Guest Post: Perfection vs. Emotion – Who wins? by Gregory Schrader

We live in a world with a client base that too often has a “drive thru” mentality. They want what they want, how they want it and when they want it.  So I often meet photographers who debate the question of which is more important, “Perfection or Emotion”?  I recently experienced a situation that demonstrated you can have both!

I had the opportunity to shoot an amazing wedding with a unique twist…FIREWORKS!  The bride’s parents had a family owned pyrotechnics business. This was exciting, as well as nerve-racking for me. I couldn’t wait to have the chance to shoot amazing images,  but also wanted the chance to push myself artistically.    This would be something I had never done before.

As in the past, when faced with doing something for the first time, I utilize my network and ask lots of questions.    Just about very photographer I came in contact with was asked, “I have to do a shoot that I’ve never done before. Can I pick your brain about it?”   The story would start with the bride’s last comment to me before her wedding,  ”Greg, I don’t care if you don’t get one shot all day long…you HAVE TO get our fireworks or I will die.”  Nothing like a little pressure!

So in doing my research it was pretty much the same answer from everyone…Off camera flash (or strobe or video light), meter for the sky and drag the shutter. Sounds easy…right?  So what did I do? The same thing I have always done from day one….Practice, practice, practice. I tried everything…Off camera flash, video light and finally a strobe.  I did not have fireworks to work with, so I used the stars. I thought if I could make it work with stars I would be able to make it work with fireworks.

The wedding was going very well (I had actually forgotten about having to do the shot) and the moment of truth was coming upon us….We had arrived at the reception!!!   Once all of the traditional shots were taken, I headed outside for the fireworks.  As with every wedding, things weren’t going exactly as planned.  The fireworks were not working and were delayed.   We lost the last light of dusk and were faced with having to shoot in total darkness, which was never in the plans!

The first challenge was how to make sure my camera found my bride and groom in the darkness.   How about a flashlight? I carry a mini mag light in my bag….and now was the perfect opportunity to use it.

As the crowd began to grow you could feel the excitement in the air…and then there it was, the look from my bride as she walked out to a predetermined spot saying to me: “Please Greg…Make sure to get this”. At this point I had two cameras set and ready to go. I had my Canon 1D Mark III with my 24mm-70mm all set. It was on a tripod with a remote cable. I was shooting at ISO 400…F16…AWB…on bulb. The plan was to have the shutter open for 6-8 seconds and adjust as needed.

I had my assistant Juli standing right next to me and when I would call out she would shine the mag light on the bride a groom to give me a spot to focus.  I would wait until I heard the whoosh of the fireworks being launched, hold about four seconds and then click the shutter,  leaving it open for 6 seconds.  I thought it would be hard to make any exposure adjustments, but once I checked the first shot I was blown away. We nailed the shot and from that point on it was all about timing.     

That took care of the “technical” shots I needed to get, but what about capturing the emotion in the air?  So many of us strive to have such perfect shots that we lose sight of the emotion we need to capture. I know we all want amazing shots…but amazing is a relative term.

I realized while doing this shoot how important my philosophy on weddings really is…It is not about getting  images that are technically perfect.  It is about getting emotion,  natural expressions and images under any circumstances. I know that way of thinking might aggravate the “technoids”…but emotion trumps perfection and emotion sells!!!

So here’s what we did to capture the emotion along with the perfection.   We took my back up camera, a Canon 20D…shot it at ISO 100 @ 50MM @ f1.4 @ 1/125 on AWB.   I had set the camera up for my wife to use. Her role was to shoot the crowd who was watching the fireworks and get their reactions,  while I shot the actual fireworks.  At least that was the original plan, but the late start put a big kink in our plan, since it was pitch black and tough to work in the darkness.

My wife knows about emotion, watching for it and anticipating it.   That’s exactly what she did. She grew frustrated with not being able to see people’s faces in the darkness,  so she focused her attention to the bride and groom.  She took full advantage of their silhouettes agains the fireworks.   She crawled on the ground like an army ranger going through basic training and every time the fireworks would explode she would hold down the shutter button hoping the sensor would capture what she was seeing…and it worked!   She was able to capture, just by paying attention and being proactive, what we thought we’d lost – emotional images.  Her images became some of the bride’s most favorites. So who wins, perfection or emotion? I say…both!