Fresh Takes

Ideas & Inspiration

Fresh Takes

Trash the Dress
Now that your perfect day has come and gone, what will you do with your dress? Sure, you could preserve it and box it up for posterity, but would you have worn your mother’s dress? Probably not! Consider a “trash the dress” session with your photographer after you return from your honeymoon. The basic premise is donning your gown once again and being photographed in settings that are anything but bridal and may result in, you guessed, trashing the dress. Think water, snow, mud, you get the idea. The end result is an exceptional set of photos and memories that will last a lifetime.

Hitched and Haute
Edgy, fashionista-inspired photos add depth to any wedding album. A “Hitched and Haute” photo session places you, your groom and attendants in magazine-worthy poses and settings and may include some post-production editing techniques to up the style ante (think moody color tones and different crops). Kadie Pangburn of Pangburn Photography in Tucson suggests these types of sessions for couples who want creative photos, but who are not interested in anything too out of the ordinary on their wedding day. These types of photos can be captured during the wedding day or in a separate session.
    Bride Amy Baum saw Pangburn’s work and thought it was a great concept that would allow her and her fiancé, Austin, to enjoy their wedding day without worrying about missing a photo opportunity. After their honeymoon, Pangburn spent six hours photographing Amy and Austin at various locations, including the top of “A” Mountain in Tucson.

Boudoir
Many of today’s brides are presenting their sweethearts with a special wedding gift: a custom book of photos of themselves, with a little twist. These boudoir (French for “bedroom”) photos capture the beauty of the bride in whatever poses and stage of undress she’s comfortable with. “A bare shoulder and a look in the eye can be much sexier than a completely nude image,” says Cindy Grace, owner of Cynthia Grace Photography in Phoenix and Prescott.
    Sara Cruz-Mora of Brides for Brides Photography in Phoenix enjoys photographing brides in these fun, intimate settings. She helps her clients with poses, guides them through the shoot and captures each woman’s unique beauty. Although most women are nervous at first, Cruz-Mora says that by the end of the shoot, her clients are relaxed and having fun. And speaking of unique beauty, you don’t have to look like a supermodel to book a boudoir session! “As artists, we see the beauty in every woman’s unique shape and form,” says Cruz-Mora. “With boudoir photography, women can celebrate their distinctive beauty in such a natural and intimate way and share that with their special someone.” More and more Arizona photographers are offering these services, so if you’re interested, ask your wedding photographer about any package discounts they can offer.

Unique Effects
Sometimes it’s not as much about the setting or pose but about the way a photo actually looks. Texturization, which gives pictures a vintage, weathered look, is a fairly new but popular effect.  Pangburn explains that the texturization process began when photographers shot with film—you know, in the old days, before digital. When an image was printed in the darkroom, photographers put another image that contained a lot of texture, such as dirt, gravel, or rust, over the original, and the resulting photograph appeared more vintage and weathered. Today, the same look is accomplished digitally with post-processing software. Pangburn says texturization and similar effects are most successful when added to simple photographs with a clean background, e.g., the couple posing in front of a plain wall, to avoid a “busy” image.
    Photographers can also dial up or down certain colors and hues to dramatically change the look of a picture. These images are all about how they’re processed, rather than being posed, so let your photographer know if you’re open to these kinds of after-effects. Both treatments can create visual highlights to your album.

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