D

WE DDING
P

DAVID BECKSTEAD

Dynamic Wedding Photography, by David Beckstead

A publication from the original portuguese version Dynamic Wedding:

Copyright 2012 Editora Photos, for the current edition.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permisTerm of responsability: The information contained in this book is based
The author and publisher are not responsible for improper use of the

ISBN 978-85-62626-32-6
Credits
Photography: David Beckstead
Technical review: Giancarlo Nicoloso and Vinicius Matos
Book design: Priscilla de Zutter, Kenya Foschiera and Marcio Martinson
Cover Design: Toni Mello
Back Cover Image of the Author: Doru Spasovici

Rua 10, 391 - Sala 06, Centro

Balnerio Cambori SC,

Dedication
I

Contents
Dedication

10

What this book is about and what its not

11

Introduction

12

About David Beckstead

17

A Constructive Attitude
Pressing the shutter for you

21
22

What makes you happy?

22

How do clients perceive you?

22

Your walls

My favorite concept: 50-50

24

Practice your craft: Shooting your clients for free

28

Into the clouds!

31

The Dynamic Image!

What is a dynamic image?

Practice your craft: Get one powerful shot

Power Style

A story of style

33
35
40

43
43

My style

46

Two-image interpretation of style

59

How to see your developing style

62

Art folder concept

62

Thumbnail concept

64

Eliminating your safe zone

66

Overcoming a clichd safe zone

68

From the heart

78

Create a Power Style!

High graphic style

81
81

Your style will evolve

87

The power of bridal-model shoots

87

Practice your craft: Going out on a limb

Foreword by Grant Oakes

94

Mirror, Mirror

95

Creating mood with motion: Silo Bride

96

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Wedding Composition
How to study composition

99

99

Studying using books

100

Studying on the Internet

100

Noticing at a new level

102

The color code of photography awareness

102

Compositional Elements and Concepts

Chaos and space

105

106

Space and subject placement

109

Space and changing your angle

111

Highlighting

114

Tonal range

117

Software and image manipulation

122

Get tight

126

And lastly: soften the background

128

Create complexity I dare you

132

Dynamic line and the Dutch tilt

134

Center/subject composition: Breaking the rules with a purpose

146

Radical natural light concepts

162

To b&w or not to b&w: A color depth study

174

Practice your craft: A day of chaos

211

Be a Dynamic Wedding Photographer!

Free style shooting and the psychology of camera settings

213

213

Why not manual setting?

220

Psychology of lens and equipment choice

222

The safe lens

229

Wait a minute! One more point related to lenses

232

Hold the phone on lenses

232

Practice your craft: shadow a dynamic photographer

233

Final Statements

235

CONTENTS

Foreword by Grant Oakes

10

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

What this book is about and what its not

WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT AND WHAT ITS NOT

11

Introduction

12

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

13

Creating a brand that is you,

shooting in a style that is yours,
and attracting clients who love
and respect that kind of free-

I created this book

to help you do just that!

Lets create more dynamic

wedding imagery!

14

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

the bride, Want to get into his mouth?

IINTRODUCTION

About David Beckstead

A self-portrait outside

ABOUT DAVID BECKSTEAD

Lets embrace the changes and ROCK this

18

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Photo: Zack Arias

ABOUT DAVID BECKSTEAD

19

A Constructive Attitude
Pressing the shutter for you!

Art rarely sells itself.

s a photographer you need to learn to sell your

art, passion and lifestyle as much as you sell your

You need a constructive attitude.

A constructive attitude is an optimistic and positive perspective you have of yourself, your business,
your creativity and the world around you. The way you
project this attitude draws in people who appreciate
your personality, your direction and your art. You move
forward without being dragged down by negative ego.
Being self-assured can often seem counterproductive to many wedding photographers who have
been taught that they are there to please and produce
please others. Pressing the shutter is an action from
you and for you. This gets into the psychology of
wedding photographers.

A CONSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDE

21

When you pick up your

camera, for whom are you
pressing the shutter?
There seems to be a psychology of
shooting style: if you shoot mainly for
clients, you often play it safe. Your work
can end up feeling stale because there is
not a lot of drive to push the photographic
boundaries. Also, the average client many
photographers book doesnt have the
radical appreciation of style and art that
my clients have.
There are subcultures of movies. I love
to watch that many people around the
world do not appreciate. Foreign, silent,
indie, classics and black and white are all
genres of movies I often like much more
than the mainstream. I have stylized myself, reaching out mainly to brides that are
less mainstream and more art house.
Of course, youre getting paid and that
can be imperative, but many photographers seem to follow this idea: If they are
happy, I am happy.

What makes you happy?

