How to Consistently Take Good Wedding Photos
As a wedding photographer, you need to be able to take good wedding photos on a regular basis. You need to be able to nail everything from the first kiss to the newlywed couple’s goodbye in a way that wows your clients.
In this article, I’m sharing tips I’ve developed over the years that can help you get the maximum hit rate from your wedding photography.
What makes a good wedding photo?
The first question to ask is what makes a good wedding photo. If you ask a bride, the answer might be a little different than if you ask a photographer. Both answers are probably worth considering.
As photographers, we take care of composition and exposure, which are crucial for professionals. However, if you asked a bride, she’d probably care more about capturing the right moments and letting her wedding photos remind her of how she felt. So, is a good wedding photo about being technically perfect or about being loved by your clients?
Both. We’re going to talk about how to take good wedding photos on both a technical and personal level. Let’s dive into the how.
Be in the moment and look for moments
If you want to take good wedding photos regularly, you have to be present. Be in the moment and look for moments. Pay attention to how your bride is feeling, immerse yourself in her emotions and use them to guide your photography.
Some of the best wedding photos capture an important moment and tell a story about what is happening. Luckily, many of these are predictable moments, like the moment a bride walks down the aisle. You can’t predict when someone will cry, laugh, or smile, but the more present you are on the wedding day, the more you’ll see when memories are formed.
Then you can capture those memories and immortalize them in a photo. Immerse yourself in the scenery to be prepared to capture important photos. Otherwise, you’ll spend the day chasing the idea, “Oh man, that would have made a great photo.”
Focus on the people
If you hate people and hate love, consider product photography instead of wedding photography. The hardest part about wedding photography is the people and the best part about wedding photography is the people. I always say if you serve your customers well, it will serve you well.
By focusing on the people, you become aware of what’s important to them, allowing you to capture images that will make them smile, cry and tell all their friends to hire you for their wedding. If you take care of your couple, you will work hard for them. This will result in great photos even if you are just starting out.
Some of my first weddings were for friends when I was just starting out in wedding photography. Even though I have a lot more experience now and people pay a lot more than my friends did back then, I still love some of these photos because I worked really hard to tell an important story for some incredible people, which resulted in great photos .
Don’t worry, we’re going to talk about technical skills next because they’re important. But the reality is that a technically imperfect photo can still be a priceless possession for your couple. Don’t forget that a photo that your couple likes is part of the definition of a good photo.
Start simple and build your technical skills
The easiest way to take good photos on a regular basis is to start with what you know. When in doubt, go back to basics. Keep in mind that we’re not talking about taking more creative photos right now (maybe in a future article), we’re talking about how to take good photos consistently.
Creative photos require you to push your limits and take a risk. Good photos are often in your comfort zone. I don’t encourage laziness, but if you’re a wedding photographer, you probably have some basic photography skills that you can rely on to take good photos.
So just start. Focus on getting your photos properly exposed, focus on a clean composition, and focus on making sure your subject is in focus. Imagine a sharp and properly exposed photo taken with a clean composition and you have a good wedding photo.
Once you can reliably ensure your subject is in focus, you can build on those skills by using light to make your image look more dramatic or professional. Or learn to flash off-camera instead of relying solely on bounce flash. Just start with what you know, such as B. Using the right camera settings to get good photos, and then challenging yourself to make them even better.
understand light
One of the most important things you can do to improve your photos is understanding light. Light is an essential part of photography and will turn your photos from amateur to pro just by turning your head.
Just last week I was in a place where people kept wanting me to take their picture in front of a bright view while we were under a shady structure. I took whatever picture they wanted and then I went to the other side of them and had them turn around to take another one. As you can imagine, one of these photos meant either dark faces on a properly exposed background, or properly exposed faces on a blown out background. Meanwhile, in the other photo, the people were bathed in a beautiful soft light that made them look gorgeous.
There is a lot you can do to improve your photography simply by understanding light. You can achieve even more by learning how to add and manipulate light in a scene. Learning about light improves your photography skills and luckily there is always more to learn.
Take the right photos and deliver them
As you’ve probably figured out by now, good wedding photography is partly about taking and delivering the right photos. In order to have photos that your couple loves, they have to be photos that your couple care about.
I previously wrote an article about what photos to take on a wedding day. It’s less of an inclusion list that overwhelms you with the responsibility of recording a million things. It’s more of a process of figuring out what the right things to photograph are.
Taking the photos is not the end of the story. The way you select, edit, and deliver the photos can also have an important impact on your customers. When I say I want you to consistently take good wedding photos, that doesn’t mean you won’t take bad photos.
Actually shoot the bad guys. Just don’t hand them over. When you sort out or reduce your photos to the final gallery, you have to choose not to take bad photos, resulting in only delivering good photos to your clients. Be sure to read my article on culling decisions and how many photos to give your clients.
Worried you won’t have enough good photos? Most of us overshoot the mark and take more photos than our clients will ever need. You may only need to score 10%, meaning if 1 in 10 photos you take has to be good enough to deliver, does that take the pressure off?
Understand the marriage formula
Capturing and delivering the right photos boils down to one thing: understanding the wedding formula. Weddings are challenging and stressful, but they’re also predictable. If you know what’s coming, you can prepare for it.
Sit down and imagine the wedding day. First you go to the prep room, what do you have to prepare for there? Then you will move on to a ceremony so that you can mentally prepare for it.
Think ahead of what’s coming and have a game plan. Preparation will help you take good photos, and the more you shoot, the more consistently you’ll be able to do so.
Next steps: Turn good into great
One of my goals in this article was to encourage you to take good photos consistently. Hopefully I have helped relieve your stress and increase your confidence in your abilities. Otherwise, follow my tips for staying in the moment, focusing on the people, just getting started, building your technical skills, understanding light, delivering the right photos, and understanding the wedding formula.
Next, I challenge you to shift your expectations from good to great. Once you’re confident that you can keep your customers happy, you can force yourself to be more creative. Happy shooting!
About the author: Brenda Bergreen is a wedding photographer, videographer, yoga teacher, and writer from Colorado who works with her husband at Bergreen Photography. With their mission and mantra “love. adventurous.” They have made it their task to tell adventurous stories in beautiful places.