Enhancing Your Perceptive
Abilities at Wedding Shoots
by David Beckstead
Page 1
With all the activities of a wedding day,it is so easy to get caught up
shooting situations you have always shot: focusing a narrow vision on what
the bride is doing,
becoming caught up in getting the safeshot, and backing up your safe-shot
with more safe-shots because you have not yet developed confidence to branch
out and try new imagery.
A real enemy to creativity is the all-encompassing dread of missing a
safe-shot. I will tell you this; I miss safe-shots at every wedding. I have
learned to not worry about it. I know that my overall wedding shoot will
thrill the bride and groom and a few missed safe-shots will not be in their
minds while looking at the proofs. Because what I have gained by
experimentation overpowers a few missed shots.
Instead, why not learn to believe your LCD and recognise the safe-shot is in
the bag so you can give yourself time to play! You may only have one minute
or less to try a different angle, look for an unusual composition, or just
have fun shooting images for you. You may have more time to really study a
situation and attack a scene with passion, thus creating more art by
increasing the complexity or narrowing down your compositional elements for
more elegant simplicity.
This playtime is your playground for enhancing your perception. It is very
good to zero in on your subject and
capture pure emotion. It is equally good to pull back and heighten your
awareness by seeing and feeling what is going on around you. Not just 180
degrees in front and to the side, but 360 degrees and at different locations
within an area such as the preparation room for the wedding party. [1]
Let’s take a nice hotel bridal suite layout; the bride is in the open door
bathroom putting on make-up; the bridesmaids are getting ready in front of
the mirrors located around the main room. What type of lighting do you have?
How does the natural light play on the room and subjects? How does the
tungsten light mix with the natural light? How do the lines of the room
interact with the subjects? What is in the way of compositions and what will
enhance them? These are perceptions you can nail down in one minute. Really!
The tendency is to go directly to the subjects and start shooting actions
without taking a moment to see all. I ask my brides, months in advance, that
on the day, they put on makeup and get their hair done by natural light
windows. They say yes, but sometimes brides forget. I have been known to ask
if the bride will step out of the tungsten-light bathroom and into the
natural light. But before I ask this, I walk into the
bathroom and see if there are other compositional elements
that help equal out my desire for nice natural light windows. I may perceive
that the mirrors, reflective surfaces, angles and lines in the bathroom give
me more room
for creative play. [2] Now with any room there may be a limited amount of
natural light. How do you see what is there very quickly and utilise it to
the best of your knowledge? I have a method that works: walk into the room,
squint your eyes so all the complexity of the room fades away to nothing but
darks and lights. Open your eyes wide and go to the light.
Stand next to the light or in it, and then look for your intended subjects.
Now first, see if this natural light can be used as a line, a pointer, or a
guide to your subjects for a creative image. Then back off and perceive how
the light can be used in an overall composition. Now that you have the
natural light in a room dialed-in, get your first safe-shot (often using the
natural light) and utilise your time between safe-shots to be artistic.
Let’s go outside! There is such a mass of natural elements and architecture
that it can be overwhelming. Learning to be perceptive enough to isolate the
composition into images with powerful stories can be daunting. How do you
make compositional sense of it all?
1
Articles are believed to be correct at the time of going to press, though
reference to products and services must be verified with the
appropriate supplier.
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