”Too Beautiful For Words”

”Too Beautiful For Words”
©David A. Ziser

This is probably my favorite image from the Bulgarian State Opera House shooting session.  Why?  Because of it’s “wide angle wonderfulness”!  I’m always stoked by the ultra wide view of my Sigma 12-24mm lens.  In this spectacular setting, the wide angle view really added to the ultra dramatic look of this image.

Composition was simple – I simply centered the subject in the middle of the frame and lined up the edge of the frame with the horizontal lines on the floor to add to the perfect centered symmetry.  The easy pose and beautiful lighting did the rest to make this a beautiful bridal image.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 12mm, 1/20 second at F5.6, ISO 1600.  Lighting camera left with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella. Additional backlighting supplied by a second Canon speed-light positioned on the floor about 12 feet behind the bride. And a third speed-light behind the bride illuminating the ceiling behind and above her. Enjoy!  -David

More Slovenian Travels & Budapest Master Class Update: A Day At The Opera – Part 2

Good Morning Everybody,

Yesterday we headed out to explore more of the countryside. We had heard about the quaint little town of Ptuj – pronounced pa-too-ee – I know, our letters in the US don’t sound the same in other parts of the world but with a little practice you eventually figure it out ;~)  Anyway, Ptuj is the oldest town in Slovenia and is located on the Drava River. It also is home to one of the oldest wine cellar in Slovenia dating back to 1239.  You guessed it – we had to take the 90 minute tour.

We also toured the Ptuj Castle as well which turned out to be quite a nice surprise with so much to see from the castle including rich historical details,  to 15th and 16th century paintings, weapons,  armor, musical instruments, and cultural costumes.  It was a very nice day in Ptuj. 

We then discovered we were less that an hour from Zagreb, Croatia.  We decided to add a third country to our itinerary for the day.  After a few passport checks we were on our way.  Zagreb was a busy, bustling city of nearly one million people.  We also hit it during rush hour and were stuck in traffic for a while.

The first thing that hit LaDawn and I was the amount of graffiti painted everywhere – a real turn off for the both of us.  But in all fairness we need to give the city a second look since it is always on the recommended list of most travel guides.

We finally got back to our cottage about 6:15, just in time to enjoy the evening sunset and a glass of fine Slovenian wine.  It was a good day.

OK gang, that was the travel update.  Now let’s get on with more images and descriptions from my Master Class two weeks ago – here we go…

Budapest Master Class Update: A Day At The Opera – Part 2

I mentioned a few days ago that the highlight of my Master Class with my good friend Clay Blackmore was shooting at the famed Hungarian State Opera House.  Check out  A Day At The Opera – Part 1 right here.  I had so many favorite images from that day’s shoot, I decided to spread them out over two posts.  Good news – today I finally get to show you the rest of my FAVS.  I hope you enjoy them.

After shooting on the main staircase of the Opera House from about every conceivable angle, I couldn’t resist trying a few more locations.  We had three instructors working at this location – that would be Clay, Jared Platt – our Lightroom instructor who was also on board for the week, and myself. With a little exploration of the surrounds here are a few more images from the day’s session.

Photo 1: I wondered out onto the balcony to see what was happening – photographically speaking.  The street surrounds were cluttered with buildings, power lines, signs, cars, trucks, pedestrians etc.  It was mid-day direct sun-light, not the ideal lighting but often what we face on a wedding day. I did spot an area that I thought would make for a nice portrait of our Daniel Craig look-a-like male model. I’m thinking…. if I can really constrict the background and just use the windows of the building across the street as my background, those windows would create the repeating element I’m often seeking to enhance my portraits. It became a tight crop but I think it worked well for this image.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 200mm, 1/500 second (HSFS) at F5.6, ISO 200.  Lighting camera right, Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite directly.

Photo2:  This image was made from the balcony of the Opera House as I looked down at the street below.  While photographing the portrait above, I looked over to the street below and loved the lines I saw in my potential composition. Look at the gentle S-curve line running through the scene just to the right of the bride.  The row of traffic barriers across the top of the image served to frame out the top part of the composition. The street lamp offered a nice visual balance to the rest of the scene.

All I had to do was light my subject.  That was accomplished by having my assistant, Roland in this case, bring the light in from camera right.  I got the direction of light I wanted without having to settle for the less dramatic/flat natural light.  I love how the image turned out.

DAZNOTE:  Roland was pretty close to the subject to get the intensity of light on the subject that I wanted.  In fact, he was in the image.  But, like I’ve said many, many times, when you need to photograph your assistant to capture the lighting needed to enhance your image, be sure they are in a “Photoshop-able” area of the scene so you can simply remove them in post ;~)

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 50mm, 1/800 second (HSFS) at F5.6, ISO 200.  Lighting camera right with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite directly.

