A Short Wedding Photographer Question

"Is it true you should never use a photographer who is shorter than you?" This is a question I was asked on Saturday at Debenhams Wedding Weekend. It’s not the first time I’ve been asked this question either. The maxim "never use a photographer who is shorter than you" has been around for such a long time that many folk wonder is it really true or just an old wives tale?

Well for wedding photography I would say the simple and safest answer is, Yes, the saying is true! Let me explain the reasons why and then I’ll give you a basic exercise where you can prove this for yourself.

There are many aspects that affect and influence how people will look in a photograph. Lighting, angles, location, posing to mention just a few. The age old saying we are considering revolves around one of these fundamentals - angles. The angle you are photographed at has considerable influence on how you will look. As photographers we are always looking for angles that will flatter a person and make them look good and whilst there are some angles that do this there are also angles that do the opposite, and so of course we try to avoid these! One of the most common of these unflattering angles is a low angle.

It is probably easier for me to give you a simple exercise to do yourself to illustrate and prove this rather than try to explain it in words. Stand yourself in front of a wall mirror that is at the same height as your head. Now if you look straight ahead at yourself you are seeing yourself as a camera would see you if held by a photographer who is the same height as you. Now...tilt your head down very slightly as if your photographer is a touch shorter than what you are. What is the very first thing you notice about yourself? You have instantly given yourself a double chin! It doesn’t matter how many different ways you do this it is unavoidable. If you don’t have a double chin you’ve now given yourself one, if you have a slight double chin you’ve now made it a large one. This is how you will look if your photographer is shorter than you, your face will be fattened up. It is a basic, unavoidable truism. You can even try experimenting with different heights of photographer. Lets say your photographer is only two inches shorter than you. Imagine him standing in front of you and asking you to look into camera. What do you see when you do so? It is quite amazing, and frightening, just how pronounced your double chin has become. Try imagining a photographer 4 or more inches shorter than you. Very scary isn’t it? This is because low angles are not only unflattering but exaggerate and distort making you appear fatter than what you really are. Some times you may see people being photographed who have obviously heard the above axiom and so they will deliberately try looking over the photographers head to avoid the double chin look. However, this looks very unnatural as it gives the head a very weird look and also creates the affect that they are looking down their nose. So, please do not do this.

Now whilst we are still in front of the mirror lets cheer ourselves up, lol. First of all go back to looking straight ahead, nice and level. We’ll now do the opposite and imagine our photographer is a little bit taller than we are. What happens now when he asks you to look into camera? Because you are now having to tilt your head slightly up towards him this actually does the opposite and stretches and smooths out your neck and facial muscles which slim your face down and gives a very flattering appearance.

To illustrate this I’ve first of all posted a photograph of myself. Because I do a bit of freelance work in the media I often need to refresh my head shots so I use my wife, Diane, to update them periodically. As I am taller than she is I will always sit for the photographs. This means she is photographing me from a slightly elevated angle. I never stand up even though I feel more comfortable standing than when sitting. It’s not that I’m excessively vain but being aware of the short photographer syndrome why would I choose to be photographed at an unflattering angle?

In the next two photographs you can see this illustrated on a wedding day. The first wedding photo (kindly photographed by one of family) shows me doing a quick pre-ceremony photograph with the groom, Gary. Although Gary isn’t a particularly short groom as you can see he is still a few inches below my six feet two. The following photo shows the image I shot. Remember that this is about 15 minutes before his wedding ceremony so not only is Gary naturally nervous but like most people he isn’t a great fan of having his photograph taken. However, having been shot from an ideal height he looks natural, relaxed, handsome and stylish. Similarly, the next again shot is from later in the day Gary now with his new wife.

It has to be pointed out that avoiding the short photographer proverb isn’t as critical if you are going for a studio session. Here the photographer is in his own environment and can have you seated, kneeling, on the floor or wherever he wants. But when it comes to weddings it really does make a difference (that is why if a wedding photographer offers you an Engagement Shoot don’t go for a studio session but ask for a location shoot, perhaps even at your wedding venue). I know some wedding photographers in Edinburgh and around the country carry a short step ladder with them but personally in my experience of a wedding day there would only be limited opportunity to use this and it would also slow things down too much for my liking.

