PROS VS JOES 1.- COMPOSITION

With the revolution of the digital camera, professional photography has become assessable to anyone who wishes to invest a couple of thousand in a camera.  This has lead to lot of amateurs venturing into the world of wedding photography charge low prices for very low end work. What clients and photographers alike must understand is that the camera is the “least” important thing in photography.  Yes I said; the least!  If your grand ma makes you a very delicious cake, you wouldn’t say, “Grand ma, this cake taste great, you must have a wonderful oven!”  The same applies in photography.  So when someone says, “That’s a great picture, you must have a great camera,” they are actually insulting me. LOL   So in this series we’re going to look at the things that separates the Pros from the Joes.

Number 1 is COMPOSITION:

Composition is how all the factors of the image are positioned.  Its about how the light, background, and subject are placed together to make a complete image.  Here are a few examples.

This is one of my favorite bride and grooms: Shona and Bill.  Shona is a few inches taller than Bill so I had Bill dip her backwards slightly and lean forward to even the height out.  This was taken in front of the Belle Isle fountain and I saw no need to try and capture the background. This photo is all about the bride and groom. 

This is album artwork shot for a local jazz artist.  Here we see how the artist is up close in the left side of the photograph and the "Bakers" sign on the club is slightly blurred but still visible.  This photography was shot at dusk which is why the lighting is slightly golden and dim.

Here the bride is placed in the left corner of the photograph so the bubbles can extend throughout the the rest of the frame.

Here the camera is tilted so we can see the "FOX" marquee next to the couple.

During the wedding consultation the bride requested that she wanted a lot of fall color during her pictures.  So I made is a point to capture the green in the grass, trees and water and some of the orange and brown in the bushes.

Overall I hope you all see how important composition is when choosing your photographer.  Every photographer has their own style, but its not a matter of right and wrong - its just about preference.