Photo 3: On our way back into the Opera House, LaDawn suggested that I make an image at the main entrance and try to pick up the beautiful ceiling detail.  I thought it was a great idea and we set up the shot. 

The problem was that the ambient light was so bright, we were going to lose the ceiling detail in the exposure.  I decided to not only backlight the bride, but light the ceiling as well with a third Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite directed toward the ceiling. I got the exact result I wanted.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12 – 24 mm lens at 22mm, 1/200 second at F5.6, ISO 200.  Lighting camera right with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella. Additional backlighting supplied by a second Canon speed-light and a third speed-light on the ground, behind the bride pointed towards the domed ceiling above the bride.

Photos 4, 5, and 6: Next we headed back into the Opera House.  Everyone else was hanging out on the second floor of the building which gave me complete reign on the first floor and what spectacular sights awaited us! Just look at the architecture and detail of the mosaic tile work throughout the floors, walls, and ceiling – unbelievable!!!

Lighting was basically the same for each of these three images – one on the bride, one for backlighting, and one on the ceiling behind and above the bride.  The only real change was in camera position or lens zoom setting to modify the composition and/or crop of the images. Pretty cool, don’t you think?

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 24mm, 20mm, and 22mm respectably, 1/20 second at F5.6, ISO 1600.  Lighting camera left in the first image, then moved my assistant to camera right with Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella for the second and third images. Additional backlighting supplied by a second Canon speed-light positioned on the floor about 12 feet behind the bride. A third speed-light behind the bride illuminating the ceiling behind and above her.

Photos 7 and 8: As I continued to explore the surrounds I discovered a great vantage point with me laying on the ground shooting up to the ceilings of the other floor levels above me.  WOW! What a site.  It was tricky to get the bride in a somewhat comfortable position – I was in “pain” by the way laying on my back in a half “sit-up” position to frame the bride up the way I wanted.  Who says wedding photograph can’t improve your abs :~)

Again, exposure and lighting was pretty much the same as with the previous three images with the addition of that third light illuminating the ceiling above and behind the bride.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with my Sigma 12–24 mm lens at 22mm, and 13mm respectably, 1/20 and 1/30 second respectably at F5.6, ISO 1600.  Lighting camera right for the first image then camera left for the second image using a  Canon 600 EX-RT speed-lite through my Zumbrella. Additional backlighting supplied by a second Canon speed-light positioned on the floor behind the bride. And a third behind the bride illuminating the ceiling behind and above her.

There you have it, a great set of images from a super fun filled day of shooting at the Bulgarian State Opera House.  Boy, I can’t wait to go back – maybe next year :~)

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Hey gang, that’s going to wrap it for today.  I’ve got one more day of shooting to share with you so I hope you’ll check back.  It’s another fine set of images I think you’ll enjoy.

Have a great one and I’ll see you soon,

David

”The Eyes Of Love"

”The Eyes Of Love"
©David A. Ziser

This is one of my favorite images I captured of Mimi this past weekend. The window light was just gorgeous pouring in from the balcony patio door of their home.  I asked Mimi to get comfortable is a small sofa by the window so that the light would fall softly on her face.

Next I simply turned her face to the light till I had the look I wanted.  Mimi's eyes just came alive in the beautiful soft light.  The bride's soft expression, can’t-take-your-eyes-off eyes, and easy soft light resulted in this amazing portrait.

Converting the image to B&W and adding a few tweaks in Lightroom 5 gave me the image I wanted.

Camera specs; Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm lens at 154mm, F6.3 @ 1/160 second, ISO 1600. Enjoy! -David

"Come Fly With Me"

"Come Fly With Me"
©David A. Ziser

In this composition, what really appealed to me was the rich stained-glass window colors in the hotel lobby. I also thought that the long diagonal lines of the ceiling lights were quite interesting. So I thought, “If I can arrange her in a diagonal like pose, I could create a fairly dramatic photograph of my bride.” This is a result of my pre-visualization for the photograph. I'm really quite happy with the result.

Notice too how I have her positioned at nodal point #4 in the composition – bottom right part of the frame. The lines in the composition visually seem to want to rush out and meet her. Her lean and the positioning of her arms and hands in this pose further add to the “motion” one feels in this composition.

DAZNOTE: When posing hands and arms, it’s a good idea visually to have the hands at different levels – it just seems to look better balanced that way.

