Post on 26-Mar-2020
Wedding Photography Analysis – Volume 1 Dawei Ye - December 2013
www.clartephoto.com
- A telephoto lens and wide aperture was selected to blur out the background, which is often messy during the busy getting ready stages of a Wedding day. - I photographed from a higher elevation in order to use the ground behind the Bride as the background blur. This introduces more colourful elements into the background, rather than a plain white wall. - The makeup artist was used as foreground blur on the left to contextualise the photo, and to allow the viewer to see things from the makeup artist’s point of view, engaging the viewer and making them a part of the Wedding day. The makeup artist’s head is perhaps too strongly blurred to a point beyond recognition in this instance.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 400 | 1/250 | Ambient
We start our series with
Simone and Steve’s Wedding at Monstalvat.
A Bride having her makeup applied from the
makeup artist’s vantage point is one of my signature photos. The critical elements for this type of photo are: - good lighting on face
- a high vantage point - a clean but interesting background - a fast telephoto lens It is critical that you do not
take photographs of this nature until after make-up has been completed, as a half made up Bride is an unrealistic portrayal.
- The image was deliberately tilted, and a section of the door frame incorporated on the right hand side, to place the viewer
into a scene as if they had just peeked around a corner and stumbled across this scene. - A telephoto lens and wide aperture was selected to blur out the background and focus attention on the Bride - The photo could have been made stronger by removing the distracting elements in the left and right of the frame, such as the shower device and red flowers (or the latter could have been incorporated into the photograph more prominently, rather than just being a distraction on the edge of the frame)
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 200 | 1/2000 | Ambient
A Bride having her hair
styled, reflected in the mirror is one of my other favourite “getting ready” photos. The critical elements for this type of photo are:
- good lighting on face - as clean an environment as possible - a fast telephoto lens I recommend that you do
not take photographs of this nature until after the hairstyle has been substantially completed, as work in progress hair style is sometimes
unflattering.
- I tilted the photograph to introduce diagonal lines into the image to break up the horizontal and vertical
lines of the book case and books, and to avoid the foreground wall looking like an accidental obstruction.
- I used the wall as a deliberate foreground obstruction to contextualise the photo and put the viewer in a
position as if they were peeking around the wall to see the dress.
Most dress photos are
taken whilst the dress is
hanging on a window sill,
or against curtains. Due
to the newly constructed
nature of the house, this
was not possible, so
instead I placed the dress
against the a bookcase,
which in my mind was an
appropriate option
because of the Bride’s
love for books.
50mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/100 | Ambient
- The primary technical fault with this image is the crop of the Bride’s hand. Additional room should have been allowed on the right hand side of the image. Ultimately, the time sensitive nature of candid photos makes technical perfection difficult, however the issue was exacerbated by the Photographer’s usage of prime lenses. Stepping backwards takes more time than zooming out – time that one often does not have. On the other hand it needs to be noted that whilst Primes may cause suboptimal results compared to Zooms due to the incorrect focal length being used, at the same using Zooms will be suboptimal to Primes when faster apertures are required. You can miss just as many shots by having too slow an aperture, as you can by having the wrong focal length mounted.
This is a candid photo of the
Bride engaging with her
Bridesmaids.
For a candid photograph,
the lighting and background
were both acceptable, and I
positioned myself to take the
photograph from the
Bridesmaid’s vantage point,
reducing myself to her
seated elevation, to again
engage with the subjects
and bring the viewer in as a
participant in the scene.
I tilted the camera to the left
to bring as much of the
Bride into the top 2/3rds of
the frame, without losing the
context of the Bridesmaid
who is blurred in the
foreground.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 200 | 1/125 | Ambient
- The Bride’s head was positioned so that the background window was framing it, to ensure that the dark hair did not blend into the background. - The Bride is deliberately looking upwards in response to the lighting profile and angle at the location. - A case can be argued that the background window is an overexposed distracting element, however my counterargument is that the highlights on the Bride’s face are even brighter. This means that the first thing that a viewer’s eyes go to when seeing this image is the Bride’s face. Which is what we want. Try it – close your eyes and then open them. Your eyes will instantly lock onto the Bride’s face.
