Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and noticed how the camera shifts focus from one person to the next? It makes it nearly impossible to look at anything else except the subject because nothing else is sharply in focus. This is an age old process that has been around since the early days of photography, and it is called “depth-of-field”. Depth-of-field blurs the foreground and background in photos. It can be achieved primarily two ways, with a large zoom lens which works great outdoors or a prime lens (non-zoom, fixed focal length) indoors. You should expect your wedding photographer to use this effect to bring out the emotion of the day and remove the distractions.
As a professional photographer showing up on time and following the contractual obligations is a given. What you may not always be aware of is the style/creativity of the photographer(s), the format they shoot, the equipment they use, and finally the editing process. In most cases this should be completely transparent to you the consumer. Whether I use a $500 camera or a $5000 camera might seem irrelevant but clearly it is not. When we arrive at your wedding we use the best cameras and lenses money can buy, and more importantly we know how to use them to capture that dramatic effect and emotion.
Look at our reception photos, notice the singularity of the shot, it is just the two of you on the dance floor. Look at our pre-wedding images notice the bride getting ready, not a hotel room full of people. How about the cute flower girl coming down the aisle? Sure other people are there but this moment is about you and the emotion of the event. By limiting the depth-of field with very specific “prime” lenses, shutter speeds and camera settings we are able shoot in extremely low light where others cannot. Have you ever looked at images from a typical point and shoot camera you might say “wow these photos look pretty good” (outside and in the sun), but try taking photos in a dimly lit room and get them processed from the same camera. You will see a lot of “grain” or noise, blown out faces from the direct flash and everything is in focus. A great example might be the last photos you took at an amusement park. The rollercoaster was just as sharp as your child and what about the stranger eating ice cream in the background? What is the subject in that photo? By using prime lenses we are able to single out the specific child, guest, and bride from the crowd thereby creating emotion and the subject matter.
