Wedding Photography Tips and Guide

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE Author: Geoff Beattie Formatting and design: Daniel Sîrbu

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Copyright, Legal Notice and Disclaimer: This publication is protected by international copyright law, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights. No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author. Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms. Copyright © 2010 Geoff Beattie. All rights reserved worldwide.

The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album.

This is a complete guide for anyone who wants to compile a wedding album without being a photographer or hiring a professional wedding photographer.

This guide will help you to produce your very own wedding album from start to finish. Just think; you are about to create your very own wedding album, exactly how you want it, with all the photos you want in it! Why have I written this guide? In 1998, I came up with the idea to become self-employed and started the classic back bedroom business. After 6 months we opened a small shop offering services like photo-processing, copies, enlargements, reprints, photo-restoration, framing and the like. The business proved popular, and we soon moved into a larger unit and began to offer portrait and wedding photography. After about 4 years, we expanded again and opened a studio where we could concentrate more on portraits and studio work. We can help We do many copies and reprints of wedding photos in the studio for people who have used the photos taken by a guests or a friend for the wedding album. Many of them are OK, but I know that, had they a guide like this, they would have done a much better job! But, knowing that you only get one shot at doing your wedding photos, you need to make the most of what you’ve got. So, we now help with cropping, color casts, airbrushing, toning, and other editing tasks to improve the image before printing. But, what do you do with the photos? Either keep them in the packet or put them in the cheapest photo album or frame you can find, usually from a big high street photoprocessing chain, or one that looks great on ebay for £20 plus £10 postage, but turns out to be same one as on the high street?! Risk I’ve decided I’m going to take a risk in writing this guide, in the hope that not everyone will buy it! Then, I’ll still have plenty of customers in our shop looking for a “quick fix” solution to their not-so-good attempt at taking wedding photos! Anyone can do it! I love photography, and I love great photographs, especially when I see them from my usual kind of customers with their point-and-shoot automatics. I know that anyone can take a good photo, and the great majority of people who do take photos can benefit from a little help and a few good tips on the basics.

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Presentation It’s not all about taking the photo. Let’s be honest. If you’ve decided to set aside the better part of £1000 on a wedding photographer, you could at least invest in a decent wedding album to present the photos in. And, what about the copies for Aunt Gladys and Uncle Nigel? You could just give them a print direct from your printer on that cheap photo paper you bought off the internet to say “thank you” for the £50 gift voucher they gave you, though now that you’ve taken a step towards creating some great wedding photos by investing in this guide, you’ll be able to give them a fantastic professionalquality print that will last longer than the cheap print you can run off at home, and it won’t really cost you much more. So, follow the tips in this guide and you’ll get some great results. Even if you are not doing the main photos, or you will be doing some in addition to a hired professional, you need to make a little effort in the finishing and presentation. Maybe you’ll want to do something simple like tone your photos sepia or black-and-white, and put them in a professional strut mount or folder. Presentation can make all the difference. I have had customers bring in prints from professional photographers that my 7-year-old son could have captured better! But, because it’s presented in a folder, and it cost £20 from the “best photographer in town” as described in the BIG advertisement in the yellow pages, it must be good, right? Presentation plays a big part in getting your shots looking professional. There are some tips on presentation in this guide, too. This guide is designed to take you through a simple process of creating your own wedding album without being a photographer. It’s written in simple, easy-to-understand language, without all the technical jargon that, to be completely honest with you, is of no benefit to 99% of the photo-taking population! It’s written to offer advice and tips for doing your own wedding photos. This is not a professional guide to the wedding photography business, though many “pros” have bought it in the past and will continue to buy it because we are all on the learning curve and always looking for new and different ideas. Don’t be baffled!

