- Center Framed
- Cheek to Cheek
- Dancing
- full body
- holding each other
- Leading lines
- Leaning
- Natural Light
- Shade
- Soft Light
- urban
- vertical lines
- Wide
The story behind the image
And that’s exactly what it’s all about – capturing precisely those moments when the world stands still. At this point, my world stands still and that is the challenge for me as a wedding photographer – to recognize and capture this special moment in this bubble.
And at every wedding, this moment teaches me to be open, to be spontaneous, to be quick, and decisive.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I prepare my newlyweds before the dance and encourage them to let themselves go, concentrate fully on themselves and just enjoy the moment and not insist on perfection. Emotions always takes precedence over perfection. And so the wedding dance does not need any further instructions except this one little bit of advice; that everything is allowed, every movement is free and you should concentrate entirely on yourself.
What did you say?
Focus only on yourselves and just concentrate on your feelings of enjoying and celebrating for the first time as a man and woman to a song that you both love
Composition
The couple was framed by the location and decoration that was set up specifically for the dance. These lights added so much to the atmosphere and the feeling of the dance. Therefore, I chose a slightly wider image, through which the subtle movement of the dress and the body could be clearly seen. Here the movement itself was not very pronounced. It was all the more important to me to fully capture the fine movements in the entire picture.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
I left it with the automatic autofocus of the Sony A7III, which, as I wanted, fell on the groom’s eye. Because the two are offset from each other and only one person is directly in focus, there is a tangible “authenticity” and “depth” in the picture, which emphasizes the emotions even more.
Focus Mode
Continuous Autofocus
Focus POints
Multi Point
Focused on
Grooms Eye
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/500 @ f/2.0 ISO500 WB-Auto
The way the EXIF is written out follows the common photographic method (with the inclusion of White Balance at the end). Here it is broken down:
Shutter Speed @ Aperture ISO White Balance.
Light & Weather
The late afternoon light made it easy here because the location was a greenhouse with translucent panes. The fairy lights were attached to a wall on the back wall of the greenhouse and shimmered with their glow and created a warm atmosphere. The sun didn’t bounce through the panes here as the sky was a little overcast that day.
This created a relatively balanced lighting situation. However, I had chosen to ignore the lighting conditions or directions in favor of the moment and the emotions. I wouldn’t do it any other way either! Light is extremely important for photography and determines the image and its appearance, but in some moments it is only of secondary importance.
Even if the lighting situation here had been worse and not so balanced, the moment would have been more important to me.
Light Type
Natural Light
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
As always, I use my “lichttrunken” preset and adjust the orange tones of the skin, the white balance, and the exposure. I also always use a radial filter with a darker outer area. The moment was most important to me here, I didn’t use any other tools to change it, nor did I retouch it. By increasing the structure and clarity, I always put the couple in the foreground – that makes the moment in the picture a little more intense in my opinion.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Lichttrunken
Challenges
The biggest challenge here was the silence of the storytelling. Intervention is absolutely taboo during the dance. It is up to oneself to analyze and possibly prepare the circumstances beforehand. Here, further preparation was not necessary because the lighting situation was balanced and really easy to work with. In other situations, however, it is often really important to make preparations before the dance in order to achieve the best lighting situation during the dance.
Solutions
Storytelling is an art because perfectionism is often out of place. An intervention is no longer allowed here, which makes it all the more important to prepare the couple for it without feeling staged and stiff. I tell the couples about the emotion of the dance and that they should only focus on each other. And with that, I help them create intimacy and magic. You should always keep in mind that this is not about a post-worthy shoot, but about the wedding and the story of two people.
Location
Location Name
Schloss Diersfordt
Location aDDRESS
Am Schloß 3, 46487 Wesel , Germany
Loation Type
Castle
Country
Germany
Every dance is unique, as is every wedding and story. It’s a new experience every time, and it is often a matter of preparation to avoid interference and unnecessary challenges throughout the storytelling of the day. In addition, light is sometimes secondary in favor of emotion.
