- bouquet
- Bridal details
- Bride
- calm
- Candles
- Center Framed
- Flowers
- Indoor
- Mid range
- Moody
- Natural
- Rule of thirds
- simple
- Soft Light
The story behind the image
We chose to have our bride hold the flowers while still staying indoors (even though outside had plenty to offer) simply because we loved the warm tones and the bubbles of light in the background that our shallow aperture created.
Finally, we could have shot the flowers by themselves on a chair somewhere but chose to have our bride hold them as it adds a whole different level of connection to the image.
Directions
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
We had our bride stand with her back facing us and then from her waist to her shoulders, gently twist towards us. We stopped her once the angle was right and she still looked comfortable & natural. While doing this, we asked her to cradle her flowers like a baby. Hold them on top of her right arm while her left hand could play between the flowers & leaves.
What did you say?
Hold your flowers like a baby and let them rest on top of your right arm. Play with the flowers & leaves with your other hand. While you’re doing this, gently twist your shoulders towards us and look down towards the flowers.
Tone of Directions
Calm
Composition
We wanted the flowers and the fact that a bride was holding them to be the main focus of this image. We balanced the composition by having the flowers take up a third of the frame, while the rest of the image was filled with our bride & background. We kept it quite tight too since we didn’t want the dominating features of our bride (her eyes, emotions, etc…) to be included & take away from the flowers.
framing
Center Framed
Focusing
Describe how you spoke to your subject(s)
The focus of this image was on the flowers and nailing it in low light can be quite tricky. Fortunately, we had just enough light to work with in order for the focus to find a target. We would always move our focus point somewhere contrasty which always helps with locking on.
Focus Mode
Single Shot Autofocus
Focus POints
Single Point
Focused on
The Flowers
Equipment &
Exif
Camera
Lens
Flash
Filter
1/1250 @ f/1.4 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
We were in a very dim yet candle-lit barn with high ceilings and dark wood. The only bit of natural light coming from a small glass door behind us and to our right. We positioned our bride so she stood in this natural light, however weak it may have been, to help with exposing for this image. Even that soft patch of light helps illuminate our bride and separate her from the background.
Light Type
Candles
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.
Editing Software
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Preset Used
Challenges
The biggest challenge we had was working with the low light. We had to make sure our exposure was set correctly to avoid motion blur as well as to keep the quality of the image as high as possible.
Solutions
Understanding the limits of our cameras, we knew that pushing our ISO up to a certain point would do absolutely no harm to the overall image quality. And even then, the noise reduction in lightroom has become so good that in almost all cases, it can save your photo.
Location
Location Name
Vila Vita
Location aDDRESS
Eventscheune Dagobertshausen, Im Dorfe 14, 35041 Marburg
Loation Type
Wedding / Event Venue
Country
Germany
If your bride has a beautiful bouquet of flowers with her during the shooting, don’t forget to take some more detail shots of it. Even if you got some during the getting ready – having more to work with later on is definitely a plus. And, you may even prefer the ones you took this time.
Try and include your bride with her details. It doesn’t just have to be the flowers, but it could be jewelry, makeup, perfume and pretty much anything that she will wear or bring with her. It adds context to the detail shots and is a nice addition to the clean shots.
Finally, dinner setups are usually a gold-mine for bokeh light balls (so long as there are candles/lights lit) and so take the opportunity with your couple to shoot inside there. Don’t be afraid to push your camera’s ISO up and for sure get to know it’s limitations.
