Raidt Photography

Whitney and I were able to take our friends, Steve and Addison, out on a couple’s shoot in the fall.

We walked by the river in downtown St. Charles, climbed trees, walked along the train tracks, sat on the bench and explored the beach.

They’re a fun couple with sweet hearts and we were very blessed to have spent that day with them.

A few months later, Steve proposed to Addison; She said ‘Yes!’

Raidt Photography is publishing their new Website here at MyStlouisWeddingPhotography.com/ where their professional portfolio and personal qualifications can be explored. You can contact them, with your email address on the page we linked to. Just enter your name and your email address with a short message and we will get back in contact with you shortly. You can leave a message for either Whitney or Brendan on their Cellphones, listed below.

Whitney Raidt: 314-520-7070

Brendan Raidt: 314-809-7920

We know that you will enjoy working with Raidt Photography, Whitney has experience both in front of and behind the camera. Brendan has a demonstrable talent, he is behind the camera in the portfolio shots of Whitney. You can see her featured in the portfolio shots, and evidence of her professional modeling career is easy to spot. Here is a Video that Whitney Raidt Co-stars in, with Chuck Wicks, in “Stealing Cinderella“. She is Cinderella, the elder.

It is quite easy to identify the distinct wedding photography styles currently popular in the marketplace. The styles include Traditional, Contemporary, Candid, Illustrative, Documentary and Reportage, among others. However when it comes to selecting the professional photographer for your special day, you should not assume that the style they say they work in fits the work they produce. So the obvious course of action is to look at the photographer’s portfolios to determine what their style truly is, a brief synopsis of 4 of the major styles will follow.

CONTEMPORARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

As suggested by the title, contemporary wedding photography is a relatively recent development, the style is exemplified by the creation of high fashion images. Glamor poses, professional makeup and edgy backgrounds comprise the components of the contemporary style. Even the lighting effects typically used in a studio borne fashion shoot are often utilized by photographers to create the desired effects of the contemporary style. A choreographed hands on direction of the primary subjects, the bride and groom is taken. Deliberate poses similar to those usually found in high fashion magazines are used. For a conservative couple, the Contemporary style may not be appropriate for you. While the setup for the Contemporary style is as time consuming as the Traditional style, the results will likely be more flashy.

PHOTOJOURNALISM AS A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE

Photojournalism is a documentary form at its purest, emphasing candid shots with limited posing. The style is also referred to as Reportage, Candid or Documentary Wedding photography. Successful photojournalist photography captures the emotional mood of the wedding, and the resultant wedding album documents the story of the wedding day creatively. The photojournalist has less interaction with the bride and groom and the process is less time intensive than contemporary or traditional wedding photography.

ILLUSTRATIVE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

While Illustrative photography has been around for a while it is a newer style which combies elements of both traditional and photojournalistic photography. The process attempts to capture the wedding in a more candid manner, while choregraphing poses when necessary or possible. Posing may involve the selection of background or a change in indoor lighting to create the desired end result. An example of Illustrative wedding photography may be an outdoor placement of the bride and groom against a natural background, or the brides dressing room documenting her preparation using natural light sans posing.

TRADITIONAL WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

While those who practice the art may refer to their style as “timeless” the emphasis in Traditional Wedding photography is to capture classic traditional poses in the romantic wedding setting. A great deal of emphasis is placed on posing not only the bride and groom but their family and friends as well. There is a great deal more interaction with the bride and groom, wedding party and guests as a result, causing the shoot to be longer. A traditional photographer should be expert in protrait techniques, as well as lighting. Quite frequently these professionals work off of a shot list that is generated prior to the ceremony.

Truly,  you may be hard pressed to categorize most wedding photographers into any of these styles definitively, the proof so to say is in the proofs! You will be able to determine whether the photographer is effective in a given style by reviewing their work. When Reviewing St. Louis Wedding photographers, you will find that Whitney and Brendan Raidt can produce any style you prefer, or a combination of styles, at your request. Just go to the contact form and provide your contact details to initiate a discussion and begin your vetting process. You won’t be disappointed.

There are many components to a successful portrait photograph. One of the primary reasons you have a good photograph or a poor photograph is a result of how your crop your subject. The style of portrait you are attempting to create is a result of cropping the subject correctly, you can include full body, the face and torso, a facial close up or other standard portrait lengths, the success of your shot depends on proper cropping. The decisions made with reference to how the subject is framed will determine whether you have a professional eye pleasing portrait.

You can crop your shots either while shooting the portrait, or in post production. Cropping in the camera is the preferred method, because of the fact that you are taking advantage of the camera’s lens and the resolution of the entire shot. So framing your photograph with the camera is more effective than cropping after the shot, with tools like photoshop. The consistency of resolution resulting from framing properly with the camera will usually yield a more effective shot. You can get a shot of the full subject or just a head and shoulder shot or whatever image you like, simply by properly framing the subject through your camera lens. The original resolution is often the preferred visual effect.

Occasionally it is not possible to crop a photograph the way you would like if for some reason, so the second method of cropping, post production is available. A subject that you would like to capture may be moving faster than you can easily frame, and you lack sufficient time to properly frame or compose the image. During a wedding you may experience these opportunities during the first dance or when the bouquet and garter ceremonies are unfolding, if you just prepare and shoot, you should come up with something that you can crop post production, with photoshop, but you will suffer some loss of resolution with this method.

Equipped now with the methodologies for cropping, we still have to learn how to crop properly. Are you aware of which parts of the body you should leave in frame and which parts you can safely leave out? With a human subject, it is best not to crop at the joints, don’t cut off feet hands or legs. In a full length shot, you cut out none of the subject, with a ¾ length shot, use the subjects thighs as a cut off point. Take care to leave some space above the subjects head. With a Head and Shoulders portrait the bottom of the photo is the subjects chest, again leaving a small space above the head for the upper delimitation. The most complicated shots that you will be attempting are likely the facial close ups. You have seen many different facial cropping styles in professional publications, or online, the rules for facial cropping are not as rigid as for other styles of portrait photography, so you should look at various media and decide for your self what cropping will go best with your shooting style.

If you are inexperienced with shooting event photography, I hope that these tips will help you in your efforts. Good Luck!!