A Manual Approach to Wedding Photography 

by Joao Medeiros

Has publish in SteveHuff
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2015/08/26/a-manual-approach-to-wedding-photography-by-joao-medeiros/

I’m not comfortable writing. Images, particularly photography are what drives me. Since very young Art was part of my life, I went from painting and waiting to be an architect to abandon everything for a life in the theatre, just to pursue a career in Jazz playing trumpet.

But at my twenties, I was struggling to make it and everyone was making sure I knew I had to earn money to be a successful individual. Money was never my interest, I’m passionate about Art, any form of it. But Photography had a degree of intimacy and control that I had never experienced.

I went to college to take a photography bachelor and complemented it with a bachelor in Fine Arts and a master’s degree in Visual Arts teaching, things went on for a while, drifting in teaching, corporate/event photography, restoration related jobs before I finally found the one area where I had complete creative freedom. A freedom that allows me to choose the gear that gives me pleasure while creating and expressing myself through Photography and eventually sharing my Vision.

SteveHuffJoaoMedeiros 02

Weddings are something that has been with society since we had the need to express our love for our life companion. Happiness is something that needs to be shared and celebrated with our loved ones. And that’s what I like about them, it’s all about family and friends making the most of Life. When I was in college, I did the whole course with only an Olympus OM 1 and a 50mm, since then manual focus is second nature to me, even when I had top DSLR’s AF never grew on me. But when I used the first serious EVF (Panasonic GH2) I knew what I wanted and what I wanted to see while composing. Eventually, when I step up to weddings I needed the best dynamic range and colour I could get my hands on it, so I bought a Sony A99 and a Nikon D800e to figure out my needs. After a year the Sony won me, not because it was superior to the D800e, it was Sony’s approach to photography that made it. The fully articulated LCD, I. S and Minolta’s heritage all over the place made the A99 a superior tool in my hands.

When the mirrorless Sony A7 appeared on the scene I had no doubts and bought one immediately with a set of Zeiss ZM and Voigtlander lenses with the VM close adapter. Since then, shooting has been a real pleasure. Nothing beats feeling your shots, even when we are capturing fleeting moments like kisses, exchanging vows/wedding rings or sharing a secret while on the dance floor at 4 am. Having a small, robust camera with the best glass in the industry makes me feel very confident and secure that when I get home, I have all I need to put together a body of work that reflect my vision. That’s the main lesson I learned, you really need to follow your own unique vision of things.



We are all different, but you really need to push beyond the limits to reach for that inner voice. Recently I added the amazing sigma Art 35mm f 1.4 to my set, the only complain is its sheer size when compared to my little Zeiss ZM 35mm f2. My workflow is pretty straightforward, I use B&W mode to concentrate on composition and focus while having red peaking and magnify to guarantee that every moment is in focus. For 75% of all my work, I use the 35mm focal length with my Sony A7 and take advantage of the articulated LCD from the A99 to get more discrete and intimate portraits with the 85mm, also from Sigma. Just a little detail, I removed the slt mirror from the A99 and use it in manual focus, so it’s basically a big mirrorless camera. I’m more of a guest than a professional photographer, at least that’s how I’m perceived by my clients, family and friends. A friend who happens to make a living from photography. I really try to enjoy the wonderful day, conscious that I’m very fortunate to be at a private party while making a living. I’m always the first to arrive and the last to leave, it’s after all a body of work and not just a staged kiss with the golden hour moment. It’s people that drive me, the concept of family and friendship not staged moments.


I’m looking forward to get the new Sony A7RII since it brings some new features like a new and stronger shutter that it’s better damped, the I. S, min. auto shutter, copyright embed info, better high ISO performance and even the silent shutter option although with some caveats.

Thank you.