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album. You don’t need to have a great technical understanding of cameras, exposure, or photography. You just need a camera, ideally digital (though not essential), and know how to use it. If you want to do editing then you’ll need a computer with a photo-editing program. Once again, don’t think you need to go for a top-of-the-line Adobe Photoshop CS with a full retail price tag of £500+. I have been using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 at the time of writing this for all of my editing in our portrait studio and our photo shop with a price tag of around £60! Most of the videos are in PSE 1.0 to show the simple steps you can to take to transform you photos, though there are many other programs available that offer many of the same features. Some you’ll even find for free on the cover of a digital photo magazine or as a free download from the net. Once you’ve completed your editing, you can either print your own or you can use professional labs for digital files or film. Once you have your own images, you can then make professional-quality reprints for your friends and family for a fraction of the cost of what a professional wedding photographer would charge. You can get a reprint from a professional wedding photographer for £25+ for a 10x8, though as this guide contains a list of printing labs the professionals use, and because you own the copyright on your own photos, you can legally get the same professional-quality 10x8 print from the same labs the professionals use for around £3.50! Or, you can print your own for under £1! How good will you feel that you have actually done your own wedding album! Be careful, though. Your friends and family may just want you to do their wedding, too! Maybe you’ve seen your friends’ photos that they’ve done themselves and they did a pretty good job, and you probably thought that “we should do that.” Well, you could! And, now that you’re armed with this wedding photo guide, you’ll probably do a much better job and be able to present your photos much better, too.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

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The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album.

Contents Tips on Organizing Photos.......................................................................................... Page 7 Digital Camera Tips.......................................................................................................... Page 9 Basic Ideas for Photos: Traditional & Reportage........................................... Page 11 Location, Location, Location Guide......................................................................... Page 13 Composition........................................................................................................................ Page 14 Light......................................................................................................................................... Page 18 List of “Must Have” Key Shots................................................................................ Page 20 On The Wedding Day.................................................................................................... Page 21 Tips For Editing and Selecting the Best Shots.................................................. Page 25 Black-and-White and Sepia Toning Guide......................................................... Page 27 Home Printing Guide...................................................................................................... Page 28 Professional Lab Guide................................................................................................. Page 29

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WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album.

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS So, if you are the groom or bride reading this, you’ll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly. If you have friends or guests with cameras, that’s even better. If not, that’s no problem, as long as you have a camera and tripod you’ve got everything you need.

Doing it this way, I believe, would make it more special as the photos have been taken by the guests, often the people who are closest to you. To have photos captured by guests is a great idea! If they are worried about taking wedding photos, explain that you have a great guide with some fantastic professional tips that you will show them to help them in getting some great wedding photos.

Your Options

If no one has a camera, you’ll need to get one, or at least borrow one. If you’re going to get one, take a look in the members’ area for the latest recommendations.

1. Ask someone who you know who’s a keen photographer to take some photos for you. I wouldn’t suggest you go and ask him/her to take your wedding photos as this can be quite a responsibility to ask of someone and (s)he may just say no. I would explain to him/her first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like him/her to simply take some photos for you. This is easier if you have a guest who’s into photography as (s)he will be there anyway, and as a keen photographer, (s)he’ll probably be bringing his/her camera, as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos. I’ve done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer. 2. Approach your local college and contact the photography class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a “photo shoot” and you would grant them permission to edit, print, and use your photos in connection with the work they are doing in return for giving you a copy of all the photos on disk. If you don’t want to call them and ask, send them an email. 3. Ask the guests! Let them know that you’re doing your own photos, either because of budget or you just don’t like the wedding albums you’ve looked at, or because you want complete control over the photos and want to be able to put them on Facebook or as a slide show on YouTube to show friends and family around the world, and you want to make your own album with our own photos taken by your guests.

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4. If there is absolutely no one you can get to help, you have no friends coming to your wedding, or no guests will be at your wedding, then, at the very least, you’ll need a camera and a tripod. 5. If, however, you are the person actually doing the photos, you just need to organize yourself and your camera! If you’re getting a friend or guest to do the photos, you don’t just need to get one person to do them. If you like, you could get 2, 3, 4, or more people to do the photos. In fact, if you let all your guests know what you’re doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos, you can then get them all involved. It’s probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots, though, if you do, in fact, want group shots. Then, you’ll need to discuss what key photos you want them to get…arriving at the venue, walking down the aisle, cutting the cake. They will probably all benefit from reading this guide and going through the photo list with you. When you’ve downloaded the list, discussed it, and edited the photos you want, you can print off a copy for everyone to keep with them on the wedding day. Once you’ve discussed the photos you want and don’t want, the style you want, and the location or locations, go through the list together and discus any other photos you want.

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The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album. Just to side track for a moment...

Arranging the photos for the day

I have been reading about TTD (“Trash The Dress”) wedding photos and I thought it’s worth a mention to you. Basically, after the wedding and honeymoon, when the bride and groom have come back down to earth, the wedding dress is packed away in a box and won’t come out again, well, except maybe to be shown to the children in a few years! So, the latest thing is to get the dress back on and get some more wedding shots with a twist!