Lighting was easy.  I simply illuminated her with one Canon 600 EX-RT speed-light passing through my Zumbrella about six feet away camera right.  I let the flash and camera do all the exposure calculations and tweak the exposure by reading the histogram as needed. The off-camera flash adds a pleasing dimensional lighting to the portrait.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark III fitted with 24-105mm IS lens at 24mm, F5.0 @ 1/125 second, ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

An Image Peek From My Spain Workshop Or Variations On A Wide Angle Lens Theme

Good Morning Everybody,

Things are coming together… slowly but surely around the studio.  In effect, when we returned from our travels, we walked right into the holiday rush. That’s not a bad thing – it just means that we hit the ground running. We should be in pretty good shape by this time next week and we’re keeping all of our clients happy – the most important goal for any business.  Anyway, on with today’s post.

An Image Peek From My Spain Workshop Or Variations On A Wide Angle Lens Theme

I promised you a peek at some of the photographs I captured during my Spain Workshop. Today I’d like to share with you a couple of those images. As I was preparing for today's post, the number of images I was selecting was getting quite large so I decided to break it down into a smaller selection of images for today. I think there just may be a Technique Tuesday or two in the making here ;~)  So that being said let's get on with the image preview.

Photo #1:

This is just a simple, traditional portrait of our bride taken in the lobby of the same hotel as the Image of the Day post above.  The camera’s vantage point is slightly higher so we see more of the floor in this image. Lighting was from camera right from my  remotely fired Canon 600 TX – RT strobe.  I used the beer koozie (never leave home without one) to control the cone of light illuminating the subject. It really gave us a nice spot light affect on the bride.

Photo #2:

Next we moved to an area of the hotel opposite the registration area. What I loved about this location was the long strong diagonal lines that I saw in the ceiling. To accentuate those lines my camera's position was going be quite low and, as you can see from this photograph, so I positioned the bride a few steps up so that I'm actually below the floor on which the bride is standing.

We brought the light in from camera right to create the loop lighting pattern on her face. I carefully positioned her head within the ceiling’s architectural elements to create this quite dramatic wide-angle portrait of our bride.

Photo #3:

From the previous photograph you can see that the window light was coming in quite heavily from the left. I wasn't sure if I liked the bride looking away from that bright light source so, in this image I chose to reposition the bride to face camera left. This was the same direction as the light was coming through the large span of windows and created a much more believable, natural light on the bride. To be consistent with the strong directional room lighting I also brought my off-camera flash, my Canon 600 EX-RT speed light, in from the left as well.

In this image I also wanted to create a much smaller cone of light so that I wouldn’t have any extraneous light hitting the ceiling to draw viewer’s attention away from my main subject. I shared a different lighting technique by just manually zooming the flash to create that smaller cone of light which created for me the nice natural falloff on the bride.  The zoomed speed-light creates sort of that Hollywood lighting effect that I often bring to my portrait sessions. But, when I look at this image I thought it could be enhanced a bit more with a little backlighting.

Photo #4:

In this image I simply added another Canon 600 TX-RT speed-light placed on the floor behind the bride. I love how I can control the light output of both flash units –  the one coming from camera left and the one behind the bride separately with my on-camera speed-light. Canon’s new speed-lighting system gives me maximum flexibility when setting up these kinds of lighting situations.

The position of the bride's head against the ceiling was most important to me. I didn't want any of the sharp lines or angles hitting her right in the head so I carefully positioned her head in front of a less busy area of the ceiling.

But, do I have any reservations with this image?  I do in this regard. I'm looking at the shadow being cast on the steps camera right. Sure, I can fix it in Photoshop but, a softer light source coming in from camera left may have solved my problem a bit more easily. The problem with using a softer light like shooting through my Zumbrella would've added a complication to the ceiling by illuminating the ceiling as well. This is one of the situations where we have to make a compromise. I think I prefer the lighting on the bride alone without allowing too much light to reflect on the ceiling. It allows the bride to just “pop” out of the scene - which is really what I wanted.

Photo #5:

I solved a little bit of my shadow problem, mentioned above, by using a slightly tighter crop in this image. I still think this is a very nice three-quarter length portrait of our beautiful bride. The backlighting “pops” her very effectively from the background and I really like the beautiful dimensional lighting on her face. I'm pretty happy with how these photographs evolved.

This is important: We have to remember one thing when using small light sources. Be sure that the bride's bouquet is slightly behind her gown. I let the bride's bouquet come a bit too far forward in this image and, as you can see, the light has cast the bride's bouquet shadow across her gown. This is a common and easy mistake that we just need to keep in mind and be aware of whenever taking bridal photographs with smaller light sources. We always have to be aware of just how the shadows are going to fall on the scene to avoid the ugly shadows!

Photo #6:

This image is exactly the same lighting set-up as the image we see above. The only difference is I chose a vertical crop. Look how that crop really affects how you perceive the image.  The vertical crop really enhances the strong diagonal lines that we see in the ceiling.  And, I think, adds a stronger element into the composition that renders itself a bit unusual in this dramatic bridal portrait.

