most effective forms of advertising. Make sure you include your new web address in all of your promotional materials. Place your web address on all of your business cards and letterhead. Make sure you send e-mail messages out to everyone in your address book, informing your friends and family about your site. Also send notifications to the affiliates on your vendor list and consider adding a signature file to all of your e-mail notifications. For instance, add “Visit our website at www.JeffHawkins.com!” to the bottom of all your Internet correspondence.

Finally, be sure to watch your advertising dollars carefully. Take advantage of free links on related websites to promote your company. In some cases, you can submit your website (and possibly your work), and the partnering site will post your information at no charge. However, some sites negotiate a link exchange. This is where you attach a link on your site, linking them to you and vice versa. We don’t recommend using a link exchange, simply because it sends the viewer away from the site rather than keeping them there.

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Working with Existing Light

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:51:00 +0000

Today's post is an excerpt from the book Existing Light Techniques for Wedding and Portrait Photography, by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

ROOM LIGHT (AND OTHER MAN-MADE SOURCES)
In addition to window light, many incredible portraits are made using the existing light from man-made sources, such as room lights, lights on the dance floor at a wedding, or even street lights. Keep in mind when using these sources that long exposures may be required; few man-made lights are as intense as photographic flash. As such, shooting from a tripod or using an image-stabilization lens is a good idea just to ensure critical sharpness. It’s also important to note that using man-made existing-light sources often results in portraits that are not “traditionally” lit—but don’t let that dissuade you from shooting when the light is less than perfect. As the portraits in this section show, lighting that defies convention is often extremely appealing.

“Can” Lights. Australian photographer Yervant is renowned for his ability to find interesting existing light sources on location.

One of his most widely recognized shots (below) was actually created using the overhead “can” lights in an underground parking garage. Short on time, Yervant realized he had not done any formal bridal portraits on the wedding day, and coaxed the bride down to the parking garage for a few shots. To make use of the lighting directly overhead, he had her throw her head back in laughter so that the light would fill her face instead of obscuring her eyes in shadow. This shot illustrates not only the resourcefulness of the wedding photographer on location, but also the ability to see light and recognize a prime location.

This is a classic and award-winning shot by master wedding photographer, Yervant. It was done not using studio strobes, but an overhead “can” light in an underground parking garage.

Yervant’s success with “can” lighting was hardly a one-shot deal. In the image shown below, he had the bride stop under a hotel’s overhead light—a spot that blasted a small area of the wall and carpet with a sharp, hot light. He positioned the bride so that the single light would reveal her shape, then had her glance up into the light to create highlights on the frontal planes of her face. She liked the image so much that it ran over two pages in her wedding album.

Light is where you find it and what you make of it. Here, Yervant used an overhead “can” light—hardly what most photographers consider ideal—to create an extremely dramatic image.

Exterior Lights. Sometimes great directional lighting is right in front of you—regardless of the time of day or night. Photographer Kevin Jairaj recalls the setting for one of his most memorable images (below). “I discovered a spot-lit wall,” he says. “I wanted the bride’s face to be highlighted by the beam of light, so I had her stand with her back against the wall with her face tilted upward toward the light. The reason this shot was successful was because I used all existing light and a long exposure with my camera on a tripod to capture the moment. I really wanted to try something a bit more dramatic and edgy to match the ambiance of the location.” It’s proof that with refined powers of observation, you can find great existing light in some unexpected locations.

Kevin Jairaj was finishing up a session late in the evening when he happened to see this wonderful directional beam. He persuaded the bride to take a few shots in this spot.

Play the Hand You’re Dealt. In any given situation, there is a limited amount of existing light. If you spend too much time trying to tease out just the right quality—especially when shooting wedding photography—you may find you’ve missed countless wonderful moments. As photographer David Beckstead says, “You are given only what the weather and bride’s time line allows. Part of being perceptive is learning how you change and flow with what really happens at your wedding, hour after hour. The ‘perfect’ light will often elude you, so it’s best to make use of the harsh light, the bad light, and the poor-quality light—and then pull out all the stops of perception by working these types of light to your advantage. It’s all in your head!” he says.

So how do you quickly determine what is there and how to utilize it to the best of your abilities? David Beckstead says he walks into the room and squints his eyes so that all the complexity of the colors and textures fades away to nothing but darks and lights. He then opens his eyes widely and goes to the light, looking to see if this natural light can be used as a line leading to his subjects (for a creative effect), then backing off to see how the light can be used in a broader overall composition. Once he has digested this information he goes ahead with his first “safe” shot, as he calls it, often using the natural light. He can then utilize the time between other upcoming “safe” shots to experiment with other artistic interpretations. This strategy helps David avoid a common tendency among photographers to go directly to the subject and start shooting without taking a moment to see all the possibilities.

David Beckstead loves natural light and has attuned himself to its many uses by analyzing a scene to see the full potential of the light source. He prefers back and side lighting, but knows that the hallmark of a real professional is being able to create an amazing portrait using whatever light he’s dealt.

OUTDOOR LIGHTING
Nature provides every lighting variation imaginable—that’s why so many images are made with it. Often, the light is so good that there is just no improving on it.

