Edit Your Wedding Pictures
Usually, wedding photographers take a thousand images that need retouching and editing. Making all these tweaks on your own can become a nightmare, so its no wonder that professional photographers use outsourced photo editing services.
Explain to retouchers what results you expect to achieve, send them samples of images, and devote more time to other aspects of your job while they improve your photos.
Tips For The Amateur Wedding Photographer
These tips are designed to help you capture the best images at the wedding.
The initial communication is important, as you will find out about the couples ideas and wishes. This day is all about them and what they want to have captured.
Do as much research and scouting for light and settings as you need. This ensures you are prepared and confident on the wedding day. You are not a guest or a family member, you are working, so focus on the day at hand.
Read through a few more of our tips on how to ensure the day goes according to the plan.
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You just booked your first wedding.
Now what?
Maybe youre feeling a little nervous worried about lighting the reception, posing a slightly-awkward couple, or choosing the right lens for the ceremony.
Were not going to help you with any of that. Time, experience, and experimentation will earn you your style and technique.
To rock your first wedding, theres one thing you must do: prepare for chaos. These wedding photography tips for beginners will help you do just that!
With the right prep, youll manage even the craziest celebration with class and create beautiful photographs despite the challenges.
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Wedding Photography That Matches Your Vision
Professional wedding photographers have their own templates for wedding shots. However, they will still be open to creative photo ideas from their clients. If you dont want to regret not having certain pictures of specific moments on your wedding day, its always best to have your own shot list. Give this to your photographer to have them included in their template.
The quality of your wedding photographs will depend on the style of your photographer. So, its important that you choose the one who can work with the vision you have for your wedding day.
Learn Seo Before You Start Blogging
Being smart with your SEO can generate more wedding enquiries.
Blogging your latest wedding and engagement photos is popular in the wedding photography industry, but it doesnt need to be a necessity.
While having an online presence is essential, writing about all your latest work and targeting the same wedding photography keywords each time can actually be detrimental.
With a bit of SEO knowledge and planning, you can build a wedding photography website thats attractive, useful to potential clients, AND pleases Google.
Focusing on evergreen content such as venue guides and wedding planning tips is much more beneficial for bringing you long-term traffic, and with a well-planned site structure, you can still rank for those lucrative wedding-related keywords.
I teach these techniques in More Brides.
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A Wedding Photographers Secrets For Capturing Details
Capturing the small details is a very important area of wedding photography.
The wedding rings are the most important part of the ceremony. There are many ways photographers have captured these bands over the years.
Other details like close-ups of corsages, flowers and all the small parts that add flair to the wedding. Looking at the features of the clothing, for example, the shoes or even jewellery.
The small elements add to the overall scene and are a nice way to break up the wider shots of the guests and the location.
Experiment With A Range Of Apertures
The aperture dictates what part of a photo are in focus. If you want to show the grandeur of a ballroom, make sure youre putting everything in the scene in focus. In that case, youd use an aperture of f/8 or even f/16.
When youre taking photos of people and details, you can opt for high apertures to create depth by blurring out the background. In that case, try an aperture of f/2/8 or f/4.
On the other hand, lower apertures isolate the subject, making it the whole focus of an image. This is why its best to use apertures between f/1.8 to f/2.8 for bridal portraits. In this way, you can bring in more light while reducing unwanted distractions.
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Know The Wedding Ceremony Program
Investigate how to photograph a wedding of a different culture, to make sure you dont miss important symbols and rituals that differ from what youre used to. Specify which wedding type youre hired for and ask to be forwarded the celebration plan where you highlight the main events and their timing to plan your work accordingly.
Get Close For Portraits
As well as capturing full-length shots of the happy couple, dont forget to include some portrait shots from a closer distance.
Getting closer to your subject allows you to capture more emotion in your photos as it places the focus on their facial expressions.
This kind of shot allows you to freeze in time the happiness, love and excitement of the new couple. It also lets you capture more detail in items such as the brides dress and flowers.
When shooting close-up portraits, never use the zoom feature in the camera app. Using the zoom will destroy the quality of your image, making it appear pixelated and fuzzy.
To get closer to your subject, always zoom with your feet. In other words, walk closer to your subject.
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Getting Ready Wedding Photo Checklist
Your wedding day begins the moment you wake up, so consider having your photographer with you while youre getting ready. Were obsessed with these wedding morning snaps
1. The Bride Opening Her Wedding Morning Gift
Cheers to your wedding day! We love this snap of the brides first glass of Champers.
3. Getting Your Makeup Done
Theres nothing like a close-up shot of the bride as she gets her makeup done. How glamorous does this lovely bride look?
4. The Bridesmaids Getting Their Makeup Done
Youve spent ages carefully choosing your wedding day fragrance, so make sure your photographer gets a close-up snap of you putting it on.
In other news how lovely do this brides nails look?
This bride looks so elegant, taking a moment to gather her thoughts as she gets ready to walk down the aisle.
7. The Bridal Party Helping the Bride Get Dressed
No wedding album is complete without a shot of the bride having her wedding dress buttoned up! Its a classic.
8. A Close-Up of the Bridal Shoes
The bridal shoes are just as important as the wedding dress! Particularly if youve splashed the cash on a pair of designer wedding shoes. Give them the attention they deserve.
9. A Close-Up of the Finished Bridal Makeup
Ta-da! And just like that, shes ready to get married. We love this shot of the bride walking down the stairs to her wedding ceremony.