This was the most popular
photograph I took on the
day, as rated by my
fellow Photographers.
This location in
Montsalvat is famous
amongst Wedding
Photographers – for
good reason!
The location quality was
absolutely sublime, but
extremely volatile – it
was ready to chew up
and spit out any
Photographers who didn’t
treat the lighting
characteristic with caution
and respect!
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/250 | Ambient
- This image may or may not have been made stronger had the Bride’s left hand been raised to be visible and pushing
against the door as if she was opening it. At the time I chose to ask her to extend her right hand to balance the composition as it is a diagonal line going perpendicular to the door. - The lighting in this situation was quite difficult, caused by the cool shaded sunlight mixing with the warmer brown reflected sunlight bouncing off the wooden door and stone pillars. Extensive recolouring and desaturation was required in post production.
Wedding Photographers
are simple creatures. Give us a spectacular venue and a photogenic Bride and we can create magic.
The difficulty then comes from our battle with the ambient lighting conditions to bring out the best in the Bride and location.
Some photographers choose to use Strobes. Some use reflectors. Some disregard lighting
totally! My approach is to always hunt out the reasonably soft light and let Photoshop do the rest. Easier said than done!
50mm | f/1.2 | ISO 200 | 1/1600 | Ambient
- The unusual settings were due to the frantic nature of this photograph. My camera was still set at ISO 800 which I was using inside the church, when I came outside to quickly photograph the Bride with her father prior to them walking in. Time was so sensitive that I did not think to adjust my ISO downwards and I simply released immediately as I saw the Bride and Father of Bride. - The lighting in this photograph is very good however the composition and background elements could be cleaned up to allow less of the environment to distract from the subjects. - Additional photos of the Bride and Father of Bride gently interacting each other should, and were taken.
A good second
photographer is indispensable for Wedding Photographers, but I am a perfectionist and control freak and insist on running back and forth and taking every
photograph myself. This often will mean hard running on the Wedding day between vantage points and positions!
An example of such a situation is getting the coverage of the Bride and Father of Bride, and then ducking back inside to
engage the Groom and guests inside the venue.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 800 | 1/4000 | Ambient
- I chose to respond to the adverse backlight by deliberately overexposing to bias towards the couple, and then desaturated the image and boosted midtones to reduce the harshness of the blown out backlight. Other photographers choose to use flash to fill in, and to avoid blowing out the background. There is no “correct” approach for these difficult situations. - I chose this photograph so you could see my 2nd photographer on this Wedding - Will Chao of Will Chao Photography. A 2nd photographer should always be photographing from a different angle as seen in this photograph, and using a long lens as Will Chao is doing, to avoid being in the frame of the main photographer’s shot (Will was only in my frame for 5 seconds). Otherwise, a 2nd photographer adds zero value when they are photographing over your shoulder and copying your photos.
35mm | f/2.8 |ISO 800 | 1/500 | Ambient
Montsalvat’s ceremony
location is easily one of the most beautiful venues I’ve photographed at, but also one of the most technically challenging with it’s bright backlit central section and lack
of neutral coloured surfaces to bounce flash off.
Some photographers use
flash to overpower the ambient lighting by filling with direct on or off camera flash.
I do not advise bounce flash in this venue as the brown wooden roof causes mixed lighting against the daylight backlight.
- The lighting in this photograph favours the Groom over the Bride, and I had to compensate by manually raising the exposure on the Bride’s face in post production - Camera tilt was perhaps unneeded in this case, but was done to add additional dynamics into the image - The position of the stone pillar behind the Bride’s pillar was unfortunate but can be cloned out if required with some Photoshop work.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/500 | Ambient
This was a dynamic and
candid photograph of the
Bride and Groom
immediately after the
Ceremony
Natural moments like
these are spontaneous
and are difficult to
execute with technical
precision, but with
experience, Wedding
Photographers set
themselves up as best as
they can to respond to
the events unfolding
around them with speed,
agility and adaptability.
- Lighting is absolutely critical for group photos – I ensure all group photos are taken in perfect,
flattering light. Whether that means ambient or flash is irrelevant, however ambient generally allows
you to be far more mobile, but much less flexible with your environments.