For example, I used to work for a major West Coast publishing company that specialized in automotive magazines. One of the studios we used for photographing cars was massive, with a ceiling that was between three and four stories high. Below the ceiling was a giant scrim suspended on cables so that each of the four corners could be lowered or raised independently. Enormous banks of incandescent lights were bounced into the scrim to produce a huge milky-white highlight the length of the car—a trademark of automotive photography. Despite the availability of this space, if time and the weather were on their side, the staff photographers would invariably opt to photograph the car at twilight, when the setting sun, minutes after sunset, creates a massive skylight in the Western sky. No matter how big or well equipped the studio, nature’s light is far superior in both quantity and quality (although it fades rather quickly).

In order to harness the power of natural light, one must be aware of its various personalities. Unlike the studio, where you can set the lights to obtain any effect you want, in nature you must use the light that you find or find ways to modify it to suit your needs.

Avoid Direct Sunlight. By far the best place to make outdoor images is away from direct sunlight. Look for a clearing in the woods, where the trees block the overhead light from hitting the subject. From the clearing to the side, diffused light will filter in, producing better modeling on the face than in an open area (where the light is overhead in nature and leaves deep shadows in the eye sockets and under the nose and chin of the subjects.

Kevin Jairaj, who makes it a habit to look for good directional lighting recommends looking for an outdoor portico, where light from above is blocked by a roofline or other architectural element. This allows soft directional light to spill in from the sides, usually through open columns that provide beautiful compositional elements. Depending on how you position your subjects in relation to this directional light, it can be frontal or side lighting—but it always has a singular and well-defined source point. Kevin says, “When outdoors, I love shooting under awnings or building tops where I am able to see the light coming in from one side. I normally place the bride so that her face is turned into the directional light, producing soft Rembrandt lighting on her face.”

Working at Midday. Working at midday is a necessity for wedding photographers, as most ceremonies are during the middle of the day.

In this image, the couple was positioned facing the soft light coming into the portico. It’s as if a large softbox was positioned nearby to provide elegant portrait lighting. Photo by Kevin Jairaj.

The best system if working at midday is to work in shade exclusively. Try to find locations where the background has sunlight on dark foliage and where the difference between the background exposure and the subject exposure is not too great—no more than 2.5 stops.

It is often impossible to avoid photographing out in the open sunlight on wedding days. In this case, the best strategy is to use the sun as a backlight and bias the exposure toward the shadow side(s) of the subject(s). This is where it’s advisable to bring along an assistant who can flash a reflector into the shadow side of your couple to fill in the effects of the backlighting. A reflector is most effective when held below waist height and angled to bounce the overhead backlight back up onto the subject. Moving the reflector around and up and down will give you an idea of how much light it can reflect and where to position it. In bright situations, use a white reflector, so as not to overpower the natural light. In very soft light, use a gold or silver reflector for increased efficiency.

It is important to check the background while composing a portrait in direct sunlight. Since there is considerably more light than in a portrait made in the shade, the tendency is to use an average shutter speed like 1/250 second with a smaller than-usual aperture like f/11. Small apertures will sharpen the background and distract from your subject. Preview the depth of field to analyze the background. Use a faster shutter speed and wider lens aperture to minimize background effects in these situations. The faster shutter speeds may also make it impossible to use flash, so have reflectors at the ready.

Low-Angle Sunlight. If the sun is low in the sky, you can use cross lighting to get good modeling on your subject. To do this, simply turn your subject into the light so as not to create deep shadows along laugh lines and in eye sockets. (Note: If photographing a group, be sure to position your subjects so that one person’s head doesn’t block the light from striking the face of the person next to him or her.

In this scenario, there must be adequate fill-in from the shadow side of the camera to ensure that the shadows don’t go dead. This is often done using a flash set to about a stop less than the daylight exposure. Of course, a reflector can also be employed (and carefully placed) to bounce the direct sunlight back into the shadow side of the face. Again, it’s always best to use an assistant in this situation.

After Sunset. As many of the great photographs in this book illustrate, the best time of day for making great pictures is just after the sun has set. At this time, the sky becomes a huge softbox and the effect of the lighting on your subjects is soft and even, with no harsh shadows.

There are, however, two problems with working with this great light. First, it’s dim. You will need to use medium to fast ISOs combined with slow shutter speeds. In these situations, selecting an image-stabilization lens will expand your options by allowing you to handhold at extremely slow shutter speeds like 1/4 or 1/8 second.

The second problem in working with this light is that twilight does not produce catchlights, the white specular highlights in the eyes of the subjects that make them sparkle with life. For this reason, most photographers augment the twilight with flash, either barebulb or softbox-mounted. The flash can be up to two stops less in intensity than the skylight and still produce good eye fill-in and bright catchlights.

Controlling the Background. For a portrait made in the shade, the best type of background is monochromatic. If the background is all the same color the subjects will stand out from it. Problems arise when there are patches of sunlight in the background. To minimize these, you can shoot at a wide lens aperture and use the shallow depth of field to blur out the background. When working outdoors, some photographers also control the background by placing more space between it and the subject, throwing the background further out of focus.