In looking back over the previous photographs you may prefer the horizontal image instead but this post is really a visual exercise on how I “see” when composing my images.  That’s particularly true in these last five images.  They are just my variations on a mostly wide angle theme.

When I'm shooting I'm constantly thinking about how I might improve or change the final portrait. I can easily do that with wide angle lenses or by changing the crop from vertical to horizontal. I'm also thinking about how I can best light the subject in the situations and conditions I find myself in on the day of a wedding.  Do I want the subject backlit?  Do I need to keep the light from falling onto the ceiling – or pews – or marble tiled alter…?  How and where will the shadows fall?  These are all important considerations when designing your images. That is – if you want the best result not just for you but your client as well.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today. I'm still working hard on trying to get the final details worked out on our PhotoPro Expo for next February. Even though it still three months away we’ve got to get all the marketing pieces ready to go and get the website 100% complete. So, that makes a push time for us around here today. That said, let me wish everyone a great weekend and I'll see you again next week.

Adios, David

Technique Tuesday: Happy B-Day & New Orleans Wedding Shoot – Part Two

Good Afternoon Everybody,

First off, let me thank everyone for all the birthday wishes that came pouring in from around the world.  I read each and everyone of them and really THANK YOU all for the very kind thoughts. Yes, it’s another year older for me today – should I try that box of Grecian Formula or not ;~) All joking aside, a person is as old as they feel and I really don’t feel as old as I’m suppose to be.  I think it comes down to how one embraces life, always looking on the bright side, and always embracing all the new challenges that we sometimes must face.

This past weekend, after all the trials and tribulations of dealing with 3 cancelled Delta flights, and all the frustrations in trying to get my daughter, Elizabeth into town, I can happier report that we all had a great weekend even though it was much shorter than expected.  The highlight of the weekend had to be the trip to Kings Island and the marathon riding of the coasters. 

I remember a few years ago, I mentioned to LaDawn that I felt my coaster days were over. I was heading into that 6th decade of my life and felt like I was needing to slow down.  Part of those feelings were due to the extra weight I had put on and an overall felling of losing some of my never-ending energy. 

But about 4 months ago a few students in my Master Class and I were discussing getting and staying in shape. They convinced me it was my time to take the “bull by the horns” and do something about how I was feeling. The following week I began my journey to do just that. Now 4 months later I’m walking 7-8 miles a day, eating sensibly, and am currently 50 pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of my journey 4 months ago.  I felt alive again – and ready for the Kings Island coasters!!!

Now you have to picture this.  I am quite literally the “most senior” person in all the coaster lines.  I read with trepidation all the cautions about riding the coasters with bad backs or necks, high blood pressure, and the myriad listing of ailments that I probably have to some degree or another.  But, none of that deters me away from a great coaster ride. And, I want the front car too!!

Anyway, this weekend showed me that I have a few more years in me to ride the great coasters of the world and I can’t wait!!! Alright gang, time to get back to our regularly scheduled feature – Technique Tuesday.

Technique Tuesday: New Orleans Wedding Shoot – Part Two

As I’ve previously mentioned, we had a great time in New Orleans a few weeks ago. My wedding shoot-out was a kick because I got the opportunity to shoot with the new Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites and I really put them through their paces. In my first post about my shooting experience [link1], I covered a lot of details about the strobes. I also posted two other very informative articles covering my use of the strobes that you can find right here - [link2 and link3].

In today's shoot I will walk you through several more images from that session. As I review the series of images I’ll discuss the lighting, the exposure, and the compositional challenges we faced during that shoot. I was thrilled with the results that I was getting.  During that class-time, the bride had her mother with her, so I shared all the images with her mother as well as with the bride.  The bride and her mother were both ecstatic over the results.  

Why not hit the PLAY button below and let me share a few more those images with you here today.  I think you'll enjoy the show.

Other links discussed in today’s post:

Quick Hit Monday: My First Day With Canon 600EX-RT Speedlights–WOW!

Technique Tuesday On Wednesday: New Orleans Wedding Shoot - Part 1

Bonus Post: Canon 600EX-RT Works Great For Reception Photography

Canon 600 EX-RT speedlite info: [link]

David Ziser’s 42” Zumbrella: [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for this Birthday Boy today.

Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you soon, David

"Big Easy Afternoon"

"Big Easy Afternoon"
© David A. Ziser

I love this image of our bride photographed in the hotel lobby.  The large lobby offered a great space for this very elegant bridal portrait.  The challenge was with the lighting.  I wanted to still pick up some of the color in the sky you see in the distant window and had to be careful to select the exposure settings that would not blow out the detail in the sky.

