Bridesmaids

Why I Love This Wedding Photo

This photo is about bridesmaids, though really it is also about how I get this sort of unobtrusive shot when I am in a small room with lots of bridesmaids and family getting ready for a wedding.
Rebecca and Adam’s wedding was at Farbridge in West Sussex. Set in the gorgeous South Downs, one of it’s main attractions for me as a Sussex wedding photographer is that it has the most phenomenal light. What this means is that I am not restricted to certain angles in any of the locations throughout the venue. I very rarely have to use flash, even after dark as the main barn is lit so well too. It gives beautiful skin tones and I’m able to use my shutter speeds and aperture without getting near the extremes. This sort of shot, while beautiful on it’s own, benefits from the lovely light that washed over them from the window across the room that I was squatting under so as to be at their level, but also to let the full force of the light hit them without having my shadow on them.

Rebecca’s Bridesmaids

Rebecca and Adam were brilliant and their bridesmaids and ushers were lovely too. When I arrived, after saying hi to everyone I just floated around shooting what was going on. Everyone was very nice to me but knew that I would want to fade into the background observing what was going on and quietly shooting some great documentary shots of all the personal and emotional moments. They all knew this because before the wedding I had talked to Rebecca and Adam about how I like to shoot and they had passed it on to the whole wedding party. This sort of preparation makes a world of difference on the day as everyone knows what to expect of me. They know they can just get on with their day and if I want something or need them to do something, I will ask. As a result, when I saw that they were sitting on the sofa sharing a laugh, I just got myself down to their level and waited for the perfect moment I knew would come that would reflect exactly what they were feeling in that moment. I often say this, but these moments go past so fast and are forgotten quickly. It’s just this sort of image that really shows their relationship, far more than a selfie or set up shot, yet is so rare and so hard to capture without the patience and observation I put in on the day.

How I Shot This Wedding Photo

With the light behind me falling directly on the bridesmaids, I had no problem with the light or exposure, so really, having set my shutter speed and aperture, I only had to concentrate on the subjects of the photo themselves and my focusing. I’m a big fan of back button focusing, and used it to capture this image. I set my focus and was then able to shoot without focusing again, catching all the split second moments just concentrating on them as a group and not on any technical aspects. I remember having a discussion with a photographer friend of mine about how the best camera is the one that means there is as little between me and the subject as possible. So in this situation all that was between me and the shot I wanted at this point was what was happening in front of me and not with my camera. I shot about six or seven frames at a decent aperture so they would all be in focus, until I knew I had the shot I wanted. Sometimes this sort of shot can happen quickly and sometimes I have to be very patient waiting until I get the shot I can see in my mind’s eye. Luckily this one happened quite fast and I moved onto another shot.

My Camera Settings

Camera – Fuji XT2

Lens – 35mm

Shutter speed – 1/125 sec

Depth of field – f/4

ISO – 1000

Exposure – manual

Here’s a link to some more blog posts from weddings at Farbridge, as well as some information about Farbridge itself. Also some information on barn weddings and weddings in Sussex.

Here are some of the people that took part in this wedding.

Makeup artist – Toni Todd

Videographer – Sachin Patel