Shari Photography

Wedding photographers St Louis

Detail Photography and Shoes.

The Shoes are important.  They are an essential part of the planning and preparation for many brides as they develop  their day.

After the Dress, shoes are the 2nd most thought over item for the bride.  The items become an extension of their personality and link to their dress.

As a result, you need to photograph them.  Like so much of the detail shots, they can be pictured in so many different ways.

My favorite, as you will know if you skim the  blog, is to photograph them in a clean and simple way.  I’ll use a shallow depth of field –  say f2-f4 and create a lovely blurr.

The above images were layered in photoshop by Randy Kriewall-  an amazing photographer in St Louis.

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Flash Photography in Weddings.

Using an off camera flash with a receiver and transmitter is a great way to take pictures that pop off the page.  Otherwise flat images suddenly have density to them and there is a sparkle in the eyes because of the catch lights created by the flash.

I use a Canon 600 Speedlite and PocketWizard Mini TT1 and the Flex TT5 to trigger the flashes remotely.  Both units are very easy to use.  I usually carry a light weight light stand and have the flash and TT5 already mounted.  That way I can move the flash to where I want it.

My three favorite spots are-  rim or hair light on the bride by placing the flash to the side, backlight with the flash behind the couple, and finally flash in front and to the side for catch lights.

It takes a little practice and knowledge of how aperture and ISO affect the exposure.  But the results are well worth it.

In this example, the flash is behind the couple, mostly on the brides head.  If you angle the light correctly, then the light will catch the veil.

A common error is to dump too much light on the initial flash.  Don’t panic-  think about how to reduce the amount of light.

The easiest way is to allow les light into the camera- so close down the aperture.  If you are at f.4 and you have too much light-  go to f8 or 11.

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Missouri Photography

Saint Louis Photography

Detail shots at weddings are a great way to express the creative side of a photographer.  Some of these were taken by my good friend Randy Kriewall of Kriewall Photography in  St Louis. Together we photograph weddings and have a great time doing them.  We push each other to be creative and sensible!

A typical lens for the details is the 100mm f2.8 L Macro.  It has the ability to focus on an edge for an extreme close shot.  The possibilities for being creative is immense.  We can focus and fill the frame on 1 stone of a ring.

Even more fun is because o the shallow depth of field of a 100 mm 2.8, we can create all sorts of yummy distortions with the background.

With rings and flowers I try to isolate a feature of the object instead of trying to grab the whole object.  I also try to either backlight the object or in most cases use an off camera flash to fill from the front.  It creates a lovely glow.