Wedding Photography Tips

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Monday, September 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

Help! A good friend has loved your pictures of Swanage in the sunset and because wedding photography has not made it into the budget, is asking you to take the photos of the happy event. Like a fool, you have said yes and know you are wondering what you have let yourself in for.

You will need to talk to the couple to find out what are the most important shots they want to put into their album, try to keep them to a minimum so that you don’t have too much pressure on yourself. As you probably won’t know the layouts, get the addresses of the wedding and reception venues so that you can go and reconnoitre them, preferably at the same time as the wedding so that you will know where the sun will be. Look for some good backgrounds and especially a really nice place where you could take some intimate picture of the couple.

Preparation is the key, make sure that all the batteries are fully charged and that you have back ups. If you are using film, take along at least six extra rolls, if you are shooting digital make sure that you have enough spare memory cards. If you have the expertise, it is best to use RAW rather than JPEG as you will have a better chance to alter things after the shots are taken. You will be shooting at the highest resolution to ensure good print quality so memory capacity is crucial.

On the day, make sure you can identify all the key people. Ask each of the couple who are important to them, this means friends as well as family members. If you are doing a large group shot, grab everybody as soon as possible, particularly if there are any children involved as you want to get them before they start rolling around on the floor, bless them. Then you can gradually get rid of the different people until the final shot. This way people are not standing around whilst you are trying to herd a few stragglers into the picture.

When setting up and taking the shots, always, always check your backgrounds, the last thing the happy couple wants is a tree ‘growing’ out of one of their heads. Unless you are making a feature of it, like a picturesque church, keep your backgrounds uncluttered. Try shooting a couple of shots with a wide aperture to blur the background.

When using fill-in flash you will probably encounter a problem with people who wear spectacles which will give you a quite nasty flare. The easiest solution would be to get them to remove the offending articles but then they may not be recognised in the final shots. Get the person or people to just move their head/s towards the couple, any other direction may give the appearance of disinterest.

When it comes to the reception it will probably be indoors so you will have to use flash all the time. To avoid harsh shadows you can bounce it off the ceiling, if it’s not too high or has a dark colour. Another way is to put thin tissue paper over the front of the flash which will diffuse the light but practice before you attend the wedding.

When the fun is all over, get your films processed as soon as possible, preferably using your local professional laboratory. It is not advisable to post them off like holiday snaps, just incase they go astray. Digital users should empty their memory cards into the computer where the absolute unusable pictures can be deleted, the so-so’s that could do with a bit of work are moved to a separate file and the best are put onto a cd for the happy couple to peruse at their leisure. If you have enjoyed your foray into wedding photography you never know your friends could start to recommend you to their friends.

About the Author: Before you arrange your wedding day, check Sean Lambs’ wedding photography tips. There are a whole lot more ideas as well as wedding photography for anybody tying the knot.

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