When we were in Edmonton earlier this month, we had the opportunity to photograph a couple that was married recently and didn’t hire a professional for their wedding. As a result, they have lots of wonderful images of their wedding day, but very few of the two of them. Trina, of Creations Photo, found the models for us, which was fantastic – thanks Trina!!
The Bebbinars are more about the business side of what we do – finding out the kind of business you want to have, goal setting, target marketing, and more. But we almost always spend at least a little time making photographs. Generally, we have assignments for our Bebblings to complete, but when we woke that morning to a May snowstorm, our plans for the shoot went out the window. Much like anything can happen on a wedding day, we suddenly had to improvise and work with places and light we hadn’t planned for.
There were three areas we wanted to focus on with the Bebblings: lighting, posing and location. Those are pretty big concepts and we only had two hours to work with our couple. So we broke it down – we took light away from one area, used available light in another, and chose a challenging location that had some logistical issues. Many of our Bebblings were uncomfortable with video light and/or off-camera flash. So the first thing we did was to take light away and use our Lite Panel.
Here you can see Steve holding the Lite Panel for our Bebblings. What you can’t see is that they are all crowded around the couple, making their images. For this image, I stood quite far away and exposed in such a way that the Bebblings all but disappeared and all you can see is the Lite Panel on one side of the frame, and the couple in the middle. The Bebblings faded into the darkness of the room. I like the fact that this shows that you can make images and remove distracting elements in your composition and exposure choices.
The next area we worked with was window light. Diffuse light like that created on a snowy day is a simple way to create stunning bridal portraits. It’s the kind of light we should all be able to use with ease and take advantage of when appropriate. And, as Steve was explaining to the group, when the light falls off in the background, and you expose for the skin, the background goes black. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error to get it right, and that’s alright. The point is that you can use soft frontal light to make stunning portraits, and let the background fade to black.
Here they are, giving it a try.
As much as we love the simplicity of soft, frontal light, we find the real challenge is in using backlight well. We challenged the Bebblings to create images where the window was completely blown, but the skin was well exposed, and then to play with the same light source to create different images, in the same location. Here you can see on our of students working on just that.
In this image, we used the window light in a different way. This was a moment of rest for our model, she was simply sitting, waiting for us to set up another scenario. As photographers we must always be aware of these moments as it is sometimes the times in between that make the most compelling images.
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a wedding inspired shoot without a little attention being paid to the shoes:
Again, it’s the in between moments that offer some interesting images. Here our groom is laughing at something his bride said. We simply used the curtains and some of the Bebblings to frame his face.
And then it was off to a stairwell at the end of the hall. Here we found all sorts of ways to use perspective, off camera flash, the Lite Panel and more. But for me, one of my favorite images uses the architecture and light available in the space and having them simply relax into the moment.
Thanks again to our wonderful models – you guys were such a treat to work with and we hope you love the images you are receiving from all the Bebblings!
by Jen
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