Regards

João de Medeiros

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08/03/2016

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Francois
09/03/2016
I have been impressed by your photos the first time I saw them. They are exactly what I love to see and shoot (but at my own level of course, I surely not mean to compare myself to you). The mood is very intimate and the work on colors and b&w is really great. Subtle, not showing off. You say that you are not good with words, but it was very interesting to read how you are doing it. I was wondering. I'm very impressed that you can do weddings with manual focusing. And I'm not surprised that you are doing everything with primes, your photos are screaming it. It's funny to see the similarities in your photos and what I'm trying to reach. Photos of feet made me smile, I do that often. Photos showing details, cutting out heads sometimes. The framing in general. The use of big apertures. I'm saying to myself "I wish I could have taken this". Many other impressive photos from other photographers are not striking a chord in me, even if they can be technically perfect. Wedding photos are unique, they need to convey all the emotions of the day, and to let the couple feel again how they felt and also what they didn't see. It's a difficult task. To tell the story of the day with the mood. I'm seeing that in your photos, even if I was not there. And I understand what you mean by " feeling " your photos with the Sony cameras. I shot mostly Canon since I started a few years ago. Some Sony Nex for fun. But all my weddings, fully Canon. Fully autofocus. Fully relying on the camera for many aspects. Then I decided to upgrade my Nex for a A6000 because I was missing the view finder. I'm old school. I need it to compose properly. I was a bit afraid by the electronic aspect. But it changed everything. And the photographer who sold it to me showed me about focus peaking, and the focus help. And it simply turned my photography upside down entirely. I can see my photo now in the viewfinder, and feel it directly. To the point that I'm now shooting mostly in full manual mode, which was... oh I'm sure 0.0001% of my Canon shots. And I thought that it was too complicated and not necessary. Ha, I was stupid and limiting myself. I have bought tons of manual lenses to try. And I made the "error" to buy a cheap Zeiss lens at x mas. Another big game changer. I'm finding a character in a lens that I was missing with the more clinical Canon ones. It's funny to see how it can change everything in a few months. I have a wedding to shot in July. I wanted to keep my Canon body and lenses for it. But I'm now about to sell almost everything to keep only my A7 and A6000 and just add a couple of Zeiss lenses with AF to complement the manual ones. I don't have your skills and confidence in manual focus. It has been a few weeks only since I changed my ways. So I need more time maybe. And I discovered 35mm. Don't laugh at me. My typical set for a wedding would be 24mm F1.4 / 50mm F1.4 / 85mm F1.8 / 135mm F2 (yes I'm addicted to big apertures), with two bodies to always have two points of view under hand. I have a thing for wide angles. But it's a difficult beast to tame. Especially on this lens. On the other hand I don't like the 50mm focal length that much. So I'm often shooting 24 / 85. How by all the gods of photography did I miss the 35mm length ? Ha. Since I bought the Zeiss Contax 35mm I'm having such a fun. All that to say that even if my journey in photography is a bit chaotic, it's funny to see the similarities between what I'm reaching now and what you are achieving. I know I still have to learn and walk more. But it's interesting to see how you are seeing it, and how you seem to have found your way. I'm still trying to find mine, and I think I have been thinking a bit too much traditionally. Like "50mm is the king focal length" and "you are shooting way too many photos with big apertures". I tried to " force " myself. Take more photos at F4. "Secure" them. But I ended feeling boring with my own photos. And people hire me because they see my photos and like them. And I'm very happy with that. I need to keep doing what I'm believing in. To read your words is just a confirmation of that. Note I'm sure I won't shoot all my weddings with manual focus lenses yet, but I'm now getting confident enough that I can use a mix. I would have laughed at that last year. Thank you for sharing words, your photos are maybe better than them, but they still help others to feel comforted in their work. (And sorry for the very long text, I hope that my photos are also better than my words ;-)
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    admin
    09/03/2016
    I'm speechless! I'm so glad you took the time to write a comment François. I heard wonderful things about that Zeiss 24 for APS, I even consider it using in APS mode with my A7RII. I think in the last years I was lucky to have met other wonderful photographers that inspired me to share my experience, and they too have different views on what you can do at a wedding day. It's funny because everyone aspires the philosophy of the Leica's and feel they inspire everyone to push harder and to live the moment with more intensity, but then fail to see value on a little mirrorless camera like the cult A6000. It's a terrific tool, just like the Fuji cousins. The paradigm has changed and it's a wonderful time to be a Photographer, really glad you feel this way too. Thank you again for taking the time to write a comment, really, this kind of little things motivates us to keep on pushing harder and harder every day. Best wishes my friend! João
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      Francois
      09/03/2016
