Wedding and Engagement Photo Collages

One of my favorite things to do and something I'm very proud to be known for is my wedding and engagement photo collages.  Some are simple like the shot of the cake topper with an inset of the bride and groom from their reception at Avalon Manor.  

Others are more complex, such as this shot below of the same couple's engagement photos.  The original shot taken simply has them kissing beneath the Chicago Theater.  I had some pedestrians to remove from the scene along with the advertisements on the marquee.  I placed other images from the Chicago Engagement Session within the marquee and added their wedding date as a coming attraction.  I then filled the empty foreground with other engagement photos of the happy couple dancing along the lakefront of Chicago.  It's one of my favorite photo collages.

- click image to enlarge -

I'll be displaying many of my favorite wedding and engagement photo collages in this posting along with some of my other work with kids and high school seniors.  Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it for best detail.

Next up are the wedding photos of Austin and Megan.  The main image is the gazebo at Ellendale Farms in Crown Point.  I melded this shot with the bride and groom's first kiss at their ceremony at St. Michael's in Schererville and reception photos at The Patrician.

- click image to enlarge -

- click image to enlarge -

Those of you who know my wedding work only, may not know that I have a studio in Merrillville.  The shot above is of local author and web designer Nichole Baiel.  She needed publicity photos and I made this "word cloud" collage that illustrated her creative skills in writing and design.

Another "word cloud" montage is of the adorable little girl Ava, whom I photographed last Fall in Chesterton, Indiana at Coffee Creek Park.

- click image to enlarge -

Here is another studio kids photo of Justin for his "one" birthday.

- click image to enlarge -

Most of my collages are in the size of 16x20, 11x14 and 16x24 and are great as Stand Out wall prints or Gallery Print Wraps.  Wedding Package #3 come with one of these 16x20 wall prints.

Here is a super close up of the guest book at Heather and Flo's wedding reception in Hammond at The Knights of Columbus hall along with one of their first dance photos.

- click image to enlarge -

Family events work great for these photo collages.  This is a family bonfire party taken around Halloween in Grovertown, Indiana just east of Valparaiso.

- click image to enlarge -

I love to take ring shots up coose and use them as the background of a photo collage.  It is my favorite way to take ring shots.  Sometimes I will place them inside the petals of the bouquet of flowers or in the case for this Fall wedding, a giant leaf sitting upon a tree stump at Ogden Garden in Valparaiso.

- click images to enlarge -

My high school senior photos make for good collages with the students name and graduating year placed within.  Here is one from Hobart student Chanler, a 2011 graduate and three sport athlete.

- click images to enlarge -

Speaking of high school, one of my favorite events that I have covered is this Highland High School rendition of South Pacific...

- click image to enlarge -

Getting back to weddings, sometimes I like to make a collage out of different elements of one single photo.  Here is Chris and Elise from their wedding at Valparaiso University at the altar of the Chapel of the Resurrection. 

- click image to enlarge -

Sometimes melding an illustration together with photographs can make for unique images.  These are winter engagement photos taken in Chicago along with an illustration of the city in black and white.

- click image to enlarge -

One of the more unique wedding receptions I've photographed was the masquerade ball of Jack and Rebecca at Marquette Park Pavilion along the beach in Lake Michigan.

- click images to enlarge -

Lastly, let's take a look at two photo collages of the same couple.  The first one is Austin and Megan's engagement photos in Chicago at Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs.  When it came time for their wedding the following Autumn, I took their rings which were sitting in the basement of Megan's St. John home and melded them with formal shots in Crown Point and the ceremony at St. Michael's church.

- click images to enlarge -

For weddings, I usually do at least four of these photo collages.  I make one each for Getting Ready, Ceremony, Formals and the Reception.  They are a big hit with the couples and their families and I really enjoy creating them.

Another Round of F.A.Q.'s

Just got back from a little girl's photo shoot (see image below)at a local park.  We started our session around 5:30pm and ended about 6:45.  Why so late?  Why not 12pm when the sun is at it's brightest?  To find the answers to these vexing wonderments, please read the latest round of Frequently Asked Questions about wedding photography and more.  First, a sneak preview of tonight's session.  Great job Julia!!

Now, onto all of your questions...

