Ninja-Style Photography

When people ask us what our photography style is, I like to say its Ninja-Style. Now from what I know about Ninja’s, they get really mad when you claim you are a Ninja, and yet don’t actually follow the Ninja way.  Misrepresenting a Ninja never turns out good in the end. Therefore, to back up my claims, I present you with concrete evidence that, indeed, “It's not uncommon for Mike to be found perched precariously in a tree above an unsuspecting bridal party or silently somersaulting behind the last pew in the church” (taken from our website )

Exhibit A.

This is a beginners move in Ninja-Style Photography execution. Note the lack of foot holds, however the height and danger element leave something to be desired.

Exhibit B.

This shot does not accurately represent just how far up and precarious the situation was. This particular shot involved Mike taking off his shoes, rolling up his pants and wading through the river (I must note it had been sleeting earlier that day, so it was freezing) and scrambling up the side of a gorge that was lined with shale, all to get the intimate shot you see below.  I would say this would be a moderate move in Ninja-Style Photography.  During the reception speeches at Allasan & Mikes wedding, they thanked us and said “we knew when our photographer was off-roading on our engagement shoot, that they were the right choice for us!" Just doin' our job, guys. ;)

 And lastly, but certainly not least, Exhibit C.

This would be a classic example of expert Ninja-Style Photography. Mike does not think twice about missing an amazing photo op in the face of danger. Despite my anxiety and desperate wish for a big huge fireman trampoline to put under him, there really was no other way to capture the awesome hoops this 6”5 groom was shooting (his lovely bride also joined in,  but that’s a whole other post!). These great shots were taken by a guest at the wedding, and I do believe that a crowd eventually ends up forming and there are probably some Instagram versions of this spectacle floating out there as well.

First, the climb up, balance, and assurance to his sweaty-palmed wife that he knows what he’s doing. 

Don't you love the basketball, frozen in time there? :D

Don't be deceived by the shot perspective here, I was  on the top of a step-ladder here, on my tip toes.

Second, the set up.

Please note, there is a reason why we bought stretchy-paaants for him for photoshoots. Too many ripped seams

Third, the shot. 

 The backboard and the whole thing shook like crazy every time Dave took a shot. I think I actually turned away from the scene and couldn’t look anymore.

But you know what? It was all worth it in the end. Nobody ended up a quadriplegic, and we ended up with this kickass shot of Dave being a superstar. 

And there you have it, proof that Mike truly is a Ninja-Style Photographer.

Why the heck do we need an engagement shoot anyways?

Why, thank you for asking. We get this question a lot, and I’m here to tell you why it’s a really good idea to book an engagement shoot with us before your wedding.

Number one answer? Because they are fun.

Seriously, they are. That’s the main reason we include them with all of our packages. Basically it’s like, you guys are on a date, and Mike is the weirdo ninja paparazzo in the bushes snapping away furiously as you guys are canoodling and schmoopying and doing all that stuff that maybe you haven’t done together in a while. 

Going on a date, with just the two of you, focusing on each other and just…feeling each other’s energy, and hearts and enjoying each other’s company. And then having awesome pictures to remember it with for the rest of your lives? It’s perfect! 

You two are in love. That’s why you’re getting married.

And your wedding day is going to be all sorts of amazing, but that day is extra special, which is why you dress up all fancy-like.  You’re probably not going to spend too much more time after your wedding day in your wedding clothes. (Unless you’re like me who likes to wear her wedding dress for Halloween, because why the heck not.)  There is really only a short period of time where you’ll identify as ‘the bride’ or ‘the groom’, but you’ll always identify with being ‘each others’. So capturing you guys as who you are, how you belong together in every day life, is so important because it’s who you’re going to be for the rest of your lives.

 It doesn’t matter if you still want to ‘lose weight’ before the wedding (just gotta add in here ladies, do not put this kind of pressure on yourselves…!) or maybe you just got a less than fab haircut or your future husband looks stiff and silly in pictures. Forget all this stuff. We are professionals, and our job is to bring out the beautiful in you both, by making you comfortable, and letting you guys do what you do. 

