Taking wedding pictures is might be really exciting job, but it’s also related to great responsibility and stress. Wedding photography is really special, as it’s meant to capture the beginning of a new family, the celebration of love, the exceptionality of couple’s relationship, their happiness and the joy of their friends and family members.
Your camera has to catch all those little and big moments that will create extraordinary memories. The bride’s gown, hair, a perfect composition of wedding rings and wedding bouquet, the tears of newlyweds’ moms, the bride and groom getting ready for a big moment, the first dance, funny group shots, etc.
It seems like you have to be everywhere at once and manage to take great pictures during the event. And you know for sure how hard that is. So, here’re some wedding photography tips that might make your job easier and your wedding pictures – much better.
Whether you’re a professional photographer who finds it difficult to survive the wedding photography job or the couple’s friend who was entrusted with this task, you’ll definitely find something that will help you cope with it.
Wedding photography tips
- If you’ve never taken wedding photos before or if you’re not a professional photographer at all, it’s better to visit educational websites or watch a couple of wedding photography master classes on YouTube. This should help you understand the peculiarities of this assignment and avoid the most common mistakes people make while capturing someone’s wedding on camera.
- Have you always thought that it doesn’t matter what you’re going to wear to the wedding if you’re just a photographer? Wrong! Formal gowns and shoes will be your worst enemies. Find the most comfy pair of shoes and an outfit. You should be able to run around, squad down, kneel down or even lay on the ground without any problems.
- Newlyweds prefer photographers who have their unique and personal approach to wedding photography. Surely, they don’t want to end up with a typical wedding album with typical poses and shots. But being that professional, you have to remember that it’s their big day. And you’re only the ‘photographer of honor’.
They want to enjoy their unique event, but not turn it in some kind of a photo duty. Turn the photography a fun and entertaining part of the event. And, be able to be completely invisible, especially after the ceremony, when everyone enjoys the food, music and good conversation. You might get cool shots due to this ability as well. - Wedding dresses are unbelievably hard to work with. Most of the time, you camera will be overwhelmed with their brightness. And, it will refuse to capture the beauty of the dress the way it should. If you want the dress to stay white instead of a dull gray, you’ll just need to dial in some positive exposure compensation.
This will prevent the light meter in your camera from considering the white bride’s gown as an enormous bright spot on the picture, ruining the beauty of the dress or failing to capture its magnificent details.
- Big weddings are impossible for a single photographer to deal with. So, if you’ve signed up for a wedding photography task that involves a huge ceremony and enormous number of guests, it’s better to think about hiring an aide. You’ll get a second view on the event. You won’t miss important moments. And you’ll have a set of back-up equipment if the worst-case scenario happens.
Go to HireRush.com to find a second photographer who’ll work with guests, take pictures during the reception part, etc. Hire a beginner who wants to gain wedding photography experience. Or, find a professional who wants to earn a little bit more cash. Those are your two best options in this case. Post a task here - If you want to have great wedding shots that will capture all the details, talk to your clients/friends and set up the one-hour pre-ceremony photo session. Many couples are very strict about the ‘not seeing the bride’ tradition.
But you need to find the way to capture the bride in her dress, her bouquet, the rings, etc. Most importantly, you need to take portrait pics and capture the couple together before they drown in the wedding ceremony chaos. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to compile a nice wedding album.
- Meet with the newlyweds-to-be to get an idea about the spirit of their particular wedding. Discuss the shots they would like to see in their album. Write them down in from of a check-list not to miss something. That especially applies to family pictures and wedding portraits.
Ask the couple to find a family member who’ll help you gather everyone for family and group shoots. Otherwise, you won’t be able to survive the stress of finding different uncles, grannies and friends who ‘need’ to be in this picture together. - Being able to shoot a ton of pictures fast is quite useful on a wedding day and every big event in general. Continuous shooting mode should become your best wedding photography friend. It often happens that the shot your camera automatically takes after the first ‘planned’ one turns out as the one that captures the true moment.
- Prepare yourself for unexpected things. Stay calm and turn the incidents like pouring rain, someone unable to find the rings, bride/groom forgetting the vows or a baby that can’t let her mommy go into fun and cute memories
- Diversify the elegancy of the formal wedding ceremony with picture where people are having pure fun, laughing, fooling around and generally not acting for the camera. Those are the most real pictures all couples appreciate.
- Make the full use of the venue and environment. Take a white sheet or a towel with you to take pictures ‘in the nature’ without messing up anyone’s pretty gown and shoes.
- Study the reception and ceremony schedule to work out the wedding photography plan. Visit the venue and examine the environment to come up with interesting and unique ideas for various shots, setups and backgrounds.
- Be a journalist. Try to sneak around to capture true emotions of newlyweds and their guests. This will help you turn the wedding album into a nice story about the couple with an amazing happy-ending.
- Pack in advance. Put a couple of spare fully charged batteries and extra completely empty memory cards to your equipment bag. Stain removers and sticky tape often save a shot as well (maybe, you’ll need to roll up someone’s pants or remove that ugly wine stain on a light shirt or dress).
- Change your perspective according to the couple’s wishes. You may have your own opinion and style regarding wedding photography that might not suit the couple’s character and the spirit of their ceremony. Be flexible to meet their wishes and expectations to capture their event the way they want to remember it. That’s what you’re hired for anyway.
