Being a relatively “still pose”, we had our bride stand just under 90 degrees (side profile) to us with her back towards the light / opening of the forest (where the light came from). We then asked her to cradle her flowers like a baby, and then to look over her right shoulder and down at the flowers. We threw in a bunch of jokes, compliments & goodness to get her feeling really good.
When you look over your shoulder, look down at your flowers and smile at them. Make your flowers feel loved! Smile at them! Do it! They can feel it!
We composed this shot from her hips upwards as we wanted to capture more of her emotion & the “beauty” look of the portrait. As we had already taken full body shots of the same setup, we moved up closer and framed her in the direct center. Center framing your subject on a simple background is a sure way to create a balance in the frame and make it feel whole.
Center Framed
When doing portraits, we always try and focus on our eyes. If they are closed or are not part of the composition, then we’ll move it to the point of interest which we feel is the most important. It could be the smile, the flowers, the lips or even the hands & details.
Single Shot Autofocus
Single Point
The Bride Face
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.
As we were not too deep into the shaded pathway amongst the forest, we could still capture directional light from the entrance of the forest. We had our bride stand with her back towards the light because we wanted her to turn her head over her shoulder to look at her flowers – resulting in her face being lit from the front.
Natural Light
The edits are made to be warmer with a big focus on skin tones and light play with shadows and highlights. A few minor local adjustments were made (Gradient and Brush) as well as finishing off with a fine layer of grain. The whites are not blown out nor are the blacks 100% crunched.
We had no particular challenge with this image except that we had to keep an eye on the pose. Sometimes your subject can turn ‘too far’ over their shoulder which makes them look really uncomfortable & unnatural.
To help with this, turn their whole body slightly more towards you instead of exactly 90 degrees (side profile). By opening the shoulders more to your direction, they would find they don’t need to reach too far and can find themselves in a much more comfortable posture.
Freigeist Hotel
Gesundbrunnen, 37154 Northeim, Germany
Hotel
Germany
Always make sure to capture full body shots too. It’s really nice to have a choice later on and to even deliver both images to your clients.
It’s okay to make silly jokes when posing your bride or groom. If you’re going for genuine smiles & laughter, you’ve got to genuinely make them do that. Those, are always the best smiles.
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