White Wedding

June 25, 2013

I was asked to take the wedding photos of a young talented musician, who played on one of my many birthdays, and his wife. They told me that professional photographers could only be hired for the whole day, covering the complete wedding. And these so called professionals would then open their big wallets and ask the young couple to do so too. I have already seen a variety of wedding photos, for which , I’m sure, people have spent a lot of money. And believe me some of these printed memories were really disappointing. It’s sometimes a shame. Benny and Wei, that’s the couples names only wanted some decent pictures in great quality and brought three hours in return. Make a long story short this is how they came to me.

Benny & Wei in the Allée

To be honest I’m always a little bit nervous when doing wedding pictures. The couple relies on you. And you (actually me) are standing there with a lens as big as the frozen grin in your face, knowing that you have to be somehow creative without any influence on weather. Well alright the location was perfect. The couple decided to have their photos taken in the Eremitage in Bayreuth, which is a large area with old fashioned buildings and gardens. The weather was very cloudy and thundery, but stable.

For the first picture I positioned the couple right in the light, which fell through an open spot in the allée. Rolf, my right hand, reflected the light with a Lastolite Trigrip from left. This gave enough natural light and contrast in front of the long green allée.

Wei

The next spot was the so called sun temple. Both desperately wanted a picture in front of the building. My first attempt was to take these pictures with a wide lens. It was almost raining and the result looked like crappy pictures from a disposable camera. So I tempted the couple away from the building and attached my 80-200 f2.8. And here we go.

Eremitage - Bareuth - Germany

Sometimes people reproach me for using photoshop (PS) without knowing if I even do so. The fact is, for all these pictures I have not touched PS. But it’s true I’ll never be able to use the raw pictures my camera gives me. Sorry cam but you are dumb. My camera has no human eye and I’m not speaking about retouching, hell no! It will always have problems with levels and sometimes with white balance. I think adjusting pictures is not a sakrilege. It is sometimes just a necessity.

The proposal

Wedding - Benny and Wei

The grass was wet but I simply like the depth of the picture and the faces in the picture.

Wedding at the castle

Actually sometimes you have to be lucky. Who were these people and where were they coming from? Don’t ask, just shoot! I only used some fill light light from my flash, mounted on the camera.

For the last two spots a reflector made no sense as there was nothing to reflect any more. The sun was gone and a few rain drops fell. So hiding under the big trees and at the sun temple was a good option. The sun temple with its white pillars wouldn’t necessarily give enough contrast to the bridal dress, but due to the different color tones it worked out perfect. Rolf softened the light with a white “softener” (or whatever this is called).

Wedding in the Garden

Wedding at the Sun Temple - Eremitage

Wedding Flowers

Thank you, Rolf!

Production Picture - Wedding

 

Filed under: Portrait,Wedding — Andreas @ 8:51 PM

Under the Softbox

August 29, 2012

You must be strong now as the following pictures will show nothing else but me!
I usually do not like photos being taken of me but sometimes I feel I could need a shower under the softbox, so I can remember what I once  looked like when sitting in my rocking chair.
Main light comes from a softbox almost above my head and in a straight line with the lens. Some of this light reflects in a reflector close to the floor.

Filed under: Portrait,Studio,Studio — Tags: , , — Andreas @ 8:44 PM

Italy

August 28, 2012

A few pictures from me and my sisters trip to Italy. We were mainly in Brescia and Verona and enjoyed the opera Turandot in the colloseum . The mood there was just wonderful!

 

Filed under: Allgemein,City,Italy,Travel — Tags: — Andreas @ 7:48 PM

Wedding Photos

August 7, 2012

When I was asked to take wedding photos of a good friend of mine who finally found his big love I was honored and simply said ‘yes I do’ .

A nearby park which I cross when jogging has some nice spots, so we decided to shoot in a small clearing where sunlight could easily fall through the trees and provide light and shadow. As often plans do not necessarily work out well. The morning of the wedding I found myself sticking to my tablet to observe satellite pictures in order to estimate when rain would stop.  Needless to say that weddings have a tight schedule and so we had to start at 10 anyway. But thank God at least rain stopped shortly after their arrival at the park only leaving heavy clouds that would hide the sun for the next hour, destroying my plans on light and shadow.

I decided to switch on my spare sun and clamped a flashlight with 1/2 orange gel into the trees in order to add some spice to the photos; a friend held a reflector to mirror the artificial sun. I think for most of the pictures this setup worked out well.

I wish you all the best M&R.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Wedding Photo

.

Filed under: City,Portrait,Wedding — Tags: , , , — Andreas @ 8:26 PM

At the Baltic Sea (Germany’s coast)

May 8, 2012

After suffering from a very bad cold in China where even the worst air did not lay over my mocous filled lungs in order to choke the tickle in my chest I went to Germany’s coastline where the air is still salty and fresh, a place where I would feel better quickly.

Warnemünde Lighthouse

Warnemünde Lighthouse

I cannot remember I have ever been to the Baltic Sea and so it was at least for me, whose Germany is mountainous Bavaria, a beautiful surprise. I went to two of Germany’s islands Usedom and Rügen with a friend and on the way back home we stopped at Stralsund and Warnemünde.

Usedom Coast

Usedom Coast

Sunrise at the Selling pier

Sunrise at the Selling pier

Sunrise on Rügen

Sunrise on Rügen

Old oxygen plant in Peenemünde

Old oxygen plant in Peenemünde

Photoshooting at the coast

Photoshooting at the coast

 

Filed under: Allgemein,Germany,Travel — Tags: — Andreas @ 10:02 AM
Older Posts »


xmagination.net - andreas@xmagination.net - Powered by WordPress