Final Image

NOTES: The windows in this church couldn’t have been at a better height for a window light shot. If you look at the behind-the-scenes shot on the facing page, you can see that they are up a little higher than the bride, so the light falls on her from a slightly higher angle and that helps make for some beautiful light. But, there’s another wonderful benefit to these windows: because of their position, the light “falls off” naturally, meaning her face is beautifully and fully lit, then the lights starts to fall off as it hits her décolletage (five points for using a cool big word) and chest, and then it continues to fall off and get subtly darker and darker as it moves down her gown. Also, how am I able to get her so close to the window without the light being harsh? Two reasons: the glass itself is textured, and there’s an overhang on the outside of the church that keeps the light from being so direct. It’s soft and beautiful, and I soon as I saw it I thought it would make a great spot for a portrait.

POST-PROCESSING: Just the regular portrait retouching stuff I’ve outlined in the Post-Processing chapter, but I do want to note that I also added a soft glow effect to this image as well (the one from page 133) to give the image a bit of a dreamy look.