A bride on the stairs

I'm a candid wedding photographer so I typically like to take images of the day as they happen, capturing those moments that you just can't set up. The one exception for me is taking a posed shot of the bride and I personally think it's one of the most important shots of the day. The bride will have spent months looking for the perfect dress, her hair and makeup will be immaculate and the bouquet stunning. I've always wanted to take a shot of the bride on some beautiful stairs with gorgeous banisters, ancient brickwork and lovely ornaments and decoration. The opportunity finally arose at a wedding in December, the location of which was the grand old Allington Manor near Grantham. I had looked around the property about a month before the wedding day and recognised the potential for a cracking shot on the stairs. It was tight, I didn't have much room to play with, but helped by the natural window light felt I could capture the shot I was after. A reflector was used to bounce light back from the window towards the bride giving some lovely illumination on the face and highlighting detail on the dress. I thought the window light would trick the camera into under exposure but the Nikon D4 has an uncanny knack at nailing these types of tricky situations. Cranking up the ISO to a value of 1600 allowed for a shutter speed of 1/80 sec at F3.5, just enough to freeze any motion there may have been. I fired a quick burst, aiming to capture a natural smile and relaxed pose, and this was the frame I chose. I love the natural feel to the image, almost as though the bride has started to walk down the stairs and stopped, glanced over her shoulder, a smile on her face... knowing she's ready for the biggest day of her life.        

Beautiful bride