May 30, 2009 was a busy day for weddings, and with the sunny & mild weather it was a great day for them! I don’t know any of my photographer friends that did NOT have a photo session or wedding on May 30th! In fact, I had TWO weddings on May 30th…. no I did not shoot them both at the same time, that’s where my Associate photographers come in =)
My friend & photographer Julia MacInnis joined me to cover Vanessa & Eric’s wedding day in Northern Virginia, while my friends & associate photographers Noah Hayes & Erin Rexroth covered Alison & Dustin’s wedding on Kent Island in Maryland… busy day for ARMIN DEFIESTA PHOTOGRAPHY!
I’ll share some favs from Alison & Dustin’s wedding on a later date. But for now, enjoy some of my favs from Vanessa & Eric’s wedding.
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- Photographers: Taken with my Canon 5D Mark II w/24-70mm f/2.8L. Exposure: 1/400 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 6400. I love the mood in this image.
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- Vanessa looked amazing & elegant
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- These two made it look so easy… NOTE: Next door to this spot was MVC, an adult video store in Springfield. We didn’t care! Plus it made for a funny story later. I really liked the lines of the pedestrian stairway that I just had to stop & use it! PHOTOGRAPHERS: There was a LOT of distractions I had to frame out before pressing the shutter – the Backlick Road overpass above, Old Keene Mill Rd immediately to the right of the image, and a few parked vehicles outside MVC Late Night Video store. Taken with my 5D Mark II w/70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure: 1/320 sec, f/4.0, ISO 125.
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- I like to capture different perspectives of a location. This was shot in portrait orientation with the lines of the stairway railing leading to the couple in the right third of the image. Other than resizing & a slight contrast boost for the blog, the image is mostly straight-out-of-camera.
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- This is at the same location, but behind the MVC store. The location may seem like an unlikely spot for “pretty” photos, but you have to learn to seek out the big picture (pun!). Here I was drawn to the lines of the overpass walls and big blue sky that adds that splash of color contrast. I placed Vanessa in the right third of the image because the lines of the overpass naturally lead your eye in that direction. Photographers: I had Julia hold my Canon 580exII strobe off to my left which was triggered with Pocket Wizards. I underexposed the sky and environment while the flash in manual mode did the rest at full power. Other than desaturating it down 15% and a contrast bump 15%, nothing else was done to the image other than resizing for the blog. I don’t usually desaturate my images, but I wanted to experiment a bit with a different look. Exposure: 1/200 sec | f/9.0 | ISO 100.
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- Here again was another compositional challenge. The MVC adult video store was an unlikely photo location, no joke. Even so, if you train yourself to seek out things like lines, light, color & contrast, any location is possible. This image was a simple rule-of-thirds approach. A plain background with the couple framed to the right third. Vanessa, Eric, and the bouquet add that splash of color & contrast. Simple, effective elements I used to create an image I’m happy with.
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- These stairs were located at the back of the store and I was immediately drawn to the lines & color. Photographers: I had Julia aim the strobe at the couple from my far right to minimize shadows as much as possible. As you can see, there’s still some shadows from the stairway railing. But it actually adds something interesting to the image. If I could do it again and had the time to set up some equipment, I would’ve brought in a lift of some kind to raise my light source at the couple’s eye level or higher and aim downward. I might even use a more power light source like a White Lightning strobe & bring the power down to cool down the light, maybe even add a soft box. When it comes to most weddings though, you’re bound by tighter time constraints and the portable goodies you bring. Other than resizing for the web and branding, the image was straight-out-of-camera (SOOC). Exposure: 1/200 sec | f/9.0 | ISO 100.
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- Gotta love a Mariachi Band! Taken with my 5D Mark II w/my 85mm f/1.8 lens. Exposure: 1/125 sec | f/2.0 | ISO 6400. White Balance set to 2500 “K” or Kelvin. I like to use Kelvin to minimize orange skin tones and overly warm tones. Something I picked up from Bob Davis a while back. This room had very warm tones making Auto White Balance out of the question if I wanted to save post-processing time. Just by trial & error, I knew this would require an extremely cooler temp/Kelvin setting.
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- Vanessa & Eric had a fun dance routine for their first dance as husband & wife. Photographers: Again my 5D Mark II serves me well. I used my 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto lens, which I like to use a lot for these type of dance shots. I like to set up at least one remote strobe/flash in manual mode triggered with a Pocket Wizard, usually around 1/8 or 1/16 power. I like shooting into the remote strobe to get that cool starburst effect. Exposure: 1/160 sec | f/3.2 | ISO 1250.
CONGRATULATIONS VANESSA & ERIC!!
by Armin
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