For the part the girls played I had them time their bouquet tosses differently each time, so I could have different heights to the bouquets in the air, and I did the same for the guys to make sure I had enough variation in poses.
It’s been a couple of years since tis shot was taken so I don’t recall, but it would have been something like “ok, at the count of three you’ll start jumping and tossing your bouquets in the air, starting from left to right.” And for the guys I would have prompted them to jump as high as they could imagining they were reaching for the bouquets.
Energetic
I had the idea to have the bouquets in the center of the image, guiding your eye through the frame so I needed to make sure that there was sufficient negative space around the bouquets to draw focus to them, while still including enough of the wedding party to create visual interest, energy, and symmetry.
Leading LinesSymmetry
Center Framed
I wanted to ensure that the bouquets would be in focus, and knew that they’d be in line with the bridesmaids faces when tossed. I shot at f4 to ensure everything would be sharp and kept focus on the ladies faces (and same for the guys).
Single Shot
Single Focus Point
I focused on the faces of the wedding party.
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.
It was a cloudy day in winter in Vancouver, so the light was very diffused and wasn’t a main priority for composing this photo. Because the wedding party are all looking up to the sky their faces are lit with soft and even light.
Natural Light
Soft
Midday
Cloudy
This image had a fairly simple edit including exposure, contrast and preset adjustments to both individual images in Lightroom to ensure that they looked them same. Once they matched (which was easy since they were shot in identical lighting just moments apart) they were exported to Photoshop to create the composite. Any distracting elements were removed (like city line along the bottom of each image) and that was it!
None! I had a clear idea in my head and was lucky enough to be able to execute it without issue.
N/A
Stanley Park, Vancouver
City
Canada
The image itself was quite easy to execute because I did have a really clear idea of what I wanted to create. My suggestion if you’re looking to step up your game in photography (weddings or portraits especially) is to create space the day before a wedding to get inspired (be it through art books, movies, art galleries) and give yourself some time to really think about your goal for the next day and how you can make some fun art of your own. My personal process before each wedding includes shutting myself in my office for at least two hours with all of my favourite art books, a cup of tea, and a notepad. I sketch out any ideas I might have and create a clear plan for how I’ll pull it off, so I go into each new situation with an idea that excites me. It makes each wedding feel new and fun and I get to be creative!
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