Making Something out of Nothing!

Juli Ann Cialone

Making Something out of Nothing!
When you don’t have fairytale backgrounds, hours to shoot, gorgeous bride and groom or even good weather!

Let’s be honest. Our average wedding is not glamorous. It is not perfectly coordinated nor set in the ideal location at the ideal time of day. It rarely has the most dramatic décor or even an interesting style or theme. Our average bride is usually far from being a model. She is not perfectly proportioned nor does she choose either the best hair, the best make-up and not even the most flattering gown! Even our average groom is far from perfection. Hopefully he hasn’t had too much to drink beforehand. And razor burn seems to be more than likely, as is the nervous acne skin we dread retouching. He usually has no sense of fashion and an attitude that photographs should be done rapidly and with him in them as little as possible. Any of this sound familiar? Or is our studio the only one that seems to specialize in the imperfect?!

Whilst all the above is true about 90% of the time, 100% of our clients expect our imagery not only to be beautiful, but also to be impressive and creative enough to still have that fairytale impact when you view them. Sure, the bride, groom and settings might look more like Walmart than like Cinderella’s castle, but that is not THEIR problem. It is ours. They are counting on us to make their wedding images, and most importantly the images of them and the storytelling detail images of the day, look more like their dream than like the reality of the situation. They are depending on us to capture all the classic moments and all the emotion of the day despite giving us very little to work with. They are hiring us, in all our professional glory, to be the story teller as well as the magic maker!

So where do we begin when the odds are so against us?!! (A plane trip to a deserted island sounds a good option…) But, chin up! Don’t despair! Although we can never reveal all that we do (especially without giving an on-the-spot demonstration), we are here to give just some advice on how to manage such difficult situations. In fact, we hope that our advice actually shows that these hard times are not as hard as they seem. Basic, good photography can often solve the biggest crises. Tweak it a little, and you can go from good to brilliant.

Let’s begin with bad weather which often equates with bad lighting. Although full sun is not always our friend, it is often better than a torrential, horizontal rain or sleet downpour. In these instances even porches become useless and our natural light is somewhat muted. For group photos, bringing in studio lights is the obvious solution. But for the bride and groom this is not my first choice. As a primarily natural light shooter and minimalist (when it comes to equipment), studio lights can be bulky and difficult to manoeuvre in small areas. Instead, we would rather use a small video light. Sometimes this is simply to add to existing window light, but often it is a dramatic spotlight on a bare wall. You will be amazed at the stunning images you can achieve in a dark pub, in a tiny windowless room, or even in a stairwell with just one simple light source. (See Image [1]). Don’t have a video light? A flashlight or even a tungsten lamp with the shade pointed at an angle can work. It is slightly less 'professional looking' but hey, in a pinch, no one will remember once they see the images!

So what if we have simply, a hideous location? Imagine your nightmare location and we guarantee in the US (… be gentle on our relatively young country!) that we have some locations that are beyond awful. Lodges, for instance, are often just glorified cafeterias. So how do we make a cafeteria look romantic? First, we begin by walking around our site. We go into every nook and cranny, including basements, back dump areas, etc…looking firstly for good lighting and then for neutral backdrops. Simplicity rules these portrait sessions when dramatic beauty is absent. Every site within walking distance is a potential target. For instance, if the inside looks awful, take your wedding group a little distance from the parking lot. Shoot the image with a wide aperture to let the background blur out and it’s amazing how the colours of the cars make a nice background. Plain walls of buildings can look like studio backgrounds and if they are sufficiently beaten up (paint peeling and all) they are even cooler. For the bride and groom, small areas are key. Look again for those neutral backdrops where you can add a light from a lamp or flashlight for drama. We even try to find interesting shadow patterns in areas hit by patchy sunlight to position them for dramatic effect (see Image [2]).

Don’t be afraid to scout the surrounding towns to where the ceremony and reception are going to be held. We generally do this if we are unfamiliar with a locale ('no surprises' is a good policy). If we see that the locations are not satisfactory, we often can suggest some easy solutions. A neighbour’s porch, the park down the street, even a patch of trees en route from the church to the reception could work better than a dull, ugly building. City streets (right in the centre), sidewalks and alleyways are great places to create interesting romantic images (see Image [3]). You’d be surprised at what we can achieve with these often mundane backdrops that many take for granted!

