Hi! I'm going to try something new where I break down a little bit of information on why I photograph the way I do. I'm hoping to do this at least semi-regularly. I can't promise anything, but I'll try! 

The first image I'd likes to start with is this one. I love this shot! 

Wedding photography is about joy above everything else. Being a photographer, I am looking for a lot of things at once. Without the presence of emotion, composition and light don't mean much at all. (To me..Other photographers would probably have heart attacks if they heard me say that.) 

Now for the technical stuff...I chose this spot because of the reflection, but also because of the lines and the light. I could have just as easily achieved a similar shot from the other side of the water, but I chose this spot for a reason. The sun is behind them. This makes it easier for me to control the light entering my camera and creates a nice even look to the whole photo. The second reason is the lines. Notice that each major line is either pointing to or framing the couple. The edges of the water lead your eye right to the couple and that tree branch frames them like a diamond. Swoon. 

Camera Settings - There are really only two things a camera cares about; how much light is let into the lens and for how long. 

ISO: 640 - ISO (or ASA on older film cameras) controls the sensitivity of the camera's sensor to light. It's the same thing that used to be on rolls of film. "Outdoor Film" is generally ISO 200 and "Indoor Film" is generally ISO 800 or higher. That's because the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the film or sensor is to light. When you get into high ISO's digital cameras tend to make up for what they can't process, creative "noise." Noise is the digital equivalent to film grain.  This particular image was shot outdoors with plenty of light, so I was able to keep the ISO relatively low at 640. (This could easily be a whole blog post, and maybe it will be someday, but right now I'll leave it at this.) 

Shutter Speed: 1/125 - This is where I tend to leave my shutter alone. When people are in motion, this is a fast enough speed to freeze the motion without a flash. 

F Stop: 3.5 - With the shutter speed set 1/125 or faster, I tend to make adjustments between the ISO and the F/Stop. For this shot, I was using a 24-70mm 2.8 lens. That 2.8 means that is the widest the lens will go, meaning that when I was shooting at 3.5, I was shooting pretty wide open for the ability of this lens. The lower the f/stop, the wider open the shutter is when taking the photo, therefore letting in more light. Shooting at low f-stops will blur out the background. This is because the camera does not have time to focus on the background. (Think bokeh.) 

There you have it! I know this got a little techy; in the future I think I'll break down some of this stuff a lot more. This is the first time I've done this, so please send me a message though the website if you found this helpful or would like to see anything else on the blog! I'm totally open to suggestions. For my next few posts, I think I'm going to really break down camera settings. I could talk all day about ISO, F/Stop, and Shutter Speeds.