Jennifer & Gerard Get Married!

Oh these were the days…

A few weeks ago I shot Jennifer and Gerard’s wedding. It was a beautiful day without even a hint of what is happening currently. As of now, all photo sessions are on hold due to the shelter in place order given to the area due to the Corona Virus pandemic. It’s a scary time, but at least this gives me a chance to catch up on the blog and look back at some recent shoots I’ve done.

I’ve said it before, but weddings are my favorite type of photography to do. Many photographers don’t like doing weddings because of the pressure of it all… but I love that feeling… and I love finding every moment to shoot. Jennifer and Gerard were married in Elk Grove on a beautiful sunny day. Their wedding was a traditional Catholic wedding so there were many details to photograph and film. For this wedding I handled both photography and videography by myself. It seems like a difficult task, but it certainly is doable given the modern equipment that is available for professionals nowadays. Because I do this all on my own, I am able to keep the price down for my customers. Of course, if a second shooter is desired, I can always provide one at a minimal cost.

Catholic weddings provide unique challenges as well as unique opportunities. There is a lot of grandeur and ritual to capture. Often times the church building is large with sweeping backdrops for the camera to pick up. All this can be a wedding photographer’s dream… but there is a catch. Much of the area is off-limits to the wedding photographer and videographer. Restrictions are put in place so there are many angles that simply are not available. In order to really capture a Catholic wedding, creativity and resourcefulness is a photographers best tools.

Because I had to be a distance away from much of the proceedings, employing a long reaching lens like the 70-200 2.8 professional zoom is a must. That particular lens allows me to get in close while still being far away. The images captured with that lens are also of the highest quality. It’s a ‘must-have’ lens in my opinion for capturing weddings. Many event photographers have a holy trinity of lenses to capture events - they include a 15-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8, and a 70-200 2.8. These three lenses pretty much will give you everything you need. The 2.8 aperture is great, but may not be enough if the lighting gets too dark. In that case I’d also recommend having a few very fast primes in the bag.

Moments during a wedding happen within a split second often times. I love the moment captured above of Jennifer putting Gerard’s wedding band on. I have to tell you… this was not an easy capture. In order for me to get this shot, I had to make sure I was in the right position so that the ring and fingers were not blocked by the bride and groom. The shutter speed on the camera had to be fast enough so that it could freeze the action without it blurring. And finally I had to have my focus be pinpoint accurate because of the distance I was shooting from. All those factors played out in creating this photograph. And all within a second. This is why you pay a professional photographer to capture your wedding!

Every photo captured is part of the greater wedding story. In order to tell a good story, you need to have varying elements. In photography, those elements are the close shots, medium shots, and wide shots. Having a variety of all of these gives a complete and interesting picture of the wedding. I aim to capture every moment in as many was as possible. A good zoom lens makes that possible.

The most important photo capture has got to be the moment when the bride and groom kiss. Sometimes the officiant of the wedding springs this moment at an unexpected time. As a professional photographer, you have to be at the right place in order to photograph it as it happens. It would be very nice if all couples held the first kiss for a minimum of three seconds, but that’s just not the case sometimes. As the photographer, I just have to be prepared at all times and know what is happening when it happens.

Wow, pretty close up photo of the rings, eh? This shot was taken using a special lens called a macro lens. These highly specific lenses are designed to be able to focus on a subject that is very close to it. Most lenses do not have this ability. If you’ve ever seen an extreme close up of a leaf or a photo of something really small like an insect, it was probably done with a macro lens. I use a macro lens to get ring shots such as these. I don’t really put the macro lens out for much else, but my clients appreciate that I have one to get these special photographs of their rings.

Photographing the cake is another challenge as often times it is placed in a space that makes it difficult to photograph. It’s up to the photographer to judge how to photograph the cake in the best possible light. I find that using natural light gives the cake a better look. Maybe 1 in 4 cakes are shot using either flash or lighting that I set up. Of course, you have to make sure you photograph the cake before it is cut into as well! Don’t neglect the cake! It’s one of the most important items of the entire day.

Ahh, the dancing. This is where some big decisions have to be made. Should flash photography be used or do you go with natural lighting. For 90% of weddings I’d say use the flash. The photos have a very nice quality to them when the flash is used appropriately. In this case, I went with natural lighting and a 50mm 1.2 lens. Going natural means you get all the light coming from the venue and DJ. If the images can be done clean enough, I think natural lighting photographs in low light can look great. It’s just that they are not easy to capture with most lenses.

Because I was shooting video at the same time, I had a nice static light on the cake cutting part of the reception. With a nice video light on the bride and groom, going without flash is totally fine. I love the color tones in the photo captured above.

I really hope that we can get through this Corona Virus pandemic soon. I really miss photographing events such as these. I have numerous weddings scheduled in the next few months. Here’s to praying that they won’t get cancelled!