More Shots of the Day from Jacque and Monene’s Lamberts Bay Wedding
I was almost thinking I wasn’t going to make today’s post in time, but I managed to sneak in a couple of minutes in amongst the 20 other things that are still on my To Do List for today!
The pics I wanted to look at are interesting for me because they look at lens choice and framing. And I suppose another way of thinking about framing is that this choice of what to include and exclude in your frame is really what represents the photographer’s vision. What I like about today’s pics are that they are emblamatic of two very different ‘eyes’: mine and my husband’s. There are some shots where I have to admit I find it hard to figure out who took them (easy to do when you shoot 1500+ photographs and you swop cameras while you shoot) but there are other shots where I just know: this is my shot, this is Dan’s shot. I think it also helps that when we shoot together I tend to shoot wide angle and Dan tends to shoot telephoto, and I think when you do that you begin to think more clearly in terms of wide angle and of the telephoto.
The first shot is mine and what I really like about it are the strong graphic elements – the very strong compositional lines of the door, the wall and the window and how they frame Monene. I also really enjoy the round element that the light introduces. The strong vertical lines hold her in place, the diagonals on the door lead in to her and her diagonal is a great counterpoint to both the vertical and horizontal lines. For me when I shoot wide angle I tend to think architectural more than photojournalism – so my concern tends to be more with space on the wide angle than with recording moments as they happen. Not that I don’t do that mind you, it’s just a question of empahsis, particularly when I have time to pose the shot. I’ve included a quick compositional sketch below to show the framing of the bride. Oh, and there are definitely things about this image I’d want to improve – I’m not completely satisfied with the focus – it seems to be more on the wall than on Monene’s face and I don’t like the chair on image right against the wall. If I’m really picky I also don’t like the carpet in front of the bride image left. But c’est la vie.
Oh, I should also note, in terms of lens choice that the 24mm that I was shooting at does create distortion toward the edges of the frame – parallel lines that don’t read as parallel for example. On this shot I love that. It’s not great for true architectural shots, and there I would’ve corrected it, but I love the perspectival distortion in this shot.
The image below it is Dan’s with the telephoto zoom. Great shot but I think mine’s stronger, mainly because of the framing (and don’t worry – Dan’s read the post prior to publishing and he agrees). I don’t think his composition is as tight on this one as mine is. There are two vertical lines framing her, but that’s it. Dan’s shot also looks more like a moment caught in time – like the bride was about to step through the doorway and turned back to look over her shoulder and the photographer just happened to be there. I like that aspect of it but I guess it’s also slightly problematic for me because I know that it’s not that – it’s a very posed image – Dan shot this at the same time that I took my shot. And I know everyone says they want ‘natural’ photographs but to be honest most ‘natural’ photos are posed in some way or another. I’m being a bit picky here, but anywho. Another thing I should point out: Dan’s shot is sharper than mine!
The next colour shot of the bride lying on the sand is mine, also shot wide angle. And while I like this shot, it doesn’t hit every note for me. I like playing with space and with people as an element within space and I’m not convinced that it’s working with this image – it’s a little arbitrary for me: I get the sense of woman’s head on sand . . . and I guess I should’ve included more of her torso to give the image more context. Pulling back also would’ve lessened the distortion on her shoulders – her shoulders look bigger than they should in relation to her head, which looks a little squashed (the effect of using the wide angle lens) I do like the V that the clouds were forming though. And Monene, if you’re reading this: you look awesome in the shot, and it’s still a good shot – it’s just not an excellent shot!
Dan’s shots are the two that follow. Pretty much shot at the same time as my one above, he was shooting once again with the telephoto. And I think in both shots he’s nailed it, but particularly in the last shot. The composition is tight, he’s aware of his edges. The circular compostion in the last shot, from head to shoulders to hands keeps leading your eye around so that you linger over an intimate moment. He’s caught her at just the right time, the little smile playing on the edges of her mouth. The long eyelashes. It’s really a great shot! If the same shot had been taken with a wide angle, even with the same framing, it wouldn’t have worked as well. There would be distortion in the image (especailly shooting so close in) and the beautiful intimate moment that Dan has captured would be lost. The telephoto lens also helps to create that incredible shallow depth of field so that while her face is in focus, her shoulder, just a few centimetres away, is not. This shallow depth of field is also what helps to creat the intimate, romantic moment.
It’s one of the things that I really love about shooting with other people – while they’re often shooting exactly the same thing as you are, their choices, how they see the shot, creates something completely different! And it makes you revisit and rethink what you’ve done. Your choice of how to frame something is personal, it reflects who you are. How you see the world. And how you see the world then impacts on how other people see the world – this is true for other photographers, the people that you’re photographing, and for people just looking at your work. Being a photographer rocks!
Tags: Shot of the Day
