Bridal party portrait

I mentioned yesterday that we had a very foggy day on Saturday for Cáit and Martin’s wedding in Galway, and mostly that didn’t cause us any issues.  In fact if anything it added a little atmosphere to some of the outdoor shots.  For a couple of them though, where I positioned myself some distance away from the bridal party, such as this photo above, the fog did require me to take steps in post-processing to overcome the lack of contrast that resulted from it.

Once the contrast was boosted appropriately playing around with the black, white and midtone levels allowed me to all but remove the fog from the foreground (i.e. between me and the bridal party) while holding it in the background behind them for a little bit of mood.

We took the bridal party photos in what is known locally as the “Old folks park” in Salthill – a popular spot with young and old alike (for different reasons, it seems) and especially popular with bridal parties.  I scouted the location a few weeks before the wedding, and again for a couple of minutes before the bridal party arrived from the church in Knocknacarra, about a mile away.

I wanted to take full advantage of the pond in the middle of the park and had this shot in mind long before Saturday.  What’s important to me in this photo is the reflection in the water, although I also took a tighter shot with the 70-200mm lens to zoom in on the bridal party without the reflection.

To pose the shot I first showed everyone how I wanted them to stand for the initial photo which had all 8 standing together in a boy-girl-boy-girl formation.  I explained that after taking a few photos from the other side of the pond I would ask them then to separate out into couples – bridesmaid and groomsman, and of course bride and groom together.  Giving them an indication up front of what I wanted to do when I was going to be 50 yards away helped speed the whole process up and keep everyone (hopefully) feeling like they knew what we’d do next.

I like to approach weddings in that way in general and find it good to keep the bride and groom informed of what I have in mind for the next phase of the day.  It keeps everyone in the loop and makes for quicker, easier and better photos.