So I hope I’ve managed to answer and explain that adequately. I do understand that selecting a photographer is a personal thing and the above explanation of the old maxim may not worry you, on the other hand if you are looking for an Edinburgh wedding photographer it might help you in choosing one. I had several other good questions posed over the weekend so I plan on answering some more of them in future weeks as it may be of help and interest to anyone else who has thought about the same thing. Feel free to bring some questions with you to the Edinburgh Corn Exchange and Fashion Show this weekend, too. I’ll be happy to see you!

Cat Walk

I don’t think I’ve blogged pets for a wee while so here’s a few photos from a pet session I did on Monday afternoon. When it comes to portrait photography in Edinburgh I would say children and babies are the most popular sessions that get booked followed closely by couples and individuals. Family groups are also a favourite but do of course take a little bit extra effort in getting all the different family members together at the same time. Many of the baby photography sessions are couples who’s wedding I’ve photographed and they now have me back to photograph their first child. As a wedding photographer in Edinburgh this is always a lovely experience, and it’s always nice for the couples themselves to have someone they already know and trust to photograph another major milestone in their lives.For some reason I don’t receive a great quantity of pet requests. I think that is probably due to the fact that I am mostly known for my wedding photography. However, I do enjoy photographing pets and have photographed an assortments of animals from hamsters to birds of prey. If you’re interested in booking a pet session or any other portraits session I am running some really good offers this weekend at Ocean Terminal which I will mention at the end of this blog piece. Firstly, here’s the account of Tilley’s photo shoot...

I love cats and I love photographing them. However, whenever I first arrive for a cat shoot I deliberately ignore them and just get on with unpacking my gear and setting things up. Virtually all cats being notoriously curious cannot resist the urge to peak at what is going on and I find it’s far better for the cat to approach me than the other way around as this ensures they do not feel in any way threatened by anything. To achieve professional studio style photographs I set up a white collapsible backdrop and lay out a white sheet. I use three mobile studio lights to create the high key effect which I think looks great for cats, even white ones.In Tilley’s house the room we used to set up the mobile studio had light coloured walls so I didn’t need the backdrop but instead just increased the power of the back light so it would blow the background to pure white. Of the two front lights one does the same job on the foreground whilst the other is set up to light Tilley herself. I have a little electronic contraption thingy (not sure if that’s its official title, lol) which affixes to my camera and allows me to control the lighting directly from the camera. When everything is in position and ready and it’s simply a case of positioning the cat in the triangulated zone between the lights. Easier said than done, eh?It is quite amazing how many times the cat walks right into the perfect position and sits posing for their portraits. Of course many of them do this but deliberately sit with their backs to the camera laughing quietly to themselves. With Tilley however she just kept right out of the way. I don’t mind this at all as it simply gives me opportunity to get a good mixture and variety of differing shots. I work with two camera’s so I’ll lay one down in the studio area all set up and ready to fire as soon as the model walks into place. The other camera I have fitted with a telephoto zoom which allows me to just tag along wherever they want to go and photograph from a distance far enough away that I am not encroaching into their space.

The first photograph here illustrates this beautifully and is one of my favourites from Tilley’s session. After a wander into the kitchen and then back out into the corridor she sat towards the far end with her back to me. I was still in the living room at this point but rolling onto my back I was able to look down the corridor and zoom in towards Tilley and she sat on the edge of a pool of light. The way the natural window light was falling had backlit her quite dramatically and it was just a matter of patience and timing to wait for her to turn and look behind into camera. A couple of minutes after this shot Tilley swivelled around and decided to sit on the opposite side of the pool of light as you can see in the fourth shot. I gave this one a slight tilt to retain the naturalness of the setting. Next it was time for Tilley to go to work in the studio.

Having had enough of the corridor Tilley came through to the living room and sat on the edge of the studio area carefully avoiding stepping near the zone that I needed her in. However, she couldn’t resist my toy chicken that I’d brought along! I placed this smack in the middle of the 'zone' and after eyeing it up for a few seconds Tilley decided she’d have to pad into the zone to check him out. I grabbed a couple of quick shots before Tilley realised with scorn that he wasn’t a real chicken and batted him out of the way. Oh well, time for the string!I am often amazed with my own cat, and over the years a few cats, how no matter how much you spend on fancy cat toys string and empty boxes are their favourite things! Fortunately, Tilley was no exception and with her owner dangling the string within the triangle of lights I was able to get plenty of good shots as she played, stalked and watched it. My four favourites are shown here.

