Indian Wedding Photography with the Profoto B1s

One of the best aspects of styled shoots is that it allows a photographer to create imagery that is otherwise impractical to achieve. Lin and Jirsa recently partnered with a group of Southern California Indian wedding vendors to execute a styled Indian wedding to showcase the work of each vendor as well as the hotel resort. See how they used the Profoto B1 to chisel out their subject in an otherwise cluttered and complex scene.

The win-win-win

Working with your vendors (and helping them create a photo to serve their business) is a win-win-win:

It (sometimes) makes thing cheaper for the customers, as the vendors gets an image.
It provides a kickass image for the vendors
It provides creative options for the photographer

So it really makes sense if a vendor wants to produce something to collaborate or even suggest it.

The Importance of Understanding and Exceeding Expectations

As the photographer, it’s important to treat each vendor like a paying client. Each vendor is paying with their time and resources to make the shoot happen, and with that comes some expectations. If you fail to meet those expectations, these shoots that typically result in great networking opportunities can actually damage your reputation.

So before the shoot, Pye Jirsa, the photographer on the shoot, made sure he understood what each and every vendor’s goal was. For the hotel resort, Terranea, they wanted one specific hero shot that featured 1) an elephant and a couple, 2) the ocean view, and 3) the resort.

With those objectives, Pye chose the following angle:

Test Shot of Chosen Angle (No Lighting Added to Scene)

Notice the ocean view to the left, the resort to the right, the ceremony site in view and the elephant as the main subject. However, notice how the elephant blends into the background, as it’s roughly the same brightness as the background and there is just so much going on in the scene. So Pye had to figure out a way to make the subjects pop off of the backgound.