If you are arranging the photos for the day, you’ll need to organize the person or people who will actually be taking photos. There will be many other people taking photos. If you can get a copy of all of them on disk, that would help to compile the photo collection. For the main shots though, the person or people who are going to do the photos will need to know what and how you would like them to do it. If they already have a good understanding of photography, they probably won’t need all of the information in this guide. If they are less familiar with photography, then go through the guide together. This will help everyone doing the photos and give some inspiration, too.

You don’t need to worry about keeping the dress clean and dry or not damaging it, so go run through the sea or into a lake! Splash around and have some fun! Go run through some fields of long grass or climb trees, or roll around in the mud! And, get some different wedding shots. This is, of course, only recommended if you own the dress. If you have rented the dress, it is probably best not to do anything risky.... After the wedding can also be a good time to get some great bride and groom shots that are unrushed and more relaxed. And, as there are no time limits or moaning guests around waiting to get to the bar, you can go anywhere to do the shots and take as much time as you like. If the dress and tuxedo have been rented, you could try to negotiate with the bridal shop an extra day, and in return for a good deal, you could offer the shop some free prints to use as promotional material.

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For the most part there will be no organizing! It’s already been done. Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold. You may have a couple of hiccups throughout the day, but generally all will go according to plan. The job of getting the photos is achieved by being there, by watching and observing, and by photographing the things you see and the things people do, and also by paying extra attention to the key events. If you intend to take group shots in a location away from the ceremony, then one of the most important things you should do is let everyone know when and where. If the guests or drivers don’t know you are planning on group shots in the park, they will not be there. This actually happened to me when nobody told the minibus driver that they wanted to do photos in the park. The wedding party and I went to the park, and all the guests went to the reception 3 or 4 miles away. After the guests were dropped off, the driver went home! We had no way of getting them back to the park, so we had to do the other groups back at the reception. The photos turned out OK, though not as photogenic as those taken at the park!

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album.

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPS How many megapixels? So, you’ve got a digital camera. One of the most important features is the image size. I wouldn’t recommend using anything less than a 5MB camera, and ideally, 6MB or more is best. The 6MB will give good image size, capture plenty of detail, give room for cropping later if necessary, and enable you to go big (24”x20”) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlargements. This large size is only really acceptable for closeups or close-up bride-and-groom full-length shots. If you stretched a group shot with, say, 10 people, the small detail in the shot, in particular peoples faces, would lose clarity and sharpness, though with the close-up shots, the main area of importance, the face, is of large size and contains enough detail to allow for some resizing while still retaining an acceptable amount of quality. Many photographers and camera dealers will tell you otherwise, but a good, carefully re-sized and saved image will be fine. When we first went digital in the studio back in 2001 we used a Fuji 3.1MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20”x24” professional prints!

of zooming in. The more you zoom, the more you lose detail and quality, as you are only using the section of the available image to create the captured image. Optical zoom actually magnifies the light and uses all the CCD to capture the image, maintaining the detail and quality. If you need to zoom in on a shot using digital zoom, either walk in closer or do it later in the photo editing package. Remember you can’t undo the zoom on a shot taken with digital zoom in the camera, but you can if you do it later in your photo editing program! Be careful also with the zoom, as the more you zoom in, the more likely the shot will become blurred through camera movement. Generally, if the light on the subject is nice and bright, you’ll get a good shot, especially if you have camera shake / movement reduction. There is a rule of thumb to calculate the maximum zoom you should use, depending on the exposure setting. If you don’t go mad with the zoom in good light you’ll be OK, but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested.

Quality settings

Manual or Auto

Your camera will have either quality settings or a choice for the number of mega pixels, 1M, 2M, 3M, 6M, etc. Always use the best setting, especially when memory cards are big and as cheap as they are, you’ve no need to sacrifice quality to fit more photos on your card. Just make sure you have plenty of storage.

If you are familiar with the manual settings on the camera, you have more control and you can be more creative, especially if your camera is an SLR or SLR-type. Compacts are great, though most do lack the manual setting. The auto usually produces good results in most situations, especially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations. Many now have face-detection to enable the photographer to quickly and clearly see that the camera is concentrating on the most important part of the photo (in most cases)... the face.

