eINCelebrate
C641619va-66
your next Simcha
in our beautiful newly
renovated Social Hall.
• Your choice of Kosher caterers
• Neutral colors
We love working with you!
Make
Beth Shalom
part of your
celebration!
Congregation
Beth Shalom
(248) 547-797r
Give Wedding Photos,
Videos A Newsy Feel
ALISON ASHTON
Special to The Jewish News
ears after they've said, "We
do," most couples want to
remember the day by flip-
ping through their wed-
ding album or popping a video into
the VCR.
With each image, a flood of mem-
ories returns to remind them how
pretty the bride looked, how happy
the groom was, how Uncle Joe got
drunk and danced. The good, the
bad and ugly are all part of the wed-
ding day, and most couples want to
remember everything. After the dress
has been put away, the cake is eaten,
the flowers have wilted,•and even
some of the key players have depart-
ed this world, it's really all that's left
of the day. That and your undying
love, of course.
Once; a packaged
album of photographs
featuring a few formal
portraits, shots from
the ceremony and a
snap of the couple
eating cake at the
reception sufficed.
Now couples demand
sophisticated, journalistic-quality
photos and video productions. It's
not a question of either photo or
video; both are considered essential
to thoroughly document the nup-
tials.
Although traditional formal pho-
tographs of the bride in all her finery
will never go out of style, still pho-
tography is embracing new technolo-
gy. "We see a lot of things that are
digitally enhanced," says Marquita
Thomas, editor of WPPI Photography
Monthly, the publication of Wedding
and Portrait Photographers Interna-
tional.
Photographers are using computer
programs like PhotoShop to lend
different effects to photos, such as a
crackled porcelain finish to give a
wedding portrait an antique appeal.
Thomas also sees a lot of black-
and-white wedding images crossing
her desk. These are especially popu-
lar for candid photos, though cou-
ples sometimes want their formal
y
shots to be black-and-white, too. But
the final album usually is a mix of
black-and-white and color prints.
The popularity of black-and-white
snaps highlights another major trend
in wedding photography, namely the
demand for photojournalistic candid
shots. This treatment lends any nup-
tial a newsy feel.
Instead of a stiffly posed wedding
party, the photographer captures the
players in unguarded moments —
the mother of the bride looking pen-
sive as her daughter cuts the cake,
for example.
This newsy, documentary
approach is even more apparent in
wedding videos. Roy Chapman,
chairman of the Wedding & Event
Videographers Association Interna-
tional, cites the "retrospective," in
which the videographer produces the
wedding as a series of
flashbacks. The cou-
ple is interviewed
after the event and
wedding sequences
are used to illustrate
their recollections.
"This is a very cre-
ative development in
our industry," says
Chapman, adding that "video is
capable of producing anything that's
done on television."
Streamlined video equipment that
uses existing light means the days of
the intrusive videographer can be
gone. It also makes it easier to give
couples that documentary look — or
a charming When Harry Met Sally
treatment. After all, your wedding
may not make national headlines,
but it's certainly the biggest news in
your life.
Chapman notes that videos also
are getting shorter in length —
about 30 minutes of creatively edit-
ed, stylized and watchable high-
lights. "When your friends come
over, they may not have two or three
hours to watch the whole wedding,"
he says.
Although the finished product is
shorter, it can be more expensive,
since it requires more sophisticated
editing skills. "It's much harder to
produce an edited wedding than to
set up a camera and let it roll,"
Chapman explains.
Like still photographers, videogra-
The
documentary
feel is in.
Snow
Skate
Surf
Swim
El
Nino
Sale
Celebrate the Uncertainty
You'll Be Blown Away By The Savings
Saturday, March 28 &Sunday, March 29
Snowboards 50-70% OFF (Snowboards Start at $169)
No Rain Checks • Supplies are Limited
Snowboard Jackets 50% OFF
ALL NEW SKATE STUFF 20% OFF
Clothes, Decks, Wakeboards, Surf Stuff
28223 Woodward
between 11 & 12 Mile?
located in the Harmony House:.
Shopping Plazal
Alison Ashton writes for Copley News
Service.