OK, one more post from last weekend’s wedding. The bride had seen a photo of a bride and groom walking on railroad tracks, and she wanted to do a similar photo. Of course, what the bride wants, the bride gets. But I really do like the result. It’s not a typical setting, but it’s not way out either. I particularly like the interaction between the bride and groom, and the groom holding her shoes.
So, why did I post two photos? These aren’t necessarily my favorites from the set, but they illustrate the difference in lighting. As with nearly all of the photos, my assistant is holding an off-camera flash to add direction to the light. For whatever reason, it failed to fire for the image on the left, so you can easily see the difference lighting makes. To me, the photo on the left shows railroad tracks with a bride and groom nearly silhouetted. It’s a nice snapshot, but it’s not what I want for my brides. However, there’s no mistaking the subject in the image on the right – it’s the bride and groom. They’re brighter than the background, and the colors are much richer and vibrant. Your eye goes immediatly to the couple, and then takes in the surroundings.
With modern tools, shots like this are so much easier than they were in the “old days.” Digital cameras are great, but the photographer sill has to choose the tools and create the photograph. If you want more information, you can see a recent tutorial I posted about using fill flash outdoors.
