Sharee and Ray's Wedding

[bennielou]

 

[flashlady]

I love these! All of them, I'm so far from profressional so they all look amazing to me lol

 

[AnotherNewGuy]

Excellent. You are getting lucky with beautiful couples and locations.

 

[bennielou]

Excellent. You are getting lucky with beautiful couples and locations.

Actually, for a long time, people thought I was using models. Of course I wasn't, nor did I have the money to put up huge sets. Concerned about the local gossip, I got together with another photo who was a good friend of mine.
She was like, "Damn, we are all wondering how you get such pretty people and locations." She said it in a sweet way, joking, but also wondering.
I didn't know the answer.

However, after a few big plates of sushi, and a bottle of wine, we decided it was because of my retouching. Yes, I know 99.9% of photographers think it's WAY over the top, and I admit it is, but I'll give you our breakdown of the situation anyway.

Pretty people usually spend some amount of time or money to be pretty. They go to the spa, get their nails done, sometimes dye their hair, or more extreme get plastic surgery, teeth whitening, hair extentions..on and on and on. Not only are these people normally pretty to start with, they are also well off enough to enhance their normally pretty features.

So when they go around looking for photographers, my little specialty stands out to them. I retouch them to any level they wish. They can be super skinny, have skin anywhere between normal to Barbie. And besides that, they are getting a good technical photographer.

Even though I've been villified by fellow photographers for making "plastic people", I'm ok with it, and will continue to do it for at least another 5 years. I am (was) the only one in my area doing it. (Now others are). Before others joined in, I got the lions share. And before the bottom dropped out on luxury photography, I was making amazing amounts of money doing so.

But this kind of work is time consuming, and most photogs won't do it...period. So again, the lions shift of work went back to me.

But I know brides who YEARN to have a good traditional photography artist (these I send to my friends who are the FEW remaining trad photographers). Or sometimes the bride wants full out PJ which I also send on to my friends. But most of those who find me, desperately want my form of work, because most people don't want to do it. In short, it's my "lock" and the reason I'm very successful.

I hope that makes sense!

 

[Imposter.Cow.]

dont know why, but i like the shoes picture the best haha very detailed and shiny!

 

[bhphotography]

Great detail shots.

The only one that bugs me is the flower girl standing, facing the bride, she is blocking too much of the dress, a bit of a angle change so that we could see the dress would have been great.

 

[bennielou]

Hehe. My feet only go so fast in a nanosecond "moment" situation. Believe me, I was trying to peddle out as fast as I could.

What I've learned with weddings, is that things happen for a hint of a moment if it's a true PJ moment and not a photographer driven moment. You. Have. Less. Than. A. Second to get that shot off of whatever cute/emotional/special/wonderful thing is going on right that second or less. If you readjust, sometimes, you lost it. It's gone. Pooff. They are on to the next nanosecond. The thing with a lot of the wedding stuff, is there is no redo. You see the shot, you take the shot.

I get a giggle sometimes when I take a total PJ wedding shot, and someone says, "Damn, you cut off the tippy toe of the shoe", and I'm thinking, "Whhhhhaaat?" I just ran across the room, in pitch black candlelight romanceville to get that shot!" LOL.

 

[PatrickHMS]

You're GOOD!!!!!!

She wears long underwear????

You always seem to get a cute shot of one or more girls in the non-marrying wedding party.

 

[AnotherNewGuy]

Excellent. You are getting lucky with beautiful couples and locations.

Actually, for a long time, people thought I was using models. Of course I wasn't, nor did I have the money to put up huge sets. Concerned about the local gossip, I got together with another photo who was a good friend of mine.
She was like, "Damn, we are all wondering how you get such pretty people and locations." She said it in a sweet way, joking, but also wondering.
I didn't know the answer.

However, after a few big plates of sushi, and a bottle of wine, we decided it was because of my retouching. Yes, I know 99.9% of photographers think it's WAY over the top, and I admit it is, but I'll give you our breakdown of the situation anyway.

Pretty people usually spend some amount of time or money to be pretty. They go to the spa, get their nails done, sometimes dye their hair, or more extreme get plastic surgery, teeth whitening, hair extentions..on and on and on. Not only are these people normally pretty to start with, they are also well off enough to enhance their normally pretty features.

So when they go around looking for photographers, my little specialty stands out to them. I retouch them to any level they wish. They can be super skinny, have skin anywhere between normal to Barbie. And besides that, they are getting a good technical photographer.

Even though I've been villified by fellow photographers for making "plastic people", I'm ok with it, and will continue to do it for at least another 5 years. I am (was) the only one in my area doing it. (Now others are). Before others joined in, I got the lions share. And before the bottom dropped out on luxury photography, I was making amazing amounts of money doing so.

But this kind of work is time consuming, and most photogs won't do it...period. So again, the lions shift of work went back to me.

But I know brides who YEARN to have a good traditional photography artist (these I send to my friends who are the FEW remaining trad photographers). Or sometimes the bride wants full out PJ which I also send on to my friends. But most of those who find me, desperately want my form of work, because most people don't want to do it. In short, it's my "lock" and the reason I'm very successful.

I hope that makes sense!

Wow. I couldn't agree more, and I find myself over retouching as well. I started out making my surface blur layer with opacity at 30% then 50% then 70%, now sometimes 80%. So if you only plan on doing this for 5 more years, you should start thinking about how you want your legacy to carry on. I propose you teach me everything you know.

 

[bennielou]

LOL. I love that.

Yeah, I really don't know if I can keep doing weddings for toooo many years more. It takes a lot out of you. I'll probably hire some people I trust and train to carry on after that, and focus on doing portraits instead.
Try Portraiture as a retouching element. It might save you a lot of time.