you be the judge: composites on the wedding day
Just finished two composites from a Ten Mile Station wedding in Breckenridge shot recently. My work is becoming a bit more refined, as a take greater creative risks while giving a big teddy bear hug to traditional photography. I’m liking these images more and more these days. Shooting them tests my technical lighting and people skills, along with balance and coordination (yes, I trip on every other shoot and have the lights come crashing down). Subsequent post-production on these images breathes back creative dose of pressure that I need love to produce my best work.
Technicals: Each image is comprised of about 6 other images shot individually then composited together in Photoshop. Camera stays put on a tripod. Clients stay put in psuedo-yoga pose. We all get a little workout. I shot JPEG, on my Nikon D700 at about 40mm, f/13, 1/250 sec, at ISO 200 and WB set to 5250K. 5′ Octa at 1/4 power. All said and done in 90 seconds once the lighting tests are complete. About 30 minutes to finish up in post to do right.
Perhaps one day I’ll pick up this style and run with it on a high-end commercial shoot. Who knows? For time, I’m proud of the results. And I feel my art history undergrad degree studying painting masters is starting to pay off in my photography style.
While the lighting varies a lot from person to person, it does have a bit edgier “fake” look which is still rather different for me. While I’ll let Dave Hill do his thing and like when JMC does his thing, I like venture out of my own and offer bit of commercial production value in my work… or at least a nice hefty dose of inspiration from it. Brides notice in a big way, consideration many of them flip through thousands of pages of that stuff in a year while getting their hair done up. Flip through the pages of many of those fashion zines and they take a boat load more creative risks… and sometimes produce some downright questionable work in IMHO. The key is to be remembered… and not forgotten.. whether they like it or not.
At the very least, I know they will want these both to fly as spread in an album (a “full truck” for those who drink from the commercial photog tap).
Curious to hear your thoughts and would certainly relish in a critique. Care to chime in?
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