Bridals in a Castle

[aroundlsu]

The Louisiana Old State Capitol is a great place to shoot. For $100 you can have complete access to the building after hours. I didn't get a chance to shoot any shots of my lighting setup, but there are two Profoto monolights on Matthews medium roller stands. One with a 10 degree grid, the other with a beauty dish and 20 degree grid. In some cases, the Matthews stands are 20 feet up, so there really would have been no other easy way to get the lights in that position without those stands.

The setup in front of the stain glass was rather challenging; that's full sunlight blasting at me through the glass. The area around the glass (in the black) actually wasn't very good looking so it was intentionally left in the dark.

Feel free to critique. I don't shoot many bridals and in fact am still getting negative comments (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=846224) regarding the overly technical proposal I submitted to this bride.

The complete gallery the bride will be seeing is here:
http://gallery.teddysmithstudio.com/g/brady

1
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4470718982_91b4a7707d_o.jpg
2
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2736/4469939441_c5e2242f49_b.jpg
3
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4470719044_6fcee97df2_b.jpg
4
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4470716104_4952d4062e_o.jpg
5
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4470719182_d4c4773d38_o.jpg
6
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4470719236_babd5f1da8_o.jpg
7 The father of the bride gets in the shot.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4470719272_202352895d.jpg

[sapearl]

Beautiful work Teddy - some is downright stunning. I'd be proud to have it in my portfolio. I love #3 although it's just a little hot on her bosom. You could probably pull some of those RAW pixels back; same situation with #6 but I like the arrangement. Is this an example of some of the theater lighting you had discussed?

[Red Tie Photography]

I love the light coming through the stained glass. I have been wanting to do some stained glass shots like this, and you did a great job. Did you fire flashes through the windows, or was it natural?

[sapearl]

I also meant to add nice bokeh on #5. The background is nicely OOF, but not terribly so like I've seen on some. It's enough to place the attention on the bride, but still retains interesting environmental detail.

[aroundlsu]

Thanks guys. I think it would be a stretch to call this theatrical lighting since I didn't use any of the butterflies or overhead diffusers that they would normally use on a movie set. I had two butterflies in my truck and the appropriate rigging material but it just wasn't practical to try to set it up. The lighting is just standard 500w/s strobes with grids on Matthews large rolling stands.

That's real sunlight I am fighting in the stain glass and it was challenging. I may already have another session in the same location so if that happens I may save that shot for after sundown and shoot a large strobe through it so I can control the intensity better.

I gotta say, the profoto air system is nice when you a
light 30 feet over your head and you want to dial it down a stop.

[aroundlsu]

This quote from the key grip on the last commercial I was the DP for may help describe the the different mentality from photographers and filmmakers:

(After I rigged a 1k tungsten with a Chimera softbox)
"Hey man, you know everytime you use a softbox God kills a grip. I would rather we use a four by single and some flags."

To rig a four foot scrim and flag it would require at least three large stands plus sandbags.

[sapearl]

Although I have no direct appreciation of that from any personal experience, I can certainly "appreciate it."

But again, here's the issue you're faced with. You may have a special talent with this type of lighting that results in special, very beautiful work. If that's the case then it will set you apart from other photogs, as we've stated in your prior thread. But DON'T make it an a-la-carte extra. The client won't understand it, or get it. And if they don't "get it" they won't BUY it.

INCLUDE it in your packages - but just add in the required extra fees to cover it. And don't point this out. After all, it's just the cost of doing business - which is the same as the rest of us carrying around all the extra glass, bodies and strobes that we do in order to get the job done.

This quote from the key grip on the last commercial I was the DP for may help describe the the different mentality from photographers and filmmakers:

(After I rigged a 1k tungsten with a Chimera softbox)
"Hey man, you know everytime you use a softbox God kills a grip. I would rather we use a four by single and some flags."

To rig a four foot scrim and flag it would require at least three large stands plus sandbags.

[nonick]

Nice attempt. I like number 2 and and love number 3.

Number 5 and 6 are a little too soft? Maybe it's my monitor or my eyes... Maybe the tone is a little too "pale" to my taste. Possible adjust the WB and/or saturation there to make it a little vivid? Or it's intentional?

Number 5.. the bride looks angry. The pose doesn't work for me.
Number 6. I can't really tell what it is. Something is not right in term of the composition. May be it's the angle. Also the combination of the lack of happiness expression, the overexposure on part of her face and the upper body, soft subject (hard-to-see details on the gown) and the pale color tone of the image make this picture not work for me although it is a very good attempt.

[dche5390]

#1 the bride seems to detract from the awesomeness of the castle. Seems to be a clash in subjects there.

#2 is fantastic even on my crappy uncalibrated TN work monitor.

#3 love the lighting used

#5 this is where I turn nasty. Her face is OOF (slightly?), and the desaturation/de-vibrance used makes her skin tone zombie-like/dead. The facial expression isn't very appealing either unless you're going for bridezilla?

#6 Once again, the overall colour cast as a result of desat/de-vibrance takes the life out of the photo.

#7 is cute.

The bride has a great smile (as shown in #3), we need MORE of it! None of this sombre-depressing-I'm-married thing!

[Mhappy]

Beautiful work!!!! I love SNL's - "The Church Lady" stain glass windows too!

[Andi 1969]

love the movement in #2

[twistedinsight]

This is a great site, what a venue to shoot!

just a few thoughts:

1: i agree w/ the above comment about the clash for subjects. she is incredibly out of focus as well. beautiful symetry though!

2: this one seems to be the most in-focus shot of the group, but the focus seems to fall on her veil, not her eyes. beautiful shot though. I would watch tho, b/c it seems like you're shooting from a much lower angle, which makes her face look quite round

3: This is beautiful, possibly my favorite one of the bunch. i'd clone out the places on the ground that interrupt the beautiful wood flooring, though. Still, it seems to be out of focus...the window in the back seems to be more in focus than her eyes.

4: same as #3...out of focus

5: this entire image seems to be out of focus. some of the railing looks to be slightly in focus, but other than that...i'm sorry to be dwelling on this, but if you tried to blow this up it would have no detail at all

6: same as #5. beautiful setting...harsh light, but I think it really adds to the beautiful mood very well! oof

7: I take that back, this is the most focused of the set. Great moment captured of the father helping the bride!

I say all of this "OOF" not to nitpick, but it strikes me as odd that using the nie glass / bodies you have there that they are so out of focused...possibly some back focusing going on? It might be a mixture of not having much light to get a focus point before the strobe goes off, and then when the flash goes off the focus point has either jumped or was not set in the correct place to begin with, throwing the overall focus off.

Beautiful venue, can't wait to see the next set from here/you!

[digitalphotocandy]

What a great location. #2 is my favorite of the bunch.

[Shockey]

I looked at the gallery, there are some really nice shots in there.
She should be very happy with these.

[aroundlsu]

I looked at the gallery, there are some really nice shots in there.
She should be very happy with these.

Thanks. Yesterday they ordered 16x20s of:

0173
0232
0281
9476

They have already been printed and shipped. Gotta love Exposure Manager!!