Fabiola's Bridals

[lyncca]

1.

2. This wasn't one of my favs really, but it shows her personality. She wanted to know what was in that loft so she climbed up there in her heels giving me a heart attack. Her feet are 7 ft up. I told her while she was there we might as well get a picture of it :) And before I get attacked, YES the owner saw the images and loved it and YES, I am insured! LOL



3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8. I would have liked a little better positioning of the chair with the windows on this one, but I still like it.


9.

10.

11.

12,

13.

14. I don't care for her hand positioning here, but I still like the overall feel...

[dracula02]

4 is a winner for me

[lscottpht]

Gorgeous!

[patty7]

Gorgeous!

[Daniel W.]

Composition is strong, not losing limbs or whatnot in an offensive way, my only issue would be the highlights. Not knowing it thats the looks that you're going for or not, but I see a lot of information loss give the white gown and whatnot. For instance, I like that #10, has a minutely perceptible amount of information in the bust area, translating that while the gown is white it does have details there. Whereas in number 14, it gets so blown out that there's a point where the gown and the white wall begin to bleed together. For the most part I like the post processing, nice skin and good use of a range of locations for different feels.

[spluloacle]

I agree with Dan...I would like to see more dress details (I am not a pro by any means though)

[rusty_tripod]

I am from an older generation where bridal shots were considered differently and tended to have a more cohesive focus than I see here.

If these were my shots I would ask myself a lot of questions. 1, 3, and 5 are okay but the others leave me with unanswered questions.

[Redneck]

Excellent work and very brave to shoot that way. There are some huge overexposed areas in some of'em but it totally works. Sometimes you just have to follow your guts.

[wondershots]

I like most all of them. It appears that you captured her personality well. I don't mind the blown highlights at all, that seems to be a style of a lot of today's "popular" shooters.

[lyncca]

Originally Posted by rusty_tripod

I am from an older generation where bridal shots were considered differently and tended to have a more cohesive focus than I see here.

If these were my shots I would ask myself a lot of questions. 1, 3, and 5 are okay but the others leave me with unanswered questions.

LOL, well, what would those unanswered questions be? It isn't a helpful critique to just leave that as a comment. I do admit that I am fairly modern and I really hate old school bridal photographs. I can't really address what you said since you didn't really "say" anything. Everyone is welcome to their own tastes though :)

I don't typically do the "blown" highlights look (they aren't completely blown, I could recover them if I wanted with selective exposure), but the bride specifically wanted this look. I actually like dark, moody pictures, but I ended up loving these. They are bright and fun and go with her personality.

Thank you for the comments everyone :)

[rusty_tripod]

#2 The bride is not the center of focus. I am drawn to clutter on the right with the green lanterns.
#4 blown highlights and skin tone in an awkward pose.
#6 and 7 The grunge textures clash with the elegance of the gown plus she has a hinge growing out of her head in one of them.
#8 blown highlights that weaken the composition
#9 Too many complementary textures. The image is full of busy textures.
#10, 11,12,13 The bottle glass and cement overpower the bride. They are more interesting and distracting. They do nothing to compliment or contrast with the bride.

For me the images lack continuity. What am I trying to accomplish with the bride. Am I catering to her ego? Is this a model shoot? Do I want this set to look like something from a magazine? What thread do I want the viewers to perceive about this bride when they view the images as a group? Are the connected or disjointed? Are we trying to be elegant or avante garde? Why do I want to shoot an elegant gown in a coarse setting?

These are the questions I asked when I saw the pictures. When I shoot a bride, we are a team so it helps to have a play book to work from. We have to stop and consider: "How do you want to present yourself?" and "How do you want to remember yourself and your spirit on this day when you review the photos on your 25th anniversary?"

Hope this helps. If the bride likes what you did, no one else matters, but I, as a photographer, do not want to look back at pictures taken even ten years ago and have to ask myself "What was I thinking?"

[MikkiStreak]

These are gorgeous Lyncca! I'd list my favorites but there's too many. Love the last ones with the glass/cement wall... I think it really was a great background with that dress--- really gave a flamenco feel since that's the style of her gown too.

[arich]

lighting details. I must have lighting details

[lyncca]

Originally Posted by rusty_tripod

#2 The bride is not the center of focus. I am drawn to clutter on the right with the green lanterns.
#4 blown highlights and skin tone in an awkward pose.
#6 and 7 The grunge textures clash with the elegance of the gown plus she has a hinge growing out of her head in one of them.
#8 blown highlights that weaken the composition
#9 Too many complementary textures. The image is full of busy textures.
#10, 11,12,13 The bottle glass and cement overpower the bride. They are more interesting and distracting. They do nothing to compliment or contrast with the bride.

For me the images lack continuity. What am I trying to accomplish with the bride. Am I catering to her ego? Is this a model shoot? Do I want this set to look like something from a magazine? What thread do I want the viewers to perceive about this bride when they view the images as a group? Are the connected or disjointed? Are we trying to be elegant or avante garde? Why do I want to shoot an elegant gown in a coarse setting?

These are the questions I asked when I saw the pictures. When I shoot a bride, we are a team so it helps to have a play book to work from. We have to stop and consider: "How do you want to present yourself?" and "How do you want to remember yourself and your spirit on this day when you review the photos on your 25th anniversary?"

Hope this helps. If the bride likes what you did, no one else matters, but I, as a photographer, do not want to look back at pictures taken even ten years ago and have to ask myself "What was I thinking?"

I appreciate the details. I'm going to say that on some I just flat out disagree with you, but that's ok. I still respect that you have your opinion.

#2, I can't disagree, as I said in the text above it, it wasn't a technically great picture. It was just a cute shot to show her personality.
#6-7, this look is very popular with brides. Many want WAY grungier or industrial than this. I don't attract many "garden" type brides. True enough on the hinge, but I don't think its detrimental to the image.
#8, yes, but I don't mind the blown highlights on these images. It is part of the look I wanted. I don't find her pose awkward. Its mostly a headshot afterall...
#9, eh, I like it and she likes it. It was only 1 of 90+ shots, so not critical either way.
#10-#13, I disagree. I love that cement and glass wall and don't think it takes away from her at all.

As far as continuity, these were to show the variety of shots from the session, so to say they lack continuity isn't fair without seeing all 90+ images.

Yes, of course I was catering to her ego. I treat bridals like modeling sessions if that is what the bride wants. In this case, she does want to model, and she did want to look like she came out of a magazine. I did do many more traditional type shots too.

I find it interesting that you haven't posted ONE image for anyone else to critique, but you sure are all over everyone else. I wanted to see your style to see if we just had a different look. I did find these images, that I believe are yours? If so, it appears as though you have only 2nd shot a couple of weddings (nothing wrong with this except you said "when I shoot a bride we are a team" implying YOUR brides). I don't even see any bridal sessions, only a couple of images of the bride taken at the wedding, which are a little different than a bridal session.

Weddings: Click thumbnails to view.
http://rustytripod.smugmug.com/

Originally Posted by MikkiStreak

These are gorgeous Lyncca! I'd list my favorites but there's too many. Love the last ones with the glass/cement wall... I think it really was a great background with that dress--- really gave a flamenco feel since that's the style of her gown too.

Thank you :)

Originally Posted by arich

lighting details. I must have lighting details

I used either natural window light or a SB800 on a lightstick with umbrella. I'm pretty basic :)

[rusty_tripod]

Thanks for taking time to address the questions that I ask myself. When I do that, I use my answers to decide what I would do do better or differently. I am not always pleased with what the bride likes.

If the bride liked the work and you enjoyed yourself in the process, that is really what mattered.