The Best of Wedding Photography.pdf - Free

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cess requires calm nerves and the ability to perform at the highest levels under stress. This pressure is why many gifted photographers do not pursue wedding photography as their main occupation. A Sense of Style. Many wedding photographers religiously scour the bridal magazines, studying the various examples of editorial and advertising photography. Editorial style has become a huge influence on wedding photography, perhaps the single biggest influence at this writing. These magazines are what prospective brides look at and tend to want in their own images. Skilled Observation. The truly gifted wedding photographer is a great observer. He or she sees and captures the fleeting moments that often go unrecorded. The professional knows that the wedding day is overflowing with these special moments and that memorializing them is the essence of great wedding photography. The Ability to Idealize. One trait that separates the competent photographer from the great one is the ability to idealize. The exceptional photographer produces images in which the people look great. The photographer must be skilled at hiding pounds and recognizing a person’s “best side.” This recognition must be instantaneous and the photographer must have the skills to make any needed adjustments in the pictures. Through careful choice of camera angles, poses and lighting, many of these “imperfections” can be made unnoticeable. It is especially important that the bride be made to look as beautiful as possible. Most women spend more time and money on their appearance for their wedding day than for any other day in their lives. The photographs should chronicle just how beautiful the bride really looked. The truly talented wedding photographer will also idealize the events of the day, looking for opportunities to in- FACING PAGE—Brides demand nothing less than perfection and photographers with multiple skill sets are winning out. Here photographer Ray Prevost has created a flawless bridal formal portrait with expert hair and makeup, perfect posing, and a timeless expression. This image could easily be on the cover of a bridal magazine. Believe it or not, Ray made this photo by available light on location. If you look closely, you can see his murky silhouette in the bride’s eyes—what he calls a Hitchcockian presence in his images. ABOVE—David Williams maintains that good wedding photography isn’t complicated, it’s about expression, interaction, and life. Here, David combines an unusually posed portrait with an oversized Bulgari watch storefront display, which at first seems to be visually overwhelming. The juxtaposition of such dissimilar elements has a startling effect, yet seems somehow appropriate. THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER’S MINDSET 17
Joe Buissink has been known to work in a Zen-like state of concentration for hours at a time when photographing a wedding. This state of focus gives him potent powers of observation. He will observe nuances such as design elements and how background elements might mirror the texture of the bride’s skin in skimming late afternoon light. fuse emotion and love into the wedding pictures. In short, wedding photographers need to be magicians. GREATNESS In preparing the text for this book, I searched for the right words to define what makes “great” wedding photography and, consequently, “great” wedding photographers. Consistency is surely one ingredient of greatness. Those photographers who produce splendid albums each time out are well on their way to greatness. Great wedding photographers also seem to have top-notch people skills. Through my association with WPPI and Rangefinder magazine, I talk to hundreds of wedding photographers each year. A common thread among the really good ones is affability and likability. They are fully at ease with other people and more than that, they have a sense of personal confidence that inspires trust. Seeing. David Anthony Williams, an inspired Australian wedding and portrait photographer, believes that 18 THE BEST OF WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY the key ingredient to great wedding photos is something he once read that was attributed to the great Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt: “Good photography is not about zone printing or any other Ansel-Adams nonsense. It’s about seeing. You either see or you don’t see. The rest is academic. Photography is simply a function of noticing things. Nothing more.” Williams adds, “Good wedding photography is not about complicated posing, painted backdrops, sumptuous backgrounds, or five lights used brilliantly. It is about expression, interaction, and life! The rest is important, but secondary.” Immersion. In talking to Williams, and a great many other very successful wedding photographers, what seems to make them good (and an experience they all talk about) is total immersion. They involve themselves in the event and with the people. As Williams says, “I just love it when people think I’m a friend of the couple they just haven’t met yet, who happens to do photography.”
Page 1: WEDDING The Best of PHOTOGRAPHY Amh
Page 4 and 5: INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . .
Page 6 and 7: T his is the third edition of The B
Page 8 and 9: 1. THE EVOLUTION OF WEDDING PHOTOGR
Page 11 and 12: WEDDING PHOTOJOURNALISM: A MODIFIED
Page 13 and 14: things happen spontaneously and use
Page 15: 2. THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER’S MIN
Page 21 and 22: ABOVE—The photographer must be al
Page 23 and 24: LEFT—Greg Gibson has a finely hon
Page 25 and 26: Michael Schuhmann created this wond
Page 27 and 28: The slower the film speed or digita
Page 29 and 30: of four or five areas of the viewfi
Page 31 and 32: 30 THE BEST OF WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY
Page 33 and 34: ity or file size, it does affect le
Page 35 and 36: From outside the reception, Jerry D
Page 37 and 38: flash. Falloff is less than with ot
Page 39 and 40: 4. CAMERA TECHNIQUE Whether you’v
Page 41 and 42: TOP—J.B. Sallee used a 70mm lens
Page 43 and 44: TOP—With a 17mm lens on his D1X,
Page 45 and 46: LEFT—A tricky exposure situation
Page 47 and 48: Since most wedding photographers op
Page 49 and 50: This is a beautiful pose created by
Page 51 and 52: LEFT—Marcus Bell created this han
Page 53 and 54: Tom Muñoz has a great deal of resp
Page 55 and 56: LEFT—There is something special a
Page 57 and 58: form the pattern. They are used to
Page 59 and 60: Marcus Bell is brilliant at posing
Page 61 and 62: On location, sometimes you can find
Page 63: LEFT—The natural lighting pattern
Page 66 and 67:
from the camera lens. It is a drama
Page 68 and 69:
ecommended unless your only concern
Page 70:
Backlighting with direct sunlight c
Page 73 and 74:
TOP—David Worthington created thi
Page 75:
ABOVE—Melanie Nashan captured the
Page 79 and 80:
Metering and Exposure. Here is how
Page 81 and 82:
Al Gordon is a virtuoso of flash fi
Page 83 and 84:
the light, you’ll find that it is
Page 85 and 86:
BUILD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP Alisha an
Page 87:
his best man. Bridesmaids will arri
Page 90 and 91:
As part of the wedding photography,
Page 93 and 94:
LEFT—Working as a pair or trio of
Page 95 and 96:
What couple would not be thrilled w
Page 97 and 98:
LEFT—Joe Photo always makes it a
Page 99 and 100:
10. HELPFUL TIPS The following is a
Page 102 and 103:
THE BOUQUET Make sure a large bouqu
Page 105 and 106:
REMEMBERING NAMES Photographer Fran
Page 107 and 108:
11. PROOFING AND PRINTING T here ar
Page 109 and 110:
ABOVE—Very few truly romantic ima
Page 111 and 112:
Learning to recognize shapes as pag
Page 113 and 114:
Three very simple images and a bold
Page 115 and 116:
album-page layouts in Photoshop. Th
Page 117 and 118:
Dream a Little. With digital, we ha
Page 119 and 120:
David Williams brings sophisticatio
Page 121 and 122:
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS T o illustrate th
Page 123 and 124:
Charles and Jennifer Maring—Charl
Page 125 and 126:
INDEX A Albums, 109-18 design princ
Page 127 and 128:
Also by Bill Hurter . . . OTHER BOO
Page 129:
Joe Buissink Ron Capobianco Anthony
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