Another way to minimize a distracting background is in postproduction retouching and printing. By burning-in or diffusing the background, you can make it darker, softer, or otherwise less noticeable. This technique is really simple in Photoshop, since it’s fairly easy to select the subjects, invert the selection so that the background is selected, and perform all sorts of manipulations on it. You can also add a vignette of any color to visually subdue the background.

On outdoor shoots in particular, one thing you must especially watch out for is subject separation from the background. A dark-haired subject against a dark-green forest background will not separate, creating a tonal merger. Adding a back-side or edge reflector to kick some light onto the hair would be a logical solution to such a problem.

Cool Skin Tones. If your subject is standing in a grove of trees surrounded by foliage, there is a good chance green (or cyan from the open sky) will be reflected onto their skin. This can be hard to detect, since your eyes will adjust to the off-color rendering. of the skin tones. The best strategy is to check the coloration in the shadow areas of the face. If the color of the light is neutral, you will see gray in the shadows; if not, you will see either green or cyan.

Before digital capture, if you had to correct this coloration, you would use a color-compensating filter over the lens. By selecting a complementary color filter, you could neutralize the color balance of the light. With digital, you only need to perform a custom white balance or use one of the camera’s preset white-balance settings, like “open shade.” Those who use the ExpoDisc also swear by its accuracy in these kinds of situations.

There are times, of course, when you want the light on the skin to be warm, not just color-corrected. To do this, you can use a gold-foil reflector to bounce warm light onto the subject. The reflector does not change the color of the foliage or background, just the skin tones.

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Types of Jewish Weddings

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Today's post, which provides an overview of the types of Jewish weddings, comes from the book Photographing Jewish Weddings by Stan Turkel. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Jewish weddings are rich with traditions, rituals, and religious requirements. Much is dependent on the families’ affiliation (bride and groom), as well as the community and rabbi(s) officiating the wedding.

Jewish weddings can be classified as either Orthodox or non-Orthodox. This distinction is very well defined, as there are many rituals and customs that only appear in the Orthodox wedding. As you will discover in the following sections on Reform, Conservative, and Othodox Judaism, there has been a blending of some of the traditions and customs, creating even newer classifications, such as the Modern Orthodox and Conservadox weddings.

All Jewish weddings have several common features, which most of us are familiar with as a result of everyday media. The chuppah (the canopy the couple stands under during the ceremony, usually made of four poles with fabric covering the top only), ketubah (marriage contract), and badeken (veiling of the bride) are all common elements in Jewish weddings. The most recognized feature is the breaking of the glass after the wedding ceremony and the shouting of mazel tov and l’chaim (to life).

There are many traditions that are common among each group, each with a unique twist. Look at the two images of the couples in the chairs during the dancing (below). Can you tell which one is Orthodox and which is Conservative?

As you can see, one of the most visible distinctions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox weddings is the separation of the men and women during the wedding. This includes the ceremony seating, the dinner seating and, of course, the dancing.

As a photographer venturing out to photograph Jewish weddings, it is critical to know what will be happening next and what is expected of you with respect to the images to be captured. This reminds me of a photographer who ended up photographing an entire evening prayer service the men were holding prior to the actual wedding ceremony. Not a single photograph had any significance, and the images were actually intrusive.

THE THREE MAJOR DENOMINATIONS
Judaism in the United States has three major denominations:

Reform Judaism. This movement started in Germany in the nineteenth century as a reaction to traditional Judaism, and it is based on a more liberal and personal interpretation of the Torah. For example, it is not mandatory for men to wear a head covering while in the temple during services. Many Reform rabbis are willing to perform weddings of mixed faith and allow weddings to take place throughout the entire year, which is not the case with the other denominations.

Reform weddings have the key elements of a Jewish wedding—the ketubah (contract), chuppah (canopy), badeken (veiling), and the breaking of the glass at the end of the ceremony. All of these traditions are easy to identify and take place in quick succession, even together in some cases. Most of the wedding couples of the Reform movement are comfortable with seeing each other prior to the wedding service itself. For the photographer, this is more manageable in terms of photographing the wedding couple and families.

With regard to special traditions or customs, there is very little in addition to the already mentioned key elements as compared to weddings of all faiths. During the dancing, there may be a hora (circle dance) in which the bride and groom are lifted in chairs and danced around.

Conservative (Masorti) Judaism. This sect of Judaism also originated in Germany but became formalized in the United States as an alternative to the liberal Reform movement through following more of the traditional practices of the Orthodox Jewish sector. A major difference between Orthodox and Conservative practices is the involvement of women in religious activities, which is encouraged within the Conservative synagogues.

Many of the traditional prayers and practices are adopted from the Orthodox movement to the Conservative sector, but with the addition of women. For example, women are allowed to read from the Torah in a Conservative synagogue, but not in an Orthodox synagogue.

Again, the key elements are found—the ketubah, badeken, chuppah, and the breaking of the glass. In addition, you are likely to find other components such as the aufruf (couple being called to the Torah a week before the wedding for a blessing before the congregation). This, of course, is not part of the actual wedding, nor are you permitted to photograph it.

