Making a Bride’s Wedding Shoes Shine On Camera

Every bride wants it—a shot of her bridal Manolos or Jimmy Choos captured flawlessly and originally. Wedding photographer and 2014 Rf Rising Star Lev Kuperman has, unfortunately, encountered plenty of getting-ready locales that are “not ideal” for these kinds of shots. “Poorly lit rooms, bad carpeting, TVs mounted on the wall behind the bride’s head,” he says. “I personally prefer doing a bit of scouting beforehand for new locations, and sometimes you get lucky and don’t have to travel far at all to get the exact setting you want.” That’s precisely what happened for this shoe shot, which he set up just around the corner from his client’s hotel.

“I think I shot about five frames of the shoes in a more ‘traditional’ way (a straight-on shot of shoes together) before deciding I wanted to show more of the heel and focus on the texture of the shoe itself,” Kuperman explains. Luckily he found a gritty, paint-chipped backdrop, perfect for the couple’s style. “Stoops like this are a very ‘Brooklyn-y’ thing, and since the couple was getting married in Brooklyn and live in Brooklyn, I thought this would be a nice setting—it mixes the grit of the street with the elegance of the wedding.”

The stoop acted as a counterbalance, but the focus still needed to be drawn to the shoes and their texture. Focusing on the shoe furthest from his lens draws dynamism and a little intrigue, and shooting it in black and white helps the overall texture pop. Since the stoop was red, neutralizing it also prevents it from competing, Kuperman says, with “the real stars in the frame.” 

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II  
Lens: 35mm f/1.4L USM  
Aperture: f/2.5  
Location: A stoop in Brooklyn, NY

TIPS AND TRICKS
1. “Make time to scout some locations that would incorporate the couple’s style into your shoe shots. Most times you’ll find that couples book hotels for convenience, not for a cool backdrop.”
2. “Color, texture, shape—these are elements you have to think about when photographing shoes. Experiment with shooting from different angles to highlight some of these elements.”
3. “Try to incorporate the style of the wedding into your shoe shots. My goal is to try to convey the mood of the day, the setting I’m in, and the style of my couples.”

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