Being a Toronto wedding photographer gives me the privilege of shooting in amazing locations in the GTA and One King West is one of the best .
I took this photo of the wedding bands during the bride's preparation. While the bride and her bridesmaids were getting ready, myself and my second shooter arranged the rings on a granite countertop and lit the scene with a video light. To add an element of interest to the photo, we placed bride's shoes in the background.
From a composition standpoint, this is an intriguing image. The wedding rings are placed on the left side of the picture with a lot of negative space on the right. However the positive and negative space are properly balanced so that this is a harmonious wedding photo. By placing the bride shoes in the background I achieved a couple of things. First, the bride has a good picture of the rings and the hint of her shoes which are so important to her. Second, because the shoes had quite a few crystals, the create a wonderful bokeh which is a perfect backdrop for the wedding bands, but also acts like a framing device because they surround the jewelry.
I captured this image using a 100 mm f2.8 lens shot at F11 and a 5D Mark III camera. In post processing, I remove some scratches from the rings and the dust on the granite countertop. I also dodged and burnt sections of the picture, especially the out of focus lights in the background to emphasize the rings as the main subject of the image.
If social media likes and repinning are a measure of wedding photography success, then this is probably one of my most successful ring shots and it is repined many times a week. While, that is nice but what makes this such a great image? First, the rings are extremely sharp in this photo and the diamonds look huge. The old Renaissance painters trick applies to wedding photography as well: make the ladies look thinner and their jewelry look larger.
This image features a brown based colour palette. Because of its earthy tones, the photo is warm and automatically gives us a sense of stability, reliability, positive energy and simplicity. As da Vinci said, simplicity is the highest form of sophistication so the simple image matches the bride and groom style: elegant, sophisticated, rich without ostentation or decadent opulence.
I cannot possibly conclude this article without saying a few words about One King West. Located in downtown Toronto, this is a brides dream wedding venue. Featuring a massive banquet hall (the Grand Banking Hall) with towering ceilings above 40 feet tall, The Vault as a perfect backdrop for your wedding the portraits as well as your group photos, the hotel is among the top wedding venues in Ontario if not the whole Canada. As a Toronto wedding photographer, no matter where I turn my camera, I will find a perfect backdrop for your wedding photos.
If that is not enough, the staff is extremely helpful, the food is out of this world and the service is top-notch. That in itself is the perfect recipe for your perfect wedding.
Location: 1 King St W, Toronto, ON M5H 1A1.