Notice that the bride is signing the ketubah with the groom. This is not done in an Orthodox wedding.

There is a trend among Conservative families to follow some of the more Orthodox customs, such as the tish (men coming together at a table to witness the groom committing to the terms of the marriage contact). These Conservadox families align themselves with Conservative Judaism but follow many of the Orthodox customs. It is still common practice for the groom and bride to see each other prior to the ceremony for photographs, which is rarely the case at an Orthodox wedding.

Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Jews see themselves as followers of original Jewish law rather than belonging to a particular movement. Within Orthodox Judaism, there are communities that follow specific practices and customs. The most common distinctions areModern Orthodox Jews, Hasidic (pious) Jews, and Ultra Orthodox Jews. The major difference is how these communities interact with the overall community in general.

For example, Modern Orthodox Jews follow the same religious laws as all Orthodox Jews but dress in modern clothing and take on jobs within the general public. From their outward appearance, the only sign of their religious beliefs may be a kippa (head covering for men) or the modest style of dress worn by Orthodox women.

On the other hand, the black fur-trimmed hats and long black coats worn by Hasidic Jews is a sure sign of their affiliation. By the way, all of this black clothing makes it challenging for the photographer to get photographs with good detail and contrast.

German tradition of covering the couple in a tallit (prayer shawl) during the ceremony.

What is apparent in all Orthodox gatherings is the separation of men and women for the most part. You will find separate seating in all areas, even during the sit-down meal. More modern Orthodox communities allow mixed seating at the meal but maintain separate dancing, with women on one side of a divider and men on the other side.

The Orthodox wedding has many customs and rituals that take place throughout the day. Many of these are influenced by ethnic and cultural backgrounds that have carried over through the years from their previous origins.

Jewish communities also have cultural distinctions, which have created different customs and traditions within each denomination. These are: Ashkenazi (42 percent of the Jewish population), Sephardic (37 percent), and Mizrahi (16 percent). These ethnic divisions are mostly based on geographic areas where Jewish communities flourished over the centuries, which influenced their daily routines, such as language, dress, crafts, and foods.

Ashkenazi Jews are descendents from Eastern and Central Europe, and many of their customs are derived from the area. Yiddish, a popular language from this region, is a combination of several languages that is still very much in use among many Hasidic Jews. Much of the Jewish population in the United States (5 million) is of Ashkenazi descent, which is mostly due to the immigration following World War I and II. Sephardic Jews generally originated from Spain and Portugal between 1492 and 1497, before they were deported. Many of these Jews ended up in the Middle East, and today the term “Sephardic Jew” applies to most Jews of Arab and Persian background. Ladino is a language that was carried over from the Spanish/Portuguese influence, just as Yiddish was derived from the European languages.

Mizrahi Jews descend from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, including many of the Arab countries. For the most part, they all follow Sephardic traditions.

As one can see, not all Jewish weddings will be the same, nor will they have the same customs and traditions, even though they do follow the same Jewish laws.

In general terms, Reform weddings have the most relaxed observances of Jewish law, while still following many customs and traditions, and Ultra Orthodox ceremonies have the strictest observance of Jewish law. This is important for the photographer to keep in mind as timetables, schedules, and practices are very much dependent upon how observant the family is. For example, Orthodox couples will fast on the day of the wedding, not drinking or eating the entire day until after they have been married. Knowing this beforehand, a photographer can be considerate of the couple’s fast and take this into account when interacting with the couple throughout the course of the day.

As you venture out in your role as a wedding photographer, offering your services to the Jewish communities you wish to serve, keep in mind that there are many different degrees of Judaism in both religious and cultural aspects. The greater your understanding of these differences, the easier it will be for you to present your services in a meaningful, respectful, and successful manner.

Sephardic bride after the chuppah. The ribbon tied around her hand was part of the henna ritual.

A good example of this is that when meeting with an Orthodox family, it is customary for a man not to shake hands with any woman out of respect to her gender. Knowing this beforehand gives a male photographer credibility as someone who has an understanding and respect for Jewish Orthodox customs and practices.

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Five Great Tips for Photographing Weddings

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Today's post, which provides a sampling of five artistic/technical tips for getting the best-possible shots on the wedding day, comes from the book 100 Techniques for Professional Wedding Photographers by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Recognize What's Special

Greg Gibson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist turned wedding photographer says, “All weddings are alike on some level—there’s a couple in love, they’re going to have this big party, there’s the anticipation, the preparation, the ceremony, the party. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day. The challenge is to find the nuances in each event.” Every wedding offers new experiences and new challenges, and this is what Gibson says keeps him fresh through fifty weddings per year. “It’s fun. When I go to a wedding, people are always glad to see me, I’m welcomed in. When I was a journalist, that wasn’t always the case; Monica [Lewinsky] wasn’t happy to see me when I showed up at the Mayflower Hotel.” This allows him to remain unobtrusive and not impose on moments that should remain natural and genuine, a primary means of preserving a wedding’s uniqueness.

There is no shot-list entry for this image by Joe Buissink, who shoots most of his weddings on film. Joe is a keen observer and knows a great shot in the making when he sees one.

