Exposure, Textures, & a Beautiful Bride

Ever since I became interested in photography quite a while ago, I've always wanted to photograph a bride. But, the catch is that I'm not really all that interested in photographing weddings. Most brides want the same photographer for the engagement, bridal, and wedding shoots. So, I've just been thinking up all these poses and such for a bride, but never been able to put them to use. Well, lucky for me, my brother got engaged back in December and I was so excited because I was gonna get my chance. So yesterday, Lauren, Emily, and I headed off to Fort Macon with a bag full of stuff to do her bridal portraits.

We had so much fun. We tried all kinds of things and most of them turned out just as I had hoped. I found out my style for bridal photography is pretty traditional with a hint of modern twists every now and then. The style for bridal portraits these days has gotten pretty out there and some of these "out there" photos are amazing, I just haven't quite decided if they are too "out there" for me, yet. I love to look at the "trash the dress" sessions on photo websites and blogs, but the verdict is still out on whether or not I could do a "trash the dress" session. Nevertheless, Lauren was a stunning bride and some of our props and poses drew a small audience! I'll save those 'til after this weekend so they can be a surprise for the groom.

One thing I found while doing this shoot was that exposing correctly for a white dress wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. I have photographed so many kids is white shirts and dresses, but, for some reason, I was secretly terrified that I was gonna blow out the white dress and ruin, otherwise, perfectly good photographs. I have read so much about proper exposure and metering, etc., and I was able to really put that to use during this shoot. By watching my histogram religiously, I found that I usually had to over-expose by two stops to get perfect exposure and balance out the white dress.

On the last of these photos, I decided to try a texture/vintage effect I've been playing around with. I love to play with textures and actions, but I rarely actually do them for clients, or even show them to clients during their proofing period. Anyway- this was just a little of this and that and hopefully the final product isn't too crazy.

I am so happy for Lauren and Joel and excited for this coming weekend. They are such a perfect match and I know they will be so happy. Enjoy these pics. I enjoyed taking them! Aly