- Straighter alignment of Bridal Bouquets could have been implemented for this image.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/800 | Ambient
What surprises some
photographers is that I photograph all my group photos wide open at f/1.2 in order to maximise background blur and to induce a nice natural vignette into the
image (fast primes generally heavily vignette wide open). Please note I only photograph group photos
at f/1.2 after a lot of practice and with the aid of supplementary techniques such as focal plane alignment and focus stacking (if
required).
- The lighting and background for this photograph were flawless, helped by the deep shadow cast by the main Montsalvat building. - Additional alignment of the Bouquets and the Groom’s feet being slightly closer together would have increased the symmetry of this photo - Manual stretching of the stone feature to straighten the lines in the top left of the image would have improved the symmetry of this photo
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 125 | 1/800 | Ambient
For each “formal” group
photograph, I also take a full body photograph to ensure I capture the details and dresses. I usually do this in portrait orientation for small groups, and landscape
orientation for larger groups, in order to reduce the negative space. I generally take this
photo on a 2nd camera for efficiency reasons (fast switching between dual cameras), and also as a backup to my main camera, as the formal
group photos are some of the most critical!
- Lighting is absolutely critical. Most available light Wedding Photographers prioritise lighting over background.
- After choosing an angle with optimal lighting, I tried to incorporate as much different textures and colours in the
background as I could into the photo. Such an action would be inadvisable when using a slow, wide lens, but the 200mm
f/2L IS obliterates backgrounds and turns anything I throw at it into a creamy mash of colourful texture and shapes.
- For Wedding couples, I only ever take upper body, or full body photos. Any other point of crop (e.g. thighs or shins or
chest is unflattering in my opinion).
200mm | f/2 | ISO 200 | 1/200 | Ambient
I call this my “cookie cutter”
shot, but it is nonetheless
important and a very
classical and conservative
photograph of the couple.
As the concept is extremely
straight forward, the
execution must be
exceptional for the
photograph to shine.
Using a long lens at wide
aperture is a double edged
sword – on one hand any
background can be made
into a beautiful
kaleidoscope of colours. But
on the other hand, too much
blur can cause a photo to
lose context and
environmental information.
- In retrospect, the Bride’s shoes are hidden in the frame and could have been elevated to be more visible. As it is, the position of the Bride and her missing shoes may not be aesthetically pleasing to all viewers. - I like how the veil is blowing in the direction opposite to the direction the Bride and Groom are walking, adding an additional dynamic to the photo. - I quite like the composition of this image and how the many lines and shapes fit together
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/1600 | Ambient
Montsalvat is a heavily
regulated environment,
but it’s understandable
why Photographers get
over excited about it.
Its locations are simply
amazing.
With good lighting, the
ball is entirely in the
Photographer’s domain to
execute.
- The lighting was quite patchy as evidenced by the specular highlights sporadically appearing on the wall, roof and
Groom’s suit. I carefully positioned the couple to ensure their faces were not affected by the sporadic spray of harsh light filtering through the trees. - Less tilt may have assisted the image in this instance. - The shape and lines of the (camera left) right hand side of the house, and the lamp, all serve to balance the exposure. The object in the top right can be considered slightly distracting, or balancing in nature, depending on personal taste.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 400 | 1/1600 | Ambient
Not much else to say
other than I love
Montsalvat!
I often like biasing the
composition towards the
background to allow the
textures and shape of the
background to balance
the composition and the
positioning of the couple.
Many photographers like
to avoid negative space
like this, but my counter
argument is that the
background patterns and
shapes supplement rather
than distract from the
photo.
- This photograph used a relatively affordable crop Tokina 12-24mm f/4 lens on a full frame Canon 5D3 body. I mention this
to encourage you think outside the box and use whatever tools you have at your disposal to get the results. Non EF-S crop lenses can be used on Canon full frame cameras (as a last resort), but the substantial vignetting needs to be cropped out. - Ideally more of the building should be included. The reason for the shortfall is due to a stone staircase blocking the bottom right corner of the building. If you look closely at the bottom right you’ll see where I had to clone out part of the staircase. - Ideally additional perspective correction could be actioned for the right hand side of the image, but will result in loss of the right hand side of the building, or heavy clone work.