Perhaps because of its romantic nature, photographers who are also born romantics often find it easier to capture the special relationship shared by each couple. As photographer Michael Schuhmann says, “I love to photograph people who are in love and are comfortable expressing it—if they are so in love that they can’t contain it, then it’s real.” Being a romantic is not completely necessar y, of course—after all, weddings are celebrations, which means they are also about having fun. The wedding photographer gets to be part of this joy.

The uniqueness of the event will also reveal itself more fully when the day is viewed as a story. By linking the spontaneous events of the day, sensitive portrayals that highlight the emotions elicited, you can build a visual narrative that sets each wedding apart from all others. This what the modern bride wants to see in her wedding coverage.

Shoot Peak Action

Sports photographers learn to react to an event by anticipating where and when the exposure must be made. A pole-vaulter, for example, is ascending at one moment and falling the next—and right in between there is an instant of peak action that the photographer strives to isolate. Even with high burst rates, however, it is not a question of blanketing a scene with high-speed exposures; it is knowing when to press the shutter release. With a good sense of timing and solid observation skills, you will drastically increase your chances for successful exposures in wedding situations. By being prepared for each event, being ever alert, and refining your reaction time you can also improve your odds.

No one has better reactions and storytelling skills than a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist. Here, Greg Gibson captured the full gamut of emotion as these two connected.

Be Prepared. Being prepared to capture each moment starts with doing your homework. The more you know about the scheduled events and their order, the better you can prepare to cover those events as effectively as possible. Discussing the wedding plans with the other vendors involved (the wedding planner, DJ, caterer, officiant, etc.) and visiting each venue is an excellent way to prepare. What you learn is critical to developing your game plan; it will allow you to choreograph your movements so that you are in the optimum position for each phase of the wedding day. The confidence that this kind of preparation provides is also immeasurable.

Observe and React Quickly. Within this framework of “planned” events, however, you should always be watching and monitoring each moment as it unfolds around you—and this usually means watching more than one event at a time. Keep your camera constantly at the ready. You may want to leave it in one of the AE modes so there are no exposure adjustments to be made. Simply raise the camera, compose, and shoot.

With quiet observation, many wonderful moments can be captured. Being able to do this effectively is a function of completely trusting yourself to translate input into instant reaction. Master wedding photojournalist Joe Buissink says, “Trust your intuition. Do not think. Just react or it will be too late.”

Clean Your Image Sensor

The image sensor in a digital camera must be kept clean in order to perform to its optimum level—otherwise, spots may appear on your images. Canon digital cameras have a built-in sensor-cleaning mode. This lifts the camera’s reflex mirror so that light air from an air syringe can be used to gently remove any foreign matter. Turning the camera off resets the mirror. The newest DSLRs feature a sonic vibration sensor-cleaning mode that is fully automatic and does not involve you having to touch the sensor all. (Note: The image sensor is an extremely delicate device. Do not use compressed air cans to clean it; these have airborne propellants that can coat the sensor in a fine mist, worsening the situation.)

Select the Optimal Color Space

Many DSLRs allow you to shoot in the Adobe RGB 1998 or sRGB color space. There is considerable confusion over which is the “right” choice. Adobe RGB 1998 is a wider gamut color space than sRGB, so many photographers reason that this is the best option. Professional digital-imaging labs, however, use sRGB for their digital printers. Therefore, photographers working in Adobe 1998 RGB may be somewhat disheartened when their files are reconfigured and output in the narrower sRGB color space. As a result, many photographers use the Adobe 1998 RGB color space right up to the point that files are sent to a printer or out to the lab for printing.

Is there ever a need for other color spaces? Yes. It depends on your particular workflow. For example, all the images you see in this book have been converted from their native sRGB or Adobe 1998 RGB color space to the CMYK color space for photomechanical printing. As a general preference, I prefer images from photographers be in the Adobe 1998 RGB color space, as they seem to convert more naturally to CMYK.

In Adobe Camera Raw and other RAW-file processing software there exists another color space, which has become quite popular, called ProPhoto RGB. It is a “sticky” color space, meaning that it adds color data to the file. The added data cannot be seen on monitors currently sold, but what can be seen is the increased resolution and size of the image file. A typical RAW file made with a Nikon D200, which uses a 10.2MP sensor, produces a file in the neighborhood of 22 or 23MB. A good size file, to be sure—but when ProPhoto RGB is used to process the image in the RAW file processor, the file opens at 72MB, a very healthy increase in file size and potential resolution. Many photographers who shoot RAW, and also make large prints, process the images in this color space to take advantage of the added color data and larger file sizes.

Speeding Up Your Group Portraits

The best man and ushers can usually be persuaded to help organize large group photos. Be sure to have everyone make it sound like fun—it should be. One solution is to make your formal groups at the church door as the couple and bridal party emerge. Everyone in the wedding party is present and the parents are nearby. If you don’t have a lot of time to make these groups, this is a great way to get them all at once—in under five minutes.

This is the “bouquet of flowers” treatment for groups. Shooting from directly above to capitalize on the symmetry of the composition, Dan Doke created a beautiful portrait of the bride and her maids. Using an 85mm lens, the perspective is good and normal. With a wide-angle lens, faces this close to the frame edges would have been distorted.

