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Page 1: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEAuthor Geoff Beattie

Formatting and design Daniel Sicircrbu

wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 otherelectronic 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 copy 2010 Geoff BeattieAll rights reserved worldwide

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

4 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 wed-ding 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-em-ployed and started the classic back bedroom business After 6 months we opened a small shop offering services like photo-processing copies enlargements reprints pho-to-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 yoursquove 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 photo-processing chain or one that looks great on ebay for pound20 plus pound10 postage but turns out to be same one as on the high street

Risk

Irsquove decided Irsquom going to take a risk in writing this guide in the hope that not everyone will buy it Then Irsquoll still have plenty of customers in our shop looking for a ldquoquick fixrdquo solution to their not-so-good attempt at taking wedding photos

Anyone can do it

I love photography and I love great photographs espe-cially 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

Presentation

Itrsquos not all about taking the photo

Letrsquos be honest If yoursquove decided to set aside the better part of pound1000 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 in-ternet to say ldquothank yourdquo for the pound50 gift voucher they gave you though now that yoursquove taken a step towards creating some great wedding photos by investing in this guide yoursquoll be able to give them a fantastic professional-quality print that will last longer than the cheap print you can run off at home and it wonrsquot really cost you much more So follow the tips in this guide and yoursquoll 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 presenta-tion Maybe yoursquoll 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 itrsquos presented in a folder and it cost pound20 from the ldquobest photographer in townrdquo 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 pro-cess of creating your own wedding album without being a photographer Itrsquos written in simple easy-to-understand language without all the technical jargon that to be com-pletely honest with you is of no benefit to 99 of the photo-taking population

Itrsquos 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 ldquoprosrdquo 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

Donrsquot be baffled

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

5WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

You donrsquot need to have a great technical understanding of cameras exposure or photography You just need a cam-era ideally digital (though not essential) and know how to use it If you want to do editing then yoursquoll need a com-puter with a photo-editing program Once again donrsquot think you need to go for a top-of-the-line Adobe Photoshop CS with a full retail price tag of pound500+ 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 pound60 Most of the videos are in PSE 10 to show the simple steps you can to take to trans-form you photos though there are many other programs available that offer many of the same features Some yoursquoll even find for free on the cover of a digital photo magazine or as a free download from the net

Once yoursquove 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 pound25+ for a 10x8 though as this guide contains a list of printing labs the professionals use and because you own the copy-right on your own photos you can legally get the same professional-quality 10x8 print from the same labs the professionals use for around pound350 Or you can print your own for under pound1 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 yoursquove seen your friendsrsquo photos that theyrsquove done themselves and they did a pretty good job and you prob-ably thought that ldquowe should do thatrdquo Well you could And now that yoursquore armed with this wedding photo guide yoursquoll probably do a much better job and be able to present your photos much better too

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

6 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

Contents

Tips on Organizing Photos Page 7

Digital Camera Tips Page 9

Basic Ideas for Photos Traditional amp Reportage Page 11

Location Location Location Guide Page 13

Composition Page 14

Light Page 18

List of ldquoMust Haverdquo 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

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 2: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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 otherelectronic 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 copy 2010 Geoff BeattieAll rights reserved worldwide

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

4 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 wed-ding 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-em-ployed and started the classic back bedroom business After 6 months we opened a small shop offering services like photo-processing copies enlargements reprints pho-to-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 yoursquove 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 photo-processing chain or one that looks great on ebay for pound20 plus pound10 postage but turns out to be same one as on the high street

Risk

Irsquove decided Irsquom going to take a risk in writing this guide in the hope that not everyone will buy it Then Irsquoll still have plenty of customers in our shop looking for a ldquoquick fixrdquo solution to their not-so-good attempt at taking wedding photos

Anyone can do it

I love photography and I love great photographs espe-cially 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

Presentation

Itrsquos not all about taking the photo

Letrsquos be honest If yoursquove decided to set aside the better part of pound1000 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 in-ternet to say ldquothank yourdquo for the pound50 gift voucher they gave you though now that yoursquove taken a step towards creating some great wedding photos by investing in this guide yoursquoll be able to give them a fantastic professional-quality print that will last longer than the cheap print you can run off at home and it wonrsquot really cost you much more So follow the tips in this guide and yoursquoll 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 presenta-tion Maybe yoursquoll 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 itrsquos presented in a folder and it cost pound20 from the ldquobest photographer in townrdquo 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 pro-cess of creating your own wedding album without being a photographer Itrsquos written in simple easy-to-understand language without all the technical jargon that to be com-pletely honest with you is of no benefit to 99 of the photo-taking population

