Special Effects in San Francisco City Hall Photography
We provide our San Francisco City Hall clients with a limited number of special effect images with each wedding. We don't over do it, but we make sure that we always deliver something fun and unique. One of these effects is a black and white photo with some splashes in color throughout the image. Some may say that this is kind of cliche image and not that original. But what we have found without question is that our wedding clients love these kinds of effects. So we will keep doing them until we hear something different. The importan thing that we always remember is that it is up to our Brides and Grooms to tell us if they want of like a particular type of image. If they like it, then we try to give it to them. We normally provide each of our married couples 3 or 4 of these types of images and will do more if requested. Our brides and grooms all seem to like Black/White photos, but then when we add a splash of color, it adds a new dimension. Here are a some examples from Pinterest to help you choose other types of Wedding Image Special Effects. See below for an example of this kind of Special Effect at SF City Hall.
Selective Focus Bouquet Image - City Hall
We took the photo below on the 4th floor North Gallery at San Francisco city hall. We placed the bridal bouquet enough in front of the bride and groom to make sure they were blurry and the flowers were sharp. This is sometimes referred to "selective focus", but it comes under other names. We like this location because of the beautiful natural light present. There are various ways of creating a compelling selective focus photo. We frequently use the bouquet as a focal point but there are many other options available. Another idea is to focus on either the bride or the groom and place the other one in the background slightly blurred. The only issue with these kinds of photos is the degree of blur needed to make the image exceptional. Fortunately, San Francisco City Hall provides us with many great backgrounds to pull off this type of creative image.
Wedding Rings Close up Photography
Taking a close up photo of the wedding rings may not be the best example of special effects photography, but it does take a special effort to make a photo like this look great. Sometimes it may just involve blurring the background of flowers to really make the ring stand out. We try to get some sort of image with the bride and grooms rings at each wedding shoot. Some of our couples book smaller packages so it is not always possible, but we always ask our clients. I love shots like the one below. Very sharp image of their rings and a nice way to open a wedding album. San Francisco city hall wedding photography at it's best!
Blurring the Background in Portrait Images
The final example is probably more of a technique than a special effect but it can be very Dramatic if done correctly. The idea here is to focus on the subject which in most cases are the newlyweds and then blur the background to make they stand out more. You will not see as many of these types of photos at a typical SF City Hall wedding because we're always trying to show the architecture in great detail. However, there is a place for this type of technique when photographing weddings at this historic building. In fact, sometimes blurring the architecture actually can be thought of as a special effect. We don't make it so blurry that you don't know what you're looking at. Just enough Softening of the background to make the couple stand out. The example photo below combines 2 of the techniques discussed above. We blurred the background and used selective color with a black and white image.