I also knew I had some software solutions up my sleeve that might help achieve my goal. Yep, Lightroom 4 could be called upon to help save the day so I made the exposure knowing I had LR4 in my back pocket to help me get to my finished result.

The initial exposure showed a way too dark background.  I decided to add an accent light coming in from camera right and slightly behind the subject. The added light and slowing down the shutter speed helped opened up the background.

The lighting on the bride coming in from camera left and the other lighting considerations above gave me a very simple, yet elegantly portrait of our beautiful bride.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark lll fitted with Sigma 12-24mm lens at 24mm, F10 @ 1/50 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  David

"Stairway To Happiness"

"Stairway To Happiness"
© David A. Ziser

Here is one of my favorite images from my Friday Wedding Shoot down here in New Orleans.  We were working in the Westin Hotel on Canal Street, a very busy hotel – it was booked at 100% – but still we managed to pull off this very cool wedding image.

Obviously the staircase works as a great background for this wedding portrait.  In fact on Saturday, we saw a photographer also “working the steps”.  I liked the stairs from ground level but after heading up the stairs and viewing the composition from the second floor, I liked this view even more.  Look how the stairs just sweep your eyes right down to the bride. The stairs also offer the perfect framing elements for this beautiful bridal portrait.

Lighting was a “piece of cake”. I had one of the class members holding one of my Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites about 12-15 feet coming in from camera left.  I was also using my 42” Zumbrella to soften the light on my bride.  Be sure to catch the discussion below about I I used the Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites for this shoot.

I then asked LaDawn to grab a second speedlite and place it behind the bride to highlight the veil.  I need to mention that both Canon 600 EX-RT speedlites were flying on totally “automatic” mode – no power settings to worry about at all.  That fact made it exceedingly easy for me to work quickly in the very crowded hotel.  Not having to worry about the lighting gear and its settings will make any photography job super fast and efficient.

Look at the photograph – lighting is perfect!  Like I say below, I was really impressed with Canon’s new 600 EX-RT speedlites.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Canon 24-105 IS lens at 55mm, F5.6 @ 1/80 second, ISO 1250.  Enjoy!  David

"Love Is Blue"

"Love Is Blue"
© David A. Ziser

This is one of my favorite images from the wedding we photographed in upper Michigan a few weeks ago.  Things were rushed as usual, but the bride was taking it easy for a few moments before we were to begin the group portraits.

I noticed that the window light from camera left was falling on her face ever so beautifully giving me that perfect and most flattering dimensional loop lighting that I love. Also, I notice how the light coming in from the front door camera right gave me the beautiful accent light on the back of the bride’s hair and neck – a perfect separation light.  My camera had my super wide Sigma 12-24mm lens attached so I just went with it. 

First of all, look at all the turquoise colors in the scene and also notice how those vibrant colors are arranged around the scene in a perfect balance to create a “frame of color” around our beautiful subject.  It’s the bride’s special “weekend bouquet’ to the right balancing the painting on the back wall on the left that add the visual excitement to this image.

Notice too how the line of the bride;s gown leads your eye right up to the bride’s beauty face.  This is a simple, yet very elegant portrait of our lovely bride.  In spite of how wedding styles have changed over the years, I still believe this style of  imagery carries a certain lasting beauty to it.  My clients sure love it!

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 12-24mm lens at 20mm, F9.0 at 1/100 second, ISO 3200.  Enjoy!  -David

Technique Tuesday: Getting The Money Shot!

Good Morning Everybody,

Well, today is one the big days we've been looking forward to on our visit to NYC - we're attending my daughter's Honors Ceremony at Schimmel Hall at Pace University campus.  Festivities begin at 5:30p.m. with a reception to follow. LaDawn and I are really looking forward to the celebration.

Schimmel Hall,  was the location for the debut of the very famous TriBeCa Film Festival years ago as well as being the stage for Al Pacino, John Goodman, and Jeff Goldblum, and many others.

We spent most of our first real day in the city walking, and walking, and walking - about  5 miles worth.  With Elizabeth's graduation events, the B&H shootout on Thursday, and the Broadway play tickets we nabbed yesterday, our calendar is pretty well filled up for the week. And that's a good thing ;~)

You know, even with all the walking we did yesterday, I took very few photographs.  The day was cloudy and we seemed preoccupied with to many other activities. Well see what happens today.  Anyway, that's the latest, greatest update from the Big Apple. How about we get on with today's Technique Tuesday.  Here we go.

Getting The Money Shot! Getting The Essential Photographs Of The Bride

Because this is a big family week for LaDawn and I, and also vacation time for the both of us, I decided to share with you a Technique Tuesday from a few years back.  I'm also sharing it with you because it was not heavily viewed and was probably missed by most of our DPT readers in spite of the important content on how to make people look good in front of the camera.

