If you can't get it now, get it later!

Today I thought I would share a couple of photos turned out really well from my last wedding and my process when it came to making these.

The first image is one of my absolute favorites because it fits this wedding so well and also because last year I photographed the groom's sister's wedding, I got a shot that was similar in concept. It was requested by the Jenni (the bride) that I get something similar for them. It is always great when you get a shot that you know your clients are going to be thrilled with.
First and foremost, take care of your clients! If you notice the beautiful glowing trail of light on the sidewalk, that is because it may as well have been an ice skating rink. If either Jamie or Jenni would have fallen, well, I just don't want to think about it.
I would not have gotten this shot without a tripod! For all of you who hate carrying that thing around (I am with you on it!) tripods are a lot steadier than you are and give you professional results EVERY time. While we were there another photographer was in the area and she was running around with her speed light. I'm sure she got good results because I did some of this also but the reason people want photographs at this park around Christmas is for the lights.
As for the actual photograph, speed was the hardest part. There were two reasons for this, the cold obviously and when we arrived it was just hitting twilight. Twilight in winter is beautiful. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue and the snow covered ground matches it. I highly recommend shooting at twilight summer and winter. When we arrived I quickly started looking around for what I wanted to do. We had about 10 minutes before the best time to shoot twilight so we did a large group photo and then started doing this one. I didn't really want to tilt my image in this one because it included a bit more snow in the lower right but by doing this I cut out the entire line of parked cars and traffic while still including the beautiful street lamps. Then we took two half second exposures and we were done. Always double up just in case they move in one (which they did). My only regret for this picture is that I couldn't use a smaller aperture to make all the Christmas lights flare more.

The other picture I have in here purely because I have ragged on Photoshop so much. I wouldn't have had this picture if I didn't use it. For this wedding, I was severely limited to how much the church would let me move around during the ceremony. Once I had all the standard pictures, I had to be creative. I knew that I wanted this effect for one picture when they kissed or turned around so when the time came I got got the first standard picture and then started zooming during the exposure. If you have ever done this it is very inconsistent. I think I tried about 8 times but when I look at the images none of them turned out the way I was hoping. So I had to go home take my standard picture and create the zoom blur in Photoshop. I think I learned a lesson while doing this. The important part is that you try to create you images in camera and if you can't then Photoshop can help you out. I don't think I will try and do the zooming in any future weddings during the ceremony there just isn't enough time. I will always do it in my post production now because it is consistent. The important part is that I envisioned it, applied it, and then compromised.