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Designing Wedding Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Today's post, which offers some insights into designing effective group portraits, comes from the book Master Posing Guide for Wedding Photographers by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

There are a number of ways to look at designing groups. The first is a technical aspect. Design your group so that those posed in the back are as close as possible to those in the front. This ensures that your plane of focus will cover the front row as well as the back row. Ensuring such an arrangement is a good habit to get into if you want your groups to be sharply focused.

The second consideration in designing groups is aesthetic. You are building a design when creating a group portrait. Norman Phillips likens group design to a florist arranging flowers. He says, “Sometimes we might want a tight bouquet of faces. Other times we might want to arrange our subjects so that the group looks interesting apart from the dynamics of the people in the group.” In other words, sometimes the design itself can be what’s important.

This is a carefully designed and expertly executed group photo by Kevin Jairaj. You have three subgroups set inside three arches. Each group is carefully arranged to create a V shape. The strength of the group arises from its asymmetrical nature (three, three, and two). Notice that the bride is the only one in a formal pose. She has good posture, with her weight on the back foot and standing erect. This contrasts with the tilted poses of the bridesmaids.

A third consideration is proximity. How close do you want the members of the group to be? Phillips relates proximity to warmth and distance to elegance. If you open the group up, you have a lot more freedom to introduce flowing lines and shapes within the composition. On the other hand, a tightly arranged group where members are touching implies warmth and closeness.

Composition Basics Still Apply
When working with groups, the rules of composition (like the rule of thirds) remain the same, but several key members of the group become the primary area of interest. In a wedding group, the bride and groom are usually the main centers of interest and, as such, should occupy a prime location.

Creating Lines and Shapes
Implied and inferred lines and shapes are created by the placement of faces within the frame. These become all the more important in group portraits, as they are the primary tool used to produce pleasing patterns within the composition and guide the eye through the picture.

This means that no two heads should ever be on the same level when next to each other, or directly on top of each other. Not only should heads be on different levels, but the subjects should be as well. In a group of five people, you can have all five on a different level—for example: one seated, one standing to the left or right, one seated on the arm of a chair, one kneeling on the other side of a chair, one kneeling down in front with their weight on their calves. Always think in terms of multiple levels. This makes any group portrait more pleasing.

The bigger the group, the more you must depend on your basic elements of group portrait design—circles, triangles, inverted triangles, diagonals, and diamond shapes. You must also really work to highlight and accentuate lines, real and implied, throughout the group. If you lined people up in a row, you would have a very uninteresting “team photo,” a concept that is the antithesis of fine group portraiture.

Notice the different head heights in this group portrait. They’re like musical notes on a score. The photographer, Marcus Bell, arranged the group into five neatly organized subgroups to give the overall gathering some dynamics. It is very effective and an attractive means of photographing a big group, like the bridal party.

The best way to previsualize this effect is to form subgroups as you start grouping people. For example, how about three bridesmaids here (perhaps forming an inverted triangle), three sisters over on the right side (perhaps forming a flowing diagonal line), a brother, a sister and their two kids (perhaps in a diamond shape with the littlest one standing between her mom and dad). Then combine the subsets, linking the line of an arm with the line of a dress. Leave a little space between these subgroups so that the design shapes you’ve formed don’t become too compressed. Let the subgroups flow from one to the next and then analyze the group as a whole to see what you’ve created.

Dissect this attractive pyramid-shaped group by South African photographer Brett Florens and you will see three straight lines and three groups of three, using the center-most standing girl in two groups. Good groups are nothing more than a careful arrangement of subgroups linking shapes and lines.

Remember that arms and hands help complete the composition by creating motion and dynamic lines that can and should lead up into the subjects’ faces. Hands and arms can “finish” lines started by the basic shape of the group.

Just because you might form a triangle or a diamond shape with one subset in a group does not mean that one of the people in that group cannot be used as an integral part of another group. You might find, for example, that the person in the middle of a group of seven unites two diamond shapes. In a portrait like this, each subset could be turned slightly toward the center to unify the composition or turned away from the center to give a bookend effect.

This wonderful portrait is not only a good group portrait, but a storytelling image as well. The bridesmaids, intent and confident they can fix the flowergirls’ hair, are hard at work, while the younger girls look at one another incredulously. Notice, too, the interplay of cohesive lines within the composition, which keep your eye within the circle of girls and tie the individuals together in an integrated composition. Photograph by Kevin Jairaj.

Be aware of intersecting lines that flow through the design. Diagonal lines are by far the most compelling visual line and can be used repeatedly without fear of overuse. The curving diagonal is even more pleasing and can be mixed with sharper diagonals within the composition.

Also, keep an eye on equalizing subject proximity—don’t have two heads close together and two far apart. There should be equal distance between each of the heads. If you have a situation where one person is seated, one standing, and a third seated on the arm of the chair (placing the two seated heads in close proximity), back up and make the portrait a full-length. This minimizes the effect of the standing subject’s head being far from the others.