When I reviewed this video this morning, I was surprised just how much detail  I went into when making the original post.  I really do think it points up the important reasons why we need to get these essential bridal photographs at a wedding.

Every now and then, someone will comment on one of my images of the day and that comment will give me an idea for a future post. That’s exactly what happened a few weeks ago when I posted "Rocky Mountain High" and someone commented about my cutting off the bride's gown in the photograph. You should never cut off the bride's gown.

I agree 100% with the remark, except when I cut off the bride's gown. So, how about a discussion about when to cut off the gown and when not to cut off the gown. Hey, wait a second, let me give you the whole scoop on photographing a bride - what you need to cover, how to cover it, what you should expect as final result. Fasten your seat belts and hit PLAY below and watch and listen.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  We're going to take in a few more sites of the city before we head to Liz’s Honors Ceremony this evening. Tomorrow is my daughter's actual graduation ceremony so I'm planning to pass on tomorrows post and plan to be here with a very "lively" post on Thursday. The title? The Worst Wedding Advice In The World For Photographers!  I'm really fired up!

See ya’ then, David

"The Softness Of Your Smile”

"The Softness Of Your Smile”
©David A. Ziser

I just love it when I can create a very nice portrait in the simplest of surrounds.  That was the case here.  I was teaching a class at Texas School last week and the first church we had scheduled on our agenda was a small Baptist church not far from the hotel.  The sanctuary offered some cool composition elements to work with and we captured some terrific images.

When I entered the lobby of the church I was immediately intrigued by the simple, clean surrounds of the building.  As I was exploring those surrounds I noticed this hallway which I thought would give me a very pleasing space for a bridal portrait.

What I was seeing was the white wall, to the right of my subject, creating an interior frame with the wall you see in the foreground.  I’m thinking that the space would be a good way for me to frame up my subject. I decided to light my bride with my Z-Ray flash light.  It worked perfectly giving me that George Hurrell Hollywood lighting on her face –  small cone of light illuminating the subject’s face with it’s gradual fall off down the dress.  That, plus the little “kicker light” supplied by the light coming in the far door down that hallway also helped to sculpt the bride’s beautiful features.

The warm lighting on that pale yellow back wall added to the soft feeling I see in this image. The image bonus was the repeating splash of color contributed by the touch of yellow flowers in the background to the right.  All these elements, together with the bride’s very nice smile all combined for a very pleasing portrait of our bride.

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Tamron 28-300mm VC lens at 109mm, F5.6 @ 1/50 second (handheld), ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

"Dreaming Of You"

"Dreaming Of You"
©David A. Ziser

This is an image I captured during yesterdays’ on-location-photo-session while at Texas School.  We had just finished lunch and were making preparations to head to our next location.  One of the class members asked what I would do on a bright sunny day where the sun was still pretty high in the sky. 

Well, we were standing in the church parking lot, it was about 1:00 p.m. and the sun was blazing brightly. Hey, a perfect place to show my solution.  The bottom line is this: for soft, easy portraits you  need soft light – that wasn’t happening in this parking lot.

First I selected an area of the parking lot where I could use a small line of trees to supply my background.  But after wrapping the bride’s veil around her the background was not really an issue. 

The “soft light” solution was solved by pulling out my 84” Westcott parabolic translucent umbrella and interrupting the suns rays falling on my bride’s face.  That gave me the softness I needed. I oriented the bride’s beautiful face so that it would alight with the soft direction of light I had created with my giant umbrella.  I simply needed to sure to get light into her eyes and not “pocket” her eye sockets.

Next, I  switched on “Live View” on my camera so that I get a higher vantage point for my photograph.  The higher vantage point and tight telephoto lens did a lot to ameliorate the fact that my background was not perfect.

The sun was quite bright so I asked the bride to close her eyes and shot away.  When I looked at the image, I found I really liked the image with her eyes closed – that fact seemed to add a certain gentleness to the overall feel of the image.

To finish up the image, I used Lightroom 4 to add a bit more softness by sliding the Clarity slider just a few points to the left.  I think the result is quite a beautiful portrait. Who would has guessed it was created just a few feet from a very busy street with cars zooming by and in direct sunlight at 1:00p.m. in the afternoon?

Camera specs: Canon 5D Mark III fitted with Sigma 85mm F1.4 lens, F1.8 @ 1/4000 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Wednesday Recap: Shootout At Texas School

Good Morning Everybody,

After beginning class early yesterday at 8:30 a.m. we wrapped yesterday’s activities with the Boxers and Boots party complete with parade at about 11:00 p.m. last evening. Lots of students and instructors stayed much later but LaDawn and I bailed so we could get a little sleep for class today.  I’m kind of looking forward to how the rest of the class will be feeling this morning;~)

Time is very short this morning so let me share with you a few images from my shoot yesterday.  Here we go.

