048
Technique Photo
50
top tips for
wedding photography
The wedding season is upon us, so sharpen up your skills with some insider knowledge from
the professionals.
Karl Foster
speaks to fi ve of the UK’s leading wedding photographers, each of
whom has wisdom borne of long experience
Summer light too harsh? Turn it to your
advantage by making shadows a feature
of your photograph

JOE D MILES
THE SPONTANEOUS APPROACH
■ www.onlineweddings.co.uk
Joe D Miles of ImageCapture is one of the
photographers with Online Weddings and he
uses digital cameras on assignment. He aims to
capture spontaneous images that create an
accurate portrayal of the wedding day. His
approach is to be amicable, fi tting in with and
adapting to the occasion.
3
Pose the bride
For fl attering images of a bride, make sure she doesn’t have her
arms bent (a slight bend is best, but not straight) while holding her
bouquet. If possible, ask her to create an ‘S’ bend with her body, similar to
the way fashion models pose. Look through women’s magazines like
Vogue and Cosmopolitan to see how the models pose to get an idea.

add impact and drama to your images. Be aware,
however, that such patterns may come and go as the
day progresses, so you may have to work quickly to
capture them.
6
Frame the couple
When taking pictures of the bride and groom
with their bridal car, try being creative by using
the windows to frame them, or even jump inside the
car, if it’s OK with them
7
Tilt the camera
Camera tilt adds a sense of motion to an image.
This works on some shots very well – you
don’t have to always keep the camera landscape or
portrait format, be adventurous and align the
composition lines at diagonals in the image to create
impact. As with all techniques don’t over do this – one
or two images is ample.
8
Find the shade
If you’re shooting a wedding on a day with
very strong sunshine, try to move the coup
or group into the shade for a better exposure, usin
fi ll-in, or forced fl ash to balance the scene. You’ll fi
the fi ll fl ash setting by cycling through the camera
fl ash modes.
9
Add some blur
Try experimenting with pictures of the fi rst

however. Such a stance makes you unsteady and you
may fi nd your shots ruined by camera shake. If the
ground is dry, kneel down, or even lie down, in order to
stand a better chance of keeping the camera steady.
14
Wait a second
Let other people take their photographs
and then capture the subjects as they
relax. Formal, posed shots are OK for the record, but
when aiming to capture the emotion of the event,
people come across better in photos when they’re
happy, relaxed and unworried about people taking
pictures of them.
15
Add grain
Grain can add atmosphere and lack of
fl ash can keep attention from you.
The last thing you want is for a fl ash to distract the
wedding guests, drawing attention to yourself. The
high ISO settings used in low-light photography may
induce noise into the photos, which can give them a lot
of character.
16
Try a telephoto
Long lenses keep you out of the action
as an observer. They also create
interesting perspective effects, which can add drama to
photos. Be careful to avoid camera shake that can be
induced when wielding such lenses – a sturdy tripod is a
handy accessory in such situations.

there’s a breeze – its lines will fl ow out with the
movement of air. However, if you’re using a came
with interchangeable lenses, get out of the wind w
you’re changing them to avoid dirt blowing into th
camera body.
■ www.markrobinson.co.uk
Mark Robinson likes to remain unobtrusive at
weddings, employing long lenses to zoom in on
action. He works alone, although he’s happy to
work alongside a traditional photographer who
c
serve as a useful distraction.
12
Pay attention to detail
Look for the small stuff as well as the big picture. Often,
details may go unnoticed by the wedding guests, and yet
when they see a detail shot, memories will come fl ooding back. So be
aware of everything around you and don’t be afraid to photograph it.
You’ll not be wasting any fi lm, after all…

ANDREW JOHN
THE CONSIDERED APPROACH
■ www.andrewjohnphotography.co.uk
Andrew John’s tagline is ‘your wedding, your style’. He’s won numerous
photographic awards for his unique wedding photographs and for his other
speciality, portraits. As with many pro wedding photographers, he offers a
service which enables people to view and buy images online.
Techniq
22
Smile a lot

photographs. The more relaxed people are, the better
the shots will turn out.
26
Go with the fl ow
Don’t fi ght the rain, wind, people and
time. There’s always a way to get round
a problem, so think laterally. As you become more
confi dent and experienced, you’ll develop numerous
ways of making the unexpected play into your hands, so
exercise your problem-solving skills to the full.
27
Plan for rain
If it’s raining, use brollies. It’s handy to
have a white one and a black one in your
car. Get the couple walking with them, kissing each
other and so on. They make excellent props, and can
save your expensive digital camera from a soaking,
which is unlikely to do it much good.
28
Use the crowd
If people are in the background in
places, just let them be there.
Sometimes it’s good to take pictures of strangers
wishing them the best – take a look at wedding al
on Andrew John’s website titled ‘beach burbo ban
was supposed to be a clear beach, but when he go
there it was packed with people!
29
Manage your time
You should always have enough tim

day without ordering people aro
Technique Photo
31
Use your inside
knowledge of the family
to get shots
If some relatives haven’t seen each other for 20 years,
a shot of when they fi rst meet at the church could be
very emotional. Think about the attendees and how
they get on, then use that knowledge to plan your
shooting schedule.
32
Avoid shooting when
people are eating
Don’t take pictures of people eating.
They never look good and no one will thank you for it.
You may as well pack away the camera during the meal
and have some food yourself while you wait for the
speeches, which provide far more opportunities for
good people shots.
33
No chimping
Don’t ‘chimp’ after each shot (chimping
is looking at the camera’s screen to check
your pictures). It uses up the batteries and takes your
eye off the action. You’re better off reviewing the
photos en masse occasionally, being careful to delete
only those that you can’t feasibly use.
34
Bounce the fl ash

sharpen the shots
Turn off any automatic in-camera
sharpening. This is best done on the computer afte
you’ve resized the images. If possible, always shoo
RAW format. This transfers the data from the imag
chip directly to memory without compressing it,
although the fi le sizes will be much larger than wh
shooting with JPEG capture, so you’ll need high-
capacity memory cards, or a portable storage devi
copy your images onto over dinner…
40
Underexpose in
bright light
In bright sunlight, try to retain the
in the bride’s dress by underexposing by 1 EV and
bringing the shot up to the correct exposure on the
computer. Digital cameras have excellent dynamic
range, so shadow detail should be recoverable – it’
highlights which is where they tend to have proble
Again, shooting in RAW as opposed to JPEG really
helps in this situation.
35
Tell a story
Adopt a photojournalistic approach – look for pictures th
tell the story of the day. The classic way is to get three
pictures of each moment, not necessarily taken at the same time. For
example, a close up of the cake, a medium shot of the couple cutting th
cake and then a wide angle of the guests’ reactions.