Images: atelier.memoria and ohh.ginger
Hey it’s Lensel. Your secret weapon (and occasional kick in the pants) in the wedding photography world. Here’s what is on today:
Is this wedding photography almost perfect? We go BTS in Ireland.
Template slop - follow this rabbit hole if you are brave
Erich Mcvey’s revealing workshop replay
+ all the news from the week
Let’s go ⬇️
NEWS
Happening this Week
Template Slop. Everyone is getting good, but no one is getting better. What happened to 10,000 hours to master something? When you can just fill out a template. (or slap on a preset) This post dives into a VERY interesting phenomenon happening in the world right now - and it relates to wedding photographers specifically. Everyone is good now. But what about better?
Not much longer. Sigma’s new 85mm 1.2 lens is almost here.
Harman’s new color film. Who doesn’t love a new film to try out. This time a revised return of the loved Phoenix emulsion, described as high-contrast, visibly grainy, punchy and prone to halation in bright/backlit situations. Umm sounds good? Details here.
A post but it’s a magazine? We love a hot take and this post, designed as a magazine spread has the real bangers. And what a way to present your images in a fresh way. Dive into Strange Issue 137?
Future Phones. Is this the future of phone camera? We’ve never seen this before in collaboration with ARRI.
Halation Rumours. In an Adobe community question this week, someone commented that they’ve been asking for a Bloom and Halation slider for years. Rikk Flohr, who works with Adobe, responded in the exact way you would when the feature is ABOUT to be released. Still it’s just a rumour but let’s feed it and maybe it will happen?
Swiss Connect. Ok this conference in Switzerland is shaping up to be genuinely great, with a bunch of amazing speakers including the wonderful Koko King and Bushwhacked - ok dreams. Details here.
Yes of the week. The proposal/engagement round ups from the blogs are a ‘not so secret’ marketing source for some photographers, but this one was more of a jaw dropper. You proposed at the eclipse? Insane. No notes.
POV WEDDING FEATURE
🏰 What makes this wedding gallery feel almost perfect? 3 things Kyle Ingram got right in Ireland
OBVIOUSLY.
Ridiculous. Nothing is perfect. But the photography at this wedding comes annoyingly close.
YES the location was the bride’s childhood castle. YES the couple are good looking. But that is not what makes the gallery so special. Let’s talk about 3 things that do ⬇️
(This wedding and the BTS is featured in full here on the Lensel Website)
The Mix
This gallery feels amazing because it has that delightful mix of perfect posed frames and chaotic in the moment captures.
And Kyle goes all in on both. It isn't a documentary gallery with a few posed frames dropped in. It isn't a posed gallery using candids as filler. It's both at the right times.
“Coming into weddings from a fashion background, I love floating around bridal prep and catching the raw, candid moments first. Once hair and makeup are done I start gently posing candids with the couple and the bridal party, and once they're dressed I direct them the way I would models on a fashion job."
The lesson here?
YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE. When you shoot the portraits you can pose hard. When just capturing moments, you can just let them happen. No need to direct when it’s not the right moment.
Love all the layers in Kyle images - and the genius shot to include himself as a layer in the mirror
The Layers
The theme that pulls both the candid work and the posed work together in this gallery is the LAYERS. (Read that line again if you want to up the consistency through your galleries)
It feels so dynamic to always move something or someone in the foreground. A doorway, a hand, a person… Kyle’s gallery is full of it.
The chaos frame in Casper's prep room, fathers and brothers and groomsmen all moving at once, was shot slow shutter THROUGH the doorway as he arrived. He never walked into the room.
Then the fully directed one the day after with the Defender.
"I like adding layers to an image, so putting Serena in the car with Casper standing outside gave the frame a bit more to hold."
We spoke more in depth about using layers in a newsletter issue here.
The Light
Mastering dynamic light is one of the best things you can do to elevate your work. Kyle only got a few minutes throughout the day for portraits, so he preplanned the light he wanted to use. SO when the moment came, he already knew exactly where to go. That photo on the right? A quick stolen moment after the ceremony…
Incredible soft light dropping straight down from above, acting as a hair light to separate Serena and Casper from the background. Beyond being a cool pose, cool couple - the light is doing so much work here to elevate the image.
Incredible solo work
Kyle captured this day solo, armed with 50 rolls of film and gave us the inside word on what went on from the morning to night. Dive into the full BTS feature below.
WORKSHOPS
⚫️ The Ferros in September + Erich’s Mcvey’s Replay is Live.
Want to learn how to bring art direction concepts from editorial shoots into a real wedding day??
The Ferros are coming to teach a workshop in Lensel PRO about how to do exactly that.
Join Lensel PRO to join LIVE September 9th - 5:30PM CET / 11:30AM ET / 8:30AM PT
+ access the full archive of incredible past workshops
Including the REPLAY of the Erich Mcvey “The Signature Edit” workshop. NOW available to view.
Live with Erich Mcvey
INSPO TO KEEP YOU FRESH
⬇️ This is a masterclass on the 85mm. There’s a magic sometimes to just sticking to one prime lens.
⬇️ This wedding set up blew everyone away. Incredible work from White Eden Weddings and man you’d have to watch out shooting such a huge mirror!
⬇️ Getting ready ideas x 100000 from the wonderful Oh Ginger. + just go do yourself a favour and check out that whooooole wedding.
⬇️ Again there more interesting frames here than you can count on both hands. But be warned you could probably spend 30mins looking at this post.
Until next week,