When you shoot more for yourself, you
while mixing your own lifestyle and creativity, passionately taking more risks with
your compositions.

22

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Repeat this mantra:

The action of pressing the shutter

is an action from you and for you.

How do clients perceive you?

How do you want the bride and groom to
perceive you when they meet you for the
first time?
Heres a cool scenario. (If you have not tried
this you should. I have done it many times.)
Find a nice restaurant with a chef that really
considers cooking an art form. Call him, explain what you are looking for and then go in
at a not-so-crowded time. Bring some friends
and meet the chef. Tell the chef to bring out his
best food with the most artistic presentation
and plan to hang out for a few hours. Give the
chef full control to be creative and experiment.

You are in for a treat. It is so much fun. Your chef will be so happy
for the experience because most people would never take that kind of
risk. They want full control of what they are eating.
Why did I describe for you this wonderful scenario? Because
wouldnt it be amazing if you booked a couple who gave you this kind
of artistic freedom? They would say essentially this: You are the artist. Please give us something original and stylistic, and we will love it.
Lets go one step further: what if by branding and marketing yourself,
you sell your style in a way that lets clients know that you require a
certain amount of freedom to create. Even before they call you, they
stylistic, artistic and deserving of respect. They know and feel that
you are worth being paid more, and you are to be appreciated not just
as a photographer, but as an artist. That is pure heaven for a photographer longing to create with passion.
Maybe you didnt know this kind of lifestyle, passion and creative
freedom existed.

It does! Grab it by the horns!

The main, and possibly the only reason, our scenario chef has not
experienced this kind of freedom is because he has not asked for it.
He has not sold the concept or even knew it could be an option. If he
set aside a few days a week for this kind of work, explained it and
passionately sold the whole idea of it, I guarantee his chances to create this kind of unique experience would improve dramatically, and so
would his excitement and passion for his job.

Youre Walls!
If you feel your couples wont give you this freedom, this attitude is
only your own personal wall you have placed in front of you. The walls
clients put in front of you are thin and easy to break. The walls you put
in front of yourself are thick and high. Look at yourself when deciding
if clients will understand or not understand you. In fact, to really understand what I am saying, you need to start by looking at your walls
and chip away at them before you begin to think about your clients.

A CONSTRUCTIVE ATTITUDE

23

My favorite concept: 50-50

When I walk into the wedding ready to photograph, I
walk over an imaginary line I call my 50-50 line. Stepping
over the line gives me the permission and reminds me to
take advantage of a concept of mine. Lets say I have a tenhour wedding to shoot.
I will document the wedding, capture the moments, and tell
the story through imagery. I will photograph in a journalistic
manner, yet I will often give my own twist to the compochanging my angle to the subjects and include leading lines
and other compositional ideas. I often call these my safe
shots: safe because I am not taking extreme risks with my
compositions. If the bride only received these images, she
would have completely adequate coverage of her wedding
day, but it would not be a Beckstead wedding.
When the client hires me they know, because I inform
them, that they will get these safe shots. I also tell them
about the other 50% of the wedding shoot: Beckstead playtime. I call it this because it puts a very personal spin on
my art and my style. By the time they hire me they know
what 50-50 is, and they are sold on my concepts because
they know they will receive original art. They will provide the
freedom I need to shoot passionately for myself. No restrictions. No walls. No long lists of images they think, based on
some Internet site, that are the must-have shots.

I gave up all other genres of photography

because weddings allow me art, creativity
and freedom in abundance. Or actually, I
allow these myself!

24

DYNAMIC WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

Final Statements

Hopefully I have given you a fresh foundation on which to build a stylenot based on
what you see coming from other photographers, but coming from your heart.

Never copy, but always

remain teachable!

I hope you know by now that nothing in this

is going to really know unless you tell them.

Make it happen.
highest level of awareness (it doesnt exist).

I have overemphasized the idea of touching

the shutter for you. Always put your art and

you do. Never listen to the word never. Or at

least take a look in the never direction before
you take it at face value. Creating a brand that
is you, shooting in a style that is yours and attracting clients who love and respect that kind
of freedom: thats what its about. Take an
image-path less traveled.
Always look at any situation from the viewpoint of all the other photographers eyes.
Consider what the majority would do in a given
situation and then... always look for a way to

make mistakes. If you are not making plenty of

mistakes with your business and imagery, you
are not pushing it hard enough.

Keep shooting. Never let

your minute between safe
shots go to waste.
FINAL STATEMENTS

235

Composition is one of the

foundations of your business:
always let it challenge you.

Never dwell on the negative.

Be a dynamic wedding photographer!

y!
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Foto: Cynthia Meyer