Itrsquos 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 ldquoprosrdquo 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

Donrsquot be baffled

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

5WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

You donrsquot need to have a great technical understanding of cameras exposure or photography You just need a cam-era ideally digital (though not essential) and know how to use it If you want to do editing then yoursquoll need a com-puter with a photo-editing program Once again donrsquot think you need to go for a top-of-the-line Adobe Photoshop CS with a full retail price tag of pound500+ 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 pound60 Most of the videos are in PSE 10 to show the simple steps you can to take to trans-form you photos though there are many other programs available that offer many of the same features Some yoursquoll even find for free on the cover of a digital photo magazine or as a free download from the net

Once yoursquove 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 pound25+ for a 10x8 though as this guide contains a list of printing labs the professionals use and because you own the copy-right on your own photos you can legally get the same professional-quality 10x8 print from the same labs the professionals use for around pound350 Or you can print your own for under pound1 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 yoursquove seen your friendsrsquo photos that theyrsquove done themselves and they did a pretty good job and you prob-ably thought that ldquowe should do thatrdquo Well you could And now that yoursquore armed with this wedding photo guide yoursquoll probably do a much better job and be able to present your photos much better too

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

6 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

Contents

Tips on Organizing Photos Page 7

Digital Camera Tips Page 9

Basic Ideas for Photos Traditional amp Reportage Page 11

Location Location Location Guide Page 13

Composition Page 14

Light Page 18

List of ldquoMust Haverdquo 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

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

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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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 3: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

4 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 wed-ding 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-em-ployed and started the classic back bedroom business After 6 months we opened a small shop offering services like photo-processing copies enlargements reprints pho-to-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 yoursquove 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 photo-processing chain or one that looks great on ebay for pound20 plus pound10 postage but turns out to be same one as on the high street

Risk

Irsquove decided Irsquom going to take a risk in writing this guide in the hope that not everyone will buy it Then Irsquoll still have plenty of customers in our shop looking for a ldquoquick fixrdquo solution to their not-so-good attempt at taking wedding photos

Anyone can do it

I love photography and I love great photographs espe-cially 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

Presentation

Itrsquos not all about taking the photo

Letrsquos be honest If yoursquove decided to set aside the better part of pound1000 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 in-ternet to say ldquothank yourdquo for the pound50 gift voucher they gave you though now that yoursquove taken a step towards creating some great wedding photos by investing in this guide yoursquoll be able to give them a fantastic professional-quality print that will last longer than the cheap print you can run off at home and it wonrsquot really cost you much more So follow the tips in this guide and yoursquoll 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 presenta-tion Maybe yoursquoll 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 itrsquos presented in a folder and it cost pound20 from the ldquobest photographer in townrdquo 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 pro-cess of creating your own wedding album without being a photographer Itrsquos written in simple easy-to-understand language without all the technical jargon that to be com-pletely honest with you is of no benefit to 99 of the photo-taking population

Itrsquos 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 ldquoprosrdquo 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

Donrsquot be baffled

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

5WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

You donrsquot need to have a great technical understanding of cameras exposure or photography You just need a cam-era ideally digital (though not essential) and know how to use it If you want to do editing then yoursquoll need a com-puter with a photo-editing program Once again donrsquot think you need to go for a top-of-the-line Adobe Photoshop CS with a full retail price tag of pound500+ 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 pound60 Most of the videos are in PSE 10 to show the simple steps you can to take to trans-form you photos though there are many other programs available that offer many of the same features Some yoursquoll even find for free on the cover of a digital photo magazine or as a free download from the net

Once yoursquove 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 pound25+ for a 10x8 though as this guide contains a list of printing labs the professionals use and because you own the copy-right on your own photos you can legally get the same professional-quality 10x8 print from the same labs the professionals use for around pound350 Or you can print your own for under pound1 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 yoursquove seen your friendsrsquo photos that theyrsquove done themselves and they did a pretty good job and you prob-ably thought that ldquowe should do thatrdquo Well you could And now that yoursquore armed with this wedding photo guide yoursquoll probably do a much better job and be able to present your photos much better too