Zoom If you haven’t acquired a camera yet, get one with as much OPTICAL ZOOM as possible. And, BEWARE OF DIGITAL ZOOM. Please avoid the digital zoom! This is the work of the devil! Keep to optical zoom only. Digital zoom only uses the center of the CCD (The CCD is the mechanism that captures the image. It’s like the film in film cameras.) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

In any case, do yourself a big favor and read the manual. It’s not all technical jargon. You’ll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera. But, don’t just read it. Go through the given examples with your camera.

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The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album. Focusing Many cameras will automatically focus on the center of the shot. The viewfinder will usually indicate the center with a square or circle, so when you depress the shutter release to take the shot, whatever is in the center will be what the camera focuses on. That’s great if what you are photographing is in the center of the shot, though so many times I have seen a photo with the people in the shot out of focus and the background nice and clear. Why? There was a gap in the group of people that just happened to be right in the center. This is more common with 2 people since typically they stand to either side of the center! Here’s what to do. First, get your camera. Now, hold it ready to take a shot. Look for an item close by, with other objects in the background as far away as possible. Now, set the center focusing point on the near object and slowly depress the shutter release. Before it takes the photo, you should feel the button stop at about half way. On many cameras this will also be indicated by a light in the viewfinder or a bleep. This is the focus lock. Now, keep your finger still and move the camera to put the object off-center. Fully depress the shutter and take the shot. This will leave the object you focused on in focus while the background will be out of focus making the subject really stand out.

Flash It’s usually better to use the available light for the given setting. Avoid flash whenever possible, especially if your camera has an ISO or film-speed settings. You can alter the setting to a higher number to enable the camera to take better shots without flash in low light settings. Look in your manual for the best settings. Be careful, though. Setting a high number, such as 800 or 1600, will result in grain or small speckles across the shot on many of your shots. I would recommend that you take some sample shots as soon as possible in a range of lighting conditions. If you must use flash, remember the built-in flash is not usually very powerful, and will not be of any use on any subject more than a few meters away. Check your own manual for the correct flash distance and, again, do some tests beforehand.

NOTE:

NOTE:

To increase blurriness of the background, keep the distance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the background as large as possible. Also, if available on your camera, choose a small aperture or f-stop number.

A good quick test would be to take a photo of someone in low light with no flash and without moving. Then, take another shot with flash. This way you can see the difference in the shots. To test how powerful the flash is, take a photo of someone in low light from 3 or 4 steps away. Then, take 2 steps back and take another shot. Then, take another 2 steps back and another shot, and so on, until you have at least 5 shots. Ideally you need to take shots up to around 20 or 30 steps away from the subject so you can see how effective the flash is at a distance.

The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all photos. Ideally you should identify the subject you want to take the photo of and get them in focus with the focus lock before you are ready to take the shot. Then, when the moment is right, fully depress the shutter and take the shot. Practice this method of taking a photo as it’s a much better and quicker way of taking a photo than just pressing the button all the way in one go. You may find your camera takes a second or even two to actually get the shot in focus before it will take the photo. If this is the case, you’ll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot. Especially for reportage wedding photography, though, once you’re in focus, the shot can be taken spontaneously and will capture that second, not two seconds later when the person has moved and the shot is gone forever! Use this focusing method on all your shots. With posed shots of people, get your camera in focus on the face. Hold the button still. Reposition the subject in the viewfinder to get the composition right. (Composition? What’s “composition,” I hear some of you asking yourselves!

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Don’t worry! Composition tips come later on.) Then, when you’re ready, press the shutter all the way. When you are going for the candid reportage shots, use the focus lock when you have found a subject to capture. You can then capture the shot in the right second, not two seconds later when the person looks away.

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I would also recommend that, if you are using flash, you not have the subject standing against a wall, especially a pale or light one, or with less than a couple of meters of space between them and a wall to avoid hard shadows surrounding the subject. One of the worst cases of “big shadows on the wall in the background” I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer. The photographer had turned the camera by 90° to better compose a shot of the couple, and the resulting burst of flash had left big, crisp, clear shadows down the right-hand side of the couple. If the camera had remained upright, and the couple had been standing 2 or 3 meters away from the wall, the shadows would have mostly fell behind the subjects.

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE

The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album.

