Colour Wedding Photography: Image of the Week #20
Colour Wedding Photography, I have to admit, is not the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of Documentary Wedding Photography. In fact, a lot of people (incorrectly in my opinion) associate dreary, miserable looking black and white photos with this genre of wedding photography.
I certainly hope my images don’t betray the fact that documentary wedding photography is all about story telling, and, generally, most weddings tend to err on the side of happiness.
I’d just posted about Colour Wedding Photography on my Facebook Business Page and realised I hadn’t posted anything in this section of the website for a while…….and so here it is.
I recently finished editing a wedding and I remember this image striking me as I reviewed my shots during a break in shooting on the day. The wedding was at The Hospitium in York and I was struck immediately by the venue and its gorgeous deep red walls. I set myself a target for the day of getting at least three different shots utilising a large area of negative space (that had to be the red wall).
In due course I will blog the whole wedding, complete with these three colour wedding photography images, which I think work well together as a story within a story so to speak.
Camera: Canon EOS 1DX
(by the way you can see some thoughts on this camera in my Canon EOS 1DX review)
Lens: 85mm 1.2 L
Shutter: 1/1600th Second
Aperture: f/1.2
ISO: 3,200
Flash: Did not fire
Colour Wedding Photography; Shooting & Processing:
AS mentioned, Colour Wedding Photography isn’t something organically attributed to gritty documentary photography. Whilst trying to get this shot, I ended up with about four frames (that’s the reportage wedding photographer’s way right?). Three of them didn’t quite hit the mark for various reasons. Whilst I was framing the image to use the lovely negative space I was also conscience that the lady in the middle was the bride’s mum and I wanted this to be as much a portrait of her in her wonderful hat as I did a record of the decor.
Knowing full well this image would remain in colour (though actually I do quite like the black and white version) I was keen to make use of the downlight which is out of frame.
During processing I’ve sharpened the image and used my standard filmic processing. Adding some grain, even though this was shot at ISO 3,200 (which is remarkably clean on the 1DX). A stronger than normal vignette has been added as I didn’t want the colour in the wall to over power the subjects at the bottom.
So, here is the Colour Wedding Photography final image (comments always appreciated of course):
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Leave a Comment (6) →
Very nice image and nice contrast to the image. Very well constructed image and lovely expressions!
Great frame – love the way the hat brim obscures one of the ladies eyes.
Nice! See your mind working with the color, Kevin.
a striking image in so many ways Kevin…
Great composition and use of depth of field. I love the fact you cannot see her friends faces, making the focus on the subject all the more powerful. You should go colour more often
I love ‘talking hats’ and the use of the negative space is perfect.