Being a wedding photographer requires all sorts of photography skills. We need to be portrait photographers, still life and macro photographers, architectural photographers as well as being skilled at working with people, managing time and occasionally providing counselling, guidance, and reassurance! It is a wonderful occupation if sometimes a little hectic and can be quite stressful at times, but the results can be extremely pleasing not only for our couples but also for us. Creating an interesting image or a piece of art can be a satisfying and rewarding experience.
One of these photography skills, portrait photography was used to create this image of our bride shortly before her wedding and it is one of my favourite pictures from the day. I really love taking bridal portraits. This is one of the best and most flattering angles to photograph a bride from and gives an amazingly flattering look. The eyes are sharp and in focus while the rest of the portrait fades out of focus. The greater the distance from the focal plane, the greater the degree of “out of focus” in the image to the point where the floor and the background isn’t in focus at all with no distracting discernible features. Of course, you need a bride who is capable and willing to sit on the floor, as the photographer you also need something to stand on like a chair, a wide windowsill or something similar to gain the necessary height and angle to make the image work when shooting with an 85mm lens, the best focal length for these circumstances.
This Bridal portrait was prior to the wedding of Amy and Chris at Christchurch Hackenthorpe in Sheffield and was taken as part of the bridal preparations or “getting ready” part of the day at the bride’s parents’ home. Amy’s bridal gown was stunning and Amy, together with her new husband are a wonderful couple. Between the ceremony and the reception, we stopped off in Sheffield's wonderful Botanical Gardens for a few photographs of the bride and groom in this wonderful Sheffield park. The wedding car for this wedding was very interesting, particularly for Amy’s father, it came in the form of a vintage split screen 1967 Volkswagen camper van and was a beautiful vehicle supplied by Vintage VolksWeddings of Sheffield. The Wedding reception was at the Rutland Hotel which is very close to the Botanical Gardens.
Keywords: bridal portrait (17), Bride (42). 1/200; f/1.8; ISO 100; 85.0 mm.