Having a portrait of the bride done before the wedding is something all photographers should think about doing. Besides the extra revenue, it provides confidence not only for the bride, but for yourself especially if you are a new photographer. If you don’t have in mind what you’re going to do in posing, you may be setting yourself up for failure. If you are new, have a set of posing thumbnails to review and keep close while at the session. I remember when I was first starting out I had a cheat sheet right next to me. Take a look at a session on how to light and pose a seated bride portrait.
This post used with permission from Rick Ferro and ShootSmarter.com
I know we are all used to seeing the Bride looking at the camera, but for me looking off camera is more powerful and timeless. Watch your body language, notice I had her slightly turn her shoulder on the left towards me to give it more sex appeal.
Lighting: I have designed a complete layout of how to light a seated bride.
I recommend you print out this schematic and post it close to you for a reference point. It will give you consistency every time. Note: If you’re going to take a break and shut the lights off, give them about 5 minutes to warm up again.
Lighting Resource: FJ Westcott Spiderlites
They are daylight balanced. They don’t have heat and what you see is what you get. First, set your meter at 800 as well as your camera. Position the model so that the light you are adding compliments her bridal attire. All dresses have detail especially a wedding dress. So it is important that the lighting causes beautiful shadows and depths that will show details like pearls and lace. Start with the Main light first it should be high enough and off to the side as seen in the photo. Main light metered at f 5.6, Fill metered at f 4, Kickers metered at f 4, and one Reflector. Every light and reflector must be in place before you take the final reading with your meter. The final exposure for this image was f 6.3 @ 1/60
I wanted to point out that you may need to invest in a posing stool and a posing table. First: Put a good size pillow on the table, and then pull her wedding dress over the pillow this makes it look like the whole dress is covering the table. Second: The arms and hands need to rest comfortable in order to do what you want them to do eventually and that is to make graceful. You will have to learn to be hands-on touching the client; whether it’s forming their hands or pulling their temples of their face forward to eliminate a double chin or two. I know it’s uncomfortable for some of you, but its part of what we do to make a successful image. Practice on your family first.
This is a great example what a reflector does, it becomes another light. The reflector is harnessing all the lights and spilling back on the subject.
I am explaining to the class that the final image should be shot as a horizontal image. Leave enough room so you will have the ability to make a very large portrait.
Once the lighting is set up, you can now get more creative with tilting the lens. When using flowers as a prop I think we should minimize them in the image. As you can see I place the flowers to the complete the corner of the frame further away from the main light. Tip: If you place the flowers on the side of the light they may be over exposed and hard to correct in Photoshop.
This is very important: my goal is two things. First, turn the face into the light until you don’t see her ear on the left side or highlight side. Second, move the Main light high enough you will see a triangle of light form on the shadow side of her face. I have placed an arrow where the triangle is.
Hand Pose: Start by placing one hand behind her neck and then try to spread the fingers up the wrist you want the fingers to overlap. You also want her to slightly drop her right shoulder. I highly recommend you have her smile and then don’t smile for the second shot. I am using Nik Filters to soften her skin; it’s called Dynamic Skin Softener. I’m using custom white balance.
This is a different pose as you will see but my lighting has not changed at all.
The upper body has to lean forward enough to make the image more appealing. If you go behind the bride back place your fingers on her spine and push her forward ever so slightly, Monte Zucker used to call it over the belt buckle. The last thing is to spread out the veil so it has flare; I have an assistant on each side of her out of view. The flowers are still in the shadow area even though they are more in the middle. I hope this lesson will help you when seating a bride for her portrait session.
Please visit my new teaching website www.rickferro.com and check out my blog.
Please email me if you want me to address other photographic ideas.
All my best,
Rick
This post used with permission from Rick Ferro and ShootSmarter.com