I figured that it might be useful to post a wedding that presented some challenges, ranging from drama at the hair salon to tired groom who flew cross-country that morning to gloomy weather (except for a brief break in the clouds during formals) to a less-than-entirely polished reception location... and I could go on.
Mei & Wayne are a great couple who put a lot of faith in me to give them beautiful wedding images, and its a professional's responsibility to deliver quality without regard to adverse circumstances. My hope is that by looking at these images, some of y'all may learn from where I succeeded or failed to deal with those challenges.
Evan - great stuff here. I love your use of off camera flash outside - very disctinctive. I wondner how # 4 & 9 might have looked had you lite the bride from the short side. Especially in #9, the light is hitting her pretty hard on the broad side of her face and flat on to the dress. Maybe move the light to camera left to light the short side of her face, give more detail in the dress, and show off her tatoo even more. Comments?
Steve: Its absolutely a thought, and probably would have worked very well with some slight reflector or a second strobe for a bit of fill (as you can imagine, ambient fill would have been negligable at that power/ambient ratio). Not every bride works with broad lighting, so I figured I'd do it for a change of pace... but you're totally right that short would've worked there too (and perhaps better?).
I think the ratio is fine - no fill required IMO. You're also right that a very slender bride can get away with broad lighting, as is the case here. Broad lighting also tends to add a bit of fashion flare to a shot - also in this case. Actually, the more I look at it, the more it grows on me! You obviously have a good handle on your craft, thanks for posting!
Steve
andy28 wrote:
Evan
May I asked how to do get the blue sky in Picture 16?? Do you enchance it in Photoshop or do you use a filter??
Thanks!
Andy
Andy: A circular polarizer helped a little bit, but 3200 effective w/s didn't hurt either. Would you believe I actually *lightened* the sky in Photoshop?
Evan, where did you shoot this at? I thought you said it was in Richmond but I do not recognize it. The shot are so beautiful I can't stop looking at them!
Sarah Salyer wrote:
Evan, where did you shoot this at? I thought you said it was in Richmond but I do not recognize it. The shot are so beautiful I can't stop looking at them!
~Sarah
It was at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Sarah. Thanks!
Steve: Its absolutely a thought, and probably would have worked very well with some slight reflector or a second strobe for a bit of fill (as you can imagine, ambient fill would have been negligable at that power/ambient ratio). Not every bride works with broad lighting, so I figured I'd do it for a change of pace... but you're totally right that short would've worked there too (and perhaps better?).
I like it how it is, but this doesn't really look like "broad" lighting in the sense that the light came more from above than to the side. Atleast that's what the dress shadow makes me believe.
I think short lighting would have needed a cross light kicker from camera right to bring back some of the right side. Beautiful regardless!
Would you believe I actually *lightened* the sky in Photoshop? 