20mm | f/9 | ISO 400 | 1/60 | Ambient
Whilst I favour telephoto
lenses, wide angle photos are also important on the Wedding day to capture the environment and context.
Wide angle lenses are wild. They are extremely difficult to tame, and they will chew up beginner photographers if they are not used properly.
There is an adage: “Whatever doesn’t add to an image detracts from it”. Because of the
amount of data captured by Wide Angles, they are extremely unforgiving of peripheral distractions and messy backgrounds.
- The lighting profile is quite harsh and could have been softened by the Photographer shifting further to camera right, to make the lighting more front on. - The background is quite underexposed by necessity to avoid overexposure of the foreground – this results in lost context and environmental aspects - The background pillar nicely balances the couple composition wise.
85mm | f/1.2 | ISO 100 | 1/250 | Ambient
For natural light
photographers like myself, we are at the mercy of the existing lighting conditions. But tools we have at our disposal to aid us in our fight is our mobility, reflectors/scrims and
Photoshop, but sometimes we do have to photograph in adverse lighting conditions.
Some Wedding Photographers favour adding strobe lighting to counteract or supplement limitations in existing light. This comes at the cost of
speed and mobility, but results in far greater environmental and background flexibility.
- This is one of my favourite images from a technical perspective. My 4 “L’s” – lighting, subject, composition and background all come together. - This photograph was taken on an older Canon 5D, which is not as punchy straight out of the camera as my newer 5D3 series cameras. In hindsight, my editing could have added some additional punch to the image. - I used an exceptionally long lens (200mm) to induce the flattering telephoto compression and background blur. I asked the Bride and her friends to turn around to face me, rather than photograph them front on, to utilise the soft light that was coming from the setting sun behind me.
200mm | f/2 | ISO 200 | 1/800 | Ambient
The reception is the time
for the couple and friends
to relax, but also an
excellent opportunity to
take what I call
“facebook shots” – the
types of photos that
people like to put up on
facebook showing
themselves and the
couple.
Whilst posing is less
critical, lighting,
background and
composition is no less
important.
- The key subject in this photograph is candid photograph is a Bridesmaid and her partner in a genuine and warm moment.
This is juxtaposed against another couple in the background also enjoying each other’s company.
- Generally my lens of choice for candids is a 85mm f/1.2L II but in this instance I had a 50mm f/1.2L, which is a faster
focus lens and also is wider therefore shows more of the background for any given framing of the primary subject.
- I like how the blurred lights in the top left balance the frame of the primary subjects, who are biased towards the right of
the frame.
50mm | f/1.2 |ISO 400 | 1/50 | Ambient
Capturing moments is
90% hard work and 10% anticipation. Anticipation is developed through experience but nothing will get you the other 90% other than hard work.
I am constantly alert like a sentry, with my camera being my sidearm. Within a second of
something happening, my camera is at my eye rapidly firing. Like a sentry, I focus on “key targets”, that is, the
Bride & Groom, their family and Bridal party.
- I composed the image with an unusual upward bias to show more of the pattern in the roof, to balance against the couple
as they were giving the speech. - I took many, many photos (over 80) of the Groom giving a speech to ensure I had one that told a great story and had great expressions. - The photograph could potentially be made stronger by reducing the tilt, and include more context, such as photographing from the reverse and getting the crowd in the background
50mm | f/1.2 | ISO 400 | 1/160 | Ambient
I like to avoid what I term
“Mickey Mouse” photos when I photograph speeches. “Mickey Mouse” (from the term “Mickey Mouse degrees”) speech photos are the type where it’s a close up
of the speaker, usually with an unflattering expression, and devoid of any context or environment.
I like to take a Speech photographs that show: - flattering expressions which show emotion - photos which engage the viewer
- photos which show the venue and context
About Photo Workshops
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This slide pack presents a set of photos from an actual wedding, with commentary and detailed critique from the Wedding Photographer:
Dawei Ye of Clarte Photography
Dawei greatly appreciates your support of his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/clartephoto