So if you want to book a portrait session for yourself or a loved one, a baby, child or your cat, dog or elephant come along this weekend to the Debenhams Wedding Weekend at Ocean Terminal where I will be running a £50 Portrait Session Gift voucher give-away over the whole weekend. I will also be giving away three FREE Engagement Shoots each day and three FREE Portrait Sessions each day! The free offers are on a first come first served basis. The event runs between 12 noon and 4pm. I’ll have plenty of sample wedding albums too if you are looking for idea’s or want to discuss your wedding photography. You can still make a booking even if you can't make it along to Ocean Terminal at the weekend just give me a call or drop me an email :)

Weddings and Portraits

All the photos this week are from recent portrait sessions as that is predominantly what I am shooting at the moment, and all the way up until the end of this month. However, before saying a little bit about that I must relate two wedding related things that occurred this week that I was highly delighted about.

I delivered an album recently to Alana and Colin whose Norton House Hotel wedding I photographed last summer and I’ve also just uploaded their Storybook wedding slideshow to youtube. One of their guests at the wedding is a professional photographer and Alana informed me that when he logged into their private gallery to view their wedding photographs, which went live a couple of days after the wedding, he emailed her to tell her this was the best wedding photography he had ever seen! Well, naturally I was highly delighted at this huge compliment from a fellow professional as well as feeling very honoured :) Here’s the link to their slideshow if you’d like to view it:
Alana and Colin, Norton House Hotel Wedding

The other exciting news came just this morning. BBC Magazines are going to be running a 'Best Ever Wedding Shots' feature in the April issue of Perfect Weddings magazine. I’m not long off the phone with them and they have confirmed that I am to be one of only eleven photographers from the UK going to be featured! Hugely delighted! Okay, that’s my latest news, now back to the photography. It’s funny how things go sometimes. By pure co-incidence last week all my portrait session bookings were girls. And this week they have all been boys. The first shot here today is one from last week. I had a great time photographing 3 year old Jessica and as we came towards the end she asked if she could wear her flower headband (is the correct name a fascinator?). As soon as I edited the photographs I couldn’t wait to do a black and white version of this image but keeping the flower in colour. We call it colour touch and when carried with discretion it looks very effective.The second photo is Simon and the two side by side images give a good comparison between a classic or traditional style portrait and then a more 'lifestyle' oriented photograph. The traditional picture on the right was shot using mobile studio lighting whilst the image on the left was using nothing more than window light. Both are very striking yet also very different. Doing home portrait sessions allows you this greater degree of flexibility than a shoot confined to a studio. The third photograph makes use of my specialised baby poser which Iuse for babies under 6 months. This moulds around the baby keeping him nice and secure and comfortable whilst being photographed. It can also be manoeuvred into many different positions for a variety of poses. Here you see the baby on his front happily smiling into camera.The next two photographs I simply asked the children to sit or lay on the floor. I positioned a collapsible white background behind them and then bounced two studio lights off it creating a high key effect whilst two brolly lights were used from the front. The last shot is a very similar set up although for this one I decreased the back lighting as I didn’t want the high key effect but rather a slightly more subdued look. As you notice the majority of these photographs are black and white. Photographs of children always look good when printed in black and white. It somehow gives them a timeless, classic feel. The original images were all shot in colour so the clients can choose which versions they like the best anyway.I have a few more portrait photography sessions in Edinburgh throughout next week and then I’ll be getting all my sample wedding albums and things together for the Debenhams Wedding Weekend at Ocean Terminal. As an Edinburgh wedding photographer it’s a good opportunity to let couples see my work and the bespoked designed albums and storybooks I do. Because we are located right in the main rotunda of the Ocean Terminal shopping centre I’ll also get chance to hand out some Portrait Session Gift vouchers as well, so a bit of double exposure, lol.Then of course the following weekend is the big Edinburgh wedding fair at the Corn Exchange. Well over a hundred exhibitors, so although it can feel a bit overwhelming if its your first visit to a large wedding fair it does give the opportunity to compare suppliers. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer in Edinburgh there will be around nine or ten of us so take time to visit them all and compare the quality of their work and albums. To be honest if you know how to tell the difference between nice photography and great photography you’ll find that one or two of us will stand out from the rest. There’s two or three fashion shows on each day so I’m sure you’ll have a good time and collate plenty of wedding information :)

