HOW i SHOT THiS

  • Bridesmaids
  • Bright
  • Center Framed
  • finland
  • Free
  • Getting ready
  • Indoor
  • Leading lines
  • Mid range
  • Moment
  • Natural Light
  • Private Home
  • Reaction
  • Soft Light
  • Unplanned
  • Window Light

The story behind the image

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Sometimes turning around and looking at what’s happening behind you opens the doors to capture a moment that is just perfect. That’s exactly what happened here with the girls. We were doing a “first look” between the bridesmaids and the bride (after she dressed) and while we of course captured our bride’s reaction to all her friends, we made sure that we spun around fast enough to photograph the bridesmaids as they saw first saw the bride.

It’s quite easy to only focus on your couple, but try your best to take a look around and focus on other people; especially the closest ones to the bride & groom.
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Composition

Since we were limited with space we had to move around; and that this moment happened so fast, we simply did our best to balance the girls in the frame. We allowed ourselves to frame a bit of the door (left) which shows that the girls were looking into a room that was previously closed. Small details can play a big role in storytelling.

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framing

Center Framed

Focusing

Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)

We moved our focus point to the bridesmaid on the left since she was on the same line as the bridesmaid on the right. This just meant that we would have at least the majority of the group in focus in case our settings were not switched correctly fast enough.

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Focus Mode

Single Shot Autofocus

Focus POints

Single Point

Focused on

The bridesmaids face

Equipment &
Exif

Camera
Canon 5D Mark IV
Lens
Canon 35mm f/1.4 L II
Flash
None
Filter
None
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

As we were indoors, our only light source was coming from the windows off to the right of the frame. Fortunately, they were large and plentiful which allowed plenty of light into the room. Plus the room was painted white which allowed the light to bounce without too many color casts.

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Light Type

Natural Light

Weather

Indoor

Editing Workflow

How did you edit this image?

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.

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Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic

Challenges

The main challenge here was being fast with adjusting our exposure. When we exposed to our bride, our settings were quite different from what they had to be when we turned around to photograph the girl’s reaction.

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Solutions

The truth is we had no real solution other than just being fast with our cameras and knowing where each button was. Apart from that, our goal was to expose it within a “recoverable” range. We can’t always take perfectly exposed photos, and fortunately editing software is becoming better with each year to help with this.

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Location

Location Name

Private Home

Location aDDRESS

Helsinki, Finland

Loation Type

Private Home / AirBnB / Apartment

Country

Finland

Try your best not to forget about the moments & reactions that guests and family members have throughout the day. Sometimes you’ll face a tough choice as to which one you should capture, but if you have the chance (and are confident enough) to get both – don’t hesitate to.

In the end, your couple will love the photos of them; but equally so will be these moments of their friends & family. Don’t forget this. A wedding is not all about beautiful sunset couple shoots.

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