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

6 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

Contents

Tips on Organizing Photos Page 7

Digital Camera Tips Page 9

Basic Ideas for Photos Traditional amp Reportage Page 11

Location Location Location Guide Page 13

Composition Page 14

Light Page 18

List of ldquoMust Haverdquo 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

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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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12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 4: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

5WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

You donrsquot need to have a great technical understanding of cameras exposure or photography You just need a cam-era ideally digital (though not essential) and know how to use it If you want to do editing then yoursquoll need a com-puter with a photo-editing program Once again donrsquot think you need to go for a top-of-the-line Adobe Photoshop CS with a full retail price tag of pound500+ 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 pound60 Most of the videos are in PSE 10 to show the simple steps you can to take to trans-form you photos though there are many other programs available that offer many of the same features Some yoursquoll even find for free on the cover of a digital photo magazine or as a free download from the net

Once yoursquove 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 pound25+ for a 10x8 though as this guide contains a list of printing labs the professionals use and because you own the copy-right on your own photos you can legally get the same professional-quality 10x8 print from the same labs the professionals use for around pound350 Or you can print your own for under pound1 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 yoursquove seen your friendsrsquo photos that theyrsquove done themselves and they did a pretty good job and you prob-ably thought that ldquowe should do thatrdquo Well you could And now that yoursquore armed with this wedding photo guide yoursquoll probably do a much better job and be able to present your photos much better too

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

6 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

Contents

Tips on Organizing Photos Page 7

Digital Camera Tips Page 9

Basic Ideas for Photos Traditional amp Reportage Page 11

Location Location Location Guide Page 13

Composition Page 14

Light Page 18

List of ldquoMust Haverdquo 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

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 5: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

6 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

Contents

Tips on Organizing Photos Page 7

Digital Camera Tips Page 9

Basic Ideas for Photos Traditional amp Reportage Page 11

Location Location Location Guide Page 13

Composition Page 14

Light Page 18

List of ldquoMust Haverdquo 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

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

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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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 6: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

7WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

So if you are the groom or bride reading this yoursquoll be able to create some great wedding photos if you can organize it properly If you have friends or guests with cameras thatrsquos even better If not thatrsquos no problem as long as you have a camera and tripod yoursquove got every-thing you need

Your Options

1 Ask someone who you know whorsquos a keen photogra-pher to take some photos for you I wouldnrsquot suggest you go and ask himher 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 himher first that you are going to do your own wedding photos and album and would like himher to simply take some photos for you This is easier if you have a guest whorsquos into photog-raphy as (s)he will be there anyway and as a keen pho-tographer (s)hersquoll probably be bringing hisher camera as a wedding is a great opportunity to get some photos Irsquove done it like this myself for friends and family as a guest and photographer

2 Approach your local college and contact the photogra-phy class or evening class and ask them if they would be interested in using your wedding as a ldquophoto shootrdquo 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 donrsquot want to call them and ask send them an email

3 Ask the guests Let them know that yoursquore doing your own photos either because of budget or you just donrsquot like the wedding albums yoursquove 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

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

If no one has a camera yoursquoll need to get one or at least borrow one If yoursquore going to get one take a look in the membersrsquo area for the latest recommendations

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 yoursquoll need a camera and a tripod

5 If however you are the person actually doing the pho-tos you just need to organize yourself and your camera

If yoursquore getting a friend or guest to do the photos you donrsquot 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 yoursquore doing and that you would like to create an album from their photos you can then get them all involved Itrsquos probably best to choose 1 or 2 people to do the main group shots though if you do in fact want group shots Then yoursquoll need to discuss what key photos you want them to gethelliparriving 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 yoursquove 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 yoursquove discussed the photos you want and donrsquot want the style you want and the location or locations go through the list together and discus any other photos you want

TIPS ON ORGANIZING PHOTOS

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 7: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

8 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom8

Just to side track for a moment

I have been reading about TTD (ldquoTrash The Dressrdquo) wed-ding photos and I thought itrsquos 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 wonrsquot 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