And if you’re sitting here thinking, “what if we don’t DO anything?”, believe me, you do. We’ll step in if we need too, to get you guys loosened up a bit, suggest some poses maybe or Mike will tell terrible jokes.  Actually, the terrible joke part happens regardless of whats going on. Anyways, so then, when the big day rolls around, you guys will not only have amazing pictures to show on your welcome table and in your guest book, you’ll know exactly what it feels like to spend time with Mike, to have a big crazy-ass camera pointed at you. You’ll know how amazing you look in the pictures we take. So you don’t have to worry about making sure you have your model lips on, or you are tilting your head just so, because all that stuff is baloney and you’ll have had real time practice looking fabulous without even knowing it. 

The importance of the editing process

 The majority of a wedding is an uncontrolled event for a photographer, the slightest movement can change a multitude of things that affect a picture. Things like lighting, composition, the emotion portrayed, the story  the picture is telling - all are affected moment by moment in every move the photographer makes. The subjects are in their own environment doing what is natural to them as we are looking in without controlling what they do. We do not have the option of interrupting the ceremony to ask for the bride to shift to the right a bit, or the groomsmen to loosen up, so we have to work to create the picture from what we have in front of us to communicate the beauty of the moment. This is the part that I enjoy the most, it's exciting for me and why I love the challenge of wedding photography.

At every moment we have to anticipate not only the picture in mind but what the camera is doing, just a few minor adjustments can change the picture dramatically and just moments later, if adjustments are not made again, the next picture can be a total failure. Picture the sun shining through a window onto a brides face. It's a nice warm light so I do not want spoil it with a flash. I will see this and know the light is on her face and expose properly, a second later I hear laughter building up behind me, I turn and now the people I am taking a picture of are back lit, or the sun is behind them. This is a different setting now. So I must adjust and take a picture without losing the moment. This sort of thing happens fast and all day long in the candid moments.

So what happens to the pictures once the day is over? Do they move from camera to CD or album and nothing more? Probably not. Some pictures may be suitable for print right out of camera, however it is more often that most of the pictures need a subtle (and sometimes drastic) edit to bring out their fullest potential and intent.  Much of the magic happens on the wedding day, but only begins there. That's why I spend hours editing every wedding that I shoot.

Below I am going to post some examples of some of the things I do to my clients pictures. Kate likes to say, "I want our clients to feel like they have gotten a gift when we present our work to them". The work that goes into that presentation in extensive and as important to what we do as our camera is to the wedding day.

Here is a before and after of a beautiful bride, I was shooting available light, (no Flash) to communicate the ambience of the sun lit room she was in. This situation can change, if a cloud happens to pass by the sun the lighting changes, if she turns her head it may enter the shadowy area. This picture was candid, I was not communicating with her at all.

In the before picture, the bride is dark, the window behind her is a bright spot distracting the eye from her beauty. Her fascinator is flat and blended into the picture.

 In the after photo, I have lightened her up. I sharpened her head piece and put a light vignette around her to bring the eye onto her face, I put extra local sharpening on her eyes and hair to pop her out of the picture and give it depth. The image is no longer flat and dull, she has become the centre of attention.


The next picture is one of my faves from this summer. The adjustments I made are very subtle, but as I often say, I'm pretty picky when it comes to my art. These two had decided to forgo the 'glass tapping' reception game to have the bride and groom kiss, instead someone had to sing a song, Greg is a musician (Listen Here) so it worked for them and was a lot less annoying than clinking glasses all night. :) Anyways, I had known that they were going to kiss as a little boy had just finished singing 'twinkle twinkle little star'. So I set up in front to compose the shot and noticed two young boys spying on them in the window - very cute!

The before is a good picture, I had ample opportunity to get ready for it, however, it is a little flat the mid tones need some pop and I think the subjects could be more dominant.

I cropped the image down a little to make the subjects more pronounced. Added to the natural vignette that was in the picture and sharpened the bride and groom up a bit. I also removed the steel vase from the lower right that I found distracting. Not much, but it certainly communicates the moment more.

