The Best Wedding Photography Tips
May 6, 2008 – 6:44 pmHelp, 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.
First thing to do is to talk over with the couple about the shots that they think are the most important for them. These will be the ones that you have to get right. Find out the address of the wedding venue and reception and the times. Armed with this, go and visit the sites so that you will have advanced knowledge of all the suitable places to stage the shots, bearing in mind the time of day and where the sun will be at that time, take some reference shots so you will know where to go on the day. Remember if the wedding is some time away, the sun may well be higher or lower in the sky.
On the day, play it like a boy scout and ‘Be Prepared’. Your batteries must be fully charged and you have to have a couple of spare sets handy for all of your equipment. Work out how many rolls of film you need and then add six more rolls. Remember that you need at least two different speeds of film. Those shooting with digital camera should allow for a minimum of two 2 gig memory cards and then add another because you will be shooting at maximum resolution for top print quality. If you know the difference, try to shoot RAW rather than JPEG as you will have a greater flexibility after the event.
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.
With the big day over you need to get your films processed as soon as possible. The best, if more expensive solution, is to use a professional laboratory, failing that, take them to a drop in lab that you know and trust. Do not post them, just in case they get lost. Some labs may even provide you with a CD as well. Those who have shot digital should down load their images to the hard drive where the worst ones can be deleted and the best ones can be burnt onto a CD and given to the happy couple. Your wedding photography may lead you to a new career.
Tags: Wedding
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