You donrsquot 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

Arranging the photos for the day

If you are arranging the photos for the day yoursquoll 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 photogra-phy they probably wonrsquot 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

For the most part there will be no organizing Itrsquos already been done Everyone will be following the order of events as they unfold You may have a couple of hiccups through-out 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 donrsquot 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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 8: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

9WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

DIGITAL CAMERA TIPSHow many megapixels

So yoursquove got a digital camera One of the most impor-tant features is the image size I wouldnrsquot recommend us-ing 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 (24rdquox20rdquo) for full file close-up or full-length bride and groom pro-lab enlarge-ments This large size is only really acceptable for close-ups 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 pho-tographers 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 31MB camera and easily achieved good results with 20rdquox24rdquo professional prints

Quality settings

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

Zoom

If you havenrsquot 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 Itrsquos like the film in film cameras) and enlarges the center pixels to give the effect

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 canrsquot 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 cam-era movement Generally if the light on the subject is nice and bright yoursquoll 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 donrsquot go mad with the zoom in good light yoursquoll be OK but following is the calculation for those of you that are interested

Manual or Auto

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 espe-cially as so many cameras have preset modes for specific scenes and lighting situations Many now have face-de-tection 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

In any case do yourself a big favor and read the manual Itrsquos not all technical jargon Yoursquoll probably find a great guide to get the most out of your camera But donrsquot just read it Go through the given examples with your camera

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 9: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

10 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 Thatrsquos 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

Herersquos 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 view-finder 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

NOTE

To increase blurriness of the background keep the dis-tance between the camera and the main subject as small as possible and the distance from the subject to the back-ground as large as possible Also if available on your camera choose a small aperture or f-stop number The use of this focus-locking is helpful when taking all pho-tos 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 itrsquos 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 yoursquoll have probably missed the action by the time the camera actually takes the shot Especially for reportage wedding photography though once yoursquore 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 foreverUse 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 view-finder to get the composition right (Composition Whatrsquos ldquocompositionrdquo I hear some of you asking yourselves

Donrsquot worry Composition tips come later on) Then when yoursquore 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

Flash

Itrsquos 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 re-sult 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

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 differ-ence 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

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 ldquobig shadows on the wall in the backgroundrdquo I have seen was actually taken by a wedding photographer The photographer had turned the camera by 90deg 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

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 10: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

11WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE wwwwedding-photo-guidecom

BASIC IDEAS FOR PHOTOS TRADITIONAL amp REPORTAGEThis 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 be-forehand to become familiar with the traditions and style I will get some more information up for you in the membersrsquo 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 bridersquos and the groomrsquos 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 donrsquot 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 pro-ducing 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

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 informa-tion 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 photo-graph it You need to capture people doing what people do besthellipbeing people and being natural You donrsquot need them to look at the camera and say ldquocheeserdquo to get a good photo of them A photo can tell a story especially if itrsquos taken of someone who is unaware that the photo is being taken Yoursquoll capture the moment Yoursquoll 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 some-times called ldquopaparazzirdquo 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

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If

Page 11: Wedding photography tips and guide sample

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

12 WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDEwwwwedding-photo-guidecom

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 somethinghellip If there are babies at the wedding especially at the wedding breakfast get shots of them eating The messier the better Look for sim-ple 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 elsersquos ear get a photo of it Itrsquos 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

Catch their emotion If they catch you watching them get the eye contact look-ing right into the camera If they are not to happy with you photographing them get the shot and tell them that yoursquoll show them the shot later before you make the print They will probably forget by the end of the day But donrsquot upset people If they really donrsquot want you taking their photographs then donrsquot do it

Remember that you are looking to capture the emotions of the guests Capture the true feel of the day and donrsquot cause upset

Take in the surroundings too Donrsquot just go for close-ups and full-lengths Itrsquos good to show the venue and how it was the loca-tion for the wedding

To keep the shots of rele-vance to the wedding and venue keep the guests in the shot to show ldquohow it wasrdquo 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

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 yoursquoll get a great record of the wedding The only thing when doing this kind of photography is that later on yoursquoll 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

Thank You for reading my free chapters If you would like to buy the rest of the book and the other free bonuses

If