It's Whirlwind Wednesday and Urban Wedding Photography Today!

Good Afternoon Everybody,

We are flying up the road to Chicago as I blog this post - yes, LaDawn is driving;~)  We should land in Chicago at around two o'clock this afternoon. We are meeting my friend Ted Suss who is planning to give us a tour of Neil Enterprises. Neil Enterprises markets many, many promotional items for professional photographers.

I happen to be a BIG fan of their self stick albums. We keep several albums on hand for a quick vendor promotional sample album or gift sample for friends and family. Neil Enterprises prices are always super reasonable and I'm always surprised at the new products continue to develop and promote. Here is the link to their site.

I'm changing up the post today.  Tomorrow, time permitting, I'll plan to wrap our Portrait Day Wednesday series. Since the main topic of this week's post is dealing with how to proceed with the sale to the client, I thought the topic would be best served in tomorrow's Business Day Thursday post.

So if you’ve been following along the weekly series - you're right, I'm doing Portrait Day Wednesday on Thursday this week. Is that confusing enough for everybody? But, don't despair I've got good things coming your way today. So let's get right to them.

Update On Next Week's Lighting, Lenses, and Composition Webinar

Hey folks, we still have plenty of good seats for next week's Lighting, Lenses, and Composition Webinar [direct registration link].  Be sure to use DISCOUNT CODE WEBLLC09 to receive the special $19.95 pricing. Hit the "more Information" button for additional    program details. 

I've received several emails from our DigitalProTalk readers with a few concerns about the 2:00 P.M. time slot. No problem!

Here's what I've worked out. Still plan on registering for the webinar even if you can't attend. You will receive a email within 24 hours confirming your registration.  For all those attendees registering but needing to miss the broadcast because of scheduling, I'll forward you a link where you will be able to hear the webinar again in its entirety at no charge.

In 90 minutes, we should be able to cover lots of very solid information on lighting and composition.  I hope you will plan to attend.

Wedding Photography - A Different Way To See

You know, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on this blog talking about lighting, lenses, and composition. I always enjoy designing the images around the various compositional dynamics that I've learned over the years.  We've discussed many of those compositional rules here at DigitalProTalk.

I've also enjoyed using of my dramatic lighting on my signature wedding images. Exciting lighting and good composition always seems to make them stand out from the competition and have consistently allowed me to differentiate myself from the crowd.  But today I want to discuss with you another style of imagery that may help your photography stand out from the crowd. The topic today - Urban Wedding Photography.

I know what you're thinking, "What is Ziser talking about?" Do he mean running through the streets of downtown Cincinnati with the bridal couple?"  Well, yes, that is kind of what I mean.

I got the whole idea a couple weeks ago when we were invited guests in Dayton, Ohio for LaDawn's nephew's wedding. The wedding was being photographed by my good friend, Mark Garber.  Part of Mark's coverage included a trip to a nearby community where he had previously staked out some very colorful and dynamic locations.

These locations were full of vivid colors and textures.  After seeing some of the images, I thought what a great way to create a different stylized look and capture a change from traditional wedding imagery. I think Mark must have found about the brightest colored buildings in the area.  With these backgrounds, the images take on almost a fashion shoot appeal and look.   Mark seems to use these locations for not just weddings but also for his high school senior portraits too.  Here is the link to Mark's blog that feature many images from  Jason and Tiffany's wedding.  You can check out his studio website right here - enjoy.

Sure, you compose the image with the rule of thirds. Sometimes you can add dramatics to the image with very dramatic lighting. But Mark's photographs show that we can also bring bright colors and vivid backgrounds in our imagery to give them a look that is far different from what we typically see in everyday wedding photography.

I decided to cruise the Internet and see if I could find any more samples of similar "Urban Wedding Photography".  I simply Googled "urban wedding photography" and  I found some very interesting sites available. Take a look at our second site - SteveZ Photography blog [link].  Steve has some very unusual and exciting urban images on his site.  Be sure to scroll down to see them all - I love his use of light - lots of good ideas here.

Andy and Angie Wood also have some nice images over at their blog too [link].  Lots of examplesimages showing some very good examples of the urban wedding photography look.  Another great find was over at Utah Bride blog [link].  They are showing some very cool images using not only locations but also some very creative use of lighting - I find the "hard" shadows in some of their shots especially refreshing.  Be sure to take a peek.

You may be asking, "What in the world do these kinds of images have to do with wedding photography?"  Well gang, you could make the same argument about bride's standing on hills with the wind blowing. Or, how about all the outdoor bridals we see so often - mine included?

Isn't the bottom line this - the goal is to produce exciting wedding images for our clients.  Nobody has ever said outdoor bridal portraits had to taken in a park.  Outdoors can be anywhere - anywhere that provides exciting colorful, compositional photographic possibilities for your client.

It's time to do your homework.  Hit the road, search your neighborhoods and communities and see what kind of cool urban locations you can find.  Make color one of the main criteria in your search.  Visit the links above to give you some good ideas.  Now let's make it interesting. 

Let's have a contest. Post your best bridal images to DigitalProTalk's Flickr group right here.  Be sure to tag each image with the word "urban". If we have 25 or more DPT readers submit their best images, I'll pick a winner.  The prize - a $50 gift card from B&H.  I’ll let the challenge run till August 15 - about 4 weeks from now and see what exciting new creative images are submitted.

I think this will force all of us to see a bit differently and as a result, bring some brand new creativity to our photography.

Hey everybody, that's it for me today. I've got to put a few finishing touches on my program for this evening.  I hope to see a few of our DPT readers there this evening. See everybody tomorrow for our Portrait Day Wednesday on Business Day Thursday;~)  See ya' then,  -David