Church #1 In the Morning:

This image above was an example of how to capture good lighting (loop lighting) on your subject when just shooting with the natural light.  I had the bride sit in one of the pews and then asked her to turn her head till I had that very beautiful light on her face. An exit door to camera right was the source of this beautiful light. The lens racked out to 135mm compressed the background for a nice effect for this image.

Image #2 above was another one of my favorites from yesterday’s shoot. Actually, this image and the one below were taken in the simplest of locations – the entrance foyer of the church.  What attracted my attention in both cases was the lighting, in this example specifically, the lighting effect created on the very simple wall.

In the above image it was the lighting pattern being cast against the white wall. I figured if I could move my bride into a shadowed part of the foyer and use the lighting pattern in the back ground, I could pull off a very interesting photograph. By controlling the cone of light from my off-camera shoe mount flash with a beer cozy – yes, you hear me right - I was able to keep the strobe light off the back wall and concentrate the light onto only my bride.

Here is another image captured in the foyer of the church.  I was surveying the location and really liked the delineation of tones and colors I saw in this section of the space.  I had built in backlighting, some cool yellow tones in the background , and a vase with yellow flowers camera right.  It was easy to frame up the subject against the background and then add just a little light from my Z-Ray to give me the direction of light I wanted on my subject.

The image above is another image we made just before heading out to the second church location for the day. As I mentioned in our “Image of The Day” post above, the sun was quite bright.  I asked the bride to take up a position under the drive through entrance of the church.  That assured soft light on her.  Then it was just a simple matter to add the necessary direction al light from camera left with my Quantum flash at full power shooting through my Zumbrella  The breeze caught the veil at just the right time for me to get this image.

Church #2 In the Afternoon:

On to our next location – I didn’t do as much shooting at this location as in the morning.  I wanted the class to stretch their lighting wings so I let them have the run of the church.  One of our models was just hanging around between shoots so I asked if I could get a quick photograph of him,  He was happy to oblige.

Everyone else was using the lighting gear so, to get the directional light on this image, I simply pointed my on-camera flash to a nearby wall, thus making it the true light source to give me the lighting I wanted on the groom’s face.  It sure beats on-camera, Uncle Harry, blast flash.

Our afternoon church was quite a treat to work in – great architectural lines, bright, and lots of cool props, like this grand piano to work with.  I first surveyed the location to see what I had going on in the composition.  I loved the lines in the ceiling and decided to use them to frame up our groom.  Notice how all lines lead to our subject.

Placing his head at the 3rd nodal point of the frame and lighting with my strobe at 1/4 power through my Zumbrella gave me exactly what I was looking for.

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Hey gang, that’s it for me today.  Class starts in just about an hour so I’ve got to get moving.  I hope to have some images for you again tomorrow from today’s shoot.  Don’t forget to check back.

BTW….Several of these images need some additional enhancement in Lightroom and/or Photoshop. Due to my very limited available time while teaching this week I will go back later to remove exit signs, un-wanted reflections, straps…..

Have a great rest of the day and I’ll see you then.

Adios,  David

"Just Breezin' By The Bridge"

"Just Breezin' By The Bridge"
©David A. Ziser

This is an image I made a few years ago during a association sponsored wedding shootout. We got a lot of great photographs of our model but this one with the wide-angle image is one of my favorites. The time of day, soft breeze, the softly blowing veil, the cool cloud textures, and the setting sun together with the lens' wide angle view certainly adds to the dramatic feeling of the photograph. 

Look at the bride's positioning in the composition. The fact that she is placed forward with her head positioned at “nodal point” #3 (the top right quadrant) in the composition added to the visual interest of this image. It almost seems as if the bridge is pushing her into the viewer's eyes. Technically speaking, she is placed opposite the “vanishing point.  You can easily find the “vanishing point” in this image. See how you eye travels across the bridge, past the trees in the distance, and then off the left side of the image heading to the “vanishing point” – where all the lines converge. We read a photograph left to right and you can’t help but follow the lightly blowing veil directly to the point of interest - her face.

Lighting was accomplished with my off-camera Quantum flash coming in from camera right at full power to give me the loop lighting pattern on the subject's face.

Camera specs: Canon 40 D fitted with 10–22mm at 10mm, F8 @ 1/320 second, ISO 200. Enjoy! – David

"Stairway To Heaven”

"Stairway To Heaven”
©David A. Ziser

I'm leading off today's post with one of the images from my Technique Tuesday video featured below. This is one of the images I captured of our bride after we re-entered the convention center returning from my wedding shoot out in downtown Washington, D.C. Think of this as a very contemporary bridal portrait given the very contemporary location and all the diagonal lines, prominently featured, leading directly to my subject.