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS: TRADITIONAL & REPORTAGE This guide is aimed toward the typical western style wedding. Many tips and ideas can be used across any event, though other wedding styles have different ceremonies and key events. It will be important to research your particular wedding beforehand to become familiar with the traditions and style. I will get some more information up for you in the members’ area. So, will you go for traditional or reportage? This depends directly on the bride and groom, their style, tastes, home style, etc. The album can consist of a good mix of both the bride’s and the groom’s families. This way, all the groups are covered, and everyone at the wedding will be in the photographs. The feel of the album will be modern with a good mix of reportage shots, but since you are doing your own, you don’t need to worry about the cost of extra prints, or going over budget, or paying the photographer to be there all day long. Traditional (Of, relating to, or in accord with tradition) The traditional style follows the usual group-style of photos, is quite a formal approach, and generally consists of a set of standard shots. A good guide list is contained later on in this guide. With a traditional approach, all the shots (well around 95%) would generally be set up and posed for the camera. This does take more time and involves setting up and organizing the shots with a basic set, producing just enough to fill a basic album with 20 pages consisting mostly of group shots. Generally, a set of traditional photos would start with the groom and best man before the ceremony, the bride and the person giving the bride away arriving at the ceremony, a couple of shots in the service when the bride and groom are exchanging vows, the bride and groom signing the

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marriage certificate, and posed photos of everybody standing formally, posed and grouped together for the group photos. These are often taken all together at the wedding venue before the wedding breakfast. Reportage (The reporting of news or information of general interest) If the groom, or bride, wants a pint in the nearest pub before the ceremony, then get a photo of it! If the groom needs help from his future mother-in-law fixing his bow tie, photograph it! If someone yawns in the service, photograph it! You need to capture people doing what people do best…being people, and being natural! You don’t need them to look at the camera and say “cheese!” to get a good photo of them. A photo can tell a story, especially if it’s taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken. You’ll capture the moment. You’ll capture a true record of events and record what actually happened on the day instead of creating it with posed shots. The modern style, the only setting-up in this style, sometimes called “paparazzi,” should be the setting up of the equipment. The whole idea of reportage is to capture and record events as they unfold. Try not to be intrusive, but sneak around and people-watch. Concentrate on the main close family members. Follow the order of the day and pay extra attention to the key events (listed later on in this guide.) Watch for people smiling and laughing

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The complete guide to capturing and creating your own wedding photos and album. with others. Watch for groups of people chatting together. Anticipate them all laughing together and get that shot of them enjoying themselves. Get photos of the children. They are usually doing something…! If there are babies at the wedding, especially at the wedding breakfast, get shots of them eating! The messier, the better! Look for simple shots, like small children chatting, or an adult kneeling down to speak to a small child, and get those close-up candid shots of people smiling and laughing, or looking serious and deep in thought. When someone whispers in someone else’s ear, get a photo of it. It’s an interesting shot, even more so if they are laughing. Single people out, especially the main members of the wedding party. Concentrate on them for 20 or 30 seconds. Keep the camera fixed on their faces. Watch for their expressions.

Play it safe and cover everything. I personally think a good album consists of a basic set of close family groups, combined with lots of reportage shots of everything from the bride having her hair and make -up done, to shots of everyone getting ready at home, to Dad cooking breakfast, to the groom and best man getting a shave, to photos of the guests photographing each other, to shots of children chasing each other around... With this style you’ll get a great record of the wedding. The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on you’ll have to decide what pictures to put in the album, as you can quite easily end up with around 300+ edited photos from an initial collection of over 1000 taken that day, especially if you have a couple of people taking photos.

Catch their emotion. If they catch you watching them, get the eye contact looking right into the camera. If they are not to happy with you photographing them, get the shot and tell them that you’ll show them the shot later before you make the print. They will probably forget by the end of the day. But, don’t upset people. If they really don’t want you taking their photographs, then don’t do it. Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests. Capture the true feel of the day and don’t cause upset. Take in the surroundings, too. Don’t just go for closeups and full-lengths. It’s good to show the venue and how it was the location for the wedding. To keep the shots of relevance to the wedding and venue, keep the guests in the shot to show “how it was” on the day. If there are petals or confetti on the table, use them in the shot with guests in the background. Close-up shots of glasses, maybe full of champagne, and a set table before the meal are good reminders of the special little things.

If

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