Photographing the wedding gown
12.17.09 / behind the camera, musings, wedding HELP!!!! / Author: G.E. Masana
Tags: photography of the wedding gown
Hi guys! Thought today I’d blog about something that drives me nuts about newbie wedding photographers, but it’s a good rant because it’s educational! Not only for photographers at the start of their careers but also for brides and grooms-to-be looking through photographers’ portfolios because this will make you more savvy about what to watch for.
Our eyes are amazing contraptions. They work way better than cameras do. For example, you know how you can see a white dress and also see the details in it, without the details being washed out by the brightness of the gown? The way we make out details of white on white is to see shadows that depict the details. We take it for granted that we can see these highlights and shadows at the same time.
The way your eye works, it’s actually looking at the brightness of the white gown, but then instantaneously the very next split mini micro fraction of a second later, your iris closes down to let in less light so that the details can be seen better. Both images are then combined together in your mind in that amazing fast sliver of a moment, making it appear to you that you’re actually seeing it all at the same time.
Pretty impressive, eh?
But cameras don’t work as well as that. They either record the white gown or record the details, but typically not both if the latitude of exposure between the two is too great. The photographer typically has to choose whether to expose for the bride’s face or for the gown’s details, and guess what’s going to take precedence? Unless you want a super dark face in the image, the face will be exposed properly and the gown becomes “blown out”, meaning it will appear all white, losing all the details.
Lots of photographers, experienced or not, don’t even think about the gown being blown out in their images. But I think brides want to see the details in their gown, no? I mean, aren’t the details one of the top two reasons a bride loves her gown (the other being how amazing she looks in it)? So a good photographer ought to be rendering the gown with detail and not distributing images where the gown looks like some big white sheet hung flapping on the bride.
The other thing that drives me bonkers is the blue tinge that digital gives the gown. Lots of photographers overlook that too and don’t eliminate it from their photos. We must be so used to seeing this in mages that we don’t ever seem to notice it – until someone points it out.
Here’s a couple of images I found on the web of photographers blowing out the highlights in the gowns and overlooking those blue tones just so you can see what I’m talking about. I’m not picking on these particular photographers, any google image search will bring up scores more, as this happens all too commonly:
Here’s an image of mine where I’ve made the gown’s details evident and any blue tone on the white fabric has been taken out. Makes a big difference, no?:
click here to see my wedding website.
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