What I should have done was to move the flowers off the table before the cake cutting began but I still like this photograph. Not every photograph comes out perfect – but hopefully most photos capture a story.

Bride and groom cut the cake - flowers block the knife

And the bride isn’t wearing a wedding ring – I zoomed in and didn’t see one. Maybe the main photographer had borrowed the rings for the ring photography.

Photographers can drive themselves nuts looking at the little details. Sometimes while looking at the little detail you miss the big picture.

And every once in a while – like at La Caille – they had my favorite – the sampler dessert. One of everything. You can’t beat that. Well, maybe a wedding cake. Speaking of which – I need to go to the gym.

Crème brûlée, fruit tart, and chocolate cake

It is pretty simple – you try to capture the wedding like a fly on the wall. Or a ninja on the wall – I think ninjas are much more cool than flies. And this photograph was taken at La Caille – the bride and groom were listening to the traditional wedding toasts and they were picture perfect.

A casual pose at a La Caille wedding

It is a lot of fun being a ninja wedding photographer – and it feels like I struck gold with this photograph. A little Photoshop to turn it into a classic black and white and yay!

Photo Details ISO 3200, f/4.8, 1/15 second

Talk about having the wrong lens at the wrong time. I was photographing the dancing at the reception – while my friend Heidi left the reception for some photography down by La Caille’s pond with just the bride and groom. And as you can see it was night and it was dark.

When I went to go find them I was carrying my Nikkor 18-200mm lens. Had I known that they were outside – in the dark I should have brought an f/2.8 lens along. And I didn’t have the time to run from the pond to the garden room and back with the right lens.

The lens I had was good for photographing dancing – not midnight lighting. Oh well, I was able to work with the photo and make something cool. I had to crank the ISO on the Nikon D300 to 3200 (unheard of in the days of film). And the lens has Vibration Reduction (to help photograph in low light situations).

If I had planned to take this photograph I would have my Nikkor f/2.8 wide angle lens and one of my tripods with a cable release. I will admit I make occasional mistakes. But I know how to avoid them and how to improve – which any photographer should be able to do.

You may now kiss the bride...

You may kiss the bride… the first time a bride and groom will kiss as husband and wife. Is there a more memorable moment of a wedding ceremony. And what a perfect moment – even how the bride is holding the bouquet is perfect.

And I am photographing this with long lens pushed to 200mm – so I can stand at the back of the wedding party but still get the photograph close enough to capture everything. As I say – just like a ninja – take my photos and never get noticed. That is the job of a wedding photographer.

A bride is escorted during the wedding procession

The month of July has been busy! I was grateful for the opportunity to second shoot with Heidi and Tim of Retrospect Studios. One way to develop a portfolio of wedding photography is to shoot for other photographers. And I get the opportunity to blog about different weddings and such – so a lot of my portfolio this year has come from shooting as a second photographer.

And fortunately I was able to photograph at La Caille for this wedding. It is absolutely gorgeous there – the landscaping, the fact that they have peacocks running wild and the french style to the buildings. It just goes to show that good photographers have a background in everything! Landscape, macro, portraiture, bridals, engagements, sports, and more. Wedding photography requires all of this.

And then after the wedding is over there is the editing of photos – hooray for fast computers and Photoshop! It helps make a great photograph a fantastic photograph.