Those leading lines were accentuated by the fact that I was using a very wide optic to make this exposure – my Sigma 12–24 MM lens on my Canon 5D Mark II. As I explain in the video below it took careful placement of the subject within the space to avoid the distortion that one sometimes gets when using an optic this wide. Keeping her away from the far right corner of the frame certainly helps in that regard.

I really like how the image framed up the bride against the blue carpeted stairs and her head placement against a simple, non-distracting wood veneer background. Notice how all lines lead directly to her.

The light on the bride's face was simply the naturally occurring light in the convention center that afternoon. I needed to tilt her head up slightly so I could catch the light just right to give me the nice loop-lighting pattern I'm always looking for my subject’s face.  Why not watch the video below and hear my full discussion of this image and many more.  I think it will give you some insight into how my mind thinks when I'm setting up these fairly unusual wedding images.

Camera specs:  Canon 5D Mark 2 fitted with Sigma 12–24mm wide-angle lens at 12mm, F5 .6 @ 1/320 second, ISO 1250.  Enjoy! – David

"The Softness Of Your Kiss"

"The Softness Of Your Kiss"
©David A. Ziser

This was an image I made during last week's wedding. What's fascinating about this image is how I created it. I used the HD video features of my Canon 7D.  I set up the location, natural soft lighting, and framing on the couple and asked them to simply interact with each other as I filmed continuously for about 30 seconds.

As I kept the camera focused on them I give them simple directions -to look at each other, snuggle in with each other, give each other a soft kiss, etc. At 30 frames a second that meant I had nearly 900 images to select from.  That made it easy to get the best expressions and the best image.

This frame grab was one of my favorites. We printed out several of the frame grabs from the shoot. Even at the 8x10 size they look fabulous. This topic is going to be the subject of one of my Technique Tuesday's coming up very soon – I promise.

But getting back to this photograph - what I like about it is the soft light on the both of them are and how gently they're interacting with each other.

I tweaked the image just a bit in Lightroom 4 raising the shadow density just a bit and increasing the exposure slightly as well. I preferred the medium to high key effect in my black-and-white images. To finish the image with the soft, ethereal feel I wanted I reduced the clarity to -70. That adjustment gave me the halation around the brighter parts of the image adding to the “dreamy” effect. I think it's an image the bride and groom will really enjoy having in their wedding album.

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 100mm, F8.0, ISO 400, 1920x1080 HD video. Enjoy! – David

"Awaiting the Kiss"

"Awaiting the Kiss"
© David A. Ziser

I really like this image from a few years ago. We were in the park shooting the wedding and family groups, and having finished them moved on to the images of the bride and groom.

After I did the regular compliment of images, I wanted to do something special of the bride and groom. I really like the close crop on just the hands, ring, and lips of my subjects.

Notice too how the long lens blurs the veil in the foreground creating a soft, mist-like quality on the scene. The long lens also blurs the background bringing your attention directly to the groom’s gentle touch, the brides soft smile and her beautiful rings. 

Who says you need to see the eyes in all your photographs?  It captures a really tender moment that I love.

Camera specs: Nikon D1x fitted with Nikkor 70-200mm non-VR lens at 180mm, F4.0 at 1/125 second, ISO 400.  Enjoy! --David

"Looking to The Future"

"Looking to The Future"
©David A. Ziser

I thought I’d begin this year’s image post with an image taken last year at one of my favorite educational shooting sessions.  This image was taken during my Dave Cross Workshop class in October.  Our bride was beautiful and our locations were amazing!  This was one of the first images from that session.

OK, why do I like this image so much? For me it’s all about the lines.  Look how the lines created by the branches of the trees seem to surround the bride.  Part of that effect was created by how I positioned her within the composition too. The branches on the left all lead the viewer’s eye directly to the bride. And, the trees on the right constrain the image forcing the viewer’s eye to stay within the image. The interplay of these many lines offset by the simple S-curve line we see in the bride’s pose makes for a striking wedding image.

Lighting was simple – my strobe at 1/2 power coming in, from just out of the frame, camera left  shooting through my light softening Zumbrella . The proper balance of the ambient with the strobe illumination made the bride to “pop” out of the scene. I think this style of an image is still one any bride would love to have in their wedding collection. What do you think?

Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 135mm, F5.6 @ 1/125 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

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p.s. Here is a little compositional test for you today. As I mentioned above, I flipped the image in Lightroom.  Hit the “Read More…” link below to see the original.  Which way looks best to you?

Amazing how a simple change of perspective can effect how one feels about the image, isn't it?

-David