Royal Terrace Hotel weddings

Well last weekend I had a great photo shoot at the Royal Terrace Hotel in Edinburgh. I’ve photographed many weddings at The Royal Terrace Hotel and I’ve also done a few shoots for the hotel, too, so I know the hotel very well and knew we’d get some great photographs. The Royal Terrace Hotel is looking to update it’s portfolio with fresh images so I spent two days here doing a variety of photography from room layouts, table set-ups, hotel rooms, guest bedrooms and a few other things and we also brought in a bride and groom for some brand new wedding shots. I really enjoy this kind of work, it’s probably the next best thing to a real wedding itself. The photographs you see here are mostly from the bride and groom session. In putting together the shoot I have to say a big "Thank you" to Lyn from Edinburgh’s Pretty Woman bridal wear for supplying me with my dress (don’t worry, I didn’t actually wear it myself lol) and Rhona from Flowers by Rhona for the bridal bouquet. And of course the biggest thanks go to my models Gillian and Gary! A lot of Edinburgh wedding photographers would book professional models for a shoot of this nature, but this is something I tend to shy away from for a couple of reasons. Firstly, when looking through a venue or Hotels brochure you can always spot immediately if the 'couple' in the wedding photographs are models. I much prefer my couple to be totally natural and look 'real'. So I use a real couple. I photographed Gillian and Gary’s wedding at Craighouse in the summer of 2010 and asked them if they’d like to be a bride and groom again for a hotel shoot. Every time I get opportunity to ask a couple if they’d like to do this they jump at the chance as it’s quite exciting getting to be a bride again and getting into a gorgeously expensive wedding dress for a second time - and the groom doesn’t mind it too! So it’s nice to be able to invite my previous couples to do it all again. It also ensures the natural, relaxed photographs that I’m after, too as I’m working with a genuine couple who are genuinely in love which of course gets conveyed in the photographs.Very similar to a wedding day I’m after a nice mix and variety of shots from traditional style wedding images through to contemporary. I’m also working to a brief provided by the hotel who have some specific things they are looking for as well as some idea’s of my own. One of the important things with this job is to ensure plenty of photographs that feature and promote the Royal Terrace Hotel itself, which is one of the main purposes of the shoot. So I did a variety of photographs at and adjacent to Hotel main entrance which is very recognisable and also meant I could feature their signage in some of the images. You’ll notice this in the first photo where I have carefully positioned the bride and groom between two of the hotels sign boards. The red carpet running up to the doorway on the left hand side balances the image nicely together with retaining the wedding feel.If you’ve ever been to the Royal Terrace Hotel you’ll know that they have the most beautiful private gardens at the rear. In one of the gardens is a striking stone gazebo. I always use this for real Royal Terrace Hotel weddings, as do most wedding photographers in Edinburgh, so it was also on my 'must do' list. Doing this shoot at the beginning of February I didn’t want to keep Gillian, in her off the shoulder dress, out in the cold for too long so I made sure I worked fairly quickly whilst we were outside. I’m not one of these photographers who takes an excessive amount of time anyway, as Gary and Gillian know from when I photographed their wedding, as I prefer instead to just work smoothly and comfortably so within just a few minutes I had everything I needed and we went back inside.One of my favourite photographs from the whole weekend was taken when we went along to the honeymoon suite. I did a variety of images while we were here, particularly utilising the grand bay window, and also photographing the room from several differing angles on behalf of the hotel. But it’s the high level shot I like the most! I love the way the light just pours in from the bay window and wraps itself around the couple as they enjoy their champagne on the luxurious bed. The ultra high level angle capitalizes on this and ensures the image is given extra impact.I finished up with Gary and Gillian around 4pm by which time the Royal Terrace had set up The Balmoral for an evening reception which I photographed before wrapping things up for the Saturday. Over night they would redress this room for a Wedding Breakfast which I photographed the following day.