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Tips for Selling

noreply@blogger.com (Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Today's post, which offers some insights into creating an effective sales experience, comes from the book Master's Guide to Wedding Photography by Marcus Bell. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

The mere thought of selling is enough to strike fear into the hearts of many photographers, but the process need not be negative or complicated if it is approached with the right attitude.

Providing top-notch service and stunning images will make clients comfortable with their investment.

Provide Honest, Professional Advice
I am not a fan of the hard sell, an approach that has given more than a few photographers a bad reputation among consumers. The right approach to selling your photography is to be honest, open, and provide professional advice. Your client has come to you for a product, and they need you to advise them on the best way to get it. You will be surprised how receptive they will be to your ideas if you have established a solid relationship and excellent rapport. If the client does not trust you completely, your advice will lack believability and they will not act on your suggestions. Provide advice on what you would love, what you would purchase for your own collection, or what you would hang in your house. Explain that this is what you personally believe. Your clients will pick up on the honesty of your recommendation. Remember that they have come to you as an expert in your field, and they want your professional opinion.

Make sure your studio is always spotless and comfortable, yet warm and inviting.

Sell Your Work as Art
If you approach your work from an artistic standpoint, you are truly producing fine art—and that’s how you should sell your work to your clients. Build in them an appreciation for the skill, emotion, and years of training and practice that have gone into producing their images. Use artistic terminology when speaking about your work and show them your range of artistic products. Defining and presenting your photography as art will add value to your product.

Use artistic terms when speaking about your work to increase its perceived value.

Showing Clients the Value of Photography
When a client is hesitant to book, money is not always the issue, it also has a lot to do with the experience, the service, and the product—in this order of priority. In many cases, your clients will not have had much previous experience with professional photographers. It should, therefore, be part of your service to educate them about the art that you produce, your prices, your product range, and the value they will receive for their money.

Offer Prepurchase Options
It will work to your advantage to offer clients the opportunity to prepurchase some of your products. You know that the album you are going to produce for them will be a classic work of art and that they will want every image you created to appear inside it. So, offer them the opportunity to purchase framed prints, art books, and other products prior to the wedding for a special price. This will ensure that they have budgeted for the products they will eventually desire. This is the only time we reduce our prices, and it is only to educate our clients. This lets them know that the album can be as large as they like, and it’s possible to package a larger album prior to the wedding. When you are showing clients your additional products, be sure to make a note of what you have shown them so that you can introduce new products next time and avoid repeating the process.

Pricing
Pricing products is one of the toughest decisions for a professional photographer to make. It sometimes requires you to step outside your comfort zone to truly appreciate all that goes into your work. Time and time again, I have had to search deep inside and remind myself of everything I have achieved, the years I have spent becoming the photographer and businessman I am, and believing that this was not a fluke. Success may come to those who have not earned it, but they rarely keep it. Only those who have earned their position retain success in the long run. You need to believe in your own talents, abilities, and possibilities. Be your own best friend in this regard. If you believe your photography is worth X amount of dollars, you could actually double it; generally photographers undervalue themselves. With photography, you can achieve any price for your product—prints in galleries, for instance, can be purchased for anywhere from $50 to well over $100,000. Never forget that you are not pricing for a piece of paper with an image on it. You’re pricing for all the things it took to get that image on the paper—years of training and practice; overhead to run your business, pay staff, and advertise your studio; camera, lighting, and computer equipment; and much more.

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Window Light

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:16:00 +0000

Today's post comes from the book Master Lighting Guide for Wedding Photographers by Bill Hurter. It is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

Advantages.

One of the most flattering types of lighting you can use is window lighting. It is a soft light, minimizing facial imperfections, but also highly directional, yielding good roundness and modeling in portraits.Window light is usually a fairly bright light and it is infinitely variable, changing almost by the minute. This allows for a great variety of moods in a single shooting session.

Challenges.

Window lighting also has several drawbacks, though. Since daylight falls off rapidly once it enters a window, it is much weaker several feet from the window than it is close to the window. Therefore, great care must be taken in determining exposure—particularly with groups of three or four people. Another problem arises from shooting in buildings not designed for photography; you will sometimes encounter distracting back-grounds and uncomfortably close shooting distances.

Direction and Time of Day.

The best quality of window light is found at midmorning or mid-afternoon. Direct sunlight is difficult to work with because of its intensity and because it often creates shadows of the individual windowpanes on the subject. It is often said that north light is the best for window-lit portraits, but this is not necessarily true. Good quality light can be had from a window facing any direction, provided the light is soft.

Subject Placement.

One of the most difficult aspects of shooting window-light portraits is positioning your subjects so that there is good facial modeling. If the subjects are placed parallel to the window, you will get a form of split lighting that can be harsh and may not be right for certain faces. It is best to position your subjects away from the window slightly so that they can look back toward it. In this position, the lighting will highlight more areas of the faces. The closer to the window your subjects are, the harsher the lighting will be. The light becomes more diffused the farther you move from the window, as the light mixes with other reflected light in the room. Usually, it is best to position the subjects about three to five feet from a large window. This not only gives better lighting, but also gives you a little room to produce a flattering pose and pleasing composition.

