Photography tips:Bridal Models

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

November 6, 2010. Philea Resort & Spa, Melaka, Bridal Fair 2010 Photography Contest. I was a guest at the Philea, taking a 3-day 2-night break from my veterinary work. The pro-active marketing manager saw me at the ballroom where the Bridal Fair was held and invited me to register for the Photography Contest. The bridal models in the ballroom showed off the bridal dresses. The Contest was outdoors at 6 p.m. It started to drizzle around 6 p.m.

The evening sky was gloomy. Lighting was poor as the sky was overcast at 6 p.m. It was my first time photographing bridal models or any human models. I wanted to give up. But a Muar photographer encouraged me to get on with it.

Tips from this Muar photographer were helpful. These were "focus on the eyes" and "eye contact" to get a lively and sharp picture. "Shout 'hello' just before you click to get the model's attention and her eye contact," he advised me.

I didn't dare to shout "hello" before clicking. I waited for the eye contact to happen by chance and there were 3 below.

One photographer shouted "Marina," and the model turned her head in his direction. I learnt about the tricks of the trade in Malacca. For my animal photography, shouting at a cat or dog for eye contact photography usually does not work!

I did not submit any photo for the Contest which had the theme of "Highlight of the beauty environment and exciting premises together with beautiful model as bridal". To satisfy the theme, a close-up of the bridal models would not qualify. It would need to show the environment and premises of the Resort and the best picture I had was that of the bridal couple directed by the photographers to stand at the edge of the pool. I captured this picture as I was moving away to take pictures of other models up the hill. I quickly snapped this scene. To me, it had an excellent composition, action of the pro-active photographer risking his camera to command the hard working bridal couple to take a risk on the rocky pebbles which are meant to discourage people walking on them. The lone photographer faced the bridal couple, reminding me of the famous Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 photo of a man facing the army tanks, as in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989.

You can see that the photographer near the model was a pro-active type. The one in orange T-shirt ventured out a bit to risk his camera falling into the pool with him should he slip and fall. The others (hidden in the right) preferred not to take risk and stayed on firm ground. This picture shows the beautiful pool and the cascading waterfall features of Philea Resort and Spa and the bridal model. It might be on the final list to win a prize, in my opinion. Maybe not. One has to be hands-on to learn a new trade as reading all the photography magazines will not be sufficient as to go to be battle-tested.

I used "P" Mode and set the ISO to 3200. I was surprised to get some "good pictures" for my readers. These were the pictures where I was at the right place at the right time and got the right point of view without obstruction from the various Malaccan photographers.




Update and more photos are at:

www.toapayohvets.com/philea.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

 

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6 MAR 2024 PHOTO OF TIANANMEN SQUARE

Photo taken from drive-by taxi using Canon R5. Use TV Mode. I doubt the iPhone 15 can take sharp images from a moving taxi.

Great idea from Kat to take photos from a taxi as tight security prevented tourists from getting near the Square where the Communist Party was hosting its annual political event "Two Sessions" with President Xi Jinping.