A great solution for bad locations can be very, very simple. Our preference? Go for intimate close-ups which everyone loves and which require no backdrop at all (see Image [4]). These images are always favourites of clients, no matter if the scenery is great or not. The closeness and romance of a simple nuzzle is powerful. Don’t underestimate the power of intimacy which can be captured with the camera set wide open, blurring out any unsightly cafeteria-like locations. In addition, we take the closeness to an extreme. We get couples to laugh, giggle and interact in fun series of images which takes the viewer into a storyline and not into even noticing hideous backdrops. All these can be done at very close range. Have her whisper in his ear, have him nibble her neck, etc…and crop very tightly (see Image [5]). The emotion is in that tiny area and is romantic, sensual and fun. Watch how easily attention from bad scenery can be diverted simply by adding that fun, emotional storyline to the images.

To create fun, dynamic images in an area with little scenery, try adding some fun movement images into the mix. Don’t be afraid to get your bride to dance around, playing with her dress while the groom watches. We like to isolate her in the images and then shoot the groom’s reactions (see Image [6]). Don’t be afraid be afraid to get them to walk or even run together. Have them do this coming towards you and going away from you whilst making sure the background is out of focus. Don’t be afraid to allow them to just play around, tickling, hugging and just having fun. All this emotion is enough for scenery to be completely optional. Done anywhere, it always works.

So we have a great location and even great lighting but we have a bride who isn’t really looking like the belle of the ball. Apparently no one has told her that she picked the wrong style dress or got the wrong style hair or put too little make up on. But she still wants to be the princess, glamorous, beautiful and gushing with romance. This is more commonly our bride than the super model, so don’t feel as though your studio is the only one that attracts these brides who need just a little guidance. To be honest, most people don’t have a sense of style or taste. They really just do what the current trend is and follow along. Such is the present issue of strapless dresses; which (gasp) cause us immense problems for various reasons. For one, they are often very heavy and weigh down the bride making her slouch. They also require the tops to be tight (for obvious reasons) and so often pinch the bride’s skin no matter how skinny she is. This pinching, which becomes a huge (literally) issue especially with larger brides, makes the skin fold over the upper fabric of the dress and sometimes pinch in on the centre of her back, both of which are unsightly. As photographers, our job is to creatively hide these dressing flaws, enhancing the positive over the negative.

Of course, retouching these visual issues is always an option, but it is best to minimise the post production if you can. Depending on the problem, there are various solutions. For the bride with the strapless dress issues, creatively using a veil can often be your simplest solution (see side Image [7]). The longer the veil, the poofier the veil, the better since we can wrap it for glamour and drama. For the bride who has bad hair issues (and don’t even try to convince her to change it!), try angles where you have to shoot from a higher angle. When she looks up her hairstyle will drop back and her eyes and face take precedence especially if we shoot wide. My 85mm f1.2 lens is perfect for this, bringing into focus the positive while blurring the negative (see Image [8]).

Don’t get the wrong idea. There are many instances when we arrive at a wedding and just want to get back in the car and high tail it out of there. Sure we have gasped in horror when seeing the bride stuffed in her dress (five sizes too small to be exact) like a Christmas turkey. And there are definitely times when I’ve wanted to cry because our once great weather forecast one September day just happened to be in the path of the season’s next major hurricane (so much for leaving the changing leaves on the trees…). We are human of course. But the key factor here is that no matter what we are dealt with, we never give up. Laugh a little (cry a little) and go with the flow, is pretty much our motto. Challenge ourselves to make the true beauty of what is in people’s hearts and minds on that day come to fruition. We are artists, and that is why we are being hired. Artists can see beauty even in a dirty parking lot. So forget about your client's shortcomings and show them how amazing you really are. Don’t be surprised if you get even more referrals from the guests who see these hard-to-get images – they will know how truly talented you are if you can make (even!) their friends look so amazing!

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