Wedding Bouquet

I will keep working on my website overtime – I want to make sure the content is fresh, that I blog regularly, and that the site is easy to use and serves as a great marketing tool.

Why don't more grooms have bouquets?

And some people have argued that wedding bouquets are pointless and just get in the way. You spend more time putting the bouquet some where and having someone hold it for you – but I think they are a critical part of any wedding. And for photography it gives you hands something to hold – it is the perfect prop for any photograph.

But I love the color of this photograph – the purples, ivory, and orange. Those weren’t the official colors of the wedding – but they are still gorgeous. Spring can’t get here soon enough.

Purple, ivory, and orange brighten up this cold snowy day

Wedding bouquet at Rose Sachs

Recently I had a brief discussion with another photographer about wedding bouquets. She had asked if anyone liked them and if they just were in the way. My response was that wedding bouquets are a touch of fancy that goes well with the bride. I think they are cool. And most important – for bridal photography and even wedding photography it gives the bride something to do with their hands.

On an unrelated note – sort of… Utah is famous for the mountains. The landscape here is truly unique. And if you haven’t seen Rose Sachs on the way up to Park City you should really check it out. It is a fabulous!

The stone and rock formations really set the location apart. There is a waterfall right behind the reception center. This wedding bouquet was photographed on some of the rock steps that lead up to the water fall. It was pouring rain as I took this photograph – all natural light and at ISO 800 to capture the shot. When it rains it gets dark outside so it takes some correct handling of a camera to get the shot right. Woo hoo!

The wedding bouquet was just laying there, ready to be photographed

As a wedding photographer I don’t put the camera away until I am in my car. You don’t want to miss a shot. You never know what you might encounter on the way to the car.

As the wedding ends people are still in a celebration mood. Or in the case of the bouquet it has been placed there by the bride and I just dropped to one knee and took a quick photograph. I bounched the light on the wall to the left of the camera and BAM! cool photo!

So don’t assume the photographs are over as soon as the wedding is over.

Wedding Bouquet

Wedding photography is a competitive industry – and it is becoming more so with the advent of digital photography. And I think it is great – it should help encourage people to strive to create the best images and also to find their unique niche. I am still trying to find my niche. One thing that does set me apart (I think) is my use of off camera lighting.

The wedding bouquet above was photographed with Nikon speedlight shot through an umbrella. It is quite popular to photograph with natural light. But I love to mix artifical light and natural light. I think it helps add more depth and drama to a photograph. The shadows that the bouquet creates are fairly dramatic. And then I edited the photograph in Photoshop to help boost the colors and the contrast.

A water fall provides a perfect backdrop for the bouquet's photograph

How many times to do you find a water fall – a real water fall at a wedding reception? I have only run across one and it made the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous red rose bouquet. And to create the perfect photograph I wanted the water fall to look nice and silky smooth. To do this I used my tripod – which I pack to every wedding. Most photographer’s never use tripods anymore – and it really is a shame. There are some times where you just need to hold the camera perfectly still – and to get those tack sharp images you need a tripod.