Q. Do you accept credit or debit cards?

A. Yes.  I currently do this with an ebill through email for local orders.  Ordering prints through the website will get your item shipped to your door and can be paid via credit or debit. 

Starting next month, I will be able to swipe debit or credit cards on location.  I will be able take your wedding deposit this way as well as print and merchandise orders.

Q. Can I just hire you for two hours to do my ceremony only?

A. I'm a full service wedding photographer.  I'm yours for the day and I cannot deliver top quality images by just popping in for a few snapshots.  Always remember, in 20 years you will not remember what you ate or drank, etc., but you will want to look through your wedding album and see the complete story of your day.  I'm here to deliver that story.

Q. Can we get our engagement shots done at 12pm please?  We'd like to do some shopping and eat dinner just before dusk.

A. I always encourage (okay, demand) folks to take outdoor portraits just before dusk.  At high noon, the sun is at it's highest and cast harsh shadows.  While I do know how to work around this and I understand that a wedding ceremony has to be done in early afternoon on occasion, you will find before dusk shots to be the most pleasing.  The other alternative is sunrise.  We don't want to do that, now do we?!!  :)

Q. Will you be charging me extra for all of those cool special effects and collages (see below) that you do?

A. No.... and yes.  Special effects like Sepia, black and white, soft focus, etc. will never cost extra.  I also will not charge extra for any montage or special effect that I have dreamed up and went ahead and did for you.  However, if you have an extravagant request (give me wings and place me into the clouds with my veil swirling over a picture of my receiving line) then I will assess the request and give you a quote to do the work.

Keep sending in your questions.  I will answer you personally of course and list the most frequent ones here on the Region Weddings Journal.

Black and White Wedding Photography

Classy, vintage, romantic, cinematic - this is how I describe black and white wedding photography.  I always include a number of black and white shots for preview.  Since I shoot all in color and then process into black and white in the digital darkroom, you will always have the original color shot available to you.

The best black and white images are not just one click, grayscale photographs.  Leaving a hint of color (even if you cannot see it) will always make for a more spectacular image.  This helps to bring out texture in skies and wedding gowns too.  One of my favorite tricks is too add a 1950's style, hollywood-esque glamor glow.  You can see in the image below that even though the effect has blown out the detail in her dress that it has taken on the style of early hollywood.

One of my engagement packages, called The Chicago Sessions shows off a lot of different black and white techniques.  The image below shows off "blue toning" added along with a fairly intense vignette.

In the shots below, I added "film grain" into the mix and took the digital photographs and gave them more of an analog, film like look.  The second image is at a downtown Chicago vinyl record shop so I gave it that old 1970's aged look.

So when we get together to review your images, if something jumps out at you that screams black and white image, don't hesitate to ask.  There is never an extra charge for these effects.

What Is A Retoucher?

If you have one of my business cards, you may have noticed that next to 'photographer' I'm listed as a "retoucher".  As a bride and groom, let me explain what this means to you.

Wedding Day is supposed to be (and it will be) a gloriously happy one enjoyed with family old and new.  However, we all know the stress and hard work that leads up to this big day.  This can lead to all kinds of skin problems and more.  When I take your images into the digital darkroom, I'm looking for these kinds of things and I'm going to make these problems go away.  This will happen on every single image - period.  I'm also looking for things like eyeglass glare, stray hairs from the wind, eyes closed in group shots, etc.  I recently took out a bride's bra that she didn't want showing.

If your wedding ends up being in the middle of a summer heat wave and that inevitable oily shine takes over your skin, no need to worry.  I won't allow any shiny brides in my collection!!  :)

My training as a retoucher and restorer of old photographs has enabled me to do these types of things with relative ease and skill.  I'm not going to charge you for this unless it is something very extravagant.  I also do many photo collages as part of your wedding book that are also available as prints.

I consider this one of my specialties and not something a lot of photographers can or will do. Usually you have to ask for it, the work gets outsourced and you end up paying a premium for it.

Special effects are also something that I love to do.  See this unplanned moment at a ceremony last summer as an example:

I have more on this subject on the About Me page.  Oh, this doesn't mean the groom's brother doesn't need to straighten his tie.  Sorry dude, you are not off the hook on that one!!