My 136th photography workshop to remember…!

Receiving a momento from the members of the Thirupur District Video &Photographers Association

It was an enchanting experience to share some of my views about ‘Candid wedding photography, (an artificially stimulated business trend in current wedding photography market) with professional wedding photographers of Tirupur District Video and Photographers Association. I had shown more than 250 artistic wedding images to explain about candid shots.

Interactive session

All about contemporary wedding photography

The event had lots of highlights as,

1. How to see and visualize a candid shot?
2. How to make the candid shots meaning full & story telling?
3. How to use the professional studio flashes in the wedding events?
4. How to use the professional portable camera mounted flashes?
5. How to use the available lights and video lights as sources?
6. How to mix the above lights in a wedding/event scenario?
7. How to use Elinchrom Ranger flashes for outdoor couple portraits?
8. How to use monopods in wedding shoots for lowlight photography/top angle/low angle photography?
9. How to control depth of field effectively to tell stories through photos?
10. How to use fast prime lenses like, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2 and zoom lenses 16-35mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses for shooting candid shots?
11. How to motivate the couple in a pre/post wedding shots?
12. More than 90 fully charged photographers participated the event with core interest in my delivery
13. The event was so lively and entertaining for me and the participants

Outdoor couple portrait demo

At the end of the Workshop participants understood that,

1. Candid photography is not just about shooting close-ups with a long lens
2. There is no specific equipment for candid shots, for candid shots can be done with all lenses and cameras
3. Candid photography by it self is not a ‘separate branch’ of wedding photography but a ‘style of working’, which is also practiced in all other branches of photography

Indoor couple portraits demo session

a few pictures shot during the demo practical session…

The learning out comes of the workshop are,

1. The participated photographers developed better confidence in shooting candid shots in weddings
2. They came out of the myth that only certain camera models and lenses can give candid pictures
3. They are convinced that there is no need for separate candid photographers in a wedding, because all the wedding shots need to be approached in the candid style.
4. They also realized that they won’t be able to make a complete wedding photo book just with candid and couple shots alone.

Awarding Certificates to the participants

Mr. KL Raja Ponsing – photography mentor, founder and director of Ambitions 4 Photography Academy with the members of the Thirupur District Video &Photographers Association during the two days Candid Wedding Photography workshop @ Thirupur on 1st July 2015

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Focus Stacking

Focus stacking is a technique to get an extended depth of field in photographs where the maximum depth of field* is not possible using the popular photography techniques.

* ‘Depth of field’ is the acceptable range of effective sharpness of the subject on the axis of the lens.

We know that the maximum depth of the field is possible,

• By using smaller aperture diameters (higher f numbers like f32/f22/f16
• By using smaller focal length lenses
• By shooting from a longer distance
• By using cameras with smaller sensor size

Despite of using the above techniques, some times we cannot show the subject sharp all through.

Particularly when shooting from a closer distance, to get the maximum sharpness spreading all through the subject area, ‘focus-stacking technique’ is used.

This technique is useful for shooting small objects using macro lenses / product shots / jewelry shots / food shots where the subject demands total sharpness.

This is nothing but shooting a sequence of images focusing at various planes and then merging them carefully in the post production process using an image processing software. In the image shown here, the milk and cookies at different planes are focused individually.

The three individual images where the points of focus are different give a different range of depth of field. Composting all the three images into one by erasing the less sharper areas of the individual images using layer masking technique to retain only the sharp areas gives complete sharpness all through the image. This gives a feel of extended depth of field, which is not otherwise achievable.

Note: The camera needs to be on a tripod and the subject must be stationary to take control of composition.

If you found this article useful, please check our Advanced Diploma in Professional Photography course , where we explore all the professional aspects of Commercial photography in detail. It is an intensive 12 months fulltime course