I was really looking forward to Jessica & Sergio’s engagement session all week, and it did not disappoint! We met this awesome couple at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. for their engagement session. It was so beautiful to walk around and explore. Jessica & Sergio, it was such a pleasure to photograph you at this special time in your life. There are more photos to come, but here is a preview for now!
*Carolyn
f/ 1.8, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200 using 50 mm lens
Today’s Behind the Shot is about a photo from our engagement session with one of our fabulous couples, Emily & Noah. Their engagement session was held at the Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ.
Because it was during the off-season, there were lots of metal garage-like doors over the storefronts on the boardwalk. The texture and character of these doors was awesome, so naturally we would want to use them for photos. Paul decided to do something a little different to give the photos more depth and to draw your focus more towards the beautiful couple. He set up a speedlight (aka flash) on a tri-pod behind Emily & Noah.
If you have read the other Behind the Shot posts, this sounds familiar because it is the same way we set up the light for some of the backlighting shots we discussed. However, this technique is a little different than those backlit shots I had described in previous posts. For Emily & Noah, Paul angled the speedlight to be pointing towards the metal door (not towards the couple, and not straight up). So the light would blow out the details on part of the metal doors that are closest to the light source. You cannot see the speedlight or the tripod in the first photo, because they are hidden behind the couple. But you can see that there seems to be a glow around the couple where the details of the metal door are blown out by the light. This makes Emily & Noah stand out a little more against the door, it creates depth, and has a similar feel to a vignette (that’s when people use photoshoot to make the corners and perimeter of the photo dark) – only this way you do not have to do any post-processing editing to get that effect and it is also more subtle.
In addition, Paul also gelled the speedlight. Gelling the light means that he velcro- ed on a piece of tinted plastic over the light source to give it a different hue. Paul used an orange gel (aka tinted plastic) to make the light warmer in some of the photos. Can you tell which ones used a gelled speedlight?
I hope this was helpful and informative! if you have any questions please feel free to comment below and let us know!
*Carolyn
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-We love marriage just as much as we love weddings. Take a moment to prepare not just for the wedding, but for the marriage-
Today we have a guest post from Sesame Street, who shares with us what marriage is about…
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-We love marriage just as much as we love weddings. Take a moment to prepare not just for the wedding, but for the marriage-
“Never stop dating” is one of those great marriage tips I heard when we were engaged. As a matter of fact, it was offered to us as an engaged couple. Because wedding planning is a lot of work, while it is fun, it also can be all consuming. When Paul and I were engaged, it seemed like every time we were together we were doing something for the wedding. Paul’s good friend who had been married for a few years gave him this advice not just for after the wedding but for before too: to make sure that we spent time together without wedding planning. So we did. We tried to balance our time spent together between wedding planning and dates. One great way that we did this was when we set up meetings with vendors, we would go out on a date immediately before or after the meeting. This was not only great because we ensured we were having non-wedding talk, but also because our vendors were not all in our neighborhood so we got to do some exploring. And one of the things Paul and I love to do together is to find new romantic restaurants, places to walk around, and take pictures (of course!) So this was a great opportunity for us to do just that without letting the wedding to-do get too piled up. It was a huge blessing to our relationship and marriage, and one of the ways we chose to invest in and prepare for our marriage.We took these photos during our engagement on one of theses dates. We went to Paterson Great Falls in Paterson, NJ after we met with our DJ.
Circa 2007.
Now we still take this advice and make sure that we have date nights without talking about “business ” (which does not just mean photography business, but also things like bills, chores, schedules, etc.) –Instead we talk about funny things our son does, the way God is working in our hearts, hopes and dreams for the future, and just joke around and do fun things together. – - We still have meetings and still need time to do work together so while our son is still with loving caregivers we take the opportunity to go out for a date after our time spent working on “wedding planning ” (now for others instead of ourselves!) and it is essentially the same thing – continually dating each other. Life gets busy, heck, life is busy and will be for a long time. So don’t let to-do lists get in the way of the most important relationship in your life. Ferris knows what I’m talking about…
*Carolyn
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In the previous “Behind the Shot” post I talked about using speedlights (aka flashes) to light images from behind, and I shared one of our favorite photos from last year. Today, I am sharing another favorite photo of ours also using backlighting with speedlights, but in a very different way. The photo below is from Briana & Chris’ October snowstorm wedding. Who would have thought there would be a snowstorm in October?! It was certainly not what we would normally expect for an autumn wedding, but it turned out beautifully. Briana and Chris did not think twice about being adventurous and going out in the snow to take some unique photos.
The setup was similar to the diagram shown in the previous post with the photo of Christina & Cole where the speedlight was setup behind the couple. However, there are couple of things that are different about this photo. In Christina and Cole’s photo, they were ONLY lit from behind as I held the speedlight centered behind the couple creating a silhouette effect. In this photo of Briana and Chris, even though it was dark outside there was still some available ambient light. Because Paul was not going for a silhouette look for this photo, he set the ISO high and opened the aperture (see settings below) to catch that ambient light, AND he set the speedlight so that it would be strong enough to wrap around them. This combination lights Briana & Chris enough to be able to see the details of their awesome wedding day attire, beautiful flowers, their soft skin, and gorgeous faces.
The positioning of the speedlight was also different, it was positioned closer to the bride than the groom in order to light up her veil. Her white veil dramatically reflects the light and gives her an angelic glow. On top of that, every snowflake that is falling around them is also glowing as it reflects the light. Even some of the branches and fall leaves are glowing which highlight the uniqueness of this special day. Normally, just backlighting the couple in order to have snow or rain illuminated OR in order to illuminate the bride’s veil makes for a fantastic photo on their own. In this case, Paul was able to achieve both in addition to capturing the autumn colors surrounded by snow. Truly, this photo is not only unique, but genuinely captures Briana & Chris on their wedding day.
above photos taken with 35mm lens f/1.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 3200
Paul loves one of these photos, I love the other. I wonder which version you prefer?
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Leslie Lizbeth Bancayan Govea - LINDA PIC
Carlos T. - Muy bonitas las fotos, irradian amor. Felicidades