Details, Details, and More Importantly Sexy Details

DOUG GORDON

Every time I lecture I am asked the same question. That question is, ‘what is the most important part of the wedding to photograph?’ Is it the bride or the groom or the family? As that is all-important, today's bride demands the photos that make the wedding tick. Those photos are simple. They are the details. How much time do brides and grooms spend picking bouquets, jewellery, linens, undergarments, etc? These are the things that make the story, and more importantly make the money. With that in mind I will also take you on a small trip into my world of Posed Photojournalism. That's right; I said it. I believe that the world's best candid photos are posed. How is that possible, you ask? Simple I have basically taken all the great PJ (photo journalism) photos I have ever seen, and tried to find a way to pose them. Why is that, you ask? The reason is simple. I can now guarantee the shot every time, and even better, I can guarantee it is perfect. As a PJ artist I cannot do this. The odds are always stacked against me for various reasons. By posing these photos I ensure better lighting and more importantly good facial angling. I think it is important to emphasis the story of the wedding. By posing, I can do this more efficiently. Let me explain how and show how with some photos from a recent wedding I did in the Dominican Republic.

As I said I believe details are key. All of these photos are shot with my Canon 1Ds Mark II and my 70-200mm f2.8 L-series lens. In the beginning series you see how I use the gettingready images to really start the story and more importantly show the sexy side of the wedding. These photos are by far our hottest sellers and surprisingly over the last month since it's release our most popular selling educational DVD The Sexy Bride. In the first photo, you will see how I focus on the bride’s neckline as well as the jewellery her husband gave her as a wedding gift. I have posed her body straight to the camera while turning her head away from the camera to add the element of camera tilt to create a more dramatic look. As with all of my shots of this type I try to shoot on full zoom with the lens wide open at 2.8. This creates a shallow depth of field and more importantly makes it almost impossible to place the image. I shoot all of the photos with ambient light. It is much softer and really creates a pleasant look. IThese next ones really will get you. In the next three poses I want to simulate the bride and dad coming down the aisle. You may, ‘ask why pose?’ Again, lighting and perfecting. How do I do it? As we all know, 99 per cent of the time, the dad walks down the aisle on the bride’s right - with the exception of a few Jewish affairs. There is basically only a couple of ways they will walk down the aisle. It will either be holding hands or most times the bride holding dad's arm. I usually do these photos right before the ceremony when they will obviously know how they are walking. As a portrait photographer I am taught to see the whole image, as a PJ artist I am taught to section off the photo seeing particular emotional spots - like the hands. So in this image I chose to focus on the bride’s grip on her dad and the feeling between them. This photo, as well as the other two, will be plugged into the proofs, as part of a sequence with the traditional shot, walking into the church. Again the key is story telling, I am trying to give the impression when that there were two or three photographers there, rather than just me. In the next image, I again focus on hands, pushing their bodies together and bringing dad's hands to the veil. Notice on all these images - camera tilt. Camera technique is key, I am shooting this shot wide open at 2.8, I have the bride and dad look at each other, I have her look at dad's forehead to get her eyes wide open and looking more natural. This is something I could not correct if I shot natural PJ. I am shooting right over dad's shoulder, blowing out the background and, more importantly, losing the existence of a location. This allows me to plug the photo right into the have also really centred the image, I believe, by adding the sloppy border (available at www.douggordonworkshops.com ). In image #2, I shift the camera up to the ear keeping the same camera tilt in the direction of the face to raise the sight line. This is just the beginning of my flow posing methods. As I always preach, I believe it is extremely important to make each pose flow together to the next. Pose # 3 is more of the same I want to capture the crown of the bride as well as the texture of the hair. I just have her tilt the head down while keeping camera tilt the same and cropping in tight on her head. The main goal is to show her crown if she has one and the detail work on her hair. These photos are being created as part of a story for pages in the album. When designing my albums, I am striving for a unique look and these detail shots can be used as fillers or background images. They are extremely important to the story; especially when I am using my main album, Asuka Book. I want each page to have an individual look, while having a story unfold. Again these are the details that are most important. The items she spent time to decide upon. You have to think, ‘Is there a chance mom gave her the earrings or the necklace from her new husband or the crown is grandma's?’ These are all possibilities and the reason no detail should be left un-photographed. In photo #4 I have asked the bride to hold the bouquet in front of her waist, extending her arms. I am placing the bride at a 90- degree angle to the window light to allow it to feather across the bouquet and dress, to get maximum detail of both, and again I added camera tilt to dramatise the image. Do theses images look poses or candid? My clients tend to see them as candid. That's the trick.ceremony spot with the natural traditional shots. I am, as I said, two photographers in one. Could you get all these shot with this soft lighting and detail and expression every time?

The odds are against you. That's why I pose; if I tried to shoot these with the bride and dad coming down the aisle could I move this quickly without being disruptive? Could I get the strong detail? Probably not, because my on camera light would blow out the detail on the gown. My key is simplicity, and more importantly proper exposure. Just remember to open your mind, eyes and emotions to these types of images. This, I promise you, is what creates the bigger album and more importantly the bigger profit. In the last set I am faking the couples first dance, I find this the hardest to capture naturally as there are many disruptions, dark reception room, tons of distractions, video man shining his light at you and just not as strong a connection with the couple because of all the obstacles, So look and ask yourself the question are they posed or are they candid. Remember I am all about the guarantee. If a client sees the story in one of your sample books, they expect without a shadow of a doubt to have that exact set of pictures and then some. They expect it even if there wedding has none of the those special moments. That is why I believe I must tell the story. They remember the wedding through my eyes, my feelings, my emotions and who I am as a person. As a person, I am someone who wants consistency. These are just a small sampling of what I do. If you want more we are proud to announce our new formal posing guide. This is an 8.5x11 binder with over 400 large thumbnail size images of every photo I do at a wedding. This guide is the same one my staff photographers carry with them in their bags to follow the poses and more importantly the order I shoot them. This is available for only $125 USD at www.douggordonworkshops.com . Also if you are interested we have our other educational aides available there as well including our DVD on posed photojournalism. This DVD shows the angles the lighting and most importantly thee fake posing

This website is new and will be improving rapidly with free educational articles weekly along with a lot of other great resources. Thanks again and if you need anything don't hesitate to write me Doug@Douggordonworkshops.com

Photo Quote: When that shutters clicks, anything else that can be done afterward is not worth consideration. - Edward Steichen