I don’t think I shared this bridal portrait with you all on here yet.  This is a shot of a designer wedding gown by Robin Jillian.  It’s being used as a marketing piece.  Belle’s Bridal Boutique has up a BIG framed photo of it in their new boutique.  It printed even prettier than it looks on the web.  Ooohhhh. Pretty.  It almost feels velvety.

This image has painted hair and some hand painting on the backdrop/ drapes to subdue the pattern and pull the gold tones out more.  (To see what I’m talking about, see Belle’s tutorial on painting a photograph).

And, as you can tell, we set it up to have so the drama!  This is a single light source with some fill in front to soften the shadows on her face.  I love my short lighting, of course.  I ended up using almost a monochromatic color palate here, but I cheated and added a little bit of gold.

The colors you choose really help set the feel of your image, along with the pose.  A bridal photography pose can be simple, like this one, and still be ubber elegant depending on the color scheme and lighting.  When we were creating this image, I wanted it to feel very lush, warm, and regal.

I LOVE shooting bridal portraits.  It’s one of my fav things to do.  Its so much fun to take a girl and a gown and make them into a masterpiece.  :o)