      The 24mm is the Canon 24mm EF F1.4 L. I'm using only Contax Zeiss for the moment, on my A7II & A6000. Most of them are really wonderful (28mm f2.8, gem, 35mm f1.4, gem, 85mm f2.8, gem, 135mm f2.8 gem...). And now I'm looking at the Batis for the AF, I don't think I'm confident enough to shoot a wedding without autofocus for now. But I love how it did slow me down. With AF and auto modes (I was basically shooting in aperture priority, I love to decide of the depth of field, auto iso, some exposure compensation sometimes), I was shooting too much. Boom boom boom. And not checking my exposure, not enough time, RAW is good enough to fix it. That was my state of mind. Now with the new cameras, I'm often in full manual mode, I SEE my exposure, and I often select everything by myself. I shoot less, for sure. But since I have less opportunities, I wait for a better photo. It's good to read your experience, because I can see that with enough experience, I can work like this and have great results (again, I don't say I can do what you do at all, but it's good inspiration to see that what matters is to follow your own path and feel confident). Now I can wait to have enough money to buy a A7R II (I'm dreaming of the silent shutter, I HATE to disturb people, they act different when they know there is a cam...). Now if you don't mind, a couple of questions : when I looked at your photos, one of my first reactions was "they are dark". But it gives me a more ... intimate feeling I would say. But maybe it was the real mood and light of the moment. Could you tell me how you work with brightness ? And also, you don't seem to mind sacrificing sharpness or even perfect focus against some noise / defocus but with interesting content, am I right ? I see too many people focusing on sharpness sharpness sharpness, as if photo was a sharpness competition...
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    admin
    09/03/2016
    Ah Ok! I thought it was the Zeiss E mount. Indeed sharpness is overvalued. Because if you're feeling the moment and the mood you reflect it. So many things deprive you of a clean, sharp image, from motion blur or not enough depth of field. I concentrate on composition and emotions, I usually apply minus clarity to my photos, the exposure is always spot on my weddings they are usually dark with some spotlights at night and normal Mediterranean light of day. But sometimes it's just bad weather and bad light decoration from the venues. I guess the venues still have a lot to learn, because you get more light play and ambience in a pub/disco. Don't everything about focal lengths, shoot with what reflects the way you see things. I'm a 35mm guy, and I really can't see straight since 2011 after a bad case of Conjunctivitis that left permanent damage to my eye and aggravated my photofobia. So my work is really reflecting the way I see the world, my only hope is that someone relates to my vision. I don't follow wedding Photographers, because generally they are poor artists, they don't reflect the way they are, the kind of books, movies or music they like. The way they relate to women, men and to the world. It's just pretty WOW postcards that attract a lot of shallow attention, but gives me zero feedback on the mood, emotions and facts of that unique day. You see so many Wedding Photographer showcasing sessions and constructed without a single, powerful photo of what happened. I love music, especially Jazz and the whole art generation of the fifties. My main inspiration is Eugene Smith, Saul Leiter, Ernst Haas, Robert Frank, William Klein, Garry Winogrand, Harry Gruyaert, Alex Webb, Eve Arnold to mention a few that didn't pursue a clean sharp photo. Just watch Eugene Smith Photo Essay's, so much energy around those photos with so little "sharpness". And yet those photos are more alive and organic. If you manage to capture a beautiful and powerful expression no one will care if it's "frozen" without any kind of blur be it your fault, the lens or motion. You’ve said a very important thing, having fun. Most people forget about this, and it shows in the final images if you're being honest or just construction ideas and ideals. Be yourself always, you are more interesting than a wow portfolio with waterfalls, some couples "posed" against an epic landscape or scenario with a wow clean, sharp technique that at the end of the day is just another one of those epic VSCO/LooksLikeFilm postcards that no one will be remembered for. I really think that despite using FF the ideal format for events and street photography is APS. It's way easier to play with zone focusing. The only reason I don't AF is because no one ever taught me how to use it, I only had full manual 35mm slr’s or Rollei's when I was in college, so use what you know you can master. I know manual focus is uncommon in the present, to me it gives me security, simplicity and the physically I learn in the process. Best wishes François.
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hawaiiweddings.org
31/03/2016
I have no words! Simply stunning, the emotion, the light, the beauty! Really enjoyed looking at these!
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    admin
    31/03/2016
    Thank you! João
    Responder
Daniel Fjäll
02/04/2016
Your words aren't bad at all, not your pictures either. I can relate to the mindset here about seeing and taking the picture you feel it and not taking the picture you "should" take like people do. Especially in wedding sessions what people successfully capture is stock photos of couples embracing in a sunset but fail to capture emotion and the story of the ceremony. Thanks by the way. I see myself jumping head first in to some form of creative oriented job in the near future. Wedding being something that would be a step in that direction and this was a nice tap on the shoulder. The part where you said you felt more like a guest than a hired photographer made me go Yes!
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James
16/08/2018
Hi Joao, Wonderful article. Thanks for sharing. I'm taking the manual focus approach to weddings and will be using the Sony A7iii and was wondering what metering mode do you use? i.e. do you use Spot, Multi or highlight? if you use different modes why? Thanks.
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    João Medeiros
    16/08/2018
    Hi James, Thank You! I use Multi with one custom button for spot, most of the time I use and abuse of the compensation dial on the A7's. Multi with the compensation dial works for me. Best wishes.
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