Jeff and Julia Woods positioned their bride far enough from a large window to create a full-length portrait. The farther you move your subject from the window, the more light falls off and the more contrast there is. Here, the lighting was still soft and forgiving enough to require no fill.

Window light can fall off rapidly in intensity. One way to correct for this is to group the faces closely so that there is little difference in exposure between the face closest to the window and the one farthest away. Within moderate limits, one can correct for such falloff with minor dodging and burning-in in Photoshop

*Excerpted from the book "Master Lighting Guide for Wedding Photographers" by Bill Hurter

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Photographing the Bride's Attire

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Today's post comes from the book 100 Techniques for Professional Wedding Photographers by Bill Hurter. This book is available from Amazon.com and other fine retailers.

The Wedding Dress.

In most cases, the bride will spend more money on her wedding dress and more time on her appearance than for any other occasion in her entire life. The photographs you make will be a permanent record of how beautiful she looked on her wedding day. Formal wedding dresses often include flowing trains. It is important to get several full-length portraits of the full train, draped out in front in a circular fashion or flowing behind. Include all of the train, as these may be the only photographs of her full wedding gown. If making a formal group portrait, this might also be an appropriate time to reveal the full train pulled to the front. To make the train look natural, pick it up and let it gently fall to the ground. Do not ignore the back of the dress. Designers often incorporate as much style and elegance into the back of the dress as the front. Be sure to capture nice images of the bridesmaids’ gowns as well.

To show off the full dress and train, the photographer might pose a bride on a window sill so that the full line of the dresscan be appreciated.

The Bouquet.
Make sure a large bouquet does not overpower your composition, particularly in your formal portrait of the bride. The bride should look comfortable holding the bouquet, and it should be an important and colorful element in the composition. For best effect, the bride should hold the bouquet in front of her with her hands behind it. It should be held high enough to put a slight bend in her elbows, keeping her arms slightly separated from her body.

This is both a formal portrait of the bride and groom and a beautiful rendering of the bouquet. The couple’s shapes form a perfect triangle, which yields a very pleasing composition.

The Veil.

Make sure to get some close-ups of the bride through her veil. It acts like a diffuser and produces romantic, beautiful results. For this shot, the lighting should be from the side rather than head-on to avoid shadows on the bride’s face caused by the patterned mesh. Many photographers use the veil as a compositional element in their portraits. To do this, lightly stretch the veil so that the corners slant down toward the lower corners of the portrait, forming a loose triangle that leads the viewer’s eyes up to the bride’s eyes.

*Excerpted from the book "100 Techniques for Professional Wedding Photographers" by Bill Hurter.

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The Money Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Adam) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Today's post comes from the book Step-by-Step Wedding Photography by Damon Tucci. It is available from Amazon.com and other retailers.

Between the ceremony and reception, you’ll have some time to work with the bride and groom alone. We call these the “money shots,” because these are the portraits that brides and grooms will invariably fall in love with and purchase. This is your opportunity to create images that will remind them why they hired you. In most cases, you’ll only have about thirty minutes for this session, so work fast.

At the Church
We typically start with a couple of shots at the ceremony venue—perhaps on the altar, if we’re at a church. We do these quickly at the end of the wedding-party and family shots, because our thirty minutes of post-ceremony shooting time at the venue has usually expired at this point.

Going Off Site
Once we have left the ceremony area and gotten rid of everyone else (including all those "helpers” like Aunt Edna) we can slow down and breathe—though we still only have thirty minutes, so there’s no time to get too relaxed. If you must travel from the ceremony to the reception site, be mindful to negotiate extra time in the planning process to allow for this. Generally we do not venture too far from the wedding and/or reception site. Instead, we make
the most out of our environment.

When we leave the ceremony site, we look for little kissy moments and record the bride and groom walking from behind. We work around the lighting and do a few closer portraits. We encourage closeness with our posing. We may also do additional bridal portraits, since we do not have the restraints we did before the wedding, such as worries about people seeing the bride before the ceremony and/or marring the dress. This does not mean we will trash the dress, but brides are much less concerned about it at this time. This allows us to try more poses and be more adventurous with our shooting.

Finding Backgrounds
When creating these photographs, take advantage of everything in the surrounding environment. Do not slip into the tunnel vision some photographers develop when they put the camera up to their eye. Train your peripheral vision and know what is going on around you at all times. You must really immerse yourself to come up with the goods consistently (and by “the goods,” I mean better-than-average photographs). In the competitive market of wedding photography, this what you must produce to survive.

During this session, we employ simple but classic techniques. We also love to juxtapose things in unexpected ways, like picturing the bride next to a downtown mural or Harley-Davidson sign. The only rules you have to follow are making images that your clients will love. We try to incorporate fashion and photojournalism, consistently looking for moments that happen naturally. However, we are not afraid to set up a great shot. To keep things moving quickly, we usually work with one camera, a tripod if the light is low, three lenses (a 24-70mm f/2.8, a 16mm fisheye, and an 80-200mm f/2.8), and a reflector.

Excerpted from the book "Step-by-Step Wedding Photography" by Damon Tucci

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noreply@blogger.com (Adam Richards/Craig Alesse) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:53:00 +0000