Wednesday: The One That Got Away – So Beautiful, Almost

Good Morning Everybody,

Things are a little slower around here today with studio deliveries queued up and looking pretty good for the holidays.  The “Crazy Cabo Road Trip” details are coming together too. 

I’m testing a new camera out during this road trip.  I just ordered and received my brand new Fuji HS10 camera from B&H [link] which has a sale on them, BTW.  They call it a bridge camera – somewhere between enthusiast and pro-sumer. It’s getting great reviews [link] so I thought I’d take it out for a spin.

Here is what caught my eye about the camera – it’s a 10 meg camera with a zoom range from 24-750mm and image stabilized!!! It shoots RAW and Jpeg, and yes, it also shoots Hi-Def video!!!  It sounds like the everything kind of camera.  I’ll give it a workout over the next several days and report back to you.  Sometimes I wonder if there is a place in a pro’s gear bag for a niche camera like this – uhmmmm… – sound like a Food For Thought Friday post ;~)

Anyway, that’s the latest, so let’s get right on with today’s post.

Special CBTL 2010 Deals To Expire Soon!

Hey everybody, I wanted to remind you one more time about our CBTL tour specials which will be expiring at the end of the month.  I’ve posted all three design webcasts on line right here along with a description of the specials.  Don’t miss out on these great specials, so check them out right away!

The One That Got Away – So Beautiful, Almost

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of “The One That Got Away.”  This week we will discuss an image that is just so close – great lighting, good looking bride, great expressions – yep, it seems to have it all.  Checkout the image below to see what I’m talking about.

Let me point out some of the things that were just “nailed” in making this bridal portrait.

1 - Everything about the positioning of the bride is nearly perfect. Her body is turned away from the the incoming light creating lots of detail in the gown.

2 - The maker has her face turned back into the light into what we call a modified 2/3’s view and created a perfect loop lighting pattern on her face.

3 - The maker also assumed a lower camera position which lowered the horizon line thus creating a much more dramatic presentation of the bridal portrait.

4 – Lighting is perfect with a nice balance of ambient and flash exposure. The bride seems to “pop” from the composition.

So what’s the main problem with this image? 

Hit the “Read More…” link below for the rest of the story.

It comes down to this – it’s the bride’s positioning with respect to the crucifix in the background.  The one simple thing that could have been done to make this image really exciting is to position the bride to the left of the cross in the background, NOT the right of it.

Why, because the cross needs to offer a slight counter-balance to the bride’s position within this image.  With the cross BEHIND her, it seems she is moving out of the frame.  With the cross positioned in front of her, it would have created a “framing element” to keep her held better within the frame.

Take a look at a similar image below I showed during my CBTL2010 tour.The secret is to keep the cross from growing out of her head.  And the easiest way to do that is to have the subject looking into the direction of the cross, not away from it – it’s just works better compositionally.

Want to improve this composition even more?  By moving my camera position even more to the left, I was able to position my bride against a much less distracting background – check it out below.

Now the bride is framed up nicely within the blank wall behind her.  The cross now serves as a direct counter-balance to the subject creating a nice overall visual balance to the scene.

The easy rule of thumb is this.  Always have the subject looking in the direction of the cross in the background of the church.  It not only looks better but also “feels” better.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  We are heading to Dayton, Ohio to be LaDawn’s family for our Thanksgiving Day celebration in just an hour or two. Tomorrow I have a family portrait shoot right at noon, but I will be back for a few Thanksgiving Day thoughts.

Then on Friday we begin our long cross country journey – plan to stay tuned for the road show reports.  I’ll probably even keep them going over the weekend – assuming I can still type after a day’s driving ;~) and without LaDawn’s editing be ready for a mistake or two.

Have a great one and I'll see you then.  -David