A wedding day is packed with incredible moments, and immortalizing these in stunning images is the role of a good wedding photographer. The art of capturing the moment is something that takes practice, instinct, anticipation, and a great deal of experience. Here are a few tips on how to capture those special wedding moments in the best possible way.
1. Set Expectations with the Couple: Show them your work and style. Find out what they wish to achieve, how many shots they want captured, the key moments they want recorded, or how the shots will be used. If you’re charging them for the event, make sure you have the agreement of price and scope of work in place up front.
2. Turn Off the Sound on Your Camera: Beeps during speeches, the kisses and exchange of vows during the ring ceremony, interrupt and dilute the moment. It is better to switch off the sound before hand and keep it off. Remember, the wedding and the couple are more important than your convenience and likes.
3. Shoot the Small Details: Photograph rings, backs of dresses, shoes, flowers, table settings, menus, and other little details help give the end album an extra dimension. Flick through a wedding magazine in a news stand for a little inspiration.
Photo Credits - Anastasia Giaouris at Olive Photography
4. Be Bold but Not Obtrusive: Timidity won’t get you that perfect shot you’re looking for. Sometimes you need to be bold to capture a moment. But however important timing and thinking ahead to get in the right position are, you must not disrupt the event in any way. In a ceremony, try to move around at least four to five times, but try to time this to coincide with songs, sermons, or longer readings. During the formal shots be bold, know what you want, and ask for it from the couple and their party, or the wedding manager or coordinator. Drive the show and always keep things moving.
Photo Credits - One and Only Photography
5. Learn How to Use Diffused Light: The ability to bounce a flash or to diffuse it is vital. You’ll find that in many churches the light is very low. If you’re allowed to use a flash (because some churches don’t allow it) think about whether bouncing the flash will work. If you bounce off a colored surface it will add a colored cast to the picture. You might also want to buy a flash diffuser to soften the light. If you can’t use a flash, you’ll need to either use a fast lens at wide apertures and/or bump up the ISO. A lens with image stabilization might also help.
6. Change Your Perspective: Get a little creative with your shots. While the majority of the images in the end album will probably be fairly normal comprising of formal poses, make sure you mix things up a little by taking shots from down low, up high, or at wide angles.
Photo Credits - EA Photography
7. Consider Your Backgrounds: One of the challenges of weddings is that there are often people roaming everywhere, including in the backgrounds of your shots. Particularly with the formal shots, first scope out the area where they’ll be taken. Plan ahead of time by looking for good backgrounds. Ideally you’ll be wanting uncluttered areas and shaded spots out of direct sunlight where it’s unlikely that a wandering guest would saunter into the back of the shot.
8. Have Fun: Get to know the couples and their extended family beforehand. Know which people are important and who can be left out of close ups. Know beforehand the route the wedding procession will take, the order of the ceremony, and location in which the wedding will take place. Get your lights and other equipment ready beforehand. To bring about intimacy in your pictures there should be intimacy between couples. Persuade them to get out of their shell. Make them feel comfortable enough to be themselves before your camera. Intimate moments add a whole lot of passionate touch to a pre-wedding shoot. It could make a great ‘before’ shot that they can frame and place in their living room. On the wedding day itself, candidness will help. Acclimatize your bride and groom to your style of shooting. Talking to everyone with a smile and being friendly yourself and being comfortable to work with are keys if you want great shots. Get yourself and your assistants well dressed and look groomed, so if anyone has any doubts, they can be free to ask you or your assistants. If you make your clients comfortable, they’ll give you great shots. To easily bring about intimacy or kisses in a pre-wedding shoot, you could bring along a partner or assistant of the opposite sex just to ease the couple a bit.
You’ll know you’ve succeeded in capturing beautiful wedding moments when an image invokes the same feelings long after the wedding day itself. The emotions in a wedding photo are what make unique and special pictures and you must work on the skill and expertise to anticipate that emotion in time in order to capture it to its fullest extent.
Featured Image Credits - Josh Elliot