[Irma]

Swantje will marry at the end of the month. G will be the photographer and I will be his assistent... Let's see how all this ends up... I hope not in our divorce...

Anyway... I got already my Demb diffusers... They are fantastic. I like them a lot! They are very easy to install and easy to store. I got them in less than 5 days, and I didn't pay any tax for them.

Last Saturday they were here to take some test pictures, and I ofered them a picture to place in the table for the gifts.

As always I had as a background my black bed cloth, so I was a bit limited. About lighting I had a studio flash with an umbrella, my flash in the camera with the flip it and diffusers, and a golden reflector I used in some pictures to give light on Swantje's hair.. I really don't know if the combination was good, but I think I had better light this time. Here you have some pictures along with some doubts that came out too...

About the composition...
There is a huge difference in heights. How should I work my composition in pictures like this one?

#1



In the studio I placed her in a pile of books to have them closer but what to do in the wedding?

#2



In this pose, I worked my lines and curves. I wanted to have something to go for at the bottom of the picture. I like also their natural smile... In this picture I had the studio flash bounce to the ceiling to avoid shadows in his shirt.

#3



Here I turned them the other way round to play golden light in Swantjes hair. Do you think it worked? Probably not many would agree about this crop, but ... any comments about the crop are welcome...


#4



Here is another pose I like. It is a pitty I removed the golden reflector... but still we can see the difference.


#5



Thanks so much for any comment or advice to improve my pictures ...

[NT73]

Hey Irma, G should be your assistant.
#4 You have beheaded her.
#5 Don't care for the chair, It seems distracting.
#1 and #3 are my favourites but my preference for B/G would not be black.
Having said all that I would be very pleased with any of them.

[Wedding Shooter]

Irma - you have a beautiful bride to photograph - what a pleasure for you and G.

About the height - don't worry too much about it. I often have this problem and at the end of the day that is them. But one pose I especially like to try at a wedding is to get the bride to sit on a nice bench seat and ask the groom to lie down with his head in her lap - than they can kiss and cuddle, she can stroke his chest, etc.. and the height difference is hidden.

Here is an example from Saturday's wedding - (I have better ones but this will give you an idea).



I am glad you like the Demb product - it is really very helpful.

[Irma]

NT, Thanks so much for your comment...

#4 It was just a test crop.... I like somehow beheaded portraits, but I think that it suits best when it is just one person... Here doesn't look fair...

#5 About the chair... I wanted to clone it out, but she told me she liked this way.

Chris,
Thanks a lot for posting your picture. It is beautiful... and inspiring... I want to try something similar. It would be great!!
We will go this Saturday to check the place again. It will be in an Antik cafe, it is a beautiful old house with a nice garden. I will check if there is a nice corner to work something like this out. Also I hope the weather will do its best...

I will take these kind of pictures, as G will take pictures of the event itself. I am a bit worried about the light, I will have two flashes working and my golden reflector just in case I need it... I hope that is enough.

[Wedding Shooter]

You can also do it on the ground with a picnic rug hidden under the brides dress.

[matthew]

Irma, I have tremendous confidence in your abilities, so remember to have fun.

#1-3 are my favourites. For #1 and #2, I wouldn't worry too much about the height differences, as they'll be used to it, but it does make for a more difficult composition. It seems like he's more comfortable in #2, so perhaps playing around with the heights and setup might have other benefits. #3 is my favourite of the bunch, because he seems the most comfortable in it.

#4 -- I'm not usually against cropping parts of the photo, but it doesn't work for this shot. The lighting is very nice, though.

#5 -- I don't really know what to think about the pose. It doesn't work for me, but I'm not sure why. (I think it's her right hand being tucked in with the left arm bracing across his chest... seems like an unnatural pose.)

[Irma]

Great idea Chris! I will take one in the car, if it is needed...

Thanks a lot Matt...

He was a bit stiff when we started taking pictures, but as I always have a big teapot and smooth jazz music... We all calm down and the pictures get much better as the time passes... #3 was in the last series I took of them I think. He was a bit more relaxed. Other thing I do is to show them their pictures in the computer, so they can see and change their look and smile ... and we do it again.

#5 was really a pitty... It didn't turned out as beautiful as we expected. We wanted to try this pose, but we couldn't find it...