A wedding is nerve-wracking for everyone involved. And that includes the photographer! But a professional approach to the event can help allay your nerves, and produce great photos.

First of all, check out the locations before the day that may include both the bride and groom’s homes, for candid shots before the event, as well as the locations of both the wedding and the reception. Look for particular places where you can compose a pretty, intimate shot for instance a secluded alcove, a curving staircase, or a muslin-curtained window could all help make a photo memorable. And plan where you need to be at each point to take the best shots of the ceremony.

Think about lighting. Will you need flash? If you’re taking interior shots, you probably will but during the ceremony, you may want to use a tripod together with a high ISO, as flash distracts. (Ask the venue about using flash.)

If your exterior shots are going to be in a dim churchyard, shot against the sun, you’ll probably want fill flash for those, too. What direction will the sun be shining from when you’re taking the photos? This lets you plan ahead.

Talk with the couple getting married about the sort of pictures they want and who they want in them. It helps if you can get to see photos of important people at the wedding the bride’s parents, bridegroom’s best friends so that you don’t miss them.

Discuss the order of events. Try, if you can, to find ten minutes when you can whisk the happy couple away from the reception to take some portrait shots, using one of the locations you’ve found.

Remember, you won’t get a second chance at a wedding. So take a backup camera you can’t ask for a reshoot. Make sure your batteries are fully charged, and take a back-up set. And take lots of pictures don’t self-censor. You may also want to take a stepladder it makes crowd shots so much easier.

Although some of your shots will be posed for instance, the big wedding photo with everyone in it some of your best photos may come when you just ‘look for the moment’. The little pageboy eating a cream cake and getting most of it on his satin breeches, or the bridesmaid with an arm round the nervous bride these photos will make the portfolio stand out, so keep looking for them, and keep shooting.

Remember to take different lenses. Sometimes you’ll want a zoom so that you can cut out distracting foreground and concentrate on an emotional moment. Other times, you’ll need a wide angle for a view of the venue, the car, or the crowd. If you’re using two cameras, you can save time on changing lenses by having one set up with a standard lens and one with a zoom.

There will undoubtedly be some blemishes on the photos. A little updo blowing out of place, an intrusive shadow, or even someone’s makeup spoilt by tears. Let a professional retoucher remove these small imperfections before you give the photos to the couple, and you’ll have done yourself a favour.

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Tags: Crowd Shots, Photography 101, Second Chance

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Arts & Humanities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.