- Bridal details
- Mid range
- Spin dress
- Spin
- Soft Light
- Playful
- Natural Light
- Movement
- Leading lines
- Center Framed
- Indoor
- Hand movements
- Energetic
- Dress movement
- Dress
- Directional Light
- Details
- Window Light
The story behind the image
One of the shots we love to start with when moving for the details is one where the Bride is in motion. We always start with something very simple; holding the dress up and moving it side to side. Just to get a bit of momentum (not just in the dress but in the flow of the shoot). We really love the way that movement can portray emotion, even if it’s subtle.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We simply asked our bride to hold her dress and sway it side to side while also moving her hips with the flow. Gradually we encouraged even more movement and energy to bring a bit more life to the movement as well as to make the whole shoot that much more fun.
What did you say?
Awesome [Bride], lets have you hold your dress out with one hand and flowers in the other and I want you to sway it from side to side! Thats it! Move your hips too – like you’re dancing with your dress. Really love your dress! There you go! Keep it going!
Composition
Our goal with this shot was to show the dress and the way it flows down from the waist. We chose to tilt our camera down rather than lower ourselves as we found that the angle (much like selfies with a phone) is more flattering. We had our bride be in the middle of the room surrounded by the furniture; which although not symmetrical, does create a natural frame around our bride.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
Focusing was very easy to do here though we did use live view simply to help with our composition. We had set the focus box to the center, placed it over our bride, and let it lock on.
Focus Mode
Live View Single Shot
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Bride's body
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/1600 @ f/2.2 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 room naturally was quite well lit and bright as the room was painted white and we had two large windows to work with. We had our bride stand in the middle where the window on our left would light her up from the front, and the window behind her would create a gentle rim light (though not so visible here).
Light Type
Natural Light
Weather
Indoor
Editing Workflow
How did you edit this image?
To edit this shot, I applied our Protea presets and then tweaked the exposures to get the overall mood I wanted. I paid careful attention to the highlights of the dress as I didn’t want them to blow out or become too dull. Once I was happy with the overall tone (white balance shifted too), I brushed in some highlights on the dress (dodging) and darkened some shadows (burning). I then added in a manual vignette by using the radial filter to help isolate our bride. I also added a gradient filter to the floor and removed a few distractions with the spot removal tool.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The only challenge we had was when we arrived in the room, there was quite a bit of furniture set up and so since we definitely knew we wanted to shoot here at some point, we had to move everything.
Solutions
We firstly asked permission from the Bride as this was her Family home, and after receiving the approval we gently and careful moved some furniture out of the way so we had an easier time to photograph our bride later.
Location
Location Name
Private Home
Location aDDRESS
Vantaa, Finland
Loation Type
Private Home / AirBnB / Apartment
Country
Finland
Try not to forget about the bridal details – especially when she is wearing them. We personally find that photographs of the details when the bride is actually wearing them has a lot more meaning and impact than them alone. But, that is purely a preference and in no way the “only correct way”. Try it out and form your own opinion on it.
