Cast Photography

becky and richard

martin — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 01:14:50 +0000

Lincoln wedding photography

martin — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:58:44 +0000

Cast Photography is a photography business based in Lincoln providing excellent and beautiful wedding photography to the people in Lincoln. We intend to make each wedding special as every wedding is unique in its own right. We believe each bride and groom should come away with a set of photos that reflect their love for each other as well as a recording of the whole wedding day. We work as a team of two photographers following the bride and groom through out their day, taking photos from different angles and perspectives. Often (when the weather permits) we love to go with the lucky couple to landmarks in Lincoln as what better way to celebrate your marriage than in the beautiful city of Lincoln itself. Although time and weather do play a important part on the wedding day, we should think more than taking photos in your chosen venue. The city has many beautiful landmarks which looks wonderful so we like to photograph our bride and grooms in style within the Lincoln Cathedral sector, around the grounds of Lincoln ‘s historical castle and maybe even wander down the Bailgate area.

Like detail shots, dress, shoes, jewellery?…then a little prep can help

martin — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 05:22:12 +0000

A lot of brides are particularly keen on detail shots. Pictures of the dress and various jewellery as well as shoes and so on make a nice element of story telling in the album. On the day though its easy to misplace a lot of these items and there are a few things you can do to make sure these shots are easy to get. In particular its a good idea to have a good hanger for your dress. Rather than just using a plastic one, consider brining a wooden one. This can look a lot better in the final photographs. Also you make sure that your jewellery is in one place, its easier for you as well. A lot of items can easily go missing in a room with bridesmaids about and everyone continuously moving things around.

Wedding Photography is always tricky, especially during the bridal prep but a bit of forethought can go a long way.

Understanding posed shots and reportage

martin — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 02:47:11 +0000

Today I was thinking about what the difference is between reportage and posed shots. I think all to often people have this idea that posed shots are somehow unnatural, if that statement makes you think “but they are ,they are posed” then read on. A lot of the moments that happen during a wedding are triggered by an event. For instance the words said during the ceremony induce a feeling of love and sometimes this can draw tears from some people. Equally during a series of posed shots it’s easy to generate real emotion from a trigger. Certainly, on the wedding day itself you often find that there is such a high state of emotion that it’s very easy to get emotion and a connection. Actually a wedding without posed shots would have fewer moments in it. I’d like to think that posing for couples is not an ordeal and can be very natural. I think all too often people have this idea that it is all very forced and staged when the usual reaction I get is that it is fun. It is all about the connection, that way you get real smiles and real emotion and not fake stuff that anyone can see through. The situation is put together but the emotion is real. This is a real skill and many can’t do it. But those that can, can produce images that are of a high standard. But what about reportage? Well all that still happens, posed shots are in addition. The idea that a photographer that does posed shots somehow cant do reportage does not make sense. Generally posed shots are harder than reportage. Reportage is all about timing, but that’s not rocket science, once your camera is set it doesn’t take a huge leap to press the shutter button at the right time. I feel that it’s time that the uk got up to speed with what the rest of the world is doing and dropped the old view that posing is bad. Bad posing is bad, good posing can be incredible. But what form does posing take. Well for me it’s NOT about forcing people into positions. The idea is to make natural things happen but simply do it somewhere I can control the situation, the light, my position.

10 Tips for brides for their wedding day

martin — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:03:43 +0000

BY CAST WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY LINCOLN

As a wedding photographer I get to attend a lot of weddings, I guess it gives a unique perspective. I have spent many days with brides on their wedding days and I get to see a lot of what works as well as the little mistakes that could have been prepared for.

So I have prepared this list which is really a guide for brides to use to help them prepare a bit for their wedding day. Its not photography centric, I will write something along those lines later. No one bride needs all of these tips, you may only find useful but read through them all and see if it helps.

In no order of importance lets get started:

Realise that spending more and more doesn’t always have a big impact on the wedding. Some weddings cost a fortune but I have seen many brides make their own decorations that look fabulous and unique.
When you book your wedding it might not be at the same time of year as the time you are making the booking. Remember that not only will the weather be different but the length of daylight. So if you are planning a wedding in March and expect people to be enjoying the outside at 8pm then think again.
If you want people to get up and dance towards the end of your first dance then prepare at least the groomsmen and bridesmaids and their partners to do this. I have seen many times where the bride and groom were expecting other couples to come up and dance at the end but the guests don’t do it because they think they aren’t allowed to. If the bridesmaids and groomsmen get up and dance then others follow immediately. Do not expect people to just get the idea as you wave to them over very loud music, it doesn’t work that way often.
If you want a quiet wedding ceremony don’t have babies there. They will always cry and their parents often cant get up to leave. If they cry during your ceremony it will be the dominant sound in the room by far and everyone will be aware of it. If you want them in the room/church but want to minimize any disruption ask them before the day to sit at the back, they may then have the option to leave when the baby cries or makes a noise. This is really relevant for todlers up the age of 2 or 3 as they will also just talk and have no understanding of what the ceremony is. I have had many brides tell me that they felt this ruined the ceremony for them in the past so I now tell mention it to all brides. After that at least they know. It makes no difference to me if a baby is crying in there or not but to the bride it might, hence the post.
For group photos find someone that knows all or most of the people on your group photo list. The photographer does not know your family and friends and if you want the groups photos to go quickly this will make what can take 45 minutes only take 1 minutes. Don’t think that this part is down to the wedding photographer. The reality is that during this phase of the day people walk off. They just do. If the photographer has to walk around the building finding people you can imagine that this can go on for a while looking for people they dont recognise. ALSO, if you are having group shots at the church then you have to tell everyone that this is happening. What happens is people just drive off to the venue. Don’t think that this wont happen to you, its very likely to happen if you don’t prepare for it.
Your maid of honor is there to help you. She is meant to be the person that keeps things running smoothly around you and whoever you give this role to should be aware of that. That can mean keeping people together or keeping track of time and what is happening around you. Its worth having because often brides can feel a bit lost on the day.
Wedding days are chaotic. If it were any other event with that many people turning up then people would expect it to be a bit chaotic but with weddings it surprises people. When I give the brides their album and we have a chat about their wedding day one of the things that keeps coming up is that they say they had no idea how chaotic the day would be. A lot of this revolves around people wandering off and being so spread around the venue and not knowing what is happening next while at the same time there can be a fair bit of time pressure at certain points of the day. The day doesn’t look as chaotic to me but I can see what they mean. From the brides perspective I think their mental image of the day is probably a much more controlled event.
On the day itself set your own mindset. You can spend some time in the morning while you are still alone preparing yourself. If you let it, it will be a fun and happy day.
Delegate. At any other event of this size many people would be given job roles. Leave it all to chance on the day and you may be in for a surprise. Give people roles on the day. Think the day through. The bridesmaids can be used to help you out and giving people a small job can be useful. Put one of them in charge of talking to the venue when you are getting ready for instance. Or if you are getting ready at home you need someone to organize around you, keeping the area clear. Bridal prep areas can become a mess to the point that its stressful if you let it. Just maintaining some level of order can make things smoother. I had a bride 2 and half hours late because her shoes went missing in bridal prep, moved by someone else who forgot they did it. Someone should have been paying attention to where all the important things were, the shoes should not have been moved at all. I could go on for some time on this one.
Enjoy it, I’m sure this has given you something to think about. The point of it all was to pass on a bit of my experience so that you can enjoy your day more. You dont need to do much really in order to make the difference between a very stressful day and an enjoyable stress free day. Use the people around you to your benefit and plan a bit.

Have a great wedding. This post was written by Cast Wedding Photography Lincoln.

Lincoln 5k run … chased by zombies

martin — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:28:15 +0000

Now this is the sort of thing that I really like, what a great idea. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-18248823

Having zombies chase the runners as they do a 5k race in Lincoln will be great and I will try and be there to photograph it as well. It will be very funny if the zombies catch any of the runners, the runners get 3 tags which the zombies have to try and steal.

October the 14th at the Lincolnshire Showground.

Wedding photography coverage time

martin — Mon, 28 May 2012 00:14:24 +0000

Wedding photography Lincoln coverage to wedding breakfast explained

One of the things I wanted to take some time to explain is why we general stop coverage of wedding photography at the wedding breakfast. To brides this can initally seem like the photographer is only there for half the day or so. But this isnt the case in terms of the events that happen on a wedding day. Often brides dont fully know the timings of the wedding day at the point they are booking the photographer or they havent had the following explained.

On the day the essense of the wedding is the following regardless of whether there is a church ceremony or not and of course this doesnt take into account the finer details around these events. Its a simplified list in order to make the point

Bridal Prep

Ceremony

Group shots

Couples shots

Speeches

Cutting of the cake

First dance

Now its become the trend to do the speeches at the start of the meal in order to get them out of the way for those giving the speeches, in this case we also cover this as well. Lets assume thats the case.

At this point after the speeches the guests talk and mingle, this can go on for 4 hours or more until the guests arrive for the evening. The arrival of guests usually goes on for over an hour. Either way the gap between the speeches and cutting of the cake is usually in the order of 4-5 hours. Then the cutting of the cake happens at some point and often within five minutes of that the first dance.

So the photographer is there for lets say an extra 4 hours for what is in the end around 10 mintues of extra work. You may think well I want the photographer taking pictures of guests. Well the pictures you get of guests are not anything amazing at this time, people when they talk stand in circles, so wherever you shoot from you get backs of heads. And realistcally thats 4 hours of people standing still talking. Im sure when you think about the pictures after you can imagine whizzing through these and they arent the amazing memories of the day. Thats not to say guests mingling isnt covered. It is, its just that these types of shots only make up a small percentage of what you get in the end product because they are far less important than the other really great moments on the day.

So really when it comes to it, we as photographers dont see it in our best interest to stay the entire day as its a long time to stay and it would push the price up. Obviously, if you want us to do it, and are prepared to pay a little extra, we will stay. We arent saying we wont do it, we are simply saying its not going to be our standard coverage, and this is the explaination as to why. I hope that makes some sense and you can see this isnt something that is designed to be a restitriction but allows us to lower prices and provide the most cost effective coverage and by lowering prices allows us to potentially book more weddings.