11. The Bride Seeing the Bridesmaids in Their Dresses for the First Time
12. The Bridesmaid Flowers
What Makes Professional Wedding Photography So Hard
Many amateur photographers would love to learn how to photograph a wedding. And while it may seem as easy as snapping some fun shots throughout the ceremony and reception on the surface, beneath it all, shooting a wedding is a lot harder than it looks.
Here are some of the reasons why professional wedding photography is so difficult to master:
- Getting StartedGetting started as a wedding photographer is a double-edged sword. You need experience if you want to get hired, but you cant get experience until youre hired. It takes a lot of hard work to get started in the saturated world of wedding photography.
- You Have to Know the BusinessIt would be so great if all you had to do was take pictures of people on their wedding day, edit the photos, and get paid right? Unfortunately, theres a business side to being a wedding photographer too.
Of course, any career path you choose will have its own set of advantages and disadvantages. On that front being a wedding photographer is no different. There are also a ton of great reasons why being a wedding photographer is a great thing.
So, if youre still with us, lets check out some ways to make the cons a little less stressful and difficult, so you can truly say you love your job.
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These Are The Moments You’ll Want To Capture
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All brides know that wedding photos are one of the most important parts of the wedding day, so coming up with a must-have wedding photo list should be high on your wedding planning priorities. These are the memories you’ll cherish forever and even look back on the very next day . That’s why you want to make sure your photographer nails every , starting with the getting ready photos all the way through to your exit.
Step one to checking off this to-do list is to hire a wedding photographer you’re excited aboutand put your trust in the professional. You are hiring just thata professionalwho should know what they’re doing, after all. They’ll have an idea of the must-have wedding shots, but even so, it’s nice to have some general knowledge of wedding photography yourself. As your 101 guide, we put together a wedding photo list of the must-have moments to capturefrom the pretty detailed shot of your wedding day jewels to the table settings and invitation suite.
Of course, you don’t have to get all of these wedding photos in order to create the perfect album, but it’s nice to think about them. . So before you get shopping and pinning away, scroll down to see some of our favorite images from real weddings on Brides.
How To Take Wedding Pictures
It is the bride and groom’s most important day and they’ve asked you to document the big event. Despite the pressure of such a responsibility and the multitude of tasks on the agenda, there are several things you can do to alleviate the anxiety for yourself and the happy couple on the day of the wedding. Before you accept the job, take an objective look at your photography skills. If they are up to the task, the techniques outlined in this article will ensure the day proceeds smoothly for everyone involved.
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How To Take Great Wedding Photos When Youre Not A Pro
AutumnFiled In:Beginning Photography Tips
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In todays post: Nine wedding photography tips so you can take great wedding photos even if youre not a pro!
Recently, I had the opportunity to take wedding photos for a close friends daughter. Now, I like photography and Ive tried to learn to take pictures Im happy with, but I dont consider myself a professional photographer, so I was nervous. As in, really quite nervous. So my friend and I worked together to figure out what we could do to make sure the photoshoot would go as well as possible. Today Im sharing 9 tips for taking great wedding photos, even if youre not a pro, along with some of my favorite shots from the wedding.
Convert To Black & White
Black and white conversion works really well for wedding photography because it adds atmosphere and a classic, timeless feel to the photos.
Its also perfect for photos where background colors distract the viewers attention from the main subject. By removing all color from the image, the viewers attention is drawn toward the main subject and away from the distracting background.
If youve taken photos indoors under artificial light, your images may have an unflattering orange color cast. Converting to black and white is an easy way to remove this color from the photo.
Another great benefit of black and white conversion is that it can sometimes save an image that has over-exposed highlights. Removing the color often makes these areas less obvious within the composition.
So if you notice that the brides white dress is over-exposed, try converting the photo to black and white and youll likely notice a significant improvement.
After converting to black and white, you often need to tweak the brightness and contrast settings to ensure that the image has enough contrast to make an impact. Just be careful not to brighten the highlights too much.
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Capture The Candid Moments
When I want to of a wedding party, I get them situated where I want them, then say Im working on my exposure, and to just talk amongst themselves, says Carla Ten Eyck, owner of Carla Ten Eyck Photography, when divulging the secret to motivating candid wedding party moments. Then I just click away and catch them chatting! she adds.
Learn To Bounce Flash
Bouncing is an essential lighting technique for wedding photography.
On-camera flash has got a bad reputation for having unflattering results, but thats only when you dont know how to use it.
As much as we all want to only use natural light for our wedding photography, there comes a time during the wedding reception where you have to bust out a flash!
The simplest on-camera flash technique that yields the best results is bounce flash, where you point the flash head at an angle to your subject and bounce it off a wall/ceiling/guest etc.
You can use TTL or manual power mode but always try and find something with a neutral colour to bounce off.
You can also bounce the flash from a distance when photographing wedding speeches or the wedding party from afar at full power, youll be surprised how far the light will travel.
What if theres no surface to bounce off, like at an outdoor reception? Dont be afraid to use direct flash just try feathering the light by lifting the flash head slightly, and experiment with the zoom/power settings.
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How Long Do Wedding Photos Take
Wedding celebrations happen once in a persons lifetime. Of course, this does not count those who marry again for whatever reasons. Needless to say, your big day is that one event you would not want to ever forget.
In retrospect, wedding planning is more tedious than the actual wedding party itself. Come to think of it, you must get yourself a wedding planner . Then theres also your choice of wedding photographer, who is in charge of snapping up some beautiful wedding photos.
Your wedding photos are the best memorabilia of what transpired on your wedding day. What better way to keep the memories vivid in your mind than a good set of wedding photos? So the thing thats on everyones mind is, how long do wedding photos take? Here is a look into an ideal wedding photography timeline suited to make your big day that much more memorable.
