Artistic Couples

An image that initially seems classically beautiful takes a left turn into humor when you notice that the peacock isn't presenting its most photogenic side. So is it sweet? Classic? Funny? It succeeds by being a little bit of everything.

Through a tiny opening, we peek through at the couple, perfectly framed in the distance. While the lush colors of the paper umbrellas could steal attention from the bride and groom, the photographer made it work by restricting the high contrast lighting to the couple and making them the only sharp element in the frame.

The bride's scrunched-up smile in reaction to the groom's kiss feels wonderfully natural and intimate. A jumble of green fronds streaks up through a clean, white sky and frames the couple in a perfect triangle. Their spiky shapes are a perfect foil to the soft-and-sweet moment being shared by the bride and groom.

Everyday practicality meets wedding-day finery in this cleverly framed image. It's so irresistible a scene that one of the passengers is even snapping a shot of the happy couple. (Hopefully the photographer managed to hop on board without losing the clients!)

A bold palette of rich colors gives this image immediate appeal, as do the circles and swooping lines. In the midst of these washes of color, the one perfect circle is the frame around the couple. Their sweet, subdued pose provides a gentle respite where our gaze rests easily.

We love this distinctive take on portraiture. Precisely isolated in their respective red/blue spheres, the bride and groom seem to float in a field of black. The look is as fresh and unexpected as it is dreamy and artistic.

While the concept is clever, it's the execution that makes this image shine. The bride is gorgeously lit (and seems just about to giggle in her goofy pose), the very rectilinear background makes the circular shape of the ring pop right out, and the focus control is perfect.

We often see brides and grooms wrapped up in the veil—but those compositions almost always put us outside the fabric. Here, we are wrapped right up with them. Their closed eyes and gentle embrace makes the image feel almost voyeuristic!

"Bokeh" is a term photographers use to describe how a lens records out-of-focus areas. The effect is especially pronounced when small points of bright light are included in the foreground or background. Here, the photographer made great use of bokeh to surround the dancing couple in a sea of sparkles. It's a magical transformation that perfectly suits the sweet moment they are sharing.

While half a dozen neatly framed vignettes are featured in this elaborate composition, none supplant the bride and groom as the centers of attention. Amidst the chaos of the street scene, their similarly formal poses link them and make them stand out.

Lighting—or the near absence of it—is what makes this photo sing. While we can make out the groom's form, the clear emphasis is on the tiny beam of light catching the bride's profile and red lips. Scant highlights on the veil and plant help set the scene. It's an unusual but effective look.

This wedding portrait excels through its use of contrasts: the elegantly dressed couple in the utilitarian setting; the dark interior and bright exterior; the subdued foreground colors and bold hues in the background—the list could go on and on. Perfectly positioned in the center of the frame, every element of the composition draws us to the quiet interaction between the bride and groom.

As the bride steps forward through the surf, closing the distance to her groom, we can almost feel the anticipation building. The snake's-eye perspective provides a fresh take on the beach portrait—and the subdued color palette feels sweet and natural.

The photographer used dust, haze, and lens flare to transform this rugged landscape into a soft, almost pastel setting for these newlyweds. The bright sun from behind added crisp rim lighting to pop them out from the scene and make her dress glow. Their relaxed, connected pose is icing on the cake.

The layers of lighting in this image add a gripping sense of depth and intimacy. Soft orange spheres of bokeh dance in the foreground, while tiny droplets of rain are frozen in the background by a pop of flash from behind the couple. In addition to rim lighting that pops them out of the dark background, the flash wraps around the couple just enough to reveal their sweet smiles.

A seemingly infinite field a fairy lights created the perfect magical setting for a dance portrait. Peering down through the sparkling strings, the photographer gave us a sweetly voyeuristic look into the newlyweds' stolen moment.

Fine-art influences are evident in this unusual but highly appealing image of the bride and groom. There are countless contrasts that make it effective: they seem to be both indoors and outside; he is in darkness, she is in light; her face and body are in profile, while he faces the camera directly. Yet, despite these differences, her soft eyes and hand pose in his embrace infuse the image with a unified sense of warmth and romance.

The play of shadows in this portrait is remarkable. Working with hard light, the photographer turned the bride's face away from the camera and put the light onto its front planes. Her body was turned toward the camera, letting the light skim across it and pick up all the texture on her bodice and tulle skirt. On the wall, her crisply distorted shadow reaches back toward the groom. His pose (face toward the camera, body in near profile) is nearly the opposite of hers, yielding a completely different effect. Diagonal shadows on the wall and ground complete the dramatic, high contrast portrait.

Those moments when weddings intersect with "regular" activities can be magical. Here, either half of the reflected scene—the dog walkers in silhouette or the illuminated couple—could stand on its own. But together they are more than the sum of their parts.

The best lighting tool is a creative photographer's imagination. Here, simple rope lights were transformed into a light source, prop, and background for the entwined couple. Shot from a bird's-eye perspective, the graphic quality of the image makes it a grabber—and the sweet expressions of the couple persuade us to linger.

This scene is so nice, we're happy to see it twice. As the bride waits poised for a first-look moment (notice the slight anticipation and anxiousness in her curled fingers), the groom leans forward through the doorway. The photographer took advantage of a large wall mirror to present this about-to-happen moment in an even more special and unexpected way.

Of the thousands of stories here, only one matters. The couple is simply posed and perfectly framed in a royal blue opening, making them pop out from the colorful and visually complex environment. Bookishness never looked so wonderfully stylish!

This lovely bit of framing is as simple as can be, yet so full of narrative that there's nothing more we need to see. As we glance back and forth between the windows, the story unfolds and our sense of anticipation builds right along with the bride and groom.