Sunday was an even busier day! The Adam Suite and Balmoral rooms were to be photographed dressed and arranged for a wedding and then the chairs and decorations were to be re-arranged in different colours and photographed again. There were three colour changes in all which allowed me time for three coffee breaks! :DKeep an eye on the Royal Terrace Hotel website over the next few weeks and you might spot some of the new photographs going up. Their Showround Book should be ready soon, too, so if you’re looking for a wedding venue and pop in to check out the hotel you’ll be able to get a flavour of how beautiful the function rooms look and feel when dressed for you big day. And if you want an Edinburgh wedding photographer who knows the Royal Terrace better than anyone else please give me a call or an email, I’d love to meet up for a chat!

Photo Magic

Well I’ve had lots of portrait sessions booked since writing last weeks blog with clients wanting to get shoots in before the wedding season kicks off in April. January is also a busy time for taking wedding bookings, too, so plenty meetings with future bride and grooms. It’s always nice as an Edinburgh wedding photographer discussing couples wedding plans. I’m often able to help with suggestions and recommendations for other aspects of the wedding day planning as well as I know most of the leading wedding suppliers in Edinburgh and can point folk in the right direction and to the best companies and people. Funnily enough I get many couples contacting me for advice on venue choices. The date and venue is of course the first thing to get booked when planning the wedding, so usually when the couple start turning their attention to a wedding photographer the venue has already been chosen. However, I must say I really enjoy being asked for input on venue recommendations, it’s quite an honour! When I chat with other wedding photographers in Edinburgh it’s apparent that I get asked for venue recommendations far more than what is usual. I’m not altogether sure why this may be case. I have been commissioned to do a fair amount of venue reviews over the years for the likes VisitBritain, North Country Guides and various magazines so I’m not sure if that has any bearing. Anyway, in the light of this I am soon going to start work on a Wedding Venue section on my website with information that may help couples in deciding where they want to tie the knot. But that’s all for sometime in the future of course.Another important aspect of my job is album design and also photo manipulation. When designing albums photo manipulation where necessary and appropriate is a normal part of the work but I also periodically get special requests, too. Just this last week I’ve been working on a number of these so I thought I’d share the results with you. There is of course a plethora of task we can achieve with photographs from airbrushing, blemish or scar removal, slimming people down, removing objects (and sometimes people, lol), improving the weather, etc, etc. But here are a few recent jobs that illustrate some of the results that can be achieved with a little time and skill.The first two photographs here are Melville Castle. The first shot is the original, taken in the summer. However, the client later wanted an image that had a winter feel to it, but with no people in it. Most of my photographs of Melville Castle in the winter have been taken at Melville Castle weddings and so on this occasion didn’t really fit the bill. So, I fiddled about with the original photo you see here and after doing a tricky little black and white conversion produced the second image which has a nice wintery look to it.The next two photographs from Morag and Alastair’s wedding at first glance may seem to be identical. The shot was taken on the marble staircase as part of their bride and groom session at their wedding at Craighouse last year. If you look closely you will notice that the shoulder strap of Morag’s dress has come out of place over her left shoulder. At the request of Morag’s mother I “fixed” the strap so it went it back to exactly how it should have been.

The other image I’ve been working on this week, in fact only just finished it lol, is also from Morag and Alastair’s wedding and on behalf of Morag’s mum (she enjoys thinking up challenges for me!). The two photographs on the left hand side are from Morag and Alastair’s group shots. A couple of weeks ago, having been suitably impressed with my ability to fix Morag’s straps, her mum contacted to me to ask if it would be possible to create a new group photograph of specific people that she hadn’t thought about asking to shoot on the wedding day itself. So the picture on the right is the result. If you look closely you no doubt can work out that I’ve taken Morag, Alastair and Morag’s sister (Maid of Honour) from the bottom photo and then Morag’s mum and dad from the top photo and combined them together to give the new family group photograph.The last example I’m using is the two photographs of Floors Castle. The original shot is the top one which is a good image in its own right. However, at the time I took the photograph I also zoomed in on a deep, saturated portion of the sky where the colours were very rich and vibrant and took an additional shot with the idea of switching the skies later in the post production. The lower image is the result. Personally, although it does look more dramatic and punchy I think I prefer the original, but having the two gives me more financial options so I’m not complaining, lol.