Is there anything that you consciously do to make brides look beautiful? Are there particular poses, particular angles? Are you searching for or adding lighting? Are you smearing that lens with Vaseline?

There are different tricks I try, but I don't really have any systematic method. For me it's more a case of trying to pay attention to what looks good; and sometimes I succeed and most times I don't. Plus, trying to catch the laughs. Everyone looks good when they naturally smile.

Some simple things like waiting to start filming until she has some makeup on.
Make sure white balance is flattering and gives her a touch of red to her skin.
Avoid anything that seems like an issue - we had a bride with noticeablely dark arm hair for instance.
Use tighter shots (eyes, hands, earrings)
Use flattering angles/lenses if possible

Or are you talking about some staged or semi-staged moments? If so, then yes, we try to do some simple things with lighting and posing to help. May I recommend the workshop by Scott Robert Lim on 'Think Like a 10K wedding photographer.' Mostly it's about lighting and posing for portraits and it's really good. He uses video lights a lot to help setup shots like the cake and it's a big help.

Adrian,

One thing I know for sure is every woman has something about her appearance that she considers a flaw. A double chin, a bump on her nose, whatever… When she sees video or photos of herself that “flaw” is the first place her eye goes to see how that looks. If it’s a double chin, shoot from a higher angle, if it’s a bumpy nose, don’t shoot from a profile, etc.

The catch is, figuring out what she considers the flaw to be. It does not always make sense. She may be absolutely stunning and flawless to you, but I promise you, there is something there she does not like about herself. If you are able to find out what the flaw is, it may shock you, it is not always obvious.

Steve

Shoot at 50mm or tighter. If your shooting wide, your just asking for trouble.

I used to be a photographer back when, and the 4 tools of choice was a softar filter ( Hoya and Tiffen have them), a longish focal length lens like over 50mm ( 70-100 would be ideal) , largish aperture and tighter than head to waist crop. Soft filters don't work great with wide shots and wide angle lenses. Whatch out for profile shots, especially the nose part.

I've had the "no profile shots" requests come up a couple times. Sometimes it's hardly even noticeable. Man I'm totally getting that Seinfeld reference in my head right now tho... lol

If your shooting wide, your just asking for trouble. So you never get to see the bridesdress then? :)

I"d also say not to do profile shots and extreme closeups if their face is not "perfect", I"m always glad if there is a ugly groom, the bride looks better in every shot then.

Never shoot wrinkles! If she has some, do not focus on it. When she laughs, pay attention to her crow's feet. If you shoot a bride that emphasizes any wrinkles, she will kill you.

Never shoot wrinkles! If she has some, do not focus on it. When she laughs, pay attention to her crow's feet. If you shoot a bride that emphasizes any wrinkles, she will kill you.

I learned this the hard way not with a bride but with a wedding co-ordinator. We were sat down during some down time in the hectic wedding & I took a still photo of her with the 5D3 & 24-70mm wide open. We were outside. It was golden hour. The light was just right. The catch lights were in here eyes. I thought that it was a fantastic photo as it captured her perfectly & technically it was great. I was really please when I sent her a copy except she absolutely hated it. She is a lady of a certain age & has spent time outdoors so has some crows feet & weathering. All she could see were wrinkles.

" All she could see were wrinkles."

The flaw strikes again!

This thread reminds me of the movie Tootsie. I keep thinking Cleveland! lol!

Back in the late eighties I was asked to do a boudoir shoot for a friend I was traveling with. When she asked, my first thought was, “this is not going to be easy to meet HER expectations”. To be kind, she was not camera friendly. I also did not have my kit or much gear at all (stills). So how did I make her look beautiful, and I did achieve it? We had ordered a pizza and a salad delivered to the room for dinner. I wiped most of the oil from the plastic box the salad came in. Used my pocket knife to cut a big piece of the plastic bottom of the container and used one of her pony tail hair rubber things to attach it to the front of the lens. Viola! She became beautiful! She loved them when the prints came back. She was not a bride but sometimes you gota do what you gota do to make a woman beautiful. It’s our job!

To this day I think of that as the salad box shoot.

Steve

The late Robert Palmer had the right idea, start with beautiful women!

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible - YouTube

Tim, you beat me to the punch!

So you never get to see the bridesdress then? :)


At 50mm, yeah. By moving back and then flaws they are concious of are less noticeable. If Im up close then we simply get a shot from a different angle which shows the dress. Not sure why people feel the need to shoot super wide to get the 'catch everything' single shot. Its not a photo, you can move, pan, tilt, cut to a different shot.

I generally like shooting slightly down on the bride's face. Shooting up will sometimes reveal too much of her nostrils.

I had a bride with some former achne issue, it was pretty noticable. So in post, I took this, Noise Reducer | NewBlueFX (http://www.newbluefx.com/product/noise-reducer) and hammered the footage with it. I did some vignetting, b/w and with the music I chose shots with her smiling from ear to ear, it was very moving.