The next picture I took was another moment shot, the bride had just gotten out of the limo, she was running late and I was on my way in to get ready for the ceremony. I turned and saw her maid of honour fluffing up her dress. I set up my camera fast and took a shot. Later I felt the picture really communicated the majesty of her dress. I spent a lot of time on her dress in post production editing to bring out its beauty.

 The bride is back-lit, meaning the sun was behind her, you can see the loss of detail in her dress in the bright spot. Her face is turned from the sun and is dark (no flash). And the image has high contrast from the harsh sun with dark shadows and harsh transitions into bright spots. I thought her dress was outstanding and the look of quiet beauty on her face made for a decent picture worth editing.

You will see that I brought back the detail in the bright part of the dress. I have to say, something that annoys me is wedding pictures where the dress is blown out, or way to bright. A bride takes so much time and spends good money on a dress, I don't want her looking like a lit-up lamp in her pictures.  So you will see I spent the time to pull the texture of the dress out of the picture. I lightened her face to bring attention to it and removed the harsh shadows in the faces of the people around her. I did a light blur and lowered the contrast a bit over the rest of the image to make her the centre of attention. She is now a princess in a moment of commotion before her vows. A dull picture turned into a story and will compliment the rest of the album nicely.

Here is another example of how an edit helps tell the story of your dress.

Without the edit, the dramatic beauty of the dress gets lost in a flat looking picture.The tiny crystals edging the veil, the jewels and detail of the bodice, the pickups and ostrich feather rosettes that were sewn into the gown, are made as pronounced and dramatic as I saw them that day.

The last thing I want to talk about is something called a colour cast. In my opinion, it is the most common problem with pictures, it frustrates me to see a good picture that lacks proper colour correction. Everywhere you look there are casts of colours. For example during a sunset you will notice the warm light, everything you look at seems an orangey-yellow. It is a beautiful winter day out today, cold and blue tinted but just beautiful. The colours that you see, the camera picks up as well. Only the human eye has the ability to filter most of it out so when you look at your fiancee's face in the sunlight it looks warm, but not overly warm. Your eye knows how to remove some of the colour. If it didn't,  when you went to work at the office everyone would be green, florescent lights have a green colour cast. That is unless you work with with Shrek, and then we can't help you.  The camera, however, tends to put a colour cast on everything, like fog but in colour. We counter this problem by adjusting the white balance, or using a grey card. However the colour may still persist and the over all picture becomes lost in this dominating colour. There are times where this cast can be useful but there are times when it is not. It can make an image look very flat, or overly 'retro' (which is not going to be in style forever) and frankly I find it unattractive. However, the image below has a colour cast that works (after the edit) and I will show you why.

The shot was taken at The Scottish Rite in Hamilton, Ontario. The colour cast is absolutely despicable, and we needed the grey card to help fix the colour problem.  Behind me there was a massive brass elevator door reflecting the light making it even more yellow, not to mention the tiles on the floor were a red colour adding to the problem. I wanted to maintain the warmth in the image so I was adjusting my white balance manually, this picture was taken before I had it where I would have liked it however the shot worked out nice for composition so I would use it.

In the after you will see that I pull the image back to its natural colour, I wanted to keep the warm feeling so I left some yellow color cast in, but the overall image is much better. Now it is what the eye would see, her hair still holds the golden light of the setting sun, but her face is not taken over by it and the whites of her eyes are just that - white. And lastly, her tiara and earrings don't look like a smoker was blowing on them for a year.

Well I hope these few examples help give you an idea of the work that takes place after your day, these are only a few techniques we utilize to create your story. The flow of the images must work like a story line for success, if they are flat and not properly cared for you will end up with a lacklustre feeling at the end of the album. Our gift to our clients is the extra care and we put into their work. We want to ensure that they know their pictures are in good hands, that nothing  that can be brought out in an edit will end up on the cutting floor simply that is important to the client, we are not a production line wedding business. We want to make every wedding an adventure in art, and care for it with the same passion brides and grooms do in their planning. The biggest part of this is the post production ethic we bring to the table. Your pictures will be cared for and brought to their fullest potential.

For more blog posts on who we are and what what to look for in hiring a wedding photographer, click here.

Thanks for reading!

Mike :)