This picture of Julia lying in the water at Sugar Hollow for her Trash the Dress session is a great example of a few different elements of composition. First you have leading lines, the tree line draws your eye to our subject, Julia. Secondly we have a great mirror reflection of the sky, trees and Julia in the water. Aaron also did a great job of layering the photograph with a foreground, subject and background (our third element of composition). The sky’s reflection in the foreground leads your eye into the subject of the picture, Julia in the water, and the background completes the picture by framing Julia with the beautiful blue ridge mountains along with the sky and clouds!

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16-35mm f/2.8
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

The picture below from Olive’s newborn portraits is a great example of the rule of thirds, and using negative space. By composing the family so they are in the right third of the frame, and there is negative space on the left (also sometimes called white space), I have cut out any distractions allowing your eye to focus just on the family and their cute little daughter. Also, by having Katie and David look at their daughter it focuses your attention on Olive … the star of the picture!

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 50mm f/1.2
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 of a second

Mallory is in the center of this picture, but it works because she is being framed by the corn stalks. Most of the time photographers like to use doors to frame their subject, in this instance I used the rows of corn stalks to create a more unique frame. There are a few leaves out of focus in the foreground which gives depth to the picture, with Mallory in the middle ground and more cornstalks in the background.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 24/70mm
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 of a second

Recently in wedding photography we have seen a huge trend towards overexposed pictures to give an ethereal feel to the picture. I used this technique to not only give Rachelle and her bridesmaids that ethereal feel, but to bring out the color in the dresses, and also limit the distractions in the background (there was an ugly net in the background for the golf course driving range). I also like how the lines of the trees above the girls point down, bringing your eye to the focus of the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16/35mm
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/320 of a second

In this landscape picture featuring Maria and Adam and their dog at Pharsalia, there are multiple elements of composition at work. There is the leading line of the road which takes your eye from the subjects all the way back to the mountains. Maria and Adam are also in the lower right third of the picture, and the width of the road helps frame them, which separates them from the background.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16/35mm
F Stop: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second

Photography by: Aaron Watson

We’re going to start with this amazing shot of the waterfalls at Sugar Hollow. This is a long exposure picture taken during the day. Aaron dropped the shutter down to six seconds so that he could get the motion blur in the water to give the picture some really terrific movement. He took the picture at f22 so that he could ensure everything but the water was in focus.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: 16-35mm at 35mm
F Stop: 22
Shutter Speed: 6 seconds

The picture below is a reflection picture of Sarah’s dress (which was featured on “Say Yes to the Dress” on TLC) during her wedding at Pippin Hill. Her dress was hanging in a wardrobe which had a mirror on each door. Aaron set the mirrors so that they were facing each other, so you can see a reflection within a reflection, which creates a sense of depth in the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 100mm Macro
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

This picture was taken at Kate’s wedding at Wintergreen Resort when Aaron was having some fun with the formal pictures after the ceremony. Aaron used an Alien Bee Light to light the girls’ faces. The Alien Bee also helped to freeze the action so the flowers were in focus as they were being thrown. He shot at a 200th of a second which also helped to freeze the action. Aaron took the picture at f11 so the the mountains in the background would be in focus, which gives depth to the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 16-35mm
F Stop: 11
Shutter Speed: 1/200 of a second

This is a picture of Hali’s shoes taken on a porch ledge at Hali and Tony’s Wedding. Aaron took this photograph from an angle below the shoes in order to show the signature red color on the bottom of the shoes. The lower angle also helped to take out the distractions in the background. He used a shallow depth of field of f2.8 to further take out the distraction in the background so that the shoes really pop in the picture.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon 100mm Macro
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/5000 of a second

The common link between the pictures below is that all of them use a shallow depth of field (also known as selective focus). Depth of field is the term used to signify how much of the picture will be in focus. With a shallow depth of field you will have the subject in focus, but the background will be out of focus (sometimes referred to as blurry or soft-focus). In order to create this look you need to use a wide open aperture like a f/2 – 2.8 (the smaller the f stop the shallower the depth of field). Another determining factor is the distance between the subject, the camera, and the background.

The picture below was taken at Delfosse Vineyards around 4:00 pm, during Liz and Eric’s Big Reveal. As you can see I used an aperture of f/2.5 in order to get Liz and Eric in focus, but the background is slightly out of focus. This is a great technique to use when you want to bring the viewer’s attention to a specific part of the picture and not have a lot of distractions from the main subject.

Lens: Canon 135mm F/2
F Stop: 2.5
Shutter Speed: 1/3200 of a second

In the picture of the rings from Liz and Eric’s wedding, I used a macro lens in order to get really close and bring out the detail of the diamonds. The aperture was a f/3.5, however the focus falls off a lot more then the in the picture above. The reason for this is because of how close the camera was to the rings (just a few inches). You can see this same technique used in more of our pictures from the recent post featuring ten of our favorite ring pictures from the past few years.

The shot was lit with a Lite Panel MicroPro Video Light.
Lens: Canon 100mm Macro F/2.8
F Stop: 5
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

This picture is of the cake from Katie and Steve’s Wedding. The background is once again in soft focus while the cake and especially the flower details are in focus, which is perfect if the background isn’t very enticing.

Lens: Canon 100mm Macro F/2.8
F Stop: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/100 of a second

Here we have a picture of the beautiful bouquet from Maria and Adam’s wedding, taken around 1:00 pm. Again I used selective focus to bring out the detail in the bouquet, while limiting the distraction of the background.

Lens: Canon 85mm F/1.2
F Stop: 3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/6400 of a second

And rounding out the week is a picture of baby Hudson holding his mom’s hand. He wasn’t very happy at that particular moment, and I didn’t want that to distract from the cuteness of his little fingers. By using selective focus on his hands everything else fades away, allowing the viewer to appreciate how tiny his hands are in comparison to his mom’s hand.

Lens: Canon 135mm F/2
F Stop: 2.5
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 of a second

Please feel free to comment if you have any questions about how to achieve this look, or requests for future posts.

Photographer: Aaron Watson Photography
Venue: Mayhurst Inn
Officiant: Jennifer Ashcraft
Florist: Bella Fiori
Cake: Celebration Flowers and Cakes
Rentals: Festive Fare
Event Planner: Megan Daubert Events

One of my favorite places for weddings in Charlottesville is The Clifton Inn as everyone there is very nice and accommodating, the food is the best in all of Virginia (maybe the universe), and in the spring it is absolutely gorgeous with flowers galore! Grier & Tad were married on April 18th, 2009 which was perfect timing as all of the blossoms were just starting to peak! Pat’s Floral Design did a beautiful job bringing in additional floral arrangements for the bouquets, garters, and tent decorations.

The ceremony was very unique as Dave Norris, the mayor of Charlottesville, officiated his first wedding along with officiant extraordinaire Claire Goodman who local brides might know from the Charlottesville Wedding Blog and Sacred Ground Ceremonies. It was a very touching and heartfelt ceremony that had many choking up and a few tears being shed. Later on that evening the party kicked off with the Kings of Swing rocking out! I don’t think I had seen a 12 piece band play at a wedding until then … it was very impressive! To add a nice little touch the tent (from Skyline Tent Company) was adorned with beautiful lanterns that really made for an awesome and unforgettable atmosphere. I definitely recommend them for all weddings and I think you will see why when you watch the video!

With that said I would like to wish congratulations to Grier & Tad, and I hope you enjoy the film!

This film was shot by Aaron Watson and Erin Manfredi on a Canon 5D Mark II and includes photography by Aaron Watson and Erin Manfredi. Editing was done by Ashley Chipman and Aaron Watson.