How Hard Can it Be to Take Our Own Wedding Pictures?
Your wedding is fast approaching and as the anxiety grows in everyone associated with the big day, two big concerns weigh on everybodys mind. Those are
(1) How can we reduce the stress of this big day?
(2) How can we cut the costs?
These two questions are in conflict with each other too because in order to reduce stress, you have to increase the work that someone has to do. Sometime during the preparation time frame, the idea will come up, why dont we let John Jones do our wedding pictures? John Jones may be someones brother who is really good at photography or just a friend of the family. The appeal is that they will save you a pile of money and probably do just as good a job as the expensive photographers.
While you certainly want to watch out before you turn over this important job, maybe you or someone in the wedding party can take the photos as well as a professional. After all, how many wedding nightmares have you heard about a professional photographer who either damaged the romantic nature of the ceremony by butting in too often, aggravated the guests by blotting out their view of the wedding to get an action shot or charged an arm and a leg only to deliver poor quality photos.
In truth, it is entirely possible for an amateur photographer to do a terrific job taking pictures at the wedding. But there are some guidelines you should follow if that job has fallen to you. If you are reading this as the bride, groom or anxious mother and you are considering using a friend for these photos, spend an hour going over these guidelines and not only will you get better pictures, your anxiety level will go down too.
1.Know your equipment inside and out. Whether you are using a run of the mill digital camera or an expensive set up that has taken you years to work up, make sure everything is in top-notch working order and that you are thoroughly familiar with every nuance of the machine. Remember Murphys Law. If anything can go wrong, it will. So keep Murphy out of the wedding by checking and double checking your camera and related equipment.
2.Have spares of everything possible. If there are batteries involved with the operation of the camera, have several spare sets on hand and know where they are. If the batteries go out as the bride and party are posed at the alter, you dont want an hour delay why you run to the 7-11 to get more. The same goes for flash bulbs and even the camera itself. Have spares of everything possible so Murphy just goes to the next wedding down the road to make his mess.
3.The photo is about more than the bride and groom. If you are used to staging your pictures, you may not worry that often with activity in the room. After all, if everybody is posing, the environment is controlled. This will not be the case during an action shot like during the wedding or reception. So keep a keen awareness of the room, the activity around the subjects, the lighting and background props. You dont want to produce the perfect shot of bride and groom kissing only to have Cousin Ned gagging on the cake in the background.
4.Be aware of glare from windows, lights and eyeglasses. These can sneak up on you.
As a rule, someone who is part of the event can get great shots because they know the people and can be mixing as those wonderful little moments occur. So its worth a try if you feel good about the skills of your photographer and they follow these little guidelines.
646
- Sneaking Up on the Wedding
- Every wedding has a professional photographer who has been doing this for years. What they are going to produce is pretty much a known entity before the wedding even gets started. You know he is going to hold the wedding party over after the ceremony and do a bunch of staged shots.
- More Than Pictures - Memories
- When you are hired to be the photographer for someones wedding, it is quite an honor. For a professional photographer, we can sometimes just see it as another gig. But it pays to look at the event through the eyes of the wedding party, the parents, the siblings, the groom and above
- Planning A Wedding And Still Looking For The Perfect Photographer
- Planning A Wedding And Still Looking For The Perfect Photographer Wedding photography is perhaps the most important field because these are the special moments in life we want to capture. Portraits are important and often play a major roll in wedding photography, but there are more to the wedding and finding the perfect photographer.
- Wedding Pictures with Style
- Your wedding album will be one of the most precious memories of this big day that you will have. But have you ever noticed how so many of those professional pictures are all the same from wedding album to wedding album? In fact, one thing that jumps out about the wedding photographer is
- Insider Tricks to Create a Great Wedding Video.
- If you have been hired to create a video of someones wedding and reception, it can be a really fun job. Not only is there a lot of joy, laughing and fun moments during a wedding celebration but it is really gratifying to know that the video you are creating will be part of