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.