Team MagMod is thrilled to have Amii and Andy Kauth of Sunshine & Reign Photography contribute to our blog this month. They're passionate about creating dope portraits like the ones featured in this post. Photographing the groom is the topic of their upcoming photo walk at WPPI 2018, where they'll be photographing actual human beings in a hotel suite while they demonstrate their lighting techniques and posing tips.
We're stoked to share 4 images that represent how we light and pose unique groom shots.
This first image features a groom shaving in the bathroom of an old restored hotel called The Grand in Jerome, Arizona. To get the shot, we got low, squatted right next to the groom, and photographed his reflection in the mirror. The camera is right next to the groom's right arm. We used a MagGrid on a Nikon SB-910 (camera left, handheld) to provide light control so it didn’t spill on all the walls filling the bathroom with light.
EXIF: Nikon D750, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/200 sec., ISO 200.
This next groom had a very close relationship with his grandmother, and he got ready at her home, in her bedroom. The concept here was to get a solid portrait and to make the location look as if it wasn't in a bedroom decorated for a grandmother . . . not that there's anything wrong with that ;)
We used MagGrid on a Nikon SB-910 (camera right, handheld). The flash was on the right and positioned to form a split-lighting on the groom. The MagGrid kept the light from spilling on the background.
EXIF: Nikon D750, 50mm, f/2.5, 1/200 sec., ISO 50.
We created a second image of the same groom by making one small creative change that had a big impact. The only thing we did differently here is that we had the groom look towards the flash to create more of a loop light pattern. To create the reflection in-camera, we simply held a prism up to the lens.
In order to create something unique and different, we combined a shot of a groom getting ready with another of the desert landscape using the multiple exposure feature built into the camera. The result is an image that tells a story about the whole day, not just about a moment when a groom buttoned his shirt.
We lit this groom with a MagSphere stacked on top of the MagGrid on a Nikon SB-910, camera left (held by hand). We love this combination because it gives us the control we want out of our lights, but with a softer transition of light fall off on the edges. We wanted to create dimension in the shot, so, similar to previous shots, we positioned the light far to the side.
EXIF: 50mm, f/1.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 250. Double Exposure (in camera).
