Wedding Photography Workshop | March 24 – Wedding Photography Tips

 We just recently had another wonderfully successful Wedding Photography Workshop. It took us some time, but we scouted for the perfect locations to bring 15 students and several models. A HUGE shout out to the lovely people at 3109 Piedmont Estate for letting us tour around the facilities to teach about great wedding photography. The Estate is just off Piedmont Road and is such a perfect venue for weddings! They have tons of wonderful windows and area for really beautiful bridal photography.

The workshop started with a short Q&A section where students were able to ask Mike about anything regarding weddings: Wedding day timeline, how to keep the nerves calm, how to convince the bride and groom about a first look, how to handle selling packages etc. Mike’s knowledge answered all the questions and included tips of the trade! After that, we went straight into a couple hours of photography. Mike taught the students about posing, lighting and the best and worst case scenarios. Below you’ll find a couple tips we shared during the workshop. If you have more questions or want to attend one of the Creative Edge Wedding Workshops, be sure to sign up!

Now for some tips: I love window light!  I shoot with natural light as much as I can because the light is beautiful. I can also shoot fast and move quickly to the next location.  Here we have a reflector opposite the window to bounce light back into the shadow side of the image.  We are exposing for the highlights to keep detail in the image. Remember, once you solve the technical problems with camera settings and lighting then turn on the creative part and work with expressions.  No matter how great the light is and how perfect of an exposure, it is all about the moment and sometimes you have to help kick start that moment.

Every bride wants to look beautiful on their wedding but do not just take images of her holding a bouquet. Do some sexy images!  Here we are using a Sony LED video light to light this image with a 50mm 1.4 lens. Every bride wants a few sexy pictures, and that doesn’t mean it has to be in lingerie! Our beautiful model Arielle is working this shot!

A cute tip for posing, it doesn’t have to be a stationary pose! If you have a slightly shy bride or groom, tell them to practice their first dance, twirl his lovely bride. It almost never fails to get great candid images, and pure joy from both the bride and the groom. If they are really camera conscious, this is a great time they’ll forget about you being there for just a moment.
Beautiful late afternoon light and back-lighting is all we have happening here.  Find a beautiful setting and create some lifestyle images, shooting with a 200mm lens.  I put the bride in the foreground because it is all about the bride and the groom is the prop.  There was a green logo in the center of the stone post that I photoshopped out so it would not take away from the bride and groom.

I love reflections!  Same location as the above shot but creating some pizzazz with the city and reflections.

All three of the images of Diana are all taken with window light. Train yourself to see the light how it shapes the face and with window light it is not always about being right in front of a window.  The full length in front of the door image is 30′ from the windows.

The next image is taken with a Sony LED video light.  I wanted to create texture in the wall and a stronger direction of light.  See the great detail in her dress?  Would not get this with a flash on camera, we are in a dark wine cellar so there is not daylight.You have to get light in their eyes because what makes a great portrait are their eyes.  A reflector is angled at a 45 degree angle to pop light back into her eyes. If you thought we had an ‘in’ with the man upstairs for on cue wind for the veil, we don’t want to crush your dreams. But you can see below how sometimes we have to be proactive and ‘fake’ a little of the wind. Shhh, no one will know =)

When you have a beautiful sky you want to capture, but also the subject it’s really easy! Set your exposures for the sky. So like in this first picture, the bride and groom are too dark, but you see the beautiful sunset in the background.

Then, without changing your exposure settings, turn on your flash. Whether it’s an off camera flash or a soft box, like the one we’re using. You’ll get a properly exposed bride and groom and a fabulous sunset for the backdrop.

The next series is the same as above. We wanted to capture the romantic sunset and the Atlanta skyline, but we didn’t want the bride and groom to be another silhouette. You can see our soft box in the upper right hand corner. Expose for the sky, add a flash.

Once you add the flash, you get a properly exposed sunset AND bride and groom! Keep scrolling for some tips on killing it with Silhouettes.

To create dramatic silhouettes,  meter on the sky and pick an angle where your subject is against a bright background which in this case is the sky.  Shooting from a low angle we eliminate trees and other dark items that will prevent you from getting a clean silhouette.
I love this technique:  About 20 minutes after the has set when there is very little daylight left but still some light in the sky.  Switch your white balance to tungsten (icon looks like a light bulb).  This will make any daylight go extreme blue which is the light left in the sky.  We then put a gel on the LED video light that converts daylight to tungsten (85B) to convert our LED video light to tungsten so bride and groom have the proper white balance and that the color of the sky is enhanced from the white